The prince longs for me every night after mastering thought-reading
Chapter 278 - 277: Overwhelm Him at Midnight ~ Punished

Chapter 278: Chapter 277: Overwhelm Him at Midnight ~ Punished

Xiao Jinyan paused for a moment, then reached out to touch her forehead.

Shen Chuwei looked at Xiao Jinyan’s action with confusion, raised her eyes to glance at the hand on her forehead, "Your Highness, what’s the matter?"

Xiao Jinyan furrowed his brows, "You don’t have a fever."

Shen Chuwei: "...I indeed do not have a fever!"

Xiao Jinyan asked in a gentle voice, "Did you have a nightmare again?"

Shen Chuwei nodded vigorously, "Yes, I dreamed of an earthquake, with many people dying."

Xiao Jinyan asked, "What is an earthquake?"

Shen Chuwei was somewhat surprised, "Your Highness, you’ve never heard of earthquakes?"

Xiao Jinyan shook his head, "No."

Shen Chuwei was stunned, finding it odd. Earthquakes were natural disasters, so how could he have not heard of them?

Could it be that in ancient times, earthquakes were not called earthquakes?

She thought for a moment, then explained, "It’s when the earthquake causes the ground to shake, opening up fissures, and buildings collapse."

Xiao Jinyan listened to Shen Chuwei’s description and suddenly understood what she meant by earthquakes.

"You are talking about land subsidence."

Shen Chuwei then realized that in ancient times, earthquakes were called land subsidence, which more or less meant the same.

"Yes, land subsidence."

Although Xiao Jinyan had not experienced land subsidence, he had read about the dangers of land subsidence in books. It was no surprise that Chuwei was so frightened by her dream.

He soothed her, "Dreams are all false, there’s no need to be afraid."

"I understand," Shen Chuwei then asked, "Your Highness, have you finished reviewing the documents?"

Xiao Jinyan shook his head, "Not yet."

Shen Chuwei urged, "Then Your Highness should hurry and finish reviewing them. The sooner you finish, the sooner you can rest. Say no to staying up late."

Xiao Jinyan was a bit worried, "Are you scared on your own?"

Shen Chuwei: "I am not scared."

Xiao Jinyan: "In front of me, there’s no need to act tough."

Shen Chuwei was perplexed, had she been acting tough?

Xiao Jinyan said, "You go to sleep first, after you fall asleep, I will leave."

Shen Chuwei remarked, "With that time, Your Highness could have finished reviewing a set of documents."

Xiao Jinyan was indifferent, "I don’t care about that bit of time."

Seeing his insistence, Shen Chuwei had no choice but to agree. She closed her eyes and started to sleep.

Xiao Jinyan sat by the bed, watching her by the dim light, thinking about how she had wrapped herself in the thin quilt and run to the study room; how scared she must have been to run over without a thought for anything else?

Xiao Jinyan sat for a while, until he heard the even sound of her breathing, knowing she was asleep. He then got up and left Hehuan Hall.

He still climbed back over the wall to return to the bedchamber.

Qimeng Hall

Xueyan stayed up until the third watch of the night, still not seeing Xiao Jinyan’s figure. She sent Shuiyao to inquire, and the reply she received was still that His Highness was busy reviewing documents.

Knowing that Xiao Jinyan had not gone to any other halls, she felt somewhat relieved.

Deep into the night, the East Palace was utterly silent.

After Xiao Jinyan finished reviewing the documents, he took a bath and then climbed back over the wall to Hehuan Hall.

By this time, Shen Chuwei was sleeping soundly.

Only a single candle remained lit in the room.

Xiao Jinyan approached the bedside slowly, watching the deeply asleep person. He carefully took off his outfit and then opened the quilt to get into bed, lying down beside Shen Chuwei.

Weichi and Qin Xiao worked overtime through the night, breaking through a wall.

Because they were afraid of making too much noise and attracting attention, they tried to keep it as quiet as possible.

But inevitably, there were moments of carelessness when the noise would become louder.

The bed suddenly shook, and with a loud "bang" close to her ear, Shen Chuwei, who had been sound asleep, was startled awake and instinctively wanted to roll out of bed.

