Chapter 15: I Want to Eat Late-Night Snacks

Ji Ruoling turned her head and asked, "Who is it?"

The person outside did not speak, nor did they knock again.

Ji Ruoling thought for a moment; this trope seemed to have appeared somewhere before.

Was it...

Her eyes widened as she watched Lin Muxi push the door open and enter. Her face instantly fell.

Watching him walk over as naturally as if he were the master of the house, and then sit down in a chair, Ji Ruoling couldn't help but speak up. "Has no one ever taught you that you must knock before entering someone else's room?"

He raised his head, a rare look of confusion on his face. "I knocked."

Ji Ruoling turned her head... it seemed he really had knocked.

"Then has no one taught you that after knocking, you must wait for the master's permission before entering the room?"

Lin Muxi shook his head. "No."

"..." Ji Ruoling didn't know what to say. Forget it; she couldn't beat him in an argument anyway.

Now that she had the screen, she didn't have to worry about him suddenly barging in.

"Do you have business with me?" Ever since Lin Muxi had been staying at the Elegant Court, he had never proactively sought her out, except for that one time he delivered her clothes.

This time he wasn't delivering anything; why would this great deity come to her?

"Someone is monitoring you." Lin Muxi's voice suddenly rang out in Ji Ruoling's mind, causing her to freeze.

She looked at Lin Muxi, feeling a bit strange. Lin Muxi... he hadn't opened his mouth just now, so how could there be a voice?

"Secret Voice Transmission." His voice rang in her mind again, giving Ji Ruoling a fright.

He indeed hadn't opened his mouth, yet the voice was exceptionally clear.

After her initial shock, Ji Ruoling began to chew on those four words: "Secret Voice Transmission"? In other words, one could make the other party hear what they wanted to say without opening their mouth?

As if knowing what she was thinking, he actually gave a small nod.

This made Ji Ruoling suspect that he not only knew Secret Voice Transmission but also mind-reading.

"Is there..." someone monitoring?

Lin Muxi actually nodded again, transmitting his voice secretly: "Yes. From the second day after I arrived here, someone has been monitoring your every move."

Ji Ruoling was startled, not only because Lin Muxi knew what she was thinking, but also because of what he said.

Someone was monitoring her? And it had been happening since that day?

For some reason, Ji Ruoling suddenly felt that even the screen Ji Yi had sent over was unsafe.

Thinking about how her every move was being watched, her heart felt a bit frantic.

"Is it..." who?

"I don't know. That is your business. I am only telling you because you asked me to stay here. I will not interfere in matters that have nothing to do with me." Having said that, Lin Muxi stood up to leave.

He left Ji Ruoling standing alone in the room, trembling slightly at the thought of being watched.

Who was it?

Who would come to monitor her?

Not long after, Xiao He came to deliver a meal. After Ji Ruoling finished eating, she told her to call Lin Muxi over.

When Lin Muxi arrived, he sat in the chair with his usual ease. "What do you want?"

This time there was no Secret Voice Transmission, and Ji Ruoling actually found herself feeling a bit unaccustomed to it.

"You said that matter has nothing to do with you." Ji Ruoling had originally intended to say it directly, but considering someone was watching, she changed her phrasing.

"Does it have something to do with me?"

"How could it not? Look, if something happens to me, the Elegant Court will fall into chaos. If the Elegant Court is in chaos, can you still live here in peace?" Ji Ruoling spoke with great logic, attempting to bluff Lin Muxi.

A bodyguard with such incredible strength was too good a resource to let go to waste.

"..." Lin Muxi tilted his head slightly, thinking it over. It seemed... she had a point.

It wasn't that he was dull, but he truly disliked living in noisy places; otherwise, he wouldn't have stayed at the Elegant Court.

"Fine. What is it you want to say?"

"Look, that guy is... well, you know. Just keep a close eye on him. If he does anything to harm me, just take him out."

Lin Muxi nodded; it wasn't a difficult task after all. "Oh, then I'll go now—"

"Don't. Just act as usual. Don't alert the enemy. I want to find out who is behind him." Ji Ruoling's eyes dimmed slightly.

"Oh. Then I'm leaving."

***

That night, clouds obscured the moonlight, leaving the world in darkness.

Ji Ruoling lay in bed, unable to sleep at all because she kept thinking about the fact that she was being monitored.

She tossed and turned, her mind racing through various thoughts.

As she thought, she suddenly thought of Lin Muxi and realized he had said a lot today; all the words he had ever said to her combined weren't as many as what he had said today.

And then there was that day... thinking of the scene from that day made Ji Ruoling's cheeks feel hot.

She pulled the quilt over herself, hiding under the covers with her hands covering her face.

That monster's... clothes were still in her room!

Ji Ruoling felt as if something had exploded in her brain. She scrambled out of bed, reached under it, and pulled out a purple outer robe covered in dust.

After she had made Lin Muxi take off his outer robe that day, she had snatched it and stuffed it under the bed.

Recalling the strange look Lin Muxi had given her that day, she felt a pang of discomfort in her heart.

Looking at the battered outer robe in her hands, Ji Ruoling wished she could just burn it.

In the end, Ji Ruoling decided... to let it continue its slumber under the bed!

Ji Ruoling lay back in bed, but sleep still wouldn't come.

After thinking about it, she simply got dressed and went out.

Using the slivers of moonlight peeking through the clouds, she went to Xiao Tao's room and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Xiao Tao's voice was very clear, without a hint of the grogginess one usually has when being woken up.

"It's me."

She heard the rustling sound of someone putting on clothes inside, and then the door opened.

"What is it, Miss?" Xiao Tao asked.

"I want a midnight snack." Ji Ruoling spoke without a hint of shame, having dragged someone out of bed just because she wanted a snack.

Xiao Tao showed no sign of anger; she merely tilted her head in thought. There were no midnight snacks at this hour; the kitchen masters would all be asleep.

"Wait a moment, Miss. I'll go to the small kitchen to see if there's anything to eat." Xiao Tao stepped out, closed the door, and walked toward the direction of the small kitchen.

Ji Ruoling prepared to return to her room to wait, but as she walked, she noticed one room was still lit. She walked over, wondering whose room it was.

She only knew where Xiao Tao lived; she didn't know about the others.

Driven by curiosity, Ji Ruoling stopped by the window. Seeing a small gap in the window frame, she pressed her face close and peered inside.

In the next second, her eyes widened, and she clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from making a sound.

There was someone in the room, and they were bathing!

The person had their back to Ji Ruoling. She didn't know who it was, as long hair covered their entire back.

Ji Ruoling glanced around the room again and saw a set of clothes laid out nearby; they seemed to be... men's clothes.

Ji Ruoling no longer had any intention of watching, so she prepared to pull her head away.

The sound of splashing water rose from the room. Ji Ruoling's movements paused, and her eyes snapped wide open.

The person who had been bathing just a moment ago had finished and stood up. His wet, long hair clung tightly to his body, revealing his lean, powerful physique before Ji Ruoling's eyes.