Wei Luo was startled. She wasn’t sure what to say.

  She looked at Zhao Jie with a confused expression. She hadn’t been thinking when she came here. She had only wanted to vent anger for Chang Hong. She had been so angry that she couldn’t pay attention to the injury on her ankle. But, now there was someone in front of her who was attentively worrying about her injury. She felt somewhat moved. She inhaled once before calling out, “Big brother…”


  Zhao Jie quietly said, “En.”


  The young girl’s eyes were red. He thought that she was in pain because of her ankle and was about to carry her. Who would have expected that she would spread her arms and murmur, “Hug me?”


  Zhao Jie’s heart suddenly softened. His desire to pamper her couldn’t be increased any further. He said, “Okay.” He leaned over and hugged her close to his chest. One hand was around her waist and the other hand was on her head. He tightly pressed her against his chest.

  It was only a small request. How could he refuse? Besides, he had long wanted to hug her.

  The young girl’s body was fragrant and soft. She curled up in his embrace as if she had missed him. Her posture showed absolute dependence. At this moment, Zhao Jie thought she understood his thoughts and even desired him the same way he desired her. But, a short moment later, the lovable body in his arms moved and left his arms. She stood in front of him with a smile as if nothing was wrong and said, “I’m okay now. I drained enough energy.”


  His arms were suddenly empty, only her scent and a little bit of her warmth were left. Zhao Jie’s heart felt regretful, but it wasn’t obvious on his face. He thought her banter was interesting, “What energy? Where did you learn this word from?”


  She placed her hand on his shoulder to support half of her weight, “I read this in a book.”


  Those supernatural books all had similar circumstances. A succubus would absorb a man’s energy and the man would immediately die from exhaustion and only his withered corpse would be left. Zhao Jie stroked her head and his eyes darkened. Did she really understand what it meant to drain energy? If she really wanted to drain his energy, a hug wouldn’t be sufficient. There were still many things that could be done. In the future, she would know that it wouldn’t be something as simple as hugging.

  Zhao Jie couldn’t bear for her to stand too long. Without speaking, he leaned over, picked her up, and started walking towards his own courtyard on the other side.

  Wei Luo conveniently grabbed onto his shoulder, saw that he was heading in the wrong direction, and hurriedly reminded him, “Chang Hong. Big brother, I want to go see Chang Hong.”


  Zhao Jie paused for a moment before changing directions to walk to Chang Hong’s room instead.

  On the way there, Wei Luo was lying in his arms and saw him looking straight ahead.

  As he slowly walked forward, he asked, “Ah Luo, why do you dislike Li Song?”


  Wei Luo looked down and thought of that moment when the hairpin pieced Li Song’s chest. Her voice became chilly, “He’s always hurting Chang Hong. Chang Hong is my younger brother. No one can hurt him.”


  From the time she was a child, it seemed that she kept getting entangled with Li Song. Before, it was small-scaled arguments, now that they had grown up, it wouldn’t be good if they kept getting entangled. Zhao Jie didn’t say anything. When he had been standing at the entrance, he saw Wei Luo standing on her toes and gently rubbing Li Song’s ear. Her action seemed so intimate. For a moment of time, he wanted to kill Li Song. He knew that Wei Luo couldn’t like Li Song, but he still couldn’t control his possessiveness.

  Wei Luo was his. Other than him, no one should even think about touching her.

  Wei Luo quietly asked him if he knew what had happened on the hunting grounds today. He nodded, “A servant recently told me about it.

  Li Song had injured Wei Chang Hong with an arrow. Fortunately, the arrow hadn’t hit a vital point and the injury wasn’t life threatening. Zhao Jie thought that matter wasn’t as simple as it appeared. Although Li Song bullied Wei Chang Hong when they were children, he didn’t have a reason to want to injury Chang Hong at the present and to do in a public place. Under the current circumstance, it would be difficult from Li Song to defend himself even if a hundred voices supported him. Zhao Jie understood Li Song. Although Li Song was arrogant and wild, he wasn’t a reckless type of person. There was something off with this story. He needed to investigate this further.

  As Zhao Jie walked, he comforted the young girl in his arms, “If something like this happens again, tell me first. This prince will help you resolve it. You don’t need to handle it on your own.”


  They had already arrived at Chang Hong’s courtyard during their conversation. He carried her to the reception pavilion at the back of the courtyard. He placed her down on a black lacquered, Chinese cedar chair with an Eight Immortal design.

  Wei Luo shrunk back in the chair, “It was hurting before, but it doesn’t hurt now…” She tilted her head to look at him. Her bright black eyes glittered and were full of curiosity. “You’ll help me with anything? You’ll help me no matter what I do?”


  Zhao Jie thought her appearance was too cute and couldn’t resist smiling. He pinched her small, soft face and said, “I’ll help you with anything.”


  She looked at him with astonishment and amazement. She didn’t seem to believe his words.

  But he didn’t explain further. He stood up and had servant bring a bowl of warm water from the kitchen, then he held her ankle.

