The Devious First-Daughter

Ning Xueyan didn’t expect that Ao Chenyi would come back earlier than Wen Xueran who went to deliver the message.

At that time, she was leaning against the couch by the window in a daze. She felt as if she had fallen apart and felt pain all over. She knew that some parts of her body had been scraped, but it was inappropriate to treat such minor injuries here.

This place belonged to Wen Xueran. Although he had gone out to deliver the message at this moment, she could be considered staying in a man’s place. If she was not cautious enough, there would be some rumors which would ruin her reputation.

Therefore, she could not treat those injuries and had to keep them the way they were, otherwise, she would be unable to explain it.

Suddenly, the half-closed door was pushed open, and Ao Chenyi appeared at the door. He saw Ning Xueyan lying sideways on the couch and curling up like a wounded animal, with a hint of tenderness across his deep eyes. When he saw the bloodstains on Ning Xueyan’s body, his handsome face suddenly became cold.

He waved, and the imperial guards coming down with him quickly dispersed and looked around vigilantly.

When Ning Xueyan was half conscious, she felt that someone was looking at her. With her long eyelashes fluttering, she subconsciously opened her dim eyes and looked into the pair of long and cold eyes. She blinked, and then woke up from her daze and tried to sit up with her arms.

As she exerted herself with her arms, a trace of bloodstain became faintly visible on her wrist.

“You’ve been seriously injured and still try to move,” Ao Chenyi said impatiently. He came over, picked her up, took off the cloak on his back and covered her with it. After that, he turned and walked out of the room with her in his arms. Seeing him come out, the imperial guards outside hurriedly approached him.

Ning Xueyan had been struggling for staying awake before. Even if Wen Xueran left, she didn’t allow herself to lose consciousness due to her inexplicable vigilance against Wen Xueran. Now seeing Ao Chenyi’s cold and deep eyes, she inexplicably relaxed. She could smell his unique scent which was clean and cold.

Standing by this guy, she felt the colder atmosphere than others did, and he had chilling aura. Others were frightened even in the range of his aura, not to mention to look at him. However, Ning Xueyan didn’t feel the same way. Unable to refuse him, she let out a long sigh of relief and then fell into darkness again.

Ao Chenyi wasn’t Wen Xueran. Although Ao Chenyi held her in his arms, no one could say anything about it since they were about to get married.

It was evening when she woke up again. She felt stiff all over as if she was tied up by something, extremely uncomfortable. She moved her limbs slightly and frowned with no idea where she was at the moment.

“Young Lady… Young Lady, you wake up finally!” Hearing the sound from the bed, Lanning put down the medicine bowl in her hands, walked to the bed, and lifted the gauze curtain. She looked at Ning Xueyan inside with her eyes turning red. Although she was steady, she was still a teenage girl. Seeing her master seriously injured, she had secretly shed tears.

Ning Xueyan thought the same as Qingyu did. If she had known it earlier, she would have let Xinmei attend upon their master. Qingyu had told her everything. If Xinmei went with their master, their master wouldn’t fall into such a situation.

“I’m fine!” Ning Xueyan said in a hoarse voice and forced a smile, “How’s Qingyu?”

“Young Lady, Qingyu is fine. She said that she will come to see you later.” Lanning hurriedly wiped her tears and answered, for fear of making their master sad.

Their master was so badly injured, but was still concerned about Qingyu at this moment. How could she not be moved? Moreover, Qingyu said that it was their master who dragged her to jump off the carriage at that time. Otherwise, how could she still be alive now? It was also their master who got rid of the two punks. Speaking of this, as a maid, she couldn’t do anything to help their master survive the accident. Because of this, Qingyu blamed herself and felt sad. She had been cried in the wing room since she woke up.

Later, Mother Han managed to persuade her to calm down. But she still intended to struggle to come and see their master. Lanning stopped Qingyu on the excuse that their master was still unconscious and needed to have a good rest.

“That’s good. I’m fine.” Ning Xueyan nodded with difficulty. She squinted at the room and found that she was not in her room, “Where, where is it?”

“It’s the wing room of Cold Mountain Temple. Prince Yi brought you here, and then instructed someone to bring me and Mother Han here for taking care of you.” Lanning walked over and touched the medicine bowl. Feeling the temperature appropriate, she brought the medicine bowl to the bed and intended to feed Ning Xueyan.

“Has Yan’er woken up?” Ao Chenyi came in through the door. Lanning hurried to take a few steps back and replied with a bow.

“You can leave now.” Ao Chenyi waved with a trace of smile across his handsome face. However, seeing his smile, Lanning couldn’t help being frightened. But she didn’t want to leave as he instructed, so she pointed at the medicine bowl on the bedside and said, “Your Highness, I still need to help my master take medicine.”

“I’ll help your master. Leave now!” Ao Chenyi said impatiently. He directly walked past Lanning, sat down beside Ning Xueyan’s bed and reached out to pick up the medicine bowl on the side.

Lanning hesitated for a moment. She was really worried about leaving her master alone.

“Leave!” Ning Xueyan said to Lanning in a hoarse voice. She hadn’t spoken for a long time. Besides, she had lost too much blood. So she talked in a voice a little bit hoarse than usual.

