Shen Qiyuan’s profile in the moonlight was luminous as beautiful jade, the firm arc of his nose bridge making one unable to resist reaching out to caress it.

—Ruyi thought this and indeed reached out her hand, but before she could touch him, her paw was slapped away.

“Ow.” She withdrew her hand with petulant blame, her beautiful eyes glaring at him.

The coachman outside belonged to Prince Yong’s manor. Hearing the sound, he asked with concern: “What’s wrong, miss?”

“It’s nothing,” Ruyi replied. “Please let me off at Worship God Street.”

The coachman acknowledged and drove even faster.

Due to inertia, Ruyi’s body fell backward, pressing closer into his embrace. Without thinking, Shen Qiyuan supported her shoulder and glared at her with annoyance.

Ruyi felt indignant. Who was the one who had snuck onto her carriage? Now he was playing the righteous gentleman with her? Even looking like a banished immortal wouldn’t work.

She shrugged off the outer robe draped over her shoulders.

Only then did Shen Qiyuan notice that not only was this person wearing a man’s robe, but underneath she wore only a gauze garment so thin her skin showed through. The rope ties on her shoulders were slender and crimson red, looping from her chest to the back of her neck. Her small waist curved enticingly, and the small of her back formed a perfect hollow that could hold wine. Further down…

He suddenly averted his gaze and tried to push her away.

However, the moment his hand reached out, this person entangled herself around him. Her scalding skin pressed against his chest, her lotus-white arms pinning down his wrists. Her red lips were brilliantly alluring as she leaned close to his ear and whispered: “Call out once, and I’ll let you go.”

Call out what? He frowned.

Knowing he wouldn’t, Ruyi smiled like a cat, slowly moving close to his ear and demonstrating with a soft hum.

Coquettish and charming, melodious enough to make one’s heart tremble.

Shen Qiyuan’s spine instantly stiffened.

This person, this person was truly…

In the darkness, no one could see whose profile was red as the evening glow. He struggled desperately to break free from her, but this person used demonic power. Her tiger’s mouth gripped his wrist while she pressed him down onto the soft cushion with one hand on each side. Her toes also turned, separating and pinning down his legs.

“Liu Ruyi.” He spoke extremely softly, yet his tone was filled with gritted teeth, ashamed and furious to death.

She acted as if she hadn’t heard, longingly inhaling the mint fragrance from his body, her eyes slightly hazy: “You seem like someone I know.”

Shen Qiyuan froze.

He suddenly looked up at her, but only saw the turbid desire in her eyes.

Demons were bloodthirsty, lustful, driven by desire, and temperamental. Everything opposite to the divine way was her favorite, regardless of who the person beneath her was.

His heart tightened. He turned his head away, light emanating from his hands. In the next instant, he could overturn her.

However, in that instant, she suddenly bit open his collar and kissed his shoulder.

—That was where she had injured him. It was actually fine now, but being suddenly kissed by her made it ache faintly.

Shen Qiyuan’s Adam’s apple moved with difficulty, and the light in his hands extinguished.

Are you feeling sorry for me?

He wanted to ask this, but the question was too foolish—he couldn’t voice it.

His eye sockets felt somewhat hot, and he closed his eyes.

When Ruyi looked up, she saw a bit of crystalline brightness hanging at the corner of Shen Qiyuan’s eyes. Combined with his face so pale it glowed even in the darkness, and that fatal tear mole at the corner of his eye, it was simply impossible not to unleash one’s bestial nature.

She panted roughly and propped herself beside his ear: “My lord, please don’t cry. If you do cry, I can’t guarantee we’ll still be able to get off at Worship God Street.”

Outside, the bustling sounds of Worship God Street’s commerce could already be faintly heard.

Shen Qiyuan sat up, his expression calm, with nothing at the corner of his eyes, as if the earlier loss of control was merely Ruyi’s hallucination.

He removed his outer robe to give to her.

Ruyi didn’t accept it, first smiling as she asked the coachman to help carry the chest to the alley entrance ahead.

