Chapter 239 Fragrance
Several faces flashed before Qi Yuxuan's eyes: the Xiao family, Qi Wenyue... and even Bai Mingluan.
Logically speaking, she had seen a figure who looked very much like Xiao Yuyao at the Lantern Festival, and the honey on the ground was the same as the honey fragrance that the other party had once kept in her purse. So the biggest suspect should have been identified.
As Qi Yuxuan gradually calmed her breathing, she felt that based on her understanding of Xiao Yuyao from both her past and present lives, if the other party intended to take revenge on her, it would not be as simple as just wanting her to be with a man without any matchmaking.
Moreover, Xie Tingzhou should be considered a decent man in the conventional sense.
With his handsome appearance, he was a rare sight even in the capital. He passed the imperial examination at a young age and will likely be on the list in the spring examination as well. Although the Xie family has fallen on hard times, there are still quite a few girls who would like to marry Xie Tingzhou.
Moreover, if she and Xie Tingzhou really fell for the trap, even if they got married afterward, they would definitely investigate the matter thoroughly. How could the other party not be afraid of settling scores later?
"Hmm..."
Xie Tingzhou frowned, opened his eyes, and seemed to take a while to realize what had happened before. He then slowly sat up, supporting himself on the ground.
He squinted and made a clear look at Qi Yuxuan, who was sitting in the corner with her arms crossed.
"Princess?"
In the sliver of silvery moonlight that filtered through, he could see the girl keeping her distance from him, her back pressed tightly against the wall, her expression aloof and unfriendly as she stared at him—
"What is the princess looking at?"
He followed her gaze, realized something, and immediately brought his legs together, bending his knees to block her view.
Fortunately, there were no lights on here, so even though his face was burning hot enough to bleed, you couldn't tell it was red.
He braced himself and quickly moved to another corner opposite Qi Yuxuan, only then did he feel a strange heat emanating from his body, as if it were about to set him on fire.
He took a long time to calm himself down by breathing in and out.
Can……
"Why is the princess here?"
“Someone tied us up and locked us up in one place, and burned aphrodisiac incense.”
After she finished speaking, she closed her eyes and stopped talking, as if she was exhausted and resting.
The corner where Xie Tingzhou was located had no windows on either side, essentially making it dark. However, there was a small opening, about the size of an adult's palm, high up beside Qi Yuxuan.
The frost that leaked in made her look like a goddess under the moon, pure and beautiful beyond words.
He knew it must be the aphrodisiac incense. He forced himself to look away and then hunched over to check several places. By the limited light, he groped around and found that the door was not only locked from the outside but also chained.
After all that, Xie Tingzhou was panting heavily.
The incense was incredibly overpowering, its origins unknown. He had just seen Qi Yuxuan extinguish it, but the faint, sweet scent lingered. He was already exhausted from taking exams for three days straight, and had been kidnapped here without even having dinner. After smelling the incense, he broke out in a cold sweat.
Qi Yuxuan didn't move much in order to conserve her energy. She raised her eyelids and saw that Xie Tingzhou had gone around in circles but still gave up and sat back down. She knew that the house looked dilapidated but was actually very sturdy.
"I have no friends in the capital other than studying. If I have offended anyone, there is no way to find out. Does the princess have any clues?"
No.
The two words, spoken without hesitation, left Xie Tingzhou speechless. He touched the medicine bottle on his chest, only to find it empty.
"My medicine..."
It must have been those people who were rough with him when they kidnapped him; it must have been then that they lost the medicine bottle he always carried with him.
Qi Yuxuan kept her eyes closed and did not move.
"Is the princess so calm and composed because she is convinced that she will get out safely?"
She fluttered her eyelashes: "Even if it really is because of me that you were implicated, you can only blame yourself for being stupid for being tricked into coming here. There are guards from the capital patrolling from the examination hall to the alley where you live. No one would be so bold as to kidnap someone on the street."
Xie Tingzhou choked for a moment, immediately realizing that she probably took his earlier remark as a complaint about being implicated. So he softened his tone and explained:
“Princess, that’s not what I meant. I think I dropped my medicine bottle on the way. Without medicine, I’m afraid I’ll fall ill tonight. I’m sorry to disturb your rest, cough cough…”
Before he could finish speaking, Xie Tingzhou coughed twice, trying to suppress his words.
Qi Yuxuan opened her eyes. Perhaps her eyes had already adjusted to the darkness. The small house was not big, and the two people sitting opposite each other could see each other clearly.
She saw Xie Tingzhou, who was eight feet tall, sitting in the corner with his knees drawn up to his chest, one hand clenched into a fist and pressed against his lips, his handsome brows furrowed from coughing.
It was the same in her past life. Back then, Xie Tingzhou would cough every night, especially when the weather was cold. Whenever she heard him coughing badly, she would bring him warm water and pat his back. But after doing this so many times, before Qi Yuxuan could say anything, Xie Tingzhou would say he wanted to sleep in the study. Because of this, the couple rarely had sex, sometimes not even once every few months, which naturally made it difficult for them to conceive...
As she pondered, her thoughts drifted off to who-knows-where. Only after Xie Tingzhou coughed twice more did Qi Yuxuan manage to regain her composure and look over again.
"It's alright, just do as I say."
The girl's voice was clear and melodious, which inexplicably calmed the anger that had been burning within Xie Tingzhou.
Before he could understand what "do as you are told" meant, the other person continued, "Find the radial end of the transverse crease of your elbow."
Xie Tingzhou raised his arm and groped around for a while.
"Not over there, one inch up, yes."
Seeing that he had found the right spot, Qi Yuxuan recalled the method she had figured out in her previous life and taught him: "Massage fifty times, and then massage fifty times every half quarter of an hour until you no longer feel the urge to cough."
Xie Tingzhou silently kneaded the acupoint, and after fifty times, the itching in his throat was indeed relieved quite a bit.
"Where did the princess learn this method from?"
Actually, he wanted to ask more than just that.
He was born with a weak constitution and has been taking medicine since childhood. The Xie family has hired many doctors, but none of them can truly cure the root cause of his cough. At best, they can only alleviate the symptoms, not cure it completely.
When I was a child, I asked a famous doctor, who said that this was a weakness he was born with. Few people could get this disease, and there were few prescriptions that could be developed, so it was difficult to cure completely.
So where did Princess Chang Le learn about this method? Or was it just a lucky accident? He recalled that over the past year, the other party had shown him some disdain and disgust, but had not diminished her care for him, and a despicable fantasy arose in his heart.
However, he immediately shook his head, putting that strange thought out of his mind.
It must be because of the fragrance; he would never have thought of this before.
"Epidemics can also damage the lungs and internal organs. When I was taking care of my mother, I asked the Imperial Physician for some tips, and I taught them to you as a last resort. How are you feeling?"
Qi Yuxuan heard that he had indeed stopped coughing and his voice had become much calmer. He kept his eyes closed and made up a random excuse to brush it off.
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