Chapter 2: The Shameless Prince (Part 1)

Xia Wanwan looked toward the source of the voice and saw a young man in white standing on the shore, his gaze cold and piercing as he looked at her.

The man was tall and slender, wearing robes with dark patterned cloud sleeves and a jade hairpin in his hair; his features were as perfect as if they had been carved.

It was as if he had stepped right out of a painting.

The snow-white brocade robes were of exquisite quality, outlined with black edges—simple yet luxurious, carrying a hint of mystery.

His temperament was clearly elegant, yet he possessed an imposing aura.

There was an innate nobility in his expression, as if anyone who saw him would instinctively bow in submission.

He felt unreachable, making one feel as low as the dust.

Yet, such a man was even more beautiful than most women, with exquisite lip shapes and skin as delicate as fine porcelain, almost enough to make one overlook his gender.

Under normal circumstances, she would certainly have taken a moment to admire such a handsome man.

But right now, she had no extra mental energy to appreciate him.

Her primary task was to escape from this crevice in the rock.

"Hey, can't you see I'm trapped in the rocks? Come and lend a hand!" Xia Wanwan tilted her small head up to look at the handsome man in white on the shore.

A layer of haze seemed to shroud the man's face. After a long moment, he responded with two indifferent words, his voice thin and cold, "Beg me?"

He just wanted him to help, and she had to beg?

This man was truly... unreasonable!

Unfortunately, there was no one else around, so Xia Wanwan could only lower her tone and request his help. A man's strength would surely be greater than hers, after all. "Uncle, could you please give me a hand?"

Yan Zhi answered curtly, "No."

He was very dissatisfied with the way she addressed him.

Xia Wanwan really wanted to smash his head open. Since he wouldn't help, why did he demand that she beg?

This man was purely here to watch her make a fool of herself, wasn't he?

"If you won't help, then get lost." Xia Wanwan directly exposed her crude nature.

Yan Zhi raised an eyebrow but did not leave immediately. He looked at her with a slightly cold gaze. "You killed my pet."

Xia Wanwan froze. When had she killed his pet?

Her eyes fell upon the two snakes on the rock, and she realized—so those two snakes were his pets.

Just how perverted was this man, keeping snakes as pets?

"They're just two hairless, soft-bodied beasts; if they're dead, they're dead." Did he expect her to compensate him?

This man looked so well-dressed; was he trying to extort her? If so, he had picked the wrong person.

Yan Zhi found her description novel yet quite apt, and his eyes, deep as a dark pool, gazed at her silently.

Seeing that he had fallen silent again, Xia Wanwan grew anxious. She didn't want to stay in the water forever. "As the owner of those two snakes, you failed to keep them contained and let them out to hurt people. The fact that I'm not demanding compensation right now shows how broad-minded I am, doesn't it? You let your venomous pets loose; that was your fault. To make up for your mistake, shouldn't you be as broad-minded as I am and lend a hand to get me up?"

The corner of Yan Zhi's lip twitched slightly. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "That sounds somewhat reasonable."

"Of course. One must always have the moral high ground."

Yan Zhi looked down at Xia Wanwan. After two seconds of thought, he said, "It's not that I can't help you."

Xia Wanwan's ink-black eyes lit up. As long as he could help her, everything was negotiable.

If she stayed in the water any longer, even if she didn't freeze into an ice sculpture, she would lose half her life.

"If you are willing to be my pet to compensate for the lives of those two snakes, I might consider rescuing you," Yan Zhi stated his condition.

"I am a human, not a pet. If you're hand-impaired and don't know how to write the word 'human,' lady, I can write it out for you." Xia Wanwan turned her gaze away, no longer interested in verbal sparring with him.

It turned out all the words she had just said were in vain.

This man looked like a decent person, but he was actually a beast in human clothing.

Was her life really that cheap? Only worth the lives of two snakes?

"How dare you!" Zuo Chao, dressed as a guard, rushed out from the shadows. He swung a sword through the air, aiming directly at Xia Wanwan!

