The cruel little princess

Compared to the silence of Shen Youyou and His Royal Highness Prince Jin, An Er was in dire straits.

At first, An Er tried to stop An Yi and the others from disturbing the prince, but after they had waited for half an hour, the sky grew so dark that the road was almost invisible. With a heavy rain approaching, the prince and Miss Shen showed no sign of leaving the mountain. An Er then instructed An Yi to act like the big brother of the secret guards and go to the prince and ask him and Miss Shen to leave the mountain as soon as possible, as the heavy rain would make the mountain path difficult to navigate.

Upon hearing this, An Yi realized it was indeed the case. As the chief of the secret guards, he was naturally destined for such a heavy responsibility! So, An Yi went to report to the prince. However, after quietly circling the mountain twice and not seeing the two of them, he only saw a broken section of rope on the cliff. He panicked. He immediately pulled out a flare and fired it into the sky. In less than a cup of tea, all the secret guards had gathered before him.

"The prince is missing!" An Yi ordered in a low voice, "Miss Shen is also with him! I suspect they fell off a cliff. Nineteen, you are the best at Qinggong. Hurry back to the camp and report to General Shen, and have him increase vigilance! He doesn't need to worry about Miss Shen's safety. The rest of you, follow me down the mountain to find the prince and Miss Shen!" At the critical moment, An Yi was still very reliable. He gave orders repeatedly and remained calm in the face of danger. "It's going to rain soon. We must find the prince and Miss Shen before the rain gets heavier!"

"Yes!" the secret guards answered in unison. A small group continued to search the mountain for clues, while the other group followed An Yi to find a way down the cliff. Raindrops as big as beans fell densely, and the mountain was completely dark, making it impossible to see one's hand in front of one's face. This made their search even more difficult. Because it was dark and raining heavily, they didn't know the road conditions below the cliff, and the mountain was slippery after the rain, so they couldn't use their Qinggong skills to directly descend to the bottom of the cliff to search. They could only send someone back to the barracks to get hemp ropes, and then connect them to see if they could reach the bottom of the cliff to search.

Shen Duanfang, in the military camp, was shocked to hear that his daughter and the prince were missing. His first reaction was that the Qinglong Kingdom had sent people to abduct them! He immediately issued an order to the army to assemble and prepare for battle at any time! A solemn and murderous atmosphere filled the military camp!

In the cave, Prince Jin and Shen Youyou had no idea that their disappearance would ignite a major war! Prince Jin was mulling over how to bring up the matter. He absolutely wanted to take responsibility for her, but he was also afraid of being accused of disrespecting her, as he had been last time. So, Prince Jin kept carefully choosing his words, trying to figure out how to open his mouth without causing her any offence.

"Cough... cough..." Before he could speak, he started coughing violently again.

Shen Youyou was startled and didn't want to pay attention to him, but seeing that he was coughing as if he was going to cough out his lungs, she was a little worried about him, so she hurried over and patted his back gently to help him breathe. She took his pulse by the way. Except for the fever and some pneumonia, he was basically fine and had no internal injuries. But the herbs she collected were just those, and they were basically all for cleaning wounds and stopping bleeding. Oh, and there was also Dendrobium officinale! She suddenly remembered that she was collecting Dendrobium officinale before falling off the cliff! Dendrobium officinale can enhance the body's immunity. Although it seems a bit of an exaggeration now, she still gave him some. After all, she had collected quite a few.

Shen Youyou, feeling a bit pained, pulled out the Dendrobium officinale she had painstakingly harvested from her bag. She hadn't had time to prepare it yet, mainly because, given the current situation, she couldn't. "Here, this is the Dendrobium officinale that caused you and me to fall off the cliff. It can moisten the lungs and kidneys, improve eyesight and strengthen the waist, and enhance the body's immunity. Just eat some raw!" She showed the Dendrobium officinale to His Royal Highness Prince Jin, then took it to the cave entrance to rinse it in rainwater, and brought it back to him.

As Prince Jin listened to her talk about the benefits of Dendrobium officinale: "It nourishes the lungs and kidneys, improves eyesight and strengthens the waist..." he felt she hadn't fully grasped her meaning, but he couldn't quite grasp what she was trying to say. Before he could ponder, Shen Youyou stuffed the Dendrobium officinale into his mouth. "Chew more," she instructed.

