The intermittent conversations and laughter outside the bathing room drifted in.
Sheng Jiangli seemed to be having a great chat with everyone. The clinking of wine jars mixed in, sounding like a lullaby.
Perhaps Caiyu's massage skills were too good. Song Chengyuan gradually felt his eyelids getting heavy. Before he knew it, his head tilted to one side and rested on the edge of the bathtub.
He fell asleep.
Caiyu reached out and patted his face to confirm that he was sound asleep. Then she immediately threw away the soap pod in her hand, stood up, and washed her hands with a look of disgust, as if Song Chengyuan carried something more terrifying than the plague on him.
"Phew! Fortunately, Brother Aili still had the sleeping drug he got from me on him!" Caiyu murmured to herself in relief.
All the drugs on her had been confiscated by Song Yinghuai's men last time. It was just that when Sheng Jiangli hijacked her outside Pengcheng, he had tricked a lot of drugs from her.
Caiyu rummaged through Song Chengyuan's underwear.
Just as Sheng Jiangli had guessed, she really found a prescription in the interlayer of his inner garment.
Caiyu quickly memorized it - thanks to Song Yinghuai's punishment of making her copy scriptures and teaching her to keep accounts on weekdays, which had given her good shorthand skills.
After memorizing it, Caiyu put the prescription back into the interlayer intact. Seeing that Song Chengyuan seemed to be waking up, she opened the door of the bathing room and walked out.
Facing the ambiguous looks of a group of men, Caiyu said shyly to everyone,
"The Crown Prince... has just finished bathing."
Everyone looked as if they understood and laughed lewdly.
Caiyu nodded imperceptibly at Sheng Jiangli and left on her own.
Several soldiers then entered the bathing room to attend to Song Chengyuan. Just waking up, his mind was still in a daze and he couldn't remember what had happened.
He only remembered that Caiyu had been there and there had been a vague hint of ambiguity between them...
Then his mind went blank.
When the door opened, he propped his head up and asked, "Where's that girl just now?"
The soldier replied, "That girl just left. She said she had finished attending to Your Highness."
"Hmm? Is that so?" Song Chengyuan sat in the half-cool water and recalled for a moment. He felt empty inside.
There didn't seem to be any moment worth savoring.
Why did he fall asleep?
Sheng Jiangli leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest, staring at Song Chengyuan's back.
There were still the bubbles that Caiyu had just scrubbed out on it.
Sheng Jiangli wished he could conjure up an iron brush to "scrub" Song Chengyuan.
"I see Your Highness's expression. It seems you've had an unforgettable experience," Sheng Jiangli said, grinding his teeth as he enunciated each word. He could faintly hear the sound of his own teeth gnashing.
Song Chengyuan finally came to his senses and regained his clarity.
He stood up from the water and rushed to the clothes rack to rummage through his clothes. Finding that the prescription was still there, he felt half relieved.
However, being naturally suspicious, he always felt that he couldn't have fallen asleep for no reason. Coupled with his unwillingness regarding Caiyu.
Song Chengyuan suddenly turned his head. His snake-like, sinister eyes stared at Sheng Jiangli, as if suspecting something.
Sheng Jiangli let him look at him without changing his expression. He just stared back with a rogue smile and said, "What does Your Highness mean? Haven't you had enough yet?"
Song Chengyuan grabbed his clothes tightly and ordered the soldiers outside,
"Go and bring back that girl named Caiyu. I... haven't had my fill yet!"
Although there was no direct evidence, the sober man still felt that something was amiss.
It's better to kill a thousand by mistake than let one go.
The most important thing was to find Caiyu first and keep an eye on her!
The smile on Sheng Jiangli's face disappeared. His black eyes were filled with gloom. He said slowly, "Caiyu is under the King of Yan. It may not be easy for Your Highness's men to get her. I'm willing to do my humble best for Your Highness and bring Caiyu back."
But Song Chengyuan flatly refused. He said gloomily, "No need! General Sheng, stay here with me. Wait until I get the girl back..."
He paused for a moment and said evilly with a smile, "I remember that General Sheng has quite a liking for that girl. When you lived in the Lan family before, you probably had a secret pledge of marriage with that girl, right? When I get the girl back, you can also get what you want. How about it?"
Hearing these lewd words, Sheng Jiangli's fist almost landed on Song Chengyuan's face.
He took a deep breath and then curled his lips again, smiling, "I'd be more than happy. Thank you, Your Highness, for your kindness."
