Come and pick it up in person
The night wind murmured softly, and the cool moonlight silently enveloped them.
Xiao Chengyan took a deep breath, suppressing his turbulent emotions, and deftly unfastened the thick, dark cloak he was wearing. He bent down and carefully wrapped the cloak around Gu Jinghong, trying not to disturb her.
As he moved, the faint scent of alcohol and a subtle, cool fragrance emanating from her body once again lingered in his nostrils. Xiao Chengyan paused for a moment, then gently slipped his arms under her knees and back, steadily lifting her up in his arms.
Her body was unexpectedly light, warm with the scent of alcohol and a faint, almost imperceptible, cool fragrance. Once all defenses were down, she was as fragile as a delicate jewel.
Her soft body nestled in his arms, her hair brushing against his chin, bringing a slight tickle. Gu Jinghong shrank closer to Xiao Chengyan.
Xiao Chengyan's body stiffened almost imperceptibly for a moment, and he unconsciously tightened his grip on her arm as they walked towards Chun Shen Garden.
...
The next day, morning
Gu Jinghong woke up with a sharp headache. As her consciousness returned, she found herself lying on soft blankets instead of cold glazed tiles.
A wave of dizziness made her temples throb. She propped herself up, and a heavy, dark cloak slipped off.
Dark... thin cloak...
She grabbed the cloak, and smelled the cool, refreshing scent of spikenard—the scent of Xiao Chengyan!
Fragments of memory exploded—the cold moon, strong liquor… and that figure that came stepping on the moon.
Xiao Chengyan!
He came, when she was completely drunk!
A chill instantly ran down my spine.
She rested one hand on her knee, clutching the side of her neck, fragmented images flashing through her mind: the pain of being forced to drink, the monologue under the moon... and then... she grabbed his hand!
"Your Highness's hands...are truly beautiful..."
"Distinct knuckles...like jade carving..."
"...It feels...scarred too?...Huh?...Roughened?"
Thinking of this, she closed her eyes in annoyance—good heavens! Not only had she touched King Jin's hand, but she had also commented on it like a lecherous man. What's even more terrifying is what came after "hand"—if she mentioned the hand, wouldn't she also have inadvertently revealed the secret about the secret box and her adoptive father's ability to unlock it?
Did he reveal all his secrets last night?
"Zhixin!" Her voice was hoarse and trembling, eager to know what happened last night.
With a creak, the door was pushed open.
Gu Jinghong looked closely and saw that the figure walking in against the morning light was tall and handsome—Xiao Chengyan.
He walked with a steady gait, his light blue casual clothes accentuating his broad shoulders and narrow waist. His deep gaze fell on Gu Jinghong, who was lying on the bed, pale-faced and clutching his cloak tightly.
The morning light outlined his cold, handsome profile, and an invisible pressure spread out.
Gu Jinghong's heart stopped beating, and then she pounded her fist in frustration—what was he doing here so early in the morning?!
Xiao Chengyan stopped a few steps away from the bed, his gaze sweeping over the cloak in her hands. His voice was calm and unreadable, revealing neither joy nor anger: "Awake? Is your hangover bothering you?"
His tone was so natural, as if it were just a casual greeting.
Gu Jinghong forced herself to remain calm and quickly put her cloak aside. "...Your Highness, why...are you at Chun Shen Garden?"
Xiao Chengyan's gaze swept over the cloak she had put down, and he said indifferently, "This is my cloak. I thought you might be awake, so I came to pick it up."
Gu Jinghong suddenly realized what was going on, picked up the cloak, and handed it to Xiao Chengyan.
"Last night... was it Your Highness who brought Jinghong back? Jinghong... was drunk and behaved improperly. If she has offended anyone, please forgive her, Your Highness."
Xiao Chengyan did not answer immediately.
He took two steps forward, approaching the bedside, then leaned down slightly, his gaze calmly locking onto her lowered eyelashes.
Thump-thump—thump-thump—thump-thump—
The room was so quiet that Gu Jinghong could hear his own heartbeat.
After a long pause, Xiao Chengyan slowly spoke, his voice low and steady, yet each word clear: "Last night, Jinghong... there were indeed several things that left a deep impression on me."
Gu Jinghong's heart sank suddenly, and her fingertips felt icy cold.
Xiao Chengyan's deep eyes looked at the barely concealed fear beneath her feigned composure, and a faint, elusive emotion flickered in the depths of his eyes.
His tone remained steady, yet carried a hint of something indescribable.
"Firstly, you grabbed my wrist and said, 'Your Highness's hands are so beautiful,' stroking them repeatedly, and you were quite interested in the origin of the calluses on my fingers." He stated this in a serious manner, as if he were talking about someone else.
Gu Jinghong's face flushed red with embarrassment!
It was this touch of red that made Xiao Chengyan's already slightly upturned curve even more pronounced.
“Secondly,” Xiao Chengyan continued in his steady tone, “you said that the wind was biting cold up there, and without any explanation, you took away my cloak…” His gaze fell on the black cloak that Gu Jinghong was holding in his hands, “This is it.”
...Stealing clothes? How could she be so domineering towards King Jin?
