Seeing a massive dark shadow about to crash down on her, Cui Yunchu's face turned pale.
She was currently heavily injured; if she were crushed like this, how could she survive? Even if she didn't die immediately, she'd be as good as dead.
"Don't come over... Ah—"
At the critical moment, she reflexively raised her leg, propping her foot against the falling person's abdomen for a split second, and quickly dodged to the side.
The person above her then crashed down, falling right on top of her.
Cui Yunchu nearly rolled her eyes, but fortunately, her back was turned to him.
The man's heavy panting echoed right next to her ear. A distant memory suddenly and unexpectedly assaulted her mind, making even Cui Yunchu's toes curl with heat.
Yet the person on top of her remained completely motionless. "Are you enjoying lying on top of me?" she said through gritted teeth.
Only then did Shen Xiabai react, immediately scrambling to his feet in a flurry, his face looking awful.
Cui Yunchu lay on her side on the ground, glaring at him. "I asked if you were comfortable lying on me!"
She was almost crushed to death, and he didn't even have a single word of apology?
Were their astrological signs simply incompatible? Why was it that whenever she ran into him, nothing ever went smoothly?
Shen Xiabai furrowed his brows, though the tips of his ears were faintly flushed with a blood-red hue. "You are a young lady, how can you utter such..." filthy words.
"Such what?" Cui Yunchu propped herself up on her arms and sat up. "You are so noble, Lord Shen, so noble that you take advantage of others' peril to throw yourself onto me."
"..."
"You... you twist the truth and speak utter nonsense." Shen Xiabai was choking with anger.
Was he doing it on purpose? It was clearly due to his physical condition; he simply couldn't stand steadily.
"No matter how base I, Shen Xiabai, might be, I would never have designs on a lady of the Cui family."
As soon as these words came out, Cui Yunchu was displeased and immediately scrambled up. "What do you mean by that? What's wrong with the ladies of the Cui family? Let me tell you, even if I couldn't get married for the rest of my life, I wouldn't spare you a single glance."
After speaking, she pointed at Shen Xiabai and added, "Even if you threw yourself at me, I wouldn't want you. If you lie on me, you can just roll right off."
She wasn't the one who had just crashed down. Cui Yunchu remembered again the incident from her past life when she had slept with him once, only to be run through with a sword. Her heart burned with fury.
Then how should they settle the score for him crashing onto her just now?
The more Cui Yunchu thought about it, the angrier she got. She absolutely had to get her revenge.
She looked at Shen Xiabai's face, which was turning green with anger, yet he was swaying and unable to stand firmly. She frowned. "What's wrong with you?"
Perhaps to prove his innocence, Shen Xiabai paused for a long while before saying coldly, "The effects of the medicine are too strong, I..." am physically weak.
Saying it out loud was somewhat embarrassing, but Cui Yunchu understood.
She stepped forward, reached out, and gave Shen Xiabai a vicious shove, making him stumble.
"Heh, your stance is quite stable," Cui Yunchu mocked. She reached out again and, using all her strength, shoved him to the ground.
Shen Xiabai fell so hard that his inner robes flew up. He was stunned for a moment, only to see Cui Yunchu walking towards him.
"If I take advantage of you, you kill me. If you take advantage of me, how should we settle it, huh? How should we settle it?"
Seeing her about to pounce on him, Shen Xiabai's face bore an indescribable expression, his eyes a mix of shock and anger.
"You..."
Cui Yunchu pursed her lips and forcefully grabbed Shen Xiabai's neck. "Little thing, weren't you quite happy choking me just now?"
"I'll teach you to choke me, I'll teach you to choke me." She used all her strength, but Shen Xiabai's face only turned slightly pale.
The shock in Shen Xiabai's eyes faded. He reached out an arm and swept Cui Yunchu off from above him to the side.
The force wasn't great, but as a young woman, she was still far from being a match for it.
Cui Yunchu was stunned. "Aren't you weak from taking medicine?" How did he still have so much strength to resist?
Shen Xiabai gritted his teeth. "But I'm not dead either." To let you humiliate me and do whatever you want.
Cui Yunchu scoffed coldly, spread her arms, and lay flat on the ground, spread-eagled.
Shen Xiabai staggered back to lean against the stone wall. He looked at Cui Yunchu with a cold, dark gaze. Thinking of the series of actions this woman had just performed, his eyes grew even darker.
Which family's daughter would act so crazy? She clearly had a screw loose.
If it weren't for his compromised physical condition, fearing he wouldn't have the upper hand, he absolutely would have argued this out with her.
"You completely lack the demeanor of a refined lady. The Cui family is nothing more than this."
Cui Yunchu turned her head to look at him, her arrogance unbridled. "I am a refined lady. Whatever I look like, that is what a refined lady looks like. I am the one who defines it, not you, and certainly not those pedantic, rigid bookworms in the capital."
Women are people, not ornaments. A woman's appearance and behavior are defined by each individual woman. Why should others be allowed to criticize and restrict them?
"And in my eyes, you, Lord Shen, don't have the slightest bit of a gentleman's demeanor either. No, you can't even be considered a man."
At least when she looked at him now, she didn't feel the way a woman should feel when looking at a man.
