Chapter 8
The boy objected, "Whether it's finding my uncle or keeping an eye on me, which do you think is more important?"
The people below looked at each other in silence, their faces showing their distress.
The young man clapped his hands, raised his eyebrows triumphantly, and said, "It's decided then. Tomorrow morning, I'll take a few personal guards and set off with you."
"—Find my uncle!"
"Chirp chirp".
A pair of gray-feathered birds perched on the roof tiles outside the window, their chirping waking the sleeping person inside.
I'm so annoyed.
Pei Lingjun struggled to break free from that absurd dream, and when he opened his eyes, he was suddenly stung by the bright sunlight.
hiss.
The sweat from the night before dried by his body heat but remained sticky on his skin. Pei Lingjun endured the discomfort, staggered out of bed, and went out to fetch water.
The icy well water washed over his skin, and in the sweltering summer heat, he finally became a little more awake. The girl's gentle care in his dream dissipated like bubbles, followed by a tingling shiver on his skin.
Spring had long passed, and he wasn't some beast in heat. He'd only met the girl twice, yet he dreamt of her constantly.
Pei Lingjun let out a long breath; he might have injured his brain.
The servants from the pharmacy delivered breakfast on time, knocked twice on the door and left it outside. Pei Lingjun didn't answer, but instead peeled off the gauze covering his wound and subconsciously reached for the medicine on the high table.
I ran my hand over the entire table, but found nothing.
He looked up, not believing it, and saw that the two bottles of wound medicine that had been used but not finished had vanished from the high table.
The gauze, still attached to the torn wound, caused blood droplets to roll down, soiling the already unclean inner garment.
Pei Lingjun gasped, tightening the gauze around his wound. The image of the woman with the disappointed look on her face flashed through his mind—
"I thought you were dead, you made me happy for nothing."
The owner of this house is Madam Wen, so she must have taken the medicine.
There was obvious hostility, but not enough to kill him. Such conflicted emotions could never arise between complete strangers.
Pei Lingjun pressed his wound and looked back on the past twenty-five years. He went from being a high-ranking official at the age of eighteen to being appointed to a post outside the capital, then to handling cases in the Ministry of Justice, and finally to becoming a trusted confidant of the emperor as a member of the Xiaolong Guard.
Every step he took had absolutely nothing to do with Madam Wen!
At most, he only threatened her at Guangfu Temple, but she holds a grudge.
However, there's a saying that goes, "When you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head." He's seriously injured and a "wanted criminal," so it's fortunate that Madam Wen didn't throw him out.
Target one thing at a time, it won't kill you.
After quickly finishing his breakfast, Pei Lingjun found his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. He was writing intently when he suddenly looked up and heard a faint noise outside the door. He then crumpled the paper and threw it into the brush washer.
The ink spread across the paper as Pei Lingjun put on his shirt.
"Knock knock—are you dead?"
Pei Lingjun opened the door with a good temper and readily replied, "Thanks to Madam Wen, I'm still alive."
Wen Shu glanced indifferently at his face, then walked past him into the house. "Your injury is almost healed, you should go now."
"Cough cough!" Pei Lingjun coughed twice, turned around and closed the door slightly. As he closed the door, he pressed his hand hard on the wound on his side. Blood gushed out due to the force, instantly soaking through the gauze, and pain spread throughout his body.
Pei Lingjun remained silent, weakly saying, "Please, Madam Wen, take me in for a few more days, until things calm down—"
“This is not a charity.” Wen Shu sat on the round wooden chair where Pei Lingjun had been writing the letter, seemingly oblivious to the bandages soaked through his clothes, a mischievous smile on her face. “The medicine shop is already operating at a loss, and supporting a grown man like you is quite a burden.”
Pei Lingjun nodded, "Then what does Lady Wen wish to do?" The valiant Dragon Guard, a trusted confidant of the Emperor and the pampered heir of the Ningyuan Marquis's mansion, who held immense power in Jijing, was now speaking humbly to a young woman. Anyone who knew him would be utterly astonished.
Wen Shu had been waiting for these words. A sly smile played on her lips as she called out, "Hanxiang, go and get a clean set of men's clothes!"
Hanxiang responded from outside and soon came over with clothes in her hands. "We don't have anything else in the manor, only servant-style clothes."
Wen Shu spotted the gray-brown coarse linen clothes and took Han Xiang out first. A short while later, when Pei Lingjun came out, there were two or three bags of what looked like withered branches in the courtyard, bulging on the ground.
"What's this?"
Wen Shu saw that he was dressed as a servant, with a high and sharp nose. The dazzling sunlight made him tilt his head slightly, and his skin was so white that it reflected light under his eyes, making his dark eyes look even colder and deeper. Even in such a state, he could not hide his innate noble and virtuous air.
They act like humans but are actually dogs.
Wen Shu raised her lips and scoffed inwardly.
"These are the thorny tribulus terrestris that the medicine shop received a few days ago. They need to be cleaned and removed before use in medicine," Hanxiang kindly answered, then changed the subject, "Young master, you're eating, drinking, and staying at the medicine shop for free, you should at least do something, right?"
The bag was full of thorny brambles covered with tiny barbs. Pei Lingjun understood immediately, agreed, and went to fetch water.
Wen Shu looked towards him from afar.
The grayish-brown clothes barely fit him, and the young man had broad shoulders and a tall, straight back; even in a crowd, he would stand out as the most eye-catching one.
Hanxiang moved a round wooden chair and placed it in the shade of the courtyard. She asked Wenshu to sit down and followed Wenshu's gaze. The young man rolled up his sleeves, revealing a section of his strong forearm, and was drawing water from the well.
"Young lady, why are we targeting him? If you don't like him, why not just hand him over to Magistrate Qi or the Prefect?"
Seeing him fetch water, Wen Shu immediately looked away, leaned back lazily in the round wooden chair, and said in a low voice, "This person's identity is unknown. Handing him over rashly might bring trouble upon ourselves. It's better to keep him under our noses for a while."
Hanxiang had been by Wenshu's side for so long, but she had never seen her play tricks on anyone like this before, so she secretly gave her a thumbs up, "Miss is brilliant."
The reason it's called thorny thorn is because the whole plant is covered in thorns. Pei Lingjun had just started to work when he suddenly hissed and glanced to the side to see two or three light red thorn marks on his fingertips and knuckles.
Pei Lingjun curled his lips into a half-smile and glanced furtively at Wen Shu.
Clearly, the girl wanted to play a trick on him, but she was too innocent and kind-hearted, and her tricks were nothing compared to the trivial interrogation of prisoners in the Ministry of Justice's dungeon.
At midday, under the blazing sun, a man was buried in the brambles in the center of the courtyard. After more than half an hour, Pei Lingjun had mastered a certain cleaning technique that could minimize the damage to his wounds.
Even after washing a bag of thorns, both hands were still covered in cuts and bruises.
He glanced at the shaded area across the way and saw a young woman sitting on a round wooden chair. Her nose was sweating, and she was so sleepy that her eyelids were drooping. Yet, she would occasionally glance at him, as if she were a supervisor worried that he would slack off.
The mistress and servant were both unusually sleepy. Hanxiang fanned herself slower and slower until she slowly closed her eyes. The next moment, the fan thudded to the ground, and the girl leaning against the round armchair was instantly startled awake. "Mother—"
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