Chapter 446: Prove to Me, How Obedient You Are

Ji Qingwu shot a dissatisfied glance at his long legs, then crawled to the foot of the bed and tied his feet up tightly as well.

Zhao Mingyan couldn’t resist urging her on.

"Are you done yet?"

Even without turning around, she could feel his searing gaze travel down her back to her hips.

Ji Qingwu soothed him. "Almost done. Be patient."

She checked the knots and the sturdiness of the iron bedframe one more time. After confirming there were no issues, she crawled up beside him with a beaming smile.

She picked up the silk scarf from beside the pillow and said, "Just one last thing."

"That’s not right," Zhao Mingyan said in a low, hoarse voice.

Confusion in her eyes, Ji Qingwu asked, "What’s not right?"

Zhao Mingyan said, "You’re supposed to undress me first."

Ji Qingwu thought for a moment. ’Right, I did undress him first. It was only later, when I was too shy to let him look at me, that I blindfolded him.’

She praised, "You have such a good memory, Your Majesty!"

Zhao Mingyan’s patience was wearing thin. The air he exhaled was scorching.

"Enough with the flattery, Ah Wu. How about some real action?"

Ji Qingwu’s eyes crinkled in a smile. "Rest assured, Your Majesty."

He had changed into his regular robes instead of armor, which made things much easier for Ji Qingwu.

She started by unfastening the Nine Dragon Jade Belt Hook at his waist. Next, she removed his slate-blue outer robe, tossing his inner tunic with its gold-threaded trim aside as well. This revealed his powerful chest and lean, toned abdomen.

Ji Qingwu’s gaze grew brighter. The sides of his abdomen were marked by two deep, powerful lines.

It was a pity they weren’t fully exposed; the lines disappeared beneath the waistband of his trousers.

Ji Qingwu’s heart began to race. Her face flushed, her body grew hot, and she licked her lips, fanning herself with a hand.

Zhao Mingyan asked, "Why did you stop?"

Snapping out of her daze, Ji Qingwu stammered, "Ah, I’ll continue. What was I doing... Right, time for the blindfold."

Before the pale blue-green silk scarf covered his eyes, they burned with a heat that could melt glaciers, completely devoid of their earlier chill.

Once she had done all that, Ji Qingwu let out a long breath.

A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. She lay against his broad chest, deliberately breathing on his collarbone while tracing circles over his heart with her finger.

"Are you satisfied, Your Majesty?"

The heaving of his chest and the tightening of his abs spoke of his discontent.

Zhao Mingyan’s voice was gravelly as he coaxed her, "Ah Wu, stop playing around."

They both knew what the next step in the process was; they had been through it before.

Smiling, Ji Qingwu sat up and straddled his waist. Zhao Mingyan’s prominent Adam’s apple bobbed convulsively.

But then she made no further move.

He called her name, his voice strained with longing. "Ah Wu..."

And then, the weight on top of him suddenly vanished.

The tender morsel, just within his grasp, had escaped.

Quick as a rabbit, Ji Qingwu scrambled off the bed and slipped on her shoes. She let the bed curtains fall, then poked her head back through the opening to look at the man, tied hand and foot and blindfolded with a silk scarf.

Her lips curled into a smile. "How does it feel, Your Majesty? Enjoying yourself?"

"Ah Wu."

A few words escaped Zhao Mingyan’s lips. "Have you thought this through?"

Ji Qingwu replied, "Why don’t *you* think it over, Your Majesty. I’m going to check on the Little Red Spider."

With that, she cheerfully dashed toward the tent’s entrance.

From behind her came the sound of something snapping and tearing apart.

The smug look hadn’t even left her face when she turned around and saw him. Bare-chested, he was striding toward her, the ropes that had bound his wrists and ankles now in shredded pieces on the floor.

Her vision seemed to blur; she could have sworn she saw fumes of fury rising off his back.

Ji Qingwu swallowed hard and lifted the tent flap, intending to flee.