Looking outside, it was already dawn. "I don't know what's going on in the military camp. Will my father be worried about me..." Shen Youyou felt a touch of warmth in her heart when she thought of her father's concern.

"Youyou." His Royal Highness Prince Jin also mustered up his courage, "I apologize to you for being so careless just now. It was my fault for scaring you. But as a normal man, I can't remain calm when I see the woman I love in front of me. Now that I have seen the one I love, how can I not be happy? Youyou, I... I love you!" He took a deep breath and finally said what was in his heart, "Youyou, I want to grow old with you! In this world, there is only you, and only you! I am willing to be with you for the rest of my life!" After speaking, he stared at Shen Youyou nervously, hoping to hear her affirmative answer, but also afraid to hear her rejection.

Shen Youyou wasn't the type to drag her feet and not accept defeat. More importantly, she'd just given it a lot of thought. Back in the modern era, as an orphan, she had no family. Later, all she did was practice medicine and complete missions, never truly experiencing love. Finally, while on a mission, her plane exploded, and she arrived in this world without even a chance to be rescued! She certainly had regrets, but after arriving here, she discovered she had a father and brother who loved her, and a handsome, fit, and obedient suitor. So, what was she waiting for? Besides, she was only sixteen. Even if she wanted to get married, she had to wait until she was eighteen! No one was asking her to get married right away! She might as well just consider it as a chance to experience love! Compatibility meant staying together, while dissimilarities meant separation. If they truly weren't suitable, she'd simply leave without hesitation, leaving nothing to linger on. So, why was she still hesitating and considering?

After thinking this through, Shen Youyou said to him seriously: "Chu Huaijin, I will only say this once, and I hope you can listen carefully. I have a slight affection for you now, but not enough to reach the level of discussing marriage, so we can continue to get along in the future. If we can continue to cultivate feelings, then I am willing to wash my hands and cook for you. But if in the process of getting along, I find that we are not suitable, I will withdraw at any time. During this period, I want to be on an equal footing with you. In other words, you cannot use your status as a prince to ask me to do this or that. Let's put aside our status and identity and have a passionate love affair. But before I am sure of my feelings, our relationship cannot be made public. If you agree, we will start. If you don't agree, then we will return to the relationship when we first met. You are still the prince, and I am still a military officer's family. We will go our separate ways! It depends on your choice!"

Prince Jin listened to her words, his only thought lingering on the phrase, "I'm willing to wash my hands and cook for you." In other words, Youyou agreed to continue seeing him?! A wave of ecstasy overwhelmed him, "I agree! I agree! Youyou! Thank you for giving me this opportunity!" Soon, he asked doubtfully, "What do you mean by having a passionate love affair?"

Shen Youyou… forgot that they didn't understand the meaning of love. "It's something like a relationship between a beautiful lady and a gentleman!" Shen Youyou explained it to him, choosing a phrase he could almost understand.

"I understand now. I like you and can't help but be nice to you, but you don't like me yet and you're not sure about your feelings. So you still have to consider whether I'm someone worthy of entrusting your life to!" His Royal Highness Prince Jin suddenly understood everything as if he had been enlightened.

Shen Youyou: "Uh, that's about it!"

"I do! Youyou, I will be good to you and only you for the rest of my life!" His Royal Highness Prince Jin was so happy that he forgot everything else and immediately grabbed Shen Youyou's hand and kissed it on his lips.

Shen Youyou quickly withdrew her hand. "Just because I accept your advances doesn't mean you can do anything to me. I hope you can respect me, and if I feel uncomfortable with anything you do during our relationship, I'll tell you directly, so please bear with me." Since they had decided to give it a try, Shen Youyou felt it was necessary to discipline her future husband a bit. At the very least, he should stop being so chauvinistic. He should accept her independence and not cage her like a possession. She also needed to have her own career and priorities; she couldn't revolve around one man all the time.

"Okay! Okay! If there's anything I don't do well in the future, you must tell me, Youyou! We have a long time to go, I hope you can take good care of me!" His Royal Highness Prince Jin deliberately bowed to Shen Youyou, putting himself directly into the stage of a gentleman seeking a good match.