Chapter 13 He will take good care of his younger siblings.

Blood seeped from her neck, seeping between Xiao Zhuo's fingers, and dripping onto the ground.

The sticky feeling in his palm caused Xiao Zhuo to furrow his brow almost imperceptibly.

Xiao Zhuo called out, "Ying Hui."

The old abbot came out of the meditation room behind him. Seeing this, he quickly stepped forward, knelt down, and stopped the bleeding for the emperor, pressing a silk handkerchief to the woman's neck.

Xiao Zhuo was about to get up when he suddenly felt the hand in front of him grip his robes even tighter, forcing him to bend down and accommodate him.

Her body was trembling violently, and her eyes were wet with tears.

Xiao Zhuo placed his hand on the back of her hand, and finally, little by little, forcefully, pulled his clothes out of her palm.

Ying Hui asked, "Can you still walk, benefactor?"

Her trembling red lips parted slightly, and a soft "Okay" escaped her lips.

However, just a few feet away, the leopard suddenly took half a step forward, and in her panic, she buried her face deep into the emperor's robe.

Ying Hui glanced at the emperor's expression; his face was cold and aloof, showing little change.

After a short while, the bleeding on her neck finally stopped. Ying Hui said, "Female benefactor, I will take you up the mountain to treat your injuries."

She opened her eyes, her voice barely audible: "Can't it be right here?"

Ying Hui said softly, "This is the residence of this distinguished person, so I will have to trouble you to make the effort."

Yuan Chaolu frowned slightly, "The mountain is so far away... I'm in so much pain that I can't walk..."

Ying Hui could only look at the emperor. After a moment, having received the emperor's permission, Ying Hui helped the young woman into a side room of the temple.

Abbot Yinghui said, "This old monk has some medical knowledge and can help you with acupuncture and bandaging. You asked me to take a look at your injury."

Yuan Chaolu sat by the window, pressing a handkerchief against her neck, her fingertips stained with blood. She said, "Thank you, Abbot. The bleeding has stopped. I can take care of it myself."

Ying Hui slowly walked forward, and Yuan Chaolu, with a pale face, said, "There's no need to trouble the abbot. Please bring me a bronze mirror so I can look in it while bandaging."

Ying Hui didn't press her, and turned her back to look for her.

The weak look on Yuan Chaolu's face finally disappeared.

The situation was so perilous just now, and I lost so much blood, yet the King of Yan remained unmoved.

Perhaps she is not delicate and charming enough to catch the eye of the Prince of Yan?

Yuan Chaolu slowly increased the pressure on his hand, pressing down on the handkerchief around his neck.

In the courtyard, there were specks of crimson blood scattered on the bluestone steps, seeping into the moss in the cracks of the stones.

Xiao Zhuo stood under the eaves and said to the golden leopard in the courtyard, "Come here!"

The beast shuffled over, lowered its body and lay down on the ground, letting out a low growl from its abdomen, seemingly extremely aggrieved.

Xiao Zhuo noticed its abnormality. He saw dark red seeping from the fur on the beast's forelimbs, indicating that it was injured. The situation had been too chaotic to notice earlier.

He lowered his thick eyelids, pondering something, and after a moment slowly got up and walked into the house.

"Come in, let me bandage you."

The leopard wagged its tail and obediently followed them inside.

Shortly after, Xiao Zhuo left the meditation room and headed towards the side room.

When Ying Hui saw him coming, she said, "The benefactor's injury is not deep. The bleeding has stopped, and the tendons and bones have not been damaged. With proper care, you will recover in ten days."

Yuan Chaolu was still applying medicine to her neck when she looked up with a smile and said, "Thank you for saving me just now, young master."

Xiao Zhuo sat down beside the table, his gaze falling on her injuries.

When he said he wanted to check on her injuries and bent down to look at her, Yuan Chaolu subconsciously looked away, but then felt the faint fragrance from his clothes waft over, enveloping her in its scent, making her want to drown in it.

Yuan Chaolu's chest pounded, unsure if he could get away with it. After waiting for a while without hearing him speak, she looked up and her gaze met his eyes.

He wasn't looking at the wound at all; he was looking at her.

