It is ominous.
What is it?
What on earth are these things?
Su Zhenzhen stood there. The glazed lamps in the room had already been lit. Melting ice dripped down into a bronze basin.
The temperature inside the room was much more comfortable than outside.
Lu Hexu lay in a wooden tub filled with spring water and ice blocks.
His gaze met Su Zhenzhen's.
The hand gripping the cat-ear gold hairpin suddenly tightened.
Su Zhenzhen slowly lifted her foot. Under Lu Hexu's watchful eyes, she avoided the silver needles on the floor and walked toward him.
The woman approached slowly, walking right up to the edge of the wooden tub.
Su Zhenzhen's soft fingers landed on the wrist of the man holding the gold hairpin, resting there gently.
The pads of her fingers could clearly feel the man's rapid pulse. Though strong, it was chaotic, surging relentlessly.
"Calm down," Su Zhenzhen spoke, her voice strained.
But the man's pulse did not slow down. Instead, it felt as if it were trying to break through his skin, beating so hard it made her fingertips numb.
Lu Hexu lay there, his breathing growing increasingly ragged, and he suddenly yanked his hand away.
Su Zhenzhen's hand hung in midair. Watching the man's breathing become even more frantic, she subconsciously lifted her leg and stepped right into the bathing tub.
Some of the spring water, mixed with ice, spilled over, splashing onto the floor with a clatter.
So cold.
Even though it was summer, this temperature was still far too low for Su Zhenzhen.
Her body instantly stiffened from the cold, and she couldn't help but shiver.
The wooden tub wasn't small, but it wasn't large either.
With Su Zhenzhen taking up a portion of the space, Lu Hexu had no choice but to curl up his legs.
Su Zhenzhen half-crouched between his legs, looking up at him.
The tub was now clouded with the dirt from her body. Su Zhenzhen leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Lu Hexu's neck.
She pressed her face against his neck. Seeing that the man did not resist, her gaze shifted slightly downward.
The man's clothes were soaked through. Below the collar of his neck, she could faintly see some spell-like runic lines further down.
It looks like a curse.
I can't read it.
Lu Hexu's hands, resting on Su Zhenzhen's waist, suddenly tightened. He held her tightly, his voice hoarse, "Don't look, Zhenzhen, don't look."
His voice was very low, murmuring it over and over. The end of his words carried a slight tremble, sounding exactly like a plea.
"Why shouldn't I look?" Su Zhenzhen hugged Lu Hexu's neck, her voice very light but carrying a gentle firmness. "Can't you show it to me?"
Lu Hexu tilted his head to rest on her shoulder, panting heavily. "It is ominous."
Lu Hexu buried his face in the crook of Su Zhenzhen's neck. His scorching breath brushed against her skin, and his hot sweat pressed against her. Su Zhenzhen only felt that the water beneath her was freezing, yet the temperature of the man's body was frighteningly hot.
"Alright, I won't look."
Su Zhenzhen stood up.
She stood in the tub, looking down at Lu Hexu lying inside. "I've dirtied the water. I'll call Wei Heng over to change it for you."
The marks on the man's neck had already become extremely faint. After Su Zhenzhen stepped out of the wooden tub and turned her head back, those marks had completely disappeared, as if they had never existed.
Lu Hexu lay there, his gaze fixed steadily on her.
Su Zhenzhen walked behind the folding screen, took off her clothes, washed herself clean, and came out in a fresh set of clothes.
Her hair was half-wet, tied into a simple braid resting over her shoulder.
Su Zhenzhen walked out the door. Wei Heng was indeed already guarding the entrance. "Godfather, please trouble someone to go in and change the water."
Wei Heng nodded.
Su Zhenzhen did not leave, however. She stood there, hesitating for a moment before asking, "Godfather, have you seen it? The thing on his back?"
Wei Heng shook his head, a look of confusion appearing on his face.
Su Zhenzhen nodded and asked, "Godfather, I would like to borrow some brush and ink."
In an empty side room, Su Zhenzhen sat behind a quiet desk. A young eunuch brought over the brush and ink.
Su Zhenzhen picked up the writing brush, thought quietly for a moment, and began to draw.
Although Su Zhenzhen did not recognize these characters, she could draw them.
Photographic memory was very useful at times like this.
Su Zhenzhen finished it in one breath, drawing out exactly what was in her mind.
The drawing looked a bit strange, but there shouldn't be much of a difference.
