◎I’m just jealous, that’s all◎

He said “Xie Minsheng,” specifically designating this particular personality.

Qinglu thought seriously for a moment, then said carefully: “If the Young Master wishes to see Xie Minsheng and not Xie Minran, there’s only one way.”

“Speak.”

“Xie Minran has been quarreling with Ji Ruifang for half a year. Every so often, he selects a maid to keep by his side, accompanying him everywhere. But he’s just putting on a show for Ji Ruifang to see. When Ji Ruifang gets angry, she summons the maid up to Xueling Mountain to serve her. However…” Qinglu frowned, “I heard that the maids who go up the mountain to serve don’t last long before being punished for making mistakes, and their bodies are eventually sent back to Liufeng Island. Only one exception – when she went up the mountain, a young man on the island claimed to be her fiancé. Ji Ruifang seemed very pleased and even personally officiated their wedding on Xueling Mountain.”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing understood immediately. Ji Ruifang summoned those maids up the mountain probably out of jealousy, while the woman who got married showed she had someone she belonged to, making Ji Ruifang happy enough to spare her.

Xie Minran probably enjoyed watching Ji Ruifang get jealous, so he kept finding maids. When the maids married someone else, he didn’t mind.

It was pitiful for those women without fiancés or husbands – they could only become white bones under the couple’s twisted games.

Thinking of this, Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but frown.

Xie Heng was displeased as well, but he didn’t pursue the matter further, only asking: “Are Xueling Mountain and Liufeng Island close?”

“Liufeng Island is the fastest route to Xueling Mountain,” Qinglu explained. “Xueling Mountain is right behind Liufeng Island. Liufeng Island has a direct stairway that leads straight to Ji Rui Palace on Xueling Mountain.”

Xie Heng nodded, tapping the table as he pondered: “When will he next select a maid?”

“The body of the previous one was just sent down from Xueling Mountain two days ago. I imagine it won’t be too long. This subordinate will go inquire immediately.”

“Good.”

Xie Heng nodded.

Seeing that Xie Heng had no other questions, Qinglu lowered her head: “If there’s nothing else, this subordinate will take her leave first. If the Young Master wishes to see me, please leave a mark on the tree by the door – this subordinate will come at night.”

“Mm.”

Xie Heng acknowledged. Qinglu bowed and stood up, then walked toward the window.

After a few steps, Xie Heng suddenly said, “Are all the people on Liufeng Island criminals?”

Hearing this, Qinglu paused, then realized Xie Heng’s identity and nodded somewhat anxiously: “Yes.”

“Go.”

Xie Heng waved his hand. Qinglu turned and leaped out the window, quickly departing under the cover of tree shadows and eaves.

After Qinglu left, Luo Wanqing turned to close the window, contemplating Qinglu’s words: “Young Master, according to Qinglu, that hairpin is the Yin Master token?”

“Yes. But only the inheritor knows the specific objects and usage methods of the Family Head tokens. When my mother was buried, the Yin Master heir Cui Changxi was already in prison. My father handled her funeral arrangements entirely.”

Xie Heng rubbed his fingertips. Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but wonder: “What exactly is the purpose of the Yin Master token?”

“The Cui clan’s Yang Master manages open affairs, while the Yin Master handles covert matters – intelligence and certain private affairs unsuitable for public knowledge. Generally, the Yin Master doesn’t marry and leave the Cui clan, but after Uncle inherited the family headship, he didn’t want to restrict everyone. He trusted my mother’s character and allowed her to marry my father.”

“Then Young Master’s parents must have truly loved each other.”

When Luo Wanqing said this, Xie Heng’s movements paused.

He hadn’t expected Luo Wanqing’s focus to be on this matter. He hesitated for a moment, then responded softly: “Mm.”

After his acknowledgment, the room suddenly fell quiet.

Everything around them was peaceful, with only the faint sound of leaves rustling in the wind outside the window.

