coma

Zhong Yingqi, who was rubbing his nose, saw the pair of "bowls and chopsticks". They were trembling with fear and were tied under a tree by Liu Zizhuang and his group.

Zhong Yingqi: "What is this?"

"It's just a small thank you gift, not a token of respect." Yuan Ming took the square box from Zhong Yingqi's hand and handed the candlestick and box to Rulan. "Share it among them. If there's not enough, go find Doctor Jiang."

Rulan did as she was told, but after dividing the pills, she looked at the pills in her hand and fell into deep thought.

Yuan Ming noticed Rulan's expression and was about to say something when Zhong Yingqi suddenly asked, "Your Highness, can you tell me about the origins of these two people?" He turned his back to Yuan Ming and examined the two of them, his eyes like a bloody wolf king locking onto its prey.

Yuan Ming placed one hand on his waist and pointed at the bucket of blood with his other hand. He said, "I saw them secretly pouring the blood from the bucket into the stream. They must be the poisoner the general is looking for. The blood in this bucket is quite strange. I guess we need to ask Doctor Jiang to examine it."

As she was speaking, Rulan suddenly stepped forward and asked, "Yuan Ming, are you okay?"

Zhong Yingqi quickly turned his head and his eyes fell on Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming was confused: "Why are you asking this suddenly?"

Seeing Rulan's worried face, Yuan Ming could only smile and say, "I'm fine now, don't worry."

Yuan Ming didn't have a mirror at the moment, so she couldn't see what she looked like. Rulan could only ask because Yuan Ming looked extremely pale, with no trace of blood even on her lips. Zhong Yingqi was also shocked. Yuan Ming hadn't looked like this just a moment ago.

"Why are you all...looking at me? Is there something on my face?"

Liu Zizhuang, who was resting nearby, stammered, "Miss Yuan...Miss Yuan, you...your face looks like it's covered in a layer of white powder. You don't look like a living person."

"Huh? Am I dead?" Yuan Ming's mouth twitched, "Xiao Zhuang, this joke is not funny."

Yuan Ming's words were a little calmer, but her eyes couldn't help but be filled with a hint of fear. She looked around, Zhong Yingqi ran up to her and seemed to be talking to her, and Rulan was also opening and closing her lips, but why couldn't she hear anything?

Yuan Ming blinked and found that the people around her were covered with a blurry veil. The candlelight was already dim, and when she blinked again, she could no longer see anything clearly.

"Rulan, I can't see clearly." Yuan Ming said this without any emotion. Her eyes were confused, like a lost child, pretending to be calm.

It was dark and silent all around.

Yuan Ming could only hear her heart pounding, so fast and so rapidly that it seemed to threaten to tear a bloody hole through her chest. She felt the blood flowing like water, coursing through every corner of her body. However, the blood was cold.

This feeling is all too familiar. In my past life, every time I woke up in the middle of the night, it was like this.

It turns out that simply telling myself not to think about it is no way to escape the demons and monsters of my past life. Now, they have come to me.

Black was covered by red, like a red cloth covering Yuan Ming. Beneath the red cloth, something was wriggling, becoming more numerous and larger. These things tore through the red cloth, revealing bloody mouths, and biting off Yuan Ming's flesh. Yuan Ming could clearly feel the excruciating pain, but she could not move. The blood in her body seemed to have solidified, and she was frozen.

Sharp teeth bit off her cheek. She looked at herself with a confused look, and only bones covered with flesh and blood were left. Even the fear left her.

The owners of the bloody mouths gradually revealed their true identities: a few hungry wild dogs. They were still gnawing at Rulan's skull, a horrifying scene.

These wild dogs destroyed Yuan Ming's pride. They tore her body apart and hollowed out her heart.

Yuan Ming's face was unusually calm. She thought, "Just close your eyes. There's no need to struggle any longer. Living in pain, so-called revenge is only prolonging this pain. Close your eyes. As long as I close my eyes, I will never feel pain again."

Fatigue crept over her body, like the whisper of a demon, tempting her to drift off to sleep. Her eyelids felt heavy, as if she were... finally free.

