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

Chapter 30 Intentional Probing

"Don't rush off. Tell me what you've decided first." Gu Lounan was speaking when he heard a sharp "ripping" sound beside his ear. His eyes widened, and he suddenly fell silent.

Seeing Yin Quan unhesitatingly slash off the piece of clothing he had been stepping on, Gu Lounan's bright eyes were first startled, then delighted.

"Here, take this piece of clothing, you're welcome!" As she spoke, Yin Quan took a step forward, but suddenly a deafening clap of thunder pierced the sky, followed by a warm breath against her back. She tried to move away, but someone behind her grabbed her belt and pulled her back. Gu Lounan's slightly roguish voice rang in her ears: "It's raining so hard, you'll get sick if you get soaked."

"Hmm, that makes sense." Nodding, Yin Quan turned to look at the black-robed man who had approached her, raising an eyebrow and a smile spreading across her face.

As Xiahou Ying emerged from Lanyue Pavilion, he paused and looked towards a pharmacy diagonally opposite.

Following behind him, looking through the heavy rain, Wei Jun saw why his master had suddenly stopped.

Wei Jun frowned, looking somewhat helpless.

Why did we have to run into each other here...?

And then, to my surprise, I ran into Miss Yin and Gu Lounan standing together... and they even seemed a little intimate...

Perhaps it's just a similar build, and not the actual person.

Wei Jun was trying to find a reason for his master's actions when the edge of the umbrella, which had been slightly lowered, suddenly lifted up. Even through the heavy rain, he could tell that the person was undoubtedly the Grand Preceptor.

Wei Jun felt like vomiting blood.

Xiahou Ying stood motionless for a long time, her thin, pink lips pressed into a straight line. Gu Lounan, on the other hand, would occasionally glance in their direction, his eyes filled with a meaningful look.

Looking from afar, the rain was pouring down and mist was rising. Under a plain paper umbrella, two figures, one in dark black and one in light green, were leaning against each other, creating a beautiful and tender scene.

With a blank expression, Xiahou Ying averted his gaze, lifted his robe, and sat down in the sedan chair. He said calmly, "Return to the manor."

"Master..." Wei Jun's voice was a little anxious.

"Wei Jun, are you planning to disobey orders?"

Wei Jun shut his mouth, feeling a tightness in his chest as if a boulder was crushing him.

When will my master ever change this stubborn, prideful personality...? If he doesn't, his wife might run off with someone else...

His gaze fell on Yin Quan's slightly upturned smiling face. Gu Lounan suddenly leaned down and approached her red lips. Just as he was about to open his mouth, she grabbed his hands and he immediately froze.

Before he could react, the umbrella in his hand had been snatched away without him even noticing.

"It wouldn't be good if you got soaked, thank you for the umbrella." With that, Yin Quan waved to Gu Lounan, who was still standing there motionless, and then quickly disappeared from his sight as the rain intensified.

Large raindrops fell on him, quickly soaking him from head to toe.

The sky remained overcast and gloomy. Although he was soaked to the bone, he did not feel angry.

He always felt that Xiahou Ying's feelings for Yin Quan were more worthy of scrutiny than they appeared on the surface, and just now, Xiahou Ying's reaction proved that his intuition was correct.

As for Yin Quan...

He didn't think she was as kind and amiable as she appeared. Anyone who could reach an agreement with Prince Duan, Xiahou Ying, and escape unscathed was never a kind and harmless person, even if she was a woman.

As he pondered, he slowly moved back into the pharmacy and handed the paper package back to the simple-looking man. The man took it and was immediately taken aback.

The Grand Preceptor, who had stood in the heavy rain for so long, handed over something that was completely dry. When he looked up again, Gu Lounan, dressed in a dark black robe, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a figure like a black smokescreen stood where he had just stood. The man's eyes widened slightly, his astonishment growing, but he had no chance to shout out.

Standing in Room No. 1 of the Lanyue Pavilion, Gu Lounan pursed his lips.

Xiahou Ying had indeed moved Lu Xun...

He arrived a step too late.

If he hadn't met Yin Quan at the entrance of the pharmacy, perhaps it wouldn't have been too late.

A small mistake can lead to a huge error. He could not allow Lu Xun to continue wandering around Zhaoyang, especially not to let him linger around Xiahou Ying.

Standing outside the grand vermilion and gold-inlaid gate of the Prince Duan's mansion, Yin Quan held an umbrella and paced back and forth at the entrance until a snow-white sedan chair came into view, at which point she stopped.

"Oh! You're back?" With a beaming smile, Yin Quan greeted him, her eyes shining like rosy clouds, piercing through layers of rain and sweeping forward, as if the clouds had parted to reveal the sun, illuminating everything in her path.

Seeing Yin Quan approaching with a smile, Wei Jun frowned, then turned his gaze back to the sedan chair, hesitating. He had clearly seen the scene in the rain just now; the posture and the environment made it hard not to misunderstand, especially since... it was his master, who was always aloof and cold like a god, not allowing any intrusion.

To lift the sedan curtain or not to lift it—it's such a difficult decision...

Just as Wei Jun was in a dilemma, the snow-white sedan curtain was lifted from the inside, revealing a pale, almost transparent hand.

Xiahou Ying stepped down from the sedan chair without saying a word. When he saw the paper umbrella in Yin Quan's hand, he pursed his lips but did not speak. Instead, he walked straight toward the vermilion and gold-inlaid gate.

Seeing this, Wei Jun and the other three white-clad guards quickly followed, not daring to be negligent in the slightest, for fear that if they were even a step behind, something terrible enough to destroy the world would happen.

