The white jade belt buckle was thrown onto the hard ground, shattering with a crisp sound.
Yun Si’s belt was pulled out, and her gauze skirt fluttered open like a flower falling in the wind.
She tightly closed her eyes, her body slowly submerging into the hot spring pool, her arms wrapped tightly around her chest.
With a splash, the man’s long legs strode forward, leaping in front of Yun Si.
Water droplets splashed onto Yun Si’s face, and the man’s chest was now right before her. Instinctively, she reached out to cover her face, but doing so left her body exposed.
Yun Si gasped in surprise, her palm directly covering the man’s eyes: “You… you mustn’t peek! Stay away from me!”
The man’s expression turned cold, suddenly radiating a violent aura.
Yun Si was frightened and dared not keep her hand over his eyes, trembling as she tried to move it away.
She had long noticed that the man had two completely different faces. Most of the time, he was normal, but there were moments when he would suddenly transform into another form, like a demon crawling up from hell.
Just as Yun Si was about to move her hand away, the man chuckled softly, returning to his usual demeanor. His warm hand grasped Yun Si’s slender, fair wrist.
“This isn’t bad either,” the man’s voice held a hint of laughter.
“But with my eyes covered, I can’t bathe myself. You’ll have to help me.”
Yun Si’s face, already flushed and glowing from the steam of the hot spring, turned even redder, as if about to drip blood. She stammered, “You… you…”
The man chuckled softly, as if amused that Yun Si had been angry for so long yet couldn’t even utter a single curse.
He wondered how this young girl, raised in the inner chambers, could have a heart clearer and brighter than this hot spring pool, allowing one to see right through it.
The man’s voice was leisurely: “Either I open my eyes and wash myself, or I close my eyes and you wash me.”
“You choose.”
Yun Si bit her lip: “I… I…”
After a long struggle, she gritted her teeth and said, “I’ll wash you, but you mustn’t open your eyes!”
The man’s lips curled into a smile: “Agreed.”
Since they had agreed to bathe together, Yun Si knew she couldn’t avoid it. With one hand firmly covering the man’s eyes, she picked up the cloth hanging nearby with the other, soaked it in the hot spring, and quickly rubbed it haphazardly over the man’s body.
While washing the man, Yun Si kept her own eyes tightly closed.
Until the man reached out and pinched her fair wrist: “Here… you can’t be so rough…”
Yun Si flinched as if burned, quickly retracting her hand!
She frantically tossed the cloth into the water, “Alright… alright… I’ve washed you!”
The man turned halfway, his back facing her: “This side hasn’t been washed yet.”
Yun Si bent over to retrieve the cloth she had just thrown into the water. The stray hairs at her temples were dotted with tiny droplets of water, clinging to her flushed cheeks.
As she bent over, a strand of hair fell softly. Water droplets in the hollow of her neck rolled down her damp skin and into the hot spring pool.
The skin where the water droplets slid felt ticklish, and Yun Si wiped it with her hand.
Xie Yan kept his eyes closed. Unable to see, his hearing became more acute. Even the faintest, most delicate sounds couldn’t escape his ears. Listening to those sounds, he imagined Yun Si’s appearance at that moment.
Xie Yan closed his eyes, his throat slightly moving.
Yun Si picked up the handkerchief and quickly wiped the man’s back. Even through the cloth, the heat from his back still reached her.
When it was her turn, after confirming the man kept his eyes firmly shut, Yun Si released her grip, turned her back to him, and swiftly wiped herself down.
The constant sound of splashing water ceased. The man heard Yun Si step out of the hot spring pool, dry herself hastily with a cotton cloth, and rustle into her clothes.
Once fully dressed, Yun Si turned her back to the man. “Alright, you can open your eyes now.”
The man chuckled softly, as if to say he wasn’t the least bit afraid of Yun Si looking.
Yun Si awoke to the sound of the man’s laughter, slowly opening her eyes as her gaze shifted from confusion to clarity.
The echo of his laughter seemed to linger in her ears. Yun Si abruptly sat up and immediately reached for her waist.
Her waist was empty—she felt no belt buckle, and her heart clenched tightly.
Then she came to her senses. She was wearing her sleeping garments, so naturally there was no belt buckle at her waist.
“Lu Ya…” Yun Si called out.
Lu Ya hurriedly lifted the curtain and entered. “Miss, you’re awake so early?”
Outside, the sky was just beginning to brighten. In summer, dawn came early, but Yun Si usually didn’t rise at this hour.
“Miss, would you like to go back for a second sleep?” Lu Ya asked.
Yun Si shook her head and inquired, “Where is the belt buckle?”
Lu Ya didn’t understand. “Huh?”
Yun Si’s voice grew urgent. “The belt buckle my cousin gave me—where is it?”
“It’s stored in the box. Haven’t you been wearing it every day lately?”
Lu Ya was utterly puzzled. Just last night before bed, Yun Si had taken off the belt buckle and put it away in the box. Why was she asking about it the moment she opened her eyes this morning?
“Bring it to me,” Yun Si said.
Only when Lu Ya placed the belt buckle in Yun Si’s hands and she felt its intact surface did Yun Si finally let out a sigh of relief.
The dream was just a dream.
The belt buckle her cousin had given her was not shattered.
Lu Ya grew even more confused. “Miss, what exactly happened?”
“It’s nothing,” Yun Si replied. “I just dreamed it broke.”
She instructed Lu Ya, “Put this belt buckle away carefully. I won’t wear it anymore.”
Yun Si didn’t want to see this belt buckle again.
“Yes!” Lu Ya responded brightly, assuming Yun Si treasured it so much that she feared breaking the jade buckle and thus refused to wear it.
Lu Ya covered her mouth with a smile. “The belt buckle the young prince sent—you truly cherish it, miss.”
Cherish it? Yun Si lowered her gaze.
In the dream just now, this very belt buckle had been unfastened from her waist by another man, thrown to the ground, and shattered into pieces.