In a room of the Fragrant Courtyard, Ye Wanxing hugged her arms and curled up on the bed. She said to Xiaocui, "Are all the windows closed? And the door?"
Xiaocui replied, "They're all closed. I even bolted the door. I guarantee no one can sneak in anymore."
Ye Wanxing still wasn't at ease. She jumped out of bed bare - footed and rushed to the window to check carefully. After confirming that none of the windows in the room could be pushed open from the outside, she felt a bit more relieved.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Ye Wanxing turned around in horror. Ye Huan's voice came from outside the door, "Xing'er, it's me."
Xiaocui went to open the door. After Ye Huan entered the room, Ye Wanxing ran over and hugged him, sobbing, "Brother, I'm scared. I'm so scared. Will you stay with me tonight?"
Ye Huan was both helpless and a bit heart - ache. He patted her on the shoulder and said, "Come on, the windows are already closed. Besides, I'm a man. How can I stay in your room to accompany you? With Xiaocui here, nothing will happen again. Be obedient. Let go of me. It's time for you to take your medicine."
He was still holding a medicine bowl in his hand. The bowl was filled with dark medicinal soup, the nerve - calming medicine prescribed by the doctor for her.
Hearing that she had to take medicine again, Ye Wanxing was very resistant. "I don't want to take medicine anymore."
Ye Huan said, "This medicine isn't bitter. I put some sugar cubes in it. It's sweet."
"I won't drink it even if it's sweet!" A flash of resentment crossed Ye Wanxing's eyes. "Brother, I'm sure that female doctor from Huichuntang is taking revenge on me!"
Ye Huan was stunned. He didn't see Ye Wanxing's expression. Hearing this, he unconsciously frowned. "She has no grudge against you. Why would she take revenge on you?"
Ye Wanxing didn't dare to tell Ye Huan what she had done. She cried and said, "If it weren't for her, who would play such tricks on me!"
She let go of Ye Huan, turned around and ran behind the screen to hide. She cried, "Since brother doesn't want to believe me, then just let me be scared to death by the dead mouse and stay in Dongli Town forever. Don't go back to the capital!"
Ye Huan was extremely helpless.
It wasn't that he didn't want to believe her, but everything needed evidence. The floor they were staying on was the third floor of the Fragrant Courtyard. There were guards at both the front and back doors. How could that village woman have the ability to sneak into the building past the guards' eyes to take revenge on Ye Wanxing?
She didn't seem like someone who could leap over eaves and walls either.
He always felt that Ye Wanxing had changed a lot since they came to Dongli Town. After she was found outside two years ago, she had been well - behaved and extremely pitiful in the Ye Mansion. Why had she become so sensitive and suspicious now?
Naturally, Ye Huan couldn't help but think of another young lady of the Ye family, Ye Wanmian, who had disappeared without a trace.
If it were Mian'er, what would she do?
Forget it. Why think about her? After all, she wasn't of the Ye family's bloodline. No matter what, she wasn't as close as Xing'er.
Ye Huan suppressed his thoughts, put the medicine on the table, and sighed. "Since Dongli Town really makes you uncomfortable, how about resigning from His Highness the Prince of Xuan tomorrow and we'll go back to the capital first."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Yixuan's voice came from outside the door. "Xing'er, are you asleep?"
After entering the room and seeing Ye Huan was also there, Xiao Yixuan smiled. "You're here too. What were you two siblings talking about just now?"
Ye Huan said, "Your Highness came just in time. Since Xing'er came to Dongli Town, she has been getting sick one after another. I want to take her back to the capital as soon as possible. I'm afraid I'll have to say goodbye to you in a few days."
Ye Wanxing ran behind Xiao Yixuan, grabbed his sleeve and gently shook it. With a sob in her voice, she said, "I don't want to go back to the capital. Cousin Xuan, I want to stay with you all the time. Please persuade my brother for me."
"Xing'er, don't be willful." Ye Huan's tone became a bit harsher.
Xiao Yixuan said, "Alright, I'll talk to her properly. You go out first."
Seeing this, Ye Huan sighed and turned away.
Only Xiao Yixuan and Ye Wanxing were left in the room. He helped her sit down by the bed and coaxed her gently, "Your brother is right. Since you came to Dongli Town, something has been going wrong with you all the time. For the sake of your health, you really should leave as soon as possible."
"But Ling'an Temple..."
Seeing that Ye Wanxing wanted to say something else, Xiao Yixuan interrupted her. "If you're not obedient, I'll have to be tough with you."
He had promised to let them stay for another month before, but the theft in the Fragrant Courtyard today had made Xiao Yixuan completely lose patience with this place.
Although he was smiling, the pressure he exuded still made Ye Wanxing feel a bit afraid. She had no choice but to say, "Then give me two more days. I'll go to the graves of my adoptive parents to pay my respects one more time, and then I'll leave with my brother."
Xiao Yixuan squinted his eyes. The scene of Ye Wanmian chasing that big fool with a feather duster today flashed before his eyes.
"Xing'er, I have a question for you."
Ye Wanxing asked, "What do you want to ask, Cousin Xuan?"
Xiao Yixuan asked, "Before you were recognized by the Ye family, you had been growing up in Dongli Town, right?"
Ye Wanxing unconsciously tightened her sleeves and nodded. "Yes, I grew up in Dongli Town since I was a child. I'm familiar with all the roads here."
Xiao Yixuan said, "Your adoptive parents always lived in Dongli Town?"
Ye Wanxing's mind was spinning. She slightly lowered her eyelashes and said, "Not really. Sixteen years ago, there was a flood in Cangzhou. They were refugees who fled to Dongli Town from elsewhere. Their original home was destroyed, so they just settled in Dongli Town later."
[She was separated from her mother during the flood when I was born. She hadn't seen her mother for many years. It was only now that she learned the news of her mother's death and came here specially to pay her respects.]
This matched what Ye Wanmian had told him today.
"Do your adoptive parents have any siblings?" Xiao Yixuan continued to verify.
Why was he asking this?
Ye Wanxing was puzzled in her heart and replied, "No. Until they both passed away one after another, I never saw them have any contact with any relatives."
So, it seemed that even Ye Wanxing probably didn't know about the existence of an aunt.
And Ye Wanmian only accidentally recognized that suddenly - appeared aunt when she came to Dongli Town to pay her respects to her biological parents. It wasn't strange that she had a cousin.
Thinking of Ye Wanmian's appearance, Xiao Yixuan was a bit curious about her biological mother at this moment.
Ye Wanmian was undoubtedly a beauty. And she said that her aunt recognized her identity at the first sight of her. This meant that Ye Wanmian's biological mother, Ye Wanxing's adoptive mother, should also be a beauty.
But how could a beauty be from a peasant family in such a rural area?
"What kind of person was your adoptive mother?"
Ye Wanxing was shocked inside. She pretended to be curious and asked, "Why are you interested in this, Cousin Xuan?"
Xiao Yixuan smiled and said, "I just want to know more about you and find out if she was good to you."
Ye Wanxing said, "Mother... "
She bit her lip. "Actually, she didn't recognize people. On the day when she and my mother gave birth together, there happened to be a flood in Cangzhou. Coupled with a difficult labor, she was frightened and went crazy."