"She's awake! Thank goodness, the girl is finally awake!"
As soon as Yi Shangyun opened her eyes, she saw an older woman holding a chubby-faced baby in her arms, looking at her with a joyful expression.
"Who are you? Where is this place? How did I get here?" Yi Shangyun looked around in a daze. Although she still felt a little dizzy and her body was weak and powerless, she still struggled to get up.
Upon seeing this, the woman hurriedly put the baby in her arms down on the ground and reached out to press her back down, saying, "Miss, you've been unconscious for three days and three nights. How can you possibly have the strength to get up? You need to conserve your strength and rest a bit before you can get up."
As she spoke, she walked over to the side table, quickly brought over a bowl of warm porridge, sat down by the bed, propped up Yi Shangyun's upper body, and began to carefully feed her spoonful by spoonful.
"Auntie just said I've been unconscious for three days and three nights? How could that be? Auntie, where exactly is this place? And how did I get here?" Yi Shangyun asked, looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings with great confusion.
"Young lady, you should eat this hot porridge while it's still hot! I'm just a servant here, I don't know anything. Asking me is pointless." The woman seemed to be deliberately avoiding her question, and advised helplessly.
Yi Shangyun immediately sensed the seriousness of the situation. After a moment's thought, she asked, "Where is this place? Where is your master? Is his name Yi Sanshao? Or Long Ye? Please tell them that I want to see them."
The woman said, "What Young Master Yi? Long Ye? Sihai Tea House has never had either of these two people!"
"What? There have never been these two people here before? How is that possible? He clearly told me that he was Young Master Yi!" Yi Shangyun stared intently at the woman's determined eyes, clearly stunned.
The woman shook her head and sighed deeply, saying, "Do you believe everything people say? These days, there are so many swindlers with sweet words. Girl, have you been deceived? Sigh... But since it's already like this, no matter how anxious you are, you have to recover your strength and get better first! Look at you now, you don't even have the strength to speak, let alone figure out something or walk."
Scooping up a spoonful of white porridge and bringing it to Yi Shangyun's mouth, the woman said, "This is the Sihai Tea House in the capital of the Western Qin Kingdom. The owner brought you back three days ago and then left. He hasn't returned yet! He only instructed us to keep a close watch on you and not allow anyone to see you. You can forget about leaving this courtyard."
Yi Shangyun was already stunned, blankly swallowing the white porridge the woman fed him, while frantically recalling the events, muttering to himself, "The Four Seas Tea House, the owner... could his true identity be the owner of the Four Seas Tea House? Western Qin Kingdom... I've actually returned to Western Qin Kingdom. Your Highness, where is Your Highness? So many days have passed, I wonder how Your Highness is doing? If he can't find me when he gets back, His Highness will be very worried and anxious... No, Your Highness, Your Highness..."
Suddenly realizing this, she snapped out of her daze and grabbed the woman's wrist, pleading, "Auntie, please! Since this is the capital of the Western Qin Kingdom, you must know where the Qin King's residence is! Please, auntie, pass on a message to His Highness the Qin King, asking him to come and rescue me. I must have been kidnapped here by that owner of the Four Seas Tea House. His Highness the Qin King is still waiting for me; he must be very worried and anxious if I disappear. Please help me, please help me, okay?"
The woman suddenly stopped what she was doing and looked at her closely for a while. Her gaze lingered on the somewhat frightening red birthmark on the woman's face. She seemed particularly surprised that such an ugly woman would know the noble King of Western Qin.
After a moment, however, she said helplessly, "Girl, stop daydreaming. Ever since the master brought you back, he's assigned over twenty guards to this courtyard. Each one is highly skilled and incredibly strong; even if you had wings, you couldn't escape. Not only that, the master specifically instructed that if anyone lets you go, or even a fly gets in, or any news gets out of this courtyard, everyone in this courtyard will be executed. Tell me, who would dare help you then?"
"What? How could this be? What is your master's background? And why is he treating me like this?" Upon hearing this, Yi Shangyun's eyes widened in astonishment.
"You'd better save your energy and wait here obediently. I believe the master will come to see you when he returns. Wouldn't it be better if you asked him any questions yourself? These are things that we servants cannot know. I really can't help you. I only know that he is very powerful and can bring this restaurant back to life and allow us to continue to stay here to support our families instead of starving to death on the streets. That's all I know."
The woman continued to feed her white porridge while talking to her.
Before she knew it, she had finished a bowl of congee, and a warm current flowed into her body, and her consciousness gradually returned to normal.
Just then, the woman went over, scooped up the little baby playing alone in the corner, held him close, and, carrying the empty bowl, strolled out of the inner room.
The woman had just stepped out of the outer room when a burly man suddenly appeared at the doorway, slamming the door shut and locking it securely.
