Su Xiaoqi got up after them, locked the door, and lay back on the bed, releasing Shen Yun.
She gestured for him to be quiet.
Chu Yunwei hadn't left.
He was waiting in the corridor, listening for any sounds.
Shen Yun had a stomach full of questions he wanted to ask Su Xiaoqi.
What had just happened to him?
He had been lying in Su Xiaoqi's bed, but then his mind spun, the scene shifted, and he found himself in another place.
A place he had never been to, yet one that looked incredibly familiar.
There, birds sang, flowers bloomed, the sun shone brightly, and the air was fresh.
Across from him, a range of mountains stretched into the distance.
The mountains looked very familiar, as if he had seen them countless times.
He just couldn't believe it, unwilling to voice the answer.
But now Xiaoqi had told him he couldn't speak, because the detestable Chu Yunwei was still outside.
After waiting for a while, when Chu Yunwei heard no unusual sounds through the door, he left with a flick of his sleeve.
Upon leaving, he instructed Madam Guan to keep a close eye on Su Xiaoqi. Although nothing had happened, for some reason, he felt something was strange!
It was his intuition.
Over the years, his intuition had saved him from countless dangers.
Yet, he also had to trust his own eyes.
He had checked the room; there was nothing.
But then, something flashed through his mind.
There was no anomaly in the room.
But the window was open.
It was open wide enough for a person to jump in.
"Someone, go search." Chu Yunwei thought it through and concluded that someone must have broken in but jumped out the window before he could enter.
Madam Guan was somewhat bewildered by his mysterious demeanor.
But she still followed his orders.
Meanwhile, Su Xiaoqi heard the movement in the corridor outside and sneered.
She threw off the quilt and hugged Shen Yun, who was still dazed.
"Wife, where did I just go?" Shen Yun tentatively asked Su Xiaoqi.
"Ah, what did you say?" Su Xiaoqi tilted her head, feigning ignorance.
"Wife, I was clearly in bed, why did I suddenly..." Shen Yun struggled to find words to describe the feeling he had just experienced.
Mystical, wondrous, supernatural...
If this had happened elsewhere, he would never have believed it was real.
He felt as though he must have been dreaming.
"Husband, do you want to know?" Su Xiaoqi suddenly said.
She was hesitating whether to tell him the truth.
But seeing Shen Yun ponder for a moment, he shook his head, "Never mind. I only need to know that my wife just saved me."
Some things, if they would trouble his wife, it didn't matter whether he knew them or not.
Su Xiaoqi looked at Shen Yun with hesitation.
His face was serene, and he seemed genuinely uninterested in pursuing the answer to this matter.
A wave of emotion washed over her.
She knew he was worried about troubling her.
"Believe me, how fortunate I am to be with you."
Su Xiaoqi was moved. She nestled into Shen Yun's embrace, her demeanor as gentle as water.
Shen Yun held her, feeling the happiness of her presence.
He drifted off to sleep.
Su Xiaoqi did not disturb him, merely observing Shen Yun's sunken eye sockets and the dark circles beneath his eyes.
She knew that during the days she had been missing, Shen Yun had likely not slept well.
Only now that he had found her did he finally feel the urge to sleep.
Shen Yun slept for a whole day.
He did not sleep soundly during this time.
He would occasionally have nightmares, muttering softly. Su Xiaoqi felt that he might be having the same dream repeatedly.
In his dream, she was lost, and he was constantly searching for her, searching for her.
Until he woke up once, saw Su Xiaoqi by his side, he smiled and fell asleep again.
After that, there were no further disturbances.
When he finally woke up again, it was already dark.
Before opening his eyes, the first thing he did was reach for the side of the bed.
His hand stretched out but grasped empty air.
Startled, he sat up abruptly, looking at the empty bed, his heart sinking to the bottom.
"Wife..." His heart ached instantly, so much so that he couldn't breathe.
He struggled unconsciously, like a drowning person.
Su Xiaoqi had just finished bathing and was applying lotions at the dressing table.
Hearing the commotion, she was startled and hurried over to him.
"I'm here, I'm here." Su Xiaoqi hugged him, lowered her head, and kissed him.
She then gave him a drink of water.
Shen Yun finally came to his senses. Seeing Su Xiaoqi, his mind relaxed. He flipped her over, pinning her down, and lowered his head to savor her tender, peach-like lips.
Slowly deepening the kiss, he stole her breath.
Su Xiaoqi felt sympathetic towards him for his hardship.
She proactively stroked his back gently, allowing him to vent his emotions.