But she was no match for his speed. Zhao Mingyan pinned her against the tent wall from behind, her back to him. "It seems I wasn’t wrong at all," he said.

His eyes blazed with a cold, fierce fire.

"Ah Wu just won’t behave."

He drove a knee forward, parting her legs, then hiked her skirt up to her waist.

Ji Qingwu’s face was pressed against the tent wall. She couldn’t see his expression, but she knew that if she could, she would only be more terrified. "I’ll behave," she said quickly, her voice trembling at the end.

Zhao Mingyan said magnanimously, "Good."

"Then I’ll give you one more chance, Ah Wu, to prove to me just how obedient you can be."

...

Ji Qingwu bit down on her own sash, tears streaming down her face.

’This was even worse than being tied to the bed. At least that was a proper place.’

The military tent was made of thick canvas and leather. Outside, the sky had already grown dark.

No lamps were lit inside, so no shadows were visible from the outside, but the rhythmic shaking made it all too easy for passersby to guess what was going on within.

Tears welled in Ji Qingwu’s eyes. ’We’re too close to the entrance.’

She could even hear the footsteps of the patrolling soldiers outside, among other miscellaneous sounds.

All of Ji Qingwu’s senses were on high alert. If she so much as parted her lips, a sound would escape, so she bit down hard, forcing herself to endure as the waves passed through her.

She mumbled indistinctly, "There’s... a... commotion."

He paid her no mind, instead pinning her hands behind her back, refusing to let her get distracted.

The sound in Ji Qingwu’s ears grew louder, and she felt the gravelly ground beneath her feet begin to sink.

"It’s real! Something’s wrong."

Zhao Mingyan nipped at her earlobe, his breath scalding like boiling water, as he pressed down on her lower abdomen.

"What’s real? Do you feel this?"

Her lips trembled. ’We’re not talking about the same thing at all!’

A loud tearing sound, RRRIP, echoed from the tent floor, as if it were being sliced open by something sharp.

Something was about to burst from the earth. Zhao Mingyan’s expression instantly turned grim. He stopped what he was doing and pulled her behind him protectively.

Her face pressed against his sweat-slick chest, Ji Qingwu panted for breath and frantically pulled down her skirt, which was still bunched up around her waist.

Zhao Mingyan stared at the thing that had emerged, his eyes burning with a venomous fire.

The wolf’s head was caked in so much dirt that its original silver-gray fur was completely hidden, replaced by an earthy yellow.

The she-wolf let out an "AWOOO" when she saw Ji Qingwu. Though they couldn’t speak the same language, Ji Qingwu could feel the wolf’s concern for her.

Ji Qingwu glanced at the Emperor, whose face was as black as the bottom of a pot. ’Thank goodness he was in such a rush earlier and didn’t take my clothes off,’ she thought. ’Otherwise, we would have put on a live pornographic show for a wolf.’

She cleared her throat softly.

He, however, was not as properly dressed as she. In his haste to protect her, he hadn’t paid any mind to the state of his only remaining pair of trousers.

The very arch of Zhao Mingyan’s brow seemed to sharpen as he turned to look at her.

Then, with a frown, he pulled her collar tight.

Seeing that he still didn’t understand her meaning, Ji Qingwu coughed twice more pointedly.

Zhao Mingyan asked, "Did you catch a chill?"

Ji Qingwu wrestled with herself for a moment, then abruptly looked up at the ceiling of the tent. With a swift and accurate motion, she reached down and pulled his trousers up for him, her fingers inevitably brushing against *it*.

Zhao Mingyan barely raised an eyebrow. The Emperor was accustomed to having Palace Attendants see to his every need, so he didn’t find it the least bit strange. Besides, his first priority had been protecting her.

Then, with a single commanding glare, Zhao Mingyan forced the she-wolf back down into the hole she had dug.

Seizing the moment when neither man nor wolf was paying attention, Ji Qingwu stealthily wiped her hand on the Emperor’s trousers.

Zhao Mingyan caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. "Disgusted, are we?"