Hearing the sound of someone locking the door, Yi Shangyun snapped out of her daze. She glanced around the now empty inner room, and before she could even put on her shoes and socks, she ran barefoot across the cold floor to the outer room. She immediately raised her fists and slammed them against the door, shouting, "Open the door! Open the door! Why are you locked up? Let me out! Let me out! Who are you? What do you want to do to me?"
After a long while, seeing that she received no response, and recalling the woman's resounding words, "Who would dare to help you like this?", Yi Shangyun finally gave up struggling.
She silently turned around and slowly slid down the door panel. Wearing a thin, light pink undergarment, her long hair flowing freely, she hugged herself tightly, crouched down, pressed her back against the door panel, rested her chin on her knees, and curled up into a ball. With a sorrowful expression, she said, "Your Highness, where are you? Yun'er misses you so much..."
The Western Qin Imperial Palace.
Having just finished the morning court session, and having a brief, private conversation with Imperial Physician Zhang Zhiyuan in the palace as arranged beforehand, Xuan Yuanhan and Cheng Liang hurried along the corridor toward the palace exit, just as they always did.
As he walked, Xuan Yuanhan suddenly stopped, placing one hand on his heart and the other on a pillar beside him. He then frowned and let out a muffled groan that sounded like extreme pain: "Hmm."
"What's wrong, Your Highness?" Cheng Liang, who was standing beside him, saw this and rushed forward to support him, asking with concern.
"For some reason, I suddenly felt an extremely unbearable angina pectoris," Xuanyuan Han said.
Upon hearing this, Cheng Liang was immediately startled and exclaimed, "How could this be?"
He then looked around and said, "The Imperial Hospital is very close by. Why don't you go and have the imperial physician take a look at me, Your Highness?"
Xuanyuan Han paused for a moment, then took a deep breath and said, "It's alright, let's go."
After saying that, the master and servant continued walking forward together. Suddenly, Xuan Yuanhan asked, "Has there been any news from all over the city about the search for Yun'er?"
Upon hearing this, Cheng Liang seemed to understand that the reason why Xuan Yuanhan suddenly felt heartache was probably because he was once again agonizing over the matter of Yi Shangyun.
This master has never hesitated so much when dealing with enemies, no matter how alluring or seductive the other party may be; there has never been an exception.
It seems that this time, she has truly gotten to his core, which is why he is in such a predicament. While thinking, Cheng Liang replied, "That Tuoba Ze has always been cunning, and his hiding place and whereabouts are very secretive. Currently, all regions are still conducting a full-scale search for him."
Having found a safe area, Cheng Liang could no longer contain his doubts and said, "Your Highness, I have carefully questioned the palace maids and eunuchs who served the Crown Prince in Donghua Palace, and they have all denied that Miss Yi was injured or bled while in Donghua Palace. Therefore, it seems that the Crown Prince's smallpox was not cured by Miss Yi's blood. According to what Zhang Zhiyuan just said, it is impossible for anyone to recover from smallpox so completely; it is already a miracle that he survived. So, how exactly did the Crown Prince recover from smallpox?"
Seeing that Xuanyuan Han was only focused on his journey and did not respond for a long time, as if he was secretly thinking about something, Cheng Liang suddenly remembered something:
"Oh, right, but the Crown Prince mentioned something. He said that on the night before he recovered from his illness, he saw Miss Yi playing with a rare gold-threaded jade bracelet. The Crown Prince said that the gold-threaded jade bracelet contained the essence of heaven and earth, the spirit of all things in the universe, and that wearing it could cure illnesses. So, he borrowed it from Miss Yi. Miss Yi seemed to care a lot about the bracelet, repeatedly telling the Crown Prince not to damage it, saying that it was a gift from a very important person and that he would return it in the future. Later that night, the Crown Prince seemed to hear Miss Yi praying to the bracelet in his sleep..."
"Praying to the bracelet? What did she pray for?" Xuan Yuanhan seemed to have only just become interested and asked.
Cheng Liang thought for a moment: "What the girl in the dress is praying for is, 'Jade bracelet, jade bracelet, when will your powerful functions be activated and made available to me? In this time and space, only you have this power... Please help this poor child.'"
Upon hearing this, Xuanyuan Han frowned slightly, but said nothing.
However, Cheng Liang seemed to suddenly realize something and exclaimed in surprise, "The bracelet? Your Highness, could it be as the Crown Prince said, 'The gold-threaded jade bracelet gathers the essence of heaven and earth, sun and moon, and contains the spirit of all things in the universe, and wearing it can cure diseases'? It was that bracelet that cured Your Highness's smallpox?"
As the two walked slowly, lost in thought, a voice suddenly came from behind them: "Your Highness, Prince Qin, please wait!"
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