Chapter 34: You Are Not Special
After the medicine was fed to Xie Rong, the physicians checked his pulse once more. The tense expressions on their faces eased considerably.
"The poison has been suppressed."
The room instantly relaxed. Old Madam Xie finally sat down and Master Xie let out a breath before leaving to deal with the matters outside. Even the physicians gradually withdrew.
Soon, only a few servants remained inside the room.
Wang Gege sat beside the bed and looked at Xie Rong. He still hadn’t woken up, so she decided to wait for him.
Staring at his pale face, Wang Gege let out a weak sigh, "You really scared everyone."
Naturally, nobody answered and the room fell into silence again.
Just then, a maid entered carrying a basin of warm water.
"Young Madam." The maid bowed. "The physician instructed that Young Master’s body should be wiped down."
Wang Gege nodded, "Put it here."
The maid carefully placed the basin beside the bed before lowering her head again. "This servant will take her leave."
After the maid left, Wang Gege looked at the basin before shifting her gaze back to Xie Rong.
Then she looked at the basin again.
A few moments later, she sighed. "Fine."
Since she was already here, she might as well do it. She dipped the cloth into the warm water and wrung it dry.
Just as she was about to wipe his face, her gaze landed on the black blindfold covering his eyes.
Wang Gege paused. Since she arrived in this world, she had never seen what Xie Rong looked like beneath it.
Not once. The blindfold had practically become part of him. Every time she saw him, it was there.
It would be a lie if she said she wasn’t curious. After all, eyes were an important part of the face. Sometimes, they could completely change how a person looked.
Besides, this was Xie Rong. The man was already handsome enough with the blindfold on.
Naturally, Wang Gege had wondered before what kind of eyes were hidden beneath the blindfold. Now that the opportunity was right in front of her, her curiosity immediately won.
"It wouldn’t hurt just to take a quick look, right?" she muttered. After all, he was unconscious.
Carefully, she reached forward and untied the knot behind his head and the black silk slowly loosened.
Just as Wang Gege was about to pull it away completely, the blindfold suddenly slipped on its own.
A portion of his face was revealed and at that second she could see one eye.
Wang Gege’s eyes widened. Before she could see clearly a hand suddenly wrapped around her wrist.
Her entire body froze. The room instantly fell silent.
Wang Gege slowly lowered her head. The hand gripping her wrist was pale, but the strength behind it was impossible to ignore.
Then a familiar voice sounded beside her, low and hoarse, probably because of the poison.
"Are you taking advantage of an unconscious man, Young Madam?"
Wang Gege nearly jumped and her heart almost stopped. She immediately looked down toward the bed.
Xie Rong had opened one eye and the other remained covered by the loosened blindfold. Even so, the pressure he gave off was enough to make her scalp tingle.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Wang Gege blurted out, "Who was taking advantage of you?"
Xie Rong raised an eyebrow.
"I was helping you." She continued, defending herself.
"Helping me?" He tilted his head slowly, probably because he was still weak from the poison.
"Yes. I mean... I was trying to clean—"
"Clean?" His gaze flicked briefly to her hand, still hovering near his face.
Wang Gege immediately felt her confidence shrink.
"Yes... Your face... " She rolled her eyes up and muttered slowly, "And your body."
The moment the words left her mouth, the atmosphere suddenly became strange.
Even Wang Gege realized how suspicious that sounded.
Xie Rong was silent. Wang Gege was silent too.
Then his eyebrow rose even higher.
"Young Madam," His voice was calm. "Are you truly taking advantage of me?"
Wang Gege’s eyes widened, "I am not!" She immediately tried to explain herself. "I mean, they said I need to clean your body, so I was just trying to wipe your face—"
Her explanation abruptly stopped because at that moment she finally realised something.
The amusement in his eye is not merely the expression. The eye itself. The way it looked directly at her. The way it followed her movements and the way it narrowed ever so slightly.
Wang Gege froze and the room suddenly became quiet.
Xie Rong’s smile slowly faded. He immediately realized what she was looking at.
Neither of them spoke.
Wang Gege stared at him and she was locking their eyes together. Her brows slowly furrowed. "Young Master Xie..."
Xie Rong remained silent.
"Your eyes..." The more she thought about it, the stranger it became.
Just now, she had been too startled to notice. But now, everything was clear and it felt so wrong.
Wang Gege’s expression darkened. "You can see."
It wasn’t a question, more like a statement.
Xie Rong’s gaze remained calm. That calmness only made her more certain.
"You can clearly see." For some reason, the realization made her even angrier than she expected. She had suspected him before. Many times at that... but suspicion and confirmation were two completely different things.
"And all this time..." Her voice rose slightly. "You were lying to me?"
The room fell silent.
Xie Rong stared at her for a moment before he slowly released her wrist. The warmth disappeared immediately.
Without answering, he weakly tightened the blindfold back and now the black silk returned to its place.
With a slow movement, he pushed himself into a sitting position against the carved wooden bedframe. His face was still pale but his expression remained as indifferent as ever.
As though the secret she had just uncovered meant nothing at all.
Finally, he spoke. "Why would you think you are important enough for me to reveal the truth to you?"
The words landed heavily between them.
Wang Gege froze. For a brief moment, she didn’t know how to respond.
Because he was right, she was nothing important towards him. Their marriage was based on agreement and she also believed neither of them trusted the other.
Objectively speaking, Xie Rong had no obligation to tell her anything.
But for some reason... The answer still hurts.
She blinked her eyes a few times, taking some moment to calm herself before she said, "Fine."
Wang Gege abruptly stood up. The wet cloth in her hand landed back in the basin with a splash.
"Then I believe the Young Master can wipe himself."
With that, she turned and left the room, leaving Xie Rong staring at the back of her walking away.