Though the cave wasn’t exactly narrow, that was relatively speaking. When a tall, well-built man suddenly squeezed inside, he immediately filled up the entire space.

Qiao Zhao found herself pressed against the stone wall on one side and leaning against the man’s body on the other, with nowhere to escape.

The man’s distinctive masculine scent instantly enveloped her completely, wrapping around her tightly.

“Shao—”

Shao Mingyuan immediately covered her mouth with his hand and whispered low, “Don’t speak. Someone’s coming.”

Someone?

Qiao Zhao’s heart tightened.

After that great fire, the Qiao family’s grand residence had become an ominous place. Who would come to such a location for no reason?

Could it be people from County Magistrate Wang’s faction who had followed them?

Filled with alarmed uncertainty, Qiao Zhao instinctively looked up at Shao Mingyuan, accidentally bumping into his chin.

The man’s stubbled chin touched her smooth forehead, creating a tingling, electrifying sensation.

In the darkness, because their eyes couldn’t see anything, their other senses became extremely sensitive. In that moment, they both heard the sound of heartbeats.

Thump thump thump—the heartbeat sounds had nowhere to hide in the small stone cave, impossible to distinguish whose they were.

Qiao Zhao calmed herself and raised her hand to write in Shao Mingyuan’s palm: “What kind of people do you think they might be?”

“Hard to say.” Shao Mingyuan similarly wrote in her hand.

“Not County Magistrate Wang’s people?”

“No one followed us when we came.” Shao Mingyuan wrote back.

Qiao Zhao asked no more questions.

Since Shao Mingyuan said so, she trusted that he had at least that much capability.

The footsteps drew closer. Qiao Zhao listened intently and suddenly discovered that the approaching person was heading straight for the cave.

She couldn’t help but grip the hand of the man beside her tightly.

“Don’t be afraid.” Shao Mingyuan wrote.

The young woman wrote back with her other hand: “I’m not afraid. I’m thinking about whether you’ll need to kill them to silence them after we’re discovered.”

Shao Mingyuan silently curved his lips.

So he had worried for nothing. That made sense—the girl beside him had dared to touch terrifying corpses in the mortuary, so how could she be afraid of living people?

The footsteps grew even closer, stopping not far from the cave entrance. Soon, a young woman’s voice could be heard: “How annoying! I told you not to go there!”

“San Ni, if we don’t go there, where else can we go?” came the pleading voice of a young man.

Qiao Zhao’s eyes flickered slightly.

Judging by their voices, this pair of man and woman should be quite young, no more than twenty years old.

“Anyway, don’t go there. Have you forgotten? Last time there was a snake inside—it nearly scared me to death!”

“But you said the other places were too frightening with all that blackened, burnt appearance. Dear San Ni, let’s still go into the cave. It’s not easy getting out here like this—”

“Hmph, then let’s just go back! You keep saying you’re fond of me, but you only think of yourself—” The woman’s voice suddenly rose sharply. “What are you doing? Put me down quickly!”

“Don’t hit me, don’t hit me! I’ll listen to you. We won’t go into the cave—how about by this water pool instead?”

The woman snorted but said nothing more.

Outside, suddenly became quiet.

Qiao Zhao frowned tightly, feeling quite displeased.

What were these two people sneaking around her family’s ruins for?

Cave, poolside—they could even change locations at will. From this, it had nothing to do with her and Shao Mingyuan’s purpose for coming here tonight.

Those two had brought a lantern, so there was faint light outside the cave that allowed those hiding in the darkness to glimpse something of the situation.

Qiao Zhao couldn’t help but peer outside, but before she could make out what was happening, the man beside her pulled her back.

“I want to see what they’re doing.” The young woman raised her finger and quickly wrote in the man’s broad palm.

Just as she finished writing the last stroke, a woman’s cry suddenly rang out from outside—short, high-pitched, with an ending note that was utterly charming and seductive.

“San Ni, San Ni, you’re so beautiful. I think of you every day until my heart aches…”

Qiao Zhao’s face suddenly flushed red.

She wasn’t stupid—she certainly understood now what the people outside were doing.

And she had just asked Shao Mingyuan about it!

Thinking of this, Miss Qiao wished she could bash her head against the ground.

She had truly lost all face for this lifetime!

A pair of large hands suddenly covered her burning ears, blocking out the unseemly sounds from outside.

The man gently wrote on her cheek with his little finger: “Good girl, don’t listen.”

There was light outside, quietly spilling in a few rays.

After adapting to the dark environment, borrowing this faint light, Qiao Zhao could barely make out the appearance of the man beside her.

He sat upright, his expression focused as he covered her ears, his face very serious, yet his ears were tinged with a suspicious flush.

The large hands covering her ears seemed to be getting hotter and hotter.

Miss Qiao blinked her eyes.

So he was covering her ears to prevent her from hearing, but he was catching every single word of those chaotic sounds from outside?

This was truly unfair.

Thinking of that short, charming cry from the woman outside, Qiao Zhao felt an indescribable mixture of emotions. Without hesitation, she raised her hands to cover Shao Mingyuan’s ears.

She lifted her little finger and, mimicking Shao Mingyuan’s earlier action, wrote on his cheek: “Have you heard enough?”

The man’s face reddened as he obediently nodded.

The hands covering his ears were too hot, burning him until he felt at a loss, able only to carefully hide his distinctly masculine awkwardness in the darkness.

His hearing was too keen—the sounds from outside could still penetrate through those small hands into his ears.

Shao Mingyuan thought: it was already an autumn night, so why was this artificial cave getting hotter and hotter? It must be because it was too cramped.

The sounds outside grew louder and more passionate, increasingly causing faces to flush and hearts to race. Unable to bear it any longer, Shao Mingyuan grabbed a small stone beside him and shot it out.

The tiny stone accurately struck the buttocks of the man who was lying on top of the woman, working diligently.

The man suddenly jumped up: “Who’s there?”

“What’s wrong?” The ultimate pleasure had left the woman’s mind completely blank, making even her reactions sluggish.

The man’s face was deathly pale: “Someone just hit my butt!”

“How could someone hit your butt? There’s only the two of us here—” The woman’s words stopped abruptly mid-sentence, and she asked in a trembling voice, “Could there be… a ghost?”

“Stop talking, let’s go quickly!” The man hastily pulled up his pants and went to pull the woman.

The woman cried in fright while getting dressed: “It’s all your fault, insisting this place was safest. I said this place was too scary—”

“Stop crying and let’s go!”

Outside, finally, became quiet. Shao Mingyuan lowered his hands.

“Have they left?” Qiao Zhao raised her hand to rub her ears.

Just now, this person had blocked her ears so completely that she hadn’t heard even the slightest sound, leaving her ears numb.

“They’ve left.” In the darkness, Shao Mingyuan’s voice was somewhat different from usual.

“You—”

“Be good, don’t speak.” The man’s voice lacked its usual clarity, carrying instead a few notes of hoarseness as he pushed her outward a bit.

Unfortunately, the artificial cave was too cramped, and the young woman’s soft, fragrant body was still pressed tightly against him.

Shao Mingyuan silently thought that torture more unbearable than cold poison was like this.

He couldn’t resist it, yet he was willing to endure it sweetly.

“Zhaozhao…” he called out.

“Mm?”

The young general sighed low: “I feel rather uncomfortable.”

“What’s wrong?”