Chapter 31: Bathing

  Taking a bath

  As soon as these words came out, Yin Ruofei was still in a daze, but Yin Jinyuan's face first sank, while Yin Haicheng had an expression of shock.

  "Your Majesty... the child is mischievous, this..." Yin Haicheng, a man in his thirties, was naturally smooth-tongued. Although the other party's request was strange and had some ulterior meaning, he could only pretend not to understand at this moment. "If Your Majesty wants the child to accompany you, why not wait until he finishes bathing and changing clothes?"

  "Ah, just in time, I also want to take a bath." Rong Jingze seemed to have completely misunderstood the meaning of Yin Haicheng's words and said, "That... Fei'er, come and attend to my bath!"

  As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere in the main hall became even more depressed, and everyone's expressions were different.

  Jin Yuan's face turned iron-green, Yin Haicheng's eyebrows slightly furrowed, his face showing incomprehension. The surrounding guards, although seemingly expressionless, couldn't help but twitch the corners of their mouths, sighing inwardly that their master was going to stir up trouble again.

  Yin Ruofei secretly felt ashamed and angry, what kind of words were these? Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, she fiercely glared at Rong Jingze several times. Rong Jingze clearly saw it, but didn't take it to heart, his smile only deepened at the corners of his mouth. In the entire room, probably only he was completely unaffected by external influences.

  The arm cannot twist the thigh, and since Rong Jingze has spoken, everyone can only follow suit.

  The maidservants and menservants were all busy, having been dispatched to the Lotus Fragrance Garden to boil water, prepare incense, tidy up the house, and the whole mansion was in a flurry of activity.

  Since it was to serve Rong Jingze's bath, a brand new large wooden tub was naturally chosen, repeatedly scrubbed and washed several times before being sent to the bathroom, and hot water, flower petals, and bath beans were prepared.

  Yin Ruofei solemnly invited Rong Ze to take a bath, and his father had just taken the opportunity to fall back one step, letting him be careful not to offend Prince Wang. This was something he naturally understood, especially since he had already experienced the overbearing nature of this prince before, so he would endure if he could, and absolutely would not provoke the other party.

  Rong Jingze was half-reclining on the soft chair, and upon hearing Yin Ruofei speak up, his eyes slightly opened. "Help me get up."

  His guards had long since disappeared, perhaps hiding in the shadows, but Yin Ruofei was nowhere to be found. There was only him here, and when the other side spoke up, he naturally had no choice but to take action.

  Yin Ruofei pursed her lips and placed both hands on Rong Jingze's arm, helping him up from the soft couch.

  Looking at Rong Jingze's soft and lazy appearance, he really didn't know if this guy was physically unwell or just lazy.

  He had intended to help the other person up and then withdraw, but unexpectedly, as soon as he moved, the other person seemed to have sensed his intention and pressed half of his body against him, almost pinning him down.

  Looking at such a thin person, how can it be so heavy!

  Steamy hot water, floating a layer of flower petals, with spices inside, hands slightly stirring, a faint fragrance fills the bathroom.

  Yin Haicheng would naturally not let his own son serve others in bathing, so he specially sent a few pretty little maids to attend to him.

  Rong Jingze, being a royal from birth to adulthood, didn't show the slightest bit of shyness when facing an inferior and exposing his body. From start to finish, he was calm and composed, as if the people around him were just wooden stakes. On the other hand, Yin Ruofei, who had turned her head to one side, had a face that was slowly turning red.

  Yin Ruofei's face was already burning as he helped Rong Jingze take off his clothes. This guy wouldn't undress himself, nor did he want the maid to help, but instead made him do it!

  "Prince Wang is washing slowly, I'll take my leave first." Yin Ruo Fei bowed without looking up and was about to go out.

  "Aren't you going to take a bath?" came a lazy voice from behind.

  Yin Ruofei was taken aback for a moment, then nodded and said, "Of course I need to wash it."

  "Then let's take a bath together."

  Yin Ruofei's face suddenly turned bright red, "You..."

  The girl around him suppressed her curiosity and looked at the young master of the house.

  "No need, my servant has already prepared water for me..."

  "Come in!" Rong Jingze didn't even hear him speak, directly shouting towards the door. His voice wasn't loud, but the next moment that so-called Rong Shi was already standing in the bathroom.

  Several little maids were startled and glared at by Rong Shi, they didn't dare to cry out.

  Rong Shizhen slowly splashed water in the bathtub and bowed his fist, "Your Majesty."

  "Go and get him some bath water."

  Yin Ruofei was about to retort when Rong Xi gave her a look, and suddenly understood why the few maids didn't dare call out earlier.

  Before long, a similar bathtub and a set of toiletries were sent over, along with Yin Ruofei's clean clothes.

  "Alright, all of you can go down now." Rong Jingze waved his hand, and with a glance from Rong Shi, the little maids instantly ran out of the bathroom. "No one is allowed to come in."

  "You, what are you going to do?" Yin Ruofei couldn't help but take two steps back.

  "Hmm." The lazy smile on Rong Jingze's face instantly disappeared, replaced by a faint one. "Aren't you going to take off your clothes quickly?"

  Ever since being ambushed by Er Ye's man in her past life, Yin Ruofei felt uneasy about men getting close to her. Rong Jingze had made several ambiguous remarks before, which already put him on guard, and now that he was asked to take off his clothes, his eyebrows instantly stood up.

  "How can you take a bath without taking off your clothes?"

  "I don't..." Yin Ruofei subconsciously retorted.

  "You just watched me undress and even took off my clothes, how can you be so shameless now?" Rong Jingze leaned against the edge of the bathtub, staring at Yin Ruofei without blinking, but speaking with a twisted logic.

