Already immune to Ning Xuan’s pitiful, tear-filled expression, Qing Zhu swiftly snatched the untouched spring roll from his bowl. “I know you don’t like sweet food, so I’ll be a good person and generously help you deal with this.”
With that, he tossed the spring roll into his mouth and chewed with exaggerated relish, as though afraid anyone nearby might fail to appreciate how delicious it was.
By the time Ning Xuan came back to his senses, he was grinding his teeth with fury, but could only let the matter go. He could hardly retrieve something that had already entered another person’s mouth and been chewed beyond recognition, could he?
After an entire day of wiping, scrubbing, washing, and cleaning, night finally fell. Prince Rong’s Residence was usually quiet after dark. Its artificial hills and stone gardens, lotus ponds, and winding corridors stretched away in twisting, distant paths. The courtyards that appeared picturesque during the day became rather eerie at night. Ning Xuan rubbed his completely empty, loudly growling stomach and glanced at Mo Qi, who was sleeping like a dead pig beside him. He lamented inwardly, Are ancient people really this easy to feed?!
Because the newly purchased servants had not yet reached adulthood, the residence’s rules denied underage servants breakfast and snacks. Naturally, receiving a reward from a master was another matter altogether. But someone like Ning Xuan worked in the library, where he had no idea when he might finally see a master, much less when he might receive the unattainable blessing of a proper meal. In other words, he was permitted to eat only lunch and dinner each day. Never mind whether the food tasted good or suited his palate—children of the same age from various quarters ate together, and they were fortunate merely to seize the portion that ought to belong to them. How could anyone afford to be picky? Furthermore, they were at the age when their bodies needed the most nourishment to grow, requiring a tremendous intake of energy, yet they had encountered this absurd rule supposedly designed to temper their willpower from childhood!
Starved until his chest nearly touched his back, Ning Xuan no longer possessed enough energy even to roar. He could only mutter weakly inside his heart, Ancient people are truly ignorant. There isn’t the slightest scientific basis for this…
He dressed quietly, slipped out the door, and followed the route he had struggled so hard to memorize toward the kitchen in search of food. Remembering the spring roll Qing Zhu had stolen at lunch still made his teeth itch with anger. Qing Zhu had clearly wanted to eat it himself, yet had used Ning Xuan’s supposed dislike of sweet food as an excuse, taking advantage while pretending to do him a favor. Besides, it was not as though Ning Xuan actually disliked sweet food. At the time, he simply had not understood the severity of his circumstances and had foolishly complained that the fried spring roll looked too greasy and made him nauseated! After several days without a single filling meal, hunger had left him seeing stars. Forget spring rolls that merely seemed oily—even if someone placed a cold flatbread dripping with grease before him now, he would pounce upon it without hesitation. Filling his stomach came first.
“Strange…” Ning Xuan muttered with a miserable frown. He had turned left and right through so many winding paths that he had lost count. His empty stomach cramped painfully, yet the residence resembled a maze he could never become familiar with, no matter how long he wandered.
He looked back toward the pitch-black end of the corridor and lamented inwardly once again, At least tell me how to get back…
“Ah…”
Without warning, a soft cry so alluring and seductive that it nearly reached into the bones struck Ning Xuan’s fragile eardrums. Every hair on his body instantly stood upright, and his goose bumps snapped collectively to attention.
Rustling sounds came from the bushes beside the lotus pond diagonally ahead. Ning Xuan looked in that direction, his heart pounding violently in his chest. He vaguely understood what might be happening there, yet he could not suppress his curiosity. Although one ought neither look at nor listen to anything improper, this was still the residence of the Fifth Prince, Prince Rong. Surely no one would dare behave so blatantly in the dead of night?
What Ning Xuan failed to realize was that precisely because this was a prince’s residence, because its occupants possessed tremendous power and status, and because the night was deep and deserted, it was the perfect place to do things ordinary people only dared imagine—or did not even dare imagine at all.
Holding his breath, Ning Xuan crept toward the pavilion beside the lotus pond. The noises suddenly intensified. Believing he had been discovered, he hurriedly pressed himself behind an enormous decorative rock, one hand clamped tightly over his wildly pounding chest.
“Don’t… ah… mm…”
Ning Xuan cautiously poked his head out. He almost immediately regretted his reckless action, but the sight before him shocked his body rigid, leaving him unable even to withdraw quietly and escape.
Beneath the moonlight, two figures were intertwined. Their faces could not be seen clearly, but their silhouettes appeared especially slender and graceful against the pale glow.
The man seated upon the grass remained relatively well dressed, though the front of his robe had fallen widely open, revealing broad stretches of honey-toned muscle. One arm encircled the other man’s waist, while his free hand roamed freely over his body.
The man held in his embrace appeared far less composed. Most of his clothing had been removed, leaving only a pair of white undergarment trousers. His fair skin and slender frame looked especially delicate beneath the moonlight, inspiring instinctive tenderness. Confined tightly within the other man’s arms, he tilted his head weakly backward, exposing the graceful line of his neck. His waterfall of ink-black hair scattered through the wind, contrasting with his pale body in an intensely intimate image. Pearly teeth showed faintly between crimson lips, while soft moans and carefully measured breaths drifted intermittently through the air. Rather than seeming affected, they only made him more alluring.
He raised his head as though caught between pain and pleasure. He appeared to shrink away, yet instead arched his chest forward even further, offering its most vulnerable sensitivity to the other man’s mouth.
The man gave a low laugh and accepted the invitation without hesitation, lowering his head to lavish attention upon the sensitive skin already tightened beneath the night air.
“No… don’t… ah… it feels too—too good… ah…”
A tingling sensation mingled with faint pain instantly swept through the youth. Although he seemed to resist, he clung more tightly to the man, as though afraid he might leave.
The man chuckled softly, one hand kneading the youth’s slender waist without restraint. The youth twisted with his movements, seeming both to evade and urge him onward. The man’s other hand remained equally occupied, roaming over his hips through the thin fabric while deliberately avoiding the most obvious evidence of his arousal. Lowering his gaze toward the faint dampness upon the undergarment, the man suddenly ceased every movement.
The youth shuddered. His dark eyes remained immersed in pleasure, wet and unfocused. The abrupt loss of touch left his body, already poised at the edge of release, even more unbearably desperate. Tears gathered beneath the heat of desire, yet he did not dare move forward to complain or question him. He merely hugged his arms around himself, appearing helpless in the faintly cold night wind.
The man ignored his every movement. Supporting his half-reclined body with one hand against the grass behind him, he carelessly played with a loose strand of his own hair using the other. One knee remained raised while his other leg stretched lazily across the ground.