  Wei Luo’s ankle had already been swollen before and because she had walked so much recently, the swelling had worsened. After Zhao Jie placed a hot compress on her ankle for a bit, he rubbed the same medicinal wine he had used last night on her. It was only after this that her pain felt alleviated.

  She was preparing to put on her own shoe, but Zhao Jie held her ankle and said, “Don’t move around. I’ll do it.”


  But, he had already done everything. To even help her put on her shoe, this didn’t seem okay. He was a prince. Was it really okay for him to this type of thing for her? Wei Luo subconsciously looked at Zhu Geng and wanted him to persuade Zhao Jie. Who would expect that Zhu Geng had already turned his back towards them and was standing at the entrance? He had already become used to this.

  Wei Luo held her white sock and stubbornly said, “I’ll do it myself…”


  Seeing how insistent she was, Zhao Jie smiled, loosened his hold, and said, “Okay.”


  She bent over to put on her sock and shoe and finally let out a sigh in relief. When she thought about having to walk to Chang Hong’s inner room, she immediately realized the next part’s difficulty. She couldn’t continue walking. How could she get there?

  Zhao Jie was in front of her and holding in his smile. Seeing her pink lips pursed, he couldn’t resist asking, “Are you going to go there yourself, or do you want this prince to carry you.”


  She looked up without saying anything.

  Zhao Jie quietly laughed. In the end, he still came closer to pick her up and started walking to Chang Hong’s inner room while carrying her.

  Inside Chang Hong’s inner room, the two doctors had already treated Chang Hong’s wound. His wound had stopped bleeding, but he wasn’t awake. The doctors said that he might have a fever during the night. If that happened, he just needed to drink a bowl of medicine and would be fine when he woke up the next morning.

  Liang Yu had been at Chang Hong’s bedside and keeping watch this entire time. Seeing Zhao Jie carrying Wei Luo inside, he was stunned for a moment before he cupped one fist in the other to make his salutations, “Greetings your Highness Prince Jing.”


  Zhao Jie placed Wei Luo down a rosewood chair. After he thought for a moment, in order to protect her reputation, he explained, “Ah Luo’s ankle was injured and she can’t walk, so this prince carried her over here.”


  Liang Yu suddenly understood and didn’t think any further. He retreated to the side to give his spot to Wei Luo.

  Wei Luo looked at Chang Hong, who was lying in bed, and felt a pang of sadness. She couldn’t help reaching out and holding his hand. He had been perfectly okay yesterday night when he stood in front of her and complained about Zhao Jie. Who would have expected that in a single day he would become like this? She tilted her head to childishly wipe away her tears on her sleeve. It was if she was a completely different person from the girl that had used a hairpin to hurt someone.

  At nighttime, as predicted, Chang Hong became feverish and his entire body sweated and his mouth said nonsensical words. Wei Luo was extremely worried and hurriedly had the servants prepare the medicine. She wasn’t reassured until she personally saw him drink down the medicine.

  Fortunately, he was much better after he finished drinking the medicine. He continued sleeping until the next morning.

  This had been a night of unbearable torment for Wei Luo. She hadn’t closed her eyes even once the entire night and closely kept watch over Chang Hong by his bedside. She was afraid that something would happen to him. Zhao Jie had been next to her and keeping her company. He asked her to go back to her room several times to rest, but she stubbornly shook her head and wouldn’t leave no matter what he said. She lasted until the first glimmer of dawn covered the mountain before she finally fell asleep on the bed.

  Zhao Jie walked closer, picked her up, looked at Chang Hong who had awaken, and calmly said, “Properly recuperate from your injury. This prince will take Ah Luo away first.” Before he left, he also said, “The doctors said that you shouldn’t be moving since you’re injured. Wait until the next morning. This prince will arrange for people to bring the two of you back to your residence.”


  Chang Hong lied in his bed. His handsome face was deathly pale as he looked at Zhao Jie’s back as he carried Ah Luo away. He didn’t look away for a long time.

  ——–


  The winner of this year’s hunting competition was Liang Yu. Li Song was in second place. Third place went to another imperial official’s son. This had been reported to the Emperor yesterday.

  After the hunting competition was over, one after another, people left Jing He Villa and returned home. Wei Chang Hong and Wei Luo were the only ones that stayed for an extra day.

  Li Song didn’t stay any longer. He went back Prince Ru Yang’s residence while he was still wounded.

  ——–


  At Prince Ru Yang’s antechamber, Prince Ru Yang and Elder Princess Gao Yang found out that Li Song had been injured. They were appalled and distressed.

  Elder Princess Gao Yang was deeply worried when she asked, “You’ve never been hurt in previous years. What happened this year? Who hurt you?”


  Li Song sat in a chair while tightly gripping the armrest and refusing to answer.

  Elder Princess Gao Yang could only turn around to ask Li Song’s attendant. Li Song’s attendant started to speak, but then paused. When he had just opened his mouth to speak, Li Song had fiercely glared at him, so he immediately stopped.

  Li Song looked down and slowly said, ” No one hurt me… The injury was caused by my own carelessness.”