“Stop pretending to be pitiful in front of me!” Gu Haoyuan, hearing the sound, felt momentarily at a loss but still spoke with a hardened tone.
“Who’s pretending to be pitiful for no reason!” Ye Ningxin rolled her eyes. “Eat it or not, suit yourself.” She couldn’t be bothered to argue with a blind man.
As they spoke, Gu Haoyuan still made his way to the table. Ye Ningxin handed him one of the bowls of dough drop soup, and both of them lowered their heads and began to eat.
A bowl of piping hot noodles finally soothed their hungry, cold stomachs, and both of their foreheads were slightly damp with sweat.
“Let’s make peace,” Ye Ningxin brought up the topic again. “After all, you’ve been exiled to the borderlands with no hope of returning to the court, and there’s no one to take care of you. I’m also alone and helpless. We might as well pair up.”
“Who wants to pair up with you? Shameless!” Gu Haoyuan was momentarily flustered and angry.
Is he shy? Ye Ningxin inexplicably found this cold-faced prince quite endearing.
“If you don’t want to pair up, that’s fine too. We’re living under the same roof anyway, so looking out for each other isn’t too much to ask, right?”
…
Seeing that the other party showed no reaction, Ye Ningxin insisted firmly, “If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as your agreement. Anyway, if I get bullied, you have to step in and help me.”
…
Gu Haoyuan ignored her remark. He put down his bowl, stood up, and went back to his room to sleep.
Faintly, she seemed to hear him say, “When something seems off, there must be a trick. You’re putting on quite a show.”
Well…
Fine, she had sown the seeds, and now she had to bear the consequences.
“But come to think of it, it wasn’t me who planted these seeds in the first place,” Ye Ningxin thought helplessly.
Lying back down on the tattered bed and gazing at the starry sky above, she tried to check her Medical Space, but there was still no response.
“This body, this life, and the person beside me—everything needs to change. But making it happen is truly difficult!” Ye Ningxin sighed. After thinking for a long time without coming to any conclusions, she drifted off into a hazy sleep.
This sleep was surprisingly sweet, lasting until the sun was high in the sky.
She was awakened by a knock on the door.
Opening the door, she found her childhood sweetheart and cousin, Li Wencai, standing outside.
“Cousin!” Li Wencai greeted her and immediately tried to grab her hand.
But Ye Ningxin skillfully dodged him.
Seeing her reaction, Li Wencai assumed she was upset about what she had witnessed the day before and tried to coax her gently. “Cousin, what you saw yesterday was actually a misunderstanding. Ziyao just had something in her eye and wanted me to take a look. There’s really nothing between us.”
Ye Ziyao had always been the apple of her parents’ eyes. In comparison, the original host had been raised like a pig—or even worse than a pig.
“Li Wencai, whether there’s something between you and her or not, it has nothing to do with me. I’m already married and must abide by my duties as a wife. As for you and her, you’re free to be as intimate as you like. There’s no need to explain anything to me.”
“Cousin, you know me. My heart belongs only to you. How could I ever get involved with someone else?” Li Wencai continued to put on a deeply affectionate act.
Seeing this, Ye Ningxin felt a wave of disgust. After calming herself slightly, she pretended to be moved and said, “Cousin, I know your heart belongs only to me. But my parents heartlessly sold me off. You and I are destined to have no fate in this lifetime.”
She blinked hard, trying to make her eyes look a little more teary.
“If you truly pity your little cousin here, why not help me fix the roof? The stars are too dazzling at night, I can’t sleep.”
“Wh… what?” Li Wencai froze on the spot—this wasn’t going the way he expected!
Not only was Li Wencai stunned, even Gu Haoyuan inside the house couldn’t help but frown upon hearing this. What kind of act was she putting on now?
“Cousin, as you can see, our family is on the brink of starvation. Why don’t you return that jade pendant on you to me?”
Without waiting for Li Wencai to react, Ye Ningxin gave a sharp tug and pulled the pendant off him.
According to the original owner’s memories, this jade pendant originally belonged to Gu Haoyuan.
Ye Ningxin had stolen it earlier to curry favor with her cousin and gifted it to him.
Li Wencai was completely dumbfounded. Didn’t his cousin treat him like a god, granting his every wish? How come after getting beaten yesterday, her brain seemed to have been damaged too?
“Cousin, our Haoyuan is, after all, a Prince, yet he doesn’t even have a decent set of clothes. If you pity me, why don’t you give me the ones you’re wearing…”
Before she could finish, Li Wencai suddenly interrupted, “Cousin, I came in a hurry today and still have unfinished business at home. I’ll come visit you another day.”
With that, he didn’t dare stay a moment longer and dashed away in a flash.
Judging by his haste, he seemed terrified that if he ran too slowly, Ye Ningxin would strip him of everything from head to toe.
“Trying to play the sentimental card with me? Do you think I’m stupid?” Ye Ningxin sneered.
Though… the original owner did seem pretty foolish.
“Here!” After tossing it a couple of times, Ye Ningxin slapped the jade pendant into the Prince’s hand.
“Returning it to its rightful owner—consider this my gesture of reconciliation,” she declared triumphantly.
This turn of events was something Gu Haoyuan hadn’t anticipated.
Before this, every time this cousin came to their home, Ye Ningxin would rummage through everything to find something to flatter him.
And she would even scold Gu Haoyuan for being in the way, telling him to get lost.
Ever since she returned yesterday, this woman had started acting strangely. “Has she come to her senses?” Gu Haoyuan shook his head, mocking himself for being too naive.
Hadn’t he endured enough humiliation from Ye Ningxin?
…
After sending her cousin away, Ye Ningxin began pondering breakfast for the day.
Even the cleverest housewife can’t cook without rice.
She used the remaining six eggs to make a large bowl of steamed egg custard and cooked a pot of rice with the little coarse grain left.
Carefully serving the steamed egg custard and rice into a bowl for the blind Prince, Ye Ningxin thought she was quite good at taking care of others.
Her current physique was really inconvenient—even a little activity left her panting. So, she only served herself a small half-bowl of rice. She needed to lose weight sooner rather than later.
“Is there any silver left in the house?” Ye Ningxin tentatively asked during the meal.
“Don’t you have any idea what’s left in this house?” the Prince sneered.
Indeed, looking at the empty house, Ye Ningxin inwardly complained again, “We’re almost starving, yet she only cared about those ungrateful people. Serves her right!”
But complaining aside, life had to go on.
“How about I go back to my parents’ house this afternoon and ask to borrow some silver? I gave them so much money before—they can’t just watch us starve, can they?”
“Oh?” The Prince was somewhat surprised. The little wife who had always been taking things from their home to her parents’ was now planning to bring things back?
“I thought that after taking everything from this house, you would go live with your parents.”
“Hmm…? I don’t think I ever thought that… probably.” Although none of these things were actually done by her, Ye Ningxin felt she had no grounds to argue.
“But I’ve always forgotten to tell you—leaving this place is impossible. Unless you die.” The Prince coldly warned.
Ye Ningxin muttered to herself, “This scheming man. He clearly didn’t tell me on purpose. What does he mean by ‘forgot’?”
“Don’t go back. Take this jade pendant and pawn it.” The Prince placed the jade pendant he had just obtained on the table.