Chapter 77: The Lost Princess Bai Yueguang 8 What is this to you?

Ji Hanlin was thinking to himself when he heard hurried footsteps outside.

It turned out that the palace maids also felt that it was inappropriate for a princess to do this, so they hurried over.

"Your Highness!" Zhuiyun and Zhuyue pushed the door open and walked in. After knocking on the door, they saw their Princess Zhaohua lying straight on... the bed of the Dayan hostage!

Both of them were shocked and their expressions changed at the same time.

"Princess!" Zhuiyun reacted quickly, rushing forward, half-kneeling beside the bed, and gently helping Wen Qianning to her feet. "Your Highness, you can't do this! This is the side hall where Master Ji lives. Let me help you bathe and change. Your bedroom is already ready."

Zhuyue also stood frozen to the side, her mind in a turmoil. She felt the scene before her was incredibly glaring, but couldn't explain why. She could only echo, "Yes, Your Highness... If others saw this, wouldn't there be a lot of gossip?"

"I know. You're so nagging." Wen Qianning's eyelids were half closed. When Zhuiyun helped her up, she curled her lips in dissatisfaction and snorted impatiently.

Despite saying so, she still obediently let Zhuiyun help her get up, straightened her clothes, and prepared to follow them back to her own bedroom.

But when Wen Qianning stood up, she didn't pay attention and the thing in her arms slipped out.

A jade pendant rolled down from the couch.

She was completely unaware of it and was being helped out of the door by Zhuiyun.

Ji Hanlin paused and was about to reach out to pick up the jade pendant, but Zhuyue also noticed it and picked it up first.

"Hey, this is..." Zhuyue lowered her eyes and stared at the jade in her palm. Her eyes flickered, and her lips and tongue were faster than her thoughts. She had already said what was in her heart, "Thank you for the token of love you gave to the princess today."

At this time, only Zhuyue and Ji Hanlin were left in the room, so these words naturally fell into his ears.

The young man's hand paused in mid-air before slowly withdrawing. His eyes were indifferent, his face showing no emotion.

Zhuyue didn't know why she said such words. She just felt that doing so made her feel much better. She simply continued to add, "Mr. Xie is extremely talented and the son of the Prime Minister. He and Her Royal Highness are truly a match made in heaven."

Maybe she just wanted to casually reveal it, and Zhuyue herself didn't realize that her emotions were mixed with jealousy. She was jealous that the princess could always get close to Ji Hanlin so easily, and she was jealous that no matter what the princess did, there was a natural reason.

Ji Hanlin, who was sitting beside the desk, looked slightly colder.

Seeing Ji Hanlin's sullen face and silence, Zhuyue realized belatedly that she had lost her composure. After all, she was still Princess Zhaohua's personal maid, and she definitely shouldn't have said those words in front of Ji Hanlin.

"...I've been too talkative." Zhuyue added in a low voice and left in a hurry.

*

The school started the next day. The spring scenery was beautiful outside the window. Wen Qianning looked out the window with her hand on her cheek.

As she looked, the girl's eyes gradually became unfocused, and her mind had already flown elsewhere.

The teacher on the podium saw that everyone was not in high spirits, frowned, and asked a question, asking everyone to think about the answer.

Wen Qianning was slightly startled, then frowned. She had no idea what the question was asking.

She blinked guiltily and turned her head away. She saw the young man beside her still sitting upright, his expression stern, seemingly concentrating on writing something, unlike her absent-minded self.

Wen Qianning's heart moved, and he quietly tore off a piece of paper and quickly wrote a few lines of small words.

[Ji Hanlin, tell me the answer quickly.]

She crumpled the note into a ball, waited for the right moment, and threw it gently. The ball of paper drew a small arc in the air and landed steadily on Ji Hanlin's desk.

The girl stared at him with sparkling eyes, waiting for him to unfold the paper, write down the answer, and explain it to her patiently.

However, the man stopped moving and did not reach out to touch it. The paper ball just lay there alone on the table, his eyelids drooped, as if he had not seen it at all.

Wen Qianning was stunned. She bit her lips and found it unbelievable.

...Ji Hanlin dared to ignore him? !

A feeling of anger surged in his heart. Wen Qianning didn't understand what was wrong with him today?

Wen Qianning threw two notes over in a row, but Ji Hanlin ignored them both. She was so angry that she wanted to grab his collar and force him to speak in court.

But there were so many people in the classroom, so she had to endure it.

Finally, the class was over. Wen Qianning, filled with rage, stood up and went to find Ji Hanlin to ask for an explanation. Just as she was about to take a few steps, she was suddenly blocked by someone in front of her.

"Sister Zhaohua."

Xie Yunji smiled brightly and approached with a sense of intimacy. He picked up Wen Qianning's homework and said calmly, "If you have any questions about your homework in the future, you don't need to bother Master Ji anymore. Just leave it to me."

The words are light and the tone is considerate.

Wen Qianning was stunned for a moment, and before she could say anything, Ji Hanlin had already made a move. He was tidying up the desk. He raised his eyes coldly, and glanced at the two of them out of the corner of his eye, without any reaction.

However, deep down in my heart, an inexplicable irritability spread.

According to Xie Yunji, Wen Qianning was bothering him by asking him to help copy homework, but it wasn't a bother for Xie Yunji to help her?

This was said as if Xie Yunji and she were one and the same. He was just an outsider, so he could only use the word "troublesome".

...Whatever. Xie Yunji and she had exchanged tokens yesterday.