This quite amplified their breathing sounds. Only then did Luo Wanqing belatedly realize there were just the two of them in the room.

The two of them would have to sleep through this night in the room together…

And perhaps many more nights to come.

If this were before, Luo Wanqing wouldn’t have had any extra thoughts.

The Inspector was often away on business. When she was on stakeouts at night with other male Inspectors, they had slept not just in the same room, but sometimes sprawled together on the same bed.

In her mind, Xie Heng was noble and upright. If she kept watch for him, he would never have any improper thoughts.

But now it was different.

She suddenly remembered last night’s inexplicable intimacy, and immediately felt uncomfortable.

She didn’t know what reasons or thoughts had driven Xie Heng to do such a thing, nor could she predict what Xie Heng might do next.

Last night, with life and death uncertain, she couldn’t spare a thought to consider it. Today, from her battle with Li Guiyu until now, she’d had no rest. At this moment, with the two of them finally getting a moment of quiet, Luo Wanqing pressed her lips together, thought for a moment, and felt she still needed to ask clearly: “Young Master, last night…”

“I’ll go bathe first,” Xie Heng heard her opening and directly stood up, taking new clothes and soap from nearby, saying calmly: “Have Xing Ling find someone to bring water. Bathe and rest.”

Without waiting for Luo Wanqing to say more, he walked directly to Cui Heng and Xing Ling’s room, raised his hand to slap the door, and said coldly: “Cui Junye, take your things and let’s go!”

“Ugh, so noisy,” Cui Heng took his clothes and soap, impatiently opening the door and glaring at Xie Heng. “Why such a rush to bathe?”

Xie Heng ignored him, carrying his clothes in one hand and turning around: “Let’s go.”

The two men went out to find a place to bathe. Luo Wanqing knew the conversation would have to wait until Xie Heng returned. She went with Xing Ling to find the hot water room.

As they walked, the two women discussed their experiences during separation.

“We discovered Zhou Chun was missing and hurried to find you, but there was an explosion in the cave. Cui Junye and I jumped out together, landing in a dense forest. Fortunately, Cui Junye knew some formation techniques, so we managed to reach the life-death formation smoothly.”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing nodded and only asked: “What about Magistrate Zhang?”

“Magistrate Zhang stayed in Yangzhou under the Supervision of the Supervision.”

Xing Ling explained the situation, putting Luo Wanqing’s mind at ease.

Thinking about Xing Ling’s words, Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but smile: “You and Lord Cui have become quite familiar.”

“Yes,” Xing Ling nodded, then seemed to remember something and looked at Luo Wanqing. “You and the Inspector also seem much closer.”

This comment made Luo Wanqing pause. She controlled the strange feelings in her heart, feigning composure: “Yes, Young Master is easier to get along with than I imagined.”

Xing Ling nodded absently. Luo Wanqing thought for a moment and couldn’t help inquiring: “In the past… have you been on official business with Young Master?”

“Never.” Xing Ling shook her head. “Usually only the Four Chiefs accompany the Inspector.”

“Then…” Luo Wanqing probed, “Has Young Master ever had concubines?”

“I’ve never heard of any.” Xing Ling thought for a moment, somewhat puzzled. “Why are you asking about this?”

“Nothing.” Luo Wanqing was made anxious by the question but didn’t show it on her face, only saying with feigned calm: “Just asking casually.”

Hearing this, Xing Ling didn’t believe her and looked at her suspiciously: “You wouldn’t be…”

“No!” Luo Wanqing immediately denied it. “I… I have an arrangement with my Shadow Envoy. It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“That’s good.” Xing Ling nodded, seeming relieved.

This attitude made Luo Wanqing curious: “Why? Isn’t Young Master good?”

When asked this, Xing Ling fell silent.

After a moment, she slowly said: “As an Inspector, he’s naturally the best. But as a friend or lover…”

Xing Ling silently gripped her sword hilt within her sleeve, her face calm: “Too cold-hearted.”