"Xiahou Ying, aren't you using an umbrella? What if you get soaked?" Seeing that the noble and aloof beauty ignored her rare initiative and enthusiasm, Yin Quan walked closer to him, intending to offer him the umbrella. Unexpectedly, Xiahou Ying suddenly turned around, a cold right hand gripping her wrist, a look of disgust appearing between his brows.

Ignoring his cold attitude, Yin Quan placed her left hand on top of his right, her smile unchanged. "Hey, you've just recovered, and it's not good for your wound to get wet. If you get soaked like this, what if you catch a cold, get a fever? With today's medical technology, what if a minor illness turns into a major one? Wouldn't that be too much of a loss? Be good, listen to me, take it." As she spoke, she continued to ignore his face, which suddenly turned from white to pale, and pulled his left hand to hold the umbrella handle, then withdrew both hands from his cold fingertips.

The four white-clad guards who were listening to this, along with the attendants standing at the door, all turned their heads away, looked up at the sky, and silently prayed: "We didn't see anything! We didn't hear anything! Master, please feel free to pursue your love! We'll protect you!"

"I don't need his things." After a long silence, Xiahou Ying finally parted his thin lips and looked down at Yin Quan expressionlessly. With a slight movement of his palm, the paper umbrella instantly turned into a cloud of dust, which was washed away and disappeared in the rain.

Upon hearing this, Yin Quan was taken aback.

His things? How did he know the umbrella belonged to Gu Lounan...?

Could it be that Xiahou Ying saw Gu Lounan holding an umbrella for him earlier?

Uh……

The aloof beauty is jealous...

Thinking this, Yin Quan raised her eyelashes and glanced upwards. In the rain, Xiahou Ying, dressed in a snow-white robe, stood straight, like a pine tree standing in the wind and rain. Rainwater flowed slowly along his well-defined features, gathering on his smooth, chiseled jawline, and then dripping sparsely into his collar.

His snow-white robes, soaked with water, clung to his body, outlining his beautiful muscle lines. Yin Quan looked at him, swallowed hard, and made a loud noise that even the sound of rain hitting the ground couldn't drown out.

The expressionless, handsome face finally softened slightly. Xiahou Ying frowned, his disgust deepening. He turned away, trying to walk around her, but she suddenly called out to him, "Xiahou Ying, are you jealous?"

"The Imperial Advisor is a henchman of the Crown Prince and a political enemy of mine. If you don't want me to make things difficult for you, then don't provoke him, or..." As he spoke, Xiahou Ying paused, then suddenly looked at Yin Quan, his clear and bright eyes suddenly clouded with a meaningful color.

"Don't provoke me."

After speaking, Xiahou Ying walked to the door, and the guards at the door quickly pushed him aside with both hands. He strode in.

Following closely behind, Wei Jun deliberately slowed his pace, walking at the very back of the four white-clad guards.

“Miss Yin, that’s just how the master is, please don’t take it to heart. Also…” Wei Jun hesitated noticeably, but continued the conversation: “If you were staying at the manor, the Prince would…”

As they were talking, Xiahou Ying's chilling voice came from behind them like a ghost. Wei Jun shrugged his shoulders and then quickly disappeared from sight.

Seeing the slightly ajar vermilion and gilded gate, Yin Quan smiled and quickly followed Wei Jun inside.

After closing the gate, the two guards exchanged a glance, their gazes becoming even more resolute.

This is all for the prince's lifelong happiness...

Sitting in his bedroom looking at the memorials that had been delivered that day, Xiahou Ying suddenly heard a series of clattering noises coming from the next room. He frowned and called Wei Jun's name several times, but no one came for a long time.

He put down his pen, walked to the door, and was surprised to see Yin Quan leaning against a pillar in the corridor.

"What, are you unhappy to see me? I kissed you, after all. You haven't forgotten me so quickly, have you?"

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. The two men carrying the wooden buckets were so nervous their hands were slippery; they didn't know whether to listen to what the two women were saying.

Upon hearing this, Xiahou Ying's gaze suddenly froze, and he immediately turned his face away.

"Are you shy? It's just a kiss, besides..."

"Stop talking. If you want to stay, then stay. I won't stop you." After saying that, Xiahou Ying went back to his room, but she beat him to it and went in first.

"I have absolutely no relationship with him." She looked at him, her gaze unusually serious.

Xiahou Ying moved his lips slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but he still didn't make a sound.

A strange thrill swept through my heart, like the first meltwater of spring, bringing forth greenery wherever it went.

Looking at his perpetually expressionless and aloof demeanor, Yin Quan suddenly felt a little depressed.

Shouldn't you say "I believe you" or just hug me and shower me with kisses at this moment?!

Is Xiahou Ying really asexual?

But he was so jealous just now that he stirred up all the jealousy in the city.

Yin Quan became increasingly depressed as he thought about it, and just then, Xiahou Ying suddenly spoke up: "Three months from now, I will not take another wife."

After saying that, he pushed her out of the room and locked himself inside.

Standing there stunned for a long while, Yin Quan looked at the tightly sealed pear wood carved door, then at Wei Jun guarding the door, and blinked: "Just now, did your master mean to continue to remain chaste?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Jun felt like vomiting blood, but he still nodded.

Although the wording is a bit outrageous, the meaning is still the same.

Having received a response from the white-clad guard, Yin Quan turned her head and peered inside through the openwork pattern of the pear wood door, chuckling to herself.

Xiahou Ying, Xiahou Ying, do you have to be so cute!