Feng Xuanyi paid it absolutely no mind—or perhaps simply chose to pretend not to notice. He lifted a hand and beckoned Ning Xuan over, then patted the soft couch beside him, smiling with a warm, lingering gentleness. Whether from anger or nerves, Ning Xuan trembled nonstop.
The two of them glared at each other from across the doorway for quite a while before Ning Xuan finally shuffled forward with reluctant little steps and plenty of grumbling. Carefully calculating a “safe distance,” he planted himself beside the couch as though taking root there permanently.
Unfortunately for Ning Xuan, just because his own mental calculations were running perfectly did not mean Feng Xuanyi intended to cooperate by sitting still.
No sooner had Ning Xuan settled himself than a dark shadow carrying an overwhelming sense of pressure descended upon him. Before he could even react, the world spun violently around him. His center of gravity tilted backward so suddenly that he shut his eyes and resigned himself to landing flat on his back.
A strong, solid… arm?
A familiar soft… cushion?
“There now, it’s not like I was going to do anything to you,” Feng Xuanyi said helplessly as he looked at Ning Xuan’s tightly scrunched-up face. Before he had even touched him, Ning Xuan was already acting as though facing some terrifying beast. If Feng Xuanyi really had done anything, wouldn’t Ning Xuan simply die on the spot?
Of course, one rather important point remained: heaven alone knew how Feng Xuanyi could so righteously insist that he had “done nothing.”
Ning Xuan struggled to sit up, but unfortunately an arm could not overpower a thigh. Since Feng Xuanyi clearly refused to let him go, sitting was undeniably more comfortable than standing. Lacking both masochistic tendencies and any deeply ingrained obsession with class hierarchy, Ning Xuan eventually “graciously accepted” the arrangement.
That said, he still expended considerable effort wrestling with the arm that kept trying to drape itself around his shoulders. Fortunately, he emerged victorious in that particular battle. The compromise, however, was that the two of them now sat extremely close together—shoulder brushing shoulder, leg touching leg.
Feng Xuanyi smiled warmly and openly. Gone was the false innocence he wore in court. Gone too was the reckless indulgence he displayed while entertaining others, and absent as well was the unreadable mask he maintained within the prince’s estate. Leaning closer, he buried his face into the crook of Ning Xuan’s neck and took a deep breath.
“So you really did bathe. Smells nice.”
Damn it! Isn’t your flirting a little too direct?! Straight to the point much?!
In truth, Feng Xuanyi had spoken without ulterior motive. He had never once in his life held a simple conversation free of political calculation, lust, ambition, or hidden intent—not even with his own parents and siblings. Let alone with court officials who gathered around him purely for profit.
Having no real experience with casual companionship, he merely spoke whatever came to mind. Just like when he first met Ning Xuan and casually teased him, or when he had wandered to the Library Pavilion out of curiosity to amuse himself. Rare moments of relaxation, free of burdens.
But while the speaker may have meant nothing by it, the listener certainly took it differently. Ning Xuan hurriedly jerked away, shivering so hard his teeth nearly rattled together, though his face uncontrollably flushed pink.
What kind of veteran playboy is this man?! Next time I’m bathing in durian water and marching right up to him on purpose. Let’s see if he can still say things this flirtatiously then!
Seeing Ning Xuan panting heavily without answering, Feng Xuanyi looked up in confusion. After replaying his own words in his head, he instantly realized Ning Xuan had misunderstood him again.
Not only did Feng Xuanyi have no intention of clarifying the misunderstanding, he leaned even closer instead. His formerly gentle smile now carried a slightly roguish edge.
“Tsk tsk… really does smell nice. Makes me wonder whether it’s the fragrance of your hair, or this—”
His gaze drifted downward.
Ning Xuan immediately jolted again, shoving him away while gritting his teeth, his expression dark as storm clouds.
“What exactly do you want?!”
And just like that, the startled little cat forgot all about status and propriety again. Gone were “Master” and “Your Highness.” It was straight back to “you.”
