"Thank you." Zhao Lifei pushed the gifts to the side and climbed under the bed, which wasn't that hard to do. The enormous gifts easily hid her from the naked eye. Just as she crawled underneath the bed, the door to the room opened.
Her heart drummed in fear at the idea of being caught.
"Pardon our intrusion, young lady—"
"This intrusion is not pardoned. Get out." Her face turned frigid. "You have no right to enter my room. Security has already been called and my bodyguards are coming any second now." The little girl's voice and manner didn't suit her age. She spoke with poise and commanded the attention of the men in the room.
"We mean no harm—"
"Then close the door and walk out. There are ten men in here against one frail girl. I feel very harmed and threatened by your presence." The way she eloquently spoke to these men surprised Zhao Lifei. It reminded her of when she was a child forced to grow up too early.
"As much as we respect your wishes, we also have a job to complete. Have you seen a young woman run past here? She's a bit above the average height, wears a hospital gown and—"
"I'm sorry, but I fail to see how that concerns me." Her voice was so chilly, it surprised the men. Were children capable of such emotions and behavior? She spoke like an adult rather than a child. She was young, but her eyes looked as if they had experienced a century of hardships.
"It concerns you because the woman is dangerous—" Just then, a few pairs of footsteps could be heard approaching. They stopped in front of the door.
"Gentlemen, you are disturbing our Young Miss's rest. I must ask you to leave."
Zhao Lifei heard an altercation in the background followed by the sound of clothes shuffling and a body being slammed against the wall. The room went deathly quiet and a few murmured exchanges could be heard. She strained her ears to hear the conversation, but it seemed the conversation had died down.
"We apologize for this disturbance," Yang Feng's bodyguard's muttered, obviously annoyed that they couldn't search the room. Reluctantly, they left and another voice spoke up.
"Young Miss, did these men disturb you?"
"Yes, they did. I don't want to see them ever again. Tighten the security around this room and complain to the Chairman of the hospital. This is the VVIP floor, it's despicable and blatantly disrespectful that they were able to gain entrance to my room." Her tone was calm, but the threat behind it was deadly.
"We will report this matter to Master and Madam. The head chairman will be contacted as well."
"Good. Now get out."
The men didn't need to be told twice. They opened the door and were about to step out when she spoke up again. "I want this room secured. No one shall enter without my permission. No one shall look inside this room or the window."
"Right away, Young Miss." They closed the door and stood in front of it, their large frames covering any wandering eyes that dared to glance through the tiny rectangle window on the side of the door.
"You can come out now." The little girl spoke up just as Zhao Lifei moved the gifts aside to come out from under the bed.
Zhao Lifei was surprised to see the child's nonchalant face. Her eyes were lifeless and cold. It didn't have that childlike innocence and spark.
"Why were those men after you? Who are you?" The little girl scrutinized the woman's appearance. Her hair and clothes were messy, but her appearance was not enough to mask the prominent aura she had. A royalty could be dressed in rags, but nothing could hide their elegance.
Zhao Lifei noticed the little girl was analyzing her and decided to test the waters instead of giving a straight response. She slowly smiled. "Who do you think I am?"
"You're clearly not a simple patient."
"Oh? Why's that?"
"This is the VVIP floor which can't be accessed without a private key-card. The gown you're wearing is made of high quality cotton, the same one used for VVIP patients."
"I could've stolen the key-card and clothes—"
"Despite your mangled appearance, you carry yourself with grace and elegance. Judging by the way you carry yourself and your haughty stare, you don't come from golden wealth, you come from the platinum ones."
The little girl scanned Zhao Lifei's appearance again. "You're wearing the latest edition Valentino slippers. Only a handful were sold in the world. For you to have one shows you are not a simple woman. Why do you think I treated you well and covered for you? I wouldn't do so if I didn't know you were an important person."
Zhao Lifei smiled. "Now that's your first flaw. From where I stood before, you shouldn't have been able to see my feet. I was in too much of a panicked state to even act elegant. You didn't have time to judge me." Her face softened.
This girl really reminded her of herself when she was younger. Too analytical and calculative for her age. Her parents used to hate those qualities about her. They thought it was abnormal for a child to be so smart and have such keen eyes.
"Which meant you acted on instinct." She tilted her head and took a step closer to the child sitting on the bed. "You don't have to lie about why you helped me."
The little girl looked at her with parted lips. This was the first adult who hadn't chastised her for being overly talkative.
All of her relatives disliked her because her sharp eyes always pointed out too much. She would point out the flaws that people desperately tried to hide, the lies thrown out by her relatives, and because of these abilities of hers, the adults disliked her. She was from an extremely wealthy family who preferred a docile and demure daughter — not one that babbled for days on end.
"I-I—"
"It's alright. We all have our reasons for lying." Zhao Lifei's smile became gentle in hopes of soothing the child's panic.
"What's your name?" She was curious about this young girl. The people that entered the room addressed her with extreme respect and even referred to her as "Young Miss," which meant she was definitely from a very outstanding family, which was to be expected as this was the VVIP area.
The little girl debated her answer. "For safety reasons, I will not disclose my surname. But you can call me Xiao Nai."
Zhao Lifei chuckled at the girl's smart response. "Alright Xiao Nai, my name is Lifei. But if you'd like, you can call Feifei since it might be awkward for you due to the difference in age."
Xiao Nai's eyes flickered with surprise. Lifei? As in Zhao Lifei? Her eyes scanned the woman before her. From past rumors, they described the former Queen to be haughty, bratty, arrogant, rude, and spoiled rotten. This woman standing before her seemed to be the polar opposite of that. She had a very friendly smile, the kind that drew kids to her.
'It's probably just a coincidence with the name. This woman is nothing like the rumors,' She thought to herself, brushing the idea aside.
