She has a slender waist and delicate bones, and is able to seduce the ascetic horse.

Chapter 21 Lies
Shen Jiaojiao turned her head with difficulty, looking past her stepbrother to the door.

It was only at this moment that she belatedly realized that the surroundings were eerily quiet, as if all the people in the Pearl Courtyard had disappeared, leaving only the two people in the bathroom.

No, Kexin should be guarding the east wing. Why would she let her sworn brother in?

Where are the other maids? Where is Keying?
Where have they all gone?

The more she thought about it, the more panicked she became, feeling uneasy in her heart.

"Shen Jiaojiao, I apologize to you." The man's low and plain voice sounded, no different from the past, "I didn't know you were taking a bath..."

"Don't know?" Shen Jiaojiao raised her eyes and looked over.

This didn't sound very apologetic, but rather natural, as if it was normal for him to accidentally enter the bathroom and bump into her taking a bath.

There was a sudden surge of anger in her heart.

Where is the stepbrother apologizing?

"Brother, this is the bathroom!" Shen Jiaojiao raised her face and looked at the man intently.

What else can you do in the bathroom?

As a man, he shouldn't have barged into such a private place!
Meng Hui looked at her with lowered eyes, a flash of surprise in his eyes.

It was like meeting Shen Jiaojiao on the first day.

The foster sister who deliberately behaved meekly and submissively in front of him finally showed her sharp claws under pressure.

"I thought you were washing up." He raised his eyes slightly and his voice became softer.

"Who knows how to wash up in the broad daylight?" Shen Jiaojiao asked coldly, and even took advantage of the opportunity of raising her head to roll her eyes upward.

"Didn't you see me taking a shower when you came in? There's only so much space in the bathroom. You can see it all at a glance. Why do you still come over? Bah, shameless! Get out of here!"

Seeing that she not only rolled her eyes at him, but also spat at him like a common citizen, a soft smile appeared in Meng Hui's eyes.

"Speak nicely," he said.

"How can I talk properly when you stare at me like this?"

As she spoke, she sank her body downwards and hid her chin under the water.

Her black hair was flying everywhere in the water, covering her body just right. The skin as delicate as jade becomes more crystal clear under the refraction of water.

Meng Hui raised his hand and rubbed the center of his eyebrows. His usually indifferent face was filled with helplessness, and he turned his back to her.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

The temperature in the room seemed to have increased a lot, and the ambiguous and charming atmosphere slowly spread.

Shen Jiaojiao breathed a sigh of relief and raised her hand to wipe her still dripping cheeks.

When he raised his eyes to look at the man's back again, he suddenly realized that something didn't seem right.

Taking a closer look, she actually saw her adopted brother's auricles, which were so red that they were almost bleeding.

what happened?

Her eyes moved downward, and her pupils trembled.

The adopted brother's exposed skin on his neck was also rosy.

Could it be that...sworn brother is shy?

Thinking of this, most of the anger and grievance in her heart disappeared, replaced by shyness and embarrassment.

She slowly remembered that her adopted brother had seen her all!

This realization made her whole heart tremble.

It's against the rules for a foster brother to break into the bathroom. The two of them are so close, it's obvious...

She lowered her head suddenly and glanced at the underwater scene. Her eyelashes trembled in shock. She quickly reached out and pulled a long scarf from the table to cover it.

His cheeks gradually turned crimson.

"Just now, Guangshan came to report that something happened in the main courtyard, and that you were sent back to the Pearl Courtyard by the governor's wife, so I rushed here."

The voice sounded particularly clear in the cramped bathroom.

Shen Jiaojiao wrapped her body in a long scarf and tilted her head to look at the man who had his back turned to her, with a puzzled look on her face.

The sworn brother's voice was as distant as usual, even colder, as if he wanted to distance himself from the relationship.

But she clearly saw that her adopted brother's ears were ruddy.

Maybe that was the reason why she didn't answer, so the man continued.

