Pei Ji’s eyes widened fiercely, nearly doing a handstand on the spot.
Chu Yunge had no idea about Pei Ji’s complicated inner turmoil, nor did she know that when he was little and couldn’t hold back his tears, he would stand on his head so they wouldn’t flow downward.
She just saw Pei Ji speechless, stiffly refusing to leave, staring at her without blinking.
After glaring back at him twice, she lost her patience. “You know you’re in the wrong, so why are you still standing there? Does This Princess need to call Yan Feng to chase you away?”
A flash of hurt passed through Pei Ji’s eyes. “Chu Yunge, how can you treat me like this?”
Chu Yunge said, “…How did I treat you? Pei Ji, don’t put on that face like This Princess has wronged you. You barged into This Princess’s Bedroom, and This Princess hasn’t even punished you yet, but here you are acting aggrieved. What are you aggrieved about?”
“I came to protect you! And you’re actually thinking of punishing me!”
Pei Ji truly felt aggrieved now, not just from the false accusation. He couldn’t even explain what he was aggrieved about; he just felt extremely wronged.
He was about to die of grievance.
“You kissed me and won’t admit it, and now you’re embarrassing me in front of him. How can you treat me like this?”
Looking at Pei Ji, who was full of grievance and looked like an abandoned puppy, Chu Yunge said, “…”
“It’s not that I didn’t kiss you at all, okay?”
She hadn’t even felt it. Did Pei Ji think he was Schrödinger’s cat?
She didn’t dwell on the matter. “For the sake that you came to protect This Princess, This Princess won’t pursue your intrusion. You can leave now.”
Seeing that she still wouldn’t admit it and was ruthlessly chasing him away for the third time, Pei Ji couldn’t help but bite his lip.
She didn’t deny kissing Xie Wangze, but denied kissing him?
Was she deliberately holding a grudge and refusing to admit it, or did she just hate him that much?
Or because Li Guangi was here, she deliberately denied it so she could continue what they were doing after he left?
Scheming bad woman!
He refused to let her have her way.
“I’m not leaving. I’m already here, so I’m staying to protect you.”
Wanting to kiss him and not owning up to it? In his dreams! He wasn’t someone easy to bully or betray.
As if to prove his determination, Pei Ji gripped his sword in one hand and clenched his fist in the other, striking a pose like one man holding the pass against thousands.
His expression even carried a vibe of ‘scumbag, let’s see how you play this next.’
Chu Yunge said, “…There are so many guards in the Princess Mansion—are they just for show? Pei Ji, don’t take an inch and want a foot.”
He wasn’t around when she needed him, and now that the danger had passed, what protection did she need?
Chu Yunge pointed directly at Li Guangi, bluntly exposing it. “Don’t interrupt my good time.”
Pei Ji’s breath hitched. “As expected, your mind is full of such things. Zhao Zeng could come at any moment, and you’re only keeping this Li Guangi here, who has no strength to even tie up a chicken. Are you so lust-driven that you don’t care about your life?”
Pei Ji glanced at Li Guangi from the corner of his eye, then hugged his sword and plopped down on the bed. “I must stay to protect you. Unless Li Guangi can beat me, only then can I leave with peace of mind.”
Chu Yunge said, “…Li Guangi doesn’t even practice martial arts. You can’t compare him to your strengths. He’s great at accounting—better than a hundred or a thousand of you. Why don’t you compete with him at that?”
Li Guangi already felt somewhat inferior; if she kept knocking him down like this, what if he became gloomy?
She would protect her little milk dog herself.
Seeing her defend Li Guangi like this, Pei Ji clenched his fists tightly. “Will Zhao Zeng compete with him at accounting? Your Highness, you’re twisting words unreasonably.”
“Zhao Zeng won’t come tonight. He’s already half-castrated and will only be rolling around in pain tonight, with no energy to come.”
Zhao Zeng wasn’t really a mad fool, and he would also fear that if he came, the other half would get cut off too.
Better to have half than none at all.
It could be short, but not absent.
“What do you mean half-castrated?” Pei Ji was stunned.
Chu Yunge’s gaze swept over a certain place of his. “What do you think? Haven’t you heard about this?”
