Chapter 143: A Kiss and A Bite

Not only did she threaten him, but she also brazenly mocked him, blurting out something about "gawking at the Lord's stunning looks."

At this thought, the noble figure, burying his face in Lu Ying's silky hair, let out a low chuckle.

Right now, whether he grew angry or flew into a rage, it would have been entirely expected. Yet, at this laugh, Lu Ying's muscles instantly tensed, her eyes instinctively darting toward the cabin door, preparing to flee at the first opportunity.

Just then, her face was jerked backward. Next, her chin was firmly gripped in a powerful grasp. Then, darkness descended upon her vision as her soft lips were captured by a warm mouth.

Feeling a slippery tongue force its way between her lips, aggressively chasing hers and boldly exploring her oral cavity, Lu Ying truly froze.

She stood there with her mouth agape in a daze, dazedly submitting to this man's bold liberties, dazedly letting his scent fill her entire mouth...

Sensing her stupefied state, the man hovering over her lips chuckled in a deep rumble as he ground his mouth against hers again and again. His laughter was joyous, yet his kissing movements did not slacken in the slightest.

Because the kiss was too fierce and the grip on her chin too forceful, Lu Ying's dainty lips were forced wide open. Gradually, silvery threads of moisture spilled from the corners of her mouth, gleaming with a decadent sheen under the sunlight, while the wet, smacking sounds of a passionate kiss echoed through the air.

The man kept chuckling, and he kept kissing.

Who knows how much time passed before Lu Ying abruptly snapped back to her senses. The flush on her cheeks rapidly faded. She widened her eyes to glare at the person mere inches away, and at the lips and tongue that had completely occupied her mouth. Suddenly, Lu Ying snapped her upper and lower teeth together!

"Mm—!" A muffled cry of pain rang out!

The smacking sounds of the passionate kiss vanished.

The noble figure slowly pulled away from Lu Ying's lips, yet the fingers pinching her chin exerted even more force.

Forcing her face upward, letting a thin streak of blood ooze from the corner of his lips, the man wore a smile that was not quite a smile. His magnetic voice carried a chilling frost, "So fierce?"

Just four words.

Though there were only four words, for the first time, Lu Ying sensed that he was genuinely furious—a fury that bordered on wrath.

Within her field of vision, the eyes staring down at her had turned pitch-black, stripped of all light!

Staring at Lu Ying, he smiled coldly once more: "So fierce?"

Hearing those four words a second time, Lu Ying suddenly understood. Interlaced within his anger was disappointment... He had never expected that, in order to rebuff him, she would actually dare to bite him.

Indeed, such an act—if it had happened in Luoyang—would have spelled certain death, regardless of the woman's identity.

This was transgression; this was defiance... No, what truly enraged him was her resolute rejection, which completely disregarded her own safety! That was why he kept asking her: Who on earth are you being this fierce for?

Realizing this in a flash of insight, Lu Ying made a swift decision. Throwing both arms around his neck, she pressed the tip of her nose against his, and then she nipped fiercely at the corner of his mouth.

Her action could not have been more intimate. The noble figure, trapped in disappointment and wrath, stiffened, and his anger rapidly dissipated. Pulling back slightly to put some distance between them, he lowered his head, his gaze dark and expressionless as he stared at her.

Clasping his neck and biting at the corner of his mouth, Lu Ying ignored his look. Breathing like orchids, her lips pressed against his, she spoke with a hint of cool allure, "Lord Jiang, resorting to ruining my chastity once again?"

With that, her warm lips slid downward, and as his Adam's apple bobbed, she sank her teeth hard into his chin.

Amidst his muffled groan, Lu Ying successfully left a distinct dental imprint upon his perfectly sculpted jawline. Then, she murmured low in his ear, "I'll leave a mark on you, just in case some other well-meaning person decides to harbor ideas about you."

Having said that, she pulled away the hand gripping her chin, shoved aside the arms cincturing her waist, and strolled out with an air of unbothered grace. Reaching the cabin door, Lu Ying leaned against the frame, glanced back over her shoulder, and teased with a mocking raise of her eyebrows, "My Lord, when you chased me out of Chengdu, I thought you had finally abandoned the notion of overriding my will—touching me whenever you pleased and taking me as a concubine whenever the whim struck."

With that, she flicked her wide sleeves and floated away.

Not until a soft "bang" echoed from the closing cabin door did the noble figure finally stir.

He reached up to touch his chin, tracing the bite mark, and at his touch, a streak of fresh red blood instantly stained his fingertips.

A sharp sting on the tip of his tongue made him draw in a sharp breath.

Right at that moment, two dull thuds echoed as two figures in black—concealed in the shadows and responsible for his personal safety—dropped to their knees before him.

They prostrated themselves completely, remaining motionless.

The noble figure glanced down at them with lowered eyes. Just as he was about to speak, his tongue flared with pain again, and he sucked in another sharp hiss of breath.

Seeing this, one of the men in black pressed his forehead against the deck and asked in a deep voice, "My Lord, the incident happened so suddenly, and we were unable to reach you in time..." Halfway through his sentence, the man suddenly felt something was amiss and abruptly clamped his mouth shut. He then cautiously raised his head to glance at his companion.

His companion indeed shot him a fierce glare. The silent warning was crystal clear: Why on earth are you opening your mouth about such boudoir pleasures?

True to form, after the man's words spilled out, the noble figure's face grew even darker. After a long moment, he instructed coldly, "Next time the Lu woman comes, stay out of sight."

"Understood." This time, the two men in black answered with extreme promptness.

The noble figure drew in another sharp breath. He touched his chin and said indifferently, "Ever since I was grown, no one has ever dared to lay a finger on me in broad daylight."

Hearing this, the two bewildered men in black hurriedly pressed themselves flat against the deck, not daring to move a muscle.

