to slap him, but she held back her anger: “Have you ever seen anyone asking others how to kiss It's something one is born knowing!”"So when you said my kissing skills are bad, does that mean you've k...Chapter Thirty-Five Not For You

Feng Changqing was furious, but the reason for his anger wasn't due to some scandalous matter between sacred jade maidens in the Phoenix Kingdom. Rather, it was because a lowly maidservant had touched his clothes.

Qi Lin quietly looked at Liu Xi and couldn’t help feeling sorrowful. Serving a ruler is like serving a tiger; she had long heard from Yu Mu that Feng Changqing was suspicious, cold, and ruthless. Yet today’s scene still made her break out in a cold sweat.

In the end, Feng Changqing turned to Bu Yao, who looked pale with fear, intending to speak. But Long Ye beat him to it and knelt down respectfully, saying, "Your Majesty, I have an unreasonable request."

Zi Yin was slightly taken aback and his gaze fell on Bu Yao. In his heart, he had a guess. He walked forward and kneeled down, saying, "Please calm yourself, Your Majesty."

"Speak up," Feng Changqing said, though there was obvious displeasure in his tone. Still, it wasn’t as harsh as before. Glancing at Bu Yao, he asked, "Is this about her Her name is Bu Yao"

But Bu Yao had yet to recover from the shock of what happened and was still staring blankly at where Liu Xi’s body lay. Long Ye tugged at her dress but she didn’t even notice.

"Your Majesty!" Qi Lin saw Feng Changqing frown and thought, Oh no! In a panic, she grabbed hold of Feng Changqing's sleeve without realizing that she herself had yet to kneel down. She said anxiously, "Your Majesty, the incident was triggered by this humble maiden. Bu Yao is merely an innocent bystander who’s still in shock and might have forgotten her manners. Please forgive her."

Only after saying this did Qi Lin realize that Feng Changqing's expression remained calm but there was a flicker of something she had never seen before in his eyes. She frowned, puzzled, as several gazes shot toward her—Zi Yin’s brows were furrowed and he was staring right at her.

Qi Lin suddenly understood everything, feeling an icy chill in her heart. Slowly lowering her gaze, she finally looked at the hand still clutching Feng Changqing's long sleeve. She moved it slightly and the soft fabric slipped from her grasp.

Dead! I wanted to plead for mercy but ended up damning myself instead.

Qi Lin numbly shifted her sight away, yet she remained standing without kneeling down. Long Ye and Zi Yin beside her were also on tenterhooks for Qi Lin’s sake.

"Aren’t you afraid of death" Feng Changqing looked at Qi Lin's slightly pale face with interest. Though clearly scared out of her wits, she still managed to remain calm. Feng Changqing smiled and raised his hand to lift Qi Lin’s chin, asking, "Tell me, are you afraid of dying"

"I am," Qi Lin replied, forcing herself to look calmly into Feng Changqing’s deep eyes where she saw her reflection. She then smiled, saying, "But I’m even more afraid of pain."

Pain Feng Changqing was puzzled as he looked at the gradually calmer eyes of Qi Lin. A smile blossomed on his face. Releasing Qi Lin, he strode out to the courtyard and paused before saying, “Since she’s an innocent victim, you may deal with her however you see fit. Long Ye, I’ve noted your unreasonable request.”

Long Ye was taken aback; he hadn’t even made his request yet.

The others saw Feng Changqing about to leave and quickly knelt down to bid him farewell.

The garden was left with only Qi Lin, Bu Yao, Long Ye, and Zi Yin, among a few others. The sudden silence made everyone feel uneasy.

Long Ye nonchalantly picked up the slightly trembling Bu Yao and walked slowly to the center of the garden, but he was held back by Mu Dan who had just come to her senses, clutching onto his pant leg tightly. Long Ye ignored her as he stared straight ahead coldly.

"Yun Fei... Yun... save me." Mu Dan said haltingly, her swollen lips preventing clear speech.

