Futile Devices Scans

“You’ve gotten thinner,” Mu Xueshi suddenly said, completely ruining the mood again.

The Third Prince looked at Mu Xueshi’s face. It was exquisite, like a flawless piece of rare jade. Merely looking at it was enough to intoxicate a person.

“When I touched your face just now, I could feel your cheekbones more clearly,” Mu Xueshi added.

The Third Prince paused slightly, the gentleness in his eyes deepening. Mu Xueshi often said things that spoiled the atmosphere, yet at those moments he also revealed his true thoughts without reservation. On the surface he looked foolish, but his heart always lingered on the smallest details. Then, at some unexpected moment, he would strike directly at the softest place in another person’s heart.

The Third Prince’s tongue brushed across Mu Xueshi’s elegant neck and moved to his ear, teasing lightly like a dragonfly skimming water. Warm breaths followed, his thin lips settling against Mu Xueshi’s earlobe and rubbing against it slowly.

Mu Xueshi giggled and pushed at him, clearly ticklish. The Third Prince refused to let him go, pulling him back and continuing his torment.

Very quickly, a small tent rose beneath Mu Xueshi. The Third Prince covered it with his hand and narrowed his eyes at him, as though mocking his impatience.

Under that suggestive gaze, Mu Xueshi’s face turned bright red. Eventually, unable to bear the pressure anymore, he muttered awkwardly, “What’s so strange about it? It’s normal to think about that…”

The Third Prince smiled faintly and pulled Mu Xueshi tighter into his arms. Pinching his cheeks lightly with two fingers, he asked, “Then have you ever thought about anyone else?”

Mu Xueshi shook his head. “No. Except for that time at the brothel when I was drugged.”

The Third Prince’s hand tightened immediately, squeezing Mu Xueshi’s face into a wrinkle. He still dared to mention that incident!

“What about before?”

“Before what?” Mu Xueshi didn’t understand at first, then suddenly realized the Third Prince meant before he came here.

After thinking for a moment, he said shyly, “There was… just a tiny little bit.”

“A tiny little bit?” The Third Prince’s brows knitted together.

Mu Xueshi hurriedly pinched two fingers close together to demonstrate and said with an embarrassed laugh, “Just a very, very tiny little bit. Back when I was studying, I had feelings for girls before…”

“You studied?”

The moment the Third Prince asked that, Mu Xueshi immediately straightened his back proudly. “Of course! Not only did I study, I was an excellent student too. If I were here in this era, at worst I’d still qualify as a jinshi.”

A trace of surprise flashed through the Third Prince’s eyes. He truly had not realized Mu Xueshi possessed the talent he claimed to have.

“You still don’t believe me! Hmph. You never gave me a chance to show it. I told you before—you could ask me about anything. Maybe I could even help you with important matters…”

“Don’t try to change the subject.” The Third Prince hooked a hand behind Mu Xueshi’s head and pulled him closer, speaking in a low voice. “Tell me more about that tiny little bit.”

Mu Xueshi hadn’t expected the Third Prince to still care about that question. Judging from his expression, he knew there was no escaping without giving an explanation.

“I only thought about it. I never actually touched anyone. I never even held hands with anyone…” As soon as Mu Xueshi said that, an image suddenly flashed through his mind—the time he used the silver coin to enter the body of the girl he secretly liked and got forcefully kissed by that boy. He instantly felt guilty.

That probably doesn’t count… right?

The Third Prince had originally only been teasing him, but seeing Mu Xueshi’s reaction, he suddenly felt something sour in his chest. During those ten-plus years before their lives became entangled, what kind of person had Mu Xueshi been? Why did merely imagining those secret past experiences make him feel so stifled?

“Besides, there’s no way I’m the only one you’ve ever thought about either! Someone with your status and position—if you wanted someone to serve you, all you had to do was say the word…” Mu Xueshi shot back fearlessly, genuinely arguing with him now.

“There were indeed quite a few…” the Third Prince replied lightly. In the palace, it was perfectly normal for servants to help their masters relieve themselves.

“See! I knew it!”

Mu Xueshi looked furious. He immediately pulled away from the Third Prince and flopped onto the stone bed in resentment, sticking his bare feet toward him and refusing to say another word.

Seeing his puffed-up anger, the Third Prince found him unbearably adorable. Most of his own irritation disappeared at once, replaced by an unbearable itch in his heart, as though thousands of tiny insects were crawling there. He stopped dwelling on meaningless thoughts and simply lay down beside Mu Xueshi, intending to properly enjoy being close to him again.

At first Mu Xueshi pretended to resist stubbornly, but under the Third Prince’s gentle assault, he soon became so flustered he couldn’t even form complete sentences. He looked even more eager than the Third Prince himself, impatiently reaching to undo the Third Prince’s clothes.

The Third Prince remembered his wound and feared it would ruin Mu Xueshi’s mood, so he caught Mu Xueshi’s hands and instead began undressing him first. While doing so, he kissed him passionately, leaving enticing marks along Mu Xueshi’s neck and collarbone.

“Let’s bathe first. I’ve been running around all day—I’m covered in sweat and filthy,” Mu Xueshi murmured.

