Duan Yunfeng bit the lip of the person in front of him with force.

Rather than calling it a kiss, it was more of a bite to release his pent-up emotions.

Xiao Heng felt a sharp pain on his lips, as if a fire suddenly surged up to the top of his head. His eyes trembled, and his spine stiffened like a piece of iron. His scalp tingled.

Duan Yunfeng was oblivious to all of this. Like an animal following its instincts, he bit hard, then gently licked the lip he had just bitten.

Feeling the stiffness of the person in front of him and the slightly parted lips, he curiously probed inside.

“Mm—”

Duan Yunfeng’s jaw suddenly tensed.

Xiao Heng grasped Duan Yunfeng’s jaw and yanked him away, pinning him against the wall. His eyes filled with a chilling coldness. “What are you losing your mind over?”

Duan Yunfeng struggled fiercely.

“Control yourself.” Xiao Heng applied some force, using his thumb to pry open Duan Yunfeng’s upper jaw and holding his soft tongue in a warning gesture. “My patience is limited.”

“Hah…”

Duan Yunfeng exhaled hot breath, his throat moved as he swallowed with difficulty. When he lifted his eyes, he met a pair of cold, icy eyes. The look directed at him was so indifferent, tinged with a slight impatience. The accumulated grievances in Duan Yunfeng’s heart exploded in that moment, and he opened his mouth, biting down hard on Xiao Heng’s hand.

Xiao Heng felt a sharp pain in his palm and furrowed his brows. “You—”

A single hot tear splashed onto the back of his hand.

His movements stopped.

Duan Yunfeng’s sword-like brows shot up, looking like an animal whose territory had been invaded. He bit Xiao Heng’s hand fiercely, unwilling to let go. His amber eyes glared at Xiao Heng, while hot tears continuously dripped down from his reddened eyes.

Xiao Heng gradually relaxed his grip, allowing Duan Yunfeng to tug at his wrist.

Duan Yunfeng vented his anger for a while, until the taste of blood filled his mouth. Slowly, he realized what he had done. He reluctantly let go, his once wide eyes now darting about, unsure of what to do, holding onto Xiao Heng’s wrist.

He stared at the row of bite marks on Xiao Heng’s hand, and was about to lift his sleeve to wipe them off…

Xiao Heng swiftly withdrew his hand. “Enough!”

Unable to tolerate it any longer, he shouted towards the door, “Someone, take the heir to the side courtyard to rest.”

Just as he was preparing to have this drunkard moved back to his own residence, he turned around and saw that Duan Yunfeng had vanished.

The servants who had been summoned by Xiao Heng stood frozen, unsure of what to do.

When they looked closely, they saw Duan Yunfeng had staggered over to Xiao Heng’s bed, then very deliberately pulled back the blanket and crawled inside.

Xiao Heng held his forehead in frustration.

The servants, who had never seen such a scene before, were so stunned they couldn’t move, standing there caught between indecision.

Thankfully, the leader of the servants, Li Jinxi, was accustomed to chaos and remained calm. He asked Xiao Heng, “Your Majesty, what should we do?”

Before he could finish his sentence, Duan Yunfeng had already covered himself with the blanket, adjusted Xiao Heng’s pillow, and settled in comfortably, closing his eyes in contentment.

“Forget it!” Xiao Heng waved his sleeve in frustration, taking a deep breath. “Let him be.”

He then pointed at the pile of ledgers and account books on the desk. “Move these to the study.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Li Jinxi received the order and immediately gave a signal to the other servants, indicating for them to hurry and move the items.

The servants quickly left.

The vast hall was left with only the steady, even sound of breathing.

Duan Yunfeng slept for a while, and seemed to feel hot, irritably stretching his hand out.

Clink!

In the dim candlelight, something fell beside the bed.

Xiao Heng walked over and found it was the safety talisman that Duan Yunfeng had given him.

Because it had been tightly held in Duan Yunfeng’s hand earlier, it was now slightly wrinkled.

The flickering candlelight cast shadows on the intricate calligraphy on it, which appeared a bit ugly.

Xiao Heng was silent for a moment before he reached down and picked up the talisman.

Then, his wrist was suddenly grabbed.

Xiao Heng looked down to see Duan Yunfeng on the bed, looking drowsy, not knowing where he kept getting all this energy from, insisting on pulling Xiao Heng back onto the bed.

“Princess…” Duan Yunfeng’s long lashes fluttered twice, his eyes misty, clearly speaking in his sleep. “Don’t leave.”

He held Xiao Heng’s hand to his face, the cool touch feeling very soothing to him. He rubbed his cheek against Xiao Heng’s palm. “Stay with me for a while.”

Xiao Heng watched him with a complex expression.

…

When Xiao Heng arrived in the study, Li Jinxi had already organized the stack of documents that had been moved.

Xiao Heng sat down at the desk, stretched out his hand, and flipped open a household register. Suddenly, he asked, “Do you also think I was wrong in this matter?”

Li Jinxi was taken aback, glancing at the emperor’s profile, his mind pondering before he spoke. “Your Majesty, for the greater good, you naturally considered everything carefully. But the heir is young, and he harbors true feelings for the ‘Princess.’ It is only natural that he cannot accept it at the moment. Your Majesty, perhaps you should give him some time, let it settle slowly…”

Bang!

