After Qiqi left, Mu Yunjin stayed in her room. Having been busy all morning, she now felt intense drowsiness and planned to take a bath before her afternoon nap.

Mu Yunjin removed her outer robe and walked behind the screen. She initially wanted to call Zixiang to prepare some hot water, but upon glimpsing the bathtub, she suddenly felt something wasn’t right.

An image of that steaming hot spring pool flashed in her mind. Mu Yunjin smiled mischievously and, without thinking, walked out the door toward the room diagonally across from hers.

After reaching the closed door, Mu Yunjin cleared her throat and knocked.

A moment later, the door opened. Chu Li appeared to have just finished bathing as well, wearing a long moon-white robe. His hair, usually bound in a crown, now fell loosely over his shoulders.

Upon seeing Mu Yunjin at the door, Chu Li looked her up and down, noticing she was only wearing her sleeping clothes. He frowned slightly and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Mu Yunjin, with her mind full of thoughts about the hot spring pool, saw Chu Li’s scrutinizing gaze and pouted her lips, looking at him pitifully. “My hand hurts…”

As she spoke, she extended her left hand toward him.

Hearing this, Chu Li felt a pang in his heart. He frowned, reached out to lift her sleeve, and carefully examined her wound, which was indeed somewhat red and swollen.

…

…

Seeing her pouting face, Chu Li inexplicably felt a sense of heartache and pulled her into his room.

Once inside, Chu Li was about to call for Ding Xian to find Qingmeng, but Mu Yunjin grabbed his sleeve, blinking her eyes. “Sister Qingmeng said that your hot spring pool is filled with rare medicinal herbs and that I should soak in it more often…”

Upon hearing this, Chu Li immediately understood. His previously furrowed brows relaxed slightly as he glanced at Mu Yunjin sitting on the chair with a smile. He reached out and pinched her cheek.

He had genuinely worried that there was a problem with her wound, but it turned out she just had her eye on the hot spring pool.

With her face pinched and slightly painful, Mu Yunjin stared at Chu Li unblinkingly. She coughed once and said, “Why don’t you go find Sister Qingmeng for me?”

“No need. You go to the hot spring pool first. If the medicinal herbs inside don’t help heal your wound, then we’ll find Qingmeng later,” said Chu Li.

This was exactly what Mu Yunjin had been waiting to hear.

Upon hearing this, she immediately sprang up from the chair and ran toward the small door in the room. After entering, she didn’t even have time to take off her clothes before jumping into the hot spring pool.

Outside the door, Chu Li heard a “splash” from inside and sighed helplessly. He didn’t know what to do with her.

……

In the hot spring pool, Mu Yunjin leaned against the edge in delight. The warm water intensified her already strong drowsiness, causing her to yawn several times. She tilted her head and gradually fell asleep.

Outside, Chu Li sat in a rocking chair in the room, occasionally checking the time and glancing at the small door.

More than an hour had passed, and the woman still hadn’t come out.

Chu Li stood up and walked to the small door. When he reached it, he knocked gently. “Mu Yunjin…”

There was no response from inside.

Chu Li frowned and knocked again.

Still not a sound.

“Bang!” Chu Li kicked open the small door.

Inside, mist swirled around. Chu Li hurriedly approached the hot spring pool and saw two soaked undergarments lying by the poolside. Mu Yunjin was leaning against the edge of the pool, sleeping in an awkward position, her body submerged in the water, exposing her delicate shoulders and collarbone.

Looking at this scene, Chu Li pursed his thin lips slightly. He turned around, intending to find someone to take Mu Yunjin away, but hesitated. He glanced back at Mu Yunjin, his mind somewhat blank, and a strange feeling gradually arose in a certain part of his body.

“Mmm…” Mu Yunjin, sleeping comfortably, slowly woke up. Her eyes were a bit unfocused as she awakened. She rubbed her eyes and realized that she had fallen asleep in the hot spring pool.

As she raised her hand, Mu Yunjin noticed that her skin had become wrinkled and numb from soaking too long in the warm water.

“You’re awake?” A cool voice sounded from behind her.

Hearing this voice, Mu Yunjin was startled at first, then panicked and submerged her entire body in the pool. She turned around and glared at the person by the pool.