With that, the two reached the hot water room.

There were attendants specifically responsible for carrying water. For some silver, these people would help carry water to their rooms.

Xing Ling bid farewell to Luo Wanqing and went next door to bathe. Luo Wanqing locked the door, closed the windows, and placed her clothes in the spot closest to herself.

This way, if Xie Heng pushed open the door, she could immediately put on her clothes.

After making all preparations, she entered the bathing room and began examining her injuries.

She knew she wasn’t seriously hurt and hadn’t paid much attention before. Now, after a thorough examination confirming only some bone fractures, she finally felt completely at ease and entered the tub.

She didn’t dare soak long in the tub, only washing briefly before stepping out.

After drying the water from her body and changing into medicine and clothes, Xie Heng still hadn’t returned.

She was somewhat worried for a moment, but calculating the time, if Xie Heng’s bathing place was far, it would be normal.

So she took the opportunity to begin properly circulating her true qi for meditation, warming tendons and bones.

Bone fractures weren’t serious for martial artists like them. Moreover, since learning techniques from Zhang Chunzi, she felt her recovery speed after injuries had improved significantly.

But this wasn’t hard to understand. Zhang Chunzi’s techniques were originally for bone shaping and could promote bone regeneration and nourish tendon healing. Healing injured bodies was even simpler.

She also discovered that since learning to nourish tendons on the road to Eastern Capital with Cui Heng, especially after learning Zhang Chunzi’s mental techniques, her tendon resilience kept improving.

Her inner force was forcibly infused by Zhang Jiuran, her tendons forcibly broken open, already damaged. Logically, they should be worse than ordinary people’s. Now her tendons retained the width expanded by Zhang Jiuran but became increasingly thick and resilient.

The upper limit of true qi that tendons could bear was a person’s height limit.

Whether bones and tendons flowed smoothly was the upper limit of true qi performance.

These two factors were what people called natural talent.

After bone shaping, her tendon and bone smoothness had reached human maximum, and while her tendon width was much broader than ordinary people, but…

Could it be even wider?

When this thought arose, Luo Wanqing suddenly had a strange idea. If she forcibly expanded a little bit each day, then nourished her tendons, could she artificially forge excellent tendons like bone shaping?

Thinking of this, Luo Wanqing couldn’t help getting excited and immediately began trying.

She closed her eyes, gathered inner force in one place, accumulated it to slightly stretch open her tendons a tiny bit, then tried moving forward.

Tendons inside the human body were extremely painful, even with slight movement. Luo Wanqing spent a quarter-hour expanding less than an inch of tendon distance and was already covered in sweat from exhaustion.

She suddenly wondered – last night, Xie Heng had almost instantly washed through her entire tendon system. Wasn’t Xie Heng tired?

Was this the difference between a Grandmaster and her?

She pondered this while beginning to circulate the mental techniques Zhang Chunzi taught her, nourishing her tendons.

Nourishing tendons and bones requires entering meditation and traveling throughout the body. She closed her eyes and smoothly circulated for a full cycle, only stopping when the tendon pain ceased. She breathed a sigh of relief, opened her eyes, and raised her left hand, gazing at the half-inch of tendons she had just expanded.

Her guess was indeed correct – Zhang Chunzi’s mental techniques could indeed be used to expand tendons.

This way, if she persevered, one day she would surely become what people called a genius.

Thinking of such a future, Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but smile. She stood up to pour water, and as she lowered her head to drink, she suddenly realized something was wrong.

Where was the parasite?

Earlier, she had circulated several cycles and saw no parasites. Where was the mother-child parasite that Li Guiyu had given her?!

Thinking of this, Luo Wanqing was incredulous. She hurriedly returned to the bed and re-verified her thoughts.

After carefully examining her entire body, she finally confirmed the parasites were truly gone.

