Mo Ruo was unsure of the feelings he had for Tang Si. There were times when he felt that she was annoying and insufferable, but she was also rather cute sometimes, and was fiercely loyal to her friends. This girl had saved his life without regard for her own many times when they were in danger. She possessed a quality that many girls lacked.
Tang Si shared none of his concerns. Oh you think you’re going to get rid of me that easily? No way!
Today, I’m here to stay!
“Fine, I won’t talk about what happened in the past. Just pretend that I’m really afraid. You can’t chase me away.” She was firm and unyielding.
She even laid on Mo Ruo’s bed and pulled up the blanket without removing her clothes.
Mo Ruo was dumbfounded, “Since when did you learn to be so shameless?” He frowned.
His words fell on deaf ears.
“Get up.”
His words were still ignored.
“I’ll throw you out if you don’t get up.”
And she continued ignoring his words.
Mo Ruo was at his wits end. He looked on in helpless fury at the lump of meat that wriggled around on his bed, but there was nothing he could do about it. He walked up to his bed, and attempted to pull the blanket away. But Tang Si’s grip on the blanket was too strong. It was as if it had become her second skin.
“I’ll say this one more time. If you don’t get up, I will throw you out.”
“No, I’m not getting up.” Came the voice from under the blanket.
And Mo Ruo lifted Tang Si up along with his blanket and headed straight for the door. Tang Si’s head popped out from beneath the blanket, looking at the man that was holding onto her with a surprised expression. “What are you doing? Let go of me.”
“Well you should’ve listened!” Responded Mo Ruo harshly.
“Put me down!” She twisted and turned as she shouted.
It was her turn to be ignored by Mo Ruo.
Seeing that they were almost at the door, Tang Si immediately snaked her arms around his neck and held on to dear life so that she would not be thrown out.
“Let go.” Mo Ruo was not pleased.
“No.”
The two stared into each other’s eyes.
They were hugging each other very intimately.
A spark was almost ignited between them.
Mo Ruo heart clenched and he immediately responded by flicking his wrist upwards, tossing the lump of meat onto the floor as if he were smashing a watermelon.
“Ahh!” It was followed by an agonized shriek.
Luckily, with the blanket cushioning her fall, Tang Si did not fall too badly and splatter on the ground like a watermelon.
Mo Ruo smoothed the wrinkles of his clothes and stared at Tang Si who was lying at the ground with disdain.
She gritted her teeth. At that moment, she hated Mo Ruo just as much as she loved him. She got back to her feet and charged forward, “Mo Ruo, I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t forget!”
Unexpectedly, she tripped on the blanket and fell forward. Eh?
Mo Ruo did not have time to react before she fell on top of him. The two landed on the ground on top of each other with a thud.
The back of Mo Ruo’s head smashed against the floor, causing him instant pain. He raised his head just in time for Tang Si’s lips to crash against his.
Tang Si’s eyes grew large and her eyelashes fluttered as the two of them stared into the other’s eyes .
One!
Two!
Three!
Suddenly, Tang Si pushed herself up against Mo Ruo’s sturdy chest, separating her lips from his. She stood up, blushing as she turned her back to the man who was still laying on the floor.
Mo Ruo laid on the ground without moving as he stared at the ceiling as if his acupoints had been struck.
It took a long while for him to finally recover.
He sat up and wiped at his mouth with his sleeve. “Just now…” he stared at Tang Si who had her back to him.
“Nothing happened.”
“You…”
“You must take responsibility for this.” Tang Si turned around and shyly raised her chin.
“Ahh!” Cold sweat ran down Mo Ruo’s back.
“What are you shouting for? We’re already official.” She lifted the blanket and headed to the bed, “Now that we’ve kissed, you can’t chase me away anymore.”
Then, she laid down on the bed.
Mo Ruo, now sapped of his strength, didn’t try to pull the blanket off the girl who was lying in his bed again. He gulped, closed the door, and sat by his table to continue reading his book.
However, his thoughts were no longer on the contents of the book. He was panicking. His heart was thumping wildly in his chest, while his eyes would drift towards the person in his bed from time to time, but he would always immediately retract his gaze guiltily, worried that Tang Si would catch him staring.
Tang Si, who lay on the bed with her back to Mo Ruo and the blanket pulled up to her ears, was blushing under the covers. She stared ahead of her while biting her lips, and smiled to herself.
And thus the two remained silently in the room, not talking to the other.
…
Meanwhile, Ji Yunshu found a lantern and handed it to Jing Rong.
“What is it?” asked Jing Rong as he took the lantern.
“Don’t we have a case to investigate?”
“In the middle of the night?”
“Isn’t there a ghost? Since it’s a ghost, we’ll have to catch it when nobody’s around.”
A slight frown appeared on Jing Rong’s face, “Didn’t you say that there’s no ghost?”
“Follow me.” Ji Yunshu responded with a smile and stepped out through the door, the man following closely behind her.
Jing Rong led the way with the lantern, while Ji Yunshu followed behind as they made their way to Granny Lin’s room.
Two of Jing Rong’s bodyguards were standing guard outside the room.
This was supposed to be a job for Marquis Kang’s servants, but they were too cowardly and afraid to guard a body that died mysteriously. The marquis’s troops on the other hand, were tasked with patrolling outside the mansion, and were seldom allowed into the mansion itself. This meant that the responsibility of guarding the corpse fell on Jing Rong’s men.
The bodyguards immediately bowed as the two approached, “Your Highness, Teacher Ji.”
“Is the corpse still inside?”
“Yes.”
And the two entered the room.
Due to the cold weather, the smell of the corpse was not too overwhelming.
Ji Yunshu lit the old candlestick in the room, and lifted it close to the corpse which was still laying on the same spot but was covered by a piece of white cloth.
She then turned around and gave Jing Rong a meaningful look.
Jing Rong shivered under her gaze. “What’s on your mind?”