Shen Xiabai was originally just frowning, but upon hearing her later words, his gaze turned cold. "Shameless."
Cui Yunchu, "..." If you can't win an argument, why resort to personal attacks?
"Well, I still wouldn't fancy you. Even if you threw yourself at me, I wouldn't fancy you."
Shen Xiabai was on the verge of exploding. If human emotions could be materialized, a raging fire would undoubtedly be burning on his forehead.
"That... was just an accident."
Cui Yunchu, "I still wouldn't fancy you."
Finally, she added, "Let me tell you, I will absolutely not take responsibility."
Shen Xiabai seemed to finally understand what kind of life Prince An and His Highness the Crown Prince had lived all those past years.
He closed his eyes, unable to swallow that breath of anger no matter what.
But due to his physical condition, he didn't move. Since he couldn't gain the upper hand verbally either, he merely maintained a cold face, looking as if he had just walked out of a snowy field in the dead of winter.
Once he rested and his body recovered, he was definitely going to strangle this woman to death.
He had seen thick-skinned people before, but someone as brazen as Cui Yunchu was a first.
Cui Yunchu was surprisingly well-behaved at this moment.
Provoking him was one thing, but she wasn't an idiot.
Shen Xiabai had been drugged, and it looked like he would recover fully if he just held out for a while. She was still an injured patient herself. Overacting and truly angering him wouldn't do her any good.
She tilted her head and suddenly asked, "That horse of yours, where did you pick it up?"
Shen Xiabai frowned, not answering her, not even opening his eyes.
Cui Yunchu continued on her own, "It was such a coward. If it hadn't run away, we wouldn't have ended up in this situation."
Shen Xiabai sneered, "Eldest Miss Cui is truly shameless. You can even blame your own mistakes on a horse."
"."
"For you to insult a young lady like this, you truly don't have the slightest bit of a gentleman's demeanor."
Shen Xiabai, "I am a gentleman. Whatever a gentleman looks like is defined by me."
Heh, he learns pretty fast.
Cui Yunchu curled her lips.
Shen Xiabai's gaze, however, was incredibly icy. "So, you didn't crash into me on purpose, but accidentally?"
"Yeah." Cui Yunchu nodded. "My horse suddenly went crazy for some reason, and I couldn't control it. I thought about using the force of your carriage to brake, or jumping onto your carriage. Who knew your horse was such a coward that it just bolted."
After speaking, she shot Shen Xiabai a sideways glance. "No one would have thought that someone would be reading a book inside the carriage."
He was just unlucky!
Shen Xiabai knitted his brows. It was unclear whether he believed her or not. He lowered his head slightly, seemingly pondering the truth of Cui Yunchu's words.
Cui Yunchu suddenly asked, "Are you feeling physically weak and breaking out in cold sweats right now?"
Shen Xiabai said nothing, not even lifting his eyes.
Cui Yunchu muttered to herself, "It must be. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, when you asked that just now, you definitely would have been strangling my neck."
"..."
Shen Xiabai couldn't be bothered to pay attention to her. He lowered his eyes, but his gaze suddenly locked onto his abdomen.
On his already dirty and torn inner garment, a small embroidered shoe print was incredibly clear, covered in mud.
That was from when Cui Yunchu had kicked him just a moment ago.
Shen Xiabai's entire face turned green. His disgust was undisguised, to the point where he felt faintly nauseous.
Cui Yunchu looked at his expression and said, "Are you going to take off your inner garment to seduce me?"
Shen Xiabai shot her a glare as sharp as a knife.
Cui Yunchu continued with a beaming smile, "Or do you want to watch me take off your clothes?" After saying that, she gave him a very deliberate wink.
"Get lost!" This single word seemed to drain all of Shen Xiabai's strength.
As a powerful noble, he had been seduced by many, whether they were noble young ladies of the capital or dancing girls gifted by others, but he had never been teased like this by a filthy, sickly woman.
But at the same time, he dismissed the thought of asking for his outer robe back, lest this shameless woman say something even more stomach-churning.
Having achieved her goal, Cui Yunchu stopped talking. She wrapped the robe tightly around herself and watched as Shen Xiabai grabbed some dry dirt from the cave and smeared it over the muddy footprint on his inner garment.
"Why don't you just tear that piece off."
Cui Yunchu said, "Have you ever seen a Western belly dance?"
Shen Xiabai felt that his patience had reached its absolute limit. "Can you shut up?"
"Or..." He reached toward his ankle, and with a sharp metallic sound, he pulled out a short dagger. "I can help Eldest Miss Cui shut up."
Nothing in the world was more intimidating to Cui Yunchu than Shen Xiabai holding a dagger.
Her face instantly turned stark white. Supporting herself on her arms, she scooted backward, her small mouth clamped tightly shut.
How had she not noticed that Shen Xiabai had a dagger hidden on him?
It was not surprising, though. Did he not also have medicine hidden on him?
Cui Yunchu curled her lips.
For the rest of the time, Shen Xiabai found the peace and quiet incredibly refreshing. He could not help but feel immense pity for Prince An and the Crown Prince, who had been pestered by Cui Yunchu.
How could a woman's temperament be so... atrocious?
It was truly beyond description.
