Chapter 126: I, the Crown Prince, Will Personally Bathe the Crown Princess

“Your Highness?”

Xie Yao felt that Xiao Ji’s eyes looked a little strange. She called to him softly, “What are you thinking about?”

Xiao Ji pulled back his thoughts, hiding the killing intent that had just flashed in them. He rose, walked over, and half-knelt beside her.

Sliding an arm around her waist, he spoke gently. “I was thinking about you, Yao-yao.”

Some dirty things were better left unsaid as he didn’t want to sully his Crown Princess’s ears.

Xie Yao’s cheeks flushed pink. She gave him a reproachful look. “Your Highness is teasing me again.”

“You don’t believe me?” Xiao Ji lifted his gaze. Slowly rising, he placed his hands on either side of her chair, leaning close.

Xie Yao tried to retreat, but there was nowhere left to go. In the end she clutched at his robe hem. “I believe you, I believe you.”

He pinched the tip of her nose with a smile. “It’s getting late. I’ll attend to Crown Princess’s bath.”

“…That’s not necessary, is it?” Xie Yao murmured.

But Xiao Ji left no room for refusal, his brows arched in a hint of mischief. “Crown Princess wasn’t like this with me before.”

Xie Yao: “…” That was only because, back then, he didn’t touch her! Did he really think she wasn’t embarrassed? She had no choice back then! But now… they even had a child already.

Xiao Ji scooped her up around the waist and carried her toward the bath. Helpless, Xie Yao buried her face against his chest.

“Yao-yao.”

His hand gripped her waist firmly. He lightly nipped her earlobe, his husky voice hot against her ear. “You mustn’t use me up and then toss me aside.”

His warm breath made her whole body soften. Her mind grew hazy, her ears filled only with the sound of him murmuring her name again and again.

In the steamy warmth of the bath, Xie Yao’s voice grew hoarse from exhaustion. By the time Xiao Ji carried her back and laid her in the bed’s soft quilts, her pale face was flushed like a ripe peach, her brows relaxed, her beauty blooming like a peony in spring; radiant and irresistible.

Xiao Ji sat by the bed for a moment, bent to kiss her lightly, and then rose to change. He gathered up the fresh clothes that had fallen to the floor, folded them neatly, and handed them to Yuyan outside. “Have these washed carefully. I’ll wear them tomorrow.”

Then, calling for Si-nan, he slipped quietly out of the Crown Prince’s palace, straight toward the Song residence.

In the night, Xiao Ji no longer concealed his murderous intent. Si-nan followed silently, not daring to breathe too loudly. He knew all too well what had angered his master.

That Song Wenbo… had actually dared, in his study, to write down the Crown Princess’s name, muttering to himself that she ought to have been his wife.

He was simply courting death!

As they neared the Song estate, Si-nan reported quietly, “Your Highness, the Eldest Princess is still in the palace caring for the Northern Prince. She hasn’t left. As for Song Wenbo… these past days, after bedding Second Young Lady Xie, he’s been sleeping in the study.”

He led Xiao Ji straight there.

The Song residence wasn’t large. From the rooftop, they soon spotted Song Wenbo emerging from the main hall.

Under the pale moonlight, Xiao Ji clearly saw his expression change the instant he stepped outside as the smile vanished, replaced by a look of disgust.

A maidservant stood waiting with a basin. Song Wenbo carefully washed his hands, then tossed the handkerchief to her with open contempt. “Burn it.”

The maidservant retreated.

Glancing back at the hall door, Song Wenbo muttered coldly, “Cheap slut. Still nothing compared to Xie Yao.”

He was finished. That was the only thought in Si-nan’s mind.

Sure enough, Xiao Ji’s eyes blazed with killing intent. He shot forward without hesitation.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Arrows whistled through the air, straight at Song Wenbo.

A mere scholar with no martial training, he could do nothing. Only when the arrows pierced him did he scream.

Two hits. One to his waist. And one… directly between his legs.

Before the Song household even reacted, Xiao Ji and Si-nan had already vanished into the night. Behind them, Song Wenbo’s screams lit up the whole estate with torches and chaos.

No one saw the assassins.

But Xiao Ji’s strike had meaning. Song Wenbo had hidden it well, but Si-nan’s earlier investigation revealed that although Song Wenbo had been frightened by Madam Zhang’s sudden attack, his impotence had actually been cured by medicine. He had deceived Xie Yujiao all this time simply because he didn’t want her.

Since he claimed impotence to the world, Xiao Ji would make sure it became truth.

Si-nan, trailing his master, instinctively edged a little farther away, his own legs feeling chilled. His Highness… had clearly picked up the Crown Princess’s ruthless habit of attacking below the belt.

Once, His Highness had been upright and noble, never stooping to such methods.

That same night, the news spread across the capital: Song Wenbo, Director of the Bureau of Astronomy, had been ambushed. Imperial physicians were summoned at once.

The diagnosis said his life was safe, but he was forever impotent.

When Pei Chen arrived to investigate, Song Wenbo had just woken. The arrows, after all, had been the very type used by the Northern Frontier Army, the same kind that struck during the Crown Princess’s assassination attempt.

Pei Chen’s hearing was sharp. Even before stepping inside, he heard the mad voice raging within. “Impossible! Impossible! Get out, get out!”

For any man, such humiliation was unbearable and worse still with the whole city talking.

“Dear husband…”

Xie Yujiao stumbled forward, clutching her belly, her face pale. “Please, calm yourself. I don’t mind. You were already unwell before, now it’s just the same… I’ll never abandon you. And we still have our child.”

Smack!

She was struck so hard she nearly fell again. If not for his injured waist, Song Wenbo would have kicked her stomach outright. “Get out!” His eyes bulged with rage.

Slut! How dare she mock him? To even mention that child who was clearly a bastard!

Startled, Xie Yujiao trembled, her eyes rimmed red. “Husband…” She hadn’t said anything wrong. He had been impotent all along…

Song Wenbo saw her thoughts and grew even angrier, pulling at his wound and sweating from pain.

“Master Song.”

From outside came Pei Chen’s steady voice, suppressing his laughter. “I have questions about last night’s attack.”

Song Wenbo forced his fury down and muttered to Xie Yujiao, “Go back to your room.”

She tried to reassure him. “Don’t be upset. I’ll stay by you, with the child.” Then she hurried away, bowing her head as she passed Pei Chen.

Inside, Song Wenbo forced a veneer of civility. “Marquis, please enter.”

Pei Chen strode in and asked bluntly, “Did Master Song see the attacker’s face last night?”

Song Wenbo sneered. “If I had seen, would I still have been struck?”

Pei Chen raised a brow. “The physicians say your wounds were very precise. The shot was deliberate. Has Master Song made enemies recently?”