Su Zhenzhen picked up the paper and asked Wei Heng, "Godfather, do you recognize this?"
Wei Heng took a look and shook his head, "I don't recognize it."
Su Zhenzhen nodded. "Godfather, I'm going out for a bit. Please trouble yourself to brew a bowl of soothing soup for His Majesty, and add extra honey."
"Alright." Wei Heng nodded, watching as Su Zhenzhen headed out with the paper in hand.
Su Zhenzhen guessed that this must be some kind of script.
She thought for a moment and went out to look for Jiang Yunshu.
Jiang Yunshu was in her room reading storybooks. Her eyes were glazed over, clearly having stayed up all night reading.
"Let me see." She took the paper from Su Zhenzhen's hand with a slightly sluggish expression. "It looks like Tibetan, but unfortunately, I don't know it either."
After taking a closer look, Jiang Yunshu gave an ambiguous answer, and then she remembered something. "Didn't you have a kid in your apothecary before? I think I saw Tibetan script in the Buddhist scriptures he was copying."
Lu Mingqian?
Jiang Yunshu picked up a teacup from the table and took a sip of cold tea. After putting it down, she heard a knock on the door.
"Who is it?"
She stood up unsteadily to open the door, then came back muttering, "There's no one there." After saying that, she took another sip of cold tea, the teacup clinked against the table, and she turned around to open the door again.
Su Zhenzhen: ...
"You should go to sleep soon, I'm leaving first." She paused, then added, "That was the sound of your teacup."
What sound of a teacup?
Jiang Yunshu's eyes looked blank.
Su Zhenzhen picked up the teacup and tapped it.
Jiang Yunshu's eyes slowly widened.
Eh?
Su Zhenzhen took the paper back to the estate, then headed to Lu Mingqian's Hibiscus Courtyard.
Lu Mingqian's injuries had mostly healed, and he was able to get out of bed.
When Su Zhenzhen arrived, he was inside the room, being supported by a young eunuch as he walked slowly.
Wei Heng had always been very thorough in caring for people. Afraid that Lu Mingqian might get bored, he had even found him some books. Next to the bed was a small table with Buddhist scriptures and the Four Treasures of the Study. Two young eunuchs were always by his side, ready to be summoned at any time.
Inside the room was a bronze basin with a block of ice, and reed blinds hung all around. Since the Hibiscus Courtyard was near the water, it didn't feel too hot.
It was quiet and suitable for recuperation.
Su Zhenzhen's gaze swept over the open Buddhist scriptures near the window, and sure enough, she saw a few lines of Tibetan mixed in.
Looking again at the scriptures Lu Mingqian had copied, the Tibetan script on them was written quite decently.
"You're here." Seeing Su Zhenzhen appear, Lu Mingqian's eyes subconsciously lit up.
He quickly tidied up the room a bit. "It's not usually this messy."
It was fine; she was even messier.
Su Zhenzhen found a place to sit down and took out the paper in her hand. "Don't busy yourself just yet. Help me take a look, what are these characters?"
Lu Mingqian put down what he was holding, walked over, took the paper, looked it over, and said, "It's Tibetan."
It really was Tibetan.
Su Zhenzhen asked again, "What does it mean? Can you recognize it?"
Lu Mingqian's expression changed, looking somewhat disturbed.
He read it once in Tibetan, then glanced at Su Zhenzhen and translated, "The Avici Hell of continuous heat, the black rope sawing the body, blazing iron burning the bones, molten copper poured down the throat, day and night, without end or release..."
The more Su Zhenzhen listened, the paler her face became.
Who on earth would carve such incantations onto a person's body?
She opened her mouth, mumbling, "If these were carved onto someone's body..."
"Tibetan Buddhist scriptures have always been rooted in the salvation of all living beings. Those with weak constitutions might wear incantations to pray for blessings and protect their bodies." As he spoke, Lu Mingqian rolled up his sleeve, revealing a winding line of Tibetan script about five centimeters long on his forearm. "This is a blessing mantra a master at the temple wrote for me when I was young."
Pausing for a moment, Lu Mingqian's gaze fell on the piece of paper in Su Zhenzhen's hand. "If the words on your paper were carved onto a body, it would undoubtedly be an extremely vicious curse."
Su Zhenzhen's face instantly turned ugly.
She sat there, gripping the hem of her skirt tightly.
Just who had left these things on Lu Hexu's body?
Did it only act up when exposed to sunlight?
Would it hurt?
