Pei Yuan took Bao Ning back to the Queen's Changqiu Palace. New clothes were ready. Pei Yuan declined the Queen's offer to help and changed Bao Ning himself.

After dismissing the palace maids, they were the only ones left in the side hall.

Bao Ning seemed to be in a good mood and sat on the edge of the bed. Pei Yuan wanted to get hot water to wash her feet. She talked to him in a cheerful tone and laughed when she talked about Zhao Qian pretending to be a ghost to scare her, making a giggling sound.

She told him everything that happened in the Suoyang Palace, but skipped the one about the beheaded palace maid. She smiled and asked Pei Yuan, "Am I awesome?"

Pei Yuan squatted on the ground, splashed water on her ankles, and rubbed them slowly to keep warm. She looked up and said, "Awesome, as awesome as a hen."

Bao Ning asked in confusion, "Why a hen?"

"Think about how you laughed just now." Pei Yuan imitated her, "Hehe."

"You're so annoying!" Bao Ning made an angry expression and wanted to twist his nose.

Pei Yuan smiled and grabbed her hand. When their fingertips touched, he found that her hand was very cold. Pei Yuan's heart sank.

Bao Ning also knew that her hands were cold. She paused for a moment, then retracted her hands as if nothing had happened, holding her face in her hands, and continued to recall what had just happened: "Did you see Pei Xiao's expression? He was stunned. Haha. He certainly can't imagine that I can lie too! I know what he wants to do, but I don't want him to succeed. Now he has no excuse. Ah Yuan, tell me, was I particularly smart at that time? Pei Yuan

wiped her feet with a handkerchief, sat opposite her, and said seriously: "Smart, amazing, my Ningning is very brave."

He was so serious that Baoning felt a little embarrassed. She hugged her knees, her body swaying, and said modestly: "Actually, it's okay..."

She hugged her knees and curled up. Although she smiled, she didn't dare to look at him.

Pei Yuan felt very distressed.

His Baoning was never like this. She was a little shy and timid, but she could act coquettishly. If something like what happened tonight happened, Bao Ning should have thrown herself into his arms, saying that she was scared and wronged, and she would have cried openly, instead of hiding in her shell like a little turtle. She also knew that she was abnormal, so she chattered, trying to cover it up and pretend to be very happy.

What on earth had his Bao Ning experienced?

Pei Yuan thought of the bloody clothes that Bao Ning had just taken off, which were already soaked with blood.

Whose blood?

"Ah Yuan, I think I smell a bit." Bao Ning frowned, "Can you go to the Queen Mother and get me some perfume powder?"

"How can our Ning Ning smell?" Pei Yuan held Bao Ning's wrist and pulled her into his arms, buried his nose in her neck and took a deep breath, "It smells good, whoever said you smelled, tell me, I will beat him for you."

When he came closer, Bao Ning's body stiffened for a moment, Pei Yuan noticed it.

"What's wrong, baby?" Pei Yuan lowered his voice to coax her, changed his posture, he leaned against the head of the bed, let Bao Ning sit on his legs, so that he was closer.

Pei Yuan asked, "Can I kiss you?"

Bao Ning slowly put her head against his chest. She realized that Pei Yuan had discovered something, and the forced smile she had just put on fell. Suddenly, she didn't know what to say.

Pei Yuan gently kissed her eyes: "Why do you need perfume powder?"

Bao Ning's lips moved, but she didn't say anything, but clenched her fingers. Pei Yuan's eyes fell on her hands, and he helped her loosen her fingers one by one. When he loosened the last finger, a short sob suddenly came out of Bao Ning's throat.

Pei Yuan paused slightly, crossed his five fingers into her fingers, and held them tightly.

Pei Yuan raised his hand and shook it in front of Bao Ning, and whispered: "Baby, do you see, I'm with you."

Bao Ning's mouth shrank, like a very young girl who was wronged, and also like a little duck.

Pei Yuan kissed the corner of her mouth and asked coaxingly: "Is there something that even I can't tell you? Tell me, please, what happened, what's the matter with the blood on your clothes. You know, I will always stand by you, so what's there to worry about?"