“Chu Li, I didn’t expect you to be this kind of person!” Mu Yunjin frowned.

Chu Li glanced at Mu Yunjin, then somewhat awkwardly averted his gaze. His heart was still beating rapidly. “You’ve been soaking for over an hour. This prince was worried something might have happened to you, that’s why I came in.”

“Really?” Mu Yunjin raised an eyebrow, seemingly unconvinced.

“With just those few ounces of flesh, this prince isn’t interested.” After speaking, Chu Li, seeing that she was fine, prepared to return to the room.

Mu Yunjin glared at Chu Li’s back. She wanted to get out of the hot spring pool but discovered that her legs had gone soft from soaking too long. Just as she stood up, she splashed back into the hot spring pool with a thud, struggling for quite some time without being able to climb out.

Ahead, Chu Li’s steps halted. He saw her fall into the hot spring pool and initially didn’t want to bother, but after hearing the continuous splashing of water behind him, he looked back.

His long eyelashes blinked once, his brows furrowed, and he turned back toward the hot spring pool.

Seeing Mu Yunjin splashing around in the hot spring pool, Chu Li immediately jumped in. With his long arms, he scooped up Mu Yunjin, who was lying horizontally in the center of the pool.

Mu Yunjin had swallowed several mouthfuls of hot water. Now supported by Chu Li, she coughed several times.

After helping Mu Yunjin up, Chu Li immediately removed his hand from her smooth back. The base of his ears turned slightly red, and his gaze shifted elsewhere.

Mu Yunjin caught her breath. Once she regained her senses, she bit her lip and looked at Chu Li, who was facing away from her, her small face scrunched up.

Damn, she had been seen completely naked…

……

When Mu Yunjin came out of the hot spring pool, she had changed into the clean clothes Chu Li had found for her later. Feeling her wrinkled skin from soaking too long, Mu Yunjin felt like she had lost twice over.

This wretched pool was quite harmful.

Walking into Chu Li’s room, Mu Yunjin’s face was flushed almost to the point of bleeding. She didn’t dare look at Chu Li, who was sitting in the rocking chair. At this moment, Chu Li was also looking down at a book, not raising his head.

After some thought, Mu Yunjin approached Chu Li and squatted down beside his rocking chair.

“Chu Li…” Mu Yunjin called sweetly.

An unnamed fire had been burning in Chu Li’s heart, and he couldn’t extinguish it no matter what. Now the woman who had ignited this fire in his heart was calling his name in such a tender voice. He suddenly had the urge to devour her whole.

“What do you want?” Chu Li replied irritably without raising his head, continuing to look at the content of the book, though he hadn’t absorbed a single page.

“Nothing, just calling your name.” Mu Yunjin smiled at Chu Li. Observing his still-red ears, she immediately understood that he was feeling embarrassed.

Ha, how amusing. She was the one who had been disadvantaged, yet he was the one feeling embarrassed.

So, Mu Yunjin’s mischievous interest grew stronger. She extended her finger and drew circles on Chu Li’s leg, asking casually, “Won’t you be leaving the city anytime soon?”

Chu Li hadn’t heard a word of what Mu Yunjin said. Catching a glimpse of the cunning that flashed in her eyes, and then looking at her hand, he narrowed his eyes. “Mu Yunjin, do you know what you’re doing right now?”

“What?” Mu Yunjin pretended not to know, suddenly realizing that teasing Chu Li was so much fun.

Chu Li threw down the book and stood up, grabbing her circling wrist and pulling her close to him. His other hand smoothly encircled her waist.

Their bodies were now pressed against each other, almost able to feel each other’s intense heartbeats.

Chu Li lowered his head, slowly drawing near to Mu Yunjin’s cheek. His lips curved into a smile. “On such a fine day with such a beautiful scene, shouldn’t we do something?”

“Wh-what?” Mu Yunjin immediately cowered, her heart almost jumping to her throat. Looking at the handsome face magnified countless times before her, she instinctively pressed her lips tightly together.

Chu Li smiled again, reaching out to brush aside a strand of hair that had fallen on her forehead. He moved even closer to Mu Yunjin, his left cheek against her left cheek, gently rubbing, his warm breath spilling over Mu Yunjin’s neck.

Mu Yunjin felt her legs weaken.

