Chapter 122: Bathing with the Prince

Chapter 122: Bathe with This Prince

This was insane. Absolutely insane!

No wonder Xie Nai said he never drinks—who in their right mind would let him get drunk?!

Next, Qin Jiao could only watch helplessly as Xie Nai assigned ridiculous tasks to every maid and servant who walked by. A cat ran past, and he still tried to order it to catch ten wild pheasants.

Basically, once Xie Nai was drunk, anything that breathed in his line of sight got assigned some bizarre task.

Drunk but still prim and proper, assigning nonsense with a completely straight face.

That was probably the best way to sum it up.

Seeing Xie Nai's orders getting more and more ridiculous, and worried the Prince of Lingnan would trash his reputation overnight, Qin Jiao quickly stopped him.

Xie Nai stared at Qin Jiao for a long moment, his gaze clear and sharp, his thin lips pressed tight. If not for the faint smell of alcohol drifting over, Qin Jiao would've thought the man wasn't drunk at all.

Seeing this, Luo Bei and Luo Yue wisely excused themselves. Qin Jiao reached out and touched Xie Nai—his palm was still ice-cold, but the look he gave Qin Jiao was scorching, intense, and startlingly direct.

Qin Jiao couldn't help but find it funny: "So, is Your Highness going to assign me a task too?"

Qin Jiao really hadn't expected Xie Nai to act like this when drunk. But thinking about it, those wild assignments were absurd yet oddly logical, and logical yet utterly ridiculous... truly enough to make anyone's jaw drop.

Qin Jiao looked at Xie Nai, barely holding back a smile: "So, what does Your Highness want me to do next?"

Xie Nai stared at the young man before him without a word. After a long pause, he grabbed Qin Jiao's hand and pulled him outside.

"Bathe with this Prince," Xie Nai said.

-

This was an open-air hot spring, with the starry sky overhead and stars twinkling in varying brightness. Steam curled upward, and the Eastern Sea luminous pearl used for lighting in the southwest corner was veiled in mist. In the hazy glow, Xie Nai stepped into the water first.

"Qin Jiao, come here."

The man lounged lazily against the pool's edge, beckoning Qin Jiao over.

"Can I just keep you company from the shore?"

Qin Jiao stood at the edge of the pool, trying to resist. He hadn't bathed with anyone since he was four. Even though the pool wasn't small—it could easily fit a dozen people—even though Xie Nai had gone in wearing his underclothes, and even though Xie Nai was drunk and not fully aware, Qin Jiao still felt awkward.

"Come here. Let this Prince take a look."

Ignoring Qin Jiao's hesitation, Xie Nai reached out his hand, ready to pull him in.

Qin Jiao was puzzled: "Take a look at what?"

Just as Qin Jiao stood there stunned, Xie Nai grabbed his hand and smoothly pulled him into the pool.

Qin Jiao: "...Fine."

In the end, Qin Jiao couldn't refuse Xie Nai. Holding onto the thought of "at worst, I'll just soak in my clothes," he followed him into the water. The spring water was scalding hot, so hot that Qin Jiao tried to get out the moment he got in—but before he could even move, Xie Nai pushed him against the pool's edge.

"Where do you think you're going, young master?"

The splashing water droplets soaked Xie Nai's black hair. Qin Jiao looked at the man before him. Maybe it was the steam, but Xie Nai's deep eyes were slightly red, and the small red mole at the corner of his left eye had turned even more vivid, as if a single touch would turn it into blood and dissolve into the water.

Qin Jiao studied Xie Nai in silence, while Xie Nai stared back with burning intensity at the young man beneath him.

When he'd pressed the young man against the pool's edge, splashing water had landed on his cheeks. The pearl's glow made the water droplets look warm and luminous. The young man tilted his head up slightly, and from nervousness, his delicate Adam's apple kept bobbing.

The two faced each other in silence. Then, suddenly, Xie Nai leaned in and kissed the water droplet off Qin Jiao's cheek.

It was just a light kiss, a brief touch before pulling away. Qin Jiao didn't turn his face away. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips together, his ears quickly turning red.

"Enough. Move back a bit and just keep me company for a while."

Xie Nai let go of Qin Jiao, but even after gaining his freedom, Qin Jiao didn't move far—he stayed close, not quite touching. But whether it was his imagination or not, Qin Jiao vaguely felt the spring water getting hotter and hotter.

Ever since putting on the Fengxue Bracelet, Qin Jiao's body temperature had been running a bit high. Now, soaking in this pool on top of that, he felt like a dumpling in a pot—any moment now, he'd float to the surface.

