Wooing my Bodyguard Wife

Seeing the blood splatters on the walls just made her remember her time in the hospital, where Ya Ren had touched her and she stabbed him and his blood was hot when it spilled on her - when it spilled everywhere -

"Meimei!"

"Xue Ning!"

"Oh my god! Go sit down!"

Everyone began fluttering around her, and Xue Ning's breath came out in quick shallow gasps, but all that did was cause her to inhale the coppery smell of blood. Her eyes were wide with panic, trying to focus on something to calm herself down. She looked around rapidly, but even the cute rabbit figures that usually gave her joy were splattered with blood.

She looked at the bed where Jingwei was just making love to her, only to see the sheets messed up and bloody. And when her eyes turned to her intruders, Xue Ning had taken one look at the empty sockets where the intruders' eyes should be, only to see a gouged out bloody space. Blood was still flowing out and steadily rolling down the man's face, landing on her shredded curtain.

Xue Ning tasted bile at the back of her throat.

How could their eyes be missing?! It was difficult enough for her to stab through Ya Ren's palm with a knife, how could someone have enough strength to rip out two eyes?! She then eyed the stake in her mother's hand with increasing horror.

Did her Mom manage to do this? How could she? Was she human?

"Mom… what on…what is this…" Xue Ning asked again, before bowling over with her hand over her mouth, trying to stop herself from vomiting.

Yue Niang and Tai Cheng exchanged worried looks. Xue Ning wasn't a squeamish girl, she never batted an eyelid when it came to blood (she had accompanied her to the butcher's with no complaints), so what could have caused such a big reaction?

Nevermind, they had to get her to calm down.

"I'll bring her outside," Yue Niang instructed. "The two of you, watch over these people. Or haul them outside." Perhaps it was the presence of strangers in her room that caused Xue Ning to panic. Her daughter had always been a notoriously private person.

Yue Niang gently led her daughter to the living room couch, guiding her to sit down. With shaking legs, Xue Ning fell on the couch, her head in her hands, bowled over as she tried to get herself back in order with limited success.

At least the urge to vomit was subsiding, even if the image of the empty, bloody, eye socket still continued to appear at the back of her eyelids. Xue Ning pressed her palms to her closed eyes, willing herself to calm. She wasn't a weakling! She could conquer this!

Breathe…breathe…breathe

Meanwhile Yue Niang could only stare at Xue Ning, at a loss of what to do. No one around her had ever behaved like this before!

"Xue Ning-ah, tell Mom what's wrong?" Yue Niang coaxed as she crouched down to take a better look at her daughter, whose entire body seemed to be shivering from an unseen cold. "You're not being yourself! Mom is worried!"

Yue Niang accidentally raised her voice at the end, startling her daughter enough that she flinched, pulling her feet up to the chair. Xue Ning huddled into a ball, her hands falling from her eyes, who stared unblinkingly at Yue Niang.

Xue Ning suddenly had a horrifying thought - were her parents insane? How could her Mom be perfectly unaffected by that gory sight - more importantly, how could she even create it?

"Sorry for yelling," Yue Niang hastily apologised, feeling strangely judged. "Do you want to drink some water? To calm down?"

"Mom…Jingwei…Jingwei… where is he…" Xue Ning muttered, twisting her fingers as her heart raced. She still hadn't seen him yet, and that was causing anxiety to rear its ugly head.

The previous time she felt something like this, it was also Jingwei that managed to calm her down. She wanted him with her to make sense of things!

"Oh you want Jingwei?" Yue Niang smiled, relieved that her daughter was at least rational enough to make demands, even if said demand was for a man. "Mom will get him inside, you just wait here!"

Leaving her daughter on the couch, Yue Niang went to the window and took a quick look outside, only to see Jingwei, Ming Guang, and two other men clad in black lying on their front lawn. Jingwei seemed to be prodding one of them with his hand.

Yue Niang facepalmed. Didn't anyone teach this man not to touch garbage?

"Oi, you! Come back to the house! My daughter is looking for you!"

"Me?" Jingwei startled, getting up.

"Who else?" Yue Niang barked out. "Hurry!"

"Okay!" Jingwei beamed cheerfully. "Coming right now!"

Yue Niang was going to open the door, but it turned out that Jingwei decided on a more direct  route! He casually passed Ming Guang his knife, before running up to the window. He cleared it in one quick leap as though he was a prized dog competing in the high jump event.

He certainly looked as happy as a golden retriever!

Meanwhile, Yue Niang hurriedly moved to the side to avoid the collision. She frowned as Jingwei narrowly knocked into her in his attempt to enter her home. She vowed to install window grills on all the windows from now on. This was a security risk!

"Couldn't you use the door?" Yue Niang grumbled, but it was unheard because Sun Jingwei only had eyes and ears for her daughter. Jingwei's eyes widened as he saw Xue Ning curled into a ball on the sofa, looking like a sad, wary kitten.

He immediately ran towards her, crouching down to cradle her hands in his, squeezing them.

"Xue Ning, you called for me?" Jingwei asked, purposely keeping his tone light and cheerful. Something must have triggered this behaviour in Xue Ning - it was just like the issue with Ya Ren!

That voice was familiar… Xue Ning blinked, realising that someone was blocking her view. Her eyes slowly focused on Jingwei's smiling face. He was here! Alive!