Chapter 54: Wanting to Marry Him

The moment those thoughts crossed his mind, all thoughts of intimate pleasures vanished into thin air. Wenren Sheng no longer had any interest in doing anything joyful with He Mu.

He anxiously pushed He Mu away, wanting to find his undergarments and put them on. But before he could grab even one, He Mu seized his ankle and dragged him back.

He pinned Wenren Sheng down and looked down at him from above, his expression somewhat displeased.

“Just send him away, no? Could he actually barge in?”

Wenren Sheng had been away from him for two years, and He Mu had no idea how the kid had been faring in Cangzhou City.

But He Mu couldn’t help feeling some worry deep down. With Wenren Sheng’s naive and innocent nature, if some scheming person deceived him, he would easily suffer losses.

Yi Jinxiang could guard against outsiders, but not necessarily against those inside the home.

The mere thought of that possibility made anger surge in He Mu’s heart. He wanted to rush out and beat that subordinate named Ye Lan black and blue, without any regard for right or wrong.

Wenren Sheng had no idea he was contemplating such ridiculous things. He lightly kicked He Mu’s chest and urgently said, “He won’t barge in, but my master—”

“Enough. Open the door directly.”

Wenren Sheng’s words were cut off as Yi Jinxiang’s cold and stern voice came from outside the door.

He completely panicked this time. Ignoring He Mu, he scrambled up, hastily pulled on a pair of outer pants, and then began forcefully pressing He Mu down into the water.

“Brother, bear with it. Hold your breath underwater. I really can’t let Master discover you. She’ll definitely be angry!”

He Mu got a face full of water splashes from him and helplessly grabbed Wenren Sheng’s wrists. “Alright, alright, I get it. I’ll come out, put on some clothes, and hide behind the screen. Okay?”

Wenren Sheng nodded repeatedly and finally stopped struggling with He Mu.

After He Mu climbed out of the warm pool, he casually grabbed a bathrobe from the small rack and wrapped it around himself. He balled up the rest of his clothes and took them behind the screen.

After putting on his pants, Wenren Sheng rolled up the legs and sat back by the pool edge, letting his calves dangle into the water.

His heart pounded nervously, as if he had done something bad. Pink flushed across his entire body.

“Don’t be nervous, don’t be nervous…” Wenren Sheng whispered to himself. “Don’t panic. Master won’t notice…”

The moment he sank back into the water, the bathhouse door burst open with a bang. A massive white python as thick as two bowl mouths slithered into the room, flanked by a black-clad guard—Ye Lan.

Even though he had just told himself not to be nervous, the sight of Yi Jinxiang still made him tense his feet involuntarily.

This was bad. Master was very angry.

Yi Jinxiang’s true form was enormous. She wouldn’t revert to it fully unless she was so furious she could no longer tolerate it.

Wenren Sheng’s face was full of “I’m done for” as he listened to the snake scales scraping across the floor, accompanied by a bone-chilling hiss, while she slithered toward him.

After a moment, Yi Jinxiang had coiled around Wenren Sheng, flicking her tongue at him from above his head.

“Wenren Sheng.” She said coldly.

Sweat beaded at Wenren Sheng’s temples from the tension. He clenched his hands so hard his nails turned white.

“M-Master…”

Yi Jinxiang drew close to Wenren Sheng’s face, cold air emanating from her body as her voice drilled straight into his ear. “Don’t you have anything you want to tell me?”

Wenren Sheng swallowed hard and stammered, “N-No, I’m just… soaking in the bath. Why did Master suddenly barge in…”

He Mu leaned behind the screen, watching Wenren Sheng’s tail flicking nonstop from guilt, and couldn’t help rubbing his forehead.

“…How are you still unable to lie at eighteen?”

Yi Jinxiang saw right through the fact that Wenren Sheng was hiding something. With a bang, she shifted into human form and gently lifted his chin with her fan.

She narrowed her eyes at him, her tone stern. “Wenren Sheng, a few days ago, didn’t you tell me you were confined to your room?”

Wenren Sheng pursed his lips and subconsciously covered the red marks on his legs with his hand. “Yeah, I’ve been confined to my room the whole time, reading a lot of books.”

Yi Jinxiang let out a cold laugh and directly grabbed his wrist. She pointed her fan at his leg.

Suppressing her anger, she asked, “Then who did this?”

Wenren Sheng squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself to answer:

“A mosquito bite.”

As soon as he said it, He Mu sighed silently and fastened the last button on his outer robe.

Yi Jinxiang was almost amused by her anger. She shook her head and continued questioning him. “I sent subordinates to guard your room, and there was no movement for seven days. But today, someone reported hearing two people’s voices from your room—”

“And some… strange noises?”

“How do you explain this, Wenren Sheng?”

Hearing the second half, Wenren Sheng’s face turned completely red. He had no idea how to make up an excuse anymore.

At the time, both of them had been lost in passion and hadn’t thought to muffle their voices. If Yi Jinxiang hadn’t mentioned it today, he probably wouldn’t have even remembered there were two guards outside his room.

What to do, what to do…

Should he just tell Master that the Mountain God had returned?

But that would mean confessing to Master that he had done those kinds of things with the Mountain God. They hadn’t gone all the way, but… it was still…

Wenren Sheng felt like the heat on his body was about to burn out his brain. He didn’t dare meet Yi Jinxiang’s eyes, but she gripped his wrist tightly, clearly demanding an explanation.

