At this moment, Xiao Jingcheng was dressed in a white undergarment. His eyes were tightly shut, and he lay motionless. If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of his chest, he would have looked no different from a dead man.
Suddenly, the rise and fall of his chest became a bit more pronounced than usual, and the little fingers of his naturally hanging hands twitched imperceptibly.
But the oddity lasted only for a moment. In the blink of an eye, he returned to his previous death - like stillness.
A moment later, footsteps sounded outside the secret room. Someone was coming this way.
The door was pushed open, and two figures entered the room one after another. The airflow rushed in as they came in, causing the candle flames to flicker wildly. The two of them carried what they had in their hands and walked towards the four - poster bed.
One of them stood beside the bed, lifted the curtain, and the candlelight shone in. As he was about to act, he looked down and was startled by the sight before him. His face changed, and he shouted:
"Something's wrong! Why is he suddenly having a nosebleed!"
The other man quickly stepped forward to check. There, on the bed, Xiao Jingcheng, who had been lying peacefully before, now had two trails of blood trickling down from his nose, making his complexion look a bit more flushed.
"Go and inform Steward Cui at once! Our master hasn't given the order to get rid of him yet. We mustn't let anything happen to him at this moment!"
*
After seeing off Matchmaker Zhang, Ye Wanmian finally had the time to deal with the large pile of things she had bought in the market today.
She put the cloth in the cabinet in the room. After washing the bowls and chopsticks, she placed them one by one in the wooden cabinet. Ye Wanmian carefully coated the fresh meat with salt and then hung it on the rack in the yard to dry. In the future, whenever she wanted to eat, she could just cut off a small piece and make a delicious meal.
Ye Wanmian was busy in the yard and had no time to pay attention to the sulking yellow dog. Gradually, Xiao Jingcheng began to feel a bit bored.
Because many soldiers had come to the town and they had searched every household last night, as the sunset approached, every household closed their doors tightly and no longer lingered outside.
As a result, every household cooked their dinner much faster than usual. The cooking smoke rose slowly, and soon, the fragrance of food wafted from all directions.
The silver bowl that Xiao Jingcheng had "carefully selected" was placed in front of him by Ye Wanmian, but now it was empty.
Since yesterday, the yellow dog's body hadn't taken in any food. He hadn't felt hungry just now, but smelling the delicious scents in the air, Xiao Jingcheng suddenly felt a twitching in his stomach. Then, the hunger pangs swept over him like a tide.
Along with the hunger came a sense of mania.
So hungry. How could he be this hungry?
Xiao Jingcheng had been lying prone. The overwhelming hunger and mania made him stand up. He paced back and forth restlessly on the ground, and from time to time, he looked up at the busy Ye Wanmian.
She was still taking care of her herbs and didn't even glance in his direction!
Xiao Jingcheng raised his furry paw, pressed on the edge of the silver bowl, and impatiently tapped it.
"Clang, clang, clang!"
The sound of the metal tapping brought Ye Wanmian's wandering mind back. She turned her head and looked towards the eaves. There, she saw the yellow dog pressing on its newly - bought silver bowl and tapping the ground.
Sensing her gaze, the yellow dog barked loudly at her twice.
She couldn't help but smile. She dusted off the dirt on her hands and walked towards him with a smile.
"What, finally feeling hungry? If you had obediently eaten the noodles I gave you last night, you wouldn't have to suffer like this."
"Woof—"
"Alright, alright. I'm coming."
Ye Wanmian had also bought a dozen meat buns in the market. They had cooled down on the way back, so she had just heated them up in the stove for a while. Now, when she took them out of the pot, they were as soft as when she had just bought them.
She put two meat buns into the yellow dog's silver bowl and said softly, "Hurry up and eat. You haven't eaten since last night. I'm sure you're starving."
Xiao Jingcheng looked at the meat buns in the silver bowl and felt quite disdainful. But when the aroma of the buns wafted over, he felt a strong desire to eat from this body.
If he didn't eat something soon, he was afraid he would really starve to death.
But it would be really indecent for him, the Crown Prince, to bite into a bun like a dog.
Ye Wanmian thought that after the yellow dog got the silver bowl it wanted, it would behave itself. But as soon as she stood up to leave, her sleeve was grabbed by the dog's teeth.
"Whine—whine—"
The yellow dog tugged at her sleeve, not letting her leave, and also pawed at her calf.
Seeming to notice the resistance in those beady eyes, Ye Wanmian sighed and patiently tore the bun into small pieces and held them to the yellow dog's lips.
"Hurry up and eat."
The yellow dog stopped making a fuss. It glanced at her and, as if reluctantly, opened its mouth and ate the food.
Ye Wanmian couldn't help but grumble in her heart. This morning, it really wasn't her illusion. Her Huang the dog had really become so finicky. It was so dainty and picky about its food that it even needed someone to break it up and feed it to its mouth!
Ye Wanmian had raised Huang since it was a puppy. She had seen all of its different looks, but she had never seen it chew its food so slowly and gracefully like today.
Yes, it was graceful.
She actually associated this word with a dog.
It was as if the ordinary yellow dog in front of her wasn't the common country dog but a noble man dressed in gorgeous clothes, who had been pampered since childhood and had never suffered any grievances.
Almost involuntarily, the figure in bright yellow that often appeared in her dreams flashed through Ye Wanmian's mind.
But she immediately shook her head vigorously, trying to shake off the image in her mind.
Bah, bah, bah. Huang is just Huang, her closest "family member". How could it possibly be related to that annoying Xiao Jingcheng!
It must be because she had silently called him the Dog Crown Prince so many times in her heart that she was having hallucinations.
Maybe Huang believed what that lousy Taoist priest said and really thought it was the celestial dog that had descended to the mortal world.
Xiao Jingcheng didn't know what was going on in Ye Wanmian's mind. After finishing the buns in her hand, he still felt an irresistible hunger in his stomach.
Helplessly, he could only nuzzle Ye Wanmian's hand with his nose, and Ye Wanmian immediately understood what he meant.
"You still want more?!"
After hesitating for a moment, Ye Wanmian turned back and took out two more meat buns from the steamer.
However, just a moment later...
"Huang, why are you so gluttonous today?!"
Ye Wanmian looked at her empty hands in despair.
The two meat buns she had just taken were eaten by Huang in the blink of an eye! And after eating them, it still wasn't satisfied!
When the yellow dog finally let out a belch, the steamer was already empty.
There were ten buns in a dozen. Ye Wanmian had originally planned to save them for herself, but who would have thought that they would all end up in the yellow dog's stomach. She didn't even get a single bite!
This dog was really becoming too expensive to keep!
Finally feeling his empty stomach filled, the hostility in his body also disappeared. Xiao Jingcheng closed his eyes contentedly.
Although this village woman was a bit frivolous in her actions, she was still quite generous. Well, he would reluctantly forgive her for her impertinence just now.