“Doesn’t matter…” The Third Prince’s magnetic voice lingered beside his ear. “I love every scent of yours.”

Mu Xueshi was completely immersed in it. The emotional turbulence he had not experienced for a long time made him feel somewhat out of control. Perhaps it was because both his body and mind had been restrained for so long during that recent period of abstinence. Now that the spark had finally been lit, it felt as though it might spread into a wildfire.

Yet before he could indulge in it for long, the pressure above him instantly jolted him back to clarity.

At this moment, most of Mu Xueshi’s clothes had already been removed. The large handprint on his chest was blatantly exposed before the Third Prince’s eyes. The Third Prince felt a surge of blood rushing through his chest, filling him with the urge to hit someone.

Sensing something wrong, Mu Xueshi quickly opened his eyes and discovered that the Third Prince, who had been lying beside him moments ago, had somehow sat up. His expression was frighteningly dark as he stared directly at him.

Mu Xueshi hurriedly searched for the cause. The moment he lowered his head, he found the source of all evil.

Finished…

He had bathed before setting out that morning and even sighed at the ugly handprint back then. How had he forgotten about it just now?

“Get up!”

The Third Prince’s voice carried undisguised anger.

Mu Xueshi pursed his lips and reluctantly sat up. His large round eyes glanced nervously at the Third Prince once before he no longer dared to lift his head again. He hung his head low, staring at the stone bed. Unsure what to do with his hands, he simply grabbed something nearby and fiddled with it.

“Perhaps I should punish this habit of yours—letting people touch you so casually and not taking it seriously,” the Third Prince said in a low voice.

Mu Xueshi bit his lip and muttered gloomily, “He… sealed my acupoints…”

“And who was it that ran around recklessly in the first place?”

“I…”

Seeing Mu Xueshi sitting there dispirited and lifeless, completely lacking the vibrancy from moments ago, the Third Prince felt a sourness in his chest. In the end, all of this was due to his own incompetence. He could not blame Xueshi. Besides, during that period Xueshi had suffered quite a lot, much of it because of him.

“Did he hurt you?” The Third Prince’s tone softened slightly.

Mu Xueshi shook his head.

“Then why didn’t you tell me the truth earlier?”

“I forgot,” Mu Xueshi answered quietly.

The Third Prince guessed that Mu Xueshi truly had forgotten. If something more serious had happened, he likely would not have forgotten so easily. Thinking that way calmed him somewhat. Better forgotten. He did not want Mu Xueshi remembering it all the time either.

“Then go bathe now,” the Third Prince ordered.

Mu Xueshi muttered softly, “Didn’t you just say it didn’t matter? You stopped liking my smell that quickly…”

“It’s not your smell I dislike. It’s the fact that you carry someone else’s scent on you,” the Third Prince replied stiffly.

Mu Xueshi gave an “oh,” tugged his clothes back together halfheartedly, and followed behind the Third Prince unhappily.

About the time it took to burn a stick of incense later, Liehuo, Hanbing, and Li Qian returned.

Not long after Su Ruhan and Mu Xueshi had left that morning, the three of them had gone into the nearby mountains together to gather medicinal herbs. Liehuo had also hunted some wild birds and carried them enthusiastically over his shoulder. Li Qian carried some wild fruit he had picked in the mountains. As for Hanbing, although he originally held some items himself, Liehuo had snatched them away and insisted on carrying them too.

Before Hanbing even reached the cave entrance, he already sensed something unusual. As they moved farther in, he discovered that the surrounding vegetation had been trampled badly, clearly not by only one or two visitors.

When the three of them finally arrived at the cave entrance and saw the corpses scattered across the ground, all of them wore complicated expressions.

Li Qian spotted Su Ruhan first, and Su Ruhan noticed Li Qian at the same moment. Their eyes met, and they immediately walked toward each other.

Su Ruhan took the things from Li Qian’s hands. Seeing that Su Ruhan looked normal and not as though anything terrible had happened, Li Qian relaxed slightly and asked, “Why did you come back?”

“The situation changed. We had no choice but to hurry back. Have you all been safe here?”

Li Qian nodded. “We stayed outside the whole time and didn’t encounter any danger. Where’s Xueshi? Why isn’t he with you?”

Su Ruhan pointed inside and said, “Probably whispering sweet things with the Third Prince.”

“The Third Prince is here too?” Li Qian asked in surprise.

Su Ruhan nodded. “Yes. These corpses are probably the pursuers who were after him.”

When Liehuo saw Su Ruhan, his eyes widened like bronze bells. In his booming voice he asked, “Brother Su, why are you back again?”

“It’s too hard to explain in just a sentence. Let’s go inside first and talk.”

Hanbing nodded. “No more questions for now. Let’s deal with these corpses first.”

“Great! More organs to eat. Hanbing, let’s pick some of the stronger—” Liehuo had only gotten halfway through his sentence before Hanbing shot him a glare, instantly silencing him.

Seeing that Li Qian’s complexion looked poor, Su Ruhan was about to comfort him, only for Li Qian to quietly stop him first. “It’s alright. I understand. They cultivate martial arts—eating certain organs helps replenish their internal energy.”

“…Mm.”

Once they had mostly cleaned things up, the four of them headed into the cave together.

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