At this moment, about three meters behind Pei Wuheng, within a dense grove of small bamboo.
Ji Yunsu stood rigidly in place, her two stick-thin legs stiff, her entire body tense as if she had been acupunctured. She dared not move an inch!
Earlier, she had mistakenly entered the bamboo grove and, under the hazy moonlight above, vaguely spotted a hot spring ahead, realizing she had come to the wrong place.
So, she immediately turned to leave.
But then, she accidentally stepped on a dry twig and snapped it.
A man’s deep, magnetic, and icy voice shot into her ears like a sharp arrow, domineering and unyielding.
Ji Yunsu’s heart pounded wildly. She truly hadn’t expected that on such a cold winter night, someone would have nothing better to do than soak in an open-air hot spring.
Tsk, tsk, tsk, how utterly shameless!
“I have already seen you. Come out at once!”
Just as Ji Yunsu was inwardly grumbling in annoyance, the man’s authoritative command echoed in her ears once more.
Hearing this, the corners of her mouth twitched beneath the veil covering her plump face.
Seriously? Could her luck be any worse?
The first time she sneaked into the Royal Manor, she had to run into its owner!
Heavens, this was no joking matter!
“I will count to three. If you do not crawl out by then, I will order my guards to shoot you full of holes.Pei Wuheng’s narrow phoenix eyes flickered with shadows as he coldly spat out words like shards of ice from his pale, paper-thin lips—pale due to the onset of the Chill Poison within him.
In truth, any servant of the Ninth Prince’s Residence knew that when the Wangye soaked in the hot springs at the back hill, no one was permitted to attend to him.
Even Zhan Yi and the other trusted Rakshasa Thirteen Guards had to find places to hide far away, never appearing within the vicinity of the hot springs.
However, Ji Yunsu was an outsider; she was unaware of these rules.
Driven by self-preservation, her eyes darted around, and she immediately blurted out a bold, fabricated excuse.
“Wangye, please don’t shoot! This humble maid was ordered to attend to Your Highness’s bathing and changing!”
The woman’s voice was clear and crisp, as melodious as a oriole’s song.
Upon hearing her response, a cold glint flashed briefly in Pei Wuheng’s unfathomably deep phoenix eyes before they narrowed slightly.
Pei Wuheng had his back to Ji Yunsu.
From her position, she could only see the man’s broad back muscles through the misty steam, illuminated by the moonlight above.
A faint, sinister smirk curled on his cold, transcendent immortal-like face as he murmured, “If you are here to attend to me, why were you sneaking around?”
“Wangye, this maid wasn’t sneaking. I had just arrived at the bamboo grove when your astute perception detected me.”
Ji Yunsu deliberately pitched her voice, feigning the timid demeanor of a lowly maid in the presence of her master, casually spinning her tale.
She thought to herself that since this Ninth Prince hadn’t continued to threaten her with violence, he probably hadn’t grown suspicious of her claimed identity as a maid.
Thus, Ji Yunsu fully embraced her new role as a manor maid, lying smoothly without a single stumble.
Hearing this, Pei Wuheng, soaking in the hot spring, slightly raised his distant-mountain-like thick eyebrows and murmured,
“Come here and scrub my back.”
Scrub his back?!
Usually, nobles of such high status like a Wangye should be the type who are tsundere to death, with such extreme mysophobia that they won’t even let others touch them.
So why is he so generously allowing a maid to scrub his back?
This lady has no proper tools at hand—how am I supposed to scrub his back?!
Could it be that I’m expected to use my bare hands?!
Ji Yunsu’s expression, hidden behind her veil, was incredibly vivid.
At the moment, she was utterly overwhelmed.
Mother’s Qi Yu Nanzhu Cao was still unresolved, and she couldn’t afford any complications now—she had to keep her composure!
“What are you standing there for? Come here.”
The man’s deep, magnetic voice, brooking no argument, suddenly rang out.
Ji Yunsu shuddered all over, gritted her teeth inwardly, and resolved to take the plunge—fortune or misfortune, she couldn’t avoid it now, so she’d just go for it!
