CH 40.1

The mattress slightly sagged, and the sound of Yu Yuan’s breathing came from behind her.

Yan Mu shrank back, a little uncomfortable. She somewhat regretted her hot-headed decision.

But remembering Yu Yuan’s body covered in scars, Yan Mu couldn’t open her mouth to refuse.

So, Yan Mu decided to pretend to be asleep with her back facing Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan didn’t lean too close to Yan Mu, he was about ten centimeters apart from her. Their skin didn’t touch, but Yan Mu could clearly sense the teenager’s breath sprinkling on her ear, creating a tingling itch.

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Inexplicably, Yan Mu felt her ears burning up. Her ears reddened and her body slightly trembled from this torturing itch.

She bit her lip. Finally, she couldn’t hold back anymore and turned around to face Yu Yuan.

In the dark, Yan Mu couldn’t see the teenager’s face clearly. Naturally, she didn’t know how close she was to him.

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“……Xjyu.”

Yan Mu couldn’t see Yu Yuan’s expression, but hearing his agreement, she sighed in relief.

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Yan Mu wrapped herself into a ball and slept with her back facing Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan turned his head away. A lock of Yan Mu’s hair crossed the pillow and landed on his side. 

He carefully grasped her hair with his fingers and gently stroked it. Yan Mu was unaware of it, her breathing was long and steady.

Yu Yuan’s eyes drooped. He quickly lowered his head and sniffed that lock of black hair.

It was still that sweet smell. But it seemed to carry another scent.

Yu Yuan’s lips curled into a satisfied smile. He held that lock of hair and quietly closed his eyes.

**************

The next day, when Yan Mu opened her eyes, Yu Yuan was no longer in bed.

She opened her eyes, somewhat confused, and suddenly realized a serious problem. 

……Father Yan always wakes up early to do farm work, so he wouldn’t have found Yu Yuan and me sleeping together, right?

Yan Mu was instantly startled sober.

She washed up as fast as she could and went to the main hall.

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In order to entertain Chu Cong, Father Yan had killed a chicken. Yu Yuan was dealing with the chicken blood and Chu Cong was watching with curiosity. 

They’re quite harmonious, and don’t look like they’ve been fighting.

Yan Mu was relieved and waved to Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan saw her and spoke a few words to Chu Cong before coming over.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Yuan had grown a lot taller lately. 

He was originally only half a head taller than Yan Mu, but now he was a full head taller.

Yan Mu remembered that the height she had set for Yu Yuan was 1.8 meters.

It seems like my kid is keeping up with his nutrition, and he’s growing up fast.

Yan Mu was innerly relieved.

“About us……” Yan Mu glanced at the two people and asked in a low voice, “They didn’t find out, right?”

“I went out early, Father Yan didn’t see,” Yu Yuan paused for a while before continuing, “But Chu Cong, he knows.”

“Then he……” Yan Mu’s heart tightened.

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“Originally, he was going to tell,” Seeing Yan Mu’s panicked1 expression, Yu Yuan secretly laughed mischievously, then said with a straight face, “Then I threatened him. If he dared to tell, then when his family comes looking for him, I’d tell them that Chu Cong was afraid of rats.”

“Pfft,” Yan Mu laughed, “You did the right thing.”

Chu Cong was a teenager with strong self-esteem, and had always been proud of his status as the son of the Empress, so he’d never allow anything that could discredit him to get out.

Seeing that Yan Mu was not displeased, and even smiled, Yu Yuan immediately sighed in relief.

As expected, only Yan Mu would accept his true self. Yu Yuan’s gaze grew gentler.

Father Yan finished cleaning up the chicken and was about to boil soup, but realized that they were out of ginger. It was hard to preserve raw meat in summer, so he sent Yan Mu out to buy some.

“Uncle, I’ll go with her,” Yu Yuan said.

Considering Yan Mu’s personal safety, Father Yan nodded.

Seeing Yu Yuan and Yan Mu making eyes at each other2, and remembering Yu Yuan’s disregard to his misfortune3 yesterday, and his threat today, Chu Cong was suddenly furious.

“Uncle, I want to go with them too,” Chu Cong said.

He only said he wanted to see the scenery in the village. He was a guest, so naturally, Father Yan wouldn’t ask him to stay at home to help, so Chu Cong smoothly stepped in between the two of them.

Yu Yuan coldly glanced at him, and Chu Cong’s heart jumped.

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But when he remembered that Yu Yuan was just a commoner, his faint fear instantly vanished.

He could finally see that Yan Mu was Yu Yuan’s bottom line. For anything that had to do with her, Yu Yuan would lose his mind. 

Chu Cong held a grudge against Yu Yuan for threatening him, and was determined to not let Yu Yuan off easy. Wherever Yan Mu went, he followed, not giving Yu Yuan the slightest chance to get close to her.

Yu Yuan’s eyes grew colder and colder, but it wasn’t good to flare up in front of Yan Mu. Seeing that Yu Yuan’s face was turning blue from holding back, Chu Cong’s heart instantly felt better.  

The two of them arrived at the shop selling ginger, trying their best to outpace the other. When Yan Mu looked up, she was instantly dumbfounded to see who the seller was.

It was actually her male classmate who placed the caterpillar in her drawer. Her classmate was also surprised to see Yan Mu. He saw the two people beside her and instantly had a look of realization on his face. 

“Yan Mu, you’re here to get back at me for placing that caterpillar, right?” the student sneered, “You’re pretty good. Usually looking well-behaved, when it turns out that in private you’re two-faced.”

“You privately investigated me well when you went back, right? You even figured out that I’m helping out at my aunt’s shop, you’re really scheming,” the more the student spoke, the more worked up he became.

“……What caterpillar?” Yu Yuan perceptively sensed that something was wrong.

His eyes looked at Yan Mu’s bandaged hand, as if thinking of something, then his eyes turned towards the student, suddenly becoming ruthless.

“Stop pretending,” their classmate looked disgusted, “When Teacher found out that I caused your hand to swell up, he suspended me from school for three days. What else are you not satisfied with?”

……

Yan Mu supported her forehead.

She felt like she was losing control of the situation, so she rushed to speak before things got out of hand, “You misunderstood, we just came to buy ginger.” 

“Hmph,” the student snorted, “I’m not selling to you.”

Yu Yuan didn’t say anything, but his eyes grew colder and colder as he looked at him. An oppressive feeling that penetrated deep into his bone marrow caused the student to almost instantly break out in a cold sweat.

He straightened his back, as if to rally himself, and stubbornly said, “How unlucky to see you and Yu Yuan, and you also brought a sissy along, I’m not selling to you!”

Chu Cong was puzzled4 as he watched on the sidelines. Although he didn’t know what was going on, he was perceptive enough to extract the main point—— that the person in front of him had bullied Yan Mu and also called him a sissy.

How outrageous! How dare a lowly commoner insult the prince!

Chu Cong was angry. I’m a fine and elegant gentleman, not a sissy!!!

He always wanted to stir up trouble5. Besides, he had received the favor of the Yan family, so naturally, he wouldn’t let this matter go so easily. Also, worst case, he still had his identity as a prince to protect him. Who would dare to touch him then?