In just an instant, Song Yinghuai had already fastened his belt and dressed himself neatly, returning to his cold and abstinent appearance.
However, a faint blush tinged his cheeks, and there were faint traces of sweat on his forehead, making his good looks at this moment seem like a bold and colorful painting, extremely striking.
Especially his lips, which had been nibbled by Caiyu just now, were thin and tinged with a bright red color, making people want to throw themselves at him recklessly for another kiss.
"What are you here for?" Song Yinghuai sat back down. His eyelashes fluttered slightly as he subtly glanced at the mess on the table.
Zhu Xiao also took a look at the situation on the table and silently sighed that it must have been quite intense just now.
If it weren't for Han Fen seeing everyone scurry out in shock and waiting for a long time without any movement inside, and then realizing something was wrong and quickly coming to find him.
Judging from the current situation, maybe the prince really would have been taken by that girl.
"To invite you to have tea." Zhu Xiao forced a smile and pulled over a chair to sit down. "Who would have thought you'd take so long to come and have tea with me."
There was a rustling sound outside the window.
A glint of light flashed across Zhu Xiao's eyes. He looked around and pretended to be ignorant as he asked, "Why isn't Caiyu here to serve?"
Song Yinghuai's expression remained unchanged. He gently tapped the table with two fingers and calmly lowered his eyes and said, "I told her to make tea."
The footsteps outside the window gradually faded away like a cat's.
Zhu Xiao laughed heartily. "What a coincidence. Then I'll just wait."
He threw a string of agarwood Buddhist beads at Song Yinghuai. "Calm your mind first before she comes!"
Song Yinghuai tightened his grip on the Buddhist beads and gave him a nonchalant look without refuting. He twirled the Buddhist beads one by one and silently recited the mantra to calm his mind.
Fortunately, what Caiyu used was only food to arouse desire, and its effect was minimal. With the goblin no longer around to entice him, the tension and pain in Song Yinghuai's body finally gradually dissipated under the cleansing of the Buddhist scriptures.
Caiyu walked in carrying a pot of Wuyi Rock Tea. She seemed quite surprised to see Zhu Xiao. "When did General Zhu come?"
Zhu Xiao joked with a double meaning. "I came when you left."
Caiyu's heart skipped a beat, but she calmly smiled and said, "What a coincidence. Just as the Buddha said, it takes five hundred glances in the previous life for two people to brush shoulders in this life. I guess there's no karmic relationship between me and the general in the previous life, so we couldn't even manage to brush shoulders."
Zhu Xiao laughed heartily. "Interesting! But the Buddha also said that meeting in this life is arranged in the previous life. At least we've known each other in this life. I guess there must be something for me to do in the previous life. Maybe..."
He leaned forward slightly and his eyes roamed back and forth between Caiyu and Song Yinghuai. "Maybe I'm just the bit of karmic relationship between you two. What do you think, Your Highness?"
Song Yinghuai opened his eyes from his meditation. "Mountains and seas have their own return dates, and wind and rain will surely meet. There's no need to force it. Pour the tea."
...
After finishing a pot of tea, Zhu Xiao's stomach was so full that he saw there were still many vegetarian dishes on the table and shouted that they shouldn't be wasted.
A malicious smile played on Song Yinghuai's lips as he watched Zhu Xiao gobble up all the "tonic" vegetarian dishes on the table.
Sweat dripped from Caiyu's forehead.
Although it was food tonic, after eating a whole table of dishes, General Zhu might not be able to sleep tonight.
Zhu Xiao had come for no particular reason. Seeing that the two of them were fine and getting along well, and feeling hot all over after eating, he soon took his leave.
Caiyu called Xiangye and the others in to clean up the mess, while Song Yinghuai went straight to the Clear Spring.
Caiyu saw that his back was as straight as a pine, seemingly completely unaffected by what had just happened, and as if he didn't intend to hold her accountable. Instead, she felt uneasy.
According to Song Yinghuai's personality, he shouldn't let her off so easily!
But Song Yinghuai did leave. She had no choice but to temporarily put aside her uneasiness. After finishing the internal affairs, she went into the side hall and lay down on the bed.
However, because she was worried that Song Yinghuai would come back and punish her, she tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep at all.
Maybe because he had almost lost control today, Song Yinghuai stayed at the Clear Spring for an unusually long time.
