When Xie Qing woke up, he felt a burning sensation around him. He turned around and saw Qin Wan sleeping beside him. She was wearing a torn undershirt that exposed her bellyband, but her trousers were intact.
When he turned around again, he saw his clothes hanging next to the dying fire, as if they had been dried, and underneath him were Qin Wan's clothes.
The source of the scorching heat came from Qin Wan. Xie Qing reached out and touched her forehead, feeling very worried. There was a lack of medical care and medicine in this cave, and she was injured. Now she had a fever, which was very dangerous.
Xie Qing first carefully checked her wound, and was relieved to see that there was no sign of abscess. He tore off some clean clothes, helped her clean the wound and re-bandaged it, then found some medicine that could reduce fever from the pile of medicine and gave it to her to take, and then picked up the cloth beside him to wipe Qin Wan's body.
Xie Qing thought about it and vaguely remembered that he seemed to have a fever, so Qin Wan must have been tired after taking care of him all night, right?
Yes, a girl, who had traveled all the way by boat and car to accompany him to Shenyang to provide disaster relief, had never had a rest. Now she was frightened by being hunted down and had to take care of herself for so long, so naturally her body couldn't bear it.
Xie Qing helped Qin Wan wipe the sweat off her body and covered her with his clothes to prevent her from catching a cold. Seeing that there was some dry firewood next to the fire, he added more firewood to make the fire burn more vigorously.
He stayed by Qin Wan's side, wet the cloth for her, wiped the sweat off her body, and applied it to her forehead to help her cool down.
When Qin Wan's fever finally subsided, Xie Qing's stomach began to growl. He touched his stomach and was about to look for something to eat when he noticed a shadow in the corner, rising and falling. He took a piece of firewood and moved it over, only to see that it was actually a rabbit!
She killed the rabbit but didn't roast it first. I guess she was worried about me.
Xie Qing couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth, but his brows furrowed again. He turned his head and looked at Qin Wan worriedly. He walked downstream along the stream for a distance. The faint light from outside the cave shone in, and his vision became much clearer. He stopped, took out his dagger, and cleaned up the rabbit.
Xie Qing carried the rabbit back to Qin Wan, cleaned the sword, skewered the rabbit, and began to roast it.
Qin Wan woke up to the aroma. She turned around and saw Xie Qing beside the fire. Her eyebrows curved, "Are you okay?"
Xie Qing nodded, looked at the rabbit, tore off a rabbit leg and handed it to her: "Are you hungry? Be careful, it's hot."
Qin Wan took it, sniffed it, and said with some disgust: "You didn't even put salt in it?"
"You brought it?" Xie Qing asked. Who would carry salt with them? He only brought various medicines for injuries and life-saving drugs.
Qin Wan picked out two bottles from the pile of bottles and jars on the ground and sprinkled some on her rabbit legs. "This is ginger powder and salt. Would you like some too?"
Xie Qing just took the salt and sprinkled some on it.
Qin Wan laughed at him when she saw this: "Your Highness the Crown Prince doesn't like ginger?"
"You have to apply ginger in advance, otherwise it will have no taste when roasting. Sprinkling ginger powder on it will have a strong taste." Xie Qing firmly refused to admit that he hated eating ginger.
Qin Wan ignored him. Only the person who knew what smelled fishy knew. She would rather eat some ginger to ward off the cold.
Xie Qing also tore off a rabbit leg and put the rest aside: "There's nothing to eat here, save it for the next meal. By the way, where did you get the rabbit?"
Qin Wan told him about her discovery and added, "It wouldn't be hard for me to go down. But you have a broken leg now, so you need to recuperate for a day or two before you can go down the mountain. Otherwise, if you fall off the cliff, your body won't be found at all."
Xie Qing originally wanted to leave as soon as possible, but after hearing this, he gave up the idea: "I still cherish my life very much, so I'll rest for two days."
