Yan Feng almost pouted.
The next instant.
“Sit still.”
The Princess’s hand slapped onto Yan Feng’s forehead with a smack, then pressed his chin and twisted his head to the side. “I’m applying medicine for you. Don’t move around.”
Yan Feng: “……” The mouth that had just been about to pout obediently pulled back.
Yan Feng’s gaze was forced onto the sword hanging on the wall.
The slap sobered him up. He couldn’t see the Princess’s face either, so he calmed down.
Once calm, he almost wanted to slap himself. He must have gone mad to even think about anything sweet.
Luckily, the Princess had slapped him awake.
Yan Feng reflected with relief, but then he was drawn in by the sensation on his face.
Her Highness’s hand was so soft, so gentle.
He had never had medicine applied so carefully before. His master had always just dug out a lump of paste and smeared it on roughly. The force was frighteningly heavy, and the hands were very coarse. It hurt terribly every time, so he preferred not to apply it at all.
But now it was completely different.
Her Highness was so gentle. Her Highness smelled nice. Her Highness’s hand was so soft, softer than tofu.
Suddenly, he felt like a few more slaps would be fine.
“Heh heh.”
Yan Feng laughed before realizing he had let the sound escape.
In the quiet night, the laughter was extremely abrupt.
Chu Yunge glanced at him strangely. “What are you laughing at?”
Yan Feng: “……Nothing.”
Why had he laughed out loud?
Chu Yunge continued applying the medicine. Yan Feng finally stopped his foolish grinning, but he felt itchy.
Not just his face—it was itchy. His heart itched too, constantly, itchily.
When he heard Chu Yunge say, “All done. The swelling might go down by tomorrow. Rest for now,”
Chu Yunge had gone boating on the lake today, selected beauties, and battled with the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. She had done so much and was truly exhausted.
“Just wash up casually and sleep.”
Chu Yunge went into the room and sat on the bamboo bed to test it. “Compared to the ones in the sleeping palace, this bed is very small. Who knows if it can bear the weight of two people.”
Yan Feng watched Chu Yunge sit on the bamboo bed, his mind going blank.
“Your Highness, are you really going to sleep here?”
Chu Yunge was very fair—he had always known that. Her skin was better than snow, glowing white. In the room, she lit up the entire space, making even the shabby hut feel refined and noble.
But no, that wouldn’t do.
How could Her Highness sleep in such a shabby hut? He rarely slept in his own bed. Compared to the Princess’s bedding, it was hard and crude. It even creaked when you turned over. Even though he had just changed to clean bedding, it still wouldn’t do.
The bedding fabric was coarse too. The Princess’s skin was so fair… so tender. How could she?
The Princess shouldn’t even be here in the first place.
“Your Highness, it’s too crude here. How about we switch places? We can’t go back to the sleeping palace. What about the Wild Goose Courtyard?”
The Prince Consort’s courtyard would definitely be better, with superior bedding.
Chu Yunge raised her brow. “You mean you and I go sleep on Xie Wangze’s bed?”
She burst out laughing. “Don’t you think that sounds a bit weird?”
Even if it was to detoxify, running off to sleep on Xie Wangze’s bed would be too outrageous.
Xie Wangze would be furious if he found out.
If Yan Feng wore Xie Wangze’s clothes on top of that, it would be even weirder—like he was a walking wardrobe.
It felt so perverse.
Yan Feng: “!!!”
He hadn’t even thought of that. He had only felt that it was too crude here, wronging Her Highness.
But when Her Highness put it that way, thinking about it… he shuddered.
Chu Yunge was already laughing heartily.
This was the downside of being a modern person—her brain was stuffed with all sorts of random memes and stereotypes. One slip and they triggered.
“Your butt should hurt, not your stomach, hahaha.”
Yan Feng: “……??!!”
He looked baffled and confused, touching his stomach. “Your Highness, this subordinate’s stomach doesn’t hurt. This subordinate just thinks it’s too crude here.”
“It is crude. Then how about we go to Qingchen’s courtyard? Or Li Guangi’s courtyard?” Chu Yunge asked deliberately.
Yan Feng: “……Your Highness, this subordinate was wrong. Let’s stay here.”
Absolutely not, especially not Li Guangi’s courtyard.
Chu Yunge watched Yan Feng and couldn’t help laughing again. Even though she was mocking him, Yan Feng still felt happy.
Mocked or not, as long as the Princess was happy.
Earlier, though the Princess had said she was fine and seemed truly okay, he felt like she was only truly happy now.
“What are you standing there like a fool for? Hurry and prepare to wash up.”
A quarter of an hour later, Chu Yunge lay down on the bamboo bed.
Yan Feng approached the bed with forced composure, moving hand in hand and foot in foot. “Your Highness, this subordinate is getting on.”
Then he lay down with pretended calm, but the bamboo bed didn’t cooperate.
“Creak……” A long sound rang out as he settled.
Yan Feng froze in midair for a moment before finally lying down. “Your Highness, this bed creaks.”
His voice was a bit tense, his ears bright red.
Because in his mind, he belatedly recalled the days when Yan Mengjun had taken him to the brothel’s kitchen to chop wood and run errands.
Back then, Yan Mengjun had made them understand beauty and the ways of men and women. What stuck with him most was how some girls’ beds always creaked and groaned, disturbing his sleep.
Some guests even liked that sound. He hadn’t understood what there was to like back then—it was so noisy it kept you awake.
He hadn’t paid attention when he slept here before, not until Her Highness lay on this creaky bed now.
Uncontrollable images flashed through his mind.
And this bed was really small, much smaller than the one in Her Highness’s sleeping palace that could fit four or five people. Her Highness was very close to him, very very close.
Close enough that he instantly smelled her scent, close enough that he… pressed on her hair.
“Hair, hair.”
At Chu Yunge’s voice, Yan Feng nimbly got up.
Chu Yunge’s hair was freed amid the loud creak.
Yan Feng’s face stiffened. When he lay back down, he used almost all his cultivation, but the old bamboo bed didn’t give him any face and creaked again.
Watching Yan Feng’s stiff posture, Chu Yunge couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“Why are you so afraid of it?”
Creaky beds weren’t unfamiliar to Chu Yunge. Back in university, her top bunk creaked too. The roommate below had light sleep and often complained that she was disturbing them.
Every time she got on or off the bed, she was extremely careful, not even daring to turn over freely. She was so cautious, yet she still got dirty looks often.
Years later, encountering a bed that creaked even more, and seeing Yan Feng’s stiff form, she patted his shoulder.
“It’s fine. Let it creak. No need to be careful. We can turn over if we want, move if we want. No fear.”
Chu Yunge rolled over. “I’ll get you a new sturdy bed later.”
Yan Feng watched Chu Yunge roll into his arms amid the creaking sounds. His throat bobbed, and he let out an “mm,” not daring to look at her.