"Ah... Sister..."
Xue Zi Ning nodded, looking at Xue Zi Xuan and asking, "How is your injury?"
Xue Zi Xuan was startled, then quickly lowered his head. "It's healed."
Healed? Xue Zi Ning frowned slightly and asked, "After being soaked in water for so long, it's healed?"
Xue Zi Xuan was taken aback, not expecting Xue Zi Ning to ask him that. He still nodded. "Yes, it's healed."
"Feng Jiu, come here." Xue Zi Ning walked to the window, a little further from Xue Zi Xuan.
Perhaps he couldn't hear what was being said.
Feng Jiu quickly walked over, cupped his hands, and said, "Your Majesty, do you have something to ask of your subordinate?"
"How is Xue Zi Xuan's injury?" Xue Zi Ning asked.
Feng Jiu was startled. Although he didn't know what this meant, he still answered truthfully, "The situation is not very good. The young prince's legs have been repeatedly soaked in water, and the cold has already invaded all parts of his body. He needs to be carefully recuperated. However, under the current circumstances, it is not very suitable for the young prince to recuperate."
"I understand," Xue Zi Ning said.
Returning to Xue Zi Xuan, he felt that his sister's gaze towards him was different. Her eyes seemed to be filled with gentleness.
It was just like when she looked at him in his youth.
His gaze was perhaps a little too attentive, and Xue Zi Xuan's face turned red. He could no longer help himself and softly called out, "Sister, what's wrong?"
Xue Zi Ning came back to her senses, looked at him, and shook her head. "Nothing. When everything is settled, come back to the capital with me!"
Xue Zi Xuan trembled, not daring to believe it. "Really... really?"
"A word from the Emperor is as good as gold," Xue Zi Ning said.
Xue Zi Xuan suspected he had misheard. It wasn't until those words were spoken that he realized he hadn't misheard at all.
It would be a lie to say he didn't miss the capital. After all, it was where he had spent the first twelve years of his life. There were too many memories there that belonged to him. He hadn't told anyone, but he had actually dreamt of returning.
Now, he could finally fulfill this wish, and he was truly happy.
"Sister, thank you..." Xue Zi Xuan said, a little excitedly.
Xue Zi Ning said, "Let Feng Jiu take you for a medicinal bath."
Xue Zi Xuan obediently followed. Although the medicinal bath was uncomfortable, being able to return to the capital was the best cure for him.
At this moment, only Xue Zi Ning and Wen Yu Xi were left in the room.
Wen Yu Xi lay on the bed, his face still a little pale. He smiled, with a hint of a sigh. "I never thought that after so many twists and turns, Your Majesty and I would return to the situation where we first met."
Xue Zi Ning couldn't help but laugh. "At that time, you were much weaker than you are now, looking like you could die at any moment."
Wen Yu Xi heard this and laughed, "At that time, did Your Majesty ever think that this frail young man before you would be the楼主 of the infamous Qian Jin Lou?"
Xue Zi Ning shook her head. "No, I only realized at the very end that you, Wen Yu Xi, were playing me on the palm of your hand."
"Your Majesty, now I am a subject, and you are the Emperor. Who do you think is playing whom?"
"No matter what, you, Wen Yu Xi, can only be driven by me," Xue Zi Ning said word by word.
Upon hearing this, Wen Yu Xi raised his eyes. The woman before him had shed her immaturity, leaving only ultimate beauty.
The current Empress was a qualified Empress.
"Your Majesty, does he really not recognize you?" Wen Yu Xi suddenly asked.
Xue Zi Ning knew who Wen Yu Xi was referring to and nodded. "Indeed, he does not recognize me."
Wen Yu Xi sighed with emotion. "Who would have believed that he would reach this day?"
"However, I don't believe that he remembers nothing of me. I believe that in due time, he will recognize me," Xue Zi Ning said.
It wasn't that she was blindly confident, but she simply couldn't believe that Yan Zhao would truly forget her.
"He won't," Wen Yu Xi said.
He could believe anyone else, but not Xue Jing Yun. He believed in him so much.
Although he was a little annoyed as to why he believed in him so much, he knew it was the truth.
Xue Zi Ning smiled. "You really believe in him."
Wen Yu Xi sighed. "You don't know, but when he left, he specifically instructed me that if he didn't return, I should take care of you on his behalf."
Xue Zi Ning was stunned. She really didn't expect there to be such a twist. "Did he really say that?"
Wen Yu Xi nodded. "It's absolutely true."
"Take good care of your injuries..." Xue Zi Ning said as she got up and walked outside.
Wen Yu Xi gave a bitter smile, gazing into the distance, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.
Xue Zi Ning walked out of the courtyard and stopped. She didn't know why she had been so angry just now. Half of her anger had already subsided. Did she still need to find Yan Zhao, who she didn't understand and who didn't recognize her, to settle things?
Thinking of this, she felt a little dejected.
She even found the stones at her feet to be unfriendly. She kicked one hard and suddenly heard a muffled groan.
She subconsciously looked up and saw a small tear on the moon-white brocade robe. She was slightly taken aback. Could it be the stone she had kicked?
She didn't seem to have used much force. Perhaps it was guilt, or perhaps because Yan Zhao's current demeanor felt so unfamiliar, she wasn't as angry as before.
"A Ning, are you in such a hurry for something?" His tone was faint, with a hint of coldness.
Xue Zi Ning looked up at that refined and handsome face. His expression was cold at the moment, just like before.
"No," she shook her head. Even if she said it now, how much would he understand?
He was just a most familiar stranger.
"A Ning..."
She turned her head away. She once thought this address was the most intimate between them, but now it was the most unfamiliar.
"Young Master Yan, is there something? If not, I'll take my leave first." Xue Zi Ning looked up and said slowly.
Yan Jin Chao was slightly taken aback. The current A Ning seemed a little unfamiliar to him, and not as unfamiliar as she was to the two people in the room.
What was their relationship?
Yan Jin Chao wanted to understand someone for the first time, and it was a woman.
"Someone..."
A person landed on the ground. "Young Master, what are your orders? Investigate everything about Xue Jing Yun."
The person was stunned. "Young Master, you..."
"I want to know everything," he suddenly wanted to understand the breathtakingly talented Crown Prince of Xue.
He wanted to know all about him, what kind of person could make the long-reigning Empress willingly abandon her harem.
And was he truly as others said, similar to that breathtakingly talented Xue Jing Yun?
"Bring me his portrait as well," Yan Jin Chao said faintly.
In the evening, he received all the information about Xue Jing Yun, even his portrait.
He slowly opened the portrait after almost finishing reading the information about Xue Jing Yun.