“The Crown Prince?”
After hearing the answer, Xiao Bi’an could not help letting out a soft scoff, though the chill in his eyes deepened slightly. This answer was something he had not expected.
Then again, Empress Xiao was his father’s own younger sister, and naturally also Qi Sui’s mother’s cousin. Calculated this way, the Crown Prince was indeed also Qi Sui’s cousin.
Xiao Bi’an and the Crown Prince were, in fact, equally distant cousins to Qi Sui.
Yet Qi Sui had never even met the Crown Prince, and still she addressed him so intimately.
Heh — could it be that she had designs on the Crown Prince?
Before Xiao Bi’an could think further, the girl on the bed suddenly woke up.
Zi Shu Sui opened her eyes and saw Xiao Bi’an staring at her darkly. She nearly jumped up in fright. “You… what are you doing?”
Then she steadied herself, feigning panic as she sat up and pulled the quilt around herself. Her gaze swept the room. Seeing several guards apparently searching for something, she frowned in displeasure and looked at Xiao Bi’an.
“Didn’t Cousin already have someone search my body? Why are you searching my bedroom again? Are you going to bully only me all night?”
“If you’re innocent, you don’t need to fear a search,” Xiao Bi’an said coldly, hands folded into his sleeves. “In your dream just now, was it Xie Yan you saw? Were you ever captured by him?”
To this day, Xiao Bi’an still did not know that the girl before him had once fallen into Xie Yan’s hands.
Previously, what she had said was only that she hid in a secret room.
She had never said she had been captured by Xie Yan.
Why had she concealed this?
Thinking of this, Xiao Bi’an’s gaze toward the girl grew more scrutinizing.
Zi Shu Sui was stunned by his sudden question. Not yet realizing that her sleep talk had been overheard, she lowered her head and pretended to be very afraid. “N-no! I was never captured!”
As she spoke, she was also wondering why Xiao Bi’an would ask such a question.
When had he started standing beside her?
She had just fallen into that nightmare again. Had she accidentally said something that made him think she had been captured by Xie Yan?
Although her words denied it, the fear on her small face looked exactly like someone who had indeed been captured and abused.
In Xiao Bi’an’s eyes, it appeared the same way.
He frowned and asked, “Then what did he do to you?”
Zi Shu Sui did not answer again.
Not answering would not be wrong. However Xiao Bi’an interpreted it was his own business.
Every time Xiao Bi’an questioned her, it was because he doubted her. Since he mistakenly believed she had been captured, so be it.
In the future, when he asked about her experiences after Pingting fell, she could simply pretend to be triggered by fear and muddle through.
The girl leaned tremblingly against the bed, wrapping herself tightly in the quilt, shivering.
Xiao Bi’an formed his own conjectures in his heart and was about to continue questioning her despite her fear.
Just then, Madam Cui arrived outside the door. Seeing the guards rummaging inside, she immediately frowned and asked—
“What are you doing?”
When Madam Cui entered the room, she saw her son standing coldly beside the bed, supervising the guards’ search.
And Zi Shu Sui, curled into the corner of the bed, wishing she could hide her entire body under the quilt.
Madam Cui’s single sentence halted the guards’ movements.
They exchanged glances and ultimately looked toward Xiao Bi’an.
Madam Cui walked several steps to her son. “Bi’an, you’ve gone a bit too far. Sui girl is your cousin after all. If this gets out, outsiders will surely say that our Marquis’s residence cannot even tolerate a single cousin miss!”
“Mother, the thief escaped under my watch tonight. Every courtyard must be searched,” Xiao Bi’an replied with an air of impartial law enforcement.
Even though his suspicion toward Zi Shu Sui had mostly dissipated, he still insisted on completing the search of the room.
Madam Cui was left momentarily speechless, helpless at her son’s inflexibility. “Even so, you can’t act without any consideration at all. If you had to search Sui girl’s room, you could have had the maids and servant women do it. Why did you personally bring guards here?”
