Early the next morning, Yun Xi slowly woke up. As she opened her bleary eyes, a handsome face suddenly came into view!
"Are you awake? Does your head still hurt?"
The gentle voice was deep and pleasant. A pair of big hands were wrapped around her waist, and she nestled trustingly in the other's warm and broad embrace, as if they were naturally inseparable.
"Get off my bed!"
After seeing Qi Rong's face clearly, Yun Xi was stunned for a moment. Then the memories of the previous day came flooding back, and her face immediately turned cold.
She quickly pushed Qi Rong's face with both hands and kicked his chest with her feet, trying to break free from his embrace.
Seeing Yun Xi acting like an angry cat as soon as she woke up, Qi Rong's handsome face was pushed to one side, but he laughed heartily. With a single hand, he easily caught her small hands.
"What's wrong? It seems like you have a deep grudge against me. I thought you liked me so much that you'd be happy to see me as soon as you woke up."
Qi Rong's smile was dazzling, and his white teeth were shining brightly, which made Yun Xi even angrier.
"Stop being so shameless. I don't want to see you at all. Let me go quickly!"
Looking at Qi Rong's proud face, Yun Xi almost spat on him!
This guy's character was not so good, but his shamelessness was getting worse day by day. Even a saint would go crazy if they saw him, and a bad guy would vomit blood!
How dare he ask her what was wrong?!
Thinking that he had been with Cheng Caijie for a long time the previous day and still smelled of her, Yun Xi felt sad and couldn't stop being angry. She didn't want to see Qi Rong for even a moment.
"Get out! Don't stay in my room!"
Yun Xi broke free from Qi Rong's restraint and grabbed all the items on the bed that could be thrown and threw them at Qi Rong. But Qi Rong didn't dodge. He just let her vent, still smiling innocently.
"Where do you want me to go? This is my room."
"..."
Yun Xi's body stiffened. She quickly looked around. The stable decoration and simple furnishings made her angrily realize that this was really his room!
"Fine, I'll leave!"
Yun Xi got out of bed angrily. Just as she was about to pass Qi Rong, he hooked her waist. Losing her balance, she fell directly on Qi Rong.
"What are you doing?!"
Yun Xi was startled. She angrily beat Qi Rong, but he hugged her and gently comforted her:
"Don't struggle too hard. Be careful not to pull your wound."
Although after this period of recuperation and with Qi Rong's careful care, Yun Xi's wound had recovered to the point where she didn't feel obvious pain, she still had to be careful before it was completely healed.
Hearing Qi Rong's concern, Yun Xi didn't feel touched. Instead, her nose twitched, and she felt even more aggrieved.
She had just let go of her feelings about the two women in his mansion a few days ago and even wanted to start a good relationship with him. However, now he was flirting with other women everywhere. How could she trust him?
If her heart was hurt beyond repair, she didn't know if she still had the confidence to continue being with him...
Yun Xi hung her head and said nothing, but her eyes were filled with mist. Qi Rong felt heartache. He immediately sighed and gently lifted her chin to make her look at him.
"I carried you back all the way last night. My arms and hands are sore. Won't you rub them for me?"
Yun Xi turned her head away, and a tear dropped.
"Ask Cheng Caijie to rub them for you if your hands are sore! Anyway, I didn't ask you to bring me back!"
Yun Xi said angrily. She didn't want to look at Qi Rong's face because she was afraid she would cry.
"Okay! Don't be jealous. She won't bother you anymore in the future. I promise you."
Hearing Qi Rong's words, Yun Xi didn't appreciate it. She couldn't help but say stubbornly:
"Who's jealous? I don't like that stuff! You can find whoever you like. I don't need anyone's guarantee!"
She knew that her tantrum was irrational, but when she saw Qi Rong being ambiguous with other women, she couldn't control her jealousy.
If she hadn't promised him to stay in Lingchuan to deal with the matter of the Yan Cave, she might have just left!
Qi Rong didn't find Yun Xi's little temper annoying. Instead, he liked her vivid and straightforward expression very much. Because Yun Xi was too shy and always refused to admit that she cared about him on normal days. Only in this situation would she not hide her concern for him!
He admitted that he had deliberately made her jealous, so he did feel guilty.
Qi Rong sat up with her in his arms, gently kissed her angry cheek, and looked at her lovingly. He seriously explained:
"That woman is just a part of my plan. The only one I love is you."
"What part of the plan?"
Yun Xi was confused. She deliberately ignored the second half of Qi Rong's words and then looked at him suspiciously to see if he was making excuses.
Qi Rong knew what she was thinking. He smiled helplessly and tapped her nose.
"Don't you remember? I stopped the project of building the weir and the bridge before. The situation reported by the Lingjiang Weir was very different from what I sent people to survey on the spot. We had to overthrow the previous design drawings."
After being reminded by Qi Rong, Yun Xi suddenly remembered that there was indeed such an important thing.
Because the project of building the weir and the bridge was related to the livelihood and safety of hundreds of thousands of people downstream of the Lingjiang River, it couldn't be taken lightly at all.
Yun Xi temporarily stopped caring about the matter between Qi Rong and Cheng Caijie. She sat up straight and looked at Qi Rong seriously and said:
"So how did you solve it yesterday?"
She remembered that she had mistaken the sweet wine for a drink last night and finally got drunk and unconscious. She couldn't remember what happened later at all.
She didn't remember how she got back. She only remembered that she was very aggrieved at that time and was heartbroken by the fact that Qi Rong had a private meeting with Cheng Caijie.
Hearing Qi Rong's words today, she suddenly remembered the purpose of the banquet yesterday!
Seeing that Yun Xi finally calmed down and was willing to listen to him, Qi Rong briefly told Yun Xi what had happened last night.
Yun Xi was stunned. She couldn't help but sigh in her heart at this guy's tricky mind.
It was clearly a risky move. If he was a little careless, he would be in a situation of fighting alone and being "betrayed by everyone". But he took a different approach and openly turned it into a weapon to counter the officials!
Not only did these officials not dare to secretly inform the emperor, but they also united with him.
Qi Rong's strategy of "holding the emperor to order the vassals" would make it impossible for the emperor to stop them even if he wanted to after their new construction plan started!
Thinking of this, Yun Xi felt gratified and secretly praised Qi Rong for doing a good job.
However, she just couldn't figure out one thing.
What did this have to do with Cheng Caijie?
Just as Yun Xi was about to ask further, the voice of the guard suddenly came from outside the door:
"My lord, the officials have been waiting in the conference hall for a long time. They asked when you would go there?"
This was what Qi Rong had told them the previous night. Naturally, the officials didn't dare to be negligent for the sake of their own lives and futures.
Some of them even stayed up all night, racking their brains to check the data and trying to come up with a strategy.
As soon as it was dawn, they rushed to the conference hall. However, after discussing for a long time, they finally had different opinions and it was difficult to reach an agreement. They were eagerly waiting for Qi Rong to come and take charge of the situation. But they waited and waited, but still didn't see him.
So they asked the guard to come and find out about Qi Rong's situation.