Chapter 5 The Prime Minister brought back a woman

The old lady was probably in a bad mood, so she only let Mingwu give a brief greeting before dismissing her.

As she left the Plum Garden, the pain in her ankle intensified, each step feeling like walking on shards of broken porcelain. A sharp pain shot up her leg, causing a fine layer of cold sweat to bead on her forehead.

Chunnan supported her, her eyes reddening with heartache.

"Madam, let's go back and fetch the imperial physician. This injury cannot be delayed..."

Mingwu seemed not to hear, her gaze fixed on the corner of the corridor.

That was the direction Lu Yuan had just left in.

The bluestone slab was empty, with only a few fallen leaves swirling in the wind before gently drifting down.

He didn't even turn his head.

Mingwu lowered her eyelashes, her nails digging deep into her palms, yet she felt no pain.

"Madam..." Chunnan gently tugged at her sleeve.

Mingwu looked in the direction Chunnan indicated and saw an indigo-blue flat-topped carriage approaching. The copper bells on the carriage shafts jingled, sounding particularly jarring in the quiet courtyard.

Just as she was about to move aside, the carriage came to a steady stop in front of her.

The driver nimbly leaped down from the carriage shaft and bowed, saying, "Madam, please aboard."

Chunnan was overjoyed and hurriedly helped Mingwu into the carriage, then asked, "Who sent you?"

The servant bowed his head: "It was the steward's order."

"Whose will is that?" Chun Nan persisted.

"I don't know."

Chunnan, seemingly having thought of something, beamed and whispered in Mingwu's ear.

"It must be that the Prime Minister knew about the Madam's foot injury and gave these instructions specifically."

His tone was full of confident joy.

Mingwu's heart skipped a beat.

Yes, him?

Having forced herself to walk this far today, Mingwu's foot injury has worsened.

My right ankle was swollen and shiny. The once slender joints were now completely invisible, replaced by a horrifying bluish-purple color.

"Please bear with it, Madam." Chun Nan, her eyes red, instructed the driver not to return to the courtyard yet, but to go to the manor's traditional Chinese medicine clinic instead.

The clinic is located in the southwest corner of the front yard.

As soon as the carriage came to a stop, Chunnan called out to someone.

"Where is the imperial physician? Quickly, summon him to examine the lady!"

The young apprentice rushed out from the inner room and bowed to Mingwu inside the carriage.

"Reporting to Madam, Physician Qin was just summoned away by Lord Xu, who said... said it was an emergency."

Emergency?

Could it be... that Lu Yuan is injured?

He has always been very good at enduring pain.

I remember it was a winter night last year. He, who always liked to keep the lamp on in his bed, unusually extinguished all the candles after entering the room.

She didn't take off her clothes.

At that time, she thought he was going to try some new tricks on her again. But to her surprise, he was very well-behaved this time and didn't change his position at all.

Moreover, in her hazy state, she seemed to smell a bloody odor.

Once he was fast asleep, she quietly got out of bed and lit a candle.

Suddenly, it was discovered that what was showing beneath his open collar was—

Bloodstains!

She quickly unbuttoned his clothes and saw that his right shoulder was wrapped in a white bandage, which was soaked with blood and looked shocking!

Later, she went to find Xu Ming and learned that he had encountered an assassin. He had been slashed in the right shoulder, the wound so deep that bone was visible, and his right arm was almost useless.

But he acted as if nothing had happened.

He still picked up his pen to review papers, his handwriting as neat and tidy as ever.

It's as if I can't feel any pain.

Since then, she has started learning to make medicinal cuisine. She knows she can't help him much, but she can do her best to improve his health.

To reduce his pain.

"Madam? Why are you so pale? Are you in a lot of pain?"

Chunnan's anxious voice pulled Mingwu back to reality.

Mingwu slowly loosened her clenched hands and shook her head: "Go to the East Courtyard." Her voice was a little hoarse.

