Chapter 16

Pei Hanying didn’t notice that anything was amiss with Ning Song.

After the doctor left, Pei Hanying smiled at the little girl and said, “Just a few more days of medicine, and then you won’t have to take it anymore.”

Every time she watched Ning Song swallow all sorts of fever medicine without so much as furrowing her brow, Pei Hanying found it terrifying.

All the different medicines tasted far too strange to her. If it were Pei Hanying taking them, a single sip would have made her entire face scrunch up.

Ning Song barely managed to keep a smile on her face.

She nodded lightly and gave a few distracted replies.

Pei Hanying soon noticed her absentmindedness, but assumed she simply hadn’t yet processed the fact that she was finally recovering.

After ruffling Ning Song’s hair, she said, “Go take today’s medicine, then have Sister Tingting apply ​read the original at bailiantales.com​your ointment. We’ll sleep together afterward.”

She was already getting sleepy.

Ning Song nodded. Under Pei Hanying’s watchful gaze, she drank her medicine, then returned to her room to have Xia Ting apply ointment to her wounds.

Pei Hanying curled up sleepily on the sofa to wait for Ning Song. Quite some time later, even Xia Ting had come out, but Ning Song still hadn’t emerged from the room.

Puzzled, Pei Hanying became a little more alert. She got to her feet and headed toward Ning Song’s room.

When she turned the guest-room doorknob, Pei Hanying saw a figure sitting on the edge of the bed in a daze. She asked,

“Ning Song, what are you doing?”

When Ning Song’s shoulders flinched at the sound of her voice, Pei Hanying thought to herself that this little villain really was timid.

She could be startled by someone speaking at a perfectly normal volume.

Despite thinking this, Pei Hanying still lowered her voice.

She walked over to Ning Song and met her eyes, surprised by how pale her lips looked.

“Why do you look so listless? Do your wounds hurt again?”

Ning Song saw the concern for her in Pei Hanying’s eyes. Her gaze flickered slightly, and her grip on the hem of her clothes tightened.

The previously smooth fabric crumpled in her hands.

She forced herself to remain calm, but no longer dared to look into Pei Hanying’s dark eyes. Lowering her gaze to the floor, she said quietly,

“I don’t feel unwell.”

Pei Hanying was afraid she was merely putting on a brave face despite feeling ill, so she reached out to [stolen content]check the temperature of Ning Song’s forehead.

Ning Song’s body was already tense. The moment she sensed the shadow falling over her, instinct took over. She immediately raised her arm to shield her face, her posture entirely defensive and resistant.

At the sight, Pei Hanying’s outstretched hand froze halfway. For some reason, she felt as if her heart had seized up.

After a moment of silence, she withdrew her hand and said helplessly, “I only wanted to feel your forehead. I wasn’t going to hit you.”

She had never once hit Ning Song, yet Ning Song had suddenly reacted to her like this. To be honest, Pei Hanying felt a little hurt.

Ning Song looked at her in alarm and parted her lips, wanting to explain, but no words came even after a long while.

Her heart and mind were completely overwhelmed by what the doctor had said. For a moment, she had no idea how to explain her reaction to Pei Hanying.

In the end, after her lips trembled for a while, all she managed was a feeble, “I’m sorry.”

Pei Hanying pursed her lips. Hearing unauthorized copy Ning Song apologize to her yet again made her feel inexplicably irritated.

She took a deep breath and barely managed to suppress the agitation in her chest before replying, “You don’t have to apologize to me.”

When she saw that Ning Song’s eyes were still damp and that she looked so pitiful, Pei Hanying’s heart softened once again.

She asked, “Are you going to sleep with me tonight or not? If you are, come upstairs with me. I’m tired.”

Pei Hanying gave a slow yawn, already preparing to take Ning Song upstairs to rest with her.

After all, as far as she was concerned, there was no way Ning Song would refuse.

Besides, wasn’t Ning Song afraid to sleep alone?

So when she heard Ning Song say, “No,” Pei Hanying’s first reaction was to assume she had misheard.

She rubbed her ear and asked again in disbelief, “What did you say?”

Ning Song looked at her and nervously licked her lips before repeating her answer.

“I don’t want to sleep with you. I want to sleep by myself tonight.”

Even as she said it, her eyes grew damper still. Mist flooded her jade-green eyes, nearly forming a river that threatened to overflow.

Her heart ached as she silently apologized to Pei Hanying again.

I’m sorry, Yingying. It isn’t that I truly don’t want to sleep with you.

It’s just… I want us to have a little more time together. I want to stay with the Pei family a little longer.

Pei Hanying was silent for a moment before repeating her words. “Ning Song, you’re saying you don’t want to sleep with me?”

When Ning Song nodded, Pei Hanying took a deep breath, her expression gradually turning cold.

“Fine. I’m going upstairs to rest.”

With that, she left the room and stormed up to the third floor.

Pei Hanying didn’t understand.

Ning Song hadn’t said she was unwilling the previous times they had slept together, yet today her answer had suddenly changed.

And she had even looked as though she were about to cry, as if Pei Hanying had bullied her.

Pei Hanying thought viciously to herself that the little villain truly lived up to her reputation. Her mercurial temperament was already evident at such a young age.

And Pei Hanying had been considering raising her? She had already opened her heart to Ning Song, yet Ning Song was still acting as if she had something to hide from her.

If Pei Hanying really did raise her, would [Read on BaiLianTales]she have to spend her whole life guessing what was on Ning Song’s mind?

The more Pei Hanying thought about it, the angrier she became. Once upstairs, she took off her coat and rolled into bed.

The curtains were still open. From where Pei Hanying lay, she could see the snowman outside, still valiantly holding its ground on the windowsill.

Pei Hanying ground her teeth. She felt an urge to close the curtains and block that annoying thing made by that annoying little pest from sight.

For some reason, however, she ultimately didn’t ask the smart assistant to close them.

Instead, she stared silently at the snowman for a long while.

Only when her eyes began to ache did she finally lower her gaze.

As her indignation at being rejected gradually faded, she began thinking about how strangely Ning Song had behaved earlier.

She had clearly looked ready to bailiantales.com cry, so why had she refused Pei Hanying’s invitation to sleep together?

Was there another reason?

Whatever the case, Ning Song had been exceptionally strange tonight.

When had it started? Pei Hanying frowned in thought.

…It seemed to have begun after the doctor finished examining her.

The moment this occurred to her, Pei Hanying could no longer sit still.

A vague sense of foreboding rose in her heart. She got out of bed, put on her clothes, and went downstairs.

When she tried the guest-room door, she found it locked from the inside.

That was something Ning Song’s personality would never allow her to do.

What the hell was going on?

Pei Hanying fetched the key to the guest room and unlocked the door.

The room was completely dark. When she turned on the light, there was no one on the bed. Instead, she heard the faint patter of water coming from the bathroom.

Hadn’t Ning Song already bathed?

A possibility occurred to Pei Hanying, and her expression darkened.

She walked to the bathroom door and knocked, her voice slightly cold.

“Ning Song, are you in there?”

“You have two minutes. Come out right now.”