Young Prime Minister, a Hermit

Chapter 4

"Hello." Xiao Jie smiled slightly and greeted him. Yingying hurriedly stood up and nodded as well.

Xu Lie politely replied to them, then his displeased gaze fell on me.

"Take your medicine." Xu Lie placed the cup and medicine in front of me and said coldly.

"Oh, oh..." I nodded hurriedly, took three pills from each box and put them in my mouth.

"Idiot!" Xu Lie grabbed my hand holding the medicine and yelled, "Didn't you read the instructions on the packaging? This one has two pills, this one has one pill, only this kind has three pills. Are you so stupid that you can't even take medicine?"

"I...I'm sorry!" I hurriedly tried to put the granules back into the box, but Xu Lie snatched them away and threw them into the trash can, coldly saying, "Do you think you can take the medicine you took out tomorrow?"

"Pfft—" Xiao Jie's laughter reached my ears. She looked at me, then at him, covered her mouth, and turned her head away.

Xu Lie, somewhat embarrassed, exchanged a few casual words and left the room. Frustrated, I finished my medicine, glanced at Xiao Jie's suppressed laughter, and then at Yingying's amused expression, and couldn't help but feel troubled: Why do I always manage to make Xu Lie angry?

“Lanlan,” Xiaojie suddenly said seriously, “maybe Xu Lie doesn’t hate you as much as we think…”

Xiao Jie and Ying Ying were finally driven away by Xu Lie's driver. They felt a little sad about parting, but the thought that they would see each other again in the future made them feel relieved.

That evening, after showering, only Xu Lie and I remained in the large room. Apparently, this was supposed to be our new home. We stared at each other awkwardly, speechless for a long time.

Xu Lie stood up and said, "Go to sleep!" Then he walked towards the closed door.

As I gazed at his tall figure, a sudden wave of disappointment washed over me. Could it be that, in my heart, I truly saw myself as his wife? I sighed deeply.

"Damn it!" Xu Lie's angry curse suddenly came. I looked up in surprise and saw that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't open the door, and he had a frustrated look on his face as if he had been tricked. I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"You brat! Still laughing!" Xu Lie angrily swung his hand and came to my side. He looked around and couldn't help but curse again, "These bastards, they even took the sofa."

I suppressed a laugh, coughed twice, and put on a serious face: "So what do we do tonight?"

He frowned, looked at the large bed, then at the thick, soft down comforter, and finally compromised: "You sleep on the bed, I'll sleep on the floor!"

"What if you catch a cold?" I asked hastily.

"None of your business!" Xu Lie snapped impatiently. "Go to sleep now!"

I rolled my eyes and chuckled, “If we catch a cold, they’ll know we’re not sleeping together. Tomorrow, they might come up with an even more insidious plan.”

Xu Lie was taken aback, clearly also thinking it was possible. His sharply defined eyebrows furrowed for a long time, and he remained silent.

I pulled back the covers and lay down in my winter pajamas. "I'm not scared, so what are you scared of? This bed is so big, we can each sleep on one side!"

Xu Lie stared intently at me for a long time before finally striding over. He lay down in his pajamas as well, and before falling asleep, he mercilessly gave me a tap on the head, saying angrily, "I've never seen such a stupid woman!"

I rolled my eyes, turned around, and faced the large French windows to sleep. The silvery moonlight shone through the transparent gauze curtains, so bright that I couldn't fall asleep for a long time. I had no choice but to turn over, just in time to see Xu Lie awkwardly looking away.

"Turn over and sleep!" he commanded fiercely.

I blinked my sleepy eyes, shook my head and muttered, "No, the light is too bright, I can't sleep."

A cold wind suddenly rushed into the quilt, and my sleepiness vanished instantly. I saw Xu Lie get up and stride to the window, pulling the heavy cotton curtains shut, plunging the room into darkness.

Xu Lie made his way back to bed in the darkness. His face, which I couldn't see clearly, was turned towards me, and his warm breath brushed against my face: "Turn over and sleep!"

I cursed under my breath, turned over, and stared at the dark curtains with their flickering patterns. Suddenly, I whirled around.

With a loud "bang," my head collided with his.

