Ruan Ning dressed carefully, bathing and applying fragrant cream. Even at night, she remained a delicate flower.
Although Yan Xuan was impotent, he loved beautiful women. As long as she remained the most beautiful woman in the palace, he surely wouldn’t strangle her.
After changing into soft, thin sleeping clothes, Yan Xuan returned from outside, irritated after being cornered by the Grand Tutor to handle an important matter.
However, when he saw the radiant beauty, the dimple on his left cheek reappeared: “Were you waiting for me, Imperial Consort?”
Ruan Ning broke into a sweat, trying to sound seductive: “Yes, Your Majesty. I wouldn’t dare sleep before you arrived.”
“Good,” Yan Xuan pinched her chin, “I’ll take a bath first. Wait for me on the bed.”
On the bed? Ruan Ning’s heart skipped a beat, sensing the suggestive undertone. Don’t be afraid, she reassured herself. He can’t do anything; at most he might bite.
Yan Xuan suddenly said, pointing his chin towards the distance, “Trim.” Ruan Ning followed his gaze and noticed the wick of a white candle was too long. She found the candle scissors and trimmed it, then Yan Xuan pointed to another: “That one.”
With over a hundred candles, Ruan Ning moved back and forth like a butterfly, trimming the wicks. Soon, she was exhausted, but Yan Xuan never told her to stop.
After some time, Ruan Ning was suddenly shaken awake. Opening her eyes, she saw Yan Xuan bending over, looking at her with a tilted head.
She had fallen asleep in the chair.
Ruan Ning startled, quickly grabbing the candle scissors: “I’ll trim them right away!”
Yan Xuan looked at the candles dripping with wax and asked with a faint smile: “Has he been here?”
“Sleep,” Yan Xuan took away her candle scissors, pulled her towards the bed, and covered her with a blanket.
Ruan Ning lay there in a daze, watching Yan Xuan extinguish the candles and open several windows to let the smoke dissipate. He stood by the window, leisurely looking outside.
Now he felt like the A’Mo she was familiar with. Ruan Ning bravely said: “Don’t stand in the draft, be careful not to catch a cold.”
Yan Xuan grinned: “Got it, you sleep.”