Parasites were different from ordinary diseases and couldn’t be discovered through pulse diagnosis. She wasn’t skilled in this area and rarely examined her body so meticulously. Now, discovering the child parasite was gone, she felt somewhat bewildered.

Thinking of today’s duel with Li Guiyu, she had thought Li Guiyu was being soft-hearted and felt indignant.

She wasn’t afraid of Li Guiyu being cruel to her. She had worked so hard to reach this point to become Li Guiyu’s opponent.

Every time Li Guiyu spared her was humiliation to her.

But now it seemed it wasn’t that Li Guiyu was soft-hearted – he had no choice.

Where did the child parasite go?

Thinking of this, Luo Wanqing flashed back to the scene of Xie Heng kissing her last night.

She immediately realized something, jumped down from the bed, and stood up, wanting to find someone.

But as she hurriedly reached the door and opened it, she saw Xie Heng had just appeared at the entrance.

He had changed into white undergarments, his hair wet and scattered around him. Compared to when he left, his complexion was several shades paler.

He should have taken a cold bath. His entire body carried cold moisture, but unlike usual, she had encountered him coming straight from washing in the forest before, feeling both the moisture and his body temperature. But now, she didn’t feel his usual burning temperature – like an ordinary person without inner force who had been frozen by ice water and become cold himself.

Realizing this, Luo Wanqing involuntarily gripped the door frame.

She subconsciously looked at Xie Heng’s hands—

Even at this time, he still wore gloves.

“What is it?” Having watched him for too long, Xie Heng seemed impatient and finally spoke again.

His tone was flat, without ripples.

Luo Wanqing was brought back by his question.

Everything was her speculation. At the Supervision Department, without solid evidence, it could only be speculation.

It couldn’t be taken as the truth.

She lowered her eyes, pretending to be the same as usual, saying calmly, “Waiting too long for Young Master, this subordinate worried that something had happened to you.”

“I’m fine.”

Xie Heng seemed somewhat weary. He withdrew his gaze and stepped into the room.

Luo Wanqing stepped aside to let him pass, but her gaze uncontrollably fixed on him, carefully observing every detail.

Xie Heng dried his hair as he walked toward the small couch. Sensing her gaze, he turned to look at her, frowning: “What are you looking at?”

“This subordinate sees Young Master’s complexion isn’t good,” Luo Wanqing smiled slightly, “somewhat worried.”

“Worried about what?”

Xie Heng’s tone was flat, as if he already knew the answer.

Luo Wanqing looked up at Xie Heng, seeing his expression that already knew everything, she simply spoke truthfully: “This subordinate was just meditating and discovered no parasites in my body.”

“And then?”

“Young Master,” Luo Wanqing’s gaze fell on the hand Xie Heng had pressed against her last night, saying calmly, “Could you remove your glove for observation?”

“Observe what?”

“This subordinate heard that for those afflicted with parasites, there are only three ways to remove them. Either use the mother parasite outside the body to lure the parasites away, or the afflicted person is strong enough to kill the parasites with inner force and expel them, or have a third person lure the parasites out. If luring parasites, it involves using inner force to drive the parasites within the afflicted person’s body, while both the afflicted and the lurer have wounds, wounds facing each other, using fresh blood to lure the parasites out and transfer them to the lurer.”

Speaking thus, Luo Wanqing moved her gaze from Xie Heng’s hand to his face, calmly stating her speculation: “Last night, Young Master first forcibly infused true qi into my tendons. I have a wound on my right hand. If I’m not mistaken, last night when Young Master pressed against my right hand, your wrist should have a wound.”

“You want to ask if I lured the parasites for you?”

Xie Heng calmly voiced her suspicion. Luo Wanqing didn’t respond, only staring at Xie Heng, feeling somewhat nervous.

Xie Heng nodded composedly, without any ambiguity, only saying: “It was me.”

Xie Heng’s attitude was too calm, as if it were the most normal thing. Luo Wanqing stared at him blankly, hearing him ask in return: “So what?”

