About an hour later, Gong Jiu heard Gong Yunxu's voice in his Sea of Consciousness.
“Prepare a set of clothes and come in.”
Gong Jiu hurriedly lowered the hands covering his ears and walked toward the carriage. From inside, he took out a clean set of white ceremonial robes made of heavenly silk.
“I'll go, I'll go.” Gong Shiyi volunteered eagerly.
Gong Jiu shot him a sidelong glance, then personally carried the clothes inside.
He pretended to look straight ahead, while secretly darting his eyes around.
There was no one in the water pool. Could it be that they had taken their wild romp ashore?
“Where are you going?”
The voice came from the side. Gong Jiu was startled and hurriedly turned to look.
He saw Gong Yunxu completely naked, wrapped only in a layer of white radiance.
As if electrocuted, Gong Jiu instantly lowered his head and raised the clothes in his hands above his head. “Master, your clothes.”
Gong Yunxu took the clothes from his hands and leisurely put them on.
Gong Jiu hesitated, then raised his head. His pupils abruptly widened as he stared in horror at the red palm print on master's left cheek.
Good heavens, someone had actually dared to slap master!
“Does it look good?” Gong Yunxu asked ominously.
Gong Jiu jolted and quickly lowered his head. “This subordinate saw nothing.”
“Clean everything up. Return to the temporary palace.” Gong Yunxu turned and walked outside.
The water pool was surrounded by strange rocks and had a maze formation set up around it. Ordinary people could not enter in the first place.
Gong Jiu was certain that they had checked when they came; there had been no outsiders near the water pool, much less any women.
But where had the girl in master's arms earlier come from?
And where was that girl now?
Gong Jiu looked left and right, but did not see any trace of a girl.
Gong Yunxu's voice drifted over. “Since you like this place so much, why don't I leave you here for the night?”
Gong Jiu immediately straightened his back and hurried to catch up with master's stride.
The guards stationed outside poked their heads around curiously. When they saw the palm print on Gong Yunxu's face, their expressions were not much better than Gong Jiu's.
Gong Yunxu snorted coldly, and all the guards quickly looked away, pretending they had seen nothing.
He lifted his foot and walked toward the carriage.
Gong Jiu followed closely behind him.
“Go clean up. You don't need to follow me.”
Gong Jiu stopped in his tracks. “Yes.”
Gong Jiu lifted the curtain and sat inside.
The left half of his face burned with pain. He took out Ice-Skin Jade Dew, dabbed some onto his cheek, inhaled lightly, and sighed sorrowfully, “You heartless girl, This Seat kindly saved you, yet you still had the heart to strike this peerlessly beautiful face.”
Outside the carriage, Gong Jiu led the others back to the water pool. After cleaning up everything nearby and making sure nothing had been left behind, he returned outside the carriage.
The group hurried toward the mountain's temporary palace beneath the afterglow of the setting sun.
…
Gu Qingyun strode along a small mountain path, her expression far from pleasant.
Scene after scene of their passionate encounter in the water flashed through her mind.
She angrily struck the trunk of a tree beside her with her palm.
Damn it!
She did not want to think about it, but she could not control herself.
How dare that man…
She knew that he had been trying to save her, but the thought of him having touched nearly every part of her body made it impossible for her to calm down.
What infuriated her even more was that her body had uncontrollably responded to a strange man. Even though the enchantment poison had played a part, she still felt utterly humiliated.
Damn it!
If only she had known, she should not have held back from the beginning. She should have simply pinned him down. That would have been better than letting him take every advantage and make her lose all face.
That slap could not dispel her fury at all, but she was no match for him and could not kill him!
Next time—if she encountered him again, she would definitely teach him a lesson!
“This tree hasn't offended you, has it?”
Suddenly, a voice came from above her head.
✦✦✦