“Zhaozhao—”
Qiao Zhao pressed her lips together without making a sound, directly removing the aloeswood prayer beads from her wrist.
Shao Mingyuan’s eyes flickered slightly, already understanding what Qiao Zhao meant.
Qiao Zhao pulled out several handkerchiefs from the bundle she carried with her and wrapped the aloeswood prayer beads tightly, storing them in her bundle before saying, “I’m worried that if Jiang Yuanchao smells this scent, he might recognize my identity.”
Shao Mingyuan’s expression darkened slightly.
This string of aloeswood prayer beads that Zhaozhao wore was a gift from Master Wumei. Perhaps because of the long time that had passed, the scent had become very faint – you couldn’t smell it unless you were very close.
If Zhaozhao was worried about Jiang Yuanchao smelling it, did that mean they had been that close before?
That bastard Jiang Yuanchao!
Anger rose in the General’s heart, and the air around him immediately turned cold.
“What’s wrong?”
Shao Mingyuan sneered coldly: “It wouldn’t matter if he recognized you.”
Qiao Zhao looked at him in surprise.
The young general said expressionlessly: “We could just kill him.”
The corner of Qiao Zhao’s mouth twitched, and she said with a mixture of laughter and exasperation: “General Shao, aren’t you being a bit willful?”
Shao Mingyuan replied without changing expression: “We can’t let him ruin our important business.”
“He’s the prospective son-in-law of Jinlin Guards Commander Jiang Tang. If you killed him, those Jinlin Guards would chase after us like mad dogs.”
“We’re disguised now. As long as we do it secretly enough, how would the Jinlin Guards know? Though the Jinlin Guards have great powers, they’re not immortals after all. There are plenty of things in this world they don’t know about or can’t investigate.” Shao Mingyuan said dismissively.
Qiao Zhao quite disagreed: “It’s better to avoid trouble when possible. Our infiltration into Fudong to rescue Censor Xing is currently unknown to anyone, but we’ll eventually have to bring Censor Xing to the capital, won’t we? At that time, won’t Jiang Tang know we were in Fudong? If Jiang Yuanchao was killed by you, even without solid evidence, he would still have suspicions. After all, Jiang Yuanchao isn’t an ordinary person – there aren’t many who could kill him without anyone knowing.”
Shao Mingyuan listened silently to Qiao Zhao’s words. After she finished, he looked at her deeply and asked: “Zhaozhao, you don’t want Jiang Yuanchao to die?”
Qiao Zhao was baffled by the question.
To avoid making deadly enemies of the Jinlin Guards, she naturally didn’t want Shao Mingyuan to kill Jiang Yuanchao. Otherwise, why would she say so much?
Wait, this guy was acting a bit strange.
Miss Qiao looked up, meeting the man’s dark eyes, and suddenly understood.
“Shao Mingyuan,” she called out.
In the dim light, the young girl’s voice somehow carried an inexplicably alluring quality to the listener’s ears.
“Mm?” Shao Mingyuan met her gaze.
The young girl raised her eyebrows slightly and asked with casual indifference: “You’re jealous, aren’t you?”
Having his secret thoughts ruthlessly exposed by his beloved, Shao Mingyuan’s ears grew hot. He looked away and said with feigned calm, “How could that be? Am I the type of person who can’t separate public from private matters?”
Miss Qiao chuckled softly.
Aren’t you exactly that type of person?
“Alright, Zhaozhao, you should quickly remove that human skin mask. You can’t wear it while sleeping at night. I’ll also go wash up.” Shao Mingyuan fled in defeat.
Two quarters of an hour later.
Having changed into fresh clothes, Shao Mingyuan carried a quilt and began laying it on the floor.
Qiao Zhao glanced at him sideways and said lightly: “Come up here.”
Shao Mingyuan’s movements paused.
What was Zhaozhao saying?
Mm, he must have heard wrong.
Shao Mingyuan continued his actions.
Seeing this, Qiao Zhao raised her eyebrows and simply walked over directly, saying softly: “Didn’t you hear? I told you to come up and sleep.”