“Young Master…” Luo Wanqing was somewhat at a loss when he questioned her, saying vaguely: “Young Master… why did you do this?”

“What do you think?”

Xie Heng asked in return, his tone faintly carrying some mockery.

Luo Wanqing keenly sensed that this question was like a test. If she answered wrong, Xie Heng might be even more displeased.

She didn’t dare think in messy directions for a moment, only thinking of Xie Heng’s usual style, trying to consider from an official perspective: “Young Master… Young Master knew Li Guiyu would take me away, and calculated that Cui Heng and Xing Ling would both enter the death formation. You needed to bring them out, but I had to stop Li Guiyu. You feared I might fail due to the mother-child parasite’s restraint, so you helped me remove the parasites.”

This reason seemed very logical to Luo Wanqing – she almost convinced herself.

But just as she finished speaking, she heard Xie Heng chuckle and ask again: “Then why did I violate you?”

Luo Wanqing looked up blankly and saw Xie Heng step forward with his hands behind his back, slightly leaning down. His entire aura pressed toward her as his dark gold eyes gazed at her: “Why did I kiss you?”

“This subordinate,” hearing this, Luo Wanqing pressed her lips together, also feeling some anger rise in her heart, “also wants to know the reason.”

Xie Heng said nothing. He stared at Luo Wanqing, seeing that she seemed angry. He thought for a moment, straightened up, turned, and walked toward the small couch: “Figure it out yourself.”

With that, he walked to the couch, shook out his outer garment, put it on, and lay down on the couch with his back to her, saying flatly: “You sleep on the bed. Put out the light.”

Not expecting Xie Heng to suddenly cut off the conversation like this, Luo Wanqing was stunned. She still had much to ask, but seeing Xie Heng seemed tired, after hesitating a moment, she still followed his words, extinguished the lamp, and went to find him a blanket.

After searching briefly, she discovered the room seemed to have only one cotton blanket on the bed. She turned back intending to take it from the bed for Xie Heng.

But just as she moved, she heard Xie Heng say: “I don’t need it. If you give it to me, I’ll throw it away.”

Luo Wanqing paused.

Normally, she wouldn’t think much of it, but at this moment, she belatedly realized Xie Heng’s words were somewhat willful.

This wasn’t like a superior.

If this were at the Supervision Department, Xie Heng wouldn’t tell her the result, “I don’t need it,” much less fear she wouldn’t listen and threaten her by saying he’d “throw it away.”

He would only command her, and if she didn’t comply, he would directly punish his subordinate’s disobedience.

Even though Xie Heng had never punished her, it was more because she had never disobeyed Xie Heng.

She was completely obedient to Xie Heng. Why would Xie Heng think to use “threats” to stop her?

Once doubt began, it couldn’t stop.

She sat on the bed and began pondering their earlier conversation.

She could understand his reason for removing her parasites, but why exactly did he kiss her?

If it was to divert her attention so she wouldn’t notice, but she would discover it sooner or later – what was the point of such unnecessary action?

Moreover, since coming to Jiangnan, she always felt Xie Heng was somewhat different from at the Supervision Department.

Why would he never remove his gloves?

Why would Zhuisi obey his words?

Why would he give her lip rouge and say, “May my beauty have everything as desired”?

Also, Xie Heng usually showed no emotion, and Li Guiyu had no great personal grudge with him, yet Xie Heng always carried some hostility toward Li Guiyu.

Throughout this forest journey, his decision-making was also somewhat different from his past authoritative command tone.

The Xie Heng who came to Jiangnan seemed more willful, more genuine, more… gentle.

Thinking of Mid-Autumn night’s “Guanlan is with you,” today’s light pat on the boat, and even his slightly resentful “figure it out yourself” just now.

Luo Wanqing suddenly had an extremely absurd thought.

But thinking about it, it seemed somewhat reasonable.

