"Who has more right to touch my body than you?" Zheng Liang rested his hands on the desk and propped his head up with them, his lips curved into a meaningful smirk.
Yang Ning's face flushed at his suggestive words and the intensity of his gaze. She couldn't help but wonder how something as simple as applying medicine could sound so seductive coming from him.
"You said you were coming to meet me and took this tray on the way, is there something that you wanted to talk to me about?" Zheng Liang asked, snapping her attention back to him.
The question about her visit to meet him brought her attention back to the matter at hand. She needed to come up with an excuse quickly, even though she hadn't initially planned to visit him in the study.
Clearing her throat, she said, "Well, I heard that your bandage has been removed and your wound is almost completely healed."
Yang Ning's voice wavered a bit as she hastily made up her excuse. She continued, "I thought it might be uncomfortable for you to stay in the guest chamber. After all, you're used to sleeping in your bed and chamber."
Avoiding Zheng Liang's intense gaze, she cautiously added, "So, I was thinking, maybe you should return to our main chamber?"
At first, she just wanted to keep Hou Wei away from Zheng Liang and impulsively decided to take the responsibility to apply medicine to Zheng Liang's wound, but then the conversation took a different turn when he asked her about her purpose of visiting him.
It wasn't something she had planned from the start, but it was a topic she had been thinking about. However, she had never expected that she would talk about this matter so suddenly. All of this happened because of Hou Wei's unexpected presence.
Zheng Liang's lips curled up in a smirk. "So, you're requesting me to return to the chamber? Is that so?" He maintained a nonchalant expression on his face, but inwardly, he was dancing with happiness. He had originally planned to ask Master Jiang to convince Yang Ning that he had recovered, allowing him to return to their chamber.
Yang Ning stared at the settee, which was wide and spacious. She pursed her lips, thinking about what could happen in such a setup. It resembled a smaller version of their bed. Recalling his suggestive words earlier, she cleared her throat and said, "We can do it here. There's no need to go and sit there," as she stood up from her seat and approached him.
She looked at Zheng Liang, who was standing and ordered him. "Open your robe," she said, ready to apply the ointment with a small cotton ball.
Zheng Liang raised his brows at her decision to remain standing while applying medicine rather than lying comfortably on a settee, but he didn't mind. The location didn't bother him. As long as it was her, any place felt like heaven to him.
His lips curled into a mischievous smirk as he accepted her order with a nod and complied, saying, "As you wish." Slowly, he pulled open his robe, exposing his naked abdominal muscles and the dry scar where the sword had slashed him. While doing this, he didn't take his gaze off her, maintaining an intense stare that held her attention.
"Are you going to keep staring or gonna apply the medicine?" Zheng Liang said, interrupting the train of thoughts in her mind. Yang Ning, whose cheeks were crimson red, suddenly realized the kinds of thoughts that were running through her head and was embarrassed by his comment.
She cleared her throat and said, "Ah, I am doing it. Wait." She bent down to apply the ointment to his healing scar.
Although he wasn't in pain, her hands were trembling as she applied the medicine to his scars. He might not be in pain at the moment, but she couldn't help but think about when he got hurt in front of her and was bleeding profusely.
The scar might have lightened, but that scene was fixated in her memory.
Zheng Liang noticed her hands trembling, and his expression softened. He rubbed her back comfortingly and said, "It's alright. It doesn't hurt anymore. You don't need to think about it."
Yang Ning bit her lower lip, but she still couldn't help but recall that scary memory. Worried that she might hurt him again, she blew air on his wound carefully after applying the ointment. She was doing this to soothe his pain, but she didn't know that she was inadvertently giving him a different kind of thrill and pleasant pain with her gentle actions.