Xu Lie was about to explode in anger, yelling, "What exactly do you want, woman?"

I glanced timidly at his face in the darkness and muttered, "It's too dark, I'm a little scared..."

...I felt that Xu Lie had either been defeated by me or had fainted from anger, so for a long time I could only hear his breathing but not his voice. Just as I felt guilty and was about to turn over and go to sleep, a large hand quickly pressed down on the back of my head, my nose hurt a little, and I pressed it against that warm chest.

Xu Lie's voice, filled with gritted teeth, reached my ears: "If you don't go to sleep, I'll throw you out the window!"

I grinned in the darkness, then remembered Meng Xue'er's sad face, and wanted to ask him how things were between him and Xue'er. But in this heart-wrenching situation, I just couldn't bring myself to ask.

Slowly, consciousness faded from my mind, and I peacefully fell asleep in Xu Lie's arms. The amethyst on my wrist flickered in and out of the blankets, suddenly flashing white light before returning to stillness.

A voice that was neither male nor female could be faintly heard echoing in my ears.

—Chifei, son of the goddess Ishuel, come back! Come back! ...

Chapter 3 Sharing Life and Death

Several places on my body were burning with pain. I whimpered softly in my sleep, but a few unfamiliar syllables came out of my throat. I was startled awake. The bright sunlight pierced my eyes, and tears streamed down my face. All I could see was white. The pain in my body was even more intense—a sharp, tearing pain, a bone-chilling pain—so painful that I couldn't stand up at all.

"Xu Lie..." I called out softly, my voice trembling with tears, only to find that my voice was clear, melodious, and had a wonderful rhythm, making it hundreds of times more pleasant than my original voice.

My body suddenly swayed, and a pair of hands tightly gripped my waist. A faint, cool aura surrounded me, mixed with the scorching heat of the sun and the pervasive smell of blood. Strangely, I felt a sense of peace and comfort.

"Young Master, are you alright?" His breath was slightly labored, his tone cool yet tinged with concern. I struggled to lift my eyes, but before I could even make out his features, my attention was completely drawn to the deep, dark pupils half-hidden by a strand of silver hair. Those eyes, though utterly black, were inexplicably clear and bright, like black gemstones set in mercury, reflecting clearly onto his pale face and trembling lips.

I shuddered and looked around, only to be met with a sea of men staring at me, as if they wanted to devour me alive. They were dressed in uniform black, tight-fitting samurai outfits, with headbands tied around their foreheads, and holding long swords and spears. The gleaming blades were all pointed at the two of them—me and the man beside me.

What happened? I looked around in horror at the black-clad men who seemed to desperately want to rush at us but were staring at us with fear, then at the blue-clad man beside me, covered in blood but still as cold as ice. I was just sleeping in Xu Lie's arms, so why am I here when I wake up?

Suddenly, an old voice rang out from outside the crowd. Although the voice was loud and resentful, it concealed a hint of weakness: "Feng Yihan, no matter how many skills or abilities you have, you just took a palm strike from me and a sword strike from my sect leader for your master. Now you want to leave safely with him who is suffering from severe poison? You are underestimating my Xuanzong sect!"

The man beside me remained expressionless. Through my blurry eyes, I peered closely and discovered that he was pale, his lips were purple, and his face was covered in blood, obscuring his features. His once black hair was now disheveled, but a single strand of silver hair stained with blood danced in the wind, giving him a sense of profound sorrow and hardship.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my head, followed by a tearing sensation in my chest. I clung to the man in blue with one hand and clutched my chest with the other, vomiting a mouthful of blood. Half of the blood spilled onto the ground, while the other splattered onto my chest, turning a horrifying bluish-purple color.

"Young Master—!!" the man cried out urgently, his tone no longer as cold as before, and the hand around my waist trembled and burned, clearly expressing his fear. Just then, a command was given, and the men in black surged forward like a tide.

My body was alternating between chills and fever, my mind was terribly confused, and I could barely stand, let alone evade my pursuers. The man in blue held a sword in one hand to defend himself, and held me tightly with the other, shifting me from side to side. I felt as if the blood in my body was boiling, and with each violent movement, the pain brought tears to my eyes, yet I couldn't even utter a cry.