Not long after Caiyu walked out of the Crown Prince's residence, she heard unusual footsteps behind her.
Without looking back, she immediately quickened her pace to escape.
As long as she could escape from the Crown Prince's sphere of influence and enter a crowded area, where there were Song Yinghuai's informants everywhere, she would be safe!
It was a pity that the soldiers were too fast. Seeing her quicken her pace, they immediately drew their swords and chased after her.
It seemed that once she got through the bamboo forest in front, she would be in a crowded area.
But a group of people surrounded Caiyu with their swords drawn.
Caiyu had no choice but to stop. She looked at the soldiers who had just shown ambiguous expressions but now stared at her menacingly.
Caiyu suppressed her panic and calmly asked, "Gentlemen, what's the matter?"
The men didn't know what was going on either, so they just said, "His Highness the Crown Prince requests the girl to go back and attend to him again."
Caiyu's heart sank. It was probably that Song Chengyuan had noticed something was wrong, so he wanted her to go back.
She took a deep breath and forced a smile at them, "I'm feeling a bit sticky all over. I'm afraid I might offend the noble person. Could you gentlemen let me go back to my residence first to change into clean clothes and then go?"
"No need!" The leader flatly refused, "There's everything in His Highness the Crown Prince's residence. The girl just needs to come with us!"
Unable to refuse, Caiyu had no choice.
Fortunately, she relied on her memory rather than making a copy. She thought that even if Song Chengyuan suspected something, he couldn't find any evidence.
Caiyu quickly weighed the situation in her mind. She gave up the idea of running away and obediently followed the men back to Song Chengyuan's residence.
At the same time, Sheng Jiangli and Song Chengyuan were sitting in the Buddhist courtyard drinking tea.
Sheng Jiangli coaxed Song Chengyuan to gulp down cup after cup of tea.
Before Caiyu was brought back, Song Chengyuan couldn't hold it anymore and needed to go to the toilet.
Seeing the man hurry to the backyard to relieve himself, Sheng Jiangli threw away his teacup and opened the door.
The guards at the door blocked him when they saw this, "General Sheng, His Highness has ordered you to stay in the Buddhist courtyard and wait with him."
"Yes, I know," Sheng Jiangli said calmly, "His Highness asks one of you to invite the King of Yan. Ask him to come and watch the fun. Go!"
The guard was stunned for a moment and looked inside over Sheng Jiangli's shoulder.
Sheng Jiangli stepped aside to let him see the empty Buddhist courtyard inside. He impatiently urged,
"His Highness drank too much tea and is in the toilet. What are you looking at! Hurry up and go and invite the King of Yan!"
Seeing Sheng Jiangli's stern look and knowing that Song Chengyuan always enjoyed teasing Song Yinghuai.
So the guard didn't suspect too much about Sheng Jiangli's words and immediately sent someone to look for Song Yinghuai.
Just as Sheng Jiangli slammed the door shut, Song Chengyuan came back tucking in his pants.
As soon as he sat down, there was a knock on the door outside: "Your Highness, the girl has been captured!"
Caiyu was pushed in.
The lights in the Buddhist courtyard made her pupils contract for a moment. Then she saw Song Chengyuan and Sheng Jiangli sitting on either side.
Song Chengyuan was looking at her with a murderous look on his face, while Sheng Jiangli was sitting there expressionlessly sipping his tea.
At least Sheng Jiangli was there. Caiyu felt a bit more at ease.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince, you miss me so soon after we parted?" Caiyu said with a coquettish smile.
Song Chengyuan looked at her with a sinister expression, "I lost a jade pendant while bathing. You were the only one in the bathing room with me just now, so I've brought you back to investigate."
"Your Highness the Crown Prince's jade pendant? I've been scrubbing Your Highness's back all the time and never left the bathtub for a single step. Your Highness knows that. Your Highness's jade pendant must be on the clothes on the rack. How could I possibly steal it?"
"Humph!" Song Chengyuan snorted. He didn't care how many reasons Caiyu had. He just said, "Whether it's possible or not, I'll know once I search your body!"
As soon as he said this, both Sheng Jiangli and Caiyu's faces changed.
Caiyu: "How does Your Highness plan to search my body?"
Sheng Jiangli's eyes flashed. He smiled and said, "Is this what Your Highness meant by making me get what I want? Are you going to let me search her body?"