Chapter 101: I Can Explain, Do You Believe Me? (Fourth Watch)

At this moment, the carriage carrying Ling Shangguan was filled with an ambiguous atmosphere.

Ling Shangguan was seated atop Fang Xu, who lay quietly beneath her. The posture seemed intimate, yet there was an odd sense of discord. Shouldn't Fang Xu have been on top? In truth, Fang Xu had no idea what on earth was happening.

The most awkward part was that Ling Shangguan was sitting directly on Fang Xu’s lower body, and the carriage’s shock absorption was far from perfect. This caused constant jolting along the bumpy road, making Ling Shangguan fidget uncontrollably atop Fang Xu.

If Fang Xu weren’t exerting all his strength to suppress the primal energy within him, or if he weren’t so loyal to Qin Suwen, he might have lost control by now. After all, when a great beauty is sitting on you, either you’re a woman or you’re as virtuous as Liu Xianghui! Any normal man would find it hard not to react, and Fang Xu felt the veins on his neck throbbing with tension.

“Miss Shangguan, can we talk about this properly? Could you please let me go?” Unable to bear it any longer, Fang Xu finally asked.

But Ling Shangguan, seated firmly on top, seemed not to hear him at all. She pressed down even harder on his hands, to the point where Fang Xu felt his wrists might snap.

“Miss Shangguan! Please calm down! Miss Shangguan! Calm down!” Fang Xu shouted, but to his surprise, Ling Shangguan started to tug at his clothes, causing him to panic.

“I... I feel... I feel so strange...” Ling Shangguan’s cheeks flushed rosy, her eyes glistening as if ready to spill tears. She gazed at Fang Xu in such a way that he felt he was truly losing control.

“Damn it!” To avoid being stripped bare, Fang Xu struggled back fiercely, reversing their positions: now he was on top and Ling Shangguan beneath him.

Originally, Fang Xu intended to get up and give Ling Shangguan a moment to calm down, as her behavior was truly unusual. But Ling Shangguan’s shapely legs locked tightly around his waist, nearly breaking his slender frame.

Looking down at Ling Shangguan’s tender skin, Fang Xu swallowed hard. It was an unavoidable situation; after all, he had been a virgin in his past life and remained so in this one, his resistance was far from strong.

“I... I want to...” Ling Shangguan looked at him shyly, her moist lips parting slightly.

“Damn it! If I keep holding out now, do you think I’m impotent?!” Fang Xu muttered to himself, insisting it wasn’t his fault.

Just as his hand touched the belt at Ling Shangguan’s waist, the carriage door suddenly opened.

An awkward tension replaced the charged atmosphere. The door was opened by Old Wu, with Zhuge Jun standing behind him.

They had arrived at the venue for the evening banquet. Old Wu, worried about Fang Xu’s safety since he and Ling Shangguan hadn’t come out yet, had come to check on them. Zhuge Jun shared his concern.

No one expected that upon opening the door, they would see Fang Xu on top of Ling Shangguan in such a compromising position, seemingly about to do something inappropriate.

For a moment, the expressions on Fang Xu, Old Wu, and Zhuge Jun’s faces all turned sour. Ling Shangguan, feeling the cold air from outside, immediately regained her composure.

Her glance took in the scene before her, making her cheeks flush even deeper.

“I... I can explain...” Fang Xu hurriedly spoke, hoping Ling Shangguan wouldn’t misunderstand.

“Explain? Explain what? How do you explain your hands?!” Ling Shangguan smiled coldly, while Fang Xu suddenly realized his hand was still on her belt, poised to undo it. His face flushed with embarrassment.

“If I say it was an accident, would you believe me, Miss Shangguan?” Fang Xu asked awkwardly, but Ling Shangguan’s expression clearly said, “What do you think?”

“Smack!” The crisp slap echoed — that was Ling Shangguan’s answer.

After getting out of the carriage, Fang Xu felt his heart ache and longed to explain himself.

But Ling Shangguan stood with her arms crossed, acting as if she didn’t know him at all. Meanwhile, Zhuge Jun admired Fang Xu as if he were his elder brother.

Ling Shangguan was the only daughter of the Shangguan family, the cherished darling of the patriarch Shangguan Lao Ye. Anyone who dared to offend her risked incurring the patriarch’s wrath.

Even Murong Fu might hesitate to cross her.

Now Fang Xu had not only done something to Ling Shangguan but had “pushed her down” in the most scandalous sense, which left Zhuge Jun in disbelief.

Along the way, Zhuge Jun had treated Fang Xu like an elder brother. No matter what Zhuge Jun said, it always related to Ling Shangguan, even praising her virtues at this moment.

Fang Xu couldn’t help but glare at Zhuge Jun, wondering why he hadn’t realized Zhuge Jun was such a fool. Was he not obvious enough? Or did he intend to get another slap from Ling Shangguan?

Fang Xu now focused on the so-called banquet, though the surrounding guests all looked at him strangely.

He understood the situation clearly and knew his identity was utterly out of place here.

Ling Shangguan was busy chatting with other young ladies nearby, so Fang Xu had Zhuge Jun explain the scene.

Most attendees were children of the southern prefect’s officials or scions of the four great local noble families.

They had gathered here for a carefully arranged auction, which caught Fang Xu somewhat off guard.

What was an auction? Naturally, it was these noble scions presenting their rare and peculiar treasures, hoping to exchange them for other strange and valuable items.