Chapter 157: Chapter 157: Want to Be Touched

The air was still for a few seconds.

Judging by Lin Xiyue and Ai Li’s reactions, Jiang Qingli guessed the fallout from the Que Feiling incident must have been pretty bad.

She was afraid of worrying Qin Muye, so she mentally chose her words with care.

Just as she was about to speak, Qin Muye gently bumped her shoulder with his forehead and slid down.

"Forget it."

Qin Muye’s voice was muffled. "I don’t want to know right now."

The Prince was somewhat self-aware when it came to his own temper.

He could barely tolerate the few Beast Husbands at home; he certainly couldn’t stand any other males.

If he found out who Jiang Qingli was soothing, he couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t go after the guy.

And that would definitely affect her mission.

’It’s better not to know.’

Anyway, the protection for females in the Prison was thorough. They were given a Particle Mask, and if the female was unwilling, there would be no physical contact with the mission target.

Qin Muye had learned all this from Que Feiling.

Ever since that guy got locked up, he’d gone from talkative to even more talkative, messaging Muye whenever he had nothing better to do under the grand-sounding pretense of, "We’re all bros, so we should get to know each other."

Qin Muye was speechless.

’Who the hell is his bro? Who wants to get to know him? So weird.’

He pouted, and then his head was suddenly smacked.

"Qin Muye! Are you asking for a beating?" The girl sounded a little annoyed. "Don’t be a pervert in public!"

Only then did Qin Muye realize his chin had pushed aside her collar, his face buried in her soft chest, the sweet scent of her body completely unobstructed.

Looking down, his gaze fell upon an unobstructed view of her fair, jade-like skin.

A rush of heat filled his nose. Qin Muye shot up, clapping a hand over it.

But it was too late.

A drop of blood trickled through his fingers and landed on her skin. The contrast between red and white was stark and glaring.

Qin Muye raised his hand to wipe it away, but the girl grabbed his tie first, pulling him upright and making him lean forward slightly.

Then she wiped his nose with a tissue and took a cold drink pouch from the car’s mini-fridge, pressing it against the bridge of his nose as a cold compress.

And so the tall young man was held in place, letting her sit on his lap and stop his nosebleed.

’It’s embarrassing, but being taken care of by her... feels great.’

Since he was leaning forward, his gaze inevitably drifted downward.

Looking at her dazzling skin, Qin Muye suddenly felt thirsty.

Qin Muye pressed his lips together and said stubbornly, "These last few times were accidents."

Jiang Qingli blinked and leaned closer. "Hey, you didn’t get a nosebleed last time. You didn’t take something to stop it, did you?"

His fingers, which were gripping her waist, stiffened. Qin Muye turned his face away, clenching his jaw without a word.

’No way. Did he really take something?’

’How can he be so cute?’

Jiang Qingli almost burst out laughing.

But seeing his handsome face, so red it looked like it might explode, she quickly suppressed her laughter.

Seeing how hard he was trying, Jiang Qingli ruffled his hair. "Alright, don’t be upset. If you’re free tonight, I’ll spend time with you, okay?"

"You said it." Qin Muye’s eyes lit up.

"Of course." Jiang Qingli curled a finger and scratched his chin. "Your master doesn’t lie."

"Don’t say things like that."

Qin Muye’s heart skipped a beat when he heard the word "master." He grabbed a tissue from the side and started wiping the blood off her, trying to keep himself busy to calm down.

After wiping away the blood, Qin Muye’s hand didn’t let go.

His gaze was fixed on her fair, beautiful collarbones, and he licked his lips.

The young man arched his back and slowly leaned in...

"CLICK."

Just as his lips were about to touch the girl’s, the car door was suddenly opened from the outside.

Caught off guard, Jiang Qingli shoved Qin Muye away and straightened her collar.

Qin Muye turned his head, and upon seeing who it was, he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

An exquisite, handsome, white-rabbit-like young man stood by the car. The shadows obscured his expression, but when their eyes met, his crystal-clear pink irises swirled with gloomy hostility.

But when he turned to Jiang Qingli, they filled with a boundless tenderness.

"It’s okay, Sister." Gu Nian blinked his eyes and said obediently, "It was too dark. I didn’t see anything."

His consideration only made Jiang Qingli’s face grow hotter, and she quickly finished tidying herself up.

Gu Nian held out his palm to her. She took it to steady herself as she jumped out of the car, then tossed out, "I’m going to take a shower first," and hurried away.

Her retreating figure looked for all the world like she was fleeing in a panic.

Gu Nian lowered his gaze, gently rubbing his fingertips where her warmth lingered. His eyelashes cast a lonely shadow on his face.

"Move."

Qin Muye swaggered out of the car, his tone nonchalant.

The young man glanced sideways, shot him a cold glare, and left without a word.

Qin Muye: "..."

’Unbelievable. Didn’t have to pay a cent to see a two-faced performance.’

-

As night fell, Jiang Qingli hugged her pillow and slowly walked into Gu Nian’s room.

Gu Nian was sitting on the edge of the bed, eating a piece of hard candy that made a crisp sound as he bit into it.