Xiao Jinyan was lying right beside Shen Chuwei and naturally ended up with her rolling on top of him.

For years, Xiao Jinyan had survived amid constant strife, developing a heightened vigilance, and he awoke instantly amid the sounds of the wall being smashed in the adjacent room.

Within the pitch-black bed curtains, where one could not see their own hand before them,

Xiao Jinyan was certain that the person lying atop him was Shen Chuwei, who had probably not yet fully awakened.

"Xiao Jiu, what’s wrong?"

Shen Chuwei didn’t flip over all at once, but hesitated for a moment before hearing Xiao Jinyan’s voice and woke up a bit more.

She raised her head and glanced at the pitch-black bed, but after that initial sound, there was silence.

She lowered her head, pityingly unable to see Xiao Jinyan’s face, "Jinyan, I had that dream again."

Xiao Jinyan sat up, drawing her into his embrace, and asked gently, "What dream did you have?"

Shen Chuwei said, "I dreamt the ground collapsed, it felt so real, the bed seemed to shake with it."

Xiao Jinyan’s gaze turned intense, "Just now?"

Shen Chuwei nodded, "Mmm, it frightened me awake, thankfully it wasn’t a real collapse."

The chance to escape a real collapse would be fleeting, and if one didn’t manage to run away in time, the likelihood of death was high.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jinyan immediately realized that Shen Chuwei’s dream of the ground collapsing was actually caused by Weichi and Qin Xiao smashing the wall.

"It’s fine, go back to sleep."

"Okay." Shen Chuwei yawned and lay down.

Xiao Jinyan also lay back down, using his uninjured hand to pull Shen Chuwei into his embrace.

Shen Chuwei nestled into his arms and closed her eyes, soon falling asleep.

At this time, a few candles had been lit in the corner of the wall connecting the Crown Prince’s Bedchamber and the Hehuan Hall.

Qin Xiao whispered, "Be careful, what if we wake up the Master and Lady Shen?"

"I didn’t mean to." Weichi assured, "I’ll be more careful this time."

After that, the two continued to smash the wall very carefully.

The next day

After returning from the morning court session, Xiao Jinyan looked at Qin Xiao and Weichi standing to his left and right.

Catching a glimpse of the Master stopping in front of them, Qin Xiao and Weichi, thinking they had been summoned for a task, bowed their heads and waited patiently.

Xiao Jinyan ordered, "Someone, bring over ten bowls of water."

Liu Xi instructed a young eunuch to bring over ten bowls of water.

Weichi and Qin Xiao looked at each other, clueless about what the Master intended.

Xiao Jinyan glanced at the ten bowls of water and continued to command, "Each of you, balance five bowls of water."

Weichi and Qin Xiao were dumbfounded.

Since the Master had given an order, they had no choice but to comply.

Side by side, they stood with arms outstretched.

Two young eunuchs placed five bowls of water, one on the top of the head, shoulders, and back of the hands each, of both Weichi and Qin Xiao.

Once they were set, the young eunuchs retreated.

"Don’t spill it." Xiao Jinyan glanced at Weichi and Qin Xiao, dropped a sentence, and turned to leave.

Weichi and Qin Xiao were still bewildered, not understanding what they had done wrong to deserve punishment.

Qin Xiao looked puzzledly at Liu Xi, "Eunuch Liu, why is the Master suddenly punishing us?"

Liu Xi replied, "I myself don’t know, perhaps you’ve done something wrong and angered His Highness?"

Weichi and Qin Xiao exclaimed in unison, "But we haven’t angered His Highness!"

"Think about it more," Liu Xi said before turning to leave.

Even being warriors, balancing five bowls of water for two hours was practically a death sentence.

And that wasn’t all.

Xiao Jinyan stepped out of the Study Room, looking at Weichi and Qin Xiao, who were beginning to tremble and could hardly hold on anymore.

"Do you know where you went wrong?"

"Master, was it perhaps because we were too loud last night and disturbed your rest?"

This is what Weichi and Qin Xiao had come up with after excluding various possibilities over the two-hour ordeal, focusing on last night’s careless blunder.