Qin Jiao was at a loss. He was just about to ask Xie Nai if he could wait on the shore instead, when he saw Xie Nai's face turn deathly pale, with fine frost forming on his brows.

Startled, Qin Jiao swam over to Xie Nai. Only when he got close did he realize that even in the hot spring, the water around Xie Nai was freezing cold. Even though Qin Jiao's whole body was burning hot, he shivered the moment he got close.

"Xie Nai, are you alright?"

Qin Jiao couldn't help reaching out to touch Xie Nai, but Xie Nai gently pushed him away. "Go over there for now. It's cold."

As Xie Nai raised his hand, his soaked white underclothes fell open, and Qin Jiao saw the deep red scar below his left collarbone.

Ignoring Xie Nai's resistance, Qin Jiao reached out and gently traced the scar. The moment his fingers touched it, Xie Nai gave a faint tremble—Qin Jiao felt it.

That scar was so deep, so severe. Qin Jiao instantly understood what Military Doctor Hou meant by "old ailment."

And not only did Qin Jiao understand the "old ailment," he also discovered that after staying there a while, the freezing pool water had gradually warmed up again. Qin Jiao thought to himself: Am I actually a hot water bottle reincarnated or something?

No, that wasn't it—it was the Fengxue Bracelet.

In a flash of realization, Qin Jiao looked at the bracelet on his wrist. No wonder Military Doctor Hou kept glancing at his wrist—this bracelet must be really important to Xie Nai.

Having figured that out, Qin Jiao decisively took off the bracelet and pressed it into Xie Nai's palm. After waiting a while longer, he found Xie Nai's body was still ice-cold.

What did that mean?

Confused, Qin Jiao took the bracelet back and put it on his own wrist. Then he was surprised to discover that as long as he wore the Fengxue Bracelet, it would heat up.

What was the principle behind this?

Qin Jiao racked his brain but couldn't figure it out. However, there was no time to dwell on it now. Seeing Xie Nai's complexion getting worse by the second, Qin Jiao was frantic. Finally, he just stripped off his outer robe and wrapped his arms around Xie Nai, holding him tight.

Qin Jiao had been hovering around him just moments before, and Xie Nai hadn't paid much attention. It wasn't until the young man's slender, soft body pressed against him that Xie Nai snapped back to some clarity.

"Qin Jiao, let go. I'm very cold." He tried to pry Qin Jiao's hands away.

"No." Qin Jiao was stubborn, refusing with his words and not letting go with his hands either.

The warm water flowed gently over their bodies, and a scent of medicinal herbs wafted up. Qin Jiao felt Xie Nai's body alternate between ice-cold and scorching hot, and with it, he too felt as if he were being thrown into a frozen wasteland one moment and roasted over a fire the next. After about a quarter of an hour of this ordeal, Qin Jiao finally felt Xie Nai's body temperature return to normal.

Qin Jiao was sweating profusely from the heat. While helping Xie Nai fix his soaked hair, he cursed Jiang Qingrong up and down.

A few days earlier, Xie Nai had told him, "Jiang Qingrong's temperament is too wild and impetuous. When the young master is around him, you need to be more careful and composed." At the time, Qin Jiao had assumed Xie Nai was just speaking casually. Now that he thought about it, Xie Nai had been completely prescient!

That mess Jiang Qingrong had stirred up had caused both him and Xie Nai to suffer greatly.

Qin Jiao thought to himself that once he had the time, he would definitely have a proper reckoning with Jiang Qingrong.

"Xie Nai, how do you feel?"

After holding Xie Nai for a while longer, Qin Jiao asked him softly.

Xie Nai's voice was slightly hoarse: "I'm fine."

As he spoke, he gently gathered Qin Jiao's disheveled collar.

Qin Jiao breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. "That's good."

Since Xie Nai was alright, Qin Jiao naturally couldn't keep holding him. His own undergarment was already thin and soft, and once soaked in the water, it clung tightly to his body, as if he were wearing nothing. During the moment Qin Jiao had held Xie Nai, he could clearly feel his lean waist and powerful shoulders and back.

No, no, this wasn't right. A delayed flush of embarrassment made Qin Jiao flustered. "Then, I'll get out first."

Qin Jiao let go of Xie Nai and was about to swim to the shore when Xie Nai wrapped his arms around him from behind.

The young man looped one arm across the boy's shoulders and the other lightly around his waist, pulling him into his embrace:

"No rush. Let me check you over."

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