"There is one more thing I didn't have time to tell you last time." Lu Mingqian lowered his head and took a deep breath. "He is faking his illness."
"He harbors hidden intentions."
Lu Mingqian's face flushed with anger. "If a person likes someone else, they should strictly abide by etiquette. First, they should express their feelings to show their sincerity, then ask a matchmaker to propose, inform their parents, and follow the proper rites of the Three Letters and Six Etiquettes to marry them honorably. That is the righteous path... rather than resorting to such underhanded tricks like him..."
Lu Mingqian's voice grew quieter and quieter as he spoke, a suspicious blush appearing on his face. When he looked up, however, he found that Su Zhenzhen's attention wasn't on him at all.
The woman sat there, as if she had only just registered his words.
"How do you know I like him?" Su Zhenzhen had only caught the general gist of it. Following her own understanding, she blurted out subconsciously.
Lu Mingqian's gaze fell on Su Zhenzhen's confused face. His complexion shifted from red to white, and white to red.
He pursed his lips and stopped talking.
"Tell me, do you think he likes me?" Su Zhenzhen's voice was very soft as she gently asked again.
Lu Mingqian: ...
Su Zhenzhen returned to the front of Lu Hexu's room.
The sun had not yet set; in fact, it was currently the hottest part of the afternoon.
The leaves on the trees in the courtyard were wilted from the sun, and the summer breeze was completely still. Even the air in the courtyard seemed to have solidified under the heat, so sweltering that it made it hard to breathe.
Su Zhenzhen sat alone under the corridor, hearing the sound of water coming from inside the room.
She liked him.
Did Lu Hexu like her too?
Su Zhenzhen didn't know.
She only knew that the first time she saw Mu Dan, she thought he was handsome.
When she first arrived in this unfamiliar world, Mu Dan was like a piece of driftwood suddenly thrust in front of her, and she reached out and clung to him.
At first, the young man was very resistant, but he couldn't withstand her thick skin.
She cried often, and the young man would look very impatient, but then she would sleep, and the problems would be solved.
Su Zhenzhen once thought she was just lucky.
But it was never luck; it was just someone solving all her problems for her.
They held hands, hugged, and kissed.
Su Zhenzhen thought she was just too lonely.
But it wasn't until the day she saw Lu Hexu again, five years later.
What she thought in her heart wasn't that she was going to die.
Rather, it was that he had come looking for her.
Joy overwhelmed her fear.
Su Zhenzhen felt she was very strange.
She should have been afraid.
But she wasn't very afraid; she even felt a sense of delight, reluctant to move her eyes away from the man.
He had become even better-looking.
Better-looking than before.
When she was tricked into going to Qushui Garden by that old eunuch, she thought he wouldn't come.
But he still came.
Su Zhenzhen couldn't control herself; she really wanted to hug him.
And so she went and hugged him.
She really got to hug him.
Su Zhenzhen thought she was probably abnormal now.
She even wanted to hide the sick him away, hide him in a place where there were only the two of them.
And what truly made her recognize this feeling was when she saw the cat-ear gold hairpin that Lu Hexu had accidentally dropped on the mountain.
Su Zhenzhen had never thought that she would so fiercely dig up a person's grave with her bare hands.
At that moment, Su Zhenzhen finally understood her feelings for Lu Hexu.
It wasn't an alternative reliance born out of loneliness, nor was it a comfort that anyone else could replace.
It was love.
She loved him.
Through her gloves, Su Zhenzhen gently pinched her fingernails that had not yet fully grown back.
"Miss Su, the weather is hot, why are you sitting here?" Wei Heng walked over, carrying a food box in his hand. "You haven't had lunch yet."
She had actually been so busy she forgot.
Su Zhenzhen smiled and stood up from the ground.
Wei Heng knew Su Zhenzhen's tastes very well; he brought all her favorite dishes.
Since the weather was hot, the meat dish was a plate of cold beef.
Su Zhenzhen swept the three dishes and one soup completely clean.
Wei Heng was a bit surprised. "Miss Su has a good appetite today."
"One only has the strength to work after eating one's fill."
Su Zhenzhen returned to her smiling self.
"Godfather."
"Miss Su, please go ahead."
"What kind of woman does His Majesty like?"
Wei Heng: ...
Wei Heng looked at Su Zhenzhen with a strange expression.
Su Zhenzhen blinked.
Wei Heng took a deep breath and closed the food box.
"Miss Su, what do you think?"
