"Hehe, Meow."
Jiang Zhiqing was overjoyed. She nuzzled her face gently into Ye Wanmian's palm. Ye Wanmian stepped back slightly, revealing Xiao Jingcheng behind her.
There were no lamps lit in the room, but the moonlight provided some illumination. So when Jiang Zhiqing looked up and saw another person, she let out a startled scream and hurriedly hid behind Ye Wanmian, clutching tightly at her clothes and shouting fearfully, "Ghost! Ghost!"
Xiao Jingcheng had never expected that Ye Wanmian would come here in the middle of the night to visit someone, and that this person would call him a ghost.
Although he didn't know what a ghost was, it didn't stop him from knowing that it wasn't a good word, because Ye Wanmian burst out laughing!
He bared his teeth menacingly at Jiang Zhiqing behind Ye Wanmian and growled threateningly in his throat, sounding like a dog.
"Don't be so fierce to her," Ye Wanmian glared at him. Then she patted Jiang Zhiqing's hand and said, "He's not a ghost. He's a person. His name is... Gou Dan."
Jiang Zhiqing tilted her head. "Dan Dan?"
Ye Wanmian stifled her laughter. "That's right, Dan Dan. He's a person just like you and me."
After being scolded by Ye Wanmian, Xiao Jingcheng stopped baring his teeth. He stared at Jiang Zhiqing hiding behind Ye Wanmian. Seeing how close they were made him feel extremely annoyed.
Clearly, he and Ye Wanmian were the ones who were together!
Ye Wanmian had no idea what Xiao Jingcheng was thinking. After she introduced Xiao Jingcheng to Jiang Zhiqing, Jiang Zhiqing became interested in him.
She had been locked in this small courtyard for more than a decade and had seen very few people. This was the fourth person she had seen in these dozen years, and it was a man.
She cautiously peeked out from behind Ye Wanmian, then carefully got out of bed. She looked at Xiao Jingcheng and then at Ye Wanmian. "Touch... Dan Dan?"
Ye Wanmian understood what she meant. Her heart stirred slightly. "Yes, he's a person."
Saying this, she gently held Jiang Zhiqing's wrist and reached out towards Xiao Jingcheng.
Xiao Jingcheng's eyes showed caution. He instinctively wanted to back away, but after Ye Wanmian said, "Stand still and don't move," he suppressed his impatience and obediently stood there, allowing Ye Wanmian and Jiang Zhiqing to touch him all over.
The man in front of her was real, not a shadow. Jiang Zhiqing was very happy and kept saying, "Dan Dan, Meow..."
Seeing that Xiao Jingcheng was starting to get impatient and fidgeting, Ye Wanmian quickly stopped Jiang Zhiqing and pulled her back to her side. She smiled and stroked her head.
"Alright, alright. Come and see what fun things I've brought you today?"
She took out the twinkling firefly lamp hidden in her sleeve.
"Wow!" Jiang Zhiqing's face was full of surprise. She no longer cared about the extra person in the room. She took the firefly lamp from Ye Wanmian's hands with both hands. "So shiny!"
"This is called a firefly lamp. Isn't it beautiful?" Ye Wanmian asked with a smile.
Jiang Zhiqing nodded vigorously. "Yes!"
Ye Wanmian looked at Jiang Zhiqing, who was dancing around like a child, and a smile appeared on her face. She untied the knot on the firefly lamp and unfolded the handkerchief. The fireflies inside immediately flew out in all directions and scattered to every corner of the room.
The fireflies twinkled, and the dim room seemed to turn into a dazzling galaxy, so beautiful that it took one's breath away.
Jiang Zhiqing stared with wide eyes, her lips slightly parted. She was so stunned by this scene that she couldn't come back to her senses for a moment.
Ye Wanmian's thought was actually very simple. Jiang Zhiqing was locked up here like a prisoner and wasn't allowed to go out. She must never have seen such a magnificent scenery. Since Ye Wanmian had experienced happiness from it, she also wanted to bring this kind of happiness to the person closest to her in the world.
She had originally thought that Jiang Zhiqing would be happy after seeing this scene. But unexpectedly, what she heard in her ear was not Jiang Zhiqing's cheers but sobs.
"Woo..."
Ye Wanmian panicked. She quickly grabbed Jiang Zhiqing's hand. "What's wrong with you?"
Tears rolled down from Jiang Zhiqing's eyes and wet her face. She stared blankly at the fireflies in the sky, completely lost in her own thoughts and ignoring Ye Wanmian's words.
Jiang Zhiqing remained silent and just kept crying, which scared Ye Wanmian.
At first, she thought Jiang Zhiqing was crying because she was happy. But when a firefly landed on Jiang Zhiqing's nose and the weak light illuminated her face, Ye Wanmian saw the sadness in her eyes and realized that she was heartbroken by the scene.
"Gou Dan, quickly catch these fireflies," Ye Wanmian quickly said to Xiao Jingcheng.
Xiao Jingcheng looked at the two of them, then obediently stepped forward to catch the flying fireflies one by one and put them back into the handkerchief.
Ye Wanmian hugged Jiang Zhiqing and coaxed her back to bed to sleep with a lot of persuasion.
All the fireflies disappeared, and the room returned to its previous dimness. When Ye Wanmian covered Jiang Zhiqing with the quilt, she still had her eyes tightly closed and was still silently crying, curled up in a ball.
After tucking in the quilt for her, Ye Wanmian had to temporarily leave the room.
They had come quietly and left without disturbing anyone.
The room was extremely quiet. Jiang Zhiqing opened her eyes. In the darkness, a missed firefly flapped its wings and flew up, landing on the curtain. Its tail twinkled with light.
Tears fell again and sank into her temples. She unconsciously murmured,
"My husband..."
...
On the way back, Ye Wanmian kept thinking about Jiang Zhiqing's strange behavior just now. She seemed a bit silent and didn't have the time to pay attention to Xiao Jingcheng behind her.
Why did Mother cry after seeing those fireflies? And she cried so sadly.
Could it be that she had also experienced a similar scene before, so the scene had stirred up some bad memories?
She had recently read a lot of her master's medical records and had seen some notes left by her master.
Her master said that for patients suffering from catatonia or those with hysteria and regressed mental states, their memories were like being locked in a box. If they could be made to recall their past experiences by reproducing the scene, there was a chance that their sealed consciousness and memories could be awakened and they could return to normal.
It was a pity that besides the two people from the Jiang family, there was no one else around Mother. Ye Wanmian didn't know what Mother had gone through in the past, and she didn't know who to ask.
Sigh...
Xiao Jingcheng closely followed behind her. His ears were always alertly listening to the sounds nearby, and his gaze fell on her from time to time. So he didn't miss the soft sigh she unconsciously let out.
She seemed unhappy.
Xiao Jingcheng thought to himself.
He led her to avoid the night watchmen several times, and finally they safely returned to the medical clinic.
This trip had taken them to several places, and it had taken a full one and a half hours to go back and forth. When they returned to the room, Ye Wanmian was already extremely sleepy.
She wanted to go to sleep immediately, but Xiao Jingcheng grabbed her wrist.
She looked at him in confusion. He shook his sleeve, and a shiny firefly flew out of it. He raised his hand and imitated Li Zhao's action. He clumsily stroked Ye Wanmian's hair gently and said,
"Meow, don't be sad."
Ye Wanmian was stunned. A warm current flowed through her heart, and she even became greedy for the little bit of warmth on her head.
Actually... the Crown Prince wasn't as unapproachable and cold-blooded as she had thought.
It would be great if he could always be so gentle.