Ji Bozai raised an eyebrow as he entered the room and looked around. Just as he was about to call for someone, he heard a soft moan from behind the bed curtains.
“My Lord has returned?” she asked hazily.
The curtain parted to reveal the beauty, soft from sleep as if waking from a spring dream. Her face was flushed, her chest heaving noticeably.
He sat on the edge of the bed with an enigmatic smile, glancing at her shoes. “Didn’t Matron Xun say you were up?”
She lowered her eyes. “I felt unwell, so I lay down again for a while.”
“Oh? Then why are you sweating?” He reached out to touch her forehead with concern. “Are you ill?”
After running so frantically, it would be strange if she wasn’t sweating.
Mingyi took two quick breaths and nestled against his hand, whimpering. “I had a nightmare. I dreamed that My Lord had found a new love and didn’t want me anymore.”
Ji Bozai chuckled softly. “How could that be? Yi’er is so charming, who could please me more than you?”
If she hadn’t just witnessed the scene in the study with her own eyes, she might have believed his sweet talk.
Secretly wiping the sweat from her brow, she smiled innocently. “I knew My Lord was the best.”
Ji Bozai looked down at her, finding her quite amusing.
The little girl was skilled in martial arts, yet she played weak and coy in front of him. Her background was so clean, yet her behavior was so strange. It was hard not to think of that person in the inner court.
Could there be something in his study at this villa that the Grand Seer wanted?
Concealing his thoughts, Ji Bozai breathed his wine-laced breath into her face. “If you don’t want to get up, then sleep a while longer.”
The alcohol mingled with an unfamiliar scent of rouge, assailing her nostrils.
Mingyi frowned, then relaxed her brow, coyly pleading, “My body aches terribly, all because of My Lord. I can’t sleep anymore now. I should get up and help My Lord bathe.”
Her small hands pushed against his chest, unable to hide her disgust.
Realizing her lapse, she was about to make amends when she saw him look down at her hands. Instead of being angry, he chuckled softly. “I used to think women’s jealousy was most unappealing, but now I see it depends on the person.”
Startled, Mingyi’s back stiffened.
What did he mean? Whose jealousy? The woman in the study earlier? By saying this, had Ji Bozai discovered she’d been to the study?
She quickly glanced at her embroidered shoes beside the bed, inevitably stained with dirty moss from the roof tiles.
She was done for.
Defeated by the details.
She thought, pale-faced, would he kill her? After all, with his martial prowess, slapping her to death would be effortless.
But the man before her smiled with gentle eyes, even showing some indulgence. He didn’t seem angry.
What was going on? Did such an important person not suspect anything after discovering someone had intruded into his study?
Or did he not know why she had gone there?
Various thoughts flashed through her mind. Mingyi steeled herself and decided to cover her face and sob. “My Lord, I tried my best.”
She wept pitifully, as if on the verge of breakdown. Her small voice choked, and she burst into tears, not seeming forced but rather pitiful.
Ji Bozai was puzzled. “Tried your best at what? Why are you crying out of the blue?”
“I knew from the start that My Lord dislikes jealous women. Before coming here, I prepared myself thoroughly, vowing not to show jealousy no matter what I saw. But… but I never imagined that jealousy is something that simply can’t be hidden.”
She lowered her hands, her face already streaked with tears, her eyes filled with a thousand grievances. “I’m just a roadside flower My Lord casually plucked. I had no grand illusions, only wanting to spend a few passionate days with My Lord, keeping some memories to sustain me for the rest of my life. I never thought that after just one day, My Lord would already have a new love.”
“I wanted to pretend I didn’t know, but My Lord, when I heard you had returned to the study, I went there specially to wait for you. Who knew I would stumble upon… upon…”
She covered her face and wept bitterly, her shoulders trembling like delicate grass in the rain.
Ji Bozai gently patted her back. “You went to the study? Why didn’t Matron Xun know?”
“My Lord’s status is noble, and the study is an important place. Ordinary matrons aren’t allowed there. I, basking in your initial favor, got carried away and snuck over, wanting to give My Lord a surprise… oh…”
“If you snuck over, where did you hide?”
“On the roof beam. Since childhood, I followed my father to climb mountains and gather herbs. That study has a long table and stacked curio shelves, easy to climb… oh…”
She sobbed intermittently, then looked up and glared at him. “Even at this point, My Lord still asks where I hid. My Lord truly doesn’t care about me!”
Her glare was righteous, with a touch of girlish petulance, leaving Ji Bozai momentarily bewildered.
Could he have misjudged her?
Looking at her palms, he asked, “Have you scraped calluses off here?”
The mention only made the little girl cry harder. “Of course I did. Back home, cutting grass and chopping wood left a bunch of calluses. The matrons in the inner court said noblemen wouldn’t like that, so they had me use a small knife to scrape them off bit by bit. It hurt so much. I never thought that even after scraping them off, I still wouldn’t be liked… oh…”
When she cried, she abandoned all decorum. Her eyebrows and eyes scrunched together, looking as pitiful as could be. Anyone soft-hearted who saw her would cry along with her.
Ji Bozai pondered for a moment, then softened his expression. “Alright, stop crying. I do like you.”
“You like me but bring someone else back? How long has it been?” She looked at him with red eyes, utterly wronged. “I wasn’t expecting forever, but couldn’t we even last a month or two?”
After her outburst, she felt she had no right to complain since she had accepted his money. She hung her head. “In the end, it’s all up to My Lord. My Lord can favor whoever he wishes.”
With that, she turned her back to him, her head against the wall, her silhouette sulky.
Ji Bozai was amused by her antics. He laughed and pulled her back into his arms. “It was just a casual dalliance. Why take it to heart? She’s Prince Gong’s person. I had to bring her back anyway. But in this courtyard, it’s just you and her. She certainly can’t bully you.”
Well, well. Eating from one bowl while eyeing another. When men want to be fickle, they have a thousand reasons.
Mingyi was rolling her eyes internally, but outwardly she could only look at him pitifully. “Really? My Lord just brought her back, not to sleep with her?”
“I only sleep with you.” He stroked her hair, teasing her chin.
Mingyi felt ticklish and dodged slightly, whimpering, “My Lord mustn’t hurt me like this again. You don’t know how I felt when that door opened. My heart nearly shattered.”
It nearly shattered from the fright he gave her.
She touched her chest, still fearful.
Fortunately, Ji Bozai was lustful enough to let her ask a few more questions. If he had been more suspicious and immediately dragged her down to beat her to death, she would have been completely helpless.
“Your heart shattered? Let me rub it for you.” He laughed, continuously comforting her in a low voice, not pursuing the matter further.
It wasn’t that Ji Bozai was careless. This villa wasn’t his main residence, so he wouldn’t keep anything important here. If Mingyi truly had a mission, she wouldn’t have searched the study in this villa.
He was only curious about one thing now: was her claim of not knowing martial arts true or false?