...
"Pfft—cough cough cough cough!"
Upon hearing these utterly shameless and indecent words, Xuan Hao, who had just picked up his cup and taken a sip of water, immediately spat it all out without any regard for his image, letting out a violent cough.
He was instantly overwhelmed with a deep sense of despair and exhaustion.
"What kind of garbage are you guys thinking about all day long?!"
Xuan Hao wiped the tea from the corner of his mouth and cried out in despair, "I swear!
There was absolutely, absolutely no inappropriate physical contact between me and His Highness the Crown Prince! This was purely an accident!"
Xuan Hao began to talk nonsense in a serious tone:
"His Highness the Crown Prince came to visit me today.
Seeing that I was weak and exhausted these past few days because of my powerful attack, he thought he would take advantage of my weakness and sit on me like a good buddy to tease me and get revenge for my usual sharp tongue."
"He had barely sat down when he accidentally tore his clothes, and then you guys suddenly burst in!"
Xuan Hao shrugged helplessly.
"But between us, we only had a little bit of physical contact and intimacy; there was absolutely nothing perverted like you're imagining!"
Ning Rongrong narrowed her eyes suspiciously, clearly not entirely believing this explanation:
"Oh? It really was just a little bit 'intimate'?
Then... those 'private little games' you usually play with us, Prince Xue Qinghe... he probably didn't play them with you, right?"
"..."
Xuan Hao was speechless for a moment, then rolled his eyes dramatically:
"Do you think that's possible?!
Even if I, Xuan Hao, were truly insane, I would never go and play that kind of game with a man, okay?!"
Ning Rongrong thought for a moment, recalling the stimulating scene on the bed that had made her blush, and said confidently, "Pshaw, you tore your clothes off, he was on top of you, and you even turned the tables and pinned him down.
Things have progressed to this point, what's impossible?"
"I..."
Xuan Hao was speechless after being rebuked.
He helplessly covered his face and could only explain in a desperate manner, "My relationship with Xue Qinghe is at most... at most about the same as my relationship with Zhu Qing! At most, we've only been a little bit closer!"
Xuan Hao pointed at this group of troublemakers and roared angrily, "Even if he really has some ideas, they are definitely not as wild as the ladies here!"
Zhu Zhuqing, who was suddenly pulled out by Xuan Hao to be a shield, was standing quietly to the side eating melon.
Upon hearing this, her delicate body trembled violently, and her beautiful face, which was usually cold and aloof, instantly turned red.
She lowered her head helplessly, her two hands nervously twisting together.
No, what does this have to do with her?
She and Xuan Hao had a completely innocent relationship.
Apart from the occasional simple hug when needed for battle, they had never had any intimate contact!
Why make such a weird comparison with her?!
However, Ning Rongrong and the others remained suspicious of Xuan Hao's "what's the use of trying" explanation.
In fact, their gazes toward Xuan Hao now carried an uncontrollable hint of disdain and strangeness.
This bastard is a womanizer and a scumbag, and they just have to accept it.
After all, they had always known what kind of person this guy was since they were little; he never turned down pretty girls.
But if a man suddenly appeared in his huge harem now... then the nature of the matter would completely change!
As the initial excitement and perverse novelty of breaking taboos faded, what followed was a strange sense of unease that gave them goosebumps.
"Alright, alright, stop looking at me like that."
Seeing the growing disgust in the girls' eyes, Xuan Hao felt utterly exhausted.
He waved his hand weakly, "Everything I said is true.
If you really don't believe me... then forget it. Just consider me unclean.
I'm exhausted and have no energy to waste here with you all. I'm going back to sleep."
With that, Xuan Hao sighed, propped himself up on his knees, and stood up, making as if to return to his room and shut himself away from guests.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't go! Explain yourself!"
Seeing that Xuan Hao was trying to slip away, Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu reacted quickly, reaching out from both sides to pull him back and forcefully pressing him back onto the sofa.
"It's not that we don't believe you, it's just... it just feels so strange!"
Ning Rongrong bit her lip, looking at him with conflicted eyes, and finally couldn't help but voice her most terrible worry:
"Xuanhao, think about it, what if these two men really get together... What if, I mean what if!
What if you're in a vulnerable position and accidentally get 'passively' taken advantage of by him?!"
Ning Rongrong became more and more agitated as she spoke, her eyes reddening with emotion:
"If you were the one who took the initiative, we could grit our teeth and accept it!
But if you were the one who got pinned down, how are we girls supposed to face you afterward? We'd have nowhere to cry!"
"That's right, bro!"
Xiao Wu, equally anxious, stamped her feet and added an even more chilling hypothetical scenario:
"And what's even scarier is that His Highness the Crown Prince sees us all all the time. Since he can even lay a hand on men, what if... what if one day he suddenly develops some ulterior motive towards us girls?!
Wouldn't that be impossible to guard against?!"
"..."
Listening to the increasingly outrageous, even outrageous, imaginative scenarios of these girls, Xuan Hao sat on the sofa, his lips twitching uncontrollably, feeling utterly on the verge of tears.
What the hell is this?!
How could someone come up with such a ridiculous story as being "taken down" by "Xue Qinghe"?!
Xuan Hao took a deep breath, covered his face with his hands, and struggled and hesitated painfully in his heart for a long time.
If they continue to make wild guesses and fill in the blanks, the label of "the most perverted gay man in the world" will be welded to my head and I won't be able to take it off.
So be it, things have come to this. Better to die for a friend than for myself!
Xue'er, I'm sorry!
Xuan Hao abruptly lowered his hands, raised his head, and solemnly swept his gaze over everyone present, making a difficult decision.
"Alright, stop guessing! I'll be honest with you!"
Xuan Hao took a deep breath.
"Actually... Xue Qinghe is a woman."
"..."
Upon hearing this, the previously noisy chatter in the room vanished instantly.
The air seemed to freeze completely at that moment.
"..."
Upon hearing Xuan Hao's earth-shattering "confession," the room fell into a brief and eerie silence.
A few seconds later, Ning Rongrong was the first to react.
Her face turned bright red, and her eyes instantly filled with tears of grievance and anger.
"Xuanhao! Do you think we're all three-year-olds, so easy to fool?!"
Ning Rongrong was trembling with anger.
She pointed at him and shouted, "To cover up the fact that you were having an affair with him, you even made up such a ridiculous lie as 'the Crown Prince is a woman'?!
Do you really think we would believe such illogical nonsense?"
"Xuanhao, what do you take us for?" Ning Rongrong bit her lip, tears streaming down her face.
"Even if you really are with Xue Qinghe... even if I'm angry and feel wronged, do you think I'd throw a tantrum and force you to give him up?
We asked you so many questions just now because we were worried you'd get hurt, worried you'd be bullied by him! How dare you lie to us like this!"
Seeing Ning Rongrong crying her eyes out, and Xiao Wu and the others looking angry and disappointed, Xuan Hao rubbed his temples in exasperation.
Why is it so hard to tell the truth these days?
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