On the bed, Zi Shu Sui saw that reinforcements had arrived and lowered the quilt slightly, revealing her chin.
Her gaze swept the room. By now, the guards had almost finished searching.
She was not afraid of them searching at all.
Feeling the bulge of the half-arrow hidden beneath the mattress, Zi Shu Sui pressed her lips together and looked at Madam Cui. “Aunt, I did not hide a thief, nor am I a thief.”
“Aunt knows,” Madam Cui replied. Even she had been unable to stop Xiao Bi’an from continuing the search earlier.
Soon, the guards finished. “Reporting to Young Master, there’s nothing in the room.”
“Since there’s nothing, then all of you get out!” Madam Cui snapped at the guards, venting her pent-up anger.
Every single one of them had no sense of propriety!
A young lady’s reputation was of utmost importance — how could they casually ruin it?
The resentment she had felt from the garden incident earlier dissipated because of this outrageous night. Madam Cui sighed and walked to the bedside.
By this time, the guards had already left.
Xiao Bi’an’s gaze swept over the bed. Just as he was about to say something, Madam Cui shot him a sharp look.
“Bi’an, Mother knows you’re cautious in your work, and that in itself is not wrong.”
“But you judged your cousin as a thief from the start and thus hurt her. It was not easy for your cousin to survive as she has. You may not cherish her, but you must not trample on her dignity!”
Hearing this, Xiao Bi’an saw the girl’s flushed cheeks from fever and the mist of grievance rising again in her eyes because of Madam Cui’s pity.
He glanced at her, and inexplicably felt irritated.
He immediately turned and stepped out of the room.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, Silver Apricot, who had been waiting outside, dropped to her knees.
“I am a servant of the Marquis’s residence, but I am willing to serve the cousin miss. She is the best master I have ever seen. I beg Your Young Master to show mercy and not harbor prejudice against her!”
Xiao Bi’an did not look at her. His gaze fell instead on the residence physician in the courtyard. “Go in and examine her.”
“Y-yes,” the physician replied quickly, not daring to complain.
The bedroom door remained open.
Zi Shu Sui also heard the commotion outside, along with Madam Cui’s comforting words by her ear—
“Sui girl, you were wronged tonight. Your cousin has always been unfeeling — don’t hold it against him. In the future, keep some distance from him.”
Zi Shu Sui nodded, but inwardly she disagreed.
How could she possibly keep her distance from Xiao Bi’an?
Although Xiao Bi’an had seemed cold tonight, his initial attitude had been extremely forceful. At that time, he was convinced she was the thief.
Yet just before leaving, he had actually intended to search her bed — but in the end, he did not.
It was not because of Madam Cui’s few words.
It was because he himself had already dispelled his suspicions. Whether to search the bed or not was no longer important to him.
Tonight, Zi Shu Sui felt that she was the real winner.
Although she had not obtained the Imperial Sword, she had achieved a significant breakthrough. The next time she approached Xiao Bi’an, things would probably change.
When the residence physician was taking her pulse, Madam Cui suddenly exclaimed—
“Oh? Why is there blood here?!”
Following Madam Cui’s gaze, Zi Shu Sui saw that several drops of blood really were on the floor.
“Could it be that a thief truly came into your room?” Madam Cui was not suspecting Zi Shu Sui, but was startled by the blood — there was no other explanation at the moment.
“Aunt,” Zi Shu Sui pondered and then weakly guessed, “The bloodstains are where Cousin was standing just now. Could it be that Cousin was injured?”
Only then did Madam Cui realize it. In the next instant, she sprang up. “If that’s the case, then your cousin must have been wounded by the thief! You rest well — Aunt will go take a look at him!”
With that, she hurried off.
Zi Shu Sui stared at the blood on the floor, feeling a little bewildered.
This better not frame her. Although she truly was the thief — she hadn’t slashed anyone!