Feeling the hand around her waist gradually wandering, Mu Yunjin had a sense of playing with fire.

Gently pushing Chu Li, Mu Yunjin mumbled, “Let me go quickly.”

Chu Li remained unmoved.

Mu Yunjin took a deep breath, thinking that she couldn’t be so cowardly as to be at a disadvantage. Seeing that Chu Li had no intention of releasing her, she bit her lip and put her arms around Chu Li’s neck.

Rising to her tiptoes, she pressed firmly against Chu Li’s cool, thin lips…

A cool sensation with a hint of isolation was transmitted through her lips. Mu Yunjin, with her eyes open, met Chu Li’s somewhat surprised eyes, her gaze revealing a trace of victory and success.

Hmph, who’s afraid of whom!

The next second, Mu Yunjin originally wanted to move away from Chu Li’s lips, but instead, Chu Li held her head with one hand and her waist with the other, deepening and responding to this kiss.

Mu Yunjin was shocked. A sensation of biting and sucking came through her lips. Chu Li had already been aroused by Mu Yunjin into a state of unquenchable fire. Now Mu Yunjin’s sudden kiss, full of innocence and carrying a faint fresh fragrance, almost made him lose all reason.

After a while, Mu Yunjin really couldn’t breathe anymore. She reached out and thumped Chu Li’s chest. Only then did Chu Li reluctantly release her, narrowing his eyes as he watched Mu Yunjin gasping for air.

“I didn’t expect my beloved consort to be so proactive today. This prince can only comply with his beloved consort’s wishes.” Chu Li saw her lowering her eyes and reached out to caress her cheek, his eyes filled with pleasure.

Mu Yunjin felt that she must have eaten something wrong today, actually having a brain lapse to play mind games with Chu Li.

Thinking about it, although she felt somewhat embarrassed, in the face of Chu Li’s teasing, her typically proud and arrogant self thought that she couldn’t lose face.

So she raised her head, touched her swollen lips, looked at Chu Li, clicked her tongue twice, and shook her head. “Poor kissing skills. Could this have been your first kiss?”

Chu Li narrowed his eyes, his gaze cold and sharp. He stepped forward, grabbed Mu Yunjin’s shoulders, and bent down. “Hmm? Say that again?”

Chu Li felt Mu Yunjin’s body tremble.

“Wasn’t it?” Mu Yunjin courageously repeated, silently chanting to herself not to cower, definitely not to cower!

“What this prince asked was, poor kissing skills? Hmm?” Chu Li automatically ignored the second part of her statement.

Mu Yunjin tugged at the corner of her mouth, sensing a whiff of danger. So she changed her tune, displaying a sweet smile. “Not poor, how could it be poor…”

“It’s getting late, I should go back.” Mu Yunjin scratched her head, laughed nervously, and was about to leave.

Chu Li looked at her, his smile somewhat wicked. He pulled her back into his arms and looked down at her. “Since it’s not poor, then this prince will reluctantly sacrifice himself and let you try once more.”

With these words, his lips accurately found Mu Yunjin’s again. Compared to the first kiss, which still carried some coolness and chill, now Mu Yunjin could feel that Chu Li’s lips had become fiery hot, and within that heat was abundant tenderness.

Mu Yunjin felt like she was melting…

……

Mu Yunjin felt as if she had crawled out of Chu Li’s room. After experiencing three different kisses, Mu Yunjin felt that every bone in her body had turned soft.

Zixiang happened to walk into Liquan Pavilion and saw Mu Yunjin walking extremely slowly. She immediately went to greet her and exclaimed in surprise, “Young Miss, are you alright?! Why are your lips swollen and your hair disheveled?! What happened?”

“Shh, shh, shh, be quiet.” Mu Yunjin anxiously stamped her foot, gesturing for Zixiang to be silent.

In the nearby room, Chu Li heard the exchange between the two outside clearly. He touched the corner of his lips, smiling with extreme tenderness.

“Young Miss, why are your lips swollen?” Zixiang continued to ask persistently.

Chu Li walked to the door, very curious about Mu Yunjin’s answer outside.

Seeing that if she didn’t give a clear answer, Zixiang would probably question her for the entire day, Mu Yunjin casually said, “I ate too much spicy chicken. The spice made them swell.”

In the adjacent room, someone’s face completely darkened.