The Minister: Cold by Day, Hot by Night-Chapter 65: In the Dream, the Man’s Warning

A vein throbbed on the man’s temple. He snapped, "How audacious!"

Zhi Wan pouted, bored. She pulled the covers over herself and lay back down on the bed. "So prim and proper. In that case, don’t come looking for me anymore."

"Of course," the man replied in a low voice.

Zhi Wan huffed and pulled the covers over her head.

After a moment, she pulled the covers back again to see if the man was still there. She found him sitting at her desk, flipping through something.

Thinking of her paintings, Zhi Wan shrieked and scrambled out of bed.

"Don’t you dare go through my things!"

She threw her entire body onto the desk, pinning all her paintings underneath her.

The man watched her coolly. With a long finger, he flicked the painting he was holding and said with a half-smile, "Do you make a living from your art, miss?"

Only then did Zhi Wan see that he was still holding one of her paintings.

In the painting, a handsome man with long, unbound hair was emerging from a misty pool, his upper body bare.

It was a portrait of a handsome man bathing.

A glint flashed in Zhi Wan’s eyes. Seeing that he hadn’t yet realized, she lunged to snatch it back, but she tripped on the leg of the desk and fell right into the man’s arms.

The man, his arms suddenly full of a soft, warm, fragrant woman, froze for a second. With one hand supporting Zhi Wan’s waist and the other holding the painting high above his head, he said coolly, "Still drawing such improper pictures..." He paused, and as if a thought struck him, he brought the painting back down to examine it.

His expression faltered, and his dark eyes narrowed. "Perhaps you’d care to explain, miss, just who is the person in this painting?"

Seeing that he remembered, Zhi Wan’s gaze flickered. She swiftly snatched the painting back, gathered all the others on the desk with lightning speed, and then took several steps back.

"I just drew it for fun. Don’t read too much into it."

"I shouldn’t read too much into it?" The man gave a humorless laugh. "I’ll give you one chance. Burn this painting. Otherwise, if I ever see it circulating on the market, I will hold you responsible."

Zhi Wan struggled to remain composed. "I only draw for my own amusement, to look at myself. Why would it ever end up on the market?" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The man eyed her suspiciously. "You don’t draw for the bookstores?"

"Of course not." Zhi Wan’s tone was righteous. "What kind of person do you take me for? Why would I need to rely on this to make a living?"

At her words, Lu Zhan surveyed the bedchamber.

The room was large, and every detail was exquisitely and luxuriously arranged. It was clear the young woman before him came from a wealthy background.

Zhi Wan studied his expression and said sternly, "The person in the painting really isn’t you. It’s a character I made up. You can’t just see a picture of someone bathing and assume it’s you, can you? It’s not like you’re the only one who bathes. Do you think no one else has a pool this large? Don’t be so conceited!"

The man’s deep eyes stared at her for a moment before he nodded. "I hope you’re not lying. Otherwise, I will hunt you down!"

Those words were like a curse.

Zhi Wan shuddered violently and snapped awake.

She stared at the canopy of her bed, realizing she had been dreaming again.

Thinking of the man’s warning in the dream, she broke out in a cold sweat.

She quickly got up and rushed to her desk. Sure enough, the portrait of the handsome man bathing was right there on the tabletop.

’I was too careless. To think I let him see this painting.’

This painting was, in fact, something she had drawn based on a previous dream.

Just in case, she put the painting away, deciding not to sell it to the bookstore after all.

After tidying up her drafts, she returned to bed but found she couldn’t fall back asleep.

She felt very confused, thinking about how the man in her dream had said he would take responsibility for her.

It wasn’t the first time she had dreamed of the man. They had dreamed together so many times before and done such intimate things, yet he had never mentioned taking responsibility for her.

Why would he suddenly decide to take responsibility this time?

’Could it be... he thinks I’m a real person?’

A jolt went through her at the thought.

’Does that mean... the man is real, too?’

The more Zhi Wan thought about it, the more alarmed she became.

But then again, she thought, even if he was real, he wasn’t necessarily in the Capital.