She shook her head. “Without figuring out the situation, you rushed in blindly. By the time you arrive to protect me, the flowers would have wilted.”
Pei Ji realized what she meant, feeling both guilty and awkward, but hearing that he had been half-castrated still made him feel relieved. “Well done. The remaining half is mine—I’ll definitely chop it off with one sword!”
Ruthlessness filled Pei Ji’s eyes. Chu Yunge was detestable, sure, but she wasn’t for a beast like Zhao Zeng to touch.
Daring to set his sights on Chu Yunge was asking for death!
Chu Yunge said, “…Fine. If you can really do it, This Princess will give you a hundred taels of gold.”
So many people were eyeing that part of Zhao Zeng’s, including her, this stunning princess—it was his honor.
Adding Pei Ji, plus Yan Feng and her, the success rate increased.
Her martial prowess wasn’t as good as theirs, so she could only upgrade her weapons. Later, she’d go get a custom weapon made, to make her cuts even faster, fiercer, and more precise.
In the outskirts, Zhao Zeng, tormented by pain and rage as he roared, suddenly felt a chill down his spine for no reason.
“Go find someone else—whoever can reattach it, This King will give ten thousand taels of gold!”
Chu Yunge only offered a hundred taels, but even with ten thousand, he couldn’t restore it.
Zhao Zeng’s face twisted in agony.
Hearing this, Pei Ji also looked pained. “No need. I came too late; you don’t need to give gold.”
He paused. “I’m sorry. I should have escorted you back. I shouldn’t have left you.”
If he hadn’t stepped away, Chu Yunge wouldn’t have run into Zhao Zeng, and she wouldn’t have been so startled that she acted rashly.
“I won’t let this happen again. Starting tonight, I’ll protect you. You don’t need to worry about me.”
Chu Yunge said, “…No need to apologize. You didn’t go with me in the first place.”
Xie Wangze and Pei Ji ‘competing’ for her had already caused a huge stir. If Pei Ji went with them, who knew how many sidelong glances it would draw? Going separately was right.
“You have no responsibility to protect me either. Just go. Your presence here is affecting me.”
Seeing her expression soften, Pei Ji felt a bit better inside.
“It won’t affect you. Go sleep by yourself.”
“I can sleep by myself without issue, but it affects me and Li Guangi.”
Chu Yunge laid it out directly.
Pei Ji was pure love; he wanted to guard his Virgin Body. But she didn’t need to remain chaste.
Li Guangi’s heart skipped heavily.
Pei Ji looked at Chu Yunge in disbelief, his face turning pale. “Chu Yunge, you… you…”
“No more ‘you’s. Hurry up and leave.”
Chu Yunge paused, then walked toward Pei Ji step by step. “If you insist on not leaving, then This Princess will assume you want to join us.”
She leaned in close and wickedly poked Pei Ji’s chest. “This Princess doesn’t mind you joining.”
With that, under Li Guangi’s incredulous gaze, she pushed the dazed and unreacting Pei Ji.
“Go wash up now.”
Pei Ji finally reacted. He touched the spot on his chest that had been poked, rubbing away the numbness, then leaped up in one bound, flying onto the roof beam in a high-difficulty pose without stopping.
His face flushed red as he hugged the beam, pointing at Chu Yunge in disbelief. “Chu Yunge, you’re sick! You’re crazy!”
Fluffed-up cat, striking for the second time.
This time, he was even angrier, panting heavily, looking fierce as if ready to scratch.
Chu Yunge knew he would react this way. “You only now realize This Princess is sick? Only now realize This Princess is crazy?”
Chu Yunge sneered. “If This Princess weren’t sick and crazy, how could I have snatched you into the Princess Mansion?”
Pei Ji was speechless. “Even so, you can’t… do this.”
“You were the one who wouldn’t leave. This Princess thought you wanted to compete for favor, couldn’t stand seeing me intimate with Li Guangi, and wanted to stay and join.”
“Of course not!” Pei Ji denied immediately.
“If not, then scram.” Chu Yunge was straightforward.
“You only have two choices now: leave or join.”