Ye Wanmian thought his gaze on her was a bit strange. She lowered her eyelashes to avoid his inquisitive look and continued,
"I sensed something was wrong, so I visited the morgue at night to investigate. My dog, Dahuang... this yellow dog here, has a very keen sense of smell. I asked it and its dog friends to follow some clues on the corpse and they led me to the mansion of the wealthy merchant Chen..."
The details she told next greatly shocked Xiao Jingcheng.
His body had been hidden in a coffin?
And someone had cast an evil spell on him, confining his soul, trying to prevent his soul from returning to his body, consuming his so - called purple aura and fortune, and then replacing him as the crown prince?
And that so - called wealthy merchant Chen had immediately informed Xiao Yixuan after the incident.
So, was it all plotted by Xiao Yixuan, his dear younger brother?
He understood each sentence when taken separately, but when combined, it all seemed extremely strange.
He couldn't help but look at her a few more times.
She, a woman, dared to dig open a grave in the middle of the night to rescue him from the coffin, and managed to hide him in this medical clinic called "Huichun Hall".
She had gone to so much trouble for him, even disregarding her own safety. How could she claim to have no affection for him?
She must be deeply in love with him.
"Miss Jiang has saved my life. It's a great merit. Since Miss Jiang says she has no feelings for me, I wonder..."
He stood up from the bed and walked towards Ye Wanmian step by step.
His glass - like eyes were fixed on Ye Wanmian. The intimidation and pressure in them were obvious. Ye Wanmian's heart skipped a beat and she took two steps back involuntarily. But her lower back hit the hard wooden board, leaving her with nowhere to retreat.
Xiao Jingcheng bent down, bringing their faces very close.
He stared into her eyes and whispered, "What on me is worth you taking such a great risk?"
Facing Xiao Jingcheng's interrogation, Ye Wanmian panicked for a moment, then quickly calmed down and replied, "Your Highness, do you know that after that incident back then, the Ye family completely abandoned me and drove me out of the capital. As you can see, I'm just a country woman now. My life is extremely poor. I can only make a living by gathering herbs."
"Of course, there's no such thing as a rescue without a motive. I did have an ulterior motive when I saved Your Highness."
Xiao Jingcheng stared into Ye Wanmian's eyes, not missing a single hint of her emotion.
Those big, bright deer - like eyes showed panic, fear, and a hint of anger, but... there was no shyness or affection as he had imagined.
Hearing her words, he frowned slightly, feeling quite confused.
Ye Wanmian continued, "I only hope that Your Highness, out of gratitude for saving your life, will reinvestigate the love - letter incident from that year and clear my name. Your Highness doesn't have to worry about me pestering you, for I'm already married."
Xiao Jingcheng could clearly tell that she wasn't lying.
But for some reason, he felt a sudden wave of irritation and even a bit of anger that he couldn't quite understand.
However...
She smelled so good.
At such a close distance, the girl's delicate fragrance wafted over without any obstruction. He had smelled many spices, but none were as fresh as this one. What was it made of?
He didn't realize that he was getting closer and closer to Ye Wanmian. His nose was almost touching her cheek. Ye Wanmian couldn't avoid him and her heart was pounding wildly. Just as she was hesitating whether to push him away directly -
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
Dahuang woke up from its coma. Seeing Xiao Jingcheng almost pinning Ye Wanmian in his arms, it immediately jumped up and barked fiercely at Xiao Jingcheng, then lunged at him without hesitation, trying to bite his arm!
Xiao Jingcheng quickly stepped back, making Dahuang miss its target. Dahuang jumped down from the table and still wanted to chase after him. Ye Wanmian quickly shouted, "Dahuang, stop! Come back quickly!"
Dahuang stopped its attack but still stood in front of Ye Wanmian, baring its teeth and growling at Xiao Jingcheng.
"The purple - clothed man is bad! Very bad!"
Dahuang didn't understand. Although his smell remained the same, he seemed like a different person. As soon as he opened his eyes, he knocked it out! And he even wanted to bully mother! Mother's fingers were trembling with fear just now!
It had to protect mother!
Xiao Jingcheng stared in shock at the yellow dog barking at him on the ground.
He heard that strange voice again.
It was a somewhat childish voice.
But there was no one else in the room except him and her. It couldn't be that the dog in front of him was talking, could it?
"Purple - clothed man, you bully mother. Dahuang doesn't like you anymore!"
The childish voice rang out again, accompanied by the dog's barking.
Xiao Jingcheng felt his fingertips turn cold. He looked at Ye Wanmian and tentatively asked, "Did you hear anything?"
Ye Wanmian looked a bit dazed. "Hear what?"
Could it be that only he could hear it?
Xiao Jingcheng tried hard to calm his pounding heart and forced himself to stay calm.
"I understand your request. When I return to the capital one day and regain what's mine, I will naturally order an investigation into that incident. Is there really nothing else?"
Ye Wanmian replied, "Really nothing else."
"I hope you won't regret it in the future." Xiao Jingcheng left this sentence and turned to walk to the door. He opened it and walked out.
After walking out, he looked back. Ye Wanmian squatted down, picked up the yellow dog and gently stroked it, whispering to comfort it,
"Dahuang, don't be afraid. Stay away from him in the future."
The yellow dog whimpered softly, nuzzled in her arms and even stuck out its tongue to lick her palm.
A cheerful childish voice rang in his ear:
"Wu... I like mother. Dahuang likes mother. I hate the purple - clothed man."
Xiao Jingcheng gasped and quickly turned his head away.
Could it be that he had gone crazy after hitting his head when falling off the cliff? How could he understand what a dog was saying!
It was already dawn. He had talked to Ye Wanmian in the room for so long that he had missed the best time to leave. So when he walked out of Ye Wanmian's room, he ran into Qi Wen who was just about to go out.
Qi Wen was holding a basin of water in his hand. Seeing Xiao Jingcheng coming out of Ye Wanmian's room with his clothes a bit disheveled, his eyes widened instantly. The wooden basin in his hand fell to the ground with a loud noise.
"You, you, you... this, this..."
Oh my god! How could he see the crown prince coming out of Miss Jiang's room? Did they sleep together last night? Although the crown prince was really attached to Miss Jiang, but this was just too fast!
The moment Xiao Jingcheng saw Qi Wen, he stared at him intently.
He sized Qi Wen up and down with a scrutinizing look.
This was a boy who didn't look very old. He was at most seven feet tall, half a head shorter than him, with a face that would be quickly forgotten in a crowd.
She had just said that she was already married. Could this be her husband?