Chapter 44 – The Crown Prince’s Germaphobia

At this moment, Xiao Che’s face was completely pale.

He leaned against the corner of the wall, his stomach churning violently.

Shu Ruohua’s dark eyes narrowed slightly. “You… are afraid of bugs?!”

She immediately began roasting him in her mind—Xiao Che, a grown man, actually got so scared by a little green caterpillar that he ended up cowering against the wall. What a coward.

She walked up beside him, waved the little bug in front of his face, and then tossed it to the ground.

With a cheerful grin, she said, “Don’t worry, Your Highness. I’ll get rid of it for you!”

Xiao Che looked like he was going to lose it.

He was already fighting the urge to vomit.

He coldly retorted, “I’m not afraid!”

Shu Ruohua muttered under her breath, You’re already pressed against the wall, and you still say you’re not afraid.

Then she raised her foot and forcefully stomped the green caterpillar into a pulp, grinding it down for good measure.

Smiling brightly, she announced, “Look, I killed it for you!”

As she spoke, she dragged Xiao Che over to look at the remains of the bug.

She thought he was simply scared of it. As long as he saw it was dead, he’d stop being afraid.

Xiao Che clutched his stomach in pain, not saying a word.

But Shu Ruohua was persistent. “Come on, take a look! It’s really dead now!”

Xiao Che: “…”

Dragged along by force, he glanced down at the ground.

And with just that one look, the sour feeling in his stomach surged violently.

He immediately ran to the side, vomiting bile and acid nonstop.

When Shu Ruohua saw this, she panicked.

She hurriedly buried the remains of the bug in the soil.

Then she rushed over to Xiao Che’s side.

“Y-Your Highness… Are you… are you okay?”

Knowing she’d messed up, her voice trembled with guilt.

Xiao Che didn’t answer.

It wasn’t until the nausea in his stomach subsided that he slowly stood up.

He questioned her coldly, “Why was something like that in your vegetables?!”

Heaven knows why there were bugs in the vegetables.

Shu Ruohua lowered her eyes with a choked expression.

She wanted to explain that having bugs in vegetables was totally normal. It just meant her vegetables were organic and pesticide-free.

But she was afraid that if she said that out loud, Xiao Che would get mad and raze her backyard to the ground in fury.

So after struggling for a while, she still couldn’t say anything.

Xiao Che snapped, “Don’t think that just because you’re silent, I won’t flatten your vegetable patch!!”

He could clearly see through all the little schemes running through Shu Ruohua’s head.

Shu Ruohua was speechless.

“You…” Xiao Che opened his mouth to say something else, but a fresh wave of nausea hit him.

He had always had an intense aversion to insects. Ever since childhood, just the sight of them would make him sick and vomit.

He quickly rushed to the side again, nearly throwing up more bile.

Shu Ruohua hurried over once more, somehow managing to fetch a bowl of clean water and handing it to him. “Your Highness, here, rinse your mouth.”

Xiao Che shot a cold glance at the bowl in her hands. Just looking at it made him feel nauseated again for no reason.

He said nothing. Without taking the bowl, he turned and walked away.

Shu Ruohua originally wanted to stop him.

But she was afraid he was too angry at the moment. If she said the wrong thing and made him even angrier, she’d really be doomed.

So she turned and walked back to the potato patch.

Since there was a bug on the potato leaves, there were probably more lurking. She needed to take a proper look.

The sky gradually darkened.

“Miss, what are you doing?” Qian Ning’s voice suddenly rang out.

She had already finished cooking dinner, but when Shu Ruohua hadn’t come back, she came looking for her.

She walked up to Shu Ruohua, curious to see what she was doing.

Shu Ruohua looked visibly dejected. She held out the bug in her hand and showed it to Qian Ning. “Look, bugs are invading the potato patch!”

But Qian Ning reacted even more dramatically than Xiao Che.

She immediately jumped back several steps, shrieking, “Aaaah! Miss, how can you touch something like that?!”

Qian Ning was terrified of bugs.

Shu Ruohua looked at her in disbelief.

“How are you just like the Crown Prince? It’s just a few little bugs! Is that really necessary?!”

She really didn’t get it—these were just a few harmless insects. They didn’t even bite.

Yet one person vomited up bile, and the other ran faster than a rabbit. Was that really called for?

But Qian Ning wasn’t focused on the bugs.

She paused and said, “Did you say… the Crown Prince is also afraid of bugs?”

She looked around but didn’t see His Highness anywhere. In that moment, she immediately understood something.

“You mean… the Crown Prince was just here?!”

…

(End of Chapter)