Anning’s pov

My thoughts came to a halt when I felt Wanqing tug on my arm. I frowned, staring up at her with a big frown.

"Let me go, you cheat." I snapped, trying to pull my arm out of her grasp.

"Come with me." She said softly, grabbing my other arm with free hand.

I almost groaned at the smirk she had on her lip, is it me or is she smiling a bit too much today?

"Young mistress, I should really return to my room." I muttered, but one glare from her had me clamping my mouth shut.

"It is either you follow me or I’m lifting you off this floor." Wanqing said firmly. "Pick your poison."

What the fuck?

Did she really enjoy threatening people like this? I mean, she wasn’t even playing fair anymore.

"Fine." I responded under my breath.

Even though I didn’t want to be alone in this room with her, I still allowed her to lead me further into the room.

"Young mistress?" I called out after a while, watching as she pushed one of the open windows we passed close.

She didn’t respond to me, but that was not even surprising.

By the time she allowed me to sit on her bed, I was prepared to start another argument with her. I opened my mouth, ready to lecture her about how cheaters die young, but the words couldn’t even leave my throat.

Why? Because Wanqing was crouching right in front of me. THE Wanqing.

"What are you doing?" I asked, raising a brow at her.

She didn’t answer. She slowly reached for my ankle and I almost kicked her out of pure reflex.

"You shouldn’t be touching me like this." I said, hoping it would smack some sense into her.

Before I could pull away, her grip on my leg tightened as she muttered with a frown, "Stay still."

I stared at the top of her head, wondering if the person kneeling in front of me wasn’t the Wanqing I knew. Maybe she was an impostor.

She tilted my foot slightly, her expression remained blank as she examined it. Then she moved to the other leg.

"Wanqing." I said, hoping she would respond this time.

When she didn’t, I leaned forward and slapped her hand off my legs. Why was she acting like this?

As though crouching at my feet was the most natural thing in the world. Just thinking about it made me feel more uncomfortable.

"Answer me." I demanded. "Have you suddenly gone from being the eldest daughter of the Gu family to a physician?"

Wanqing looked up at that moment and said, "You didn’t get hurt."

Did this woman bang her head somewhere?

"So what?" I responded, choosing to ignore her abnormal behavior.

"You were running around with so much force and in these cheap shoes." She said, her nose scrunching up in disdain.

And she actually looked adorable.

"What’s the big deal? What if I had stepped on something sharp? Did you forget you made this bet with me?" I snapped, leaning back slightly. "Don’t even try giving me a freaking lecture."

Wanqing scoffed, released my ankle and then rose to her feet.

"You truly don’t understand, do you?" She asked, her gaze remaining fixed on me.

Her words made goosebumps form on my skin. I swallowed hard, then asked in a cautious manner, "What do you mean by that?"

"It’s simple, if you had gotten injured. You’d spend your time locked away in my room. This room." She said flatly, gesturing around the room.

Okay, please someone... anyone, tell me I’m not running mad or something.

"You must be joking." I said, eyes narrowed at her.

"Oh, but that’s where you are wrong." She responded, her lips stretching into a small smile.

"You’d imprison me because I scratched my foot? " I asked, growing confused at her words.

"No, I’ll teach you a lesson so you won’t run in those cheap things you call shoes and end up harming yourself." She responded.

I watched as she slowly untied the knot on the front of her dress. Her eyes fluttered shut for just a few seconds and that anger she seemed to have buried back at General Gu’s office seemed to have resurfaced.

When her robe finally came undone, revealing her smooth skin and inner wear. She leaned closer to me, that unique scent of hers filled the air.

"You did something really dangerous tonight. No, it’s not about the shoes." She said, her voice dropping an octave lower. "But, my bad little tiger needs to be disciplined. For her own sake."

I swallowed hard at Wanqing’s words, my heart racing within my chest.

Why did those words of her sound both enticing and dangerous, all at once?

"What discipline are you talking about? And you didn’t tell me you had some sort of tiger?" I said, forcing out a small chuckle.

My entire muscles had turned stiff and at this point, I decided to play dumb. If I don’t succumb to whatever this was, I would be able to escape it unscathed.

"I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about, young mistress. Care to explain further?"

I couldn’t help but hope that this dark and blank expression of hers would melt even a bit with these words of mine, but it didn’t. If anything, her mood seemed to turn worse.

I mean, I have done a lot of bad things today and maybe even in the last nine months. So, what exactly was she talking about? If this was about me coming to General Gu’s study, then I wasn’t going to admit it.

"Do you really not know why you need to be disciplined, hmm, Anning?"

The way my name rolled off her lip, made me clench my thighs slightly. Wanqing’s tone might sound all light and relaxed now, but it felt like this was just the calm before the storm.

"I don’t." I said firmly, refusing to back down or cower. "I did nothing wrong to you, young miss. This just looks like you’re throwing a tantrum of something."