Hearing the sound, Gu Nian looked up in pleasant surprise. "Sister."

Jiang Qingli was still a little embarrassed and tried to make small talk. "I’ve noticed you seem to really like sweets. Not only did you sign up for a dessert class, but your snack cabinet is also filled with all kinds of candy..."

"Yeah, I’ve liked them since I was little." Gu Nian looked at her, his eyes sparkling as if they were filled with burning stars.

It was as if he wasn’t talking about candy, but about her.

Jiang Qingli blinked and averted her gaze. "It’s getting late. Do you need healing today?"

"No need. My contamination value isn’t high," Gu Nian said. "Besides, don’t you have a mission tomorrow, Sister? It’s better to conserve your energy."

Jiang Qingli was a little surprised. ’How did he know?’

But then she remembered that Gu Nian was in the student council, and all missions taken by students of the Imperial Academy were recorded there, so she didn’t give it much more thought.

She was indeed tired, and she started to feel sleepy not long after lying down on the bed.

After brushing his teeth, Gu Nian got into bed quietly and lay down beside her in a very well-behaved manner.

The young man smelled sweet, too. Jiang Qingli’s lips curved. ’The little rabbit really is a good boy.’

What Jiang Qingli didn’t know was—

After she fell asleep, this young man, whom she thought was so well-behaved, stared fervently at the side of her face, his breathing gradually growing heavy.

Gu Nian lowered his head and buried his face in her fingers, humbly inhaling her scent, his voice hoarse.

"Sister..."

"You smell so good, Sister..."

"I want you to touch me so badly..."

The young man arched his body, his eyes narrowing into a hazy, dazed expression.

Several times, he wanted to open his mouth and bite her fingers, but in the end, he didn’t dare. He could only bite his own lip hard, his rabbit ears rubbing restlessly against the sleeping girl’s fingers.

A long time later, a muffled grunt sounded.

The room returned to silence.

-

「A wall away.」

Qin Muye unblocked the account with the red profile picture and asked, [Which Prison are you in?]

After sending the message, he tossed his terminal aside.

Uncharacteristically, Que Feiling didn’t reply all evening.

Qin Muye lay sprawled on the sofa playing a game, but his mind drifted far away, back to four years ago.

Back then, Qin Muye, just a few months shy of his eighteenth birthday, had just returned to the Imperial Family. He wanted to enter a military academy and make a name for himself.

Having missed the regular military academy enrollment, he could only participate in the supplementary recruitment open to the public—the selection trials. By convention, the top two participants from outside the academy would be admitted to the academy’s S-Class.

The S-Class was home to the academy’s most elite talent and had produced numerous famous generals.

The supplementary recruitment had relaxed restrictions: any male between the ages of 15 and 23 who had been tested and showed potential for Superpowers could participate.

The selection trials lasted for seven days.

The trials provided individual dorms, arranged according to the participants’ rankings upon entry.

Qin Muye was ranked first. Next door to him was the second-ranked participant, Que Feiling, who had entered without his family’s knowledge.

Que Feiling must have been only fifteen at the time. The moment they met, he gave Qin Muye a handful of diamonds.

Qin Muye thought the guy was pretentious. Although he looked down on him, he still acknowledged his strength.

All the other participants also believed that those two were the ones who would get into the S-Class.

The day before the final selection, Qin Muye was injured in a sneak attack during training.

According to the attacker, he had been acting under Que Feiling’s orders.

Qin Muye didn’t believe it.

In the final selection competition, he took second place despite his injuries. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Just then, the military academy suddenly issued a notice that the number of spots had been reduced. They would only be accepting one student.

In other words, they would only accept Que Feiling.

Even though Qin Muye was a Prince, they wouldn’t make an exception for him.

Qin Muye was indignant, but he had no choice but to accept reality.

After his injuries healed, Qin Muye ran into Que Feiling at a banquet.

At this point, Qin Muye had already given up on entering the military academy. He just wanted to fight Que Feiling to see who was really stronger.

Que Feiling refused, looking at him with an expression of considerable pity.

Qin Muye hated it when people looked at him like that.

The hot-headed young man grabbed him by the collar and threw the first punch. Que Feiling didn’t back down, tossing his wine glass aside and starting to fight back.

They started brawling right there at the banquet. Every punch landed with brutal force, the fight was earth-shattering, and screams were incessant.

The result was the two of them ending up on the front page of a gossip magazine with the headline: "Illiterate Prince and Gemstone Prince Come to Blows! New Feud? Old Grudge? Or Over a Female?"

One comment was particularly vicious, saying that if the two of them were ever assigned to the same female, it would be a hell of a show. The household would be in total chaos, and they’d make the gossip briefs three times a day.

Even now, just thinking about it made the veins in Qin Muye’s temples throb.

’There’s absolutely no way I’m letting that damn turkey get near Jiang Qingli!’

Qin Muye didn’t sleep well that night and woke up a little before seven the next morning.

Hearing a door open, Qin Muye quickly opened his own and ran right into Jiang Qingli, who was just leaving Gu Nian’s room.

Qin Muye walked up to Jiang Qingli and declared resolutely, "I’m taking you."