Chapter 6 A very strange wild fox.
His voice was crystal clear and always highly recognizable. For some reason, perhaps knowing Xiao Che's superb horsemanship, she felt inexplicably at ease the moment she heard his voice, so she quickly followed his instructions to avoid falling off.
However, Snowflake Steed went berserk. Seeing that it could not throw her off its back, it neighed to the sky and galloped wildly towards the dense forest to the west.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye. In no time, the Snowflake Steed carrying Yan Jiarou disappeared into the dense forest. Once out of sight, the situation would only become more critical.
Xiao Che's expression changed drastically. He quickly mounted a red-maned horse beside him, cracked the whip, and chased after the direction where Yan Jiarou had disappeared.
The dense forest to the west cast dappled shadows, and the sprawling branches hindered the Snowflake Steed's progress, allowing Xiao Che to quickly catch up.
The wind whistled past his ears. He stared at her intently, his Adam's apple bobbing, and reached out his hand to her: "Qinghe, give me your hand!"
Yan Jiarou was so dizzy from being jostled around by the horse that she almost lost consciousness. Only because she remembered Xiao Che's words did she instinctively clench her legs tightly to keep from falling off.
Hearing this, she slowly turned her face and saw that Xiao Che's face was now very close to hers. Her eyes instantly welled up with tears. Never before had she longed to see him so much.
He was strikingly handsome, and people always said he was like a celestial being. She had never liked him and didn't think much of it. But now, his sudden appearance truly felt like that of a savior, and it gave her a jolt.
Right now, he is her only savior, her lifeline, so naturally she has to hold on to him tightly.
She had never before shown such weakness in front of him, which showed how terrified she was.
He almost pleaded with him: "Xiao Wenqi, save me..."
Xiao Che was slightly taken aback, his brows furrowed, and his expression became unusually serious: "Idiot, of course I will save you—I will definitely save you, be good, give me your hand."
She was unusually obedient in his presence, nodding repeatedly and tremblingly offering her hand. Just as he was about to grasp it, the snow-white horse beneath her suddenly jerked, pulling her away again. This time, she dared not offer her hand again, fearing she would fall off the horse midway: "Xiao Wenqi, I... I'm scared..."
Xiao Che frowned.
He hesitated for a moment, then continued to ride alongside her. Seizing the opportunity, he grabbed her reins, used the momentum to get up, and leaped down to sit behind her.
Yan Jiarou felt a warm, hard chest press against her back, and the familiar scent instantly enveloped her.
She belatedly realized what was happening, and her eyes widened suddenly: "Xiao Wenqi, are you crazy?!"
It should be known that this snow-white horse has gone mad, and the rider is at risk of losing his life at any moment. So how can someone who can get off the horse get back on when he can clearly stay out of it?
Has Xiao Wenqi gone mad?
A soft chuckle came from above, his tone still lazy and nonchalant: "What, afraid I'll die?"
Yan Jiarou snorted and turned her face away, saying, "No, I just don't want to die with you, my mortal enemy!"
Xiao Che smiled and said, "Wouldn't it be better to die together with me? Since we are mortal enemies, we should be entangled in life and death."
He lowered his head, his breath lightly brushing against her ear, carrying a faint scent of sandalwood. His low, husky voice held a captivating allure: "If I can't tame this mad horse, my dear sister, you'll die with me, won't you?"
Yan Jiarou was stunned for a moment, and when she came to her senses, she couldn't help but say angrily, "I don't want to! Xiao Wenqi, you're so annoying!" At this moment, he was still scaring her!
"Hate?" Xiao Che chuckled softly, slowly rolling the two words on the tip of his tongue, and said thoughtfully, "I'm never afraid that you hate me, I'm only afraid that you don't hate me enough, and that you'll forget about me as soon as you turn your back on me."
Yan Jiarou couldn't understand, and in such a critical moment, she had no time to discern the deeper meaning in his words. Seeing that the Snowflake Steed beneath her had gone berserk again, restless and uncontrollable, and that not far ahead was a thousand-year-old cypress with incredibly thick branches that would take several people to encircle, the Snowflake Steed seemed to have lost its mind, as if it couldn't see it, and continued to charge forward without slowing down.