With a jade in hand and a sweet smile on their faces, it was a perfect match that everyone could see.

I am just an outsider living here, why should I expect that I will be any different in her eyes?

Ji Hanlin's eyes were dark, he suppressed the surging emotions in his heart, walked out of the hall, his back was cold.

Behind him, Wen Qianning stared at his departing back, feeling that... Ji Hanlin had become very strange.

*

"Ji Hanlin, what do you mean?"

The door of the side hall of Yaoguang Palace was pushed open, and Wen Qianning rushed in angrily, his eyes fixed on the young man on the couch, dissatisfaction written in his eyes.

"Who gave you the courage to ignore this princess?"

Ji Hanlin raised his eyes, and Wen Qianning's figure was reflected in his dark eyes, cold and calm.

"Why is Your Highness so angry?" he asked calmly.

Wen Qianning was startled, then even more annoyed. She gritted her teeth and took two steps forward, "Don't play dumb with this princess! The teacher asked me the question today, and I clearly wrote it on a slip of paper and threw it to you, and you dared to pretend you didn't see it! Do you know who you are? You're my attendant, and you can't even do this, and how dare you provoke my anger?"

Ji Hanlin chuckled softly upon hearing this, his smile devoid of any warmth. "Attendant? In the eyes of the princess, I'm just a servant who follows orders?"

"That's right!" Wen Qianning blurted out with her usual arrogant tone, but as soon as she said it, she regretted it.

The young man's eyes grew cold, and his voice lowered even further, "So that's how it is. In the heart of Her Royal Highness the Princess, I'm nothing more than a hostage to be used at will, a chess piece to be summoned and driven at will. You ask me to answer, and I do whatever you want me to do. Refusing to do so would be insubordination."

Wen Qianning felt guilty, but she refused to show weakness. She raised her chin and said coldly, "It's good that you understand. Since you are my attendant, you should behave yourself. Besides, you are a hostage of Dayan, living under someone else's roof. Isn't it my father's grace that allows you to stay in Xuanping? You should be grateful!"

As soon as the words fell, Ji Hanlin slowly stood up, looked her in the eye, and sneered, "Your Highness is right, I am indeed a hostage. But although I am a hostage, I am not without dignity. I can endure the humiliation of my status, but I will never let you trample on my feelings so easily."

Hearing him say this, Wen Qianning was stunned.

The boy's tone was like a knife, and every word pierced her heart. However, she couldn't grasp the deeper meaning behind it. She felt she was being contradicted, and her anger grew even stronger. "How dare you speak to this princess like that? Ji Hanlin, you're so bold!"

"You were the one who forced me to do this first." Ji Hanlin interrupted coldly, "I know you are the most honorable Princess Zhaohua of Xuanping, and everyone flatters you, but I am not your plaything. Who you want to date, whose jade pendant you want to receive, who you want to whisper to, it has nothing to do with me. But if you want me to be humble and become an intruder between you and others, then I'm sorry..."

He straightened up, spoke each word with great emphasis, and said in a deep voice, "I can't do it."

What the hell is going on? Wen Qianning was completely bewildered. What kind of person is this?

She noticed that Ji Hanlin said something about "collecting the jade pendant", and suddenly remembered that Xie Yunji gave her a jade pendant at the Spring Banquet that day... Could it be that he was talking about Xie Yunji?

The girl's eyelashes trembled, and she felt a little panicked, but she was still unwilling to give in, so she raised her voice to refute: "What happened between me and Xie Yunji? Don't talk nonsense. It was you who ignored me, and you want to blame me first? Ji Hanlin, aren't you going too far!"

Wen Qianning spoke so hurriedly that she didn't even bother to call herself "this princess".

"I was just thinking about one thing..." Ji Hanlin lowered his eyes, his tone a little cold, "What on earth am I in your eyes?"

"But now it's clear that to you, I'm just a servant. So please don't make fun of me anymore."

"Your Highness the Princess is proud and arrogant, and there are so many people around you. You have no shortage of people pampering and coaxing you. Unfortunately, I am not one of them."

Originally, Wen Qianning was just trying to argue, but Ji Hanlin's words seemed as if he couldn't wait to distance himself from her. Every word he said was cold and hard, igniting the anger in her heart.

This male protagonist is such an ungrateful person! She had clearly stepped forward to protect him from so many difficulties, and it was she who had asked for him to live in the comfortable side hall. But now, in his mouth, she had become a villain who only knew how to make fun of him and didn't care about his feelings at all.

A feeling of grievance and bitterness welled up in her heart. Wen Qianning was furious. With red eyes, she turned around, facing him with her back, and said through gritted teeth, "I don't want to argue with you. Even if I'm wrong, you can just leave. This princess doesn't care about you!"

She tried hard to hold back her tears. After she finished speaking, as if she was afraid that she would lose her composure if she stayed any longer, she held her back and walked out of the hall quickly step by step.

Looking at her back, Ji Hanlin's eyes were filled with uncontrollable emotions. He knew that his words were too hurtful and he shouldn't say them, but he blurted them out in a fit of anger.

The word "I'm sorry" was stuck in his throat and he couldn't say it. Ji Hanlin was silent for a moment, and finally lowered his eyes. He didn't say anything to keep Wen Qianning, nor did he chase after her.

Mingming had experienced a lot of humiliation and despise since he was a child, and had long been accustomed to being treated coldly, but when the spoiled little princess turned and left, he felt panic and regret for the first time.

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