More than ten minutes later, Sun Ningning gradually regained consciousness.
She blinked, her clear watery eyes rolling around twice.
She found herself lying on a soft and comfortable large bed.
In a guest room?
Her clothes clearly hadn’t been touched by anyone, as they were still dirty and stained with blood, clinging to her body.
A middle-aged female physician sat at the foot of the bed packing her medical kit. Seeing Sun Ningning awake, she asked gently:
“Young lady is awake? I only stopped your bleeding and changed your dressings, nothing else was touched.”
Sun Ningning weakly expressed her gratitude, “Thank you, physician. Where is my cousin?”
The physician knew the nobleman from earlier was someone important, but didn’t realize he was the violent and cruel Prince Qin spoken of by commoners, so she naturally replied:
“That young gentleman stepped out when I was treating your wounds. He’s right outside the door now.”
Sun Ningning’s eyes immediately lit up, calling out toward the door: “Cousin?”
It had to be said, Bai Ze’s analysis was correct – Sun Ningning was exactly the type of woman who would climb up any pole offered to her.
Bai Ze, who had been standing outside cooling off and calming down, couldn’t help but twist the Buddhist beads on his left wrist upon hearing this sweet, coquettish voice.
Half a minute later, Sun Ningning’s call came again.
Bai Ze slipped the beads back on his wrist and turned to push the door open, his expression unreadable.
Ling Shuang looked up at his master’s retreating back once more, this time with clear surprise written across his face.
Feiyun also curiously peeked inside, then continued standing guard dutifully with Ling Shuang.
Sun Ningning had called out “cousin” twice until she successfully summoned Bai Ze into the room.
One could say she was quite thick-skinned.
The physician, unaware of the actual situation, thought they were cousins with a marriage arrangement and smiled discreetly before stepping aside to prepare medicine.
Sun Ningning lifted her face, smiling as she waved at Bai Ze, delivering another sweet “cousin.”
There was no sign of the excessive blood loss, internal injuries, or physical weakness from hunger that the physician had mentioned.
So her previous complaints about being hungry…
Were genuinely true.
Looking at Sun Ningning like this, that strange feeling surfaced in Bai Ze’s chest again.
Growing stronger each time.
He gazed deeply at the woman sitting up weakly on the bed.
His eyes fell on her smiling face, then on those bright, transparent eyes filled with undisguised affection for him.
A mysterious thought suddenly arose in Bai Ze’s heart:
He wanted to see how far she would go.
After she took a knife for him, he had sent a chest of jewelry to settle the matter, making Grand Secretary Sun so angry his face turned red and neck thick.
Yet she continued smiling at him as always, coming to “coincidentally” meet him again before her wounds had healed;
Preferring to faint outside rather than deliberately collapsing near him to gain sympathy;
Extremely interesting, Bai Ze thought.
“Since you’re awake, have something to eat. Where are your servants?”
Bai Ze waved his hand, and a kitchen maid carrying a food tray immediately stepped forward respectfully from the corner.
Sun Ningning was too overjoyed to describe her current feelings in words.
[System! Look, he initiated conversation with me! He cares about me! Ahhh!]
[Did you hear that! He spoke such a long sentence to me!]
The System responded perfunctorily: [Oh, not bad~]
Sun Ningning smiled brilliantly and obediently accepted a bowl of Five Red Soup, taking a large spoonful and eating with relish.
With light red soup sticking to her lips, Sun Ningning casually licked it off and said to Bai Ze:
“My maid wasn’t feeling well, so I had her rest downstairs. Don’t worry, cousin, I’ll return to the residence shortly.”
Bai Ze stood tall and graceful. Hearing her words, his gaze briefly swept over the movement of her little tongue catching the glimmer of water droplets before he remarked indifferently:
“This prince wasn’t worried.”
Sun Ningning: Way to ruin the moment.
Sigh, whatever. No use arguing with a clueless straight guy.
After she quickly finished a bowl of soup, under Bai Ze’s urging gaze, Sun Ningning began dawdling again—lingering here, making small talk there.
Bai Ze sat by the window, bathed in the warm afternoon sunlight. The arches of his brows, the bridge of his nose, and his lower lips cast soft shadows, accentuating the striking contours of his features.
Admiring this breathtaking beauty, Sun Ningning leaned against the headboard and chattered away without pause.
Her little mouth never seemed to rest.
The female physician watched the pair—one cold, the other warm—and couldn’t help but break into a fond, motherly smile. After preparing the medicine, she quickly excused herself, not wanting to overstay her welcome as an unwanted third wheel.
Bai Ze had always disliked noise, but Sun Ningning’s tone was pleasantly clever—soft-spoken, sweetly melodious, and her topics of conversation were genuinely amusing.
She would immediately stop if she noticed him frowning, only to bring up another subject a minute later;
When he remained silent, offering no response, she never blushed or flustered awkwardly like other noble ladies might. Instead, she continued sharing amusing anecdotes about Jinling, trying to make him laugh;
If he showed interest and glanced her way, her face would instantly flush with excitement, her eyes sparkling with his reflection alone.
For the first time, Bai Ze truly noticed that the breeze over the moat carried the scent of aquatic plants.
Autumn wasn’t solely stained with the crimson of bloodshed—there was also a touch of vibrant green gracing his vision.
The constant murmuring in his ears no longer felt so grating.
Noticing Bai Ze lazily leaning back while fiddling with his Buddhist beads, Sun Ningning curiously asked:
“Cousin, you wear Buddhist beads?”
She had caught a glimpse of them before but hadn’t paid much attention.
Yet he was still wearing them today?
Xiao Ze had a slight obsession with cleanliness—he never wore the same outfit two days in a row, not even his thick winter fur collars. The author’s description even mentioned that his jade accessories, crowns, hairpins, and other adornments never repeated within a month.
So why had she already seen this same string of Buddhist beads three times?
Sun Ningning’s alarm bells rang loudly, startling the System into hiding without a peep.
She ran through several plausible explanations in her mind.
Just as the System was growing intensely anxious, it heard Sun Ningning mutter:
[Which vixen gave these to him? I need to find out—now!]
System: False alarm… Phew…
Bai Ze’s hand, toying with the beads, paused briefly. Recalling that Sun Ningning had just returned to the capital from Jinling, he replied flatly:
“I’ve worn them since childhood.”
How had those noble scions described him again?
Ah, that’s right—they said:
Prince Qin? He’s nothing but a pretty-faced demon who wears Buddhist beads yet never ceases his slaughter!
Back then, Bai Ze was twelve. Drinking alone, he listened to the curses from the next room, picked up his blade, and walked over.
He remembered feeling exceptionally pleased when he saw them so terrified they wet themselves, groveling on the ground and begging for mercy.
So pleased, in fact, that he drank through the entire night.