The Princess Cannot Escape: The Cunning Prince Is Not to Be Messed With

Chapter 19 Retaliation

Outside the door, Yin Quan was exhausted from yelling and falling. Looking at the pages of books scattered all over the floor, she suddenly wondered what kind of expression Xiahou Ying would have if he saw this mess.

Recalling his shocked, slightly confused, and angry gaze just now, she chuckled softly, her laughter full of smugness.

He usually acts all high-class and aloof, but when he saw her just now, wasn't his heart pounding and his breathing erratic?

Thinking this, Yin Quan laughed even louder, causing Xiahou Ying inside the room to furrow his brow even more.

Making her carry all this junk stuff, and the notebooks are so thick! This is clearly retaliation!

She glanced at the pages of the book she had scattered on the floor, wrapped her robe tighter around herself, squatted down, picked up a page, and frowned as she looked at the densely packed small print on it.

"A woman has three obediences: at home, she obeys her father; after marriage, she obeys her husband..."

Bah! My ass! The Three Obediences and Four Virtues! They're nothing but nonsense used by men to restrict women's rights! Women in this era have such a hard time.

She cursed under her breath and threw away the paper in her hand. Then she picked up another one, glanced at it, and stomped on it three times.

What utter nonsense!

Do women have no human rights at all?!

Does being born a woman mean being destined to be unlucky and controlled by this patriarchal society?!

She turned her head angrily to glare at the still tightly closed rosewood carved door. Just as she raised her fist to strike, the door was suddenly opened from the inside. The person who opened the door was Wei Jun.

“Miss Yin, your master has important business to attend to. If you have any questions about the ‘Women’s Classic,’ ‘Women’s Precepts,’ or ‘Founding Etiquette,’ you may ask me.”

"I have only one question." With her arms retracted, Yin Quan raised her chin, her gaze towards Wei Jun sharp as a knife, arrogant and domineering.

"What will your master do to me if I insist on not watching this utter nonsense?"

Looking into her sharp and intimidating gaze, Wei Jun suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for his master.

Throughout history, there has probably only been one person who dared to so defy their master...

Wei Jun remained silent, but first closed the door behind him. After confirming that the only sound inside the room was the rustling of papers, he let out a barely audible sigh.

“Miss Yin, although our master is somewhat strict, he has never done anything to put you in any danger. If you insist on going your own way, you will offend our master…”

"Wei Jun, why haven't you done what I ordered you to do?" Just then, the door suddenly opened beside the two of them, and Xiahou Ying stood there, his gaze cold and piercing.

Upon hearing this, Wei Jun immediately lowered his gaze and quickly left, leaving only the two silent figures in front of the door.

Xiahou Ying, who hadn't said a word, was about to close the door when a hand suddenly reached through the crack. If he had been even a second faster, he would have undoubtedly pinched her and injured her.

"What will you do if I really can't meet your requirements?" Ignoring Xiahou Ying's icy expression, Yin Quan stepped into the room as she spoke. The afterglow of the setting sun shone from behind her, bathing her snow-white robes in a soft, warm orange-red hue. Sunlight filtered through her loose hair, creating wisps of red that tinged her hair with a pale golden, metallic sheen, falling both inside and outside her robes.

He looked down at her with an expressionless face, her eyes seemingly devoid of fear and sorrow, always so penetrating, always holding a ray of light, a light full of warmth and courage.

"Why..." His gaze, like his tone, suddenly softened, like water, pouring down a handful of moonlight like a light veil, alluring and seductive, leading her into the unknown future.

Xiahou Ying reached out and curled a strand of black hair that had fallen inside her collar onto her slender index finger. The black hair coiled around her fair fingertip, like the most alluring water snake climbing onto the purest white jade.

Yin Quan opened her mouth, wanting to speak, but for a moment she didn't know what to say. She just stared blankly into those deep, dark eyes, where there was a sea, shimmering with a deep, eerie blue, like phosphorescent light burning quietly, like cold, leaping ice shadows.

Suddenly releasing the strand of black hair, Xiahou Ying pushed Yin Quan out the door and slammed it shut.

Suddenly snapping back to reality, Yin Quan was somewhat taken aback.

Was he just shy...?

"You haven't answered my question yet!" Yin Quan shouted cheerfully, pounding her fist on the door without any politeness.

The aloof and stoic Xiahou Ying actually gets shy! This is simply the most bizarre thing in the world!

She wants to see it again! Absolutely! Immediately! Right now!

"Open the door! Open the door! Open the door!" After persistently knocking, Yin Quan suddenly stopped, a mischievous smile spreading across her lips: "Xiahou Ying, if you don't open the door, I'm going to go shopping in a bikini!"

Before she could finish speaking, the door suddenly opened, and she raised her chin, her eyes shining even brighter with laughter.

"The shops are closed at night." The noble and aloof person moved his lips, his condescending gaze filled with the contempt of someone looking at an idiot.

"You haven't answered my question yet." Ignoring his cold expression, she took a step closer to him, her warm breath landing right on his Adam's apple.

With his lips pressed tightly together, Xiahou Ying looked at her without saying a word, but a tempting light pink tinge appeared on his earlobes.

The warmth seemed to be directed not at his neck, but at his heart, melting away all his cold rationality and transforming it into a pool of spring water that seeped into his limbs and bones.

There seemed to be chaotic energy surging within him, causing a feeling of suffocation in his internal organs.

Is it the lingering poison of Wuyan at work...?

Thinking of this, Xiahou Ying turned his head away, walked silently to his desk, picked up a memorial at random, and ignored Yin Quan.

Undeterred, Yin Quan followed him to the table, bent down, rested her elbows on the edge of the table, propped her chin on her hand, and looked at him. Suddenly, she tilted her head and said, "I say, are you shy?"

"..."

"Not going to say anything? Then I'll take that as a yes?" Her canine teeth gleamed in the afterglow of the setting sun.

"..." Xiahou Ying remained silent.

"You're blushing!"

"It was the sunset." Closing the fold, he raised his eyelashes to look at her, a dark current surging in his deep, sea-like eyes, but it quickly subsided, and he continued, "Your collar is loose."

"You don't like it?" Yin Quan smiled, leaning forward slightly, her tone slightly raised, like a bright and dazzling feather, floating lightly in the air not far from the two of them.

Suddenly, at that moment, a white ribbon rose into the air, encircling her fair and beautiful neck, and also binding her slender waist.

"The first rule of 'Women's Precepts' is to abstain from frivolity." Xiahou Ying spoke slowly and deliberately, his cold tone making Yin Quan feel as if a boulder was being crushed on her chest.

"You want to know what will happen to me if you can't do it? Fine, I'll tell you now. Do you know how the first seven queens died?"

"Would you die from being stifled by your twisted personality, which is as foul as a latrine boulder?"

Without hesitation, she answered, looking at him with eyes as clear as crystal.

Frowning, Xiahou Ying suddenly felt a pang of regret.

Shouldn't he poison her to make her mute or strike her acupoints to silence her before talking about these things...?

Seeing his fluctuating expression, she suddenly realized: "Could it be... because..."

"Not bad." Xiahou Ying pursed his lips, glanced at her, and quickly looked away.

"The emperor has so many sons, why is it that you are the only one who lost so many wives?"

"..." Xiahou Ying looked at her silently, and this time he was really starting to consider whether or not to silence her.