They were about to crash into the juniper tree. If they did, they would most likely die. Yan Jiarou closed her eyes in anguish and cried out, "Xiao Che, it's over, I'm going to die!"
But then he heard Xiao Che's faint chuckle, which carried a hint of cynicism yet inexplicably made him feel incredibly confident: "Don't worry, with me here, you won't die."
As soon as he finished speaking, he bent down and took out a dagger from the inside of his boots. He bit off the outer sheath with his teeth, and the blade gleamed coldly in the sunlight. It was made of the finest black iron and was extremely sharp.
A cold glint reflected in his amber eyes, and though his eyes were clearly calm, a lingering killing intent flashed across them.
With a swift movement, the sharp dagger pierced the neck of the Snowflake Steed, and a jet of blood gushed out instantly. The Snowflake Steed howled in agony, and Yan Jiarou became increasingly unsteady on her horse. Xiao Che frowned, hooked one arm around her waist, and with the other hand holding the dagger, stabbed the Snowflake Steed's neck several more times with lightning speed.
Finally, the Snowflake Steed beneath him could no longer hold on. Just before it collapsed, Xiao Che whistled, and the Red-Maned Horse beside him immediately came closer. Xiao Che grasped Yan Jiarou's waist and lifted her onto the Red-Maned Horse's back, then jumped off himself. As soon as he landed, there was a thud, and the exceptionally tall Snowflake Steed crashed to the ground, twitching a few times before dying.
Yan Jiarou was still in shock and didn't realize that her clothes had been torn by branches while she was walking through the forest. Her chest was half exposed, trembling and half-hidden in the tattered fabric, her fair skin faintly visible.
Xiao Che walked to the red-maned horse and reached out to help her dismount. Yan Jiarou handed him her hand, and Xiao Che pulled her off the horse with a little effort. He then used his other hand to support her lower back to prevent her from losing her balance.
Yan Jiarou managed to stand firm, but with all these movements, her cleavage was exposed even more. She didn't notice at first, until she looked up at Xiao Che and found that he had awkwardly looked away.
She had argued with him for so many years, but she had never seen him with such an expression.
Just as she was feeling confused, he coughed and reminded her, "You...your clothes..."
She then looked down at her clothes, her face turning pale instantly. With a cry of "Ah!", she raised her hand and slapped him across the face: "You bastard, Xiao Wenqi, you saw everything!"
The slap wasn't particularly forceful, but it still completely stunned Xiao Che.
Faint five-finger marks appeared on Cuiyu's face. Xiao Che scoffed, wiped his lips with his thumb, and laughed angrily: "Princess Qinghe, is this how you treat your savior? Such ingratitude?"
"I..." Yan Jiarou hurriedly tightened her collar. She valued her pride most in front of Xiao Che and never wanted to lose face. Even though she knew she was wrong, she refused to admit it and immediately retorted, "What did I do? Did I ask you to save me? Besides, Xiao Che, isn't this what you should have done?"
"I haven't even mentioned you yet! What did you tell me back then? You said this Snowflake Steed was docile and would be fine, but look what happened! I almost got killed by it! You've never liked me, you can't stand me, so you deliberately messed with me, right?"
"Who knew you'd go too far and almost cause a huge disaster, so you had no choice but to come and save me, right? Among the people outside, you're the best rider, so who else could you save me? You caused the trouble, so it's only right that you save me. I'm not grateful to you at all!"
Xiao Che looked at her, a layer of coldness gradually settling between his brows: "You're saying that I deliberately made Xuehua Cong go berserk so that I could take the opportunity to mess with you? You actually think that of me?"
He chuckled briefly, his voice slightly deep: "Heh, Yan Jiarou, all these years have passed since we were little, and you're still just as heartless."
Yan Jiarou then realized that she had gone too far, and bit her lip tightly: "I..."
She knew that no matter how much Xiao Che disliked her, he wouldn't make such a joke. This was a matter of life and death, and besides, he had just risked his life to save her. If he wanted to mess with her, he could have just pretended to chase after her. Why risk his life for her?