That gaze wasn't a man's lustful look at a woman, but rather a careful scrutiny.

Examine your face for any unusual signs.

Yuan Chaolu lowered her eyes, avoiding his gaze, and asked softly, "Abbot, where did this wild leopard come from today? There are many worshippers in Chanxu Temple. It would be bad if the wild leopard caused trouble and bit many people."

“This leopard is my pet,” his voice came from beside me. “I have always disliked outsiders trespassing. Today, the young lady entered my secluded place of cultivation without permission, and was thus attacked by the leopard.”

Yuan Chaolu was stunned. Suddenly, he remembered that when the leopard pounced on him, he seemed to have called out the leopard's name.

But the information she gathered didn't seem to mention anything about the Prince of Yan raising leopards.

Yuan Chaolu looked in the direction of the sound and saw the leopard the two men were talking about slowly walking in from outside the door.

With eyes filled with intense hostility, the wild leopard slowly sat down beside the King of Yan.

Yuan Chaolu held her breath and heard the man beside her say, "Your wound doesn't seem to have been inflicted by the Golden Lion."

Yuan Chaolu's heart raced, and she said softly, "Really? That wild beast pounced on me, and I felt a sharp pain in my neck. I don't know where I was bitten or bumped into, but the bleeding just wouldn't stop..."

The wound was indeed not inflicted by the leopard. At that critical moment, Chaolu touched the whistle bone in the back of her neck and was about to bring it to her lips when she saw the beast suddenly stop. It seemed that it did not want to take her life, but only wanted to subdue her under its claws.

But the Prince of Yan immediately came out of the house.

She scratched herself with a rock beside her, making sure the wound wouldn't be too deep.

He had made a great sacrifice, but the King of Yan remained unmoved.

Yuan Chaolu, fearing he might notice something, covered her neck with gauze.

The room was silent except for the rustling sound of her bandaging. Yuan Chaolu looked out at him. Compared to the ferocious beast at his feet, he sat there lazily in his black robes, scrutinizing him as if he were an elegant leopard.

After the bandage was finished, Yuan Chaolu got up, went to a table to the side, and picked up a booklet. "Fortunately, I protected this Buddhist scripture and it was not torn to pieces by that leopard. This is a copy of a rare Buddhist scripture. I hope you will accept it, young master."

A faint smile bloomed on the young woman's lips, her eyes clear and sincere, without the slightest pretense.

"I see that you have an extraordinary demeanor and a deep love for Buddhism. You have saved me today, and you are truly my benefactor. May I ask if we can become friends? I have not yet asked your name. My name is Zhou Aju."

Yuan Chaolu's hands remained suspended in the air until they slowly stiffened, but he did not speak.

He finally spoke up: "I don't need these, I don't need them."

Yuan Chaolu: "Young Master..."

He refused again: "It's getting late, young lady should go down the mountain."

His words were harsh, as if he were issuing a final order to leave.

Yuan Chaolu didn't know if he had noticed anything.

"Alright." She simply smiled, seemingly unconcerned, and turned to retrieve the curtain she had placed on the table. "Then I'll see you again, young master."

After she turned around, the man pressed his fingertips against her forehead, his gaze still fixed on her.

At this moment, there was a knock on the palace door from the outside, and a middle-aged man dressed in a dark blue robe slowly walked in.

This man was none other than Zhong Changjun, the emperor's eunuch.

The visitor placed his hands on his abdomen, smiled, and performed a gesture of respect before whispering to the emperor.

"Then I won't disturb you any longer, young master."

Before leaving, Yuan Chaolu said this, but still received no response, and walked straight towards the door.

Zhong Changjun brought news to the Emperor: "Your Majesty sent me the other day to investigate the woman's identity, and I have found out—"

"That woman is the second young lady of the Yuan family."

The second young lady of the Yuan family.

The daughter of the former Grand Tutor of the previous dynasty is also the fiancée of the current Prince of Yan.

Xiao Zhuo was turning the jade ring on his finger when he heard a muffled thud. The three people inside looked towards the door and saw a woman leaning against the door frame, her body weak and unconscious on the ground.

**

That night.

