Chapter 32: Riding on His Coattails and Seeking Protection

Proofreader: Prof. Zhu Yuan

“Ah! You beast! Help!”

“Stupid girl! How dare you…”

Hearing the sound from inside, Zou Meng paled visibly with anxiety, though being a rough guy. He was on the point of breaking into the study when he thought better of it. He was so anxious that he seized Ning Chao who was standing aside. It seemed that Ning Chao was undisturbed by the sound inside.

“Ning Chao, what should we do? What is our lord going to do? Miss Ruan is so…”

“So weird!” Ning Chao said silently.

“How could you be so calm?” Zou Meng stared at Ning Chao, Beiming Xuan’s most trusted subordinate. He was always the most anxious one if something like this happened. So it was hard to believe that now he was so calm and even a little bit freaky.

Zou Meng didn’t know that Ning Chao and Murong had already encountered the same thing.

Ning Chao believed that his lord would prefer to make love without any disturbance.

“Let it be. All we need to do is to stay on guard. Our lord would be all right” Ning Chao patted Zou Meng perfunctorily and mouthed some empty comforting words.

Zou Meng froze with surprise. The lord would be all right? Actually he was worrying about Miss Ruan instead of their lord.

In the study.

Beiming Xuan’s unfathomable-looking eyes blazed with fury. He placed himself over Ruan Jiujiu on the bed, but Ruan Jiujiu hooked one of her legs to his waist. He twisted her arms above her head, but she kept struggling to get free from his control.

With obvious recalcitrance and unwillingness to submit.

Silly girl! He couldn’t believe she had the audacity to frown at him when she came in. How dare she lose her temper before him for lack of sleep as if justice was on her side!

She was supposed to think about how inferior she was and the superior status he enjoyed. And she should have been aware that she was now in the control of Beiming Xuan!

He glared hostilely at Ruan Jiujiu. Ruan Jiujiu met his glare without flinching.

It was impossible to keep one’s temper if he got up on the wrong side of the bed. Having flown into rage, Ruan Jiujiu completely forgot how distinguished Beiming Xuan, the man currently placing himself over her, was.

She was totally engulfed in fury!

She did not understand why she was not allowed to sleep and was even dragged to wait on Beiming Xuan.

She had never been treated like that. It was so stupid of them to believe that she was the submissive former infanta. She, belonging to modern times, was also an orphan girl, but she was so tough that no one dared to bully her.

That was the reason why Ruan Jiujiu flew into fury, believing justice was on her side. However, she could not tell the truth, for it would be hard for Beiming Xuan to understand her time traveling experience.

And Beiming Xuan had already been enraged, for his dignity as a lord had been trampled by her. It would be impossible for him to accept any kind of explanation.

“Ruan Jiujiu, are you courting death?” He lowered his voice, with a more murderous look on his face. Instead of being intimidated by Beiming Xuan’s threat, Ruan Jiujiu demonstrated her stronger spirit of resistance. She straightened up her neck and stared at Beiming Xuan: “That is exactly what I am going to ask you.”

Beiming Xuan’s dark eyes were instantly filled with coldness. Death was in the air, if looks could kill…

“Ruan Jiujiu, don’t you know who I am?”

It occurred to her that Beiming Xuan enjoyed high status, causing a slight flutter of her eyelashes. Indeed, she was by no means afraid of him.

She had already known how distinguished Beiming Xuan was.

That submissive former infanta could not make her presence felt. In stark contrast to her, Beiming Xuan enjoyed extraordinarily high status. So the former infanta must have known who Beiming Xuan was.

Beiming Xuan was the most respected prince in Tiansheng, but what made the deepest impression was his evil spirit rather than his high status. Flexing his military muscles in the battlefield, he boasted the strength that ten thousand men could not withstand. Heaven and earth could be overturned with his slightest effort. If he stamped his foot, the land of Tiansheng would be shaken.

Sometimes even the Emperor, ruler of Tiansheng, would make a concession before him.

Let alone such a little girl like her!

Moreover, the widespread rumors about his bloodthirstiness and cruelty were bound to make a little orphan girl like Ruan Jiujiu freeze with terror at sight of Beiming Xuan.

“You are Beiming Xuan, Prince of Tiansheng.”

Ruan Jiujiu looked at Beiming Xuan. At that moment she could not possibly say that she didn’t know who he was. And under such circumstances, “No blame attached to the unconscious doer of wrong” would not work.

