Chapter 880: A Million Times for You (242)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The other girl chimed in, “That’s right. In my opinion, you’ve been too merciful toward her this time. You’ve shown her a great deal of kindness by not dragging her out to be truncheoned, Your Highness.”
“His Highness showed her mercy for the sake of the Princess Consort, who’s so kind and benevolent. Otherwise, she would have died long ago.”
“Enough, go bring her some breakfast. It’ll be our sin if she starves to death.”
“Okay.”
There was only one girl left in the room. After having made several failed attempts at trying to speak, An Xiaoning decided not to waste her efforts and instead closed her eyes to play dead.
The girl fumbled for a small bottle of medicine on her bed that she then applied onto An Xiaoning’s back. An Xiaoning could not continue playing dead, thinking to herself that the girl was about to apply some poison on her.
Upon seeing An Xiaoning coming to, the girl did not get flustered at all and instead spoke in a kinder and mellower tone than before. “This is my own medicine, your wounds will heal faster.”
An Xiaoning subconsciously tried to speak and unexpectedly succeeded this time. “Thank you.”
An Xiaoning was astonished to hear her own voice. Wasn’t I incapable of speech? Why can I speak again?
What is happening?
Slightly taken aback, the girl said, “You don’t have to thank me. I’m just helping you on account of how you often help me out.”
She then began rubbing the medication onto An Xiaoning.
An Xiaoning initially felt a stinging pain that soon faded after she forced herself to bear with it. An Xiaoning felt the pain of her wounds becoming much more alleviated by the time the other girl returned.
She dared not ask about how she had sustained those injuries, and neither did she ask about the prince and the princess consort.
Another girl returned with the food and handed it to this girl, who then fed An Xiaoning.
“Xiang Li, why do you bother wasting your time and effort feeding her? Just let her lie there and eat on her own. She’s not our master anyway, there’s no need to serve her.”
“I have nothing else to do anyway. Besides, I’ll still have to clear up the food debris if she makes a mess,” Xiang Li answered.
An Xiaoning finished the food quietly and lay on her stomach feebly, barely having the energy to move an inch at all.
After Xiang Li went out to perform her chores, the other girl pinched An Xiaoning’s ear and pulled it upwards. “Hua Jin, if you dare appear in front of His Highness again, I’ll rip your ear off and feed it to the dogs. Why don’t you take a look in the mirror and reflect on who you are? How can you associate yourself with such an honorable and respected man like His Highness!?!”
“I… I didn’t!” An Xiaoning retorted, feeling an excruciating pain in her ear. She felt a strong urge to beat the girl into a pulp. Yet, she could not move an inch at all.
“You didn’t? If you didn’t, why did you end up on His Highness’ bed? Both His Highness and the Princess Consort witnessed it with their own eyes, yet you’re still trying to deny it!” the girl hollered, tightening her grip.
“I don’t know what happened either, I was framed. Sis, please spare me,” An Xiaoning pleaded, wishing she was dead.
The girl flew into a rage and snapped, “You’re clearly older than me and yet you called me ‘Sis.’ I’m going to rip your mouth off!”
“Okay, okay, my little sister, will that do?”
The girl barked, “Who’s your little sister…”
An Xiaoning was in excruciating pain, feeling as if her ear was about to be yanked off. Without hesitation, An Xiaoning grabbed the girls hair and tugged at it with all her might, causing the girl to shriek in pain. “Are you going to let go of me or not?” An Xiaoning snapped.
The girl let go, followed by An Xiaoning.
“You’re ill-intentioned and yet you still accuse others of framing you. Who’d be so free to frame you? You just didn’t expect His Highness and the Princess Consort to come back together.”
An Xiaoning could not be bothered to argue with her and just wanted to wake up from her dream. She did not wish to probe on the details of the past.
Hence, she closed her eyes and tried to get herself to fall asleep, telling herself that everything would be fine once the dream was over.
In reality, she could not fall asleep no matter how hard she tried.
She continued to lay in bed like a corpse, feeling immense pain all over.
To her fear and astonishment, she did not wake up from the dream for several consecutive days.
Even though she had fallen asleep in her dream, she would wake up to find herself in the same place.
She used to wake up soon after a short dream. Yet, she could not wake up from it even after a few days this time. Mother must be worried sick , she thought to herself.
How could this happen? This time, not only could I speak in my dream, I also even broke my personal record of staying in the dream for more than a day.
Within those few days, she learned that the girl who had pinched her ears was named Xiao Liu and happened to be the Princess Consort’s servant.
It was Xiang Li who told her about it, and she had no idea about the rest.
Due to the cold temperatures, An Xiaoning’s wounds were healing exceptionally slowly. She noticed that Xiao Liu and Xiang Li were both dressed in thick, quilted coats and realized that it was wintertime in the dream while it was the beginning of summertime in real life.
It was freezing in the room because there was no fireplace, and the blanket she was given was extremely thin and worn out.
She had an arduous time throughout the past few days and did not see anyone else apart from those two girls.
No physician had come by to treat her wounds. The only medical aid she received was the medication that Xiang Li had applied onto her wounds.
She began to run a fever after developing a cold.
It was a well-known fact that one would feel shivering cold regardless of how warm their body temperature may be.
An Xiaoning was already on the verge of fainting by the time Xiang Li discovered that she was unwell.
She would slip in and out of a daze periodically.
After the fever, she finally woke up from the dream.
She woke up to discover that she was lying in bed with her mother beside her to look after her.
“Mother…”
Shi Qingzhou immediately opened her eyes and said, “Baby, you’re awake?”
“Yes, I had a very long dream.”
“You really scared me. You were in a comatose for several consecutive days and you just wouldn’t wake up. You seemed to be in deep slumber. Jin Qingyan even brought you to the hospital secretly for a checkup, but the doctor said that you were just sleeping,” Shi Qingzhou explained.
An Xiaoning turned to lie on her side and explained the dream to her mother briefly. She then let out a long sigh and said, “Thank God I’m awake now and I don’t have to be put through that suffering.”
Shi Qingzhou got a heartache after hearing her words. “How could they do that? That’s so ruthless.”
“It happened a thousand years ago. I’ve slept for so long, I can’t sleep anymore. Did anything happen the past few days?”
“That Lin Shishi kept calling you on your mobile phone but I never once picked up. Although the ban is said to be still ongoing, they’ve just been all talk and no action. There hasn’t been any major news.”
“Got it. Mother, go back to your room and sleep. I’d like to have some time alone.” She took a look at the time and continued, “It’s almost five o’clock, daybreak is approaching.”
“Alright.”
Shi Qingzhou made her way downstairs to go to bed. An Xiaoning sent Jin Qingyan a long voice message, as per her usual practice of telling her about every dream of hers. He of course had to know since it concerned their previous lifetime.
She thought that he was still asleep. To her surprise, he replied soon after she had sent it.
He asked her who the prince was.
She answered, “I don’t know, but I have a feeling that it’s you.”
He did not say much apart from telling her that he would have breakfast with her when daybreak arrived.