So it turned out — this whole time, the girl had simply been forcing herself to hold on.

Xiao Yingtao hurried to pour her a cup of warm water, but before she could even approach the bed, the cup in her hands had already been snatched away by someone in one swift motion.

The Ninth Prince had not made contact with her at all, yet how the cup had ended up in his hands was completely beyond her comprehension.

In any case, by the time Xiao Yingtao had collected herself, Zhan Qingcheng had already begun lifting the blanket to help Jiu’er sit up.

“Your Highness, you can’t!” Xiao Yingtao was horrified. This time she braced herself against that bone-deep chill and threw herself forward regardless to stop him.

“Your Highness…” She looked at Zhan Qingcheng, bent both knees, and knelt down. “Your Highness, Jiu’er’s body — her body… Your Highness, please forgive this presumption. Allow this subordinate to do it instead!”

Feng Jiu’er’s whole body burned with a searing, scorching pain. She hadn’t the faintest idea whether she had anything on underneath the covers — but now that Xiao Yingtao had drawn attention to it, she understood at once.

Her small face flushed crimson, and she couldn’t help but shoot a glare at Zhan Qingcheng. “Ninth Imperial… Your Highness, you have official duties pressing upon you. Let Xiao Yingtao handle this.”

Zhan Qingcheng felt a vague sense of vexation. His cool, piercing gaze settled upon Xiao Yingtao.

Xiao Yingtao quickly bowed her head low, kneeling on the ground, not daring to breathe so much as a single breath.

He truly hadn’t been thinking anything of the sort. The girl’s body — it wasn’t as though he hadn’t seen it before.

It was just that on every previous occasion when he had looked, there had been no one else nearby. Now, the fault lay entirely with this person called Xiao Yingtao.

“Your Highness, there are people waiting outside,” Jiu’er said. She had been unconscious the previous night, but in her drifting, half-aware state, she had still caught fragments of what had happened — such as the female medical officers’ roughness toward her, such as Xiao Yingtao’s fierce defense of her, such as the moment when everyone had burst in.

Though everything appeared calm on the surface now, the matter of that packet of aphrodisiac medicine had not been resolved.

“Your Highness,” she said, biting her lip. Fine — this fellow got angry when she called him “Your Highness.”

The chill radiating from his person was so intense — was he trying to frighten Xiao Yingtao into collapse as she knelt there on the ground?

Still, there were things Feng Jiu’er had to say, for they concerned both her own fate and Mu Mu’s in the Longwu Academy going forward.

“The packet of medicine that was given to me earlier was taken away by them. This subordinate failed to complete the task Your Highness entrusted to her, and humbly asks for Your Highness’s pardon.”

“Hmph!” So just like that, she had gone ahead and tossed the matter of that packet of aphrodisiac medicine squarely onto him!

Feng Jiu’er blinked her eyes and, seizing the moment while Xiao Yingtao kept her head bowed and didn’t dare look up, winked at Zhan Qingcheng with all her effort.

Unfortunately, the other party paid her no attention. He had no desire to deal with anything involving aphrodisiac medicine right now — he only wanted to watch her recover.

Feng Jiu’er blinked again, looking utterly pitiful.

Ninth Imperial Uncle, even if you’re angry, at least help me resolve the immediate problem first, won’t you? Afterward, this one promises to repay you properly!

“How exactly would you repay me?” He was not one for roundabout words. Whatever he had to say, he said directly.

Feng Jiu’er nearly couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes at him. Weren’t they whispering things to each other? And yet he had gone and said it out loud just like that!

Feng Jiu’er stared at him. Zhan Qingcheng felt, inexplicably, a little wronged — she was the one who had said she would repay him.

“Later… I’ll owe you one.” He rose to his feet and cast one last lingering glance at the girl lying in the bed, a thread of reluctance in his eyes.

“This Prince will come to see you again later.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Hmph!” Still calling him “Your Highness”! How was that any different from how everyone else addressed him?

Feng Jiu’er suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and, with only the movement of her lips, called out in a soft and sweet murmur: “Ninth Imperial Uncle.”

He gave another “hmph,” and only then turned and left. This time, however, that cold grunt — wasn’t cold at all.

This fellow… why was he more and more like a child?

Only after he stepped out and the attendants closed the door did Xiao Yingtao let out a deep, heaving breath: “Phew! That frightened me to death!”