Su Zhenzhen hesitated for a long while. "I'm not too sure."
A smile appeared on Wei Heng's face. "Other than Miss Su, His Majesty has never had a woman he was close to. Miss Su, you and His Majesty are both smart people, how could you..."
At this point, Wei Heng shook his head.
Su Zhenzhen was puzzled.
How could they, what?
Mu Dan had accompanied her through that very difficult time. To Su Zhenzhen, Mu Dan's appearance was no less than a god descending from the heavens.
Then, what was she to him?
Was she also someone he could hug when he was lonely and in pain?
Suddenly, the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground came from inside the room.
Su Zhenzhen subconsciously stood up and pushed the door open to go in.
The light from outside shone into the room, and Su Zhenzhen pressed her back against the door, preventing even a sliver of outside light from leaking in.
Inside the room, Lu Hexu was standing by the bathtub, wearing those soaking wet clothes.
Sushan had darted out from who knows where and fallen to the ground, sprawling on its back with all four paws in the air.
That sound of a heavy object falling just now had been made by it.
How could a cat fall so loudly?
While Su Zhenzhen subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, her heart leaped into her throat again.
She walked over and reached out to knead Sushan a little.
It was meaty and thick; it was fine.
It was probably just because there was water on the floor, making it too slippery, so it fell when jumping down from a high place.
Su Zhenzhen glanced behind Sushan and saw the wardrobe that was taller than a person.
Sushan liked to stay on top of the wardrobe.
It would first jump from the table to the windowsill, and then gather its strength to jump from the windowsill to the top of the wardrobe.
Sushan lay crookedly on the ground for a while before awkwardly beginning to lick its fur.
Its fur was all wet.
After Su Zhenzhen wiped it clean with a handkerchief, Sushan darted off to the bed to sleep.
Holding the handkerchief in her hand, Su Zhenzhen turned her head to look at Lu Hexu.
The man was currently changing his clothes, revealing a figure with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. The incantations on the back of his neck were already gone.
He took off his soaking wet outer robe, walked behind the folding screen, and came out having changed into a new set of clothes.
With his soaking wet long hair draped over his body, the new clothes were wet again.
On the table in the room lay the food box Wei Heng had sent over, containing a soothing medicine with added honey.
Su Zhenzhen opened the food box, took out the porcelain cup, took a sip herself first, and then handed it to Lu Hexu.
The man glanced at her, raised his hand to take the porcelain cup, and downed it in one gulp.
Su Zhenzhen took out a bag of cream almond candies from her pocket.
She had bought them on the way back to the house from Jiang Yunshu's place just now.
Five years had passed, and such old-fashioned candies were quite hard to find.
Su Zhenzhen took out one and brought it to Lu Hexu's mouth.
The man opened his mouth and bit it.
The hard cream almond candy was held in his mouth.
The next moment, with a "crack", the jujube-sized candy was crushed by him.
Su Zhenzhen put the cream almond candies on the table, and then raised her eyes to look at Lu Hexu's red eyes.
Lu Hexu had soaked in the wooden tub for a day.
He didn't seem to have closed his eyes either.
Su Zhenzhen reached out and took Lu Hexu's hand, "Let's go to sleep, I'm tired."
The man's hand was very cold.
He had soaked in ice for half a day, not only his hands, but even the skin on his body had become very cold.
They lay down on the bed together.
Su Zhenzhen hugged the bamboo wife, and Lu Hexu hugged her.
The temperature of the man's body rose slowly, like a pool of clear spring water gradually warmed by the sun.
Su Zhenzhen released the bamboo wife she was holding, turned around, and hugged him.
Lu Hexu's body stiffened slightly, but he didn't move.
Su Zhenzhen's hand fell on his neck.
It was fair and smooth, with nothing on it.
Su Zhenzhen closed her eyes and slid down Lu Hexu's neck according to her memory.
[Here.]
[Here.]
[And here.]
[Everywhere.]
The man's body slowly tensed up with Su Zhenzhen's touch, like a tightened bowstring.
Su Zhenzhen felt the man's resistance and let go.
Su Zhenzhen remembered that the spell on Lu Mingqian's body was very neat, while these characters on Lu Hexu's body had a somewhat twisted arc.
[Lu Mingqian's looks better.]
Lu Hexu, who was hugging Su Zhenzhen, suddenly looked up at her.
The effect of the soothing medicine had begun to show a little, the man's eyes were redder, he looked at her and asked, "What did you go out to do just now?"
