Chapter 61. Coaxing him.

"Xiao Che, I...I'm not..."

Xiao Che didn't say another word to her, only leaving her with the words, "You stay here and go back when the rain stops. I have something to do, so I'm leaving now." Then he turned to leave.

How could he just leave before we could even explain ourselves?

Yan Jiarou panicked and jumped lightly off the table to catch up with Xiao Che, grabbing his hand tightly: "Xiao Wenqi, wait... I have something to tell you..."

Xiao Che frowned: "Everything has been said clearly, there's nothing more to say." He then tried to pull his hand away.

Yan Jiarou held his hand tightly and refused to let go, so he had no choice but to use a little force to finally pull his hand away.

Yan Jiarou was pulled backward by the force.

She had only stumbled slightly and would have regained her balance in an instant, but in the moment she fell backward, she suddenly remembered the words Yingxue had taught her—

Only by making him feel sorry for you will he soften his heart towards you.

So he glanced at it sideways, hardened his heart, and deliberately bumped into the protruding corner of the table.

The impact was extremely strong, and her waist was very flexible. Her soft flesh slammed heavily against the hard wooden protrusion, so you can imagine how painful it must have been.

She had always been pampered and spoiled, and had never experienced such pain before. She immediately screamed and squatted down, clutching her waist in agony.

Hearing the noise, Xiao Jue immediately turned around to check. He saw the little girl squatting at the foot of the table, her face deathly pale, cold sweat beading on her fair forehead. She struggled to look up and meet his gaze, uttering a painful gasp: "Brother... teng..."

With just one glance, Xiao Che's expression changed drastically.

He rushed over to check her injuries, his face even more pale than Yan Jiarou's. He had watched this little girl grow up since she was a child, and when he was a child, he didn't even dare to use his strength when he hugged her, for fear of hurting her.

If she bumped or bruised herself anywhere, it felt like a knife stabbing into his heart. He was so nervous that his voice trembled: "What happened, Yan Yan? Where did you hurt yourself? Does it hurt a lot?"

"You pushed me... I think I bumped into the corner of the table... It hurts..." She leaned against him, her arms quietly wrapping around his waist. She looked up at him pitifully, and then, at just the right moment, two tears rolled down her cheeks: "Brother, I'm sorry, I'm always so hesitant... I've hurt you..."

He was heartbroken. At this moment, he had no mind to argue with her. The realization that he had hurt Yan Jiarou was driving him crazy.

He lowered his head and kissed her forehead to comfort her, "It's okay, it's okay... It's all my fault. Don't talk, I'll take you to get some medicine, okay, be good and bear with it."

Yan Jiarou nestled in his arms and obediently nodded, "Mmm..."

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a file lying on the ground. She guessed that when she bumped into the corner of the table, the noise was so loud that the table wobbled and the file was accidentally brought down.

She glanced at it casually and saw a small portrait of a woman on the open page, with her name written next to it: Jiang Yan.

Xiao Che was actually looking at another woman's files? And there were other women's things in his study?

Yan Jiarou felt her head buzzing and her mind went blank. For a moment, her heart ached terribly, and a sudden anger rose in her heart. Just as it was about to erupt, she suddenly remembered something.

No, Jiang Yan, that name seems vaguely familiar to her.

She remembered that she was about the same age as the Imperial Concubine, an age at which she could already be Xiao Che's mother.

Xiao Che flipped through her files, realizing it wasn't what she thought.

Moreover, she passed away several years ago.

Speaking of which, Jiang Yan was also a pitiful person. She was originally a pampered young lady of a noble family and a famous beauty in the capital. However, unexpected events occurred. The Duke's mansion was convicted and its property confiscated. She was also reduced to slavery and sold to the brothel.

Later, for some unknown reason, Emperor Wei Yuan made an exception and brought him into the harem, giving him a low-ranking position.

Some say that it was because of her resemblance to the imperial concubine that she gained Emperor Wei Yuan's favor.

Yan Jiarou firmly believed this.

She had seen her once when she was a child. Although she was already mentally unstable at that time, her excessively beautiful face still made her stop and stare.

She did resemble the imperial concubine, but only somewhat, which was enough to amaze her.

It was this chance encounter that made her very curious about her, and she pestered a senior palace maid to find out more about her past.

As for why she is acting so erratically now, it turns out that she had given birth to a prince, but he died shortly after birth. If he had survived, he would probably be about the same age as Xiao Che now.

After the prince's death, she couldn't accept it and went insane. She was then banished to the cold palace by Emperor Wei Yuan.

She was able to see her that day only because she happened to escape from the Cold Palace. She never saw her again after that.

I only saw her files in Xiao Che's study today.