"I heard something strange in your voice when I came in. I thought something was wrong and didn't notice you..."

Shen Jiaojiao interrupted directly, "Where are Kexin and the others?"

No matter how much she explained, she felt that her step-brother was just quibbling. Since he stayed here and refused to go out, and kept talking about taking a bath, it would only cause people to misunderstand that his thoughts were not pure.

"It's over there in the main house." Meng Hui said, and added, "No one will see me, don't worry."

She was ashamed and annoyed, and after a while she said: "Since it's a misunderstanding, you can go out first, and I'll put on some clothes and come back."

Kexin couldn't abandon her and run to the main house without any reason.

She knew clearly that her adopted brother was telling lies, but she had to lower her head and endure her anger.

Now it's business to persuade people to leave.

Her sworn brother appeared inexplicably in the bathroom of Mingzhu Courtyard, and she was bathing in it. Anyone who saw her would misunderstand him.

What's more... this morning, the sworn brother proposed to marry her and asked her to reconcile with Chen Yuanli.

What if the sworn brother comes directly to drain the fire and take advantage of the opportunity to tell what happened last night?

She didn't dare to gamble.

After hearing her words, Meng Hui lowered his eyes and pursed his thin lips into a straight line.

After a moment of silence, he slowly spoke.

"Shen Jiaojiao, I'm sorry, I didn't protect you."

His voice was as calm and distant as ever, with a hint of softness.

Shen Jiaojiao was stunned when she heard this. She blinked in disbelief and looked at the rippling water in the bucket.

The ink-colored hair, the brown-copper barrel wall, and the crystal-white skin... all seemed to be covered with a veil, making it difficult to see clearly.

Even the sworn brother in front of me has become unreal.

"You, you know?" she asked softly, her voice thin.

Has someone finally noticed her plight?

Finally someone took pity on her?

Is she finally no longer alone?

Her vision became blurry, and she felt her eyes itching, so she stretched out her hand to rub them.

Big teardrops dropped, splashed, and fell again, mixing with the water in the bucket.

"Last night I..." Meng Hui paused and moved slightly, as if he was about to turn around.

When Shen Jiaojiao saw the figure in front of her start to shake, she was so frightened that she held her breath and looked at the man in front of her with wide eyes.

What does the adopted brother want to do? !

Want to explain what happened last night? Has he already found out that Meng Wan did it?
No, she's not wearing anything right now, relying on the bathtub and the water in the bucket to cover herself up. How can the sworn brother turn around? !

Even if what happened between the two of them last night, they shouldn't...

"Brother! Don't turn around!"

After saying that, she hugged her shoulders and her body sank again. The water level was submerged above her lips, leaving only half of her head to breathe.

The man paused and turned back again, facing away from her.

She noticed that her adopted brother's ears were redder.

"F-brother, please go out first." She softened her voice and begged.

Meng Hui fell silent.

Just when Shen Jiaojiao thought he would go out, the deep voice came again.

"How did you deal with the marks on your body?"

These words were so startling that her feet slipped and she almost fell into the water.

She didn't expect that her adopted brother would skip last night's topic and change it to something more embarrassing.

Aren't those traces all caused by the adopted brother...

She blushed, straightened her back so that her mouth was above the water, and said decisively: "There are no marks on me!"

She couldn't answer this question. If she told Fengyang, her sworn brother would definitely be able to find Aoxue and further discover Mo Gan's existence.

She also wanted to investigate the slander of her biological father. She must not let the old members of the Shen family be exposed, so she could only lie.

"Shen Jiaojiao, I can see it." Meng Hui's tone was a little colder.

"There are no traces." Shen Jiaojiao was frightened, but she still insisted on this statement. After thinking about it, she felt that it was not safe enough, so she added, "Brother, I told you to treat last night as if it never happened. You don't need to be too nervous." Don’t care too much.”

Meng Hui hummed through his nose, "Shen Jiaojiao, you are so good."

(End of this chapter)