Tied up

When I woke up again, it was bright outside. There were a few peach blossoms in a vase under the window, they were pink and white, and filled with a faint fragrance.

Qi Qinghe blinked and looked around blankly. The unfamiliar dormitory made her feel a little uneasy.

She turned over and was about to sit up when her left hand suddenly jingled. She tilted her head slightly and saw a thin gold chain tied around her delicate left wrist, with a small bell the size of a finger hanging in the middle and the end locked to the head of the bed.

She pulled her wrist hard, leaving a thin red mark, but still couldn't break free.

Qi Qinghe looked at the chain, his mouth wide open, unable to close.

Needless to say, this must have been done by the prince, as if he was afraid that she would run away.

She cursed inwardly, and suddenly the door was pushed open.

Xiao Junbai was holding a porcelain bowl with brown medicine swaying in it, reflecting the prince's calm face.

Before people get close, the bitter, hard-to-swallow taste enters their noses.

Qi Qinghe pinched her nose with her free hand and moved back with resistance.

However, the space inside the bed curtain is so small, and it is locked with a chain, so where can you hide?

Xiao Junbai sat down beside him, scooped up a spoonful of medicine, blew on it gently, and passed it to the man's mouth, saying concisely: "Drink the medicine."

"I can do it myself." Qi Qinghe watched him approach, not feeling that there was anything wrong with tying the chain, and not feeling guilty at all. He said with gritted teeth.

As she spoke, she reached out to take the medicine.

Xiao Junbai dodged for a moment, as if he had lost his patience, and drank the whole bowl of medicine, holding it in his mouth. His cheeks puffed up on both sides. He pinched Qi Qinghe's cheek with his free hand and kissed her rosy lips.

The medicine slid down Qi Qinghe's throat and he choked and started coughing, but Xiao Junbai blocked his way and he couldn't cough out anything. His whole face turned red and tears came out of his eyes.

The unpleasant smell of medicine lingered between their lips and teeth.

Xiao Junbai stepped back a little, but his big hands were still tightly holding her face until he saw her swallow all the medicine, then he let go.

Qi Qinghe covered her neck and couldn't stop eating. The intense bitterness spread in her mouth, making her feel nauseous. She wanted to dig her throat and spit it all out.

Her chest was heaving violently, and she collapsed on the bed, trying to catch her breath. She asked with a faint breath, "What is this?"

She was familiar with the taste of all the medicines that the sick Li Niang had taken, except for this extremely bitter taste.

Xiao Junbai said nothing, but just used a handkerchief to wipe the medicine residue from her lips.

Qi Qinghe's anger grew stronger and stronger. He shook the chain on his wrist and asked, "Did you tie this too? What on earth do you want to do?"

Xiao Junbai remained silent, as if he hadn't heard anything at all.

Qi Qinghe opened his mouth slightly, calmed his breath, moved his legs and pushed the person, "If you can't hear me, then forget it. Anyway, my words are useless."

Xiao Junbai looked sideways at the dejected look and remained silent for a moment. "To prevent you from escaping privately."

The prince's answer was quite expected. Qi Qinghe sat up suddenly, her eyebrows curved, and she pulled the prince's sleeve and smiled softly, "I won't run away, Your Highness, please let me go."

Xiao Junbai glanced at her sideways, said nothing, his face full of disbelief.

Qi Qinghe grumbled inwardly, then lay on his back, motionless.

Seeing the person take the medicine, Xiao Junbai stood up and said, "If you need anything, just ring the bell." After that, he strode away without looking back.

Qi Qinghe tried hard to calm her breath and repeatedly reminded herself that he was the prince, the one who held her life in his hands, and she should not act recklessly.

But the resentment in my heart lingered for a long time, and the bitter taste of medicine still lingered between my lips and teeth, making me vomit.

Qi Qinghe clutched the quilt tightly under her body, held her breath and calmed herself for a moment, then suddenly stuck her head out of the bed curtains. She coughed a series of times, and then a bitter taste surged up, causing her to vomit.

She spat out the dark brown medicine all over the floor. She patted her chest and fell back onto the bed. She closed her eyes to calm herself down and weakly tugged at her left hand. The melodious sound of the bells was particularly harsh at this moment.

In an instant, in addition to the grievance, what surged into his heart was the anger that had nowhere to vent. He picked up the remaining porcelain bowl with his right hand and smashed it to the ground.

The exquisite and gorgeous porcelain bowl shattered into pieces in an instant, stained with brown medicine, and rolled to the side of the bed.

The noise soon alarmed the servants and maids, who knocked on the door, filed in, packed up their things, and then left.

Xiao Junbai stood at the door, leaning against the door frame with his arms folded, his brows slightly furrowed. "What's going on?"

Qi Qinghe could hear a hint of impatience in the calm tone and sneered, "I should be the one asking Your Highness this."

"What exactly does Your Highness want to do?"

My younger sister's words came back to my mind, but this strange and unreasonable behavior didn't seem like love at all.

Want to hold her responsible? If so, why bother with a gold chain?

Qi Qinghe thought about it over and over again but still had no clue.

"If you can't figure it out, think about it slowly." Xiao Junbai looked at her for a long time, which made her hair stand on end and her whole body tremble. Then he withdrew his gaze and left in a huff.

Watching the person walk away, Qi Qinghe was stunned for a moment, picked up something at hand and threw it out, hitting the door frame with a thud.

Xiao Junbai pretended not to hear and told the servant not to bother with it, "Let her smash it."

