Chapter 240: Chapter 240: "How Do You Plan to Help Me?

Pregnant...

Xie Jinbai’s expression went blank, his mind a complete void. It was as if he couldn’t comprehend the meaning of her words.

"About the pregnancy... Minmin only just brought it to my attention. I called for the household doctor to check my pulse, and that’s when I found out,"

Cui Lingyao wrapped her arms around his waist, feeling aggrieved herself. "The pregnancy is still in its early stages, and I’ve accidentally ingested a lot of musk these past few days, so the fetus is a bit unstable. I can’t be the antidote for you. Don’t do anything reckless."

...

The inner chamber fell deathly silent.

The man on top of her looked like a dumbstruck fool.

Cui Lingyao understood his shock. After a moment’s thought, she took his hand and placed it on her stomach, explaining softly, "I didn’t intend to send a woman to you, but I really can’t be with you... Xie Jinbai, don’t be reckless and hurt the baby..."

Her abdomen was flat, without the slightest curve. As the pads of Xie Jinbai’s fingers rested upon it, all he could feel was her delicate skin.

As if scalded, he snatched his hand away. He wiped his face and stared at her blankly. "...Is it true?"

Cui Lingyao nodded. "I wouldn’t lie to you about something like this. The household doctor diagnosed it just now. I hadn’t had a chance to tell you before I heard you’d been dosed with the seductive powder. I followed Li Yong here, but I didn’t dare come in. I was afraid of hurting the baby. But then you dragged me in..."

The moment she was through the door, he had become savage, and she hadn’t even had a chance to speak.

Her lips were crushed by his.

Her hands were pinned.

Even her breath was stolen away.

She could only let him take what he wanted.

"You scared me to death."

The helpless feeling of her body being out of her control, of being toyed with and violated, left Cui Lingyao with lingering fear.

’It was truly terrifying.’

’So this is how different our strength is.’

Xie Jinbai: "..."

He was trying to process this sudden news.

But the effects of the seductive powder were undeniable. Soon, the lust in his body began to surge once more.

The red in his eyes began to deepen again.

Cui Lingyao, completely unaware, wrapped her arms around his waist again. She buried her head in his chest, nuzzling him affectionately, and said in a muffled voice, "You’re only like this because you were poisoned. I don’t blame you, but I really can’t be your antidote."

Neither of them was wearing any clothes.

They were bare against each other, skin to skin. The girl in his arms, oblivious to the danger, kept rubbing her head against him.

So soft, so pliant.

Xie Jinbai’s breath hitched. He felt his reason about to be burned to ashes.

He took a deep breath, grabbed the nape of her neck, and lifted her out of his embrace. In one swift motion, he wrapped her tightly in the quilt, then quickly got off the bed himself.

A moment later, he returned with her clothes and tossed them onto the bed.

"Get dressed and get out!"

With that, he turned to leave.

Cui Lingyao quickly grabbed him. "But aren’t you poisoned with the seductive powder?"

Just a moment ago, he had been utterly consumed by lust, his reason completely gone.

How did he calm down so suddenly?

’Is his self-control really that strong?’

Xie Jinbai had only thrown on an outer robe. The instant she grabbed his wrist, the string in his mind called ’reason’ tightened, inch by inch.

He turned to look at her, his jaw clenched. "Are you still trying to use this as an opportunity to find me a concubine?"

Cui Lingyao froze. When she understood what he meant, she was so angry she laughed.

"In your dreams!"

A concubine!

A concubine!

’Why is he always thinking about concubines?’

After he had bullied her so badly just now, she had tried her best to console herself that he hadn’t meant it.

Now, Cui Lingyao was genuinely furious. "You keep bringing up concubines. Are you blaming me for my previous plans, or have you started thinking about it yourself and are trying to hint at something?"

Had she mentioned anything about concubines in the past half a month?

Those six portraits of beauties were still in her study. If she wanted to find him a concubine, all she had to do was pick an auspicious day.

But had she done that?

The so-called task of "picking an auspicious day to bring someone in" had been indefinitely ignored by her.

He hadn’t asked her if that supposed mission actually needed to be completed.

And she hadn’t brought up the matter of ’concubines’ again.

A delicate balance had formed between them.

So why was he lashing out at her over concubines again and again now?

The more Cui Lingyao thought about it, the angrier she got. She sat up abruptly and pinched his waist.

"You’re really just hinting, aren’t you? Which one has caught your eye? Is it one of the two beauties who were sent to you, or..."

As she moved, the quilt wrapped around her slipped down.

It revealed a large expanse of her smooth, snow-white shoulders and ample bosom.

With just one glance, Xie Jinbai wanted nothing more than to pounce on her and devour her whole.

A vein throbbed on his forehead. He knelt on the bed with one knee, pulled the quilt back up over her, and said patiently, "I’m poisoned, and you can’t be the one to cure me. So get dressed, go outside, and have Li Yong bring me a bucket of cold water."

"No."

Enduring the seductive powder on its own was already harmful to the body. If he also soaked in cold water...

Cui Lingyao forgot her anger and grabbed his hand. "It’s the dead of winter. If you soak in cold water, even a body of iron wouldn’t be able to stand it."

"Then what do you suggest?"

Xie Jinbai took a deep breath, his eyes turning crimson from her repeated attempts to make him stay.

He gripped her chin. "I’m warning you. If you don’t let go, I won’t be able to hold back."

"I’ll help you." Not only did Cui Lingyao not let go, but she wrapped her arms directly around him, burying her face against his abdomen. She said softly, "I can help you, but you have to be mindful of my feelings, and the baby in my womb."

’An aphrodisiac doesn’t necessarily require...’

’In short, there are many ways.’

’But he absolutely can’t be like he was just now.’

She had just been scared to death by him.

And manhandled until she ached all over.

"..."

Xie Jinbai’s mind went blank.

The girl who had refused to even enter the room just a moment ago was now unwilling to leave.

All because she didn’t want him to soak in cold water and endure the poison.

Xie Jinbai didn’t dare to think about what that meant.

He slowly raised his hands, placed them on the shoulders of the person in his arms, and asked, "How are you planning to help me?"

Cui Lingyao: "..."

Xie Jinbai got back on the bed and lay down, holding her in his arms.

"Say you love me... Yaoyao, tell me you love me. It’ll be faster..."

Cui Lingyao: "..."

Such cloying intimacy was too much. She couldn’t bring herself to say the words.

Xie Jinbai didn’t force her.

He gripped her waist and turned her over.

"Brace yourself. Tell me if your hands start to hurt."

Cui Lingyao: "..."

She was very cooperative, but her face was beet red.

Thankfully, he was truly considerate of her.

It would have been even better if he wasn’t constantly coaxing her with such shameless words.

.....

Inside the room, the bed curtains swayed.

Outside, the sky gradually darkened.

In the reception hall, Li Yong and the Changping Marquis were entertaining the male guests.

Meanwhile, Lady Zheng and Chen Minrou were hosting the female guests.

The host and hostess of this flower-viewing banquet only made an appearance at the very beginning and were not seen again, not even to see the guests off.

A few clever guests figured out something was amiss and tactfully refrained from asking about the hosts’ whereabouts.

By the time the last guest had been seen off, the sky was already dark.

Only the Changping Marquis and his wife, and Chen Minrou and her husband, remained.

Lady Zheng, who didn’t know the whole story, had only heard from Chen Minrou that her daughter had been summoned by one of Xie Jinbai’s men and had not returned. She quietly asked her husband, "What on earth happened? Where did Yaoyao go?"

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