Chapter 29 Hiding a man's chest muscles are so hard

This question is straightforward and touching.

After a long silence, until the sound of birdsong and wind rustled in her ears, Yun Xi slowly nodded: "...Yeah."

She took a deep breath and forced a smile. "It's really no big deal, just an arranged marriage. I need a stronger backer, and the Xie family is perfect for that."

"Besides, I don't have any better choice."

Yun Xi smiled helplessly.

Ji Xun stared at her quietly, and when she finished speaking, his eyes moved slightly: "If Your Highness is unwilling..."

"What if you don't want to?" Yun Xi interrupted him. She didn't want to hear anything else, for fear that she would regret it halfway through.

"This is my fate. Ji Xun, don't ask anymore."

She didn't want to follow the original story; this was the only viable route at the moment. She had to first reassure her father, and as for a plan to escape later, she needed to think carefully about it.

"Take me to find Xie Zhao." Yun Xi gently tugged at his sleeve. "Without you by my side, I'm always worried..."

There is no restricted plot about Xie Zhao in the original novel, but that doesn't mean it won't happen suddenly. After all, she has modified part of the plot.

"……Um."

Ji Xun's expression returned to calm, and he began to lead the way for her. He listened to her without asking any further questions, but he also didn't speak again during the entire journey.

The two walked silently, one in front and one behind, keeping a distance between them.

After walking through the stone path and the flowers, the two of them somehow walked into a courtyard. There was no one around and it looked like it had been abandoned for a long time.

"Ji Xun, where is this...?"

"I'm sorry, I went the wrong way."

He appeared calm and composed, but in reality, he had been distracted the entire time. The roads to the Xie Mansion were complicated, and since he had only been there once, he had no time to recall the original route to the flower garden.

Ji Xun lowered his eyes, raised his hand and pinched his eyebrows. There was an inexplicable feeling of depression in his chest, which made him unable to calm down.

At this moment, dark clouds appeared in the sky. The summer in Wei was unpredictable. The sky was clear one moment and it started to rain heavily the next.

The rain came suddenly, and the two of them had no time to react before the big raindrops hit them. A strong wind blew up, making the dust on the ground fly.

The hem of her skirt fluttered in the wind. Yun Xi subconsciously raised her hand and squinted her eyes. A tall shadow covered her in front of her, blocking the dust and strong wind.

"Go hide in the house." Ji Xun covered half of her body and whispered.

The two men raised their hands to shield themselves from the rain and trotted to the nearby eaves. However, the heavy rain showed no mercy and half of their clothes were wet.

There was no one else around, and Yun Xi's thin dress got wet, and when the wind blew, she shivered with cold. But her situation was relatively good, because Ji Xun was almost soaked to the skin, just to shield her from the rain.

The dripping black hair stuck to the sickly pale skin, and a few lines of water ran down the golden mask, along the jawline, and slid into the collar.

"It was my negligence."

He had not expected this situation and now he didn't even have an umbrella.

"It's okay. It's not your fault."

The two could only stay here temporarily and wait for the rain to pass.

Yun Xi hugged her arms and looked outside. The rain was getting heavier.

She pursed her lips and remained silent: "..."

It seems that I can’t go to see Xie Zhao today.

She was just worried about having no reason to refuse, and now it was God's blessing that helped her.

but……

"Ji Xun, are you cold?" Yun Xi was a little worried about him.

His clothes were dripping with water. His wound had just healed a few days ago, and he could easily catch a cold if he caught a cold.

Ji Xun still stood straight, his expression unchanged: "I'm fine."

Yun Xi dragged him into the house: "You're still being stubborn. Your hands are so cold. There's no one here. Go in and take off your wet clothes."

Ji Xun: “…”

He was about to open his mouth and say that he was born with a cold body and became like this when he came into contact with water. But for some reason, seeing her anxious look, he was reluctant to speak.

Let her pull him into the house.

The house had been idle for a long time and no one had cleaned it. There was a faint smell of dust and mold in the air. There were only a few simple pieces of furniture in the house, such as cabinets, beds, tables and chairs... It seemed like a small warehouse specially used to store these things.

When Yun Xi came in, she was choked by the dust. She looked down and saw that the hem of her skirt was dirty. She frowned.

She likes this skirt very much.

Xie Zhao had already met with bad luck before even entering the house. In order to find him, she had to wear a new skirt.

There is also the Prime Minister's Mansion. It has such a big yard but they don't know how to clean it. It is so dirty.

Yun Xi's mood was as gloomy as the weather outside. Now she was dissatisfied with everything in the Prime Minister's Mansion.

She turned to look at Ji Xun, and when she met his indifferent and kind black eyes, her anger subsided a lot: "Take off your wet clothes. I left a message for Yuan He. If we don't go back after the banquet, she will bring people from the Princess' Mansion to look for us."

Yuanhe has always been smart. When she sees it is raining, she will come to find them with an umbrella and new clothes.

Ji Xun remained motionless, seemingly having no intention of taking action: "I'm really not cold."

Yun Xi: “?”

Suddenly recalling what he said before, Yun Xi reminded him in advance: "Are you shy? Let me make it clear first, I don't want to see your body, I'm just worried that you will catch a cold."

She turned around: "I won't look at you."

Ji Xun: "What I mean is..."

From this angle, he just saw a small part of Yun Xi's snow-white neck exposed from behind. The layers of gauze, after being soaked with water, clung to her slender back, revealing her beautiful butterfly bones, and the pink laces on her shoulders were faintly visible.

Ji Xun's pupils shrank slightly, his expression became a little unnatural, and he pursed his thin lips.

He had recovered his memory and naturally understood the difference between men and women, no longer as dumbfounded as before. But she seemed unaware that he was no longer the "Ji Xun" of the past.