No matter what she wanted to do, she had to stay with him.

Passing the bedroom and through the corridor is a simple meeting room.

The third and fourth princes of the Crown Prince, as well as the prefect of Yangzhou, are all gathered here.

The prince's trip was actually about a case that could be called bizarre, and he was on a tour to the south.

In the city of Yangzhou, some people disappeared inexplicably. Three days later, their bodies appeared in their own houses, hanging upside down under a tree with their heads touching the ground.

This happened to six or seven people in succession.

The Third Prince Xiao Junqi had just recovered from a serious injury. His face was as pale as paper. He usually talked a lot, and even though he was injured now, he refused to be honest and kept muttering about his guesses.

Fourth Prince Xiao Junhui was already taciturn, and now he couldn't utter a word for a long time.

The prefect unfolded a topographical map of Yangzhou City and pointed it out to the princes one by one. "Your Highness, look here. The body was found here. This is the result of the autopsy. Your Highness, please take a look."

The first person was indeed hanged on a familiar place, and the next one was hung upside down in the waterwheel in the south of the city. According to the results of the coroner's examination, there was no poison and no wounds. The prefect once suspected that they had drowned.

However, the coroner said it was not the case. He found it quite unbelievable. He had worked in the yamen for more than 20 years and had never seen such a strange corpse.

Xiao Junbai picked up the documents, read them carefully, and discussed the case with several adults.

This discussion took place as the sun set in the west. The fiery sunset glowed on the horizon, and the rolling white clouds half-covered the sun, giving it a touch of brightness.

Xiao Junbai looked up and stared at the red sun in a daze.

The prefect had his own servant escorting him out the door, and Xiao Junhui had also left.

Xiao Junqi stood up and was about to leave, but after looking around, he sat back down and called out to his brother, "I heard that you found my sister-in-law. Is she in your room?"

"Royal brother, you know that my wife is very clingy. She insisted on coming with me this time. I can't bring her with me during such a dangerous investigation. Why not let her stay with the emperor's wife and go out for a walk more often? She'll have someone to talk to so she won't be bored."

When Xiao Junqi mentioned his wife, a blush crept up his ears. He scratched his head and chuckled.

Xiao Junbai lowered his eyes to look at him and refused without thinking too much.

Firstly, Qi Qinghe once said that she was unhappy in the palace and suffered from difficulties, so the young man interacted with the officials' families nearby. Secondly, Qi Qinghe was really good at speaking and was very eloquent, so it was very likely that he could persuade her to escape again with just a few words.

This is not a good idea.

Xiao Junqi cried out, his face growing paler as he said dejectedly, "The Empress's sister-in-law isn't a stranger. At least go see her and sit for a while. My brother, you know she's been here for a few days now, and she doesn't even have anyone to talk to."

Xiao Junbai pondered for a moment and told the servant to ask Qi Qinghe for his opinion.

At this moment, in Qi Qinghe's courtyard, several maids and servants stood in the corridor with their heads lowered, not daring to approach.

The dormitory was in chaos. Qi Qinghe threw out everything he could, smashing it to pieces and refusing to let anyone clean it up.

So the house was in a mess.

When the servant knocked on the door, she thought it was the Crown Prince himself and sneered, "Your Highness is busy with government affairs, why did you think of this?"

The servant was so frightened when she called him "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince" that his face turned pale. He looked around in panic and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they were all maids and servants. "My lady, the Third Imperial Concubine wishes to visit you. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would like to see you?"

The respectful voice made Qi Qinghe pause. Only then did he realize that the person outside the room was not the Crown Prince. After listening carefully, he heard the mention of the Third Imperial Consort. He was stunned for a moment, hesitated and responded, and said with a hint of apology: "Thank you for making this trip. Please reply for me. Just say that I am willing."

After hearing what was said, the boy quickly trotted away.

She listened to the footsteps gradually fading away, then she called for someone to come into the house and clean up. She stared at the chain on her left hand in a daze, and didn't even realize when the prince came.

When she suddenly came to her senses, Xiao Junbai had already sat down on the edge of the bed, set up a small table on the bed, and placed some food on it.

The dishes were mostly Jiangnan style, not as light as Xiao Junbai's usual dishes, nor as spicy as Qi Qinghe's favorite.

The maid set the table for the two of them and quickly left.

Xiao Junbai picked up a piece of food for her with his chopsticks and said calmly, "Someone will come tomorrow. You should know what to say."

Qi Qinghe pushed aside the prince's silver chopsticks and picked up a piece of mutton. After a long pause, he said, "Your Highness, are you setting rules for me?"

"I also thought about it today. Your Highness must like me, otherwise there would be no need to go through so much trouble." Only this explanation makes sense.

"But if Your Highness follows this way, always advocating for caution and caution, and not tolerating even the slightest impoliteness, and setting up rules after kidnapping someone, and not allowing them to talk to others, I really can't stand it. Your Highness, why don't you find someone else and let each other go?"

Qi Qinghe had thought these words over carefully. After a whole afternoon of anger, he still had to think about how to escape. He was very cautious with every word he said. His clear voice was deliberately gentle, and a faint smile was on his face. His rosy lips seemed even more swollen.

Xiao Junbai raised his eyebrows, his lips curled up in an almost inaudible arc, and his voice was cold, "Are you still asleep?"

Maybe he is still dreaming.

Xiao Jubai grabbed the man's hand and held it tightly, shaking it until the bell rang violently, repeating what he had said before: "I said, I won't let you go."

But he finally listened to Qi Qinghe's words.