Chapter 536: 536: Their Subtle Changes_1

As Wei Ruo ate, her mind was preoccupied with the calculations of provisions supply and daily expenditure.

The current continuous twelve-hour grain porridge distribution was a significant expense, but it wasn’t an immediate problem for her.

She had enough food stockpiled, with eight warehouses in her personal space alone filled with a decent amount of grains. These warehouses were all full before the disaster struck.

This was even after she had upgraded her warehouse not long ago, which added an additional one. Without this additional space, her stock would have been long overfilled.

In recent times, she had quietly transferred some of her stockpile to the Wang Residence, otherwise, her warehouses would have been overloaded.

However, as the disaster had no end in sight, if the court could not effectively carry out relief efforts, their porridge distribution at the city gate would only provide minimal help and wouldn’t bring any significant assistance to the people.

Wei Ruo was so deep in thought that she didn’t realize she was tilting her soup spoon, spilling scalding soup onto the back of her hand.

Scalded, Wei Ruo instinctively cried out and looked down at her hand.

Wei Jinyi quickly wiped away the hot soup on Wei Ruo’s hand with a napkin and led her outside.

In the courtyard of the Dawn Moon Teahouse echoed the sound of a spring; Wei Jinyi plunged Wei Ruo’s hand into the pond.

It was cold weather now, and the pond water was icy, but for some reason Wei Ruo felt a burning sensation somewhere in her body.

She looked up, at Wei Jinyi, who was holding her hand in the water behind her.

His expression was very serious as he stared intently at her hand, soaking in the water.

Being so close, she could almost feel the heat emanating from him.

After regaining her senses, Wei Ruo said to Wei Jinyi: “I’m fine, it’s not serious. I’ll just apply some burn ointment later.”

“Don’t always think about other things while eating. Whatever’s on your mind can wait. The disaster-stricken people do need help, but it’s not all on you.” Wei Jinyi said.

“How do you know I was thinking about disaster relief?”

“What else could be so serious that you would contemplate it even while eating?”

“I’m not worrying too much, just that if we have extra resources, we should help innocent people as much as possible.” Wei Ruo explained.

“That’s why you need to take care of yourself first. I don’t want you getting hurt over these things.” Wei Jinyi emphasized.

To him, the common people weren’t that important. What he cared about was her.

“Yes, I understand. Just now was just a small accident, it doesn’t count as getting hurt.”

“No matter how small, it is not acceptable.” Wei Jinyi’s expression was serious.

Looking into Wei Jinyi’s eyes, Wei Ruo could sense the concern and nervousness hidden under the sternness.

Wei Ruo felt a subtle sensation in her heart.

Xie Jue and Xie Ying, who had rushed out, looked at the two by the pool and simultaneously showed expressions of concern.

After a while, Wei Ruo went back to the box. As she walked down the corridor, Xie Ying suddenly reached out her hand and pulled her aside.

With a serious and slightly angry expression, Xie Ying said, “Ruo Ruo, you shouldn’t be like this!”

“What happened?” Wei Ruo asked.

“Although King Rui is weak, he treats you well. You can’t treat him like this!”

“I… him?”

Wei Ruo still didn’t understand what Xie Ying meant.

Stomping her foot in frustration, Xie Ying said, “Ruo Ruo, you and that guard! You can’t be like this!”

Wei Ruo was taken aback for a moment, then quickly realised what Xie Ying was referring to.

Did Yingying think that she was cuckolding King Rui?

Yingying didn’t know that King Rui and the guard Wang Jin were the same person, which caused the misunderstanding.

But Xie Ying’s words did remind Wei Ruo. Reflecting on her actions with Wei Jinyi, had there been any overly intimate behaviors?

She was shocked once she started to ponder it.

Even viewing her behavior with Wei Jinyi from a modern perspective, it did seem somewhat intimate.

Such behavior could be excused if they were siblings, but now that she knew he was not her brother, such actions appeared indeed inappropriate.

But why… why was this? She didn’t consider herself a casual person, so why did she keep crossing lines with her second brother?

“Ruo Ruo, are you even listening to me? This is serious!”

Xie Ying’s voice echoed again, pulling Wei Ruo back from her thoughts.

“No, Yingying, it’s not what you think. I haven’t done anything to betray King Rui.” Wei Ruo explained.

“Then what is it?” Xie Ying asked.

“This is a long story, but trust me, Yingying, everything I’m doing right now, including what’s happening between me and Wang Jin, King Rui knows all about it.” Wei Ruo assured Xie Ying seriously.

“King Rui knows? Is that true?”

“Yes!” Wei Ruo answered affirmatively.

“Does that mean… your relationship with Wang Jin is approved by King Rui? You’re trying to…”

“Stop, stop. Don’t say another word.” Wei Ruo was scared of what Xie Ying might say next.

“I just can’t think of any other reason that would allow King Rui to let you have such intimate behavior with a guard.” Xie Ying said.

“While I can’t explicitly tell you the specific reasons right now, but trust me, even if my relationship with King Rui is somewhat different from the typical husband and wife, I wouldn’t act improperly with another man behind his back.”

The intimate moments happened in front of him, with him.

Xie Ying studied Wei Ruo, and after a pause she said, “Okay, I believe you. If you say so, then it must be true.”

Xie Ying chose to believe Wei Ruo and then returned to the box room with her.

Inside the room, Xie Jue watched Wei Ruo with a strange look as she walked in.

Like Xie Ying, he seemed to be worried about Wei Ruo and Wang Jin’s relationship.

But it was not appropriate for him to confront Wei Ruo about it, so he could only look at his sister Xie Ying, his eyes full of worry.

After finishing lunch, Xie Jue and Xie Ying left first.

Before leaving, Xie Ying made arrangements with Wei Ruo to meet again at the East City Gate the next day.

After the two left, Wei Ruo and Wei Jinyi didn’t leave immediately.

The two originally intended to stay for a while for tea and deal with some matters, but Wei Ruo’s attention kept being drawn by Wei Jinyi.

Wei Ruo had been living in the King Rui Residence for some time now, but she hadn’t spent many days in Wei Jinyi’s company.

Because of the disaster relief efforts in recent days, the two had spent more time together.

Practically the entire day was spent with each other, which made Wei Ruo feel a strange ambivalence.

It was fine the first few days, but the little actions after today’s burn touched a nerve in Wei Ruo’s heart, making her realize that after this period of interaction, her emotional state had subtly changed without her noticing.