Looking at Jingrong lying on the bed, wrapped up in a bundle of bedding, he looked just like a wriggling caterpillar.

Yet it didn’t make one feel disgusted!

On the contrary, he was extremely cute.

However, Ji Yunshu’s face was full of helplessness. If one were to discuss the thickest-skinned person in the world, Jingrong could be said to deserve that title without question.

“Get up.” She called out.

“…”

No response.

Ji Yunshu said again, “It’s already so late. Either go back to your residence, or go back to your own room. This bed is too small—it can’t accommodate both you and me.”

“…”

Ji Yunshu gritted her teeth and called out, “Jingrong!”

“Mm?” As if he had only just heard her, he slowly poked his head out from under the quilt, revealing those charming eyes. Then he pulled the quilt down further, exposing the roguish smile at the corners of his mouth, and said, “The weather is cold. Let’s sleep together. The bed is small, so I’ll just hold you.”

“Shameless.”

Though Ji Yunshu was accustomed to this, she still gave him a fierce glare.

Forget it, forget it!

“If you want to sleep here, then sleep. I’ll go to another room.”

Having said this, she was about to leave, but just as she turned around, her wrist was seized by a force. With a forceful pull backward, her originally slender body fell backward accordingly. In an instant, she fell steadily into a broad and comfortable embrace.

Just as she was about to struggle, her shoulders were pressed down. Before she could exert any strength, Ji Yunshu was pushed down onto the bed.

Jingrong took advantage of the momentum and rolled on top of her.

Pinning her beneath him!

The distance between them was as thin as paper.

The position was suggestive!

Ji Yunshu could only place both hands against her chest, pushing at him. To no avail, she could only clutch at the bundle of clothing at her chest, glaring at Jingrong with eyes blazing with fire.

Displeased, she said, “Stop fooling around. Get up quickly.”

“It’s already so late. What’s the point of getting up? Better to rest early.”

His tone was frivolous!

“If you continue like this, I’ll get angry.”

“This prince just loves seeing you angry.”

“You…” Ji Yunshu’s face turned slightly red from his teasing, her words caught in her throat.

This fellow had both the emperor’s romantic ways and the sweet nothings of men everywhere.

Seeing her face flush with a faint red, Jingrong narrowed his peach-blossom eyes, the corners of his lips curving upward slightly, staring at Ji Yunshu’s watery eyes.

He said, “Don’t move.”

Leaning down!

Seeing his lips about to touch hers, Ji Yunshu immediately turned her head to the side. As a result—

Jingrong’s lips landed beside her earlobe. Warm breath also emanated from the tip of Jingrong’s nose, rolling across her neck, causing a tingling sensation.

She tensed her neck. The hand clutching the clothing at her chest also tightened into a fist. She pressed her lips together without speaking.

At this, Jingrong smiled and pressed even more brazenly against her delicate earlobe, saying tenderly, “Yunshu, this prince wants to cling to you for a lifetime.”

“…”

“This prince is not young anymore. It’s time to establish a family and career, to propagate descendants.”

“Who wants to propagate descendants with you?”

“You plant the sapling, and this prince is only responsible for watering it each time. The matter of making the sapling branch out and propagate—naturally that must be left to you.”

“Nonsense.”

The corners of Ji Yunshu’s lips twitched as she shot him a look.

A man’s mouth, when in bed, was like it had been coated with candied fruit—sweet enough to kill you without mercy.

Jingrong happened to catch her little glance. He hooked out a finger, gently lifting her chin, and kissed her at the corner of her eye.

Domineeringly, he said, “Yunshu, only when by your side does this prince feel he is truly alive.”

These words carried sincerity within their depth of feeling.

Ji Yunshu’s heart was always made to tickle by such words from him. The hand clutching the bundle of clothing at her chest also loosened somewhat. Her almond-shaped eyes looked at him with a gentle curve, looking at his sharply defined face—as if finely carved from ice, his stern brow revealing the charm of a mature man.

Jingrong couldn’t help but extend his long, slender fingers, gently caressing her full forehead, brushing the stray hairs at her temples, then touching her curved, delicate brows, then her eyes, her lips…

Then he leaned down once more, his thin lips pressing against Ji Yunshu’s crimson lips. This time, Ji Yunshu didn’t push him away but met him instead.

Between their lips, they gently lingered.

Growing more intense, like fire!

…

The next day, Ji Yunshu woke up in Jingrong’s embrace.

The two of them, just like before, had merely loosened their clothing and slept through the night.

Ji Yunshu rose from the bed with light hands and feet, straightened her slightly disheveled clothing, tucked the corners of the quilt around Jingrong, and only then left the room.

Who would have known that just as she left the room, Jing Zhaoyin came hurrying over.

With a fawning, ingratiating, yet anxious expression.

It must be said, Jing Zhaoyin really did resemble that muddleheaded fool Liu Qingping.

Wide and rotund in build, about the same height, even that face eager to please others was the same.

As soon as Jing Zhaoyin arrived, Ji Yunshu knew it wasn’t good news.

That old saying still held true—no one visits a temple without a reason, no one speaks of related matters without a request. What’s more, this early in the morning, for Jing Zhaoyin to run to Zhuxi Garden, it must be a very urgent matter.

Jing Zhaoyin walked over, clasping both hands in respectful greeting. “Master Ji.”

“Why has Your Honor come so early? What matter brings you here?”

“Trivial matters, trivial matters.” Jing Zhaoyin asked with concern, “Did Master rest well last night?”

“Quite well.”

“The weather has been changeable lately. Master must take good care of yourself.”

“Many thanks for Your Honor’s concern.”

…

They rambled on about all sorts of things.

Jing Zhaoyin licked his parched lips. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down for quite a while before he stammered awkwardly, “Master Ji, this official knows you are currently investigating the Linjing Case and cannot spare yourself, and moreover the Linjing Case is urgent. At this time, if…”

He paused!

Really not knowing how to broach the subject.

Ji Yunshu said, “Your Honor, if you have something to say, you might as well speak directly. If it’s not something too difficult, I won’t decline.”

“This matter is indeed somewhat difficult.”

Ji Yunshu did discern his thoughts. If it weren’t a particularly thorny matter, Jing Zhaoyin definitely wouldn’t have come to find her today.

Could it be he wanted to play matchmaker for her?

Or perhaps some young lady had taken a fancy to her and wanted Jing Zhaoyin to come discuss it?

Jing Zhaoyin hesitated for a long while before speaking with difficulty.

“Actually, it’s a murder case from three years ago.” His expression grave, he continued, “Just a few days ago, a woman came from Yufu County. She came to my Jing Zhao Bureau and submitted a written appeal, accusing the county magistrate of Yufu County of accepting bribes and wrongly deciding the case, causing her daughter to die unjustly while the murderer went free. In the years since the incident occurred, that woman traveled all the way from Yufu County submitting appeals to overturn the case, but she had no connections. So she traveled all the way from Yufu to the capital. Because she didn’t follow proper procedures, the Court of Judicial Review wouldn’t accept it, so she came to me. She submitted it several times back and forth. Really having no other option, and that woman truly being very pitiful, therefore, this official accepted that written appeal.”

He clearly laid out the whole story from beginning to end.

So it turned out—

He had come to find her to solve a case.