"Nothing, didn't I bring you cream almond candies?"
[I went to find someone to read Tibetan.]
Lu Hexu stared at her and said nothing.
Su Zhenzhen looked nervously into the man's black pupils.
"Oh, I also went to find Little Persimmon."
Lu Hexu pursed his lips, stopped hugging her, and rolled over.
After a while, seeing no movement behind him, he rolled back to hug her again.
But he saw Su Zhenzhen staring blankly at his back.
"Don't look..."
Lu Hexu reached out and covered Su Zhenzhen's eyes.
Su Zhenzhen let him cover them.
Her eyes were pitch black.
Su Zhenzhen held Lu Hexu's forearm and touched the silky cuff.
"Don't be afraid, I'll help you cure it."
The hand covering her eyes suddenly trembled.
Su Zhenzhen stretched out her arms and hugged Lu Hexu.
She buried her head in his arms and hugged him tightly.
There was a rustling sound outside, and the next moment, one of the glazed lamps that could still let out some light suddenly went out.
Lu Hexu's body moved.
Su Zhenzhen got up and lifted the curtain to check.
She put on her shoes, walked over, relit the glazed lamp, and then checked the other glazed lamp by the way.
No problem.
The ice cubes in the room exuded a condensed white mist, and when Su Zhenzhen passed by, she felt a chill spread.
She went back to the bed curtain.
Su Zhenzhen didn't like to see light when she slept, but Lu Hexu had to light two glazed lamps.
The bed curtain originally didn't have three layers, it was to block the light for her.
"The bed curtain won't be let down today." Su Zhenzhen hung up the bed curtain.
The light from the glazed lamp leaked in from outside, she lay down again, facing Lu Hexu, staring at him with misty eyes.
Lu Hexu closed his eyes and opened them again.
The light flooded in from behind the woman, almost swallowing her up.
"Zhenzhen..."
The man stretched out his arms, crossed them behind her back, and hugged her tightly.
"You seem to always like sleeping with the light on." Su Zhenzhen found a comfortable position to lean on Lu Hexu's shoulder.
The man was quiet for a while before slowly speaking: "That room had no light, it was very cold in winter, very dark at night, but I was afraid of the heat, the heat hurt so much..."
The effect of the soothing medicine kicked in.
Lu Hexu's eyelids drooped, and his voice gradually lowered.
The man fell asleep.
Su Zhenzhen didn't sleep, she kept her eyes open, raised her hand, and her fingertips brushed over the man's neck.
Lu Hexu was wearing silk pajamas, which slipped down a little when she gently pushed them.
Su Zhenzhen's fingertips brushed over his skin.
Feeling carefully.
There were no scars.
Such dense spells must have been tattooed with needles after being dipped in potion.
No wonder he was afraid of needles.
I don't know what this potion was made of, it would appear when exposed to sunlight.
So vicious.
Carrying such an evil curse, Lu Hexu would never be able to see the daylight in his life.
According to Wei Heng, Lu Hexu left the Ye Ting at the age of ten and ascended the throne at fourteen.
Who on earth would leave such a vicious spell on a child.
Hateful!
Su Zhenzhen gritted her teeth in anger, but was afraid of waking Lu Hexu.
She got up carefully, pushed the door open and went out, the setting sun was slightly falling, and it was about to go down the mountain.
She came to the Fuqu Courtyard again.
Lu Mingqian was having dinner, and when he saw Su Zhenzhen coming over, a look of surprise appeared on his face.
"I want to ask, what potion was used when the blessing spell on your arm was carved?"
Lu Mingqian thought for a moment, then shook his head, "It's been too long, I can't remember."
At that time, Lu Mingqian was just a child.
He was very afraid of pain.
Several domestic slaves held him down on the bed and tossed for a long time before the Holy Son tattooed the blessing spell for him.
"Did it hurt when it was tattooed?"
"Yes." Lu Mingqian nodded.
"How much did it hurt?"
Lu Mingqian didn't dare to recall, and only said: "The silver needles pierced one by one, it felt like it would never end."
Is that so.
Su Zhenzhen left the Fuqu Courtyard and returned to Lu Hexu's room.
The man hadn't woken up yet, the curtain hadn't been let down, and he was sleeping with the bamboo wife.
Su Zhenzhen sat down.
The silver needles scattered on the ground had been cleaned up and placed in the box on the table.
Su Zhenzhen opened the box and picked up a silver needle.
