Unlike the low thunder of the past, this thunder was intense and sharp.

After the thunder passed, Sang Yao finally regained some composure.

She slowly raised her head and met the man’s gaze.

He still had no expression, his black eyes calm. But for some reason, Sang Yao sensed a hint of mockery in them.

Her remaining self-esteem began to act up, and she silently let go of Xie Yun’s arm, frowning and keeping her distance from him.

What kind of look was he giving her? She didn’t care about hugging him anymore.

She had just stepped back for a while when another even more exaggerated thunder sounded.

Sang Yao screamed in fright again and subconsciously hugged Xie Yun’s arm again.

Sang Yao had never heard such a loud thunder before, and now she was so scared that tears welled up in her eyes.

She no longer cared about her dignity and clung tightly to Xie Yun, her voice pitiful, “Wuwuwu, let me hug you for a while.”

Xie Yun, who was about to pull his arm back, stopped when he met the girl’s watery eyes.

Why was she so weak that she could cry from being scared like this?

Boom—

Another thunder.

Sang Yao was really scared this time. She unconsciously tightened her grip on Xie Yun’s arm. She didn’t know why Xie Yun wasn’t afraid. She felt as if the sky was about to be blasted by thunder.

The dark clouds gathered in the sky, making it look as dark as dusk. Sang Yao followed Xie Yun’s footsteps, trembling, and asked, “How… how much longer do we have to walk?”

Xie Yun said, “If you don’t hug me, probably another quarter of an hour.”

Sang Yao automatically ignored the sarcasm in his words and thought painfully, another quarter of an hour?

The thunder grew more and more intense, but the heavy rain still did not fall. She carefully said to Xie Yun, “Xie Yun, my father said not to stand under a tree when it thunders.”

There were trees all around them, and they had no choice but to stand under them. She almost said something useless.

Xie Yun said slowly, “Your father lied to you.”

Sang Yao didn’t believe it. Because she was walking fast, her voice was slightly panting. She cried again, “Wuwuwu, Xie Yun, you said we won’t be struck by lightning, right?”

Xie Yun ignored her.

When Sang Yao was scared, she talked more. She raised her head to look at the sky, then sighed in relief and said, “But fortunately, it’s just thunder and no rain yet.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a raindrop hit her on the head.

As soon as the heavy rain started, they ran out of space. Sang Yao and Xie Yun ran towards a large camphor tree. They were soaked in an instant, and Sang Yao hugged Xie Yun tightly, burying her face in his chest. Xie Yun held her and looked up at the sky, his expression calm as if nothing could affect him.

The raindrops, which were initially unnoticed, began to fall heavily.

“…”

She tugged at Xie Yun’s sleeve and exclaimed, “It’s raining, it’s raining!”

Surrounded by trees, there was hardly anywhere to take shelter.

It seemed destined to get wet in the rain.

Sang Yao stood beside Xie Yun, feeling oddly fortunate that Xie Yun had come to escort her. If she were alone, she would have been terrified.

She began to give up struggling, her steps slowing down as she comforted Xie Yun in the rain, “Forget it, it’s just a little rain.”

Xie Yun walked on, his face dark, and said, “Be quiet.”

Perhaps annoyed by Sang Yao’s slow pace, he naturally grabbed the girl’s delicate wrist. Sang Yao was pulled by Xie Yun and felt that their route seemed to have changed slightly. Soon, they came upon a somewhat old, small wooden house.

Xie Yun pushed open the door, and they entered as the rain poured outside.

The girl’s clothes were wet from the rain, her hair damp, sticking to her fair face. She seemed somewhat happy to have found shelter from the rain, looking at him with her beautiful eyes, saying, “There’s actually a small wooden house here. I never thought there would be such a place in the princess’s residence!”

Xie Yun let go of her hand.

The soft, damp feeling seemed to linger, making him somewhat uncomfortable as he awkwardly rubbed his index finger.

His gaze swept across the room, pausing at the neatly made bed. He murmured, “This used to be where the servants lived when this forest was being cleared. It’s been abandoned for several years now.”

The furnishings in the wooden house were simple but sufficient.

With the shelter of the house, Sang Yao was no longer as afraid as before. She looked at Xie Yun, who was dressed in a black robe, the dampness not very noticeable, but his stern face had a few droplets of water.

Sang Yao felt that something was off. She stared at Xie Yun for a while, finally remembering what it was. She had met Xie Yun a few times during this period, and upon careful recollection, this was the first time he had answered her question seriously.

Quite intriguing.

Xie Yun glanced at her, his tone cold, “Please don’t peek at me.”

Who was peeking at him? Shameless.

The thunder continued, and Sang Yao felt scared, so she reached out and closed the door with a bang.

The room, already dimly lit, became even darker.

Xie Yun’s gaze shifted from the closed wooden door to Sang Yao. Her actions were suggestive, and the pouring rain outside added a hint of ambiguity to the moment.

Looking up at Xie Yun, Sang Yao said softly, “Xie Yun.”

Xie Yun knew that her seduction was finally revealing itself.

He stared at her expressionlessly and said, “You’d better think about what you’re doing.”

Sang Yao didn’t understand what he meant, but it didn’t matter.

She continued, “Look at you, you don’t mind speaking seriously sometimes.”

Xie Yun: “?”