The name 'Yun Fei' instantly surfaced in Qi Lin's mind; wasn't that the name Yu Mei had called out earlier

"Mu Dan, you are indeed an extraordinary woman, but..." Long Ye gave a disdainful glance and continued, "...you hurt my beloved."

Hearing 'beloved', Zi Yin was taken aback. Although Long Ye was notorious for his dalliances, he had never referred to any woman with such terms before. No wonder he had pleaded desperately earlier; it made sense now that Qi Lin had stepped in to help.

"Servants, take her away and keep a watchful eye on her without letting her die," Long Ye said coldly as he swiftly left the garden with Bu Yao in his arms.

The guards dragged Mu Dan away from the still-dazed woman, leaving behind a trail of intermittent blood stains.

Finally, only Zi Yin and Qi Lin remained, along with Lü Zhu and Qiao Er who were kneeling nearby.

"How did you end up with His Majesty"

Qi Lin raised her eyes in puzzlement; hadn't this guy knocked her out Since that wasn’t the case then she supposed it didn’t matter. She slowly walked down the steps and softly replied, "I was framed."

Zi Yin was taken aback by Qi Lin's unexpected response, which seemed to hint at some resentment.

"What will happen to Liu Xi" After a moment of thought, he asked anyway, though he already knew it would be the so-called mass grave.

"She’ll be chopped into pieces for dog food," Zi Yin replied calmly as if discussing an insignificant matter.

Qi Lin was shocked; cold sweat dripped down her forehead as nausea rose in her stomach, but she forced herself to endure it. She stared at Zi Yin intently yet found no trace of joking, and after a while, accepted his words as truth.

She nodded gently, how could he be so cruel

Back in her Rose Garden, Qi Lin was still shaken; her face was pale. She dismissed Lü Zhu and the others and curled up alone on the bed, trembling slightly.

Until nightfall, Green Bamboo knocked on the door and brought all the maids in. From the looks of it, she was about to get ready for a long process of dressing up. Could such an event prevent what's bound to happen tomorrow

In silence, she let the maids undress her. Qi Lin numbly walked toward the prepared bathtub where rose petals were floating on top. She couldn’t help but feel melancholic; just like these tiny petals, she was floating in a completely unknown world with no sense of security at all. As she thought about it, she hugged herself tightly and submerged half of her face underwater.

The maids who bathed her were unsure what to do next, but Green Bamboo dismissed them silently, saying softly, "Miss, Miss Peony has left."

This was expected. But Qi Lin couldn’t help asking, "Was she in pain when she left"

"She was in great pain," said Green Bamboo quietly. When she saw the state of Miss Peony then, she couldn't bear to look either. "Miss Buxiao did nothing but it is said that His Royal Highness went red with anger and chopped off Miss Peony’s hands to feed them to a dog before breaking her neck and throwing her out of the door. He only ordered someone to throw her into An Ding."

An Ding

"It's just the place for using the toilet," explained Green Bamboo.

Qi Lin suddenly heard a man’s voice behind her, causing her to lift her head out of the water abruptly. A faint scent of tea wafted into her nostrils, and when she turned back, she saw that Green Bamboo had closed her eyes calmly in the man's arms. The man gently let Green Bamboo lean against the pillar and then looked up at Qi Lin with a slight smile.

Qi Lin immediately felt embarrassed and angry, furrowing her brows to glare at him sternly: "The Emperor is here too today; aren't you afraid of being chopped into pieces and fed to dogs"

To her surprise, the man just smiled slightly and walked over to her indifferently. Qi Lin hurriedly backed away, holding her chest with both hands, and although she intended to stand up, she found that it was more inappropriate to do so now. She was in a very awkward situation.

The man reached the tub’s edge, picked up the towel hanging beside it and swished it through the water. He looked at Qi Lin teasingly and asked: "Do you want me to help"

"Go to hell," she retorted without hesitation, glancing towards her clothes a hand's breadth away. She was contemplating how to get them when suddenly she felt warmth on her shoulder as hot water slowly flowed down her body.