She tilted her head and stared at it for a while, then disinfected it with a fire fold.
Finally, she pierced it into her arm.
So painful.
It wasn't that Su Zhenzhen hadn't pricked herself before, when she practiced acupuncture with her own body on weekdays, it would also hurt, but mostly it was swollen and numb.
The silver needle pierced the skin, and blood beads seeped out.
The next moment, Su Zhenzhen's wrist was grabbed by someone.
"What are you doing?"
Lu Hexu woke up at some point, his eyes locked on the silver needle that Su Zhenzhen was sticking into her arm, and his black eyes instantly dyed with bone-chilling hostility, his eyes splitting.
"Pull it out quickly."
He trembled his lips, stretched out his fingertips, and held the tail of the silver needle, but didn't dare to exert force.
Su Zhenzhen raised her hand and pulled out the silver needle.
A drop of blood seeped out from the skin and fell on her arm, like a red bead condensed on white snow.
Lu Hexu stared at the drop of blood, his face deathly pale.
"I just wanted to try it."
Before Su Zhenzhen could finish speaking, her arm was pulled up.
The man lowered his head, his dark red tongue licking across her forearm, consuming the tiny, blood-red bead.
The needle prick was very small. The faint, stinging pain spreading from her skin was entirely licked away, leaving only a tingling itch.
With his head lowered, the man revealed the striking contours of his brows and eyes.
Lu Hexu had classic deep-set eyes with low, heavy brows. Especially when he looked down, it highlighted his beautiful profile. Standing next to the glazed lamp, the light fell past him, pressing against his brow bone and casting a pale shadow under his eyes.
"Don't do this, Zhenzhen."
"It will hurt."
"I can't bear to see you hurt."
Su Zhenzhen looked into Lu Hexu's eyes and nodded. "Okay."
Su Zhenzhen consulted a lot of materials. After searching for a long time, she finally found a few potions similar to the one used on Lu Hexu's body.
She tested them on her own arm.
As long as she wasn't discovered, it would be fine.
Su Zhenzhen's craftsmanship was poor; she tattooed an ugly but cute little line-art kitten on herself.
She formulated several corresponding potions and tested them one by one. Finally, one successfully made the kitten disappear.
Su Zhenzhen took the potion and went to find Lu Hexu.
At that time, the man was soaking in a wooden bathtub.
"I've prepared a potion, want to try it?"
"Mhm." The man didn't resist. He stood up and took off his clothes.
The soaking wet clothes fell into the tub, leaving the man's physique completely exposed.
Su Zhenzhen instinctively turned her head away, then turned back to take a peek, and then turned away again. "You don't need to take off that much, just the neck is fine. I only made a little bit of the potion."
Of course, if he wanted to take off that much, she wouldn't object.
How had she never noticed it was so perky before?
The soaking wet clothes were pulled back up by Lu Hexu.
Su Zhenzhen inappropriately revealed a look of regret.
The man leaned against the edge of the wooden tub, lowering his head to let Su Zhenzhen apply the potion.
After the potion was applied, Su Zhenzhen quietly waited for it to take effect.
"How does it feel?"
"Hot, like a burning fire."
"It's fine, that's normal. I've already tested it."
"Tested it?" Catching Su Zhenzhen's words, Lu Hexu turned his head to look at her.
Su Zhenzhen avoided his gaze. "Yeah, I tested it on someone else..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Lu Hexu stood up from the tub.
Dripping wet, he scooped her up into his arms and placed her on the cooling couch.
The man's hands, cold as ice, pressed against her cheeks and gently caressed them.
Finding no abnormalities, his hands continued downward, stroking her neck.
His long, pale fingertips brushed past the woman's warm, soft skin, and then untied the front of her robe.
There was not a single trace of lust in Lu Hexu's eyes.
Su Zhenzhen's outer garment was stripped off.
In summer, people naturally didn't wear much. Su Zhenzhen was wearing an ancient-style undergarment with thin straps, one pair tied behind her neck, and the other tied behind her waist.
She was flipped over, and the straps behind her back were untied.
"Wait, wait a minute, I really didn't..."
Su Zhenzhen tried to get up but was firmly held down.
The man stopped her movements simply by pressing a few fingertips against her lower back.
The undergarment was unfastened. Su Zhenzhen's nape was pressed into the soft pillow of the cooling couch. Lu Hexu pressed one knee against the edge of the couch, held his palm against her lower back, and continued to untie her waistband.
