“Hold me tighter, please…” Wen Ning made her request without restraint, and indeed felt the arms embracing her tighten even more.
Her eyelashes fluttered lightly as she slowly opened her eyes amidst the faint scent of sandalwood.
The moment her consciousness returned, she first felt the softness of the brocade beneath her.
This? It wasn’t her coarse cotton bedding, nor was it the brick floor of the firewood shed.
This was… the Marquis’s study!
She was actually lying on the soft couch in the Marquis’s study!
Wasn’t she in the firewood shed with Tang Zhu…
Could it be that the Marquis had saved her?
Then the man she dreamed of carrying her horizontally must have been—the Marquis!
But what nonsense had she babbled while in the Marquis’s arms!
Startled, Wen Ning pushed herself up, and the thin quilt in front of her slid down. The sudden chill that washed over her brought her fully awake.
Looking down, she was horrified to find herself completely exposed, with not a single thread covering her body. Bruises bloomed beneath her porcelain-white skin, which shone with a pearl-like luster, making the injuries appear even more shocking.
This!
Fear poured over her like cold water, and Wen Ning hurriedly pulled the quilt up to wrap around herself.
“Don’t be afraid, miss.”
A gentle woman’s voice sounded.
Wen Ning looked up anxiously and saw a middle-aged woman standing beside a small table. She wore a narrow-sleeved cross-collar short jacket and a plain ankle-length skirt, and was placing several bottles and jars into a medicine chest.
“I am a physician the Marquis invited from outside the manor to treat your injuries. I used to serve as an army medic.”
She took a few steps closer, stopping at an appropriate distance. “Just now, I applied ointment to your wounds, which required removing your clothes. These ointments are all excellent for relieving pain and dispersing bruises. In no more than three days, you will recover.”
Hearing this, Wen Ning’s tense shoulders relaxed slightly, and she indeed felt that her condition had improved.
“Thank you, doctor.”
But when her gaze fell on the pulse pillow beside the medicine chest, her heart tightened again. “You… took my pulse?”
The female physician nodded.
“Then…” Wen Ning hesitated, unsure whether to ask.
The female physician seemed to sense her embarrassment and said meaningfully, “The Marquis only instructed me to treat your injuries, so I focused solely on that. Any other symptoms you may have fall outside the scope of my treatment.”
Perhaps because they were both women, the physician did not expose Wen Ning’s pregnancy. After speaking, she picked up the medicine chest and left Hou Manor.
Alone in the study, Wen Ning reached out with her right hand and touched her wrist—the child in her womb was still there.
She didn’t know whether to feel sorrow or joy.
Calculating, the child was already over two months old. If she didn’t take the abortion medicine soon, it wouldn’t be long before it became impossible to hide.
Wen Ning dared not linger in the Marquis’s study. She looked around frantically but found her original clothes missing. Instead, a set of brand-new garments was folded beside the pillow, made of exquisite yet understated material. Even an inner garment was prepared.
Wen Ning saw the two silk ribbons of the inner garment hanging obediently by the soft couch, as if waiting for their owner to lovingly put them on.
Just then, a faint breeze slipped through the window crack, and the two silk ribbons suddenly entwined under its teasing caress.
The tips of Wen Ning’s ears instantly burned. She hurriedly reached out to separate the ribbons, placing them on either side.
Looking at the folded new clothes, she felt as if needles were pricking her back, yet she had no other choice.
Wen Ning bit her lip and then put on the garments one by one.
The fit was perfect, especially the inner garment…
Wen Ning walked out of the study. Outside, there were no pretentious rockeries or winding streams meant to evoke elegance. Instead, a square training ground had been cleared.
On either side stood ebony weapon racks, with swords, spears, and halberds arranged in order of length.
Qing Feng, who was guarding outside the courtyard gate, saw Wen Ning emerge from the room and immediately approached respectfully. "Miss, you're awake."
Wen Ning nodded, curtsied slightly, and asked with her head lowered, "The Marquis, he…"
Qing Feng could tell that his master regarded Miss Wen Ning as someone special. He needed to respond carefully, to be a good servant to his lord.
