The carriage raced swiftly, heading straight for Hou Manor.
Xie Jinglan gazed at the person nestled against his neck, the one he had lost and regained, his thoughts churning like turbulent waves.
She wanted to escape!
To flee from him!
At this thought, Xie Jinglan felt as if his heart were being pierced by a knife.
Wen Ning’s consciousness seemed to have been plunged into the deep sea, drifting and sinking, unable to grasp anything solid.
Her breathing quickened slightly, and her fingertips suddenly brushed against soft fabric, while her nose was filled with a familiar, cool fragrance.
It was the Marquis…
Struggling to gather her senses, she slowly opened her eyes until she could clearly see the small dark mole on his throat—the same one she had discovered last time when she sucked the poison from his wound.
His expression was cold and stern, and he did not look at her.
Wen Ning extended a small hand, her trembling fingertips lifting with effort, barely crossing the few inches of space between them, only to be met with him turning his head away the moment she touched his jaw.
Her gaze dimmed, her fingers frozen mid-air, as chaotic images flashed through her mind—she had indeed tried to escape, only to be trapped by Wen Rao in a hidden compartment, and it was he who had rescued her.
The questions and explanations that had lingered between their lips remained unspoken.
And so, they traveled in silence.
Upon returning to Tingsong Courtyard, he placed her in the inner chamber, ordered two maids to bathe and change her clothes, then turned and left without hesitation.
In the stillness of the deep night, Wen Ning curled up in the corner of the bed, still unable to dispel the suffocating fear lingering in her heart.
Suddenly, the copper bells at the eaves chimed softly, the wind carrying a damp scent through the window lattice, followed by a clap of thunder and a downpour of heavy rain.
The low-hanging bed curtains and the flickering candlelight resembled the suffocating shadows within the hidden compartment.
Frightened, she closed her eyes, but the damp mustiness, the tightly bound ropes, the cramped wooden panels, and the thick darkness surged forth, pressing in on her relentlessly, squeezing her breath inch by inch.
Gasping for air, she buried her face helplessly in the brocade quilt, where the lingering scent of sandalwood from him offered slight relief to her taut nerves.
The night was like an impenetrable net, and her fearful nerves refused to release her even at midnight.
Her knuckles turned white as she clutched the corner of the quilt, and the small figure curled beneath it suddenly trembled upon hearing a faint sound outside the door. Ignoring the pain in her wrist, she pushed herself up, stepped barefoot from the bed, and stumbled toward the carved wooden door.
"Marquis…"
A yawning maid, who had been walking back, took half a step back in surprise as the door suddenly opened. "Miss?"
Scattered raindrops slanted under the eaves, stinging her eyes with a sudden heat. She lowered her abruptly dimmed gaze and asked, "Where is the Marquis?"
"The Marquis is in the study. He just ordered this servant to deliver a quilt there…"
Before the maid could finish, she saw the young lady dash barefoot into the rain.
Her feet splashed through puddles on the green bricks, the chill instantly creeping up her spine from her soles.
Only then did she hear the maid’s startled cry behind her, "Miss, you… please use the covered walkway."
The candlelight in the study flickered as the door was pushed open from the outside.
Xie Jinglan had just changed out of his sleeping robe and turned toward the door at the sound.
Instantly, his gaze sharpened like a blade tempered in fire, sweeping over her rain-drenched hair and down to her bare feet.
"You! Have you gone mad? What do you think you’re doing?"
Her rain-dampened toes left half-dry marks on the floor as she walked directly to him before stopping. "Marquis… this servant is afraid…"
Her peach-blossom eyes, on the verge of tears, were veiled in a mist of terror.
Her thin, plain silk inner robe was soaked through by the rain, clinging to her form and revealing the contours of her fullness, faintly hinting at the embroidered patterns of her smoke-blue inner garment beneath.
A few strands of dark hair clung to her slender, pale jade-like neck. Her rain-drenched face resembled a jasmine blossom after a storm, beautiful to the point of eerie allure.
Xie Jinglan’s Adam’s apple moved soundlessly. When he lifted his gaze again, his eyes were icy and profound.
“Afraid? You seemed quite capable when you were running away!”
