With the help of several maids, Ji Fengyao took a bath and changed into some fresh and comfortable clothes, finally regaining some of her strength.

Shang Xiye impatiently chased everyone out again, stood guard by the bed, looked at the little bandit girl leaning softly against the pillows, and asked anxiously in a low voice, "Are you feeling any better?"

"Shouldn't you ask what I meant by what I just said?" Ji Fengyao stared intently at Shang Xiye.

"What?"

Shang Xiye was only concerned about whether she was alright; as for anything else, he really didn't pay attention.

"Do you know that if the offspring Gu dies, the person who is still raising the mother Gu will suffer a backlash from the Gu worm?" Ji Fengyao's eyes and lips curled into a cold smile, exuding an utterly wicked charm.

Shang Xiye looked slightly taken aback: "So?"

"So, what?" Ji Fengyao was stunned by his reaction.

"Hmm, so what? What are you trying to say?"

Shang Xiye couldn't figure out what was going on in this fickle little female bandit's head.

Ji Fengyao: "...So, your little lover suffered a backlash from the Gu worm when you killed it, and is probably writhing on the ground in pain right now, wishing she were dead."

So you should argue with me, and then I'll give you a serious warning: I'm not someone to be trifled with!

Seeing the little bandit girl's explosive fighting power even in her weakened state, Shang Xiye felt a sweet warmth in his heart.

Is her being so bothered because she has finally fallen for him?

"You've misunderstood. There has never been any romantic relationship between her and me." Shang Xiye gently took the little bandit's right hand, got up and sat down, and tried to pull her into his arms.

"What are you doing? Just sit down and talk, don't touch me!" Ji Fengyao tried to push him away, but she was powerless to do so.

“The soft pillow is too low, and you’re not comfortable lying down. I’ll hold you, and you’ll be more comfortable.” Shang Xiye’s deliberately deep voice was mellow and magnetic, like a slowly playing cello melody: “The reason I treat her differently is not because I’m in love with her, but because she looks a lot like my mother.”

Ji Fengyao glanced at him: Qin Weiyang and Consort Xiao, how are they alike?!

“Consort Xiao is not my birth mother. My birth mother…” Shang Xiye paused for a moment before saying in an even lower voice, “My birth mother, Consort Lian, passed away when I was seven years old.”

They've left?

Aren't the women in the harem all like caged birds with broken wings? Where can she go?

Judging from Shang Xiye's tone, when he said "left," he meant it literally, not that Consort Lian had died.

Ji Fengyao's pent-up anger dissipated completely, and her voice softened unconsciously: "Does Your Highness know where Consort Lian has gone?"

"I don't know," Shang Xiye slowly shook his head.

Despite his best efforts to conceal it, Ji Fengyao could still sense the profound loneliness in his brief two words.

It must have been a great blow to him that Consort Lian had disappeared.

"Don't be sad. As long as she's still alive, we'll find her sooner or later. Then you can ask her yourself, 'Why?'" Ji Fengyao patted his arm and raised her face to give him a bright and sunny smile as encouragement.

Shang Xiye's usually quiet eyes lit up at her smile. He looked down to meet her gaze, his voice growing softer and more seductive: "You're not angry with me anymore?"

"Who, who is angry with Your Highness?" Ji Fengyao's eyes darted away, not daring to look him in the eye. She quickly turned her head back and whispered in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, "I just said I was angry with myself. I felt like a fool. I was even planning to get along peacefully with Consort Qin."