The veins on Song Yinghuai's forehead bulged, looking as if he was about to kill someone.
Caiyu popped her head out of the water, her skin touching his. Water droplets rolled down her face. Panting, she replied,
"Your, Your Highness, this servant... is here!"
Song Yinghuai was trembling all over. His eyes were ablaze with fury. He almost wanted to strangle this woman. "Where are you putting your hands?"
Only then did the dazed Caiyu realize that her palm seemed to be holding something. She had just climbed out of the water with its help...
At this moment, the heat in her palm was even hotter than the water in the hot spring. It was swelling and expanding in her palm, like a roaring angry dragon.
Caiyu withdrew her hand as if electrocuted, frightened and babbling incoherently:
"Your Highness, please calm your anger! This servant deserves to die! This servant has offended the young master! Please forgive this servant's sin!"
This was something she had always wanted to get close to. But after seeing it with her own eyes just now, she couldn't digest the shock for a while. She felt a deep - seated fear and actually didn't dare to get close.
Moreover, what was the use of getting close at this moment? She simply couldn't carry out her plan to seduce him!
Caiyu was on the verge of tears. Seeing the veins on Song Yinghuai's forehead bulging and him glaring at her as if he wanted to cut her into a thousand pieces, she involuntarily prepared to kneel in the water to plead for forgiveness. "Your Highness, this servant..."
"Don't kneel!" Song Yinghuai roared again and even took two steps back in the water on his own initiative.
If she knelt while clinging to him, wouldn't his appearance in the water be completely exposed?
Caiyu was soaking in the water, her abdomen aching unbearably. Squatting halfway, she couldn't kneel, but not kneeling was also wrong. She was extremely uncomfortable.
Song Yinghuai took a deep breath, suppressing his anger and ordering her to leave. "Get out of here!"
"Okay." Hearing this order, Caiyu felt as if she had been granted amnesty. She hurriedly climbed out of the water shakily.
Just as she climbed onto the shore, she heard Song Yinghuai's impatient urging. "Go back to the side hall! Stay away from me!"
Caiyu didn't even dare to turn back. She fled from the Quiet Spring in a hurry.
After she left, Song Yinghuai felt that the suffocating feeling from before had eased. However, after his body had been grasped by her soft fingers, it was aching and swelling badly. He felt as if he was about to explode.
The calmness he had achieved by reciting Buddhist scriptures in the pool earlier had been completely shattered by Caiyu's disturbance.
Song Yinghuai felt a splitting headache. He felt like he was torturing himself. Why on earth did he let this girl stay by the pool to serve him on a whim?
He sat back in the water again, planning to soak for another hour to cultivate his body and mind.
A wisp of bright red, like a gorgeous plum blossom, floated on the water surface and came into his sight.
Song Yinghuai stared at the wisp of bright red in disbelief. It twisted like a small water snake on the water and finally scattered and melted into the huge hot spring.
He recalled Caiyu's unusually pale face today and her occasional secretive gestures of rubbing her stomach. His face changed drastically.
"Han Fen!"
The roar resounded through the sky above the Quiet Spring again.
Han Fen rushed in in a hurry. "Your Highness!"
Song Yinghuai had already got out of the water and put on his inner robe. The Buddhist robe on the stone table by the pool had been thrown to one side.
"Go and fetch water from the well. I want to take a bath!"
Han Fen had a puzzled look on his face. "Take a bath?"
His eyes fell on the huge Quiet Spring.
Wasn't this big pool enough for a bath?
"Just do as I say!" Song Yinghuai felt that he had been encountering things that challenged his nerves recently, so his tone was very harsh.
Han Fen looked solemn and quickly responded.
He felt that the prince's anger had been growing day by day recently. He almost seemed to have returned to the appearance of the Prince of Yan on the battlefield.
He had lost his other - worldly temperament and gained a bit of the flavor of the mortal world.
Was this... a good thing?
Song Yinghuai's voice rang out behind him. "After fetching the well water, order someone to drain this pool and fill it with new hot water!"
Han Fen staggered and was on the verge of tears.
What sin had he committed? Draining such a large hot spring pool was really a hard job...