The coachman responded and went.

She turned back, teasingly saying to him: “How can joy in one’s heart be disguised as indifference, Lord Shen?”

“I feel no joy,” he said with a stern face. “I simply had no way to avoid it.”

“Oh, is that so?” She smiled knowingly, gathering the layer of gauze around herself and rising to get off the carriage.

The person behind her frantically pulled her back onto the seat, grinding his back teeth as he said: “Put it on.”

“My lord’s robe isn’t as good-looking as Prince Yong’s,” she pouted.

Forcibly pulling the sleeves onto her and tying the waist sash, Shen Qiyuan was nearly dying of anger: “How can there be someone as shameless as you in this world!”

“Then why does my lord like me so much?”

“Like hell I do,” he said viciously.

Laughing aloud, Ruyi extended her hand from his wide sleeves and gently touched his lips.

Shen Qiyuan was startled. Before he could react, this person’s lips pressed down on his.

Soft sensation, turning and twisting repeatedly.

His mind exploded with thunderous sound. He sat rigidly in place, bewildered as he looked at his panicked reflection in her pupils.

What was this?

Fragrance moistened the corners of his mouth. Someone embraced his waist, bringing them even closer together.

Ruyi seemed to be tasting some fresh delicacy, having gotten a taste for it and going deeper, the smile at the corners of her mouth lingering long.

“I told you it shouldn’t be that hard.”

After a long while, she withdrew and got off the carriage, looking back at him ambiguously: “In fact, it’s quite soft.”

Shen Qiyuan came to his senses, his brows furrowed tightly as he raised his sleeve to vigorously wipe his lips.

What did she take him for? A young gentleman from Shuyi Wine House?

Absurd!

He strode down from the carriage and followed her.

Night had deepened. Ruyi didn’t want to enter through the main door and wake Fuman, so she planned to lift the chest hiding Tinglan through the window.

Who would have thought that halfway up, someone pressed down on her chest lid.

Ruyi barely managed to stand on the first-floor eave tiles, looking down at him with mixed laughter and tears: “Does my lord wish to die for love? This humble woman fears she cannot accompany you.”

Shen Qiyuan ignored her, gripping the second-floor window sill with one hand and cupping the back of her head with the other, suddenly pulling her entire person close.

Ruyi still held the enormous chest in her arms. The two of them approaching each other was quite strenuous, but he didn’t care. He stubbornly leaned forward and bit her lip corner hard.

The pain made her frown. Ruyi’s body swayed, and she nearly fell. Shen Qiyuan was quick-eyed and fast-handed, pressing against the chest and pulling her back along with the momentum.

She clicked her tongue with displeasure: “My lord should see where we are.”

“You didn’t look where we were just now either,” he said flatly. “Why should I care so much?”

Well then, a dignified Lord Zongzheng was playing rogue with her, was he?

Ruyi hummed with laughter: “I just love seeing my lord’s reckless appearance. Since that’s the case, please come inside with me and finish what we didn’t complete earlier.”

Hearing this, Shen Qiyuan wanted to withdraw his hand, but glimpsing the smile in this person’s eyes, he paused and forced himself to stand in place, pursing his lips as he said: “Fine.”

She raised an eyebrow, tilting her head to examine this person who was fierce on the outside but timid within, the smile in her eyes deepening: “What I want to do is not limited to kissing. Is my lord willing for that too?”

“…It’s nothing significant,” he straightened his spine, feigning casualness. “If you, a young lady, aren’t afraid, how could I be afraid?”

“Excellent!” Ruyi lifted her chin toward the window. “My lord, please.”

Shen Qiyuan glanced at the tightly closed window. Just as he was about to ask how to open it, he saw the carved flower window panels open by themselves with a creak.

“Lord Shen, Master,” Zhao Yanning stood inside the room, politely bowing to them both. “Your bridal chamber is perhaps next door. Please trouble yourselves to walk a few more steps.”