The secret ailment on Junxue’s feet?
Nangong Qianyu looked at Ye Ming in confusion. She didn't understand why he knew about this matter.
Could it be that Junxue herself had told him?
But that was impossible! Given Fang Junxue's personality, how could she have told a stranger like Ye Ming about her own affairs?
Unless…
Ye Ming had seen it himself.
After Nangong Qianyu sorted through her thoughts, she arrived at this conclusion.
"Mm!" Nangong Qianyu's eyes widened suddenly, as if she had suddenly realized something. "So that's how it is. No wonder Junxue agreed to let you stay."
She had actually thought Fang Junxue had let Ye Ming stay because of his cooking skills before.
However, Nangong Qianyu's ability to quickly deduce the real reason for Ye Ming's stay also reflected her quick-wittedness.
Of course, Nangong Qianyu had only guessed the final outcome. The process was not something ordinary people could comprehend.
"Can you really cure Junxue's secret ailment?" Nangong Qianyu asked with some excitement.
As Fang Junxue's good friend, no one knew better than Nangong Qianyu the blow the secret ailment in her feet had dealt Fang Junxue.
Not everyone could endure the sudden fall from grace.
But Fang Junxue had endured it.
It was precisely because of this that Nangong Qianyu was excited. She was also looking forward to it.
Looking forward to the queen's return.
But after the excitement, Nangong Qianyu suddenly calmed down. Instead, she looked at Ye Ming with a sharp gaze, her voice filled with determination: "If you have deceived Junxue, I will never forgive you."
Nangong Qianyu's words were filled with unprecedented seriousness. Ye Ming could feel that perhaps, at this moment, Nangong Qianyu was showing her true self.
The reason Nangong Qianyu was like this was simply because she did not want to see Fang Junxue go from hope to despair again.
She was afraid that if it happened again, Fang Junxue would truly be unable to "stand" up.
"Since Junxue can trust me, please believe me too," Ye Ming said with a smile, his tone full of confidence.
"Okay!" Nangong Qianyu said, and then she actually bowed deeply to Ye Ming. "Thank you!"
Nangong Qianyu's action truly put Ye Ming in a difficult position. After all, from his perspective, Nangong Qianyu's current posture easily revealed some scenery on the snowy mountains.
"No, no!" Ye Ming quickly pulled Nangong Qianyu up with his hands. He was afraid that if he looked any longer, he would fall into a demonic state.
"Shall we go back now?" Ye Ming, not daring to look at Nangong Qianyu, quickly walked out.
Nangong Qianyu, however, looked confused.
...
By the time Ye Ming and the two returned to the villa, it was almost two in the afternoon. Since Fang Junxue was still at the company, they were the only two in the spacious villa.
"I'm going to take a nap. You think carefully about how to treat Junxue's foot injury!"
After learning that Ye Ming had a way to cure Fang Junxue, Nangong Qianyu was in high spirits, even skipping a little as she walked.
Looking at the cute and playful girl before him, Ye Ming suddenly felt a sense of emotion.
Had he been too persistent over the past five years?
Would it be better to slow down his pace, like he was now?
"Don't worry! Junxue's foot injury is not a difficult matter for me," Ye Ming said, sitting on the sofa and enjoying himself.
Indeed, with the abilities Ye Ming possessed now, curing Fang Junxue's foot injury was not a difficult matter.
"You're bragging."
Nangong Qianyu retorted to Ye Ming, then went upstairs, not forgetting to remind him: "Dinner is up to you."
...
As soon as Nangong Qianyu returned to her room, her phone rang. She looked at it and saw a single message on the screen, containing only a short sentence:
"Young lady, the two people who coerced you yesterday are dead!"
Nangong Qianyu's expression instantly became serious after reading the message.
In fact, after Nangong Qianyu had escaped yesterday, she had contacted her family.
However, by the time they arrived, the two men who had been knocked unconscious had already disappeared.
Only now had they found the two men, but they were already two cold corpses.
At this moment, Nangong Qianyu realized that yesterday's incident might not have been as simple as she had imagined.
She had originally thought it was just disgruntled merchants retaliating against her. Now it seemed there was definitely an unknown side to this matter.
Nangong Qianyu thought carefully but found no clues.
Helplessly, she picked up her phone again, opened her contacts, found a number saved as "Brother," and dialed it.
Perhaps yesterday's incident was not solely targeting Nangong Qianyu herself.
This was also the only answer Nangong Qianyu could think of at the moment.
...
Minghai, Nangong Family.
In a vast courtyard, various rare flowers and exotic plants were planted. The chirping of birds could be heard intermittently, and a few pairs of butterflies danced gracefully.
In the center of the courtyard, there was an old stone pavilion where two figures sat playing chess.
One was a middle-aged man with a kind and approachable demeanor, easily giving people a sense of familiarity.
Opposite him was an old man in a Zhongshan suit. Judging solely by his appearance, this old man was no different from an ordinary elder.
But upon closer inspection, the bright starlight in his cloudy pupils still shone, as dazzling as stars.
The old man was Nangong Li, the current patriarch of the Nangong family.
The middle-aged man opposite him was his son, and also Nangong Qianyu's father – Nangong Fu.
"What do you think of Qianyu's attack yesterday?"
Nangong Li made a move, and his positioned white stones began to launch an attack.
Seeing his father's offensive, Nangong Fu calmly placed a stone and said, "A mere illusion."
As soon as the black stone was placed, the White stones' fierce offensive instantly halted.
"Oh!"
Nangong Li moved his white stone, and the previously stalled offensive surged again. "What if it wasn't an illusion, but because the original plan was disrupted?"
The original plan was disrupted?
"Father, you mean?" Nangong Fu looked at the suddenly re-emerging offensive, appearing quite surprised.
He could only make a forced move, sacrificing a piece to survive and ensure the integrity of his remaining territory.
Seeing the black stone's action, Nangong Li sighed slightly but did not make a move.
"Sacrificing a piece to survive can indeed solve immediate worries," Nangong Li stood up, his hands behind his back, and looked outside the pavilion. "But elsewhere, there are already gaping holes."
Clearly, his words were pointed.
After hearing his father's words, Nangong Fu carefully examined the chessboard and discovered that a crack had appeared in a corner he had overlooked.
Nangong Fu also stood up, looked at his father, and asked with some confusion, "Father, what holes are you referring to?"
He had found the holes within the chessboard, but where were the holes outside of it?