Exactly. Beiming Xuan would kill her immediately if she pretended not to know him.

“Since you do know who I am, I would ask whether you have fear of death. Did you ever take my words seriously?” He gave Ruan Jiujiu a frosty stare as if there were cold waves rolling within his eyes.

With another flutter of her eyelashes, Ruan Jiujiu had a sense of impending doom.

She had successfully detoxified all the poisoned ones. And she believed that Ning Chao would fail to figure out her false identity during his enquiry.

However, it was her seeming innocence that put her in danger.

To judge from the memory left by the original owner of the former infanta’s body, there was no one above Beiming Xuan but the Emperor. Beiming Xuan and the Emperor showed love and respect to each other as good brothers should. However, it didn’t take much brain to figure out that the peace and harmony was nothing but a false impression created by both of them. The vying for the imperial power made it impossible to cultivate pure and truly harmonious relationship within the royal family.

Actually Beiming Xuan was a major threat to many people. Judging by his bad experiences with a number of assassination attempts, Ruan Jiujiu was well aware that one who lacked sense of propriety was courting death if he caused trouble for Beiming Xuan.

It was very indiscreet of Ruan Jiujiu to have caused trouble for Beiming Xuan.

She could have run away if she were not Ruan Jiujiu, that submissive orphan girl. However, she had to accept that she was no other than Ruan Jiujiu under such circumstances. There lay a great difference between them in social standing. They were clouds and muds. She was courting her own ruin by fighting against overwhelming odds. It was like an egg dashing itself against a rock, and the rock happened to be a diamond.

If she fought against Beiming Xuan as an egg dashed itself against a diamond, she would be courting death!

She did not want to die! Ruan Jiujiu rolled her eyes, realizing what she did just now. The way she posed was so offensive that she would almost vomit blood.

She was absolutely out of mind!

“I have deep fear of death, and I take your words seriously!” Ruan Jiujiu said as she once again clamped her leg over Beiming Xuan’s waist. It was as if Ruan Jiujiu would never let go of Beiming Xuan.

Beiming Xuan was enraged. Suddenly, Ruan Jiujiu blinked her eyes and said with a pitiable look on her face: “My lord, I beg you to save me!”

Beiming Xuan knitted his brows. He was puzzled by Ruan Jiujiu’s unexpected change of expression.

Who was she trying to impress, pretending to ride on others’ coattails like that?

Beiming Xuan frowned, knowing that the silly girl would once again play tricks on him. Before he could flare at Ruan Jiujiu, she got the upper hand and started crying.

“My lord, you have no idea how pathetic I am. I’m an orphan girl. My only cousin always treated me high-handedly. She robbed me of all my possessions. And I was not even allowed to have enough food. Look at me! I am as thin as a rake! Even the servants in the Ruan Mansion lead a better life than I do.” Ruan Jiujiu said as she rolled up her sleeves, showing her wrists to Beiming Xuan.

Her thin, white wrists were touched with pale blue. It seemed that she had suffered malnourishment. What a pitiful creature!

However, Beiming Xuan never sympathized with others!

“That is because you are silly!”

I’m not fucking idiot! Ruan Jiujiu retorted silently. She kept acting as if she had been abused: “I shouldn’t have placed my trust in her. She is younger than me. My mother had told me to humor her ever since I was a child. Who would have thought that it was due to my meek submission that she became a vicious person, totally devoid of gratitude!”

Ruan Jiujiu was talking nonsense. She could make up stories as she liked, for the former infanta’s mother would never appear to check the facts.

“I held back my anger although she requited my kindness with enmity. I humored my cousin because my mother asked me to do so. I would, therefore, have nothing to be ashamed of before my deceased parents. Who would have thought that my cousin turned out to be so vicious! She wanted to kill me! I was lucky to escape her assassination attempt, but I didn’t expect her to make another one!” Ruan Jiujiu was acting as if she spoke with total sincerity. Actually that was exactly what had happened to that submissive former infanta. Having heard about Ruan Jiujiu’s story from Ning Chao, Beiming Xuan could spot no flaws in Ruan Jiujiu’s account. He still harbored some doubts. Ruan Jiujiu resumed her pitiable look and said: “My lord, I’m sorry I caused you trouble – it wasn’t intentional.”