Chapter 53.1: firmly believed it was her

Su Xi-er ignored him and looked at the gallipot at one side. There are bound to be medicinal herbs in the Medicinal Decoction House, so maybe I can find a type of medicinal herb that helps to relieve itchiness.

Pei Qianhao suddenly decided to stand up from his chair and draw closer to her step by step. “Su Xi-er, you are still concealing it in front of this prince? The one who knocked out the imperial guards and snuck into the Laundry Service Bureau last night was none other than you. You know best in your heart why the Laundry Service Bureau became like this.”

Su Xi-er raised her head to look at him, “Prince Hao, this servant doesn’t understand a single word you said.”

“Don’t understand? Why don’t you gather some itchy grass, take off your clothes, and roll on it?”

Once again, Su Xi-er felt that he was a pervert. Who would be able to say something like this in front of a woman?

“Why did you do that? Did the palace maids in the Laundry Service Bureau provoke you? Give this prince a reason.”

Resolution emerged in Su Xi-er’s eyes. “It wasn’t this servant.”

“The imperial guards were all struck on the same spot on their necks. This prince had also encountered it previously.” Pei Qianhao’s voice was laced with banter. He wasn’t taking any actions against her now because he lacked evidence.

“This servant doesn’t understand what you’re implying. Prince Hao, please don’t make things difficult for this servant.” She took a step back, pulling apart the distance between them. 

Little did she know that Pei Qianhao would take a step forward and grasp her hand. “The red dots will soon appear on your hands, thereby proving that you weren’t telling the truth to Imperial Physician Zhao. Why did you lie? Wasn’t it because you have a guilty conscience?”

His grip was too strong for her to struggle free of.

“Prince Hao, every word this servant spoke was true. Do you want to know why red spots didn’t appear on this servant?”

Pei Qianhao raised his eyebrow. “Tell me.”

“Please put down this servant’s hand first. Your grip is too tight and it’s hurting this servant.”

“Speak the truth. Otherwise, there will be pain waiting for you.” There was an overtone in his words. Nevertheless, he let go of her hand.

“Prince Hao, you gave this servant a bottle of medicinal powder, saying that it has the effect of making the body fragrant. Like you said, every woman cares about their body; this servant is no different.” She intentionally paused and looked at his expression.

As expected, he isn’t as solemn as he was just now. His expression has eased slightly.

Hence, she continued, “This servant went to pull weeds after applying the medicinal powder and didn’t get any red spots. Perhaps it was the effect of the  powder. Today however, this servant didn’t apply any of it before touching the culm.”

Pei Qianhao continued listening to her attentively and smiled. “What a cunning woman. Even if this prince didn’t appear, you would still have thought of a way to escape, am I right??”

“This servant is just stating the facts as they are.” Su Xi-er was originally following a plan, but she didn’t expect that Pei Qianhao would suddenly appear. 

If Imperial Physician Zhao had ended up imprisoning her without Pei Qianhao around, she would still have a reason prepared even if red spots did appear on her hands. That would be revealing that the prince himself was the one who had presented the medicinal powder to her. With that, no matter how what suspicions Imperial Physician Zhao had, he wouldn’t look into the matter any further.

From a certain perspective, it could be said that she was making use of Pei Qianhao.

He had been used by someone with no apparent reason. Even if she hadn’t started to make use of him yet, just that point alone already made Pei Qianhao displeased.

“Since you made use of this prince, shouldn’t you do something to repay me?” He raised his hand and caressed her face.

This time, she didn’t dodge him but allowed him to touch her face.

Letting him touch my face can be considered as repayment, right?