Why was Xiao Che flipping through her files? Could it be that he was missing the Imperial Concubine, and because Jiang Yan bore a resemblance to the Imperial Concubine, he was curious and wanted to use her to reminisce about the Imperial Concubine?

That's probably the case.

Yan Jiarou didn't think too much about it. As long as she knew that Xiao Che didn't like other women, that was enough. She was too lazy to think about anything else. She wasn't smart, so why should she think so much?

Just as she was about to look away, she noticed two pieces of paper with watermarks lying next to the file. One of them had a name written on it—Jia Wei. Yan Jiarou didn't know him and naturally had no interest in him.

My gaze shifted to the side, and I saw a character "珏" written on another piece of paper, circled in vermilion and marked with a large cross. The strokes were vigorous and powerful, the force almost penetrating the paper, showing how much strength the person holding the pen had used. At first glance, the red cross was quite shocking.

Yan Jiarou could actually read a sense of gritted teeth from the circled and crossed-out paper.

Even if she were stupid, she would know that the character "珏" must refer to Xiao Jue. Why did Xiao Che hate Xiao Jue so much...? Regarding this, she really couldn't help but think of the conflict between the two of them a few days ago.

The atmosphere was so tense and filled with hatred... If she hadn't stopped him, Xiao Che would have really wanted to kill Xiao Jue.

Both of them wished the other dead.

However, Xiao Jue was always weak and was no match for Xiao Che. Naturally, she would be more worried about the weaker party, which is why she stood in front of Xiao Jue.

Fortunately, Xiao Che eventually stopped.

She still feels lingering fear when she recalls that day.

Because she was distracted for a moment, she didn't notice at first that there were two characters next to the character "珏" that were much smaller. Because the characters were small, they couldn't be seen clearly at a glance. When she noticed them and tried to distinguish them carefully, Xiao Che turned his head away at that moment.

When Xiao Che saw Yan Jiarou looking at the paper, his expression became slightly unnatural for a moment, but he quickly covered it up.

He casually flipped the paper over: "What are you looking at? Can you even understand it?"

So Yan Jiarou only had time to discern that the second character was vaguely the character "马" (horse).

As for the first character, the strokes were somewhat messy, and before she could even make out the details, Xiao Che had already flipped the paper over.

So she watched it in a daze, and indeed didn't understand it at all.

She looked up at him, her pretty, delicate face filled with confusion, and slowly shook her head.

Xiao Che raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly, and the hand that was clenched beside him seemed to loosen its grip, slowly letting go: "I knew you wouldn't understand, you little fool."

"Alright, since you don't understand, why are you looking at things randomly?" He suddenly leaned closer to her and smiled slightly. "Isn't it better to look at me?"

Yan Jiarou forgot to breathe for a moment, staring blankly at him, and stammered, "...Okay..."

She was so easily seduced by beauty that she became dizzy and forgot everything she had just seen and heard.

Xiao Che can be really cunning at times. Years later, Yan Jiarou still couldn't help but grumble when she recalled this scene. He probably knew that this trick always worked on her!

However, she was naturally not aware of this at the time.

She was quite alarmed when she saw the character "珏" that was heavily marked with cinnabar, and wanted to gently persuade Xiao Che not to turn against his own brother because of her.

But in the end, she didn't say it—she thought that since they were brothers, it shouldn't come to this. Besides, Xiao Che seemed to hate it when she mentioned Xiao Jue in front of him. Maybe he had already forgotten about it, and if she brought it up, it would only add fuel to the fire, which would be bad.

She decided it was best not to upset Xiao Che. After their argument, he had been treating her badly, and now that he was unusually nice to her, she didn't want to ruin the atmosphere between them.

My last impression of this episode was that Xiao Che gently stroked her back, leaned close to her ear, and whispered, "No matter when or where, no matter what happens, just remember that I will never hurt you, and that's enough."

——

Her body was lifted into the air, and Yan Jiarou's cheek rubbed against the firm muscles of his chest. The faint scent of agarwood lingered around her nose, which smelled wonderful. She loved it.

Finally, he willingly hugged her again, and she actually felt a lump in her throat.

Xiao Che carried her hurriedly to the bedchamber.

She peeked out from his embrace and looked up at him.

His brows were furrowed, his usual nonchalant and indifferent demeanor gone, replaced by a look of anxiety she had never seen before.

So it turns out that even a minor injury can make him so nervous.

This is too easy; she thought she was incredibly clever.

In fact, Xiao Che didn't use much force at all. During the time they were together, even when he was in a difficult situation, he would control the intensity of his kisses and hugs very well, and would never hurt her.

Including what just happened.

The reason I have no doubts whatsoever is simply because I am too concerned to think straight.

Yan Jiarou's mood inexplicably improved, and as she gently swung her legs, the pain in her side actually lessened considerably.

