In the early morning, a beam of sunlight streamed through the window onto the bed.
Nie Ran’s eyelashes trembled as he opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings, furrowing his brows involuntarily.
A soft hum came from his arms. His gaze lowered, landing on the woman’s face. His expression darkened immediately, and he kicked her off the bed.
Ning Xin, who was about to hit the ground headfirst, woke up abruptly, nearly breaking her nose: “…”
A voice full of disgust came from above.
“Who allowed you to sleep in my bed?”
“…Big brother, make sure you look clearly whose bed this is!”
She got up, holding her nose, her eyes burning with anger.
Nie Ran glanced around again, his face turning even uglier. He threw off the blanket and left.
Ning Xin shouted, “Stop!”
He picked up the knife from the wall and coldly turned his head.
She hurriedly ran a few steps to block his way, asking, “Where are you going? Are you leaving the asylum again?”
“Where I’m going is none of your business.”
Of course, it was her business!
If he left, who would she treat? How would she return to her original world?
“No matter what, he had to stay.”
Ning Xin thought in her heart, considering countless options in a few seconds. Finally, she looked up and said, “You owe me your life. Now, your life belongs to me.”
Nie Ran remained expressionless. “I saved you too. One life for another.”
“That won’t do. We’re not the same height. Can our lives be considered equal? Anyway, either you take my life, or… you stay obediently.”
He grabbed her fragile neck with one hand and pressed her against the wall.
“Do you think I dare not kill you?”
Ning Xin was lifted off the ground by him, her legs weak with fear, but she managed to say, “I believe you’re not that kind of person.”
Nie Ran froze, staring at her intently.
She forced a smile. “Can you let me down? I’ll make you something delicious.”
After half a minute, Nie Ran released his grip.
Ning Xin slid to the ground, coughing for a while, then caught her breath and immediately ran downstairs like a flash.
The main personality was too dangerous, and the alter personality was like an ignorant fool. It was really tricky.
Especially after knowing him for so long, he had switched between the main and alter personalities several times, with no regularity in the timing or location of the switches, making it difficult to predict.
Thinking about this, her nasal bone began to ache again, and she couldn’t help but rub it.
When the food was ready, she went upstairs to call Nie Ran for dinner. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at the big knife in his hand.
Ning Xin stood by the door and cautiously knocked. When he turned around, she said, “The food is ready, let’s go downstairs to eat.”
Nie Ran stood up and coldly walked past her.
She breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to catch up.
The two sat face to face at the table. It wasn’t the first time they had eaten together, but the atmosphere was more oppressive than ever before.
Ning Xin didn’t see him as Nie Ran now, but as her own customer.
However, her goal had changed from chasing payments to curing his illness.
He was too cold and aloof, so she had to be warm and welcoming.
Ning Xin picked up her chopsticks and picked up some dishes. “What do you like to eat? How about some salted fish? I used quite a lot…”
Nie Ran gave her a warning look, causing her to quickly retract her hand and put the salted fish into her own bowl.
“Alright, alright, you can pick whatever you want to eat.”
He picked up his chopsticks, but then suddenly put them down again.
“What kind of person are you, exactly?”
He’s willing to communicate, so that makes it easier.
Ning Xin showed great enthusiasm in introducing herself.
“I’m Ning Xin, twenty-three years old this year, running my own lingerie shop…”
She said everything in one go, but Nie Ran became even more confused.
“Why did you come here?”
She smiled bitterly, “If only I knew… But since we’re both here and I’ve met you, it means we have some kind of fate. It’s destined for us to be good friends, and good friends should be honest and trust each other, right?”
She spoke quickly, and Nie Ran was almost fooled by her, but he became more vigilant after realizing it.
“I have nothing to do with you.”
He stopped eating and got up to leave.
Ning Xin looked at his tall and straight back and asked, “Are you really the prince of Xia Kingdom?”
Nie Ran stopped in his tracks, his eyes cold.
“Who told you that?”
“Let’s not worry about that. I just want to know what happened to you afterwards.”
The old lady said, “The cure for a troubled heart requires the right medicine.”
Since he wasn’t born with a mental illness, it’s highly possible that something during his upbringing triggered it.
If they can figure out what that trigger was, there might be a chance to cure him.
After Ning Xin finished speaking, she waited for his answer, but he looked away and refused to respond.
She pushed further, “Did you commit murder? Or did you witness someone killing your mother? Your father?”
Nie Ran’s face changed drastically, and he angrily raised the knife.
“Shut up!”
“Did you do something wrong? Have you been blaming yourself all along? What’s the connection between you and the walking dead outside?”
“I’m not wrong! I’m not wrong!”
With a loud shout, he kicked open the door, dragging the knife as he rushed out, sparking friction against the stone ground.
The zombies gathered towards him, and he fiercely chopped them down one after another, his body covered in foul black blood, terrifying like a demon crawling out of hell.
Ning Xin, seeing him go mad, didn’t dare to approach and hid behind the window.
After what felt like an eternity, the outside was littered with corpses.
Standing amidst the pile of corpses, Nie Ran staggered, propping himself up with the knife, still murmuring with his head lowered.