This woman had such audacity—one moment telling his master to get lost, and the next insulting his master's physical capabilities! She was truly tired of living.

Such powerful force! Even from this distance, Xia Wanwan could feel the immense strength rushing toward her.

If she were struck by this, there would be no way to save her life.

Her heart tightened. She leaned her body backward, shrinking toward the edge of the rock, parallel to the water's surface.

Zuo Chao's sword strike was infused with his internal energy. The powerful sword qi split the rock to her left directly!

Xia Wanwan took the opportunity to slide into the water, swimming desperately toward where Yan Zhi was standing like a loach.

Yan Zhi was closer. She didn't have much strength left, so she could only paddle toward him.

Otherwise, if she exhausted herself, she wouldn't know where she'd be washed up next, and she might not be as lucky as this time to survive.

Just as Xia Wanwan scrambled onto the shore, Zuo Chao's cold, gleaming sword lunged toward her vital points!

She didn't want to die!

Xia Wanwan rolled on the ground, scrambled up, and quickly ducked behind Yan Zhi, circling around him.

Zuo Chao was worried about accidentally hitting his master, which restricted his movements and slowed his speed. This allowed Xia Wanwan to succeed for a moment, though her brow remained furrowed.

This ugly woman actually dared to cling to his master's body!

Did she not know his master had a germophobia?!

Yan Zhi glanced indifferently at Zuo Chao, his voice flat. "Withdraw."

Zuo Chao froze for a moment, wondering if his master had questions for her. He sheathed his sword and stood respectfully to the side.

Xia Wanwan poked her head out from behind Yan Zhi to look at him. "See that? Your master knows how to cherish beauty and knows how to be polite to ladies. You should learn from him. Otherwise, with your temperament, you won't even be able to find a wife in the future!"

Zuo Chao kept his head low, pretending not to hear her.

Just a moment ago, he looked like he wouldn't stop until he killed her, but now he was acting as if she were invisible.

"Beauty?" Yan Zhi gazed at the young girl before him, looking at her with a half-smile. "You certainly aren't afraid of the word 'insult'."

His gaze lingered on Xia Wanwan's face for only a second before shifting away.

"..." Xia Wanwan had always thought she was quite good-looking, or at least not ugly.

How could this man's mouth be so venomous? To say her appearance was an insult to beauty.

Besides, one's appearance is given by one's parents; even if one is ugly, one shouldn't be discriminated against with such an expression, right?

She had forgotten that her current body's appearance was indeed somewhat disastrous.

Instead of being angry, Xia Wanwan laughed and retorted, "True. In front of a great beauty like you, even the most beautiful women in the world would turn into ugly women by comparison. What beauty could possibly surpass you? You won't even need to marry a wife in the future; you can just satisfy your needs as a man by admiring yourself in the mirror every day."

"Sharp-tongued women usually don't live long."

Xia Wanwan immediately shot back, "Unrefined, narrow-minded men usually don't achieve sexual satisfaction."

Zuo Chao frowned. His master's least favorite thing was for others to say his features were more beautiful than a woman's.

However, to his surprise, his master did not blame her, nor did he show any sign of attacking her.

His master's gaze was lost on a faint pendant hanging near Xia Wanwan's neck.

Hanging from the pendant was a uniquely shaped, exquisitely crafted small purple bottle, with a protrusion on it shaped like a key. The key was very small; one wouldn't notice it was a key without looking closely.

Under the moonlight, it shimmered with a dazzling purple light.

Originally, this small purple pendant had been tucked against Xia Wanwan's inner garment, but because she had floated on the water for too long, the river had disarrayed her clothes, causing the pendant to show.

Thinking he was looking at her chest, Xia Wanwan casually adjusted her clothing. "What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a woman's chest before?"

Yan Zhi's eye twitched. He didn't explain, but instead mocked her, "A flat plain... can that even be called a chest?"

This wasn't a "flat plain," it was a "deep valley with steep peaks," okay? She wasn't a dairy cow.