By the time they were both dressed and sitting at the table, more than half an hour had passed.
Since Su Xiaoqi had already asked for water once, she was afraid of arousing Madam Guan's suspicion and dared not ask for it again.
Fortunately, the water she had used earlier was still there, and the two of them managed to clean themselves up.
Just then, the door was knocked. It was Madam Guan bringing food.
Su Xiaoqi glanced at Shen Yun, and with a thought, sent him into her space.
Then, she opened the door openly and invited Madam Guan in.
The little maid behind her took the dishes out of the food basket.
Su Xiaoqi glanced at the food. The portions were a little small, but that didn't daunt her.
She had plenty of food in her space and could hold out for a while.
Madam Guan, remembering her master's instructions, wanted to approach the bed to check, using the excuse of Su Xiaoqi tidying the bedding.
"Stop. You are not allowed to touch my things." Su Xiaoqi called out to her.
Shen Yun was, of course, no longer on the bed.
But she had just been intimate with him there, and she was wary of Madam Guan coming in to investigate.
Although she had tidied the quilt, the smell within likely hadn't completely dissipated.
"What do you want to do, or rather, what does your master want to do?" Su Xiaoqi stared unceremoniously at Madam Guan and asked angrily.
How could Madam Guan answer? She wasn't the master.
In her opinion, the manor was sufficiently guarded by its numerous guards.
Why did her master always feel as though someone had infiltrated?
This tiny place, one could see through it at a glance. She didn't believe anyone could hide here without her noticing.
Madam Guan had always thought so.
But seeing Su Xiaoqi blocking her from looking at the bed this time, she couldn't help but feel a bit suspicious and insisted on going forward to look.
Su Xiaoqi saw through her intentions.
With a "snap," she threw down her chopsticks, overturned the dishes on the table, walked over, and stood before the blue tent, saying coldly, "Open your eyes wide and take a good look."
As she spoke, she pulled aside the tent curtain herself, then quickly dropped it.
That one glance was enough for Madam Guan to clearly see the situation inside – it was empty, with nothing there.
"Well, have you seen enough?" Su Xiaoqi questioned coldly.
Madam Guan lowered her head sheepishly, choked by her words.
However, she didn't regret it.
Now that she had seen, she wouldn't be afraid of having nothing to report to her master later.
She sighed and looked at the dishes Su Xiaoqi had overturned.
"I apologize, Princess. I'll have someone bring another serving immediately," she said, motioning for the maid to clear them away.
Su Xiaoqi glared at the little maid and said coldly, "Hurry up and go. Wait until you bring the replacement, and I'll have them collected together."
After seeing them out, she locked the door and pulled a screen to block the doorway.
She released Shen Yun again.
This time, Shen Yun's face showed even more confusion.
Because he recognized the mountains he had seen earlier.
It was Yuanbao Mountain.
He was clearly in some part of Northern Chu, so how had he suddenly returned to Yuanbao Mountain in Daliang?
The two places were thousands of miles apart, yet it had only taken an instant...
His gaze upon Su Xiaoqi held shock, confusion, and deep affection.
But in the end, he asked nothing.
He could see that this question, even for his usually eloquent wife, was a great puzzle.
He didn't want to trouble her.
Meanwhile, Su Xiaoqi had been waiting for him to ask.
But in the end, he still asked nothing.
She blinked her eyes, sensing Shen Yun's boundless affection for her.
She thought she understood Shen Yun's meaning.
No matter how much he couldn't figure this out,
He would still not ask.
It was simply because he loved her.
And therefore, he could unconditionally accept everything about her.
The inexplicable things that happened to her.
And those mystical matters.
Shen Yun perhaps had some inkling.
He just didn't say it.
"Let's eat," Su Xiaoqi called out.
She had deliberately overturned the dishes.
When she overturned them, she had done so selectively.
And only a little from each plate had spilled onto the table; the rest remained clean.
She knew that someone like Madam Guan would never let her eat such messy food.
Therefore, she would definitely have to prepare a new meal.
She had eaten a lot at noon and wasn't hungry yet.
But Shen Yun had slept all day and must be hungry now.
She let him eat first.
Shen Yun refused, of course; he wanted to wait for her.
Fortunately, Madam Guan was quite prompt at this moment.
She quickly sent over a second meal.
This time, Madam Guan did not request to enter.
Su Xiaoqi directly gave her a cold look and went to the doorway to retrieve the food.
After eating their fill, the two finally had the energy to discuss important matters.