Chapter 265: Damn It—A Beast in Human Clothing
Nan Xun lightly bit his thin lip and let out a soft hmph. “My lord, saying that is shameless. I’m a proper young lady yet to be wed—my skin is thin, you know. Last time I was worried about you and wanted to go in to see you, you told me to get lost! No matter how big my heart is, hearing that would still hurt.
“You deliberately kept your distance, unwilling to say even one extra word. You said you were sick of me—and meant it. If I pressed myself on you then, wouldn’t I only annoy you more? I worked so hard just to find a way to stay by your side. What if, in a moment of displeasure, you kicked me out of the Mo Ran Hall? So I didn’t dare trouble you again. As long as I could keep staying by your side, even if you never said a word to me, it would be fine…”
The more Nan Xun spoke, the more pitiful she felt. With a howl, she burst into tears. “Why did I have to fall for you? I knew liking you would end badly. Princess Yao can like you openly, but I can’t—because I’m nothing. I’m just a little freeloader, wasting your food every day. I was once a beggar, and I even once… wuwu, I really don’t deserve you. But my lord, I really, really like you…”
Just a moment ago she’d been gnawing at him enthusiastically; now she was crying at the drop of a hat—her little face flushed red, eyes reddened too.
Seeing her like this, Gong Mo Ran suddenly reached out, clasped the back of her head, and gently pressed her retreating head back.
Face to face, nose to nose, eyes locked, their gazes tangled.
After a brief silence, the dark-eyed man said, “Who said you don’t deserve me? Little girl—weren’t you talking about profaning me? Are you planning to cry in my arms all night, hm?”
That single sentence seemed to pop open some hidden latch. Nan Xun froze, stunned. “My lord… are you serious?”
Gong Mo Ran answered with a question of his own. “What do you think?”
Nan Xun let out a cry—this time she truly went all in. Her mouth nipped at him as her calves rubbed deftly at his waist, trying to loosen his belt.
“No—my lord, I can’t hold back anymore!”
Moments ago she’d been stuck to him like putty, yet now she actually pulled away. She quickly released her arms and legs, slid down along his waist, then suddenly wrapped her arms around him and, with all the strength she had, turned him around and shoved him onto the bed.
There was a red gauze canopy over the bed. As she pushed him down, her leg accidentally hooked the curtain; as her body pressed forward, the gauze came down with her—rip—tearing and tangling around her.
But the eager Nan Xun couldn’t care less. She went straight for Gong Mo Ran’s belt, tugging at it with her hands; when it wouldn’t budge, she used her teeth—when that didn’t work, she tore it outright.
Rip. The finely made belt—embroidered with subtle flowing-cloud patterns in silver thread—was torn apart by Nan Xun.
She swiftly shoved aside the man’s robe. Before she could finish, a powerful force pulled her up.
Before she could react, the world spun; in the blink of an eye, she and Gong Mo Ran had switched positions.
His face still showed little emotion—calm, even—but in his eyes something was gathering wildly, on the verge of bursting forth.
“How can you be so foolish?” he commented abruptly. Then he lowered his head, seized Nan Xun’s lips, clasped the back of her head, and pressed her hard against him.
Like ice turning instantly into boiling water—skipping the melting entirely.
What followed… Nan Xun didn’t dare think about.
Damn it—what a beast in human clothing!
The man’s pristine white robe was kicked into a corner, crumpled into a heap. The woman’s white dress had been shattered by some wild force, scattering in fragments across the bed; whenever she kicked excitedly, the pieces fluttered up and then drifted down again like a rain of petals, covering their entwined bodies.
With the clothes gone, only that torn strip of red gauze remained, wrapped around where they were pressed tightly together—the stark clash of colors highlighting silk-smooth skin, rising and falling beneath the light fabric’s friction…
When Nan Xun woke, her mind was still foggy. She slowly turned her head and indeed saw—right beside her—Gong Mo Ran.
And he was stark naked.
Nan Xun’s eyes flew wide open. Though she was fully awake now and remembered everything from last night, the usually cold, aloof National Preceptor turning into a raging fire had left her so disoriented that, despite the very real sensations, she had to question whether it had all been real.
Last night… she had actually slept with the big boss.
While she was still dazed, the sleeping man suddenly opened his eyes and asked calmly, “Awake?”
Nan Xun nodded. “A-awake… My lord, I think I had a spring… dream last night. Heh.”
Gong Mo Ran turned to look at her. His gaze was clear, not at all like someone who had just woken. Staring at her embarrassed little face, he said, “Duoduo, when have I ever taught you to avoid problems?”
After a pause, his eyes shifting, he continued, “What you did last night—don’t tell me you don’t remember?”
Nan Xun’s small mouth fell open, clearly shocked.
“My lord, I remember everything!” she blurted out. Then she drooped at once and said softly, “It’s just that it felt too unreal, so I thought I was dreaming. My lord, this is all real, right? I’m not dreaming…”
Gong Mo Ran looked at her for a long moment, then suddenly reached out, pinched the back of her neck, and pulled her head toward him.
The next instant, his handsome face filled her vision. Nan Xun’s eyes widened.
Fully awake, the feeling of their lips meeting was so clear—magnified many times over in the enclosed space. A trace of coolness slipped in through the seam of their lips, shot through Nan Xun’s mind, and burst into fireworks with a bang.
After a long while, their lips parted. Gong Mo Ran rubbed her head, his voice calm with a hint of laziness. “It’s getting late. We should go back.”
Nan Xun touched her lips and couldn’t help smacking them lightly. Then her mouth curved upward uncontrollably, her eyes narrowing into crescents.
In the blink of an eye, the bare National Preceptor had already slipped back into his white robe—except—
The robe had been thoroughly ravaged by the two of them last night, wrinkled beyond measure. For someone as meticulous about dress as the National Preceptor, it was… quite an eyesore.
And the waist belt had been torn to shreds by Nan Xun in her frenzy—it was completely unusable.
Looking at Gong Mo Ran’s loose, wrinkled white robe, Nan Xun felt, for the first time, an overwhelming sense of shame.