Although Chunnan was puzzled, she said nothing more. She simply lifted the curtain and instructed the servant to turn the carriage around and head towards the east courtyard.

The sun had risen above the treetops.

The warm sunlight filtered through the dense foliage, casting dappled white halos on the brick pavement.

The carriage traveled quickly and soon arrived at the East Courtyard.

From afar, two carriages could be seen parked at the entrance of the East Courtyard, one of which was the one Lu Yuan usually used.

The car had a flat, black roof and no elaborate carvings, except for a few dark silver cloud patterns embroidered on the door curtains. The pattern was extremely simple, gleaming with a restrained silver light in the sunlight.

He was bending slightly as he went into the carriage.

Xu Ming caught a glimpse of Ming Wu, his face showing surprise, and he whispered his report into the car.

A slender, fair hand reached out from inside the car and gently lifted a corner of the indigo blue curtain.

Through the curtain, Mingwu couldn't see his face clearly, but she could feel his gaze on her as if it were real.

"go back!"

Mingwu's steps suddenly froze.

"Prime Minister..."

She had just opened her mouth.

The indigo carriage curtains had been drawn heavily.

The sound of the carriage rolling over the bluestone slabs seemed to crush her heart, before disappearing around the corner in the blink of an eye.

"The Prime Minister must have something urgent to attend to, Madam..."

Mingwu shook her head, still looking in the direction the carriage had disappeared, and said softly, "He wasn't injured."

Since that incident, she paid special attention to him, remembering his every expression. When he was happy, his right shoulder would sag slightly. When he was injured, his back would straighten...

"Ah? Then how come I also saw the imperial physician in another carriage?" Chunnan asked in confusion.

“It’s very simple. There is another important person who needs the imperial physician.” A voice suddenly interrupted, emphasizing the words “important person”.

It seems to have another meaning.

The girl who arrived was about fifteen or sixteen years old.

She wore a crimson red quilted skirt, with peonies embroidered in gold thread at the hem. With each step she took, the peonies seemed to bloom in the wind.

Mingwu recognized her; she was Lu Yuan's cousin, the young princess of the Ning Prince's mansion, Song Yuxuan.

"Princess." Mingwu gave a slight curtsy.

"Does my cousin-in-law want to know where my cousin went and for whom he summoned the imperial physician?" Song Yuxuan asked with a sly smile.

Although Mingwu hadn't had much contact with Song Yuxuan, she had heard that this Princess Xuan was playful and loved to watch people have fun. She dared to watch anyone's mischief.

Mingwu didn't want to become someone others were watching and praising. She really wanted to say, "No."

However, the words wouldn't come out; it felt like my throat was blocked by thick mud.

By the time she came to her senses, she and Song Yuxuan had already left the Prime Minister's residence in a carriage.

"Wow, this princess has finally come out."

Song Yuxuan abruptly lifted the car curtain, leaning half her body out. Her head full of jewels dazzled in the sunlight.

Mingwu and Chunnan exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.

"Princess," Chun Nan asked hesitantly, "you said you were going to take Madam to see the Prime Minister... Could it be that you just wanted to come out for fun and were just trying to fool us?"

Song Yuxuan turned her head away angrily.

"How could that be? This princess keeps her word and never lies."

Chunnan pointed ahead: "But... the Prime Minister's carriage is gone."

"What?"

Song Yuxuan's expression changed drastically, and she flung open the carriage curtain, ready to jump out. The coachman was so startled that he stumbled and nearly fell off the carriage shaft.

The long street was bustling with noise.

There were vendors selling candied hawthorns; there were spoiled young masters riding tall horses, swaggering through the streets; and there were camel caravans from the Western Regions, their bells ringing in the distance...

The black, flat-topped carriage was nowhere to be seen.

"What should we do? We've lost them." Song Yuxuan shrank back into the car, her face falling.

"Does the princess know the exact location?"

After asking that question, Mingwu's heart jumped. It felt as if she were suspended in mid-air by thin threads.