Sang Yao sat on the bed, her hands resting on the bedding, swinging her legs, and said, “Forget it, I forgive you.”

To forgive him, she really could say it.

The man’s dark eyes glared at her, his voice displeased, “Thank you for your forgiveness.”

“But you’d better tell me what I did.”

Sang Yao was slightly annoyed. He hadn’t said anything yet.

However, she still didn’t know where he had gone wrong?

Subconsciously, her fingers grabbed the bedding under her palm, feeling its softness.

Sang Yao furrowed her brow slightly, feeling something strange.

She exclaimed and stood up from the bed, saying to Xie Yun, “Didn’t you say this wooden house has been abandoned for a long time?”

Xie Yun glanced at where Sang Yao had sat. The bedding on the bed was intact and clean. The furnishings in the room were a bit messy, with some areas covered in a thick layer of dust. However, the bed looked exceptionally comfortable.

Obviously, someone had slept here.

And slept here often.

Xie Yun had noticed this as soon as they entered.

But Xie Yun himself had not visited the princess’s residence many times, including this wooden house. Today was his first time entering it, so he only knew the origin of this wooden house and not much else.

Perhaps some servants would occasionally rest here, or perhaps for other reasons. None of this mattered. They were just taking shelter from the rain and would leave in less than a quarter of an hour.

Before Xie Yun could answer, faint voices of a man and a woman came from outside in the wind and rain.

“Why is it suddenly raining so heavily?”

“Who knows what’s gotten into the heavens? We’re all soaked. Hurry up and come in to take off your clothes for me to see.”

The woman’s voice was gentle, “Why are you in such a hurry? Quickly go over and open the door.”

Inside the room, both of them fell silent at the same time.

The purpose of this wooden house seemed to become clear.

Sang Yao was the first to react. Being alone with Xie Yun in such a situation could easily lead to misunderstandings. She widened her eyes, pulled Xie Yun, and, because she was nervous, she couldn’t speak fluently, saying, “Quick, quick… hide.”

Xie Yun’s face was cold. “I’m not hiding.”

In fact, he had never done anything sneaky like this before and felt that there was no need to hide.

Sang Yao didn’t know what this stinky man was so insistent about. She, as a young woman, didn’t say much. Xie Yun’s identity was special, and anything related to him would spread very quickly.

In the face of the urgent situation, Sang Yao said angrily, “If you don’t hide, I’ll never speak to you again!”

It was really ridiculous.

Did she think her threat was effective?

Contrary to Sang Yao’s concerns, for Xie Yun, he really didn’t need to hide.

As the renowned eldest son of the Xie family, no one would interfere with whatever he did. Even if he were seen at this moment with a young girl whose hair was wet from the rain, no one would dare to gossip about him. Due to Xie Yun’s usual aloof demeanor, in such a situation, others wouldn’t think he was secretly meeting with someone, they would only think that another woman was foolishly trying to seduce him.

But for Sang Yao, she couldn’t do the same.

She was in an extremely passive situation. If rumors were spread in the future, she would be the only one attacked.

The girl tugged at his sleeve, her eyes full of tears. She said, “Xie Yun, please move…”

At a glance, there was nowhere to hide in the room.

Within a few breaths, the tightly closed door was hastily pushed open, and the strong wind and heavy rain swept into the room.

A man and a woman hurriedly squeezed in, and the door was closed again.

The man eagerly embraced the woman’s waist, tore open her outer garment, and said, “I finally see you. I’ve missed you so much these past few days.”

…

The small storage room had a musty smell, and because Xie Yun was tall, he felt somewhat cramped in this place, with his long legs having nowhere to rest.

Due to their hurried entry, they hadn’t paid attention to their posture, so at this moment, Sang Yao could definitely be said to be sitting in Xie Yun’s lap.

Compared to the intense battle outside the cabinet door, the inside was extremely quiet.

They were only separated from the fierce battle outside by a thin curtain, and this place might have been used for bathing originally, but after being abandoned, it became a place to store miscellaneous items.

Xie Yun’s expression was not very pleasant.

Sang Yao also felt uncomfortable. She was small in size and didn’t take up much space, but now almost half of her buttocks were on Xie Yun’s legs. She inexplicably felt her buttocks starting to go numb, which was a really strange feeling.

The two of them remained silent, and the commotion outside seemed to grow louder.

Originally, it might have been nothing, just hurriedly taking off clothes.

But now, it seemed like they had finished undressing, and strange sounds began to emanate from the room.

There were kissing sounds, and Sang Yao didn’t understand what they were doing.

She listened for a while before realizing that it sounded like kissing.

She didn’t really understand. Wasn’t kissing just the touching of lips? How could it make such a loud sound?

Sang Yao looked up at Xie Yun.

She naturally thought of her only personal experience and thought that when she kissed Xie Yun before, there was no sound at all.

As the sounds of kissing continued outside, Sang Yao no longer felt embarrassed. What’s wrong with kissing? It’s no big deal.

After calming herself down, she wanted to comfort Xie Yun and tell him not to be embarrassed or care.

She cast a reassuring look at Xie Yun.

Even in such an environment, he still looked incredibly elegant.

But he seemed to be in a bad mood and didn’t seem to want to bother with her. He glanced at her and then looked away.

Xie Yun was indeed annoyed.

Because he once again smelled that lingering jasmine scent.

This time, it was more intense than any time before.