"A Ming!"

Yuan Ming's eyes snapped open, but she wasn't fully awake. All around her was the same horrifying red, and the sounds of wild dogs chewing echoed in her ears. But amidst that red, Yuan Ming saw the person who had brought her into this world—the Empress.

The Empress was dressed in her most dignified attire, reminiscent of Yuan Ming's imaginary enthronement ceremony. The Empress said, "You fool, coward, and good-for-nothing!"

The empress dragged her gorgeous clothes, pointed at Yuan Ming's nose and cursed, "Who are you going to die for? Huh? Death will put an end to everything. How could I give birth to a waste like you? Are you worthy of me? Are you worthy of all the years I've spent cultivating you?"

The Empress not only spoke, but also pulled out her palm and slapped Yuan Ming. The pain was so real that Yuan Ming could even see the bright red blood on the Empress's pale palm.

This slap made Yuan Ming feel like she had broken free from her restraints, tears streaming down her face. "I'm useless? I'm a waste? Come and experience the suffering I've endured if you dare. Don't just talk without thinking. It's not you who's disfigured, it's not you who's physically disabled, and it's not you who's haunted by nightmares!"

After that, facing her daughter who had talked back, the angry mother wanted to attack again. Yuan Ming did not know where the strength came from and pushed the empress down. This was the first time she had shown resistance to her arrogant mother, and even she was shocked.

Wild dogs prowled around. The empress collapsed to the ground, her soul ripped out of her. Her expression was dazed. She said, "But you've been reborn. You're not disfigured, your body intact. Are you going to give up your life just because of the memories you brought back from your past life? Many people vainly try to go back to the past and change their fate, and how many people would love to do so. But giving you a new life is such a waste. No wonder you feel inferior when you see Zhong Yingqi. You're just so self-righteous and useless."

"Shut up!" These words hit Yuan Ming's heart, exposing her hidden hostility towards Zhong Yingqi under the sun. Yuan Ming wanted to refute, but she found that she couldn't refute it because this was the truth.

The wild dogs around were ready to strike, seizing the moment when Yuan Ming's spirit was relaxed and launching another attack. At the same time, the empress, who was competing with Yuan Ming, swung her sword in an uncharacteristic way. Her movements and demeanor made it hard to tell whether it was the mother who resembled the daughter, or the daughter who resembled the mother. Because of the expressionless empress, her face gradually overlapped with Yuan Ming's. Yuan Ming then remembered that the empress's gorgeous dress was clearly the coronation dress she tried on alone in the hall after she murdered her sister. Unfortunately, her murderous madness made her unpopular, and this coronation dress was only worn once.

She watched as "herself" slaughtered people in her dream, slicing vicious wild dogs in half one after another, just like her rebirth and revenge on her enemies at all costs. Yuan Ming suddenly realized that the person who scolded her and helped her was actually herself all along.

…

The moment Yuan Ming fell, Zhong Yingqi hugged her. As Yuan Ming lay in his arms, only one question flashed through his mind: She was so light, as light as a piece of paper, how could she wield such a heavy sword?

"Is there any water? Let me give her some water." Rulan was trembling as she spoke. She took the soldier's water bottle and placed a green leaf on Yuan Ming's pale lips. Although Rulan was trembling, her hands were steady, allowing the clear water to flow smoothly along the veins of the leaf into Yuan Ming's mouth.

"Miss Rulan, Your Highness...will she be okay?"

Zhong Yingqi asked very softly, as if he was afraid that the slightly too much force might hurt Yuan Ming, who was as delicate as a porcelain figure.

Rulan's eyes moistened. "It's all my fault. If I hadn't insisted on going home, Yuan Ming wouldn't have stayed up all day and night to help me. Her health wasn't good to begin with, and she might have developed a heart attack. I didn't realize it until now."

Rulan's words reminded Zhong Yingqi of the moment when Yuan Ming suddenly covered his chest under the candlelight. It turned out that at that time, Yuan Ming's body had already issued a warning.

In the memory of death, Yuan Ming finally struggled back to reality. When she opened her eyes, she saw Dr. Jiang, who loved to pretend to be old.