"When one is startled, it’s usually better to take a warm bath so that they can relax their mind. Of course, adding mountain tea would be best," he said while taking out a bag of camellia flowers from his pocket and sprinkling them into the water, completely ignoring Qi Lin's stiff body. "Today you almost died. Do you know"

"If I knew that this is how you’d treat me, I would rather have died," said Qi Lin coldly as she lowered her body in the water to resist him.

Looking at the handsome face of the man smiling back at her from the reflection in the water, Qi Lin bit down hard on her lips.

"I was worried about you."

To her surprise, when the man said this gently, she felt her cheeks burning and retorted coldly: "Worrying and offending are two different things.

"Offended" The man couldn't help but smile as he gently removed Qi Lin's hairpin, allowing her long black hair to cascade down like a waterfall and drape into the water. He picked up a strand of it, placing it tenderly between his lips. "I thought you belonged to me."

Upon hearing this, Qi Lin suddenly stood up from the water with a splash. A few petals clung reluctantly to her body, while droplets of water adhered lightly to her long hair. Initially thinking that she would be mocked for being bare under the water, she was surprised instead by an unexpected outer layer緊貼著她的身體，沾了水就緊緊地貼在她身上。齊琳微微一愣，隨即恢複冷漠的目光。

"You're just imagining things," Qi Lin said as she slowly emerged from the water. "I will never fall in love with anyone."

"Then, fall in love with me." The man stepped forward and lifted Qi Lin's chin with a finger, pressing a kiss to her lips. He knew that she didn't move away only because she couldn't avoid it. Then he said, "I will make you fall in love with me; then live for me, die for me."

"That’s self-abasement," Qi Lin retorted abruptly, lifting the man's chin with her hand and saying with the same expression: "Even if I do fall in love with you, it would be to live for my love and to die for it, not for you."

The man frowned slightly. Meeting the flickering candlelight in Qi Lin’s eyes which mirrored her determination at this moment, he was momentarily stunned.

It was as if his masculinity had been trampled upon; a living and dying for love, but never for him.

Suddenly reaching out, he wrapped an arm around Qi Lin, tilting her body to the ground. Meeting Qi Lin's slightly panicked eyes, he smiled smugly and covered her eyes with his hand.

Qi Lin couldn't move a muscle under the varying breaths of the man on her neck. She said coldly, "Perhaps you've fallen in love with me"

The words made the person above her pause; looking up at Qi Lin's face quietly, he saw a slight upward curve to her lips, seemingly mocking him.

"Before you fall in love with me, I won't touch you again," his voice seemed from another world, wavering and uncertain.

Suddenly feeling lighter on top of her, Qi Lin faintly heard the sound of a creak. She slowly opened her eyes to see that the man had left, leaving behind only a faint aroma of tea in the room.

She thought it would be a quiet night ahead but when she saw Bu Yao wearing splendid robes at her door, Qi Lin was slightly taken aback. She dismissed everyone and asked Bu Yao to sit inside her room.

"I underestimated you," Bu Yao coldly observed Qi Lin as if trying to see through her. Instead of the shame or guilt Qi Lin should have felt in her eyes, there was nothing but calmness. This infuriated Bu Yao; she slammed the table and overturned a teacup beside it, causing an immediate wave of tea fragrance which seemed to clear her mind.

Looking at Qi Lin with disdain and sniffing the unfamiliar aroma of tea, she frowned and said, "Did Yu Mu come"

The sound of Yu Mu Qi Lin's heart skipped a beat. She hadn't expected Bu Yao would detect that guy’s scent but was also surprised that she confused it with Yu Mu's.

"I merely sent Green Bamboo to fetch some new tea leaves," Qi Lin said calmly, though inside she feared Bu Yao might discover more than intended.can be seen flowing down from each level, along with fragrant flowers and melodious birdsong.The image reminded Qi Lin of the legendary Penglai Island.When their carriage drew closer, they didn’t get...