My Little Girl (69)

Shu Nuan sniffed. "I didn't cry.”

Maybe Shu Nuan hadn't cried, but her eyelids were reddish. Looking at her appearance, she was aggrieved. 

Sheng Qianmo touched her wet eyes. “This Prince is not bullying you.”

Shu Nuan hugged him around the neck. Her soft lips against his neck; she was restless. “There is one thing your slave was afraid to say. I'm afraid  His Highness will be angry if he knows."

Sheng Qianmo looked to his side where he could only see her hair. He held out his hand and gently rubbed it. “What is it?"

Shu Nuan told Sheng Qianmo everything that happened in the academy during the day. Near the end, her little hand slipped down from his neck and she looked up at him. “I was angry and held the princess by her neck…”

Sheng Qianmo embraced her slender waist and listened to her words. Then he understood why Shu Nuan had been so depressed that she hadn't returned to the manor. She had run to the river alone and had just sit there, reading a book…

Whenever he would scold her, just a few words would be enough to turn her eyes red. If his tone was heavy, tears would fall down her face. She had a delicate appearance, and even he hadn't expected her to lash out like this. But Sheng Gu had humiliated her in front of so many people in the academy. Therefore, it wasn't strange that the little girl had been fuming with anger.

However, what Sheng Qianmo didn't expect was that his soft kitten could stretch out its paws.

Maybe she'd been bullied too much.

Only then had she brought out her claws to scratch the princess.

Sheng Qianmo was silent for a while. He said, “This Prince will give you my judgement tomorrow.”

It was unexpected that the prince wasn't mad and would give her justice for the matter instead. She lowered her head and bit her lip. She didn't say anything at all, let alone for Sheng Gu, whose bullying she was really angry about. 

But when she thought of mentioning Jing Fei's matter, she had mixed feelings.

Sheng Qianmo's favor was too uncertain. She couldn't tell when it'd rain and when it'd s.h.i.+ne. She was worried that, upon making a mistake, she would be pushed down into the abyss by the prince.

Sheng Qianmo, however, had no idea about Shu Nuan's lack of sense of security around him.

Sheng Qianmo took her to his bed to rest. When he laid her down, he touched her head, and said, “If you do well in the exam, This Prince will reward you.”

Shu Nuan held his arm, a little overwhelmed. “What… Reward…”

“Anything you want,” Sheng Qianmo said.

Shu Nuan's eyes lit up. Her beautiful eyes were like a bough of peach blossoms, clear, yet hard to make out each flower separately.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” she said. Her voice was low but filled with spirit.

Sheng Qianmo looked down at her eyes for a long time before he mumbled, “You truly are good-looking."

The little girl's eyes were confused by what she heard. She lowered her head and bit her red lip. She thought about how this man was looking at her. Sheng Qianmo's eyes were moreover bright and had a charm to them. She felt weak.

But then Sheng Qianmo asked her a question that left her bewildered. “The Emperor of Qing, why did he leave you out?"

In Sheng Qianmo's opinion, Shu Nuan was impeccable. She was proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting: the four arts. There were few Beiguo women with such exquisite and precious talents.

But Shu Nuan's eyelashes trembled. Subconsciously, she stretched out her finger to touch the tear mole at the corner of her eye. Opening her mouth a little, she said, “Father didn't disclose the reason."