“I’m not wrong.”
He collapsed with a loud thud, and there wasn’t a single moving zombie outside anymore.
Ning Xin hurriedly ran out, exerting all her strength to drag him and the knife back inside.
The front door was broken, and she feared zombies might come in, so she ran to an uninhabited room upstairs, blocking the door with a bed board and piling up tables and chairs behind it, finally feeling a bit relieved.
It took Nie Ran several hours to regain consciousness. At that time, Ning Xin was washing his dirty clothes and the knife by the well, when she heard calling from upstairs, she wiped her hands and ran over.
“Sister…”
His face was pale, holding her hand with cold hands, pressing his face against the back of her hand.
“I just had a dream.”
“What dream?”
“Father wanted to send me to the enemy country as a hostage, it’s impossible, right? I’m also his child, why would he treat me like that?”
Ning Xin was surprised, “Why would you have such a dream?”
He shook his head and suddenly tried to sit up.
“I want to return to the palace. I want to learn archery and military strategy. When I become stronger, Father definitely won’t send me away.”
She hurriedly held his shoulder.
“You should rest for a couple of days first. In your current condition, where can you go?”
Feeling his strength, he indeed had none, so he had no choice but to lie back down, his eyes still fixed on her.
“Sister, will you come back to the palace with me? The palace is very big and fun. There’s a big garden and many beautiful palace maidens like you. Will you live with me then?”
Ning Xin chuckled, “Dream on, I’m not going to follow you to serve you.”
“You don’t have to serve me, I’ll serve you. I’ll make your bed and fold your blankets, you won’t have to do anything.”
Ning Xin became curious, “But aren’t there already many beautiful palace maidens there? Why do you need to find me?”
Nie Ran shook his head, “No, you’re different from them.”
“What’s different about me?”
He thought for a long time but couldn’t come up with an answer, only saying, “I just like you.”
Nie Ran was quite good-looking. If it weren’t for his mental illness, she might have been narcissistic for a while because of that statement.
Ning Xin couldn’t help but smile and pat his head.
“Lie down properly, I’ll go downstairs, wash your clothes, cook, and bring your food up for you.”
He obediently settled into the bed, “Thank you, sister.”
What a cute little fool he was. If only the primary personality were as obedient as this.
Ning Xin sighed and went back downstairs to continue washing clothes.
There was still plenty of food stored, and she had a map in her hand. The plants she had harvested last time were all planted, ready to be used anytime, so she wasn’t worried about food for the time being.
She purposely prepared double portions of meals this time and brought them upstairs to eat with Nie Ran.
Although the memories between the two personalities didn’t intertwine, when she asked the primary personality if he was the prince of Xia Kingdom, his reaction clearly indicated an affirmative response.
Could it mean that the alter personality might actually be the primary personality’s childhood self?
If that were the case, there would be so much to leverage.
Ning Xin moved the bedside table closer to use it as a makeshift table, feeding him with her own hands while casually asking, “What’s your favourite food?”
Nie Ran held his chin with both hands, carefully recalling, “I like… I like eating sugar figurines.”
“Sugar figurines?”
“Yeah, they’re made of the best malt sugar, shaped into little people. I especially like Kunpeng; it looks really cool.”
“What do you like to do when you’re not studying?”
“I like…”
He thought of something, then suddenly blushed and refused to say.
After Ning Xin’s repeated urging and coaxing, he finally said, very embarrassedly, “I like playing shuttlecock.”
That answer was quite unexpected.
“That’s quite unexpected.”
Ning Xin chuckled, “Ha ha, is it?”
As if afraid she might look down on him, Nie Ran emphasized, “I can kick over a hundred at once.”
“Alright, you’re really talented.”
He blushed even more at the praise and whispered, “But don’t tell anyone, Father would get angry if he heard.”
Ning Xin extended her pinky finger.
He looked puzzled.
“Silly, it’s a pinky promise. I promise not to tell.”
Nie Ran clumsily hooked his pinky finger with hers, while Ning Xin shook it and muttered some words.
“Hook, hang, for a hundred years, no changes. Alright, let’s eat.”
After finishing the meal, Nie Ran lay down to rest again.
She then went to the kitchen alone, rummaging through the ingredients pile until she found a bag of rock sugar.
Since maltose wasn’t available, Ning Xin wondered if she could make a sugar figurine using rock sugar instead.
She lit a fire and melted the sugar in a pot. When it was almost melted, she immediately turned off the heat and poured the syrup into a clean large bowl.
Unable to find bamboo sticks, she shaved a chopstick to make it thinner and used it as a substitute, attempting to shape the sugar.
What does a Kunpeng look like?
According to records, in the Northern Sea there’s a fish named Kun that transforms into a giant bird called Peng, incredibly massive.
So, it’s basically a giant fish with wings?
Having a rough idea in mind, Ning Xin reached for the syrup, but the temperature was too high, causing her to yelp in pain and retract her hand.
The syrup would harden and then soften again, making the process tedious. After spending two to three hours, she finally managed to roughly shape it into what she wanted. She hid it in a safe place and returned to her room with two bright red palms, waiting for the primary personality to appear again.
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