He was born into the royal family and received a good education. He had the proper manners as a prince. Such a despicable act as taking off clothes and staying in the same room with a woman was not what a gentleman should do.

What's more, Yun Xi will be a married woman.

Ji Xun's knuckles tightened, and thinking of this, he felt more and more upset.

His current identity could not be revealed, so he could not ask for details about the engagement, and she was unwilling to tell him about it.

He had learned over the past few days that the Wei Dynasty was open-minded. However, for someone who was already engaged to be alone in a room with another man, being open and honest with him was a bit too much.

Or... Yun Xi doesn't care about her fiancé's feelings?

Ji Xun's eyes darkened slightly, and when he spoke again, his voice was low and hoarse: "I have a question, Your Highness, if you can tell me."

"What?" Yun Xi was puzzled.

"What is my status in His Highness's eyes?"

Yun Xi didn't expect him to ask this out of the blue, so she replied, "Of course you are my most trusted friend."

"If another man was standing here today, would Your Highness ask him to take off his clothes?" he asked coldly.

Yun Xi had never thought about this question. She didn't want to give other men the chance to be alone with her. Ji Xun also knew this, so why did he ask such a boring question.

"No." Yun Xi said, "Only you can do it."

"Um."

It seems that it is just as he thought, Yun Xi doesn't care about that Xie Shezhao.

Ji Xun's brows relaxed slightly and he responded lightly.

"Don't worry, I no longer consider you a man." Yun Xi said solemnly, "You are my good 'sister', I will not harm you."

“……?”

As soon as the words fell, the air fell into deathly silence. Outside, the sound of raindrops fell, like jade beads hitting the stone slabs, making a ticking sound.

"……sisters?"

The two words lingered on his lips and tongue for a moment, before being uttered with some doubt and gritted teeth.

"What's wrong?"

Yun Xi didn't hear the ups and downs in his tone.

However, Yun Xi did not hear his next reply, and then she heard a rustling sound, like the sound of fabric rubbing against each other.

After a long time, silence returned to the house.

Yun Xi asked tentatively, "Are you... done taking off your clothes?"

He still didn't answer. After a while, Yun Xi smelled a scent of blood. She frowned and asked, "Has your wound opened again?"

She didn't care about anything else and quickly turned around to see what was happening to him. She saw him standing at the doorway, shirtless, his muscles fully visible, his forearms slightly bent, his abdominal muscles rising and falling smoothly with his breathing.

His skin was too pale, making the veins between his arms stand out. He held a scimitar in a black sheath under his arm, and his slender fingers were buried in a piece of cloth, covering the wet and bleeding wound on his abdomen.

Sure enough, it bled.

"Does it hurt?" Yun Xi asked distressedly, "I should have known not to let you block the rain."

If she got wet, at most she would catch a cold, but he would actually bleed and feel pain.

"Don't blame Your Highness." Ji Xun moved his arm away. The bleeding had stopped. "It was an accidental injury during the sparring between Miss Xie and me."

It just looked a little bloody after being caught in the rain.

"You know you're injured, there's no need to fight him." Yun Xi's frown deepened. "Tell me, and I'll teach that beast a lesson for you next time."

Ji Xun turned his face away, raindrops flowed across his golden face, wetting his eyelashes. When he lowered his eyebrows, his pale lips were pursed into a line.

"In your Highness's eyes, I am not even a man. If I retreat again, won't I be less than a human being?"

Yun Xi was speechless for a moment: "That's not what I meant..."

She was about to explain and comfort him when she suddenly heard footsteps outside and someone was approaching.

Yun Xi thought it was Yuan He, so she looked through the crack in the door and saw a man in brocade clothes, dragging a woman in a green dress in his arms, walking quickly towards the house.

It’s not Yuanhe, nor is it someone from the princess’s mansion.

Yun Xi's eyes widened immediately, realizing the current situation of her and Ji Xun, and she quickly took a few steps back: "What should I do? Someone is coming."

Although she knew that there was nothing between her and Ji Xun, outsiders would inevitably misunderstand if they saw it.

It's too late to get dressed now.

At this moment, Ji Xun also noticed someone approaching outside. His eyes darkened and he quickly looked around.

As footsteps approached the door, Ji Xun grabbed Yun Xi's wrist and said, "Your Highness, follow me."

…

The front door of the house was kicked open, and a man and a woman, both wet and tugging at each other, walked into the house, closed the door behind them, and dust flew everywhere.

"I don't want to go with you, you heartless beast, stay away from me!"

"A Luo, please listen to my explanation. I have never changed my mind about you. This is just..."

"Let me go!"

The woman slapped the man in the face and struggled and cried.

"You're about to marry that Princess Roujia. Do you still want me to continue to be entangled with you and have an affair with you like a lowly concubine?"

In the dim and narrow wooden cabinet, only a narrow gap was left to let in light. Yun Xi and Ji Xun hid inside, listening quietly to the movements outside.

The incident happened suddenly and they had no time to go out, so they could only choose a place in the house to hide.

At this moment, the two of them were pressed tightly against each other in the narrow space, not daring to move easily. Yun Xi lay on top of Ji Xun, her hands supporting his naked upper body. She felt a tight stiffness in her palms, and her waist was tightly pressed against his abdomen, with no gaps.

Above her head was a steady, low breathing, blowing the hair on her forehead, and a cold fragrance surrounded her. Her posture was very difficult, and only with Ji Xun holding her waist tightly did she barely keep from falling out.

After suppressing a cough caused by dust entering her throat, Yun Xi opened her eyes. When she saw the situation below her, she was stunned and her face turned red.

This was the first time she knew that a man’s chest muscles could be so hard.