When Zhu Xiao returned from the Five - Army Camp, he saw the servants in the Prince of Yan's Mansion bustling around. They were constantly carrying water out of the Lotus Sound Pavilion.
Concubine Yao was holding onto Bailu's hand, looking flustered. "What's going on? Why do they suddenly want to drain the pool? Where is the prince?"
Bailu shrank her eyes when she heard Song Yinghuai's name and shook her head vigorously. "This servant doesn't know. This servant has also asked around at the Lotus Sound Pavilion. We don't know why the prince is in a bad mood today. He suddenly got angry and ordered to drain the pool... Oh, right."
A look of hatred flashed across Bailu's face. "I heard that before the prince got angry, it was Caiyu who was serving in the Quiet Spring. After she was driven out, the prince angrily ordered Guard Han to drain the pool."
"Is it that Caiyu again?" Concubine Yao's anger flared up immediately. "What unruly thing has she done again! My son has been gentle and elegant for so many years. Why has he changed since this servant entered the mansion!"
"Because of her, he even wants to ruin the entire Quiet Spring!"
Nanny Li beside her added fuel to the fire. "Why else? It must be that the slut did something outrageous while serving the prince in the bath and angered the prince!"
Like Bailu, she had been punished by Song Yinghuai because of Caiyu. She hated Caiyu so much that she wished she could trample Caiyu to death.
"Nanny Li, you're talking nonsense again." Zhu Xiao's voice came from the side.
Nanny Li was startled. Looking back and seeing it was Zhu Xiao, she was unconvinced. "General Zhu, where did this old servant say something wrong?"
Zhu Xiao said, "Let me ask you, were you also serving in the Quiet Spring when the prince was taking a bath?"
Nanny Li blushed. "General Zhu, you can't ask such a question. How can this old servant, being so old, go in and serve the prince!"
"Then you're describing it so vividly, saying that Caiyu did something outrageous and angered the prince. You weren't even there. How do you know so clearly?"
Don't be fooled by Zhu Xiao's big and rough appearance. He was actually very meticulous. Once he caught a clue, he would never let it go. "Or is it that Nanny Li has an informer in the Lotus Sound Pavilion and knows everything that happens inside immediately?"
"General Zhu!" Nanny Li was shocked and quickly defended herself. "This old servant is a servant of the Prince of Yan's Mansion. This old servant would never dare to spy on the master's affairs. You can't wrong this old servant!"
"You also know that it's not good to spread rumors based on just one's words. It's not good for oneself." Zhu Xiao said with a smile. "So don't make wild speculations in the future. You should know that right and wrong are up to oneself, and praise and blame are up to others!"
Nanny Li's face turned red and then white. She didn't know what to do and was extremely annoyed.
This Zhu Xiao was just a guest in the Prince of Yan's Mansion. He was just relying on being a capable general under Song Yinghuai and being so arrogant.
In fact, she was a servant, and wasn't Zhu Xiao also a servant of the prince?
It was really annoying!
Seeing this, Concubine Yao said, "Alright, alright. Nanny Li is just worried about the prince's affairs. General Zhu, aren't you worried... It's a troubled time now! The prince can't make any mistakes!"
Although she was a woman, she had once been the mistress of a palace. She had managed to stay in the palace and become the first concubine in Daye to leave the palace and follow her son to his fief. Her ability was extraordinary.
How could she know nothing about the politics and personnel of the Daye Dynasty?
"What the Princess Dowager said is very true." Zhu Xiao immediately changed his tone. "Then this humble general will go and find the prince right away to find out the real situation!"
After saying that, Zhu Xiao hurriedly took his leave and searched everywhere. Finally, scratching his head, he found Han Fen who was working hard to carry water at the Quiet Spring. "What are you crazy about? Why do you want to drain this spring?"
Han Fen, a seven - foot man, burst into tears instantly. "I don't know why either. It's the prince who ordered it..."
"The prince? Where is he?" Zhu Xiao asked.
He had wanted to find Song Yinghuai just now. However, whether it was the bedroom or the secret room, Song Yinghuai seemed to have disappeared.