Wenren Sheng took two deep breaths, mustering all his courage to barely squeeze out a few words. “It was… kissed…”

“It was me.”

Before the word “kissed” was fully out, He Mu’s voice rang out boldly, interrupting their conversation.

Wenren Sheng’s expression changed in shock as he hurriedly turned to look. He Mu had somehow emerged from behind the screen, now dressed in his fitted outfit, standing casually before the two of them.

Yi Jinxiang was also slightly startled to see him.

But she composed herself in mere seconds, resuming her cold expression. Unhurriedly, she said, “Admitting it yourself?”

He Mu kicked over a stool and tossed it between Wenren Sheng and Yi Jinxiang, then sat down with one leg crossed over the other, blocking himself right in the middle.

His body shielded most of Wenren Sheng, giving him a brief moment to catch his breath.

Though Yi Jinxiang’s expression remained cold, her face was still unsightly. She tapped her palm with her fan and asked again, “How did a human like you sneak into Cangzhou City?”

He Mu propped his cheek and replied, “Someone who’s been a god before—how could I not find my way into a snake den?”

It had indeed taken considerable effort. Over the past two years, He Mu hadn’t merged words smoothly many times, but facing an outsider, he decided to stay stubborn.

Yi Jinxiang didn’t comment on the answer—it didn’t matter anyway. She circled back to the original topic. “You’re saying those marks on him are your doing? What did you two do?”

He Mu still didn’t answer directly and countered with a question. “We’re all people who’ve lived a few hundred years. Surely you understand this much?”

He narrowed his eyes and added meaningfully, “Don’t worry. It was all consensual.”

Yi Jinxiang immediately let out a cold laugh. “He’s only eighteen. And you could still bring yourself to do it?”

Her words already carried a gritted-teeth edge. Nearby, Wenren Sheng didn’t dare lift his head, staring fixedly at the rippling pool water.

Yeah, he was only eighteen, and he’d gone and done something like that with the person he admired most—the one as close as a father…

It was too terrifying. He wanted to turn into a fish right now, dive into the water, and never come up again!

Only He Mu here felt no sense of crisis at all. He idly fiddled with the thumb ring on his hand and replied, “I picked him up. How could I not lay hands on him?”

“Not only today— he’ll be mine from now on too.”

Yi Jinxiang’s back teeth nearly ground to pieces.

Her only feeling now was that the cabbage she had painstakingly raised for two years—careful not to bump it or let others see it—had been thoroughly plucked overnight by this unreasonable drifter He Mu!

Not only plucked—he’d eaten it all!

“He Mu!” she roared angrily. “Are you sick?!”

“Hey, don’t get mad,” He Mu quickly waved his hands. “Didn’t I say it was consensual? Why are you making it sound like I forced him?”

Yi Jinxiang flicked her sleeve and rebuked, “You know full well what Wenren Sheng is like. Coax him a couple times, and he’ll listen to anyone! How is that consensual?!”

“Then what do you want me to say?” He Mu frowned. “This child was hidden away here with you for two years, and I’m ultimately grateful for that. I don’t want to argue with you. But from now on, I’ll always be with him. We’ve already agreed.”

“When he’s two years older, I’ll marry him, form a dao bond with him. I’ll even invite you to the high hall then. Don’t make such a fuss. Oh, and perfect timing—I want to stay in Cangzhou now. What do you think—”

“You still want to live here?”

Yi Jinxiang was about to explode with rage. She crushed the jade fan in her hand and hurled it straight at He Mu’s face, cutting him off.

“Dream on!”

He Mu dodged his head aside and caught it neatly.

“Shengsheng,” he sighed, tossing the fan back to Yi Jinxiang. “Your master doesn’t seem to like me much. What now?”

Wenren Sheng’s mind had already turned into a little fish swimming around for a while. He Mu lightly nudged his lower back, and he shuddered back to awareness.

“Huh…?” he responded blankly. “What did Master say?”

He Mu leaned in and whispered nonsense. “Your master doesn’t want us to marry. She thinks I’m bullying you and that you’re too young—you’ll suffer if you follow me.”

“Shengsheng, help me out, yeah?” He slid his hand to Wenren Sheng’s lower back and rubbed it ambiguously a couple times. “If she lets me stay in Cangzhou, I can be with you day and night, make you happy.”

The mention of “marriage” made Wenren Sheng’s face burn. He cupped his cheeks with both hands, trying to cool his temperature.

Though he hadn’t agreed to be with the Mountain God, Wenren Sheng couldn’t imagine marrying anyone else.

If it was destined to happen anyway, then speaking up for the Mountain God today would be like helping his future husband. It didn’t seem like a problem…

After a long moment, Wenren Sheng spoke softly.

“Master, I did it willingly. Don’t blame the Mountain God.”

“What did you say?” Yi Jinxiang asked incredulously. “Say it again?”

Wenren Sheng repeated in a mosquito-like whisper, “I… did it willingly.”

With that out, he took a deep breath, squeezed his eyes shut, and went all in. “Master, I want Brother Mountain God to live here with me. I don’t want him to leave.”

“I-I… want to marry him later too!”

“Please grant us your blessing!”