The fingers gripping the hem of her clothes tightened unconsciously.

Song Yuxuan thought for a moment, then said awkwardly, "I...I don't know. I just heard it from someone else."

Mingwu slowly loosened her grip, and her heart returned to its original place.

Chunnan glared at Song Yuxuan: "So the princess herself didn't have any real evidence, it was all just hearsay?"

Song Yuxuan's eyes darted around, and she awkwardly covered her mouth and coughed.

“Well… isn’t there an old saying that there’s no smoke without fire? The fact that there are such rumors outside means…” She suddenly pointed outside.

"Wow, there's a stage over there! Let's go watch a show!"

After saying that, he stepped off the carriage in a gust of wind.

"Princess?" Mingwu was shocked and had no choice but to follow her down.

Finally, they found Song Yuxuan at the theater across the street. She generously tossed a bag of silver to the waiter and got a private box on the second floor directly facing the stage.

On stage, the young actress in green was singing a tender, lingering tune.

Chunnan leaned close to Mingwu's ear and whispered, "Madam, aren't we going to find the Prime Minister?"

Song Yuxuan kept her eyes glued to the stage, not turning her head: "This play is so interesting!"

The opera was already more than halfway through, and Mingwu and Chunnan were completely lost, not understanding what it was about at all, especially since the opera was so slow.

All I could see on the platform was a man and a woman holding hands, gazing at each other with tearful eyes, making vows of eternal love.

Suddenly, a murmur of conversation came from the next private room:

"I heard this play is about Prime Minister Lu and Miss Qi from back then..."

"Alas, if the Qi family's daughter hadn't... she would probably be the Prime Minister's wife by now, instead of just a merchant's daughter..."

Mingwu's fingertips sank deeply into her palm.

Those words and phrases were like fine needles, piercing her heart.

It turns out he already had a girl he liked. No wonder he had always been so cold to her; even when he was deeply in love, his eyes were still cold.

"Cousin-in-law?"

Song Yuxuan cautiously approached.

She had originally intended to watch the spectacle, but seeing Ming Wu's pale face inexplicably softened her heart. Even she, a woman, felt a pang of sympathy for this beautiful woman weeping.

Not to mention my cousin...

Unless he is truly heartless.

Mingwu suddenly stood up and walked out, ignoring the pain in her ankle.

Chunnan hurriedly chased after her: "Madam, where are you going?"

"I'm going to find him. I'm going to ask him what's going on, and if he..." Mingwu didn't finish her sentence.

She would rather face the cruel truth than live in the dark, in a daze.

Chunnan hesitated for a moment, then took out a crumpled piece of paper from her sleeve pocket.

"Last time I misread the words...this is the real address."

Mingwu took the address, staring intently at the words on the slip of paper, as if she wanted to pierce it. She pressed down with her fingertips, the thin paper seeming unable to withstand the pressure.

It began to tremble.

A moment later, Mingwu put away the note and quickly left the private room.

Song Yuxuan couldn't care less about watching the show and hurriedly followed them out.

The carriage sped along and arrived at Wuyi Lane.

During the day, Wuyi Lane is much quieter, with only a few people on the street, and the courtyards and shops along the street are all closed, showing none of the bustling activity seen at night.

They finally arrived at the address on the note, which was a three-courtyard house. It wasn't far from the courtyard Mingwu had visited last time.

The courtyard was empty; there wasn't a single person in it.

"Rumors shouldn't be taken seriously; perhaps we've misunderstood the Prime Minister," Chunnan said cautiously.

Song Yuxuan chimed in, "Yes, yes, cousin-in-law. The fact that my cousin married you means he has feelings for you."

On the way back, the carriage was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Song Yuxuan couldn't stand such a heavy atmosphere. As soon as the carriage arrived at the gate of the Prime Minister's residence, she couldn't wait to jump off.

"Sister-in-law, I'll go first..."

Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly heard someone speaking from the roadside.

"Just now, the Prime Minister brought back a woman."