After a pause, the noble figure said coldly, "Even if I were to force her, it would be a blessing worthy of the entire Lu clan celebrating with wild abandon, would it not?"

One of the men in black replied in a small voice, "The Lu clan doesn't seem to have any paternal relatives..."

The noble figure cast a glance at him.

That single look made the man in black shudder violently before he instantly flattened himself back onto the deck, frozen in place.

The noble figure lowered his gaze. After quite a while, he slowly murmured, "Lu Ying, I cannot fathom you..." Seemingly reminded of what Lu Ying had said upon leaving, he furrowed his brow. After a considerable pause, he rubbed his temples with a headache and waved his hand, "Dismissed. I wish to be alone."

"Yes."

Lu Ying descended to the lower deck.

Arriving at the bow, she leaned heavily against the ship's railing and closed her eyes.

To be honest, the moment she used her nails to scratch a bloody trail across his chest, she had already been walking a tightrope... A man of that stature, with that kind of status—was he someone she could casually lash out at? And so, the consequence had naturally followed, hadn't it?

—Oh, indulging in a moment of reckless impulse is truly a bad habit!

That bite later on had been a purely instinctive reaction, filled with anger, shyness, annoyance, and fear. Because at that exact moment, she had clearly sensed that he was aroused—the hard ridge pressing against her was the legendary manifestation of a man's desire. Caught completely off guard, she had bitten him.

And then, to make amends, she had kissed the corner of his mouth...

Pondering up to this point, Lu Ying also reached up to massage the bridge of her nose, sharing the noble figure's headache over their current predicament.

—It felt as though she had been constantly running away from him, yet it also felt as if she were drawing ever closer to him. Oh well, whatever happens, happens; when the boat reaches the pier, it will naturally align with the bridge, so she would just take it one step at a time.

After mulling it over for a while, exhaustion caught up with Lu Ying, so she returned to her cabin and took a nap.

When she woke up again, night had already fallen.

Just as Lu Ying finished tidying herself and stepped out, Zhi Liu appeared before her. The expression with which he sized her up was extremely bizarre; he seemed to be smiling, yet also trying to hold back a smile, and because he was holding it back so hard, it looked rather like he was crying...

Inspecting her up and down, Zhi Liu wore a half-smile as he announced, "The Lord wants you upstairs."

Lu Ying stiffened slightly and replied, "Alright." Summoning the handsome cosmetic artist to reapply her makeup and changing into a crimson robe, Lu Ying finally began her slow ascent to the second floor.

The second floor was brilliantly illuminated and redolent with the fragrance of rouge. Waves of sheng music accompanied by flute melodies drifted across the water and into the night sky, infusing the entire atmosphere with an air of decadent merriment.

As soon as Lu Ying stepped onto the second floor, she caught sight of her lord.

At this glance, she nearly laughed out loud, instantly understanding why Zhi Liu's expression had been so bizarre. Leaning against the ship's railing, the man glaring at her with heavy eyes wore a black robe edged in gold, which made him look incomparably handsome and mysterious... Yet on this near-perfect, imposing man, right on his chin, sat a clear, purplish-blue bite mark.

Seeing him like this, for some inexplicable reason, the anxiety and unease that had been plaguing Lu Ying a moment ago vanished, and her spirits suddenly soared.

Though the corners of Lu Ying's mouth only twitched upward in a slight smile as she stared fixedly at the noble figure near the top of the stairs, his face darkened even further.

With a faint smile, clad in a fiery red robe, she walked toward him with an air of effortless grace.

Only when she reached the noble figure did Lu Ying notice that the entire second level was bustling with rustling silks and fragrant shadows, with people lingering at the bow, the stern, and along the railings.

The gazes of these people had been intentionally or unintentionally fixed on the noble figure. Now, with the sudden appearance of Lu Ying in her fiery red robes, an expression of sudden realization dawned upon them all simultaneously, as if to say, "So that's how it is."

Amidst their knowing looks, Lu Ying walked up gracefully to the noble figure. Then, raising her head, her slender, fair fingers gently caressed his chin. Tracing the violet-red dental imprint that looked as clear as a brand, Lu Ying held back her laughter and asked in a cool yet gentle voice, "Does it still hurt?"

Naturally, the noble figure did not answer; he merely stared at her with an expressionless, chilling glare.

Lu Ying, however, let out a sigh. Under the lamplight, her fair and delicate face seemed to radiate a soft glow. She rose slightly onto her tiptoes and pressed a light kiss right over his bite mark. The breath she sighed mingled with the wind, carrying genuine helplessness, "Stop sulking... You tell me, if you hadn't treated me that way, would I have been driven to make you lose face?"

At Lu Ying's words, muffled laughter rippled through the surroundings. A potbellied middle-aged official emerged, hugging a handsome young boy. He greedily stared at Lu Ying for a few moments before turning to the tall, handsome noble figure, unable to help himself from chiming in, "I say, Your Excellency, there's no need to look so displeased. If I had such a lovely creature, let alone getting bitten once, I'd gladly take a few lashes of the whip." With that, he turned to those around him and asked, "Don't you all agree?"

A burst of uproarious laughter erupted, and quite a few people chimed in at once:
"Indeed so."
"This pair truly looks like immortals descended to earth."
"This young lord has the grace of jade; getting beaten or bitten once is half the fun."
"These are merely boudoir amusements, what is there to be angry about?"
"I, for one, would beg for such a treatment."
...

Hot gazes landed on Lu Ying, appraising her up and down. Evidently, had she not possessed such an extraordinary bearing—had she not looked like a scion of some prestigious lineage to dare bite such a noble patron—some of them might not have been able to resist stepping forward to demand her from the noble figure himself.
*(To be continued)*