Cui Heng had come to Jiangnan but never appeared.

Since Cui Heng could once impersonate Qin Jue, then now…

Could he be impersonating Xie Heng?

Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but look up at the person lying on the bed with his back to her. Looking at his back’s curve, she suddenly realized he was very similar to Cui Heng’s silhouette.

Each person’s tasks at the Supervision Department weren’t allowed to be revealed to those outside the mission scope during execution. If the person before her was Cui Heng, all doubts would be resolved.

He lured parasites for her because he was worried.

He kissed her because he was angry that she disregarded everything to kill Li Guiyu.

Thinking of this possibility, her heartbeat suddenly became somewhat rapid.

She couldn’t wait to stand up wanting to verify, but feared making a mistake and offending Xie Heng.

After struggling for a long time, she finally made her decision.

She had to verify.

She couldn’t be at peace without verification.

But she couldn’t be rash. If she were wrong, Xie Heng would surely punish her severely.

Thinking this, she pretended to lie down peacefully, while on the other side, Xie Heng also opened his eyes.

Luo Wanqing lay on the bed, unable to sleep, only quietly looking at the bed curtains. After waiting about a quarter-hour, hearing Xie Heng’s breathing steady, she finally got up.

She quietly walked to the incense burner, replaced the incense with sleeping incense, waited a while more, calculating the timing should be about right, then turned and walked toward Xie Heng.

Xie Heng lay curled on his side on the bed, hands at his side. In sleep, he lost his usual cold hostility, unusually quiet and gentle, like moonlight fallen on the couch, cold yet soft.

She instantly saw another person’s shadow in him, her heartbeat involuntarily quickening.

Even facing a possibly “fake” Xie Heng, she still couldn’t help being nervous and afraid. Since entering the Supervision Department, Xie Heng’s lofty cat-and-mouse games with her had lasted too long, long enough that she instinctively feared Xie Heng.

Fortunately, the sleeping incense gave her courage. After hesitating a moment, she finally gathered courage and reached toward Xie Heng’s hand.

She had once compared Cui Heng and Xie Heng’s hands at the Supervision Department. Faces could be disguised, but hands did many things daily – no skin could be disguised on hands long-term.

She only needed one look at Xie Heng’s hand to know the result.

Her hand slowly explored toward Xie Heng’s hand, and her breathing deliberately stopped. Just as she was about to touch his wrist, a sudden change occurred!

Swift wind arose suddenly. Xie Heng quickly turned and rose, the outer garment on him flying like feathers.

As the garment blocked her vision, Xie Heng grabbed her wrist, stopping her from touching him.

But things were already done. Luo Wanqing didn’t intend to retreat. Her expression sharpened as her other hand directly struck toward Xie Heng’s wrist bone. In just moments, the two had exchanged several moves in their struggle. Xie Heng suddenly pulled her onto the couch, using shoulder force to flip and pin her onto the couch. As his garment fell back on him, he steadily pressed her hands at her sides.

Xie Heng breathed shallowly as he supported himself above her, both hands holding her wrists, using his entire body to restrain her.

Luo Wanqing listened to his breathing, feeling a drop of water fall from his hair onto her collarbone.

This drop was somewhat cool, yet still burned her heart tight.

She slowly looked up, seeing the person above her with wet, long hair scattered messily around them, wearing a loose garment that fell around both of them. In the night, his face was pale as a ghost’s, beautiful and eerie. Her eyes moved slightly, but she only said: “Young Master, you have no inner force.”

During their brief exchange, Luo Wanqing discovered Xie Heng had no inner force at all, winning purely through technique.

If not severely injured, it wouldn’t be like this.

Hearing her counter-question, Xie Heng didn’t answer, only threateningly tightening his fingers around Luo Wanqing’s throat, coldly threatening: “Killing you would be enough.”

