Chapter 54
“Why? You won’t join me if my ways turn out to be brutal? Don’t you know punishment always comes with brutality? Else, the culprit keeps committing the mistakes,” Lóng Wei explained to her.
“I am ready,” Li Hua stated.
“That was quick,” Lóng Wei was amused by her answer and lifted his body. His right side was still toward her, and he leaned close to her. Li Hua immediately put her pointer finger on his chest, not letting him close the distance between them.
Lóng Wei looked at her finger and then into her eyes. “What is this?” he asked.
Li Hua blinked a few times before replying, “I don’t want His Highness to do anything inappropriate.” Quickly, she moved her head away from his arm and sat on the grassy floor. Lóng Wei chuckled and rested his body on his right elbow.
“Why do you think I am doing something inappropriate with you? I never knew such an innocent-looking woman has some dirty thoughts roaming in her head,” Lóng Wei teased her.
Li Hua gaped at him in shock. She didn’t possess dirty thoughts and said aloud. “His Highness’s thoughts are dirty, not mine,” she commented.
“I won’t deny that statement. Indeed, I have dirty thoughts for you in my mind,” Lóng Wei said while smirking. Li Hua opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it. She averted her gaze from him.
.....
“Ahhh.” She was pulled down to the ground. Lóng Wei caged her between his arms as he hovered over her.
“It’s not wrong to have dirty thoughts about the woman you love,” he stated. Li Hua gulped and shook her head in disagreement.
“It’s wrong,” she said.
“How do you know it’s wrong? How do you know what’s going in my head is dirty?” His questions left her tongue-tied.
“I only thought to hug you,” Lóng Wei said and brushed the tiny fringe out of her face. “You sulk easily. You think negative things first. You think that I want to take advantage of you,” he stated.
“Because of the way His Highness acts.” She put the blame on him. “He even kissed me without my permission. So, I have valid reasons to doubt him,” she opined.
“You kissed me willingly. The first time, in the garden. Though, you named that as an accidental kiss with no meaning. The second time also you kissed me willingly. I only tilted my head a little.” The amused look on his face only deepened. It appeared he would laugh at her anytime.
“Oppositely, I kissed you,” he placed his finger on her right cheek, “here. Twice. You stole my kiss, yet you are putting blame on me. That’s bad, Li Hua.”
Feng Lao was supposed to give her the first kiss. What crimes did she had done in her previous life that Lóng Wei became her first kiss? For a second, this thought struck her head.
“Shall we kiss here?” His sudden question made Li Hua’s jaw drop. “It’s a good place to make a memory,” he affirmed.
“No,” Li Hua crossed her hands.
“When will we kiss then? Last time, it was for a millisecond,” Lóng Wei remarked.
“We will never kiss,” Li Hua stated.
“What?” Lóng Wei started to laugh. He couldn’t get enough of teasing her. How could she even say that so easily?
“What if I make you desperate to kiss me?” Lóng Wei asked her.
“That won’t happen,” she was confident, “never.”
“I will make you desperate for it. I like challenges,” he said and again smirked.
Her stomach growled and she quickly brought her hands over her belly. Lóng Wei moved away from her. “It’s almost lunch hour. Let’s have food in Yuze’s house,” he said and helped her in getting up. He pulled her up along with him and bent a little to dust off her high waist skirt.
He held her hand and took her to Yuze’s home.
After walking a few meters, they crossed a footbridge under which a small stream could be seen. “It’s a minor stream from the mountain,” Lóng Wei told her, and the two soon crossed that bridge.
They were on a path that was surrounded by giant bamboo trees. “I used to get trained in this forest.” He recalled the old days, and a smile formed on his lips.
“Wasn’t the Prince supposed to learn and practice in the Palace?”
“The Princes did not want me to practice, so I never did with them,” Lóng Wei replied.
“That’s strange,” Li Hua mumbled.
They stopped as they reached the large hut. She found that the wooden hut was decorated well. Lóng Wei let go of her hand and asked her to follow him.
“Yuze! Yuze!” Lóng Wei called him out.
Li Hua hit his shoulder and it bewildered him. “Call Monk Yuze with respect,” she said and walked past him.
“Oldie! Oldie! Oldie!” Lóng Wei shouted at the top of his lungs. Li Hua turned and ran to him. She covered his mouth with her palms and not speak this way.
“I will,” Lóng Wei said as he pushed her hands down.
“Monk Yuze is older than His Highness. He must respect the old monk,” Li Hua made him understand.
“Fine. I will call him Monk Yuze. I will start calling him with respect,” he stated, and it delighted Li Hua, “but under one condition.”
“What condition?” Li Hua asked with inquisitiveness.
“Kiss me,” he brought his face closer to her, “here,” he put his index finger over his lips.
Li Hua could not expect any lesser thing from him. She flicked her fingers hard at the middle of Lóng Wei’s forehead, who screamed at the top of his lungs. He started to rub his forehead and scowled at Li Hua, who was laughing.