"Hello again, Your Highness Yuan Ming." Jiang Kai took out a long, thin acupuncture needle and inserted it into Yuan Ming's forehead. Yuan Ming couldn't see her own head, otherwise she would have called herself a hedgehog. Jiang Kai inserted the needle into Yuan Ming's head as if it were a game, his eyes full of ill intentions.

Yuan Ming thought, "Retribution came so quickly. Why wasn't that little girl Rulan here to heal her? And Zhong Yingqi too. Isn't that clearly pushing her into the hands of her enemy?"

"Hiss. Doctor Jiang, you're not going to kill me, are you?"

Jiang Kai asked back: "What do you think?"

Yuan Ming, with a head full of needles, asked innocently, "There must have been a misunderstanding before. I have no problem with Doctor Jiang, but I don't understand why Doctor Jiang wants to act old. Is it to appear older in the military camp to appear more experienced? I have a little girl with me who is quite skilled in medicine, but unfortunately she is young and a girl, so she can't practice medicine. Could it be that Doctor Jiang has this in mind?"

"Hmph, don't compare me with a half-baked kid. If the girl next to you had good medical skills, she would have given you medicine and acupuncture long ago, instead of following General Zhong to send you to me in a panic, delaying your treatment. If it weren't for your strong will to survive, you would have reported to the underworld by now." After saying that, Jiang Kai gave Yuan Ming another injection on the head.

Yuan Ming couldn't move her body, like a fish on a chopping board waiting to be slaughtered. She pursed her lips and said, "Doctor Jiang, can you tell me why you disliked me the first time you saw me?"

"Who do you think you are?" Jiang Kai sneered, "Is my attitude any of yours?"

This sounds very familiar, Yuan Ming thought.

"Am I so annoying? My heart hurts." Yuan Ming pretended to be in pain, turning the impatience in Jiang Kai's eyes into worry.

Jiang Kai: "Don't you know the cause of your illness? What are you thinking? Don't die here and ruin my Jiang family's medical skills."

"Then you have to tell me why I make you hate me."

Yuan Ming's eyes were filled with tears, and she looked pitiful. Jiang Kai saw through her pity and murmured in his heart, "The princess, the pride of heaven, is actually like this. Today I've finally opened my eyes. By the way, this shameless look, is it because of a disease or a mental illness? It's even more ridiculous."

Jiang Kai was speechless. "The reason I was so aggressive with you is because one of my uncles worked for a government official and was owed several days' wages. I don't know where that official got wind of the princess's incognito visit, so he started lavishly decorating the gardens in preparation for her arrival. My uncle wasn't very tactful, so he went to demand his wages, and was beaten to death by the official's men."

Jiang Kai's face was calm, as if he was simply recounting a well-known story. "After my uncle died, I secretly went to collect his body. I happened to see from afar a fat-faced official groveling before a young and beautiful woman. It was because of that encounter that General Zhong helped me recognize your identity when he asked me to treat you."

Yuan Ming: "Doctor Jiang, are you taking your anger out on me?"

Jiang Kai pulled out a needle from Yuan Ming's head and said slowly, "I guess so. But when General Zhong sent you here just now, I couldn't help but ask about the official's fate. General Zhong said that the corrupt official had been convicted of corruption by Her Highness the Princess and met a miserable end. Only after knowing this result can you speak under my needle. Now try to see if you can move your body."

Yuan Ming felt Jiang Kai pull out the needle and regained control of her body. Yuan Ming struggled to get up and was about to touch her head when her hand touched several silver needles, which startled her.

Jiang Kai laughed out loud: "Wear these silver needles on your head for half an hour, and then I will help you remove them."

Yuan Ming reluctantly put down his hand and asked, "You haven't told me why you want to act old?"

Jiang Kai replied, "I'm happy to do that, it's none of your business."

Yuan Ming, who had been rebuked, didn't want to see Jiang Kai, who looked like a smug person, so he asked, "Where has Zhong Yingqi been?"

Jiang Kai replied: "Interrogation."