“Young Master needn’t be nervous,” hearing Xie Heng’s warning, Luo Wanqing softened her voice, lying to comfort him: “This subordinate means no harm. I was only worried about Young Master’s safety and wanted to check your pulse.”

“You can’t discern truth from my pulse.” Xie Heng coldly discouraged her.

But Luo Wanqing didn’t give up, only looking steadily at him, insisting: “Could Young Master let this subordinate see clearly what’s true and false?”

When these words came out, Xie Heng fell silent.

Though it was just about pulse reading, at this moment, he felt it had a deeper meaning.

“Why?” He couldn’t help asking, “Whether true or false, do you care?”

“I care.”

“Care about what?”

Xie Heng stared into her eyes, seeking an answer.

Luo Wanqing didn’t speak. Xie Heng smiled mockingly: “You…”

“I care about Cui Guanlan.”

Luo Wanqing suddenly spoke. Xie Heng’s voice stopped.

Luo Wanqing stared into his eyes, reaching to remove the glove from his hand beside her.

“I care where he is.”

The glove was completely removed, revealing a hand white as jade with distinct knuckles.

Luo Wanqing pressed her lips together and reached into the person’s garment.

The youth’s breathing immediately became heavier, muscles tensing. Luo Wanqing followed his abdomen to his back, touching his scars. Her expression changed as she said hoarsely: “I care who he is.”

Speaking thus, Luo Wanqing carefully felt his wounds, identifying their shape and location.

Xie Heng couldn’t speak. He arched his spine like a silver-white cat crouched low with head down, breathing increasingly heavy, ready to pounce.

Luo Wanqing felt along his wounds while pressing toward his pulse.

Upon checking his pulse, Luo Wanqing knew his condition.

It was a pulse very similar to Cui Heng’s – hundreds of poisons accumulated in his bones. But compared to before, he had suffered serious injuries. His tendons were empty, true qi unable to circulate at all.

If this were an ordinary person, such a pulse should have meant death long ago.

She didn’t know why he was still alive, but she knew such a pulse wouldn’t belong to a second person.

She suddenly felt her eyes sting, staring at the person before her, saying hoarsely, “I care whether he is you.”

Xie Heng didn’t speak immediately. He hung his head, water droplets falling from his hair. His gaze followed the droplets down, looking at the person beneath him with long hair scattered like water grass, clothes disheveled and spread open.

He looked at her pale, slender neck and delicate, small collarbone, seeing a hollow at the collarbone where water droplets fell and filled like dew on lotus leaves. He felt her caress his chest and neck.

She explored inch by inch, stroking his cheek, threading into his hair. Finally, Luo Wanqing felt a raised area in his hair. Xie Heng pressed down on her hand.

Luo Wanqing was finally certain.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

Luo Wanqing insisted, gripping his pulse that was so weak it didn’t match the person before her. Feeling pained, she said: “The one who came to Jiangnan was you, who gave me lip rouge was you, who lured parasites for me was you, Cui Guanlan.”

She was asking, but already had the answer. She looked at him with heartache: “So Zhuisi would follow you, so you would be close to me, so you always wore gloves to hide your identity, so you would lure parasites for me yet fear I’d know and divert my attention…”

Luo Wanqing stared steadily at him, seeking an answer: “Isn’t that right?”

“No.”

Xie Heng spoke hoarsely.

Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but laugh, carrying some mockery: “No? If not you, why would you lure parasites for me? Why would you kiss me? What feelings do Young Master and I have…”

“It’s jealousy.”

Luo Wanqing was stunned, seeing the youth before her raise his eyes.

He seemed to have pretended to be Xie Heng too long, his eyes still carrying Xie Heng’s domineering coldness, but had also recovered some of the brightness and gentleness unique to Cui Heng.

He looked at her shocked expression and spoke calmly: “There aren’t so many reasons, Xiniang.”

Speaking thus, he moved his hand from her throat to her wrist, lowering his head to capture her lips.

“I’m just jealous.”