Great Chen Country was so vast; finding a single person would be no easy task.

She refused to believe that man truly had the ability to hunt her down.

With that thought, she set her mind at ease.

「Meanwhile, at Qingyun Residence.」

Lu Zhan also woke up.

His brows furrowed as he thought about what had happened in the dream.

That woman had actually refused his offer to take responsibility, and even said she planned to recruit a live-in husband.

The reason he had offered to take responsibility was that he was certain she was a real person.

He just didn’t know which family’s young lady she was, or if she was in the Capital.

And then there was that painting...

Lu Zhan’s expression darkened when he thought of the bathing portrait.

She’d even claimed it wasn’t him in the painting. Although the face was different and the background had been altered, he could still tell it was a painting of him, and the setting was his own private bathing chamber.

’What an audacious woman.’

He raised a hand and kneaded the bridge of his nose, thinking about the clues he had gathered in the dream.

It wouldn’t be difficult to find out which families in the Capital were looking to recruit a live-in husband.

His only fear was that the young woman didn’t live in the Capital at all.

If she wasn’t from the Capital, finding her would be much more difficult.

Also, he needed to have someone keep an eye on the major bookstores to ensure that bathing portrait didn’t show up on the market in the Capital.

He had warned the woman, but since she had dared to draw him in the first place, she might not take his warning to heart.

Of course, if the woman didn’t live in the Capital and the painting circulated somewhere he didn’t know about, there would be nothing he could do.

...

「The next day.」

After Zhi Wan dropped off her paintings at the bookstore, she stopped by her shop to check on it.

Although it wasn’t as bustling as yesterday, business at the shop was still quite good, with a steady stream of customers coming in to buy pastries.

Seeing that Zhao Dong and his wife were managing the shop in an orderly fashion, she felt reassured and didn’t stay long.

She and Shuang’er strolled down the street for a while and bought some snacks. Just as they were about to head back, a heavy rain suddenly began to fall.

The downpour was so sudden that even though the two of them reacted quickly and ran to a nearby teahouse, their dresses still got a little wet.

"What is with this wretched weather? Why did it suddenly start pouring?" Shuang’er complained as she took out a handkerchief to dab the rainwater off Zhi Wan’s dress.

Zhi Wan also frowned, looking at the sky that had abruptly turned dark and gloomy.

She and Shuang’er hadn’t taken a carriage today. Seeing that the rain was unlikely to stop anytime soon, she started to worry.

"What should we do, miss? I’m afraid this rain won’t stop so quickly," Shuang’er said anxiously.

Zhi Wan glanced at the teahouse behind them and decided, "Then let’s get a private room. We can go inside, drink some tea, and watch the rain. We’ll head back when it stops."

Just as Shuang’er was about to agree, a horse-drawn carriage suddenly drove toward them through the torrential rain.

"Miss!" Chen Jiu reined in the horses.

"Miss, it’s Chen Jiu!" Shuang’er said, her face lighting up with joy.

When Zhi Wan turned to look, she saw Chen Jiu get out of the carriage holding an umbrella and hurry toward them.

"Miss, get in the carriage, quickly. I’m afraid this rain won’t stop even by nightfall."

Hearing this, Zhi Wan looked at the sky, then at the carriage, and said with some hesitation, "Is my cousin in the carriage?"

Chen Jiu nodded. "Yes. It was the Princely Heir who saw you here and ordered me to bring the carriage over."

Hearing that Lu Zhan was in the carriage, Zhi Wan became hesitant.

"Miss, please get in the carriage. Don’t keep the Princely Heir waiting," Chen Jiu urged, then handed the umbrella to Shuang’er.

Shuang’er looked to Zhi Wan for permission. When Zhi Wan nodded, she took the umbrella, helped her into the carriage, and then got in herself.

Inside the carriage, Zhi Wan called out stiffly, "Cousin."

Lu Zhan was reading a book. He looked up as she entered and, noticing rainwater clinging to the tips of her hair, handed her a dry cloth. "Wipe it."