Chu Yunshen continued carrying the lion cat for a while longer until her ears stopped twitching before he finally stood up and placed her on the bed gently.

He nimbly pulled his arm out from under the cat, covered her with the blanket, and sat by the bedside.

Chu Yunshen looked at the cat sideways and scrutinized the cat on the bed and furrowed his brows.

The lion cat’s eyes were slightly red and swollen. It reminded Chu Yunshen of a little white bunny Chu Hongyi used to have as a child.

Was she sad?

Why was she so sad?

Chu Yunshen couldn’t help smoothing the lion cat’s forehead. The lion cat moved restlessly as she muttered in her dreams.

He pulled his fingers back briefly before he decided to rub the lion cat’s soft ears with his thumb and index finger.

It felt good.

No matter what happened, he was here for her.

He hoped she would stop being sad.

Chu Yunshen reached his hand out and touched the lion cat’s head before turning to leave.

Cheng Xiaoxiao had a very long dream tonight. In her dreams, she and Xiao Qin were surrounded by people as they humiliator her calling her a cat demon. Only one person dressed in black reached his hands out towards her.

Cheng Xiaoxiao was unable to see his face clearly, but she knew he was tall and his arms felt warm and powerful.

He saved Cheng Xiaoxiao from the encirclement and wiped her tears as he told her he would be with her no matter what.

The sun was strong when Cheng Xiaoxiao woke up. The bright sunlight scattered inside the room and looked like gold.

The sun was good, so she felt positive and energetic!

Cheng Xiaoxiao finally recovered from depression after crying and thinking about it last night.

She arched her back and stretched before jumping off the bed gracefully and checking on the baby bird in the jade box.

The baby bird was equally energetic today and simply couldn’t leave the jade box.

Cheng Xiaoxiao lay prone beside the birdcage as she glanced at the jade box every now and then and chatted with the baby bird.

Why did she have a feeling she had forgotten something?

What was it?

Oh no!

She forgot about her dear Wan Xia!

Cheng Xiaoxiao wanted to smack her head on the ground. Was she stupid or something? How could she forget about something so important?

Cheng Xiaoxiao was simply too much!

Wan Xia had shown Cheng Xiaoxiao nothing but kindness. However, she forgot about Wan Xia.

Cheng Xiaoxiao scolded herself in her heart a million times. She immediately stood up and ran out of the room. Sadly, she ran right into Chu Yunshen when she got to the door.

Why did she keep ending up caught in action?

Could he let her pass for once?

The answer was a hard no.

Things were exactly the same as last night and Chu Yunshen carried her into his arms. However, she was unable to suppress the worry in her heart and kept trying to escape.

“Don’t move!”

Chu Yunshen knocked Cheng Xiaoxiao’s tiny head to punish her.

The moment he saw the lion cat looking at him miserably, he hesitated before he said, “Wan Xia won’t be coming today. She is busy.”

Cheng Xiaoxiao naturally knew Wan Xia was occupied today. Now that Xiao Qin was gone, she had to handle Xiao Qin’s death.

Cheng Xiaoxiao felt heartbroken talking about Wan Xia crying uncontrollably yesterday.

Oh yes. Cheng Xiaoxiao remembered how Xiao Qin pushed Wan Xia yesterday.

Wan Xia seemed to have sprained her ankle in an effort to protect Cheng Xiaoxiao yesterday. All the more reason she had to see Wan Xia!

Chu Yunshen noticed the lion cat struggling even harder after hearing what he said and promptly knew what she wanted to do.

“Don’t go. There are a lot of ladies in her quarters now. She doesn’t have time to take care of you.”

The lion cat finally stopped moving and let Chu Yunshen carry her back to the bed.

Cheng Xiaoxiao wasn’t a child and she wasn’t really a lion cat, so she understood what Chu Yunshen was saying.

All the ladies in the residence were probably at Wan Xia’s quarters, including the maids who used to work with Xiao Qin.

Since Wan Xia would be busy hosting them, she would get distracted if Cheng Xiaoxiao went over.

There was no way Cheng Xiaoxiao could go over, but she could not help feeling upset thinking about Wan Xia crying.

Although Cheng Xiaoxiao was hardly acquainted with Xiao Qin, she already felt deeply affected by Xiao Qin’s death. Wan Xia treated Xiao Qin like a sister, so she naturally felt worse.

She could still lie in Chu Yunshen’s arms when she was sad, but Wan Xia only had herself. She even had to suppress her misery and host those annoying women.

Those women did not care about Wan Xia. Since they stood on the sidelines and waited for Wan Xia to get into trouble yesterday, they might make trouble for her again today.

The more Cheng Xiaoxiao thought about it, the more troubled she felt, so she ended up forcing herself to close her eyes and sleep as she lay prone on the bed.

Chu Yunshen said nothing when he saw the lion cat acting like this. He simply looked up every now and then at the lion cat lying in bed as he sat at the desk and quietly read his book.