Feng Xuanyi stared at him for a long moment before suddenly turning aside and bursting into laughter. It began restrained, then gradually escalated into full-blown table-slapping laughter. Ning Xuan was so stunned he genuinely could not reconcile these wildly contradictory personalities as belonging to the same person.
Only after a while did realization dawn on him with a grumbling sense of outrage:
So after all this, he just dragged me here to amuse himself?!
Ning Xuan spun around furiously to leave, only for Feng Xuanyi to grab his wrist. Still laughing so hard his shoulders shook, he finally managed to say:
“Don’t go. I’ll stop teasing you now. Really. I just wanted someone to talk to, like before in the Library Pavilion. You’re Ning Xuan, and I’m Yi Hua. There’s no prince and no personal attendant here—just the little Library Pavilion servant and… the guard.”
Even as he spoke, Feng Xuanyi could not help privately laughing over how he had somehow managed to leave Ning Xuan with the impression that he was merely a guard back then.
Ning Xuan still looked wary as he thoroughly examined Feng Xuanyi from top to bottom before finally voicing his suspicion:
“So basically, you wear too many masks in public and now you’re finding someone to mess with so you can breathe for a bit?”
At those words, Feng Xuanyi’s lips curved slightly upward. A trace of coldness surfaced beneath the warmth as he replied in a calm, coaxing tone:
“And how do you know the public face is the mask instead of this one being the act put on to deliberately toy with you?”
“That’s possible,” Ning Xuan admitted thoughtfully with a nod. Then he looked Feng Xuanyi over again before shaking his head.
“But it definitely isn’t.”
Ning Xuan’s attitude instead amused Feng Xuanyi. Even he himself no longer knew where his true self actually was. After wearing masks for so many years, he did not even know whether a “real self” still existed beneath them anymore. So how could he—nothing more than an outsider, nothing more than a servant—be so certain?
“You know?” Feng Xuanyi asked with a half-smile. The smile now carried traces of disguise and stiffness.
“I don’t.” Ning Xuan answered just as decisively as before, completely matter-of-fact. “It’s just instinct. A guess, that’s all.” He looked up at Feng Xuanyi and grinned. “Like right now—you’re definitely full of bad ideas and sneaky little schemes, and they’re the kind that kill without spilling blood. At least this version of you feels a lot more genuine than all that fake packaging from before.”
Feng Xuanyi was startled. He did not know whether he himself had truly failed so badly that others could see right through him, or whether this one person alone was capable of understanding him. His brows lowered slightly while the smile remained at his lips.
“And you know this too?”
“I already said it’s instinct. Just guessing.” Ning Xuan impatiently stuck a finger in his ear as if utterly fed up with the conversation.
Honestly, who said intuition was a woman’s privilege? Couldn’t men have a strong sixth sense too? Besides, it was only an offhand guess anyway. Nothing to lose from saying it—he wouldn’t lose a piece of flesh or peel off a layer of skin. No pressure whatsoever. And honestly, among nobles and aristocrats like these princes and officials, how many didn’t behave one way in public and another in private? They changed faces faster than Sichuan opera performers. You could practically guess most of it just by twitching your toes; no real thinking required.
The dark pupils in Feng Xuanyi’s eyes contracted slightly before the smile deepened again.
Perhaps he had really found himself quite an interesting treasure.
“From now on, you’ll stand night watch in this sleeping hall. But seeing how pitiful you look, I’ll generously allow you to stay inside the hall instead of suffering from wind and rain out in the corridor.” Clearly he was assigning Ning Xuan extra duties out of nowhere, yet Feng Xuanyi somehow managed to look magnanimous and benevolent while doing it, smiling brilliantly. “Also, starting tomorrow, you’ll be the one responsible for waking me every morning at the Hour of Yin too.” Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he hurriedly added, “But only for waking me. Dressing, grooming, and washing can still be handled by Yi Shu and the others. You—” He made a pained expression. “—really shouldn’t get involved in those things.”
Feng Xuanyi felt he was being unusually considerate for once, conveniently benefiting both of them at the same time. Yet what he received in return was Ning Xuan’s agonized howl:
“WHY?!”
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Futile Devices Scans 
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