Chapter 25

They slept in separate quilts and deliberately distanced themselves from each other in bed. Not wanting to go back on his word, Nangong Du didn’t do anything to Zixiu all night.

When Zixiu woke up the next morning, it was already bright outside. He opened his eyes but only found that the pervert was gone. At the bedside lay a new suit, which was, needless to say, a woman’s dress, for it was in bright pink! Zixiu was depressed but he had no guts to go naked in front of other people, so he picked the dress up and put it on randomly. “What the hell does that asshole want? Is he really going to keep me in his mansion and disguise me as the princess forever?”

When he was pondering, it suddenly dawned on him that he had made an agreement with Nangong Du. However, as he had almost been unconscious with the tearing stomachache the night before, he couldn’t remember what kind of agreement he had signed under that pervert’s threat.

“Good morning, Your Highness!”

Hearing Xingyi’s voice suddenly ring behind the curtain, Zixiu immediately came back to his senses. After a quick glance at his attire and confirmation that there was nothing indecent about him, Zixiu lifted the curtain and got out of bed. Xingyi seemed to be gentle and deferential when she spoke, but at the thought of the old saying which goes ‘he who lives with cripples learns to limp’, as well as her previous rudeness to him, Zixiu was certain that this woman must be as lunatic as her master and she was even highly probably a ruthless killer! Therefore, he decided to try not to offend her. However, if Zixiu had known that Xingyi fed him with the poisonous pills the day before, he might have learned earlier that sometimes people would attack you even if you didn’t mess with them.

“Your Highness, let me help you freshen up!” With that, Xingyi walked over with a basin of water.

“… All right!” After freezing for a while, Zixiu nodded uneasily. “Damn it! What kind of man would allow others to dress him up like a woman all the time! I’m such a loser!”

“Your Highness, what’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?” Zixiu was a person who never knew how to hide his emotions. Though Xingyi was good at mind-reading, if Zixiu hadn’t shown expressions on his face, she wouldn’t have figured out what was on his mind so soon.

Being seen through, Zixiu lost his composure at once. He moved to the chair in front of the dresser slowly while smiling awkwardly. “Nothing! I’m fine! Haha…”

Ignoring his stiff smile, Xingyi kept her mouth shut and began to dress the ‘princess’ up.

The entire cross-dressing process, which included only facial cleaning and powdering, eyebrows shaping, lipstick applying and hair doing, merely took Xingyi a few minutes.

Watching his reflection in the mirror, which was bewitchingly attractive and yet delicate, elegant while adorable, Zixiu suddenly recalled a compliment to beauties—Always charming with either light or heavy makeup! Narcissistic as it might sound, it was indeed the case that every time he showed up in town, a whole bunch of girls on the streets would almost drown him in their affectionate gaze, and if his dad hadn’t pulled him away by the ear, he might have… “Er… It seems I’ve thought too much!” Zixiu managed to stabilize his wild state of mind. But anyway, no one could deny that he was a gorgeous young man. How could that pervert despise him so much that he even said he was not into him! “I even started taking pity on you for your poor taste of beauty! Wait… What does it matter if he has taken a fancy to me or not? Even if one day I do become gay, I will never have a crush on that arrogant, grumpy, shameless scum!”

“Darling!”

The moment he had just finished cursing inwardly, Nangong Du’s voice suddenly rang in his ear. Zixiu was taken aback and he almost slipped off the chair.

“Liu Zixiu!” Having been standing behind him quietly for a while like a ghost, Nangong Du suddenly yelled. “What are you nervous about? I said I wouldn’t find fault with you anymore!” Staring at the reflection of this terrified ‘beauty’ with a complicated expression, he couldn’t help complaining.

“You won’t find fault, my ass!” Zixiu was full of suspicion. However, at the thought that he did sleep well last night, he felt his tension relieved a little. “Your… Your Highness, how may I be of service to you?” he stammered.

“Relax, honey!” With a mysterious smile on his face, Nangong Du reached out his left hand with a scroll of painting in it. While spinning it teasingly, he continued, “People I sent out found this portrait last night and I’d like to know what you think of it.”

“A portrait?” Zixiu was a little surprised. “Your Highness, I’m a layman in painting, so you’d better ask someone else to…”

“I don’t think that’s necessary!” Nangong Du chimed in, sounding a little annoyed. However, in the blink of an eye, the quirky smile came back to his face again. “Honey, actually, I’m not here to have you appreciate this painting. I’m here to ask if you know this beauty in it!”

“The beauty? What’s he talking about?” Zixiu was lost in his words. However, as the scroll unfolded, the confusion on his face gradually gave way to surprise and he couldn’t help widening his eyes.

Yes, it was none other than him in the painting!

To be precise, it was a lady who looked exactly alike. In a white dress, she had a silk handkerchief embroidered with ‘Liuxu’ in Chinese in her hand, looking even slimmer and more delicate than Zixiu.

“Does her face ring any bells, honey?” Nangong Du had been observing the changes in Zixiu’s expression before he raised the question.

Zixiu came back to his senses and was about to shake his head instinctively before it suddenly crossed his mind that Nangong Du might think he was lying if he told him that he knew nothing about this woman, who could almost be regarded as his spitting image. What was more, he was almost strangled by this pervert the day before simply because he had told the truth! Caught in a dilemma, he had no idea what to say.

“Why don’t you answer me?” Nangong Du urged.

“It’s…” After hesitating for a few seconds, Zixiu decided to play dumb. “It’s…me?” he said, pointing at himself.

“Are you serious?” Nangongdu chuckled, but next his voice turned harsher. “It turns out that Princess Liuxu of the Wen Kingdom is a man!”

“Princess Liuxu of the Wen Kingdom?” Zixiu’s heart skipped a beat. For fear of overreaching himself, he immediately reworded his answer. “Your… Your Highness, though this girl looks like me, I don’t actually know her. My family has been living off collecting herbs in the mountains for generations, and now my dad is the only family of mine in the world. I never heard him say we had any relatives, not even distant ones…”

“Enough!” Nangong Du interrupted him impatiently. “I didn’t say she was a relative of your family! This is the portrait of the genuine Princess Liuxu. Do you see why that woman picked you now?” Nangong Du said with a touch of sarcasm in his tone.

He hadn’t completely overcome his suspicion about Zixiu yet, but he was certain that this guy couldn’t stir up any trouble. Thanks to the characters embroidered on the handkerchief in the painting, he had found the portrait of Princess Liuxu so easily. Now the game seemed to have become more intriguing!