Bad Dream

Suyin slept soundly throughout the night. She had forgotten all of the moments that had occurred the night before, but then as Suyin continued to walk down the forest in the dream, Wuhan was standing in front of her, blocking her path.

"I finally have you as mine now." Wuhan had a sinister smile. He pushed Suyin down and ripped her clothing, revealing her red dudou.

"S-Stop!" Suyin cried, "Please, don't do anything."

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Suyin's eyes were swelling up in tears. As she opened her eyes, she saw a pair of hands holding onto hers.

It was just a bad dream. Suyin couldn't stop breathing heavily, but the warmth of Qin Fuhua's embrace comforted her.

"I'm here, don't worry." Qin Fuhua expressed. He had fallen asleep with her, so he was laying next to her on the bed. Suyin buried her face into his chest, hugging him back.

As Suyin settled down, she realized what was going on now. Qin Fuhua was sleeping with her!!

Suyin peeked up at him and then glimpsed at her clothes.

"Did you--"

Qin Fuhua didn't utter a single word. But Suyin didn't feel like anything was wrong with her, though.

"My clothes! Why am I only wearing one layer?!" Suyin looked up at him, hiding half of her face with her hands.

"You woke up in the middle of the night, complaining that it was too hot, and took the first layer off. Other than that I didn't do anything. You wouldn't let go of me"

Suyin felt sheepish. Even if they didn't do anything, it was already embarrassing enough that they were sharing one bed.

Qin Fuhua didn't complain, though. He quietly placed his chin under her head, unbothered. "Just go to sleep. I'm here now"

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As the night ended, Suyin promised to tend to Qin Fuhua's wound until it healed. Qin Fuhua never bothered to ask her again about the mark, assuring her that he didn't want to push her to tell him things she wouldn't be comfortable with. In the end, as long as she wasn't hurt or someone harmed her, Qin Fuhua respected her choice whenever she was ready to talk to him about it.

Everyone was shocked about Suyin's identity. Despite her wishes wanting to hide her identity so that she wouldn't stand out, Qin Fuhua wound up that it was too "unoriginal." The soldiers and a new commander had taken over the camp, so it was time for Suyin and the scholars to head back home now.

"Thank you again, Miss Suyin." Teacher Zhou Lin lit a big smile on his face.

"I assure you I will hear good news soon?" Yuan Fu teased Suyin, who glared at him.

"Stop it, brother." Suyin slapped his hands, as the other scholars behind Yuan Fu had smiles across their faces.

"Suyin! Promise me you'll come back and learn with us again!" One of the scholars cried out with excitement.

Suyin smiled, nodding her head. "I'll see you all soon, okay? I'm not going anywhere." She assured them.

"At least, not for now."

Suyin replied in her head. With a sad, but happy smile, she waved at them, as they got into their carriage to head to the Palace.

Weizhe told Suyin that she would get her carriage so that it wasn't awkward for the scholars as well as herself since they know her gender now.

"After all, a man and a woman alone in a carriage is enough to mean something."

Was what Weizhe told her in the morning when they were getting ready to pack their belongings.

Suyin turned around, looking at the other wooden, plain carriage as she spotted Weizhe from afar, bringing one for Qin Fuhua.

As soon as Weizhe got near Suyin, she smiled at him, tip-toeing as she impatiently waited for her carriage.

"So? Where's my carriage?" She looked at the other carriages, which carried food and clothing.

Qin Fuhua then came out of the gates, walking out with his hands behind him. Qin Fuhua was back to his usual, cold self again. Suyin only looked at him, squinting her eyes.

"Maybe what happened the night before was just a dream," Suyin assured herself. Suyin thought that Qin Fuhua had warmed up to her, but it seemed like he didn't change a single bit.

As Qin Fuhua got into his carriage, Suyin marched ahead of them, looking for the other carriage that Weizhe had promised he would bring. Soon as she stopped by the window of the carriage, Qin Fuhua got out, stopping her in her tracks.

"Where do you think you are going?" Qin Fuhua questioned her, his broad shoulders blocking her view from ahead.

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Suyin was sitting in the same carriage as Qin Fuhua, who sat right next to her. She awkwardly looked down to the ground, placing both of her hands on her lap as crickets chirped around them.

Qin Fuhua was reading a book, his eyes were glued to the paper while Suyin felt suffocated by the awkwardness between the two.

"Weizhe! You dare lie to me!" Suyin said to herself, cursing Weizhe under her breath because he intentionally planned for the two to travel together. Suyin knew that if he has a stomach ache, she was going to not help cure it for him because of this plan.

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[Shu Qin]

With the Prince of Qin's command to fight against the invasion of the bandits that took over the camp near the city of Shu Qin, everyone cheered at the sidelines of the road in the appearance of Qin Fuhua's black and gold carriage. As the soldiers moved behind them, people were cheering for their victory.

"It is a sight to behold! For the Prince of Qin to be fighting again! It has been since his younger years that he has gone to help us again!" A civilian spoke out, clapping their hands together.

Despite the fear of Qin Fuhua's appearance, they knew that the cold, evil Prince was reliable when it came to war.

Suyin stuck out her head, looking through the curtain of the small window in the carriage as she could hear their cheering.

"Do you hear that? They're praising you." Suyin grinned, looking outside as she spun to look at Qin Fuhua's expression.

-DULL-

Qin Fuhua's face never altered his cold expression. Upon seeing his unbothered expression, Suyin frowned, her lips turning into a pout as she scowled at him.

"Nothing impresses you anymore, I see." She uttered under her breath. This was no time for her to be dwelling in negativity. People were cheering outside and it made Suyin proud and happy. Without their help, it would have been a crisis if the bandits were near the city of Shu Qin. Then, the thought hit Suyin.

How was it possible that a camp so close to the city was overtaken? Was there some rat out of the people that worked in the Palace doing this? All of a sudden, the carriage suddenly stopped moving, causing Suyin to nearly eat the ground until she was able to catch herself.

Her hair was blocking her vision of Qin Fuhua, so when Suyin turned to look at him, she saw that his hand was out, ready to catch her.

"Are you okay?" Qin Fuhua's eyes were a bit less cold now, his voice soft, enough for Suyin to hear him as she nodded, assuring him.

"I'm fine." She looked at the ground again, embarrassed at what had happened. Suyin couldn't look Qin Fuhua in the eyes! She could feel the butterflies in her stomach and the fluttering of her heart pounding in her chest.

"Your Highness. We have arrived back at the Palace." Weizhe announced, "But it seems like something is going on."

Qin Fuhua got out, carefully descending from the carriage as he turned around to help Suyin get down. He lifted his hands for Suyin to grab, as she carefully got down to the ground.

"Fu Gege!" A high-pitched female voice called out. In front of the gates of the Palace, a woman stood there, her arms crossing each other with the largest pout on her face.

A young-looking, cute petite female was standing next to her maid. Her outfit was lavishly in bubblegum pink and light yellow, a hairpin of a jaded dolphin was on top of her lavish hair with jewelry hanging around for decoration. She was wearing makeup and her bright red lips were in a circle due to her pout.

The first impression of this lady according to Suyin was where in the world was she going to and who was she trying to impress.