Bathe and change… tonight… she wants him?
Jian Yi suspected he had misheard. Were those words truly spoken to him by Jiu’er?
“Why are you standing there looking so dumbstruck? Hurry up and go bathe and change! I have no desire to share a bed with some grimy man.”
Feng Jiu’er eyed him with undisguised distaste.
Share a bed… with him!
Those words, Jian Yi finally understood with complete clarity.
Heat rushed across his face, spreading all the way to the tips of his ears, blazing hot — a deep crimson flooded his features.
“You… what outrageous nonsense are you saying!” His neck went rigid. He had thought himself composed enough, but in truth his face was flushed scarlet, his ears burning, his heart hammering.
Was this the sort of thing a young lady ought to say?
This was not the first time he had heard such words. Back in the palace, Feng Qingyin had implied similar things on many occasions.
But the feeling then and the feeling now were entirely different.
Back then, his only instinct had been to feel irritated — to want to put distance between them.
And now… why did he have this urge to grab this girl by the head and shake her thoroughly, to make her come to her senses?
Had her mind gone soft?
“What is outrageous about it? Are you not here to enter the consort selection? Since you are entering the selection, coming to win my favor directly — is that not far easier than trying to win over anyone else?”
Feng Jiu’er strolled over to the chair nearby and sat down, swinging both feet, blinking at him.
“Come on then, hurry up and charm me.”
“Enough of this nonsense!” Jian Yi had not anticipated that this girl, after losing her memories, would become so utterly shameless in her words.
He understood that Feng Jiu’er was keeping him here and having him enter the consort selection for some purpose of her own.
But hearing words like these still left him deeply unsettled, his mood stirring in ways he could not quite account for.
“Stop talking rubbish. What exactly is your meaning?” He stepped toward her, closing the distance.
Jiu’er had already grabbed a piece of fruit and was nibbling on it with casual indifference.
“Exactly as the words say. Can you not understand? You stay and enter the selection — become my consort, my husband.”
“Feng Jiu’er, you must not — must not say such things!” That fine face was immediately flushed even deeper than before.
This little fellow — a few words in and he blushed like that. How easy he was to tease.
She leaned forward against the chair’s armrest and blinked at him: “May we speak properly now?”
Jian Yi exhaled with relief — she had finally returned to normal.
He stepped closer and nodded.
But Feng Jiu’er gestured for him to sit beside her.
Jian Yi complied and sat down at her side — and no sooner had he sat than she grabbed and pulled him toward her.
“You—” Jian Yi did not dare resist with full force, afraid of losing control of his strength and injuring her.
She was, at present, completely without any inner energy.
“What on earth do you want to say?” Jian Yi frowned. The two of them pressed close together at such a near distance — he could even catch the distinctive scent from her.
It was nothing like the smell of incense or fragrances. It was something entirely particular, a scent that was distinctly and unmistakably Feng Jiu’er.
He had caught it before too — that time he had carried her, badly injured, as they made haste on the road.
Now that he smelled it again, his face went an even deeper shade of red.
“Don’t… come so close. A man and a woman should maintain their proper distance.”
“Please! You are so hopelessly old-fashioned. Who is talking about closeness? I have no intention of getting close to you in that way.”
“…” Could this person not speak like a normal human being for once? His face was close to bursting a blood vessel!
Though — what exactly was a blood vessel?
“You will likely not be able to go out for the next few days.”
Feng Jiu’er’s sudden seriousness gave Jian Yi’s tightly wound heart a chance to finally unclench.
“Why not?” He raised an eyebrow, then said: “Is it because of the formidable people behind your Imperial Father?”
“You sensed it too?” Though Feng Jiu’er understood nothing of martial arts, she could still feel it — that palpable, bone-deep chill, that icy and oppressive presence, the overwhelming weight of that existence.
Every time she visited her father’s side hall, she seemed to feel it.
There were certainly formidable fighters at her Imperial Father’s side, and within the palace, who knew how many more there were.
Jian Yi was undoubtedly already a person of close surveillance at this point. Going outside now would be far too dangerous.
“Moreover, it was on the premise of entering the consort selection that Father permitted you to stay. Father must certainly believe that your nature and intentions are ones he can trust.”
Of course, the way Feng Jiu’er phrased it was tactful enough — she did not say outright that her Imperial Father was willing to keep him because he found Jian Yi too simple-minded to pose any threat.
When she thought about it, this fellow was rather entertaining — his thoughts were so uncomplicated that even a deeply calculating person like her Imperial Father could feel at ease leaving him around.
That was probably also why he had been taken in by Feng Qingyin back then.
She took another bite of her fruit, and was just about to say something when something flashed through her mind with a sudden jolt.
She stared at Jian Yi, utterly taken aback: “Who is Feng Qingyin? What is her relationship to you? Is she your beloved? You have a beloved? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Jian Yi stared back at her, even more astonished than she was: “Did you not forget your past? How do you know about Feng Qingyin?”
Feeling somewhat slow to catch up, he began to explain: “Feng Qingyin did me a great kindness once. She is not my beloved, and I do not wish to die.”
And yet he still had not worked out what possible connection there was between whether Feng Qingyin was his beloved and whether he wanted to die.
Feng Jiu’er gave a dismissive hum and rolled her eyes at him: “Regardless, I believe that I knew all of you people before.”
These fragments of memory that surfaced in her mind from time to time — she was growing almost accustomed to them now.
The only trouble was that they still could not connect into a coherent whole. Her memories remained incomplete and disjointed.
But such things could not be rushed. She believed her condition was improving, and that given enough time, she would remember everything completely.
The more pressing issue at hand was that, before her memories returned, she needed to settle these people somewhere safe — and figure out why she had lost her memories in the first place.
Was it an accident, or was it done deliberately?
If deliberate, then she must be on guard. Her Imperial Father and the people around him were all suspects.
“Why did you suddenly mention—”
“Hush.” Feng Jiu’er suddenly raised one finger to her lips, gesturing for him to be silent.
She had caught a medicinal scent — the same scent she had noticed on Yanu earlier that day.
Though Yanu had bathed and changed clothes upon returning, a medicinal scent was extremely difficult to fully remove. It took several days.
And she had a particular sensitivity to medicinal scents — she could detect them from far away.
Jian Yi also heard the sound of someone approaching. The words on the tip of his tongue were instantly swallowed back.
“Come here.” Jiu’er took hold of his large hand and pulled him toward the bed.
“What for?” Jian Yi followed in bewilderment, completely unable to keep up with her reasoning.
“Sit down, quickly!” Feng Jiu’er pushed him with force.
Jian Yi had no choice but to obediently sit at the edge of the bed.
But Jiu’er was still unsatisfied and shoved him once more: “Lie down.”
Jian Yi was full of confusion, but someone was clearly approaching at this very moment. Unable to make sense of Jiu’er’s plan, he could only do as she said.
What he had not anticipated was that the moment he lay down, this reckless girl stepped up and draped herself across him…