  Yin Ruofei's fingers trembled with anger. This man was really something, whether it was taking off his clothes or watching him take off his clothes, wasn't it all his idea?

  "Are you really a little girl who doesn't dare to take it off?" Yong Jingze smiled.

  "Off with it!" Yin Ruofei's temper was also rising. This morning had been too eventful, his head, body and clothes were all covered in dirt, mixed with sweat, his face was a mess, and the stickiness on his body made him feel very uncomfortable. Seeing the hot water right next to him, he decided to wash himself clean.

  Rong Jingze watched as Yin Ruofei took off her outer clothes, only wearing close-fitting clothes to enter the bathtub. As she removed her last piece of clothing from the bathtub, he felt somewhat disappointed in his heart and intentionally let out a sigh with his mouth.

  Yin Ruofei's face revealed a hint of complacency, which was caught by Rong Jingze. Rong Jingze raised an eyebrow, secretly laughing in his heart, let's see if you can laugh later!

  Scalding hot water easily eliminates the fatigue of the body, paired with unknown spices, it makes Yin Ruo Fei thoroughly relax. Except for a layer of flower petals floating on the surface that looks a bit greasy, everything else is very satisfying.

  But soon Yin Ruofei discovered the wonderful use of flower petals. At least when two people were close, they couldn't see anything on each other.

  Yin Ruofei didn't know why he had such thoughts, those little servants helped him bathe and saw everything, Zi Ling Zi Yun also often bathed him, although he was shy, but not to the point of reacting so much.

  What's there to be afraid of? Just treat him as a servant and that's it!

  After thinking about it, Yin Ruofei felt more at ease and slowly washed with the bath beans. Although the bath beans smelled good, according to Yin Ruofei's abilities, he could easily identify that the ingredients here were not the best. He knew a formula for bath beans, although several medicinal materials were expensive, but the effect was also much better.

  Zheng was polishing it over there, and Rong Jingze had already washed up. This time the other party didn't shout for someone or order him around.

  Yin Ruofei pretended not to know and turned her face away to continue washing.

  Rong Jingze was fully dressed, and Yin Ruofei hadn't even turned his head. Rong Jingze's face revealed a triumphant expression as he reached out to pick up the clean clothes that had been placed on the other side, which were prepared for Yin Ruofei to change into.

  "Fei'er, are you willing to be my study companion?" Rong Jingze asked suddenly.

  "His Royal Highness has redeemed his sin, although His Royal Highness's kindness has made me feel honored and surprised. Unfortunately, I am young and ignorant, and I'm afraid I won't be able to accompany His Royal Highness by his side." Yin Ruofei's words were spoken with a sincere and fearful tone, but her voice was careless and sounded somewhat perfunctory.

  It's a joke, isn't it? He's a young master who doesn't want to be one, and instead goes to be someone else's reader. Although he has vaguely heard of this "reader" thing before, no one has ever actually mentioned it to him in person. If it were really a good thing, even if his father, Yin Haicheng, didn't bring it up, his grandmother would have suggested it by now.

  But neither of them spoke up, obviously it wasn't something good.

  Moreover, Mr. Sun is a great Confucian scholar of his generation, and he took him in as a disciple, showing great care every day. With such a good teacher, why would he need to be a companion reader for some prince, and it's not necessarily the case that the teacher who teaches the prince is more brilliant than Mr. Sun.

  Rong Jingze couldn't understand Yin Ruofei's meaning, but the more he did so, the more he refused to let go. Seeing Yin Ruofei's older brothers trying their best to show off in front of him that morning, with a flattering and humble attitude, Rong Jingze felt annoyed in his heart. But when it came to this youngest one, he had an evasive attitude as if he was afraid of being approached.

  The more you don't want it, the more it wants you!

  Rong Jingze shook out the clothes in his hand, "It seems we've taken an extra set, I'll have them sent back."

  "Wait, wait!" Yin Ruofei had a bad feeling and turned his head to look back. The clothes on the stool were indeed gone. "Those are my clothes!"

  "Yours?" Rong Jingze picked it up and examined it carefully, "It's indeed not mine, but what does that have to do with anything?"

  What's it to you? Yin Ruofei's chest heaved violently as she spoke, "Please, Your Highness, leave your clothes with me."

  "What if I say no?" Rong Jingze smiled slyly as he gazed at the little person in the water, which was getting colder and colder, to see how long he could endure.

  After a while, Rong Jingze looked at Yin Ruofei starting to tremble slightly and couldn't help but reveal a sly smile. "Want to be my study partner?"

  "...Yin Ruofei glared at the other person, unable to say a word. But if possible, he would definitely take out his wooden treasured sword and slash it on the other person's body 108 times!

  "Still unwilling?" Yong Jingze did not expect this child to be so stubborn at such a young age. Usually, he encountered no one who dared to be disrespectful to him, and basically whatever he said was what it was, even if it was the crown prince, who was several months older than him and still his nephew, showing great respect to him. This was the first time someone had spoken to him like this.

  "Your Highness, please restrain yourself. Using this method to coerce your subordinates will spread and others will misunderstand and despise Your Highness's character." Yin Ruofei stared at Rong Jingze, speaking word by word.

  "This king thought it wouldn't be, who would spread the news of being trapped in a bathtub everywhere?" Rong Jingze smiled and suddenly had an idea, then said, "Since we can't exchange with clothes, why don't we change the conditions?"

  "What conditions?" Yin Ruo Fei asked back, using the clean clothes thrown over by Rong Jing Ze.

  "Do you want to know who's been chasing you today?"

  The author has something to say: I've had a cold these days, and it's been especially severe over the past two days. On one hand, my nose is running, and on the other hand, my stomach is upset.

  My nose is peeling, chrysanthemum is red and swollen, being an attacker is too miserable.