The peerless and dark princess

Late at night, Yihua saw that the light was still on in Wange's room, so she went inside to see that Wange and Mu Haolin were already fast asleep. She then quietly turned off the light and went to sleep in the side room of the dormitory. Jasmine had never stayed in the side room before, so Yihua always stayed there, fearing that Mu Wange would get up at night and find no one to serve her.

In the middle of the night, Mu Wange woke up to the faint smell of blood. She couldn't help but frown, scanning the darkness. "Is anyone here?!" She quietly stood up and began to investigate. Following the scent of blood, she found a man in black at a window. He was struggling to bandage a wound on his arm. As if noticing someone, he looked up, silent, just staring—or rather, staring at Mu Wange.

"It seems like you've been tricked." Mu Wange looked at him as if he was used to it.

Zuo Ci stared at Mu Wange with a wave of surprise. This was supposed to be the Shangshu Mansion's legitimate daughter—Mu Wange. Wasn't she rumored to be entangled with the Second Prince, Chen Yunfeng? Was she also being toyed with by his concubine's sister? But the girl before him, with her clear eyes and cold demeanor, didn't seem like the rumored one. Perhaps the information was wrong? As Zuo Ci pondered this, he practically forgot about Mu Wange's question.

Seeing that he didn't reply for a long time, Mu Wange asked, "Ah, are you mute?"

"You are the one who is speechless!! You are not afraid of a man like this in your dormitory? You are not afraid of me..." Zuo Ci raised his eyebrows.

"Do you still have the strength? If I call for help, you won't be able to get out. You are clearly..." Mu Wange paused and didn't say anything else. Fortunately, they were all smart people, and he believed that the person in front of him could understand.

"Oh, are you going to complain to the Second Prince? Or are you going to hand me over?" Zuo Ci suddenly looked at Mu Wange coldly, then struggled to point his sword at her, frowning his beautiful brows, thinking: 'Why hasn't Zuo Qi come yet?' Zuo Ci didn't know that Zuo Qi was getting rid of Chen Yunfeng's people and had no time to come to him.

"Oh, then I..." Mu Wange used a clever angle to snatch the sword from Zuo Ci's hand. "What will you do if someone calls for help?" Then, playing with the sword, he said with a half-smile, "Kill me? Oh, now I'm the knife and you're the fish, at the mercy of others."

Zuo Ci hadn't expected such a woman to deflect his sword. Although he was in a bad state, an ordinary woman would never be able to take his sword. He couldn't help but feel interested in Mu Wange. This Mu Wange was not the unsightly woman that others described; on the contrary, she was very cute.

"Then what do you want?" He looked back at Mu Wange's eyes with a half-smile.

"I don't want to do anything. I'm not very interested in your affairs, but it seems that you have caused a lot of trouble. Well, you are either rich or noble. But now that you are here, what should I do when you find me?" Mu Wange crossed his arms and looked at the tightly wrapped man, thinking to himself, this voice is very nice.

"Oh, you remembered it now? How about you help me and I'll get someone to protect you?" Someone made a rare cold joke. If Zuo Qi heard this, he would probably think that his master was crazy.

Mu Wange hadn't expected his sudden joke. Just as she was about to respond, there was a commotion in the courtyard, and the lights in the side room had already been lit. Knowing someone would be coming in, Mu Wange, without a second thought, shoved the person under the bed. Then, pretending to have just woken up, she quietly scratched the tiny scratch on her arm, staining her clothes with blood. Mu Haolin, who was lying in bed, stirred slightly, evidently having been woken as well.

"Yihua, what's going on? Why is it so noisy in the courtyard?"

"Miss, the government office said they received news that criminals had entered the mansion, so the housekeeper brought people to take a look." Yihua replied from the front hall, obviously very unhappy to bother Mu Wange so late at night.

"Miss Mu, could you please let me and others into your bedroom?" He said, ignoring Yihua's obstruction and trying to go straight into Mu Wange's room. At this time, Mu Wange had already lit the lights and opened the door, startling the man who was about to enter.

"Mu, Miss Mu!!!" The man took a few steps back and stood aside respectfully.

"Are you going to break into my boudoir? Hmm~" Mu Wange narrowed her eyes habitually, "Is this how the government office catches criminals?! After all, I, Mu Wange, am the legitimate daughter of the Shangshu Mansion. How dare you disregard my reputation? Are you trying to ruin the reputation of my Shangshu Mansion? Or is my Shangshu Mansion like nothing in the government office?..." Mu Wange's questioning made the guards who came to search the government office break out in cold sweat, especially the person who had just tried to break in.

For a moment, no one dared to speak. After a while, a leader stepped forward and said, "Miss Mu, we are guilty of this. I apologize on your behalf. We were so eager to catch the criminals that we broke the rules. Please be magnanimous and let us into your boudoir to investigate. We are doing this for everyone's safety..."

"The way you put it makes it seem like I, Mu Wange, am at fault, and that I'm the one who's stopping you from investigating?" Mu Wange paused and continued, "If you don't find the criminal in my room, you, Richard Temple, will have to give me an explanation." After saying that, he opened the door behind him and entered the room first, then hugged Mu Haolin, who was sitting on the bed with sleepy eyes, in his arms. At the same time, he was also afraid that the person under the bed would be discovered.

Fortunately, those people didn't check under her bed. Seeing that they didn't find anything unusual, they were about to leave. At this time, one of them sniffed and said, "It smells like blood!"

"Ah? Miss, your wound has opened again." Yihua's cry sounded like heavenly music to Mu Wange, who had already forgotten the wound she had deliberately opened before leaving. Those people also looked as if they understood what was happening. Everyone in the capital knew that Mu Wange, the daughter of Shangshu Mu Heng, had been beaten for harassing the Second Prince. They suppressed their sneers and left.

Yihua quickly found some ointment to apply on Mu Wange, and it was obvious that Mu Wange was hugging Mu Haolin at the moment.

Mu Wange saw that she wanted to apply the medicine, but since she was holding Mu Haolin, it was not convenient, so she waved him off. "Alright, I'll apply the medicine myself later. Don't worry, your lady won't let herself get scarred." Yihua then went to the side room, looking back every few steps. After a long while, Mu Wange coaxed Mu Haolin to sleep, but she didn't see the man come out from under the bed. Looking down, he was unconscious.

Mu Wange took great pains to pull him out from under the bed, and applied medicine and bandaged him. When he touched his wound, he woke up and pulled Mu Wange's hand with great force. Only when he saw that it was Mu Wange bandaging him did he let go.

"That's how you treat your savior." Mu Wange bandaged the wound tightly, causing Zuo Ci to groan, as if letting out a sigh. "By the way, are you serious about asking for protection?"

"I never break a promise."

"Master, you..." Zuo Qi jumped into the room through the window and stopped talking when he saw Mu Wange.

"I'm fine." Zuo Ci pointed at Mu Wange, "It was Miss Mu who saved me."

"Miss Xie Mu saved my master. If there's anything I can do for you in the future, I, Zuo Qi, will definitely help." Zuo Qi bowed slightly. "While it's still early, Master, let's go back first. Otherwise, my 'family' will be worried."

Zuo Ci nodded, agreeing with Zuo Qi's opinion. When Zuo Qi took him out of the window, he said, "My name is Zuo Ci."

After hearing this, Mu Wange curled his lips, then turned off the lights and fell asleep holding the little kid on the bed. This day had been quite exciting. This was Mu Wange's last thought before falling asleep.