Chapter 8

Ding-ling.

Along with her climax, the key was pushed out by the slick, landing on the hard bedboard with a soft click.

It was over.

Zhu Yu panted as she pulled up her inner robe, and when she saw Li Wu's reproachful look, she smiled slyly. "You never said I couldn't hide there."

"You should go," Li Wu said, turning his eyes away as he tried to pull his hand back.

Zhu Yu clamped onto his arm and frowned. "You still haven't told me your answer."

"Like means like, and dislike means dislike. Is that really so hard?" she demanded, tugging Li Wu's face back around so he couldn't avoid her.

There was a great many unreadable emotions hidden in Li Wu's deep gaze. If he were to say he felt nothing for Zhu Yu, that would be pure self-deception. He would never have tolerated her going this far otherwise.

But if he truly took Zhu Yu for himself, what face would he have left to meet Zhu Gong, who had once shown him kindness?

Two currents of feeling battled fiercely inside Li Wu. In the end, he made his decision.

"I'm sorry..." He turned his face away in embarrassment.

"..."

At that answer, Zhu Yu's eyes instantly reddened.

For the first time in her life, she had liked someone this much, liked him so much she didn't care if she poured out everything she had.

She had seen how indulgent and helpless Li Wu could be when she teased him, how he always managed to save her from danger no matter how perilous the situation. She knew this man had no defense against her...

But she had misunderstood... so this wasn't love after all...

"Why?" Zhu Yu asked shakily.

Tears streamed down her small face, making her look pitiful. She lifted her eyes, and in those apricot-shaped pupils, mist swirled and shimmered. "Why don't you like me?"

"Is it because I'm ugly?"

Li Wu said nothing. Of course Zhu Yu was not ugly; she was beautiful enough to be called a stunning beauty. Even when she cried, she was lovely to look at, long lashes heavy with teardrops, impossible not to pity.

"Or is my figure bad?" Zhu Yu bit her lip. Though she was trying her best not to cry, tears kept falling all the same, and she insisted on dragging Li Wu's hand to her chest so he could feel that round fullness.

Zhu Yu was only eighteen, and her body had already developed very well.

Her figure was full of curves, and the most striking feature of all was that soft, lush chest, which had grown to the point that Li Wu could almost no longer cup it with one hand.

Not to mention how soft and fine it felt under his touch.

"It's not that."

Li Wu helplessly pulled his hand back. Looking at Zhu Yu with her nose red from crying, still sniffling softly, he gently wiped away her tears and said in a low voice, "You're wonderful. It's just that there are men in this world who are a hundred times, ten thousand times better than me, all waiting for you. Don't let this momentary illusion mislead you into doing something you'll regret."

Zhu Yu stubbornly clutched the front of his robe. "How do you know that if I let go now, I won't regret it later?"

Li Wu sighed. Time was almost up; he couldn't linger any longer.

He tapped a finger, and Zhu Yu instantly felt drowsiness crash over her. "No... Li Wu... you coward, you runaway..." She tried hard to keep her eyes open, but her eyelids seemed glued shut. Slowly, she sank into darkness.

The next morning.

The blinding sunlight poured into the room, making Zhu Yu frown in discomfort as she slowly opened her eyes. She looked up, and as expected, Li Wu had already fled.

The bundle placed on the table also told her that after she had passed out last night, she had been sent back to her room. Zhu Yu curled her lip, got up, dressed, and washed up.

As soon as she opened the door, a small soldier in cloth armor immediately came up and said, "Miss Zhu, you're awake."

Zhu Yu blinked in confusion. "Who are you? Where's Li Wu?"

The soldier introduced himself, "My lord has gone to deal with the official-bandit matter. He told me to wait here for your instructions, Miss."

"If you've woken up, then please pack up. My lord has ordered that we move to another residence for a few days and wait for the newly reassigned county magistrate to arrive."

After breakfast in the main hall, Zhu Yu packed up her clothes and said to the soldier, "Little soldier, take me to find Li Wu. Just have someone else send my things over."

"Th-this..." The soldier looked troubled. "My lord said he's very busy. I'm afraid he won't have time to see you, Miss."

"Then I'll just go there and take a look. Is that okay?" Zhu Yu bargained with him.