“Thirdly,” Xiao Chengyan paused slightly, his gaze deepening into her eyes, “you were leaning against the roof ornament, unsteady on your feet, and I wanted to help you down. But you…” he seemed to be choosing his words carefully, “…insisted on not walking alone, claiming that the tiles were slippery and that you needed someone to help you.”
Gu Jinghong's face was so red it was almost bleeding; she wished she could disappear into the ground! —Need someone to help her? Wasn't that a veiled accusation that she…was begging him to carry her?!
Seeing her so embarrassed that she almost wanted to shrink into the blanket, Xiao Chengyan finally stopped his statement.
He leaned slightly closer to her, his warm breath brushing against her forehead, his deep voice carrying an almost imperceptible hint of playful inquiry: "Gu Jinghong."
He called her name, his gaze locking onto her flustered, evasive eyes. Even though he called her by her full name, he still pronounced those three words in an ambiguous way.
"I really want to know, were all those things last night done in a drunken stupor, unintentional acts..." He paused deliberately before slowly uttering the second half of his sentence, "...or were you acting under the influence of alcohol, as you had in mind?"
Gu Jinghong blushed and looked up at Xiao Chengyan—completely stunned!
Overwhelmed by a profound sense of absurdity and shame, she was momentarily speechless.
However, amidst this overwhelming predicament, the taut string of his heart finally and completely relaxed.
No South Wind Secret Box!
Her hands are gone!
There is no godfather!
All he remembered were these... these "frivolous" acts that made her feel utterly ashamed!
Although the price is that her image may have been shattered in His Highness Prince Jin's heart, in fact... since entering this palace, Gu Jinghong has already done many things that damage her image, whether intentionally or unintentionally... so asking him to hug her is not a strange thing.
The secret of Qianyuan Pavilion has been preserved.
She looked at Xiao Chengyan's face, which was so close to hers. On that handsome face, which was always as cold as ice, his deep eyes seemed to have lost their usual sharp scrutiny. Instead, they held a complex and unpredictable emotion—a mixture of inquiry and scrutiny.
Perhaps... there was also a very faint hint of interest sparked by her stark contrast? And a... understanding of her current embarrassed reaction?
He seemed to be "interrogating" her, stating the most shameful facts in the most serious tone, but in reality, he was telling her in an extremely subtle way—the things you were worried about didn't happen last night. What I'm concerned about is "something else."
Gu Jinghong opened her mouth, wanting to explain, to clear her name, to say "it was all an unintentional act while drunk," but when she met his all-knowing eyes, she couldn't utter a single word.
Looking at her like this, Xiao Chengyan's lips curved into a barely perceptible smile, the curve so quick it was almost an illusion. He straightened up, resuming his usual aloof demeanor, as if his ambiguous, questioning statement from moments before had never happened.
"Now that you've retrieved the cloak, you should rest well." He said calmly, taking the cloak from Gu Jinghong and turning to leave.
"Your Highness!" Gu Jinghong called out to him almost instinctively.
Xiao Chengyan paused, turned to look at her, and asked in his eyes.
Gu Jinghong took a deep breath, suppressing her turbulent emotions, and tried to regain a sliver of clarity. Her voice was still somewhat strained: "Last night... besides these... did Jinghong say anything else... nonsense?"
Xiao Chengyan looked back at her, his deep eyes like an ancient well. After a moment of silence, he slowly said, "Drunken words under the moon are mostly ramblings and cannot be clearly heard. Miss Gu need not worry about them."
He paused, then added, his tone carrying a subtle, yet profound meaning, "It is you who repeatedly mentioned the phrase 'a lonely man,' your sorrow is quite intense."
After saying that, he didn't linger. He picked up his black cloak, turned around, and left the room.
Gu Jinghong stared blankly as he disappeared through the doorway, only snapping out of her daze when the door closed gently behind her.
"A lonely man"... Did he hear that clearly? Or... was it implying something?
Did he already anticipate what she cared about, so his earlier teasing remarks were just to comfort her?
Yes, why would someone as guarded as her tell Xiao Chengyan so much...? Could it be that she...?
Gu Jinghong's cheeks were still burning hot, but her heart was pounding even more wildly.
"Miss Gu..." After seeing the prince off, Zhixin returned to her room.
Gu Jinghong turned to look at Zhixin and asked, "Zhixin, was it the Prince who brought me back last night?"
Zhixin chuckled, covering her mouth with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "You're asking about 'carrying'? The Prince personally carried you safely back to the bed."
Gu Jinghong felt a sudden jolt; the blush that had just faded instantly returned, burning up to her ears. Annoyed, she ruffled the stray hairs on her forehead. So… that so-called “need to be together” really was true.
She buried her face in her palms for a moment, feeling utterly ashamed and indignant, before asking again in a muffled voice, "Then... Your Highness's cloak, was it also something I... insisted on keeping?"
Zhixin shook her head and said, "It wasn't you who insisted on keeping me here."
Gu Jinghong just breathed a sigh of relief.
But then Zhixin leaned closer, her voice filled with disbelief and confusion: "But miss, the prince is known for his extreme germaphobia! Just think, that cloak is covered in your smell of alcohol and sweat, and you wore it all night... Normally, the prince would have ordered it to be burned long ago, let alone come to get it himself! The fact that he came all this way to take it away in person today is truly like the sun rising in the west."
Gu Jinghong suddenly looked up—Huh?
Did he come here specifically for this purpose?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com