As they were talking, they heard a "splash" and the water seemed to be stirred by something. They turned around and saw a fish swimming in the water.
“There’s fish!”
Since there are fish, there is no need to worry about being hungry, and Qin Wan does not have to risk going down the mountain to find food.
The two were recuperating in the cave, and people outside were going crazy looking for them.
After the assassin chased Qin Wan away, Yijia immediately showed the token of Marquis Xuanwu and mobilized all the Qin family members and Qin family relatives and soldiers in Huzhou Prefecture to launch a carpet search.
And Lu Yan was also looking for the prince like crazy.
Even if Lu Yan disliked the prince, the prince disappeared under his protection, which was a dereliction of duty!
After searching for two days and two nights without any trace of the person, Lu Yan asked Prince Du to take people to search again, and he personally rode to the capital at full speed to apologize and report the news.
That night, Lu Yan knocked on the palace gate and, after receiving permission, entered the Emperor and Empress's chambers. He knelt on the ground and apologized, "This is what happened. While in Shenyang, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was frequently targeted by assassination attempts. Later, the attacks stopped, and I thought I would return safely to the capital. Unexpectedly, upon reaching Huzhou, he was attacked as soon as he left the prefecture. His Royal Highness's whereabouts are now unknown."
"What!" The emperor's body swayed, and his vision went dark. "Missing?"
The empress quickly supported the emperor and caressed his chest with concern. She then ordered someone to call the imperial physician to wait outside, and then said to Lu Yan, "Marquis Pingyang, please tell me in detail."
"Yes, I, together with the prefect and the governor of Huzhou, have sent troops to search the territory, but there is still no trace of him." Lu Yan reported. He also brought a map he drew and pointed out the places they had searched one by one.
Lu Yan added, "Also missing is Miss Qin from the Qin family."
"Qin Lingjiang?" The emperor was surprised. "Why did Miss Qin disappear with her?"
The Queen's eyes flickered as she asked the key question: "Hasn't Miss Qin been in the capital? Why is she with the Crown Prince?"
Lu Yan only then realized he had slipped up, but since things had come to this, he decided to help Qin Wan shoulder the blame. "I believe Miss Qin probably went there for me, wanting me to see her talent, which is comparable to my wife Bai's. As it turned out, when Miss Qin returned to the capital, she separated from us, disguised as a man. The assassin mistakenly believed she was the Crown Prince in disguise, and so she was hunted down."
The emperor glanced at Lu Yan. He didn't have time to ask why Qin Wan had followed Xie Qing to Shenyang. He immediately said, "Change my clothes. Also, pass..."
The emperor mentioned several names in succession, some of which Lu Yan had heard of, and some of which he had not. He thought that they must be some unknown confidants of the emperor.
The empress also put on an outer garment and prepared to follow the emperor out: "Your Majesty, I will go too. I am worried about Qing'er too."
"No need." The emperor turned his head and glanced at the queen. His eyes were calm and it was hard to tell whether she was happy or angry. It seemed that her loss of composure when she heard about the prince's disappearance was just a momentary dazzlement.
The Queen raised her foot and then withdrew it, knelt down and saluted: "Your Majesty, I respectfully bid you farewell."
As the emperor led Lu Yan away, the empress slowly stood up and took the hand of a palace maid and sat down. Her previous gentle and virtuous appearance was gone, and murderous intent was evident in her eyes. "This is a good opportunity. Pass the order and send people to search. If alive, we must find the person. If dead, we must find the body. Also, have people keep a close eye on the previous places. If there is any unusual movement, report to the palace immediately."
***
Lu Yan stayed in the palace until the next morning. He wanted to join the search for the prince, but was ordered to go home by the emperor.
The emperor had a good reason: "You have been traveling for days. If you go again, you may not have enough energy and may miss something. Go back and rest for a day before setting off for Huzhou."
Lu Yan returned home exhausted. As soon as he entered the house, he saw Bai Wanyi with an angry face.
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