Lanning didn’t leave until Ning Xueyan instructed her to.

Ao Chenyi reached out to help Ning Xueyan, who was tied up and could not move, up and let her nestled in his arms. After that, he picked up the medicine bowl and carefully fed the medicine to Ning Xueyan spoon by spoon.

It was quiet in the room, and only the smoke of sandalwoods was curling up from the corner of the room. When the spoon approached, Ning Xueyan opened her mouth subconsciously and looked at Ao Chenyi’s handsome face with her eyes like dark jade. With no coldness in his eyes, Ao Chenyi looked increasingly gentle and handsome like jade, totally different from his usual impression on others.

His nose was like a porcine gallbladder, and his lips were bright red. His curling black long eyelashes made him look gorgeous and charming.

Compared with Wen Xueran, who was as pretty as a girl, Ao Chenyi now gave the impression that he was handsome and wicked. In terms of the delicacy of their facial features, Wen Xueran and Ao Chenyi could be considered equally matched like Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang (two famous ancient handsome men). However, people in the capital only talked about how handsome Wen Xueran was because Prince Yi was “known for being fierce”.

No one dared to talk about Prince Yi’s appearance.

“Am I good-looking?” Ao Chenyi suddenly put down the spoon in his hand, raised the corners of his mouth and looked at Ning Xueyan with a faint smile, but a hint of coldness rose in his eyes. She could tell that he was still angry at this moment. Although she didn’t know why he was angry, she could at least avoid annoying him.

This guy seemed to be looking at her, but was actually very dangerous.

She blinked as if she suddenly realized that she was being impolite. However, she did not take her eyes off him, but said with a smile instead, “Of course, Your Highness is good-looking. You are the best-looking person I’ve ever seen.”

The best-looking person she had ever seen! It meant that no one could compare with him. In the past, if such a comment on his appearance went out, he would definitely not let go of the one who said this. But now, it was Ning Xueyan who said this. For the sake that she was still injured, he just let it go.

As a noble prince, he should certainly tolerate a sick little girl so as not to beneath his dignity.

Seeing his reflection in Ning Xueyan’s watery eyes like belonging to a little beast, he felt his heart softened inexplicably. He snorted to indicate that he was somewhat satisfied. After that, he scooped up another spoonful of medicine and gently fed it to Ning Xueyan. It was very bitter, but Ning Xueyan could stand it after taking medicine so many years.

Nevertheless, didn’t he know that it was more unbearable to drink it mouthful by mouthful than to drink it all at once?

“Your Highness, can I drink it all at once?” Ning Xueyan bit her lip and said reluctantly. Although she had been used to the bitter medicine, she still found it unbearable to drink it mouthful by mouthful. One should be beheaded no mater he stretched out his head or shrank his head. She would rather drink it all at once and suffer once.

Ao Chenyi looked at the medicine bowl in his hand, and then watched Ning Xueyan frown because of the bitter medicine. He also frowned and muttered unhappily. After that, he put down the spoon in his hand, carefully put it in front of Ning Xueyan’s mouth, and slowly poured it down. Ning Xueyan quickly opened her mouth and drank the medicine obediently.

Although he said it in a light voice just now, she could hear it clearly.

“It takes a lot of work to feed the medicine!” Hearing his voice, she knew that he had never served anyone, so she drank it hurriedly. This guy had never got a good temper.

Putting down the bowl in his hand, Ao Chenyi unnaturally took out a piece of preserved fruit from the jar beside him and put it into Ning Xueyan’s mouth. After that, he took the handkerchief Ning Xueyan had put aside, wiped Ning Xueyan’s mouth with it and then threw it aside.

He did it neither too quickly nor too slowly, and his movements could even be considered quite elegant. However, Prince Yi, who was arrogant and chilling with the Dynasty’s fate in his hands, did it in an extremely unnatural way. With the preserved fruit in her mouth, Ning Xueyan couldn’t help showing a playful smile. Unexpectedly, Ao Chenyi could be so unnatural, which was completely different from his aura as Prince Yi.

“The two punks are dead. They look like two ordinary punks on the street, but are more highly-skilled in martial arts than ordinary punks. As a Young Lady of Lord Protector’s Manor, how did you offend ordinary punks? What’s more, they intended to kill you.” Ao Chenyi patted Ning Xueyan’s hand and deliberately pressed the wound on her wrist. Ning Xueyan couldn’t help crying out in pain. The mocking smile on her face turned into a bitter smile immediately. She intended to press her wrist with a miserable look.

However, since plenty of parts of her body were tied up, it was not so convenient for her to move for a moment. She actually felt the wounds on other parts of her body hurt. With an urge to cry rising in her crystal-like eyes, she became tearful like an abandoned little beast which looked very pitiful. However, Prince Yi was still unmoved. He looked at her coldly and showed no intention of letting her go.

“Of course I wouldn’t offend such punks. We are in totally different worlds, unless someone instructed them to kill me,” Ning Xueyan said discontentedly. She was the most unlucky one. She was scared to death and almost died. Now she had to be tied up and lying on the bed like this, and this guy seemed to be interrogating her.