Things were not as bad as Cheng Xiaoxiao expected at Wan Xia’s quarters.

Wan Xia had dark under-eye circles and her skin was puffy. Also, her lips were dry and chapped. However, she seemed in good shape considering the situation.

Wan Xia had clearly put on some makeup to disguise her exhaustion.

“How is your foot?”

It was Wang Qingqing. Of all the women, she was the most excited about Wan Xia’s predicament yesterday.

Wang Qingqing was dressed a little more plainly today. She probably felt it was inappropriate to dress in bright colors today, but her bright red nail varnish remained piercingly sharp.

“Thank you, Qingqing. My ankle is fine.” Wan Xia gestured for Xiao Yue to serve everyone tea as she sat in front of the table. However, she was too busy to take a sip of tea herself.

Although Wan Xia looked weak, she gave off the aura of vulnerable beauty.

Xiao Yue secretly checked on Wan Xia as she brewed tea and kept looking over.

The women claimed to be here to offer condolences and mourn Wan Xia’s loss. However, a lot of thoughts were running through their minds now like envy, curiosity, and hate. It was anything but sadness.

Wan Xia looked at them coldly. She did not interact with them particularly enthusiastically.

“Thank you for coming. If you were not around yesterday, I would have jumped into the lake and died with Xiao Qin.”

Wan Xia bowed to the women present. Since her foot got sprained yesterday, she trembled slightly as she stood. It felt as though she was a vulnerable willow swaying in the wind.

“Enough already. Don’t bother entertaining us.”

Su Ninglan finally could not bear watching and stood up as well to press Wan Xia back into her seat.

Su Ninglan always hated Wan Xia. However, she was deeply impressed by Wan Xia’s loyalty towards Xiao Qin yesterday and felt she must be a decent person.

Wan Xia wasn’t the one who pushed the blame on her previously. In reality, the other concubines were responsible for it!

All the women were dying to climb into Prince Jing’s bed, so they couldn’t stand the sight of each other since they were competing for the same man.

If it weren’t for them, Xiao Qin wouldn’t have ended up insane and dead.

Su Ninglan was the eldest daughter of the main wife of a rich and influential family. She naturally did not plan on getting ahead using unscrupulous methods. Since she had a straightforward personality, she was not interested in vying for Chu Yunshen’s attention.

“Are you here too?” Wan Xia smiled sadly when Su Ninglan helped support her. She smiled sadly and looked absolutely miserable. Anyone who caught sight of Wan Xia now would undoubtedly feel protective of her.

Su Ninglan felt a little awkward when she heard what Wan Xia said and her face promptly looked uneasy.

“Why don’t you get some rest? We won’t keep you up.”

Su Ninglan pulled up Miss Wu sitting beside her. Miss Wu wanted to speak, but Su Ninglan had already pushed her out the door.

Since Su Ninglan was gone, Wang Qingqing and the other women had no reason to hang around, so they followed behind Su Ninglan.

Miss Wu said angrily as they left, “Ninglan, why are you in such a hurry to leave? Shouldn’t we stay around and keep her company a little longer?”

“Why should we stay? Even though she is heartbroken, she is still such a beauty. Do you want to stay around and see more of that?”

Su Ninglan touched her flawless face angrily. She always felt she was pretty enough, so she couldn’t be bothered dressing up and always went about without wearing any makeup.

She did not expect Wan Xia to be the sort who went without makeup. Also, Wan Xia was even more beautiful than her.

Wan Xia was already like a vulnerable beauty when she wept yesterday over Xiao Qin’s suicide.

Wan Xia had already cried all day yesterday, so she put on some makeup to hide her fatigue today. All it took was some light makeup for her to become the most beautiful woman among them.

It didn’t cross Miss Wu’s mind. Yet, the moment she heard this, she said resentfully, “Now that you mention it, Ninglan. Wan Xia must be some demoness hiding among us. She certainly didn’t look as pretty when she first got sent to the residence. She looked average at best.”

Miss Wu might have phrased her words in extreme, but she was right.

Su Ninglan recalled the first time she encountered Wan Xia. Wan Xia didn’t have breathtaking beauty and her looks couldn’t stand the test of scrutiny.

Wan Xia clearly had beautiful features, but they seemed to compete with each other and didn’t seem harmonious together.

After seeing Wan Xia a few times, she started to get used to her face.

“Don’t mind me. I was just joking.”

It suddenly dawned on Su Ninglan that they were gossiping about Wan Xia before they had even left her quarters and felt it was inappropriate, so she promptly stopped.

“That was not what I meant.”

Miss Wu unexpectedly came closer to Su Ninglan with a mysterious look in her eyes as she whispered into her ear, “Do you think there is something different about Wan Xia’s quarters?”

Su Ninglan glanced at Miss Wu quizzically. She turned her head to check out Wan Xia’s quarters before she whispered to Miss Wu, “I don’t see anything wrong with her quarters. What do you mean?”