Shao Mingyuan had a sleepwalking expression: “Ah?”
Qiao Zhao closed her eyes and said with slight annoyance: “Shao Mingyuan, Shao Tingquan, do you want me to say it three times?”
Though this was an extraordinary situation, wasn’t this going a bit too far?
“Zhaozhao, I—”
“Come up and sleep. Your cold poison hasn’t been cleared yet, you can’t sleep on the floor.” Qiao Zhao said word by word.
“Making do for one night won’t matter.” Shao Mingyuan said with a red face.
Qiao Zhao curved the corners of her lips and asked the somewhat flustered man: “Should I listen to you or should you listen to me?”
“Listen to you.”
Qiao Zhao gave him a sideways glance, turned and walked toward the bed. When she reached the bedside, she bent down to pick up another quilt.
Shao Mingyuan’s expression changed slightly: “Zhaozhao, your body won’t be able to handle sleeping on the ground!”
Miss Qiao looked back at him, pushed the quilt further in, and tried her best to appear calm: “What are you thinking? Of course, I won’t sleep on the ground. If I got sick from sleeping on the floor, wouldn’t that be holding you back?”
Between them, aside from consummating their marriage, they had probably done everything else possible. At this point, being coy was unnecessary. To successfully rescue Censor Xing, there was nothing that couldn’t be endured.
Shao Mingyuan felt as if someone had thrown a firecracker into his mind, completely stunning him.
Zhaozhao said she wouldn’t sleep on the floor – did this mean they would sleep together? Share the same bed?
He, he was going to sleep with Zhaozhao?
Shao Mingyuan suddenly felt unable to think clearly.
Qiao Zhao quickly removed her shoes and got on the bed, pressing tightly against the inner wall and wrapping herself in the quilt. She said coldly, “Hurry up and sleep.”
Shao Mingyuan came back to his senses, still somewhat uncertain. He secretly pinched his lower back behind his back, and only when the pain came did he confirm he wasn’t dreaming. He hurriedly removed his shoes and lay down on the outer edge of the bed.
He lay straight and rigid, not daring to move.
After quite a while, Miss Qiao couldn’t stand it anymore: “You’re lying on the very edge like a dried fish – aren’t you afraid of falling off?”
If he slept like this all night, it would probably be more tiring than not sleeping at all.
“I won’t fall off,” Shao Mingyuan said. The young girl’s unique fragrance kept drifting to his nose. He secretly took a breath to calm his emotions, but found he still couldn’t stay calm. In his dizziness, his body unconsciously moved further outward.
Then came the sound of a thud as someone fell off the bed.
After the initial surprise, the young girl’s light laughter rang out, and she asked mockingly: “Won’t fall off?”
Shao Mingyuan awkwardly got up and said, embarrassedly: “An accident, purely an accident.”
Qiao Zhao turned her back and said nothing more.
Shao Mingyuan secretly glanced at the young girl who had her back to him.
For convenience, she still had her hair piled high on her head, revealing her slender, fair neck and delicate silhouette.
She was covered with a thin quilt, and he could see her waist was indented, no thicker than a handful.
Shao Mingyuan silently moved inward a bit, but didn’t dare look anymore. He turned his gaze to stare at the simple ceiling above, his heart beating like thunder.
Zhaozhao was still young; he shouldn’t be having such wild thoughts.
After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Shao Mingyuan raised his hand and slapped his forehead.
He couldn’t have wild thoughts!
The young girl was very quiet, as if she had fallen asleep.
In the tranquil atmosphere, that faint fragrance seemed to suddenly intensify, making one’s heart race and soul intoxicated just from smelling it.
Shao Mingyuan secretly glanced at Qiao Zhao again, closed his eyes, and turned over, then turned over again after a moment.
Facing the wall, Qiao Zhao bit her lip and said with barely contained patience: “Shao Mingyuan, are you making pancakes?”
“Did I disturb you?” Shao Mingyuan was quite embarrassed. He clenched his fists and said, “Maybe I should go sleep on the floor after all.”