The soldier was in a bind. "My lord is doing official business. I'm not sure whether it would be appropriate for anyone else to watch..."

"He didn't say that. How would you know?" Zhu Yu blinked her clear, bright eyes, then deliberately acted shy. "Besides, do you know what my relationship with Li Wu is?"

Ah?! Could it be?

The soldier's eyes widened. His excellent brain instantly recalled how the lord had been late yesterday, how he had kept spacing out, and how the night before that it had been at an inn... Why, wasn't that exactly what Miss Zhu was hinting at?

"All right then," the soldier compromised. "Just don't disturb my lord while he's working. Take a look and leave."

Zhu Yu nodded with a smile. "Of course, of course."

By the time they reached the sealed-off private residence of the chief clerk, soldiers were busily sorting through and carrying out the belongings. When the soldier brought Zhu Yu over, the front gate was in the middle of a flurry of activity.

"Where is he?" She didn't see Li Wu anywhere among the people coming and going.

The soldier was a little puzzled too. "My lord is definitely here."

"Then how about we split up and look for him?" Zhu Yu suggested.

"How can we..." Before the soldier could finish, Zhu Yu had already darted off like a gust of wind.

The wealth the chief clerk had extorted from the people over the past few years was so great that it was enough for him to build artificial hills and a lake in this small desert border town. There was even a bamboo grove surrounding a little pavilion, with all kinds of rare flowers and exotic plants growing around it.

Zhu Yu narrowed her eyes and seemed to catch sight of a figure standing in that pavilion.

Judging by the clothes and bearing, that broad back, that lean waist, that habitual hands-behind-the-back stance like some old cadre, yes, that person really was him!

"Li Wu!~"

The girl's voice was sweet and clear, sounding like a pleasing silver bell.

But to Li Wu, it was like a bolt from the blue.

In an instant, Li Wu went stiff as a statue. He slowly turned back, his narrow eyes wide open, his face so shocked it had gone blank.

He watched as the newcomer ran over, Zhu Yu's hands still tightly wrapped around his arm, her manner far too intimate.

If any outsider saw this, it would be enough to cause devastating damage to a young woman's reputation.

Li Wu quickly recovered and hurried to shake her off. "Let go already!"

Zhu Yu clung to him as if glued, even pressing her full breasts against him.

But she couldn't beat his strength in the end. During the struggle, Li Wu inevitably brushed against that soft warmth, and thinking back to last night, he shuddered again. In a hoarse voice, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

Zhu Yu saw Li Wu keeping his distance from her like he was avoiding some lecher, and she pouted in grievance. "I couldn't see you this morning, so I came to find you."

She looked so pitiful, and with that peerless beauty of hers, it made it seem as if he were the one who'd done something wrong, leaving him with the guilty feeling of some heartless scoundrel.

Li Wu's lips moved, but he didn't know what to say.

"You told me to move to that residence, so where are you sleeping tonight?" Zhu Yu asked.

Li Wu answered, "I'll be staying with the soldiers."

"No!" Zhu Yu rejected it stubbornly. Then she lowered her eyes, mist beginning to fill them. "If you don't stay with me, aren't you afraid I'll be scared?"

As if she'd run into some heartless liar from a storybook who cheated people out of both money and affection, Zhu Yu started crying and stamping her feet at the same time, accusing him, "Clearly last night we were still..."

Before she could finish, Li Wu covered her mouth. His sun-bronzed face immediately darkened another shade, and it looked as if smoke might come pouring out of his head. He glared at Zhu Yu and said through clenched teeth, "Don't say it again...!"

He had spent the whole night trying to forget it, and now she had casually dragged it back up. Humiliated, he felt his whole face burning hot.

"Fine." Zhu Yu blinked at him. "Then stay with me tonight."

"The private residence has two floors. You sleep upstairs, and I'll sleep in the guest room on the first floor."

Seeing that Zhu Yu was about to protest again, Li Wu threatened her, "If that's still not good enough, I'll send ten soldiers to guard the gate. Then you won't be scared anymore, will you?"

Zhu Yu stared at him wide-eyed, her mouth still muffled by his hand. "I don't want that!"

"Then it's settled," Li Wu said decisively.