Chapter 104

"It's Fourth Brother."

The moment Mu Chen spoke, Zhu Lian, who had just stepped onto the corridor with half his body still in the rain, was truly petrified.

He had really been recognized!

Regarding his earlier self-exposure and his lament about being recognized, Zhu Lian now wanted to sing, "If I could do it again, I'd choose death..."

"Fath... Father..."

Standing in the rain, Zhu Lian stammered a greeting, silently removed his mask, and gave an awkward smile.

In truth, he was prepared to immediately drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness if Emperor Jing'an asked any further questions.

However, all he heard was, "Get up and stand under the eaves to avoid the rain."

Stand under the eaves, avoid the rain.

In other words, don't come in; stand at the doorway—spit—the window.

"Yes, thank you, Father."

Zhu Lian silently stood at the window, soaked to the bone, and glanced into the room. Everywhere he looked, luxury was revealed in its understated way.

If not the entire room, at least the white, furry beast skin rug he could see, with its long fur, was probably white fox?

The rarity of white fox skin, used to cover almost half the palace, was truly extravagant.

Thinking this, Zhu Lian immediately lowered his head.

The woman who lived here was clearly of great importance to Emperor Jing'an.

"Don't scare him."

The clear, melodious voice of a woman, with a hint of coquetry, reached his ears. There were only three people present. Zhu Lian was the one being scared, and there was only one woman speaking, so it was easy to deduce who she was talking to.

That tone, speaking to Emperor Jing'an?

Zhu Lian only had to think about his encounters with Emperor Jing'an recently—either being verbally thrashed or watching others being verbally thrashed.

Oh, sometimes he paid attention to his image and didn't scold people, directly dragging them out to be beheaded as a warning.

Emperor Jing'an never made a mistake when catching people. Zhu Lian felt as though everyone's criminal handles were in the old man's hands. If they didn't work hard for him, he'd use them to send them to their deaths.

"It must have been difficult for you to find this place in such heavy rain."

The woman seemed to find nothing wrong with Zhu Lian scaling the wall in the middle of the night wearing night clothes. She asked, "You must be very cold after being rained on for so long, right?"

Zhu Lian lowered his eyes, not daring to look at her. Hearing her question, he was about to thank her for her concern and quickly find an excuse to leave when he heard her ask, "As it happens, I have some fresh boxed lunches here. Would you like one?"

Zhu Lian: ???

"Yes, fresh boxed lunches. They'll warm you up right away, and you'll definitely be able to walk back, right?"

Zhu Lian, who was hesitating, suddenly heard Emperor Jing'an speak from above. He looked up and once again met those eyes that usually looked at them as if they were idiots. This time, there was a different emotion in them.

#If you don't eat, don't even think about walking out of here alive today!#

Was that a threat in his gaze?

Zhu Lian immediately showed a sincere and touched expression, saying with great feeling, "Thank you... thank you, Concubine-Mother, for the boxed lunch. Your son will accept it with pleasure."

Ming Mei: "..."

That title...

Mu Chen: Not bad.

[Ding—Congratulations to the player for discovering a mysterious merchant. Please choose your favorite boxed lunch within the specified time~]

Zhu Lian: ???

What the heck?

Zhu Lian was shocked!!!

His emotions couldn't be contained, and he suddenly looked up at Ming Mei, his face full of: What the heck? Are you kidding me?!

Mysterious merchant?

Being raised in the Cold Palace by the Emperor Jing'an NPC?

Are the NPCs in your game this good at playing?!

...

In the end, Zhu Lian held the four boxed lunches he bought. After buying them, he wanted to leave, with no intention of eating them there.

The NPC's schemes were too deep. He wanted to go home.

Ming Mei thoughtfully gave him a cloth to wrap the four boxed lunches, so he could carry them on his back as he left.

Watching Zhu Lian's back as he left in his night clothes, carrying the boxed lunches on his back, Ming Mei muttered, "It always feels like he stole my boxed lunches."

After sighing, Ming Mei turned around and saw Mu Chen suddenly reach over her head and close the window behind her.

With the action of closing the window, he never took his hand back, maintaining the posture of closing the window and holding Ming Mei's entire body in his arms.

"There's no one here now."

Then, another suggestive sentence that made it hard not to have wild thoughts.

Hearing Mu Chen say this, Ming Mei subconsciously looked up and saw a slight curve at the corner of his mouth. He suddenly leaned closer to her.

Fortunately, Ming Mei reacted quickly enough to dodge, but the space was too small, and the window behind her was tightly held by Mu Chen.

Unless the back of her head was made of iron and she directly smashed a hole in the window, she couldn't alleviate the fact that his oppressive handsome face was only a little over ten centimeters away from her.

Ming Mei couldn't help but tremble her eyelashes, and she was already discussing it with Gui Gui in her mind.

[Is this the rhythm of a wall slam and a forced kiss?!]

[Host, why are you so excited? Are you looking forward to it?]

[Isn't this worth looking forward to?]

[What would you do if he really did that?]

[Enjoy it first, then slap him, after all, we're not in a proper relationship yet.]

Gui Gui: [...]

Is this what Sixth Lord once said about "bloodline awakening"?

It is said that Ming Mei's mother was also a "wild at heart" great beauty.

It's just a pity that, even though Gui Gui and Ming Mei were thinking this way, Mu Chen didn't force a kiss as Ming Mei had imagined.

Mu Chen turned his head and put his face close to Ming Mei's ear, asking in a husky voice that was as enchanting as a hook, "I've been wanting to ask since just now, how did you know Zhu Lian would come? And you knew he'd be climbing over the back wall, so the window you opened was directly facing him?"

Ming Mei: "..."

The time she had spent with Mu Chen had been so natural that she had become carried away and directly shared player dynamics with Mu Chen late at night.

Mu Chen had Emperor Jing'an's secret guards, but what did she have?

She couldn't really confess that she had a real-time live broadcast (monitoring) of every player in the background, right?

It made her seem quite perverted, even though she hadn't seen any R-rated scenes. But it didn't seem appropriate to tell others this directly.

"Would you believe me if I said it was a coincidence?"

"If you say so, I'll believe you."

Ming Mei: "..."

Heh~ Was he sure she would confess?

Ming Mei also tilted her head, looking at Mu Chen's excellent profile from the side, and muttered, "It's a secret. I couldn't be a mysterious merchant without some tricks, right?"

"That's true."

She didn't expect that Mu Chen wouldn't hold onto this point and would believe whatever she said.

This made Ming Mei breathe a sigh of relief, but she was still a little disappointed.

The wall slam was just to ask that?

She thought with some regret, watching the hand that had been holding the window was also about to be taken back. Ming Mei subconsciously leaned back, but she didn't expect that the window behind her would suddenly be opened by her!

Ming Mei: !!

Ming Mei, whose upper body suddenly fell backwards, was so frightened that she immediately grabbed the lapels of the person in front of her, trying to hold on. But as a result, she grabbed the unprepared Mu Chen and pulled half his body out of the window!

At the last moment, Mu Chen immediately wrapped one arm around her waist, which was about to hit the window sill, and directly hooked the window frame with the other hand. The two bodies were tightly pressed together, so they didn't fall out.

Just as the two were maintaining this awkward posture, Yuan Fang and Bai Xiao, who were exploring the Cold Palace at night and wanted to know Emperor Jing'an's secrets, were climbing the back wall of a brightly lit palace and happened to see this famous scene.

Yuan Fang: Wow~~

Bai Xiao: Wow~~