But she was used to arguing with him, and the two rarely had a pleasant time together. Either she would start a fight, or he would be verbally abusive, and she would never be able to bring herself to thank him. If it were the Crown Prince, she would never have acted this way.
She didn't want to thank him. How could she thank him? The life-saving grace was too great. She couldn't possibly repay it with her body, could she?
She has already promised herself to Xiao Jue.
Besides, Xiao Che didn't like her either.
She wasn't about to make a fool of herself.
She lowered her head and whispered, "I...I didn't mean that..." Seeing Xiao Che sneer and turn to leave, she hurriedly grabbed his arm and pleaded, "Don't leave me, Xiao Che..."
She looked down at her disheveled state, clutching her chest, and couldn't help but sob softly, "What am I going to do like this?"
Xiao Che finally stopped.
He turned to look at her. The girl's eyes were red-rimmed, and tears were pressing down on her long eyelashes, trembling as she looked at him expectantly.
His rosy lips parted slightly, uttering his name.
She only showed such vulnerability when she needed something from him.
Xiao Che curled his lips slightly and chuckled.
He glanced at her briefly, then looked around, walked to a clump of bushes, bent down and picked a few unidentified small white flowers, before returning to her side.
He looked down at her for a moment, then reached out and pushed away her hands that were tightly clenched in front of her chest. He then used a white flower as a clasp to fasten the torn fabric on her chest together. Xiao Che's fingers were nimble, and with a few quick movements, the white flower acted like a natural clasp, tying the tattered clothes together and restoring them to their original state, leaving no trace of the previous damage.
Yan Jiarou rubbed her eyes, then smiled through her tears: "It's alright, I couldn't tell it was scratched by a tree branch..."
The little girl's joy and anger were written all over her face, and she couldn't hide it from anyone. Although she had been spoiled by her family since she was a child, she was also quite smug and had a lively and charming naiveté.
Xiao Che smiled and withdrew his hand, his fingers slightly curled, the sensation of accidentally touching her chest skin still lingering on his fingertips, as soft and smooth as milk.
Xiao Che lowered his eyes, his gaze shifting almost imperceptibly.
Yan Jiarou's mood changed quickly. Seeing that the problem of her disheveled clothes was solved and she could face people again, she no longer needed to beg Xiao Che. She then warned fiercely, "Xiao Wenqi, you are not allowed to tell anyone about what happened today, do you understand?"
Although the people of the Great Wei Dynasty were open-minded, they were not entirely without rules. One of these rules was that if a woman's private parts were seen by a man, she would have to marry him.
Yan Jiarou bit her lip in embarrassment. A woman's breasts are the most private thing in the world. This matter can only be known to heaven, earth, and Xiao Che—how could she marry him? She should be Xiao Jue's new wife.
Xiao Che had obviously guessed what she was thinking, and his expression immediately turned cold. He glanced at her expressionlessly and scoffed, "Why would I tell anyone? Yan Jiarou, what do you take me for? I'm not that bored."
"you……"
“Besides,” Xiao Che bent down, his handsome face suddenly looming close. Such a striking appearance, regardless of past grudges, instinctively made one's breath catch in their throat. His face held his usual nonchalant expression, a slight smile playing on his lips, a cynical yet mocking tone—
“Princess Qinghe is overthinking things. If you don’t want to marry me, how do you know I’m willing to marry you? In the past, when others asked you why you disliked me so much, you said that the women who admired me could line up from the west side of the city to the east side, and you weren’t an exception. If that’s the case, with so many women, tell me, why should I choose you?”
As he spoke, he slowly straightened up, his eyes scanning her once more, deliberately teasing her: "I don't like certain... fat women."
Xiao Che truly knew how to make her angry. Yan Jiarou was so enraged that she jumped up and down, her willful nature flaring up again. She bared her teeth and claws, reaching out to hit him again: "You bastard, Xiao Wenqi, who are you calling fat!"
Xiao Che chuckled: "Whoever jumps to conclusions is the one I'm talking about."
Yan Jiarou was so angry that she wanted to raise her hand to hit him, but she didn't actually strike him because she saw a wild fox behind Xiao Che.
A very strange wild fox.
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