"The Marquis has gone to the palace. He should be back in about another hour."
"This morning, when the Marquis saw that it was the maid Chūn Xìng who came to deliver the medicine, he inquired and learned that you had encountered trouble. That's why he personally rescued you from the firewood shed. After settling you, the Marquis hurried to the palace without even having time for breakfast."
"The Marquis hasn't eaten breakfast yet?" Wen Ning asked with a look of concern.
Qing Feng nodded emphatically, feeling his words were still insufficient to convey his meaning, and added, "However, ever since my master was poisoned once, his sense of taste has become somewhat duller than before. Even the finest delicacies hardly stir his appetite, which troubles him greatly. So, missing this breakfast isn't such a big deal."
"Poisoned! How?" Wen Ning's pupils suddenly contracted. Xie Jinglan was a distinguished Marquis—who would dare poison him?
Qing Feng spoke mysteriously, "It was somewhat of an accident, but it was extremely dangerous. Fortunately, my master is blessed and managed to survive. The physician said it would be best if someone specially tended to the Marquis's diet with care, so his appetite could recover more quickly."
Though his words were half-truths, it was indeed a fact that the Marquis had little appetite since being poisoned. Most of the food sent from the kitchen was only tasted briefly before he ordered it removed.
Wen Ning thought to herself, regardless of what the Marquis had done to her yesterday, it was true that he had saved her from Tang Zhu's hands today. Such kindness was hard to repay. Since the Marquis had been lacking appetite lately and had missed breakfast because of her, she might as well prepare a meal for him.
…
On Imperial Street, a carriage with vermilion wheels and an ornate canopy hurried toward Anyuan Marquis Manor.
Xie Jinglan sat upright inside the carriage, dressed in a black deep garment woven with gold. At the crossed collar of his dark robe, a sliver of snow-white inner robe was visible, and the sharp curve of his Adam's apple protruded beneath the fabric.
He tugged open his collar, and his Adam's apple rolled abruptly. His slender fingers reached into his chest, slowly pulling out a lotus-root-colored inner garment.
If he had arrived a moment later this morning, the consequences would have been unimaginable. When he kicked open the door, Tang Zhu was lying on top of the girl, her front garment already half undone.
He carried Wen Ning back to Tingsong Courtyard, listening to her delirious murmurs along the way. At times, she whimpered in pain; at others, she asked him to hold her tighter, even tighter.
Her damp, trembling eyelashes quivered slightly with each breath. The bruises on her chest, contrasted with her disheveled dark hair, were like white porcelain stained with pine-soot ink, making his heart tremble with both agitation and pity.
The fine cotton fabric emitted a faint, strained sound between Xie Jinglan's fingers. The material wasn't the finest, but it had been washed until extremely soft. Xie Jinglan could imagine how it would feel against her skin.
The inner garment seemed especially delicate in his large hand, the soft cotton already warmed by his body heat.
The ties wrapped softly around the white jade thumb ring on his index finger. Xie Jinglan played with the ties tirelessly, gently pulling them back and forth.
After a long while, he brought the inner garment close to his nose, his fingertips trembling almost imperceptibly.
It wasn't the same fragrance. Though there were faint hints of jasmine and medicinal scent, it still differed slightly from the natural fragrance of the woman in the thatched hut. He felt as if he had lost his senses—how could he have mistaken the two for the same person?
"Could it be…"
Fingertips tracing the patterns on the inner garment, Xie Jinglan's eyes darkened. Could it be that he needed to find a third woman to verify?
Verify what? Verify whether the sensation of holding all women in his arms was the same? Verify whether all women could make him lose composure like this?
No! Absolutely not!
Whether it was beauties bestowed by the emperor, noble ladies from prestigious families, or maidservants who recklessly threw themselves into his embrace, he instinctively felt a wave of disgust before their perfumed scents even reached him.
His knuckles, still clutching the inner garment, pressed against his brow. Xie Jinglan had lived for over twenty years, his heart tempered like iron through trials of fire and blood—how could the presence of two women throw him into such turmoil!