Xiao Heng threw the register down. “What have I done wrong?!”

The study suddenly fell silent.

Xiao Heng realized he had lost his composure, and rubbed his brow. “Alright, you can leave now.”

Li Jinxi noticed the prominent blood marks on Xiao Heng’s palm and froze. “Your Majesty, your hand…”

Xiao Heng responded, “It was bitten by someone with ‘true feelings.’ Quite sharp, I must say.”

Li Jinxi said, “I will have someone come and apply medicine to Your Majesty’s hand.”

“It’s nothing.” Xiao Heng glanced at the row of clear bite marks and sneered, “What’s the point of applying medicine to such a small injury? I’ll check it tomorrow morning at the hour of the dragon (7-9 AM). Let’s see if I’ve grown a set of sharp teeth as well. Then I won’t need to use soldiers and weapons. I could just use these teeth to bite off Li Jichang and the northern barbarians. It would save a lot of trouble.”

Li Jinxi: “…”

He realized that the emperor was speaking sarcastically.

Duan Yunfeng was in a dazed state, half asleep and half awake. He opened his eyes and saw a person sitting by the bed.

The person had features as beautiful as a painting, looking like an immortal who had mistakenly wandered into the mortal world.

It was the princess he had been thinking about nonstop.

Duan Yunfeng sighed in relief, grabbing the princess’s hand and placing it on his face.

How could the princess be a man? It must have been just a nightmare.

As he pressed his face against the hand, a deep male voice suddenly came from above him: “How long are you going to hold onto my hand?”

Duan Yunfeng was startled awake.

Sweating profusely, he sat up in bed. The bright sunlight outside had filled the inner hall, making it hard to open his eyes.

A flood of absurd memories from the previous night rushed into his mind, and Duan Yunfeng felt his head buzzing, his whole body feeling dizzy.

No…

Could it be that the princess really was a man?

Was there no room for negotiation?

He angrily slapped the blanket a couple of times.

Hearing the noise, the servants outside entered and asked, “Young Master, would you like to change clothes?”

Duan Yunfeng numbly nodded, “Mm.”

Then he saw several servants enter, carrying a pitch-black outfit. He frowned and asked, “Whose clothes are these?”

The servants exchanged glances and replied, “Naturally, they belong to His Majesty.”

Duan Yunfeng glanced at the clothes and immediately resisted, “I don’t want to wear his. Where are my clothes? Bring my clothes.”

The servants hesitated, “Uh… they’ve already been sent for washing.”

Duan Yunfeng: “…”

A moment later, he walked out of Xiao Heng’s quarters in all black.

The servants led Duan Yunfeng to Zhou Ye’s residence.

When Zhou Ye saw Duan Yunfeng, he was so excited that he nearly jumped up from the floor. He slapped his thigh and exclaimed, “Finally found you! Where did you go last night? How could you just vanish without a trace the whole night?”

Duan Yunfeng’s gaze wandered for a moment, “I didn’t go anywhere.”

“Well…” Zhou Ye sighed, “It’s good that you’re back. But you can’t act so recklessly in the future.”

Duan Yunfeng asked, “How was I being reckless?”

Zhou Ye spoke seriously, “No matter what past you have with the Emperor, he is now the emperor. You need to be mindful of your words and actions.”

“Don’t you understand what kind of person this Emperor is?”

It was one thing for the other person to remain silent, but once they spoke, Duan Yunfeng became furious. “He… him, how could I not know what kind of person he is! As long as it serves his purpose, what can’t he lie about? He can even pretend to be a princess! What can’t he deceive? Now, he’s sweet-talking you, smiling at you, making you serve him, but once he becomes emperor, the next day, he’ll have your head chopped off. When the cunning rabbit dies, the hound gets cooked, you understand?! He’s such a fake, deceitful person, that kind of…”

Zhou Ye sighed, “I understand, I understand, Young Master, please don’t be angry, it’s just…”

His gaze shifted, “But Young Master, this outfit you’re wearing… it doesn’t seem like your own.”

Duan Yunfeng, recalling how he had drunkenly passed out last night, wallowing in the pain of being deceived by that dog of an emperor, and then mysteriously spending the night in Xiao Heng’s room, felt even more irritated.

Waking up early in the morning, what could he do? He couldn’t just go out shirtless, could he? Although he felt a bit guilty, Duan Yunfeng still stood firm, saying, “My clothes got dirty. What’s wrong with borrowing someone else’s clothes?”

Zhou Ye raised an inquisitive eyebrow, “But these are His Majesty’s clothes?”

“So what if they are?” Duan Yunfeng was already getting irritated. Seeing that Zhou Ye, as his aide, couldn’t even empathize with his pain and was instead probing into his personal matters, he became even more frustrated, “Are you here just to make things difficult for me?”

“It’s just a piece of clothing, so I’ll take it off!”

With that, he reached to unbutton his collar.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Zhou Ye, seeing Duan Yunfeng’s face flush with anger, quickly grabbed his hand and tried to calm him down, “Let’s talk things through, Young Master, please don’t act impulsively.”