Having made up her mind, Ji Yunsu shuffled her steps, walking out of the small bamboo grove step by step toward the mist-shrouded hot spring.
Pei Wuheng casually rested his long arms on the edge of the pool. Sensing the woman’s footsteps drawing nearer behind him, his cold, transcendent immortal face, which revealed no emotion, gradually grew colder.
At that moment, his two slender, bony hands resting on the pool’s edge were secretly gathering internal energy.
He was ready to subdue her swiftly the moment she got close!
“Wangye, this servant suddenly remembered that I accidentally dropped the bathing supplies for serving you on the way here. Perhaps I should go retrieve them first…”
“No matter. This prince permits you to use your hands,” Pei Wuheng coldly interrupted.
Hearing this, Ji Yunsu felt as if thunder had struck her. Gazing from a distance at the man’s robust back, her temples throbbed wildly.
No way! The esteemed Ninth Prince of the Great Qian Dynasty, the Emperor’s most favored son—is he really this unrefined?
He’s even letting a maid use her bare hands? Tsk, could he have some peculiar fetish?
Could it be that he wants to pull her into the water for some intimate play?!
“Come here.” Pei Wuheng’s patience for lying in wait was gradually wearing thin. Noticing that the woman of unknown origin behind him was still hesitating to approach, he coldly urged her again.
Ji Yunsu lightly bit her pink lips inwardly. To avoid exposing herself, she had no choice but to play along temporarily and humor this perverted Ninth Prince’s peculiar fetish!
“Wangye, this servant’s hands are rough and might hurt you. Please grant me immunity from punishment first, and only then will I dare to use my hands.”
Ji Yunsu pretended to be coy, putting on an affected, fearful tone as she spouted nonsense.
A faint flicker passed through Pei Wuheng’s deep phoenix eyes, and he sneered inwardly—this female assassin certainly had plenty of tricks up her sleeve!
“This prince grants you immunity.”
Hearing this, Ji Yunsu inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as if granted amnesty, then mustered her courage and walked to the edge of the hot spring pool.
From afar, she hadn’t been able to see the Ninth Prince’s physique clearly.
But now that she was closer, the first thing Ji Yunsu noticed was his two long arms stretched out straight.
His bulging muscles were perfectly combined, with smooth, flowing lines.
Following the line of his arms upward, she saw his broad shoulders, where the trapezius muscles rose high, domineeringly pushing aside the pool water as they pressed tightly against the hot spring’s edge.
“Gulp~~”
Just his back alone was enough to spark endless fantasies.
Ji Yunsu’s eyes flickered twice, and she unconsciously swallowed. If the back view was this captivating, wouldn’t the front be even more of a feast for the eyes?
As if guided by some supernatural force, Ji Yunsu suddenly had an impulse to catch a glimpse of the Ninth Prince’s true appearance.
So, gathering her courage, she pretended to reach out and massage the man’s back, while subtly shifting her weight toward the hot spring pool and leaning closer.
At that very moment, Pei Wuheng, who had been soaking in the water waiting for the right opportunity to act, narrowed his eyes slightly!
He moved!
With a sudden “splash,” Pei Wuheng’s tall figure lunged forward abruptly!
Instantly, his latissimus dorsi muscles, which had been pressed against the edge of the hot spring, left the pool’s boundary!
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”
Ji Yunsu hadn’t expected the man with his back to her to suddenly take a large step forward!
Her body met empty air, and in that moment, she lost her balance entirely, tumbling into the hot spring with a “plop!”
“Cough, cough, cough!”
Ji Yunsu was no swimmer. The sudden fall into the water made her choke on several mouthfuls, and she immediately panicked.
So much so that she failed to notice the hot spring pool wasn’t actually deep.
Had she kept her composure, she could have stood on tiptoe in the water and raised her head above the surface.
But when non-swimmers realize they’re at risk of drowning, how could they possibly stay rational!
At once, Ji Yunsu began flailing her arms and legs wildly!
“Cough, cough… I can’t swim… cough, cough… Help… me!”