Seeing Xiao Che's reaction, his self-blame, just based on his guilt towards her, she could talk to him about terms later.

Thinking about it this way, she felt that the collision today was worthwhile.

Upon arriving at the bedchamber, Xiao Che gently laid her flat on the bed and began to apply medicine.

Although Xiao Che had already seen her body, she still felt extremely ashamed that he had personally stripped her clothes off bit by bit in front of her.

Its originally snow-white skin is now visibly turning a pale pink.

Xiao Che was examining the injury on her side. He saw a large bruise on her waist, which looked even more shocking against her snow-white skin.

He frowned, about to speak, when he noticed that the little rabbit below had secretly changed its color at some point.

Her entire body, even the tips of her toes, had a faint cherry blossom pink hue.

Xiao Che: "...?"

He looked up, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

His light brown eyes held no trace of desire.

Under his gaze, she felt even more ashamed, her face burning hotter, her eyes flushing red, and her voice trembling with a slight sob: "You...you shouldn't look at me like that..."

Xiao Che raised an eyebrow, seemingly understanding something, and looked at her with a half-smile. However, he had no intention of flirting with her at the moment. He simply patted her head and said, "I'll go get you your medicine."

Xiao Che returned to the bedside with a jar of blood-activating and stasis-removing ointment. He opened it, took a little, and gently spread it evenly on Yan Jiarou's waist.

Despite his efforts to be gentle, Yan Jiarou kept crying out in pain, and with each cry, his heart tightened.

He could only lower his voice and soothe her again and again: "Yan Yan, be good, just bear with it a little longer."

Yan Jiarou lay on her side facing him. As Xiao Che applied the medicine to her, he leaned down slightly. She reached out and touched his face, looking at him with wet eyes. She said, half pleading and half coquettishly, "Brother, could you blow on it for me? Whenever I bumped or bruised myself, Yingxue would blow on it when she applied the medicine, and it would stop hurting."

She was indeed in pain, and blowing on it would make her feel much better. Also, she wanted to get closer to Xiao Che and strengthen their relationship so that she could speak up later.

Moreover, if he doesn't refuse this request, he might not refuse any other requests either.

Xiao Che paused, looked up at her, and said, "Okay, I'll blow on it for you after I apply the medicine. Can you bear with it for now?"

After applying the medicine, Xiao Che got onto the bed and had Yan Jiarou turn over so that she was facing him and pressed against his chest. He held her waist on the uninjured side with one hand to keep her body still, and then bent down to blow on the wounds on her waist as instructed.

Just as I remembered, the gentle breeze fell on her wounds and did indeed soothe a lot of the pain.

Xiao Che's ointment was very effective; not long after applying it, she no longer felt any pain.

But Xiao Che was still blowing on her wound.

She didn't know when it started, but when she realized that it was Xiao Che, not Yingxue, who was blowing on her wound, the action gradually changed its meaning.

She didn't know why, but whenever the object of her attention was Xiao Che, she would become unusually sensitive, no matter how ordinary the matter was.

Her waist was her most sensitive spot. With her back to Xiao Che, she couldn't see what he was doing to her. Her vision was limited, so her other senses were magnified.

The warm breath caressed the wound, and the smooth ointment seemed to seep into the skin little by little with the breath. His breath was obviously different from Yingxue's. His breath was obviously longer, the rhythm was slower, and the movements were gentler.

But it seemed even hotter. That small patch of skin grew increasingly hot, as if countless fine feathers were gently caressing it, stirring up an indescribable, tingling itch. She felt Xiao Che's gentle breath, and a tingling sensation rose in her lower abdomen, gradually coalescing into a warm current that lingered like a summer breeze...

Yan Jiarou's eyes widened in bewilderment, and she finally couldn't help but let out a groan. Her slender white fingers dug into his dark hair as she shook her head, crying, "No...no more..."

"What's wrong?"

Xiao Che straightened up, turned her around and saw that her face was flushed abnormally. He raised his eyebrows slightly, seemingly surprised, and chuckled, "...I haven't even touched you yet."

She was wearing almost nothing but her undergarments, and her body was completely exposed. His gaze moved downwards and he saw that the small garment she was wearing had already ripped open.

Xiao Che paused for a moment: "Yan Yan, you..."

His eyebrows twitched slightly, his first thought being, "Little Rabbit is like this... I wonder if it's a good thing... So much, probably not... She's just being so open, she won't... She fainted halfway through."

He chuckled and leaned close to her ear, his warm breath barely audible as he whispered, "Yan Yan, how come you are so..." The last word, "wild," was barely uttered, but it still sent a jolt through Yan Jiarou's brain and made her feel a surge of lust.