The night rain was pattering, tapping against the window, and the entire Chanxu Temple was immersed in the sound of continuous rain.

Only one candle was lit in the room. In the dim light, the young woman was curled up on the bed, her forehead covered with fine sweat, as if she was trapped in the depths of some nightmare and could not break free.

Yuan Chaolu seemed to have been dragged into a dark, imprisoned cage.

The surroundings were dark and gloomy, like the deepest hell. She was like an animal, her hands and feet bound by chains, unable to break free.

Every time I open my eyes, all I see outside the cage are eerie green cat eyes.

The sounds of chains, cats meowing, and railings rattling filled my ears...

Yuan Chaolu finally broke free from her dream, her hair damp, breathing softly. In her hazy vision, a pair of golden vertical pupils suddenly appeared.

A black cat lay quietly at the head of her bed, its golden eyes darting about, shimmering with an eerie light.

She hurriedly got up, her fingertips reaching for the crook of her neck, but she couldn't find the bone whistle. She picked up a bronze lamp from beside the bed, intending to scare the black cat away.

The black cat jumped off the bed and leaped onto a nearby table.

The flickering candlelight illuminated a tall, slender figure beside the desk.

The man's voice was clear and refined: "Is this how you behave as a guest in someone else's home? Miss Aju."

Yuan Chaolu came to her senses, put down the candle, and turned to grope for something under the covers.

"Is this what you're looking for, young lady?" Zhong Changjun stepped forward and respectfully handed over an item. "It was left in the courtyard by you this afternoon, young lady. I'm keeping it safe."

Yuan Chaolu raised her hand to take it. After a while, her eyes gradually cleared. She looked around and said, "Where is this... Is this a meditation room at Chanxu Temple?"

Zhong Changjun said, "The young lady lost too much blood this afternoon, which caused her to faint and make it difficult to move. Therefore, Your Excellency has temporarily left her in the meditation room to rest."

Yuan Chaolu bowed to express his gratitude, and saw that the Prince of Yan was sitting in the dim light, the candlelight reflecting an uncertain light in his eyes.

While she was unconscious, Xiao Zhuo sat quietly by the table waiting for her to wake up.

He flipped through the copy of the Buddhist scriptures she had presented.

She claimed to love Buddhism, yet she couldn't even recognize basic Buddhist terminology, copied several words incorrectly, and made mistakes with some basic characters.

My younger brother and sister-in-law are really bad at studying.

Whether in character, temperament, or behavior, she was far from the ideal princess he had in mind.

Moreover, with such an unscrupulous mind, no one in the world would dare to play tricks on him like that.

But she was actually a perfect match for his impetuous younger brother.

Xiao Zhuo lowered his eyes and looked at the girl with disheveled hair sitting on the bed.

The soft lamplight illuminated a face covered in sweat. Her black hair hung down to her waist, with damp strands clinging to her temples. The dim light of the room pressed down on her, amplifying her sense of loneliness.

Xiao Zhuo frowned almost imperceptibly.

He has never liked overly delicate women.

However, he remembered very clearly that when she was three years old, she sat on the small bed in the Yuan family, with a small golden crown on her head of raven hair, like a little beast that had just grown a few claws and teeth. Under her mother's guidance, she called him "Third Cousin" with a smile.

This is his cousin. She was separated from her family when she was young, so there's really no need to be harsh on her.

Even if her academic achievements and personality are lacking, she still needs to be properly trained before she can finally catch one's eye.

He rose from the darkness and walked towards her step by step, with the black cat following him.

The person on the bed was deathly pale, their lips trembling slightly. Suddenly, they leaned forward and, to Zhong Changjun's astonishment, snuggled into his arms.

Xiao Zhuo stopped walking.

His younger siblings clung tightly to his waist, their bodies trembling, their fingers gripping his robes tightly, refusing to let go.

Xiao Zhuo called out "Zhou Aju" a few times, then reached behind her waist and finally grasped her ten fingers.

She raised her bright, clear eyes and asked, "I'm really afraid of this cat... Could you please shoo it away somewhere else, young master?"

A note from the author:

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If a younger brother or sister-in-law is not good at studying, what's wrong with the older brother helping to teach his younger brother properly?