Damn it! Do you even understand a man’s restraint, or a man’s principles?! Ning Xuan roared inwardly. A real man should swallow blood and tears alike and keep his emotions hidden. How can someone keep talking about liking or loving people all day long?! That’s how women get spoiled!
What kind of bizarre logic was that…
At some point, Feng Xuanyi had somehow produced a cloth from nowhere like a magic trick. Before Ning Xuan could continue protesting, darkness suddenly covered his vision, leaving only a tiny circle near his feet visible. A sharp tug nearly pulled him stumbling forward uncontrollably. Thinking he was about to crash into something and become a human cushion, Ning Xuan hurriedly tried to yank his hand free and struggle away, but it was already too late.
With absolutely no cushioning whatsoever, his face slammed directly into something hard. The impact made his teeth ache and his nose sting painfully. Ning Xuan cursed inwardly. The hand restraining his arm loosened, but another hand instead rubbed vigorously through the towel draped over his head. Before he could recover from the soreness in his mouth and nose, the rough shaking left him dizzy and disoriented. He instinctively raised a hand to push away, only to hear a low, unreadable voice above his head:
“Don’t move.”
Ning Xuan wasn’t sure whether his head was unusually small or whether the brocade cloth Feng Xuanyi had found was simply enormous, but it managed to wrap completely around his entire head. As the cloth curled slightly from the rubbing motion and drooped over his eyes, Ning Xuan blinked and finally realized that the “wall” he had crashed into earlier was actually Feng Xuanyi’s chest.
It was genuinely difficult to imagine that this pampered prince—someone clearly accustomed to having clothes handed to him and meals served directly to his mouth, a perfect ornamental “embroidered pillow” of a royal—could possess such a well-built body. Just look at that shape, that outline, those solid muscles. Even through the thin fabric of his clothes, the contours of his physique remained visible. It was exactly the kind of sturdy strength every man admired.
Ning Xuan pouted unhappily. Thinking about how he himself resembled nothing more than a boiled white chicken—sure, he had all the necessary parts, but compared to the imposing figure before him, there was simply no comparison at all. One stood in the heavens while the other languished underground. The more he thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt. His large, bright phoenix eyes widened furiously as he stared fixedly at the chest before him, forgetting entirely the awkward fact that he was currently kneeling crookedly in Feng Xuanyi’s lap, and forgetting as well the hands wreaking havoc atop his head. It was as though he held some mortal grudge against that chest and wished he could punch a hole straight through it to finally feel satisfied.
A suppressed, low laugh suddenly sounded above him from Feng Xuanyi, tinged with unmistakable ambiguity.
“Like it that much? I’ll allow you to touch it.”
Ning Xuan immediately shuddered. Only then did he realize the compromising “disadvantageous” position he was in—and even worse, that he had been staring so intently at another man’s chest without blinking. What he found hardest to accept was that Feng Xuanyi had interpreted it as lustful admiration!
He hurriedly raised a hand to push him away, only to freeze from the intense warmth beneath his palm.
“If you keep squirming around, I’ll twist your head off.”
Clearly displeased by Ning Xuan’s struggling, Feng Xuanyi snorted coolly.
Ning Xuan froze instantly, stopping all struggle. Even the arm he had flung out awkwardly remained suspended in midair, neither up nor down. He instinctively shrank his neck a little. After all, when living under someone else’s roof, one had no choice but to bow their head—especially when such a fatal weakness was firmly in another person’s grasp, and that person happened to be so moody and unpredictable. For all he knew, Feng Xuanyi might truly get carried away and twist his head off. That would be a terribly unrewarding way to die.
Kneeling stiffly with his legs pressed together between Feng Xuanyi’s spread thighs, bending forward with his head drooping against Feng Xuanyi’s chest while his head was helplessly rubbed and tousled in Feng Xuanyi’s hands—this posture, this arrangement, this entire situation… the more Ning Xuan thought about it, the more unbearably ambiguous it felt. His entire body felt awkward beyond belief. His barely functioning brain desperately calculated whether, if Feng Xuanyi suddenly got excited and tried something, he would have enough time to knee him hard enough to leave him childless forever…
The plan sounded beautifully malicious, but Ning Xuan had forgotten to consider its practicality. If Feng Xuanyi truly acted “suddenly,” then in such a lightning-fast instant, what chance did he really have to react in time—let alone lift his leg accurately?
Powerless to resist, Ning Xuan maintained his rigid posture while enduring Feng Xuanyi’s teasing remarks. Eventually Feng Xuanyi prepared for bed, and Ning Xuan chatted with him in scattered, half-hearted responses. By the end of it all, Ning Xuan suddenly realized that his earlier shock—being utterly stunned by a mere phrase like “because I like you”—had only proven how inexperienced and shallow he truly was. After spending merely a few hours with Feng Xuanyi, he had already cultivated a face as thick and invulnerable as a bronze wall. He was now immune to all poisons. For example:
Feng Xuanyi had just taken a cup of tea and was about to drink when he suddenly glanced at Ning Xuan’s hand holding the tray and sincerely sighed, “Tsk tsk, your skin is really fair, and your hands are nicely shaped too. Having you work as a servant waiting on people all day is honestly a waste.”
This time Ning Xuan was no longer shocked or flustered. Instead, he smiled respectfully and devoutly. “Thank you for Your Highness’s praise. This servant’s skin is simply rough and thick—it can withstand any amount of wear.”
Feng Xuanyi disagreed completely and offered a different opinion. “Wouldn’t this be considered natural beauty?”
Without even twitching an eyebrow, Ning Xuan replied smoothly, “Thank you for Your Highness’s appreciation.”
And so on and so forth.
It really couldn’t be blamed on Ning Xuan for giving up struggling so quickly and surrendering to authority, oppression, and exploitation. Rather, he had suddenly discovered Feng Xuanyi’s “weakness.” If you agreed with whatever Feng Xuanyi said, he would lose interest after talking to himself for a few lines. But if you deliberately contradicted him, then even if he originally had no special intentions, your resistance would spark his interest. After that he would only become more enthusiastic, more entertained, and increasingly impossible to control. Even if things escalated beyond his original intentions, he would never regret whatever unexpected events occurred. After all, he was someone born into absolute superiority, someone fully entitled to walk around with his eyes practically growing out of the top of his head. As the saying goes, an arm can never overpower a thigh. Since escape was impossible, why not at least minimize the damage? Verbal teasing was far easier to tolerate than actual physical actions.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re really very boring?” Feng Xuanyi yawned lazily. He lifted his eyes toward the darkening sky outside the window before shifting his gaze back onto Ning Xuan. Though his mouth complained of boredom, the amusement and curiosity sparkling in his eyes remained impossible to hide.
“Thank you for Your Highness’s praise.” If I can bore you enough for you to throw me out, then that would truly be the blessing of several lifetimes, Ning Xuan cried sincerely in his heart. Unfortunately, that honest inner thought escaped his mouth through sheer reflex. The instant the words left him, regret flooded Ning Xuan so hard his intestines practically turned green. He awkwardly tugged at the corners of his lips, trying desperately to produce a humble, obedient smile while temporarily strangling to death the equalitarian values of his modern mindset.
“Pfft—”
Hearing that, Feng Xuanyi couldn’t help laughing aloud. The soft laugh echoed through the enormous room occupied by only the two of them, endlessly magnified and reverberating. Ning Xuan immediately felt unbearably embarrassed and hurriedly lowered his head to hide his burning face.
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