Chapter 804: Unt.i.tled
The study room was very quiet. Ye Ningyuan had a huge volume of work to clear. He had many doc.u.ments, which were already filtered and compiled by Green Dragon, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and Rosefinch, to read and approve. He had to spend over ten hours on work daily, and his accompanying An Xunuo caused his work to pile up. One could only hear the flipping of pages in the room.
An Xunuo quietly read her fairy tales and Ye Ningyuan would occasionally look up to ask her what she was reading and whether it made for good reading. An Xunuo would obediently reply whenever she asked. If Ye Ningyuan did not ask, she would also quietly read on.
The light in the study room was very bright. He turned to look at An Xunuo. She was lying on her side and gently smiling in a pleasant calmness. It was a beautiful sight to behold. He never knew that she had such a gentle side to her.
He smiled and continued his work.
An Xunuo gently yawned and looked at the clock. It was already past midnight, so she slowly put down her book. Her eyes were aching. She wondered whether she ought to take a nap before waking up to read again.
When Ye Ningyuan looked up, she was already asleep.
He looked at his watch, went over, and carefully carried An Xunuo to her room. She was a deep sleeper and continued sleeping, snuggling into his embrace.
He covered her with the blanket, and she turned her head. Her clear breathing was quite shallow, and her pale face was rather red. Even when she was asleep, she was adorable. Ye Ningyuan ran his slender fingers across her face. The skin beneath his finger pulps was as tender as silk and fragrant. His eyes had agonizing pain in them. ‘Xunuo, when would you wake up?’
Michael’s death had impacted her too greatly that she had yet to recover. That, along with the torture she endured in the asylum, destroyed her and caused her to clam up. When he saw surveillance footage of her being tortured, his anger was way beyond what he could imagine. He could still remember how easily he carried her when she collapsed.
Even until now, he wondered why he saved her.
Michael’s murder, her arrest, and subsequent torture had nothing to do with him. Why did he even risk his life to save her?
Was it her tragic screams, or her lonely and despondent gaze? Or was it those few days they spent in City A that he treated her as a friend? He smiled mockingly at himself. He acted more out of rashness than of reason.
He and An Xunuo had a special relations.h.i.+p. Whether he admitted it or not, that was the case.
He hoped that she would recover sooner. While she was indeed adorable and lovely, that was Xunuo’s other side. The cold and tough Xunuo was the real her.
When he saw her cry for the first time, he had a very complicated mix of emotions. How could the Xunuo he knew cry so weakly and feebly when she was the kind of girl who wouldn’t even flinch even if the sky came crumbling down? She was so strong and tough that she ought not to be struck down by pain.
But she, having forgotten everything, was so happy and carefree in her sleep. If she woke up from it, how painful and saddened would she be? It was afraid that her losing everything was the very reason she shut herself out.
He sighed from the depths of his heart, gently walked out of the room, and closed the door before returning to work in the study room.
“Green Dragon, how’s Michael’s investigation going?” He called the office line for Green Dragon and flatly asked.
“Big Boss, there’s something mysterious and complicated about this and I need a few days more. As of now, there are several detectives and lawyers who are investigating what happened to Michael, and things are happening to them. I only have some clues on hand and do not dare to draw any conclusions too brazenly. I’ll gather everything for you once I’ve confirmed it.”
“As soon as possible!”
“Okay!”
At three in the morning, he returned to his room and rested. As he had spent too much time with Xunuo, he had to work late into the night and was extremely tired. He went to bed late, and he heard footsteps at the door just an hour into his sleep.
As he was a light sleeper, he was able to hear even the slightest rustling. While the footsteps were very light, he could clearly hear them. Those footsteps were followed by the opening of doors. Ye Ningyuan slightly opened his eyes to see Xunuo, carrying her pillow, walking in barefooted, and gently closing the door.
Ye Ningyuan frowned. What was she up to? Acting as though he could not sleep, he remained quiet as An Xunuo gently went up to his bed and put down her pillow. As she was afraid that she would awaken Ye Ningyuan, she only relaxed when she saw his steady breathing before cutely smiling and carefully crawling onto the bed. She gently lifted up a corner of the blanket and snuggled beneath it, sleeping next to Ye Ningyuan. Xunuo, feeling unsatisfied, wrapped her arm around Ye Ningyuan’s arm, held it before her chest, and gently said, “That does it.”
She sounded exceptionally content.
Ye Ningyuan felt embarra.s.sed at how his palm rested on her abdomen and how his arm tightly rested on her bosoms. The feeling of having another woman next to him was extremely evident, and her fragrance snuck into his nose like a snake, entrapping his heart in a layer of silk.
How could he sleep?
“Xunuo, what brings you here?” He turned on the switch to the bed lights and the room lit up. Xunuo looked at him with her beady eyes as though she was at a loss as to why he suddenly woke up. She, like a naughty girl, buried her head in his arms even more tightly and had a somewhat pitiful look in her. Ye Ningyuan, who was about to speak, held back his words.
“I want to sleep with Daddy,” An Xunuo said softly, gently, and in slight indignation. “I’m really afraid to seep in such a large house all by myself. I can’t sleep well.”
Ye Ningyuan, taken aback, turned her face around. An Xunuo’s gaze was full of indignation and frustration. “Who hit you?” He was bewildered.
“Bad people,” An Xunuo said angrily. “He was so bad because he forced me to run every day. When I get tired from fighting people and sneak a rest, he would hit me with a very long whip that hurts so much. It hurts so much…”
Ye Ningyuan frowned. What exactly was she describing? A nightmare?
“All is good. It’s just a nightmare.” Ye Ningyuan stroked her face. He felt sweat and was in shock. It really seemed that she just had a very bad nightmare.
“It’s not a nightmare!” An Xunuo blinked and pointed to her back. “My back! My back is still hurting.”
Ye Ningyuan gently smiled. “All is good. It’s just a dream. Daddy occasional has nightmares too.”
“Really?”
Ye Ningyuan nodded. “He is a really bad person. I dislike this bad guy who always bullies me. Did I really have a nightmare? He had just hit me, and I was thinking of killing him when I grew up before I plucked out all his hair and beard.”
“Very well, then. Daddy will help you remove his beard. Be good and go back to your room and sleep.”