Wooing my Bodyguard Wife

Sun Jingwei had blown a kiss in Xue Ning's direction before leaving her alone with Lady Yu, and Xue Ning had no clue what that enigmatic smile pasted on Lady Yu meant.

"How are you feeling, Young Mistress Li?" Lady Yu asks as they slowly make their way down the corridor.

Xue Ning blinks, not expecting that term of address.

"I'm fine, but you can just call me Xue Ning," she replies, a bit sheepishly. She felt like a newborn colt toddling about, especially when compared to Lady Yu who seemed to glide smoothly across the floor with practised grace, even in her matronly outfit.

"I see, Xue Ning." Lady Yu replies politely in return.

They fell silent, their footsteps as the only sound when making their way through the never-ending corridor. Xue Ning's footsteps sounded particularly loud and clunky when compared to Lady Yu's softer, more graceful steps.

The silence grows awkward. Or at least Xue Ning thought so. Lady Yu merely had that same enigmatic smile on her.

"So - "

"Miss Li -"

They both speak at the same time.

"After you," Xue Ning says politely, gesturing to her

"Oh no, you should go first," Lady Yu says, bowing slightly and gesturing to Xue Ning in return.

"Er," Xue Ning starts. "Where are we going?" She peers down the empty hallway full of identical doors.

"Pardon me, I forgot to mention this earlier, but I'm bringing you to your room," Lady Yu smiles. "I hope you'll find your arrangements adequate. We had very short notice, after all."

"Oh, anything is fine!" Xue Ning insists sheepishly. Great, she was inconveniencing the staff so late at night. "You don't need to go through extra trouble. You can just toss me into a guest room, I can settle it myself."

"That would be remiss of me," Lady Yu shakes her head, eyes lit up with… amusement? "You're Young Master Jingwei's precious guest. We must make sure you're well-taken care of."

Precious guest? Normally it wouldn't sound suspicious, but the way Lady Yu's eyes twinkled makes her wonder if there's some hidden meaning she isn't getting.

"Thanks?" She replies hesitantly. "Sorry for giving you and the rest of the staff trouble so late at night though." Xue Ning gets more guilty the more she thinks about it. Why had he gotten the entire house involved just for her? He could have just stuffed Xue Ning in one of the spare rooms and called it a day.

Instead, he had made someone else work overtime just to ensure she was well-taken care of.

"It's really alright though, you can just bring me to the room and leave me there! If Jingwei tries to make trouble for you, I'll talk to him." She promises seriously, in case Lady Yu thought that she was lying and trying to get her into trouble.

Lady Yu smiles, a sight warmer than before.

"That won't be necessary, I wanted to see you in person," Lady Yu replies. "It's always easier to learn more about someone that way, yes?"

"Yes?" Xue Ning replies, confused. "I mean, yeah."

"I'm glad you agree, and we're arriving at your room soon," Lady Yu says, walking faster to lead her into another corridor, with more elaborate doors. This time, the marbled floor was carpeted and there were mini chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Outside every room door, there was a display vase full of blue roses.

Xue Ning's mouth falls open. She was staying in one of these rooms?

But Lady Yu did not stop. She made another turn, and then another, and the doors grew more elaborate, the carpet more lush, the chandeliers more extravagant.

The blue roses have been swapped for red ones.

"Is this place Hogwarts?" Xue Ning muttered to herself. She was getting tired from all the walking around, and she could barely keep straight of where she was supposed to go. If not for the changes in decor, she wouldn't have been able to keep track of where she was.

The doors weren't even labelled for heaven's sake!

In front of her, Lady Yu's lips curled into a smile as she heard the girl do her best to keep up.

So far, if she evaluated Miss Li Xue Ning objectively, she had a favourable impression of her. She was polite, she wasn't spoilt rotten, she didn't complain about the long walking distance even though she should have, because Lady Yu made sure to take the long way around to her room, just so that she could give her a better look at the rest of the mansion and the wealth that she might enjoy in future.

Miss Li didn't catch the fact that she was leading her in circles though. That wasn't a point in her favour, but that could be explained by exhaustion and the fact that she was a first-time visitor to the mansion. Even Wu Shangjing, before his fall from grace, had needed more than one visit to familiarise himself with the directions.

"We're here, please enjoy your stay" she announces with cheerful finality, pulling the heavy doors open. Xue Ning turns to stare at her room, blinking repeatedly to take it all in.

To call it a room would be a massive understatement! It was a room the same way the Great Wall of China was a wall.

The first thing she noticed was the gigantic king-size canopy bed right in the middle of the room. It had six fluffy pillows on top of it, along with a thick duvet that Xue Ning longed to crawl under to sleep with. The curtains were pale translucent white silk, and they fluttered delicately in the cold air of the air-conditioning.

"Wow. Are you sure I'm supposed to stay here?" Xue Ning asks, eyes staring at the huge bed, then moving onto the delicate chandelier at the high ceiling of the room. She could see two doors, most likely leading to the bathroom.

This room alone was twice the size of her dingy apartment!

"It's a bit… much." Xue Ning says hesitantly.

"Is this not to your liking?" Lady Yu asks. "We can have something new prepared -"

"No no no - this is perfect, really!" Xue Ning says, shaking her head and waving her hands rapidly, in case Lady Yu really decided to prepare a new room based on her words. "It just seems too beautiful to stay in!"

"What are rooms, if not for people to stay in?" Lady Yu responds easily. "You might have already noticed, this house has an excess of empty rooms. Even if every staff member lived here, there is still more than enough room. So feel free to stay here for as long as you like. A house like this should be full of life after all."

She gives Xue Ning another meaningful glance, but Xue Ning has no clue how to interpret it. She simply bows in thanks.

"I see, thank you then, I'll stay here for tonight."

"Have a good night's rest then," Lady Yu says, smiling. "After you are done washing up, feel free to call for supper to be brought up. We've already had it prepared, but I'm sure you would like to freshen up first."

Before Xue Ning could ask about clothes, Lady Yu already had her answer prepared.

"Clothes are in the wardrobe, and the bathroom already has the toiletries you need. Do change out your shoes for the slippers provided. If there is something else you need, please contact me using the house phone in the room."

Xue Ning takes a closer look - sure enough, there was a phone on the coffee table, right next to the TV mounted on the wall.

"Thank you again," Xue Ning says. "I didn't expect this much…"

Lady Yu gives her a motherly smile. "There is no trouble, you can repay me by treating Young Master Jingwei well.

"Huh? Well… I'll try?" Xue Ning says sheepishly, feeling a bit embarrassed. "I curse him out quite often." And threatened him more than once. There was also some furious elbowing. Damn, when she thinks about it, she's not exactly treating him very well, is she?

"You don't have to change, just being yourself is enough," Lady Yu elaborates. "It's been a long time since I saw Young Master Jingwei happy."

"Oh," Xue Ning says, face flushing at her words. "I mean, that's nice. Oh wait, not nice, because he should be happy more often, but I mean -"

"I understand," Lady Yu says, nearly laughing at how this young woman was trying to explain herself. Young Master Jingwei had chosen someone special indeed.

"Right," Xue Ning nods awkwardly. "I'll just… go and bathe then. Thanks for the help Lady Yu."

"You're welcome," Lady Yu smiles. "Then I'll bid you goodnight for now."

"Bye!" Xue Ning says, before entering the room and closing the door behind her.

Behind the other side of the door, Lady Yu sighed.

"Ah, Yue Niang… your daughter looks so much like you. No wonder the Old Master doesn't know how to deal with her."