It was almost midnight when Caiyu finally heard footsteps in the bedroom. She propped herself up and looked in that direction, seeing that the candle was soon lit there.
Caiyu was tangled in her heart. Should she pretend to be asleep or get up to serve Song Yinghuai to sleep?
Unexpectedly, the footsteps got closer and actually headed towards the side hall.
Caiyu quickly lay down and tightly closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep.
Song Yinghuai was holding a bowl of sweet soup in his hand. He stood by the bedside and looked at the woman lying on the bed with her eyes tightly closed.
Her eyelashes were trembling violently, her eyeballs were rolling slightly under her eyelids, and her ten fingers on the brocade quilt had clenched the corner of the quilt into a ball.
A cold smile played on Song Yinghuai's lips. He placed the sweet soup on the bedside table and patted her.
"Wake up."
Caiyu had no choice but to pretend to wake up from a dream and rubbed her sleepy eyes.
The next second, she was surprised to get up from the bed and kneel on the ground. "Your servant deserves to die. Your servant fell asleep before waiting for Your Highness to come back."
"Get up." Song Yinghuai didn't comment.
It wasn't the first time she had fallen asleep before waiting for him to return to the bedroom to serve. It was a bit too deliberate to come and apologize today.
Caiyu also knew this and could only stand up from the ground awkwardly and stand aside. She asked redundantly,
"Your Highness, should your servant go and boil a pot of hot water for you to soak your feet?"
It was late autumn. Soaking feet would help one fall asleep easily, but Song Yinghuai had just come out of the hot spring and was steaming all over.
"No need." Song Yinghuai sat in front of the bedside table, tapped on the table, and pointed at the bowl of sweet soup on the table. "I remember you didn't eat much tonight. Drink this."
On normal days, after Caiyu served Song Yinghuai for dinner, she would share the leftover food with everyone.
But something unexpected had happened today. She had failed in her attempt to seduce him, and a whole table of dishes had been eaten by Zhu Xiao.
She was both shocked and scared, and had no appetite to go to the small kitchen to make something to eat.
When Song Yinghuai said this, she really felt hungry.
But—
"Your Highness, what kind of soup is this?"
Caiyu glanced at the soup bowl on the table that was emitting wisps of hot air and asked uneasily.
Although Song Yinghuai was sometimes kind to her, he wouldn't be so kind as to care whether a servant was hungry or not and even specially bring a bowl of soup to feed her.
When someone offers kindness for no reason, they're either up to no good or a thief.
"I told Xiangye to use the remaining ingredients from today in the small kitchen to make it casually." Song Yinghuai twirled the string of agarwood Buddhist beads that Zhu Xiao had given him and said indifferently.
When Caiyu heard this, her face changed.
Almost all the ingredients she had asked Granny Yu to buy today were those with that kind of effect!
She didn't know how effective they were, but seeing Song Yinghuai's reaction during dinner, it was obvious that the effect was not weak.
"What's wrong?" Song Yinghuai took in all her reactions. Looking at the thick soup in the bowl on the table, his eyes were unfathomable. "You made the menu and asked someone to buy the ingredients. Isn't there even one dish you like?"
Caiyu choked and didn't know how to answer.
She could eat it, but she couldn't eat it alone in front of Song Yinghuai.
If she got a bit hot and bothered, facing Song Yinghuai, who was as cold as ice now, wouldn't she make a fool of herself like that day in the cave?
Caiyu clenched her palms and tried to find an excuse to get out of it. "Your Highness, your servant... just fell asleep and doesn't feel hungry."
But Song Yinghuai pushed the soup over. His tone was non - negotiable. "It's just a bowl of soup."
Caiyu knew she couldn't avoid it tonight. The sweet soup brought by her master himself. Even if it was just a sweet soup with a bit of aphrodisiac effect, or even a deadly poison, as a lowly servant, she had no right to refuse!
She could only softly answer and then pick up the soup bowl.
There wasn't much sweet soup in this bowl. Caiyu guessed in her heart that it shouldn't have much of an effect, right?
She drank it slowly, secretly complaining in her heart.
Song Yinghuai wasn't in a hurry. He just sat in front of the table and patiently watched her take small sips, his eyes full of mystery.
After Caiyu finished sipping the soup little by little and felt that there was nothing wrong, she finally let out a sigh of relief and put down the soup bowl.
"Your Highness, your servant has finished drinking..."
As soon as she finished speaking, a flame shot up from her lower abdomen.