Yes, how absurd—to flee from him, yet now to yearn for his comfort and embrace.
In childhood, after bouts of fear and anxiety, she would throw herself into her mother’s arms. Her mother would stroke her sweat-dampened temples over and over until the terror in her heart dissipated.
But now, she wanted the Marquis to calm her spirit.
Wen Ning bit her lip, wanting to explain but unsure how to begin. She forced out a stiff sentence: “The Marquis has shown kindness to this servant. This servant should not have fled.”
“Kindness?” Xie Jinglan’s lips slowly curved into a cold smile. “Kindness that began with five taels of silver?”
His large hand gripped her chin, his eyes dark as an abyss. “And then? Then you were to guard your chastity for your husband, and guard your heart for a scholar. Yet even so, for the sake of that five taels of silver, you went against your own will, staying in Tingsong Courtyard unwillingly and resentfully. Only I became the one who forced you into difficulty. So you despise me, you want to stay far away from me—is that not so?”
“No, that’s not it…” Her body trembled, tears blurring her vision. She nearly blurted out the truth, yet the truth seemed even more cruel. Sobbing, she only said, “This servant… this servant is not worthy of the Marquis’s pity. Staying by the Marquis’s side would only ruin the Marquis’s reputation.”
“Hmph! So you ran away for my sake!”
Rage and pain surged in Xie Jinglan’s eyes, but they froze abruptly the moment he saw her shattered expression. As if all strength had left him, his fingers suddenly loosened, and his voice turned cold as ice. “Get out!”
Wen Ning staggered back two steps. Her fingertips trembled slightly; she wanted to grasp his sleeve but ultimately did not dare.
She slowly turned around and stepped over the threshold. Her wrist, resting on the study doorframe, shook faintly. Around the deep purple bloodstains left by the rope, scabs had peeled open, oozing tiny beads of blood.
Already soaked through, her body was once again enveloped by the rain. The cold instantly seeped into her bones.
Her steps were unsteady, as if she might collapse at any moment.
But she was abruptly pulled back by a forceful tug, her back colliding solidly against his warm chest.
“Damn it!” he cursed under his breath, scooping her up into his arms.
“Back to the inner chamber, or here?” His anger clearly hadn’t subsided, yet he still asked her.
“With the Marquis.” Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible. Her small arms, covered in bloodstains, trembled slightly as they slipped beneath his arms, then tightly encircled his waist.
Xie Jinglan felt helpless. At times she was soft and clear, at times distant and elusive. He couldn’t see through her—what was he to do with her?
He tightened his arms, turned toward the corridor, and strode toward the inner chamber.
Allowing him to remove her clothes, dry her body, and apply medicine to her wounds, Wen Ning remained buried in his embrace, her cheek pressed tightly against his chest, gradually dispelling the trembling deep in her bones.
Seeing her slender shoulders still quivering slightly, Xie Jinglan thought it was due to the wind and rain. “I’ll have someone prepare hot water to warm you up.”
“No, don’t.” Her fingertips tightened against his back, and she buried her face even deeper.
"I suffer from Wei Bi Zheng, where entering enclosed spaces causes my qi to reverse and my spirit to become disordered. If I remain in such a place for too long, I will later experience symptoms of anxiety, just as I did moments ago. Therefore, I… I fear being alone in a room. If only the Marquis would let me hold on for a while, just for a while, it would be enough."
Xie Jinglan's heart tightened instantly. "If I had not boarded that painted boat today…" His slender fingers gripped her chin tightly, his eyes filled with a tide of anger. "Would you have left me like this, regardless of the consequences?"
His knuckles suddenly tightened with force. Wen Ning winced in pain, her eyes instantly welling with tears. The delicate skin beneath his fingers flushed red, and she bit down hard on her lower lip, her voice trembling. "I am guilty, troubling the Marquis to go to such lengths. I submit to whatever punishment the Marquis deems fit."
Seeing the faint return of color to the face of the person in his arms, the fingers gripping her chin loosened slightly. His thumb slowly moved upward, covering the bead of blood left by her bite, and gently smeared it away.
The pressure was neither light nor heavy, yet it made her breath catch.
"If there is a next time, I will not spare you!"