"Ah Yuan..." Bao Ning's eyes gradually turned red. She held back for a while, and suddenly burst into tears, "I killed someone!"

Pei Yuan looked at her and slowly stroked her back with his palm: "Well, I know."

Bao Ning choked and said, "I know, I must kill her, she is not a good person, but she was alive in front of me not long ago, and she could move and talk. My hand touched her neck, hot, so thin, and so fragile. When the knife cut it, her blood spurted out. It was fishy and hot... Before she fell, she looked at me. Ah Yuan, I can't describe that look. I felt at that time that I was not clean anymore..."

She cried, and Pei Yuan's eyes also became hot, but when he heard the last sentence, he couldn't help laughing: "What nonsense are you talking about."

Bao Ning's shoulders trembled: "How can there be so much blood in a person's neck? It spurted out in streams. My clothes were soaked and sticky. I felt that my body was full of the smell of blood. I changed my clothes, but the smell was still there. My nose was also full of that smell."

"I don't blame you." Pei Yuan wiped away her tears, "She wanted to hurt you, she deserved it."

Bao Ning nodded with tears in her eyes: "I know, but I'm afraid. Now when I close my eyes, that picture is in my mind. In the darkness, she looked at me, and the blood in her neck was about to drown me."

Pei Yuan was so distressed that he didn't know what words to use to comfort Bao Ning. He could only kiss her eyes and kiss away her tears.

He could understand Bao Ning's feelings. Even in the border army, soldiers who went to the battlefield for the first time would have nightmares for several days after returning to the camp. Watching others kill people is different from doing it yourself. Even if you know that the other party is an enemy, you will be afraid at the moment of chopping the knife. After all, that is a person.

Baoning was just a girl who was raised in pampering. She shouldn't have experienced these things.

He was the one who pushed her to the forefront.

Pei Yuan felt guilty, self-blaming, and regretful. He asked himself, why did he do this? If it was for money or power, he was not so greedy. If it was for revenge, for redressing the injustice of the year, he almost lost Baoning because of this. The price was too high and he couldn't bear it. Why was it, to find out the truth about his mother's death? It has been more than ten years since she passed away. Is it worth it to torture the living for this?

His Baoning should be carefree and happy, raising her dogs, raising her sheep, and opening her shop.

However, now that Bao Ning was in danger with him, even if he had all-powerful hands and eyes, it was difficult for him to protect her.

Just like today, he thought he had planned everything carefully, but he still pushed Bao Ning into such danger. Pei Yuan thought that if she blamed him, he would feel better, but she didn't.

Listening to her crying now, my heart aches. Maybe that's what it was like.

Baoning's crying gradually stopped. She tried to open her eyelashes that were stuck together by tears. She raised her hand to rub Pei Yuan's eyes in a daze: "Why are you shedding tears too..."

Pei Yuan snorted and asked: "Why, you can shed golden beans from your eyes, but mine can't?"

Pei Yuan pulled her ears and scolded her with a smile: "Little liar, little bad boy."

Baoning felt itchy, rubbed her eyes, and laughed.

The room became quiet. Pei Yuan stopped talking. Baoning pressed against his chest and could hear the sound of his heartbeat and the sound of the night watchman from afar. Baoning said

: "It's the third watch."

Pei Yuan said lazily, "Hmm."

Baoning pushed his shoulder: "You should go to Taiji Hall, His Majesty must be waiting impatiently."

"If he is really impatient, he will send someone to urge you." Having said this, Pei Yuan was still pushed to stand up.

He lowered his eyes to look at Baoning, and lifted the hair stuck on her cheek.

"Go ahead." Baoning lay down, looked at him sideways and said, "I'll sleep for a while, you can pick me up later. I'm used to my own bed. No matter how good the Empress's palace is, I'm not used to it. I want to go home and sleep."

Pei Yuan agreed, bent down to tuck the quilt for her, and gently kissed her forehead: "I'll be back soon."

Baoning smiled. She watched Pei Yuan blow out the lights and walk out, his tall back was blocked by the curtain, the smile fell, and he took out the letter from his sleeve. A letter from Concubine Xian.

She hesitated, not knowing whether to tell him.