After their marriage, Xue Shen never mentioned the accident that left him with crippled legs. This was the first time Shen Youying had heard him bring it up on his own initiative, and she couldn't help but show a surprised expression. She wanted to say something but hesitated, and in the end, she didn't speak, but just listened attentively.
"Curious?" Xue Shen asked her upon seeing this.
Shen Youying hesitated slightly, but nodded nonetheless, her gaze sweeping over his now perfectly healthy and slender legs: "There are some." She added, "If you don't want to say, you don't have to."
“There’s nothing I can’t tell you.” Xue Shen stepped into the stirrups and nimbly leaped onto the horse, extending his hand to her: “Come on, I’ll tell you.”
The black horse was much taller and bigger than the horse Shen Youying had ridden. She grabbed Xue Shen's hand, intending to use it to get on the horse, but Xue Shen grabbed her waist and easily lifted her onto the horse's back.
Shen Youying let out a soft gasp and instinctively leaned back into Xue Shen's arms.
Xue Shen wrapped his arms around her waist, loosely gripped the reins, and squeezed the horse's flanks with his legs. The black horse galloped off, carrying the two of them into the snowy forest.
The guards protecting the two dispersed slightly, trailing behind at a distance.
Once they entered the depths of the snowy forest, the horses slowed down. Xue Shen tucked Shen Youying's disheveled hair behind her ear before continuing, "It was a snowy day like this too. I took a break from my busy schedule to go hunting outside the palace, bringing only four or five guards with me. As a result, we encountered a grizzly bear during the hunt."
Shen Youying was startled by his words and sat up straighter. She wanted to turn around and look at him, but Xue Shen held her back and she couldn't move. She could only say uncertainly, "How could we have encountered a grizzly bear? Logically speaking, even if there are bears in the mountains, they should be hibernating in the winter."
Even if you're really unlucky and happen to encounter a grizzly bear that's awake, Daddy says that bears aren't particularly aggressive at this time, so you just need to be careful and avoid them.
"Because someone anticipated my habit of hunting outside the palace, they released a grizzly bear that had been awakened from hibernation and was extremely hungry within my hunting area beforehand," Xue Shen said casually.
Shen Youying was taken aback; this was a completely different story from the rumors circulating in the city.
Xue Shen continued, "The grizzly bear was extremely hungry and became very ferocious. The bows and arrows I brought were all light bows, which were not long or powerful enough to penetrate the grizzly bear's thick fur. After the battle, the grizzly bear not only did not retreat, but became even more agitated. The accompanying guards could only fight it hand to hand to buy me time to escape."
Xue Shen's voice deepened slightly, and Shen Youying could almost imagine the tragic scene at that time. She involuntarily grasped his hand that was holding the reins.
"I was about to ride out to seek help, but just as I was about to leave the forest, another grizzly bear suddenly appeared on the road ahead. My guards were held back by the other grizzly bear, and I had to fight it alone."
"Have you ever seen a grizzly bear?" Xue Shen asked her. When Shen Youying shook her head, he pointed to a tree by the roadside and gestured, "It's about as tall as this tree, and I only reach its waist."
Even experienced hunters would be wary of such a large grizzly bear, let alone Xue Shen, who had been fleeing alone for some time.
“I fought it for a long time and was badly injured before I managed to shoot out one of its eyes and cut off one of its arms. But this made it even more frenzied and it kept chasing me. At that time, I was exhausted and could only barely lie on the horse’s back as it was carried away by the dark cloud to escape.”
At this point, Xue Shen gently stroked Wuyun's mane.
Shen Youying then realized that his mount was called "Dark Cloud".
"Unfortunately, I wasn't very lucky. Halfway there, I lost consciousness due to excessive blood loss, fell off my horse, and rolled down the hillside. That's how I broke both my legs," Xue Shen said.
"Later, my father discovered that I had not returned on time and sent people to look for me. They met Wuyun, who was waiting at the edge of the forest, and followed Wuyun to find me unconscious."
Shen Youying was speechless for a moment, unable to imagine how tragic and terrifying the scene must have been, and finally understood what he meant when he said, "If it weren't for the dark clouds, he probably wouldn't have lost just his two legs."
Her chest heaved slightly, as if she had experienced that thrilling ordeal herself. After a long pause, she said, "But that's not what I heard."
People in the city say that the King of Qin was startled by his horse and fell, breaking both his legs because he was trampled.
Xue Shen smiled, a hint of mockery in his eyes, but Shen Youying, with her back to him, didn't see it: "The location and timing of the two grizzly bears' appearance were too suspicious. After my accident, Father suppressed the news and dispatched heavy troops to seal off the mountains and forests for a search, but no trace of human intervention was found. However, Father did not give up and has been secretly searching for clues. The news of the startled horse was just a ploy to mislead people."
Shen Youying suddenly realized, and asked again, "Was the person behind it all... eventually found out?"
"We found it," Xue Shen said.
Just as Shen Youying was about to ask who it was, the person behind her spoke first, "It's not convenient to tell you now, you'll know in the future."
She said "Oh," and then remembered that Xue Shen had clearly healed his legs, but still pretended to be unable to walk. Coupled with the various incidents at the Xishan Palace, she had a vague guess in her mind.
But since Xue Shen said he would tell her later, she didn't press the matter further.
After a moment, she lowered her head to touch Xue Shen's leg and whispered, "It must have hurt a lot back then, right?"
She learned to ride a horse when she was young, but she fell off the horse and broke her knee. The pain made her cry. It's hard to imagine what kind of pain Xue Shen had gone through.
"If I had to say what hurt, it was when my leg was being treated that it hurt the most."
As time passed, Xue Shen recalled those painful memories as if they were shrouded in a thin veil, making them not very clear.
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