Xiao Nanhui hurriedly stepped forward to support the man and pulled him onto the couch without saying a word.
"The ground is very cold and damp. Aunt Dai should get back to bed quickly."
"But I haven't finished weaving the ribbon for today..."
"We'll weave the same belt tomorrow."
Xiao Nanhui coaxed and deceived the man and helped him back to the couch. He turned around and signaled Shrike to bring the medicine on the fire.
"I'll ask Sister Dujuan to bring two more pots of charcoal..."
"Not busy." The woman's slightly cool but soft hand covered her cheek. Xiao Nanhui couldn't help but pause. "It's only been a few days since we last met, and you seem to have grown up so much."
His heart sank, and Xiao Nanhui could hardly conceal the expression on his face.
She thought she had concealed it well, so Shrike, Cuckoo and Uncle Chen didn't notice anything.
But who could have thought that the trap would be easily missed by this half-crazy man.
She pretended to be relaxed and said with a smile, "How could Aunt Dai forget? Didn't we just meet yesterday?"
The woman had a look that was half angry and half funny, and it was hard to tell if she was being sincere or joking. "You know that's not what I'm talking about, but you're treating me like a three-year-old kid."
Perhaps that expression affected the meridians on her face, and Aunt Dai frowned again, and the scar on her face also became frowned.
The scar has now turned slightly white, but the chilling feeling remains the same.
The person who swung the knife must have been coming head-on with enough force to almost cut the beautiful head in two, which would have left such a scar.
Who on earth would be so ruthless? Could it really be the Bai family, caught plotting treason and desperate enough to do something desperate?
That night, Bai Yun's words to her in Tingfeng Tower were still ringing in her ears. She didn't believe him, but she couldn't understand why he told her those words.
Now that Bai Yun has been imprisoned, it is impossible for her to tell Xiao Zhun what he said, and it is even more impossible for her to ask the emperor to verify that statement.
She could only find a way to verify it herself.
The shrike's complaints could be heard faintly outside the window, as if it was struggling with the boiling medicine jar.
Xiao Nanhui hesitated for a moment, but still rolled up his sleeves to reveal the iron ring on his wrist.
"Has Aunt Dai ever seen anything like this, or... the markings on it?"
The woman opened her misty eyes and looked at the object on her wrist half lazily and half puzzledly. After a long moment, she spoke, "It looks very strange. Is it something for self-defense?"
Xiao Nanhui secretly breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his sleeves again: "Not really, I just thought it was strange, so I wanted to show it to you."
The iron ring was given to her by the Emperor, and the symbol engraved on it must have been the mark or secret order of the Royal Guard. Aunt Dai may have seen the mark on the assailant, but she may not have noticed it. In any case, her immediate reaction was reassuring.
Maybe not heaven.
Xiao Nanhui thought so.
After all, she couldn't think of any reason why the royal family wanted to destroy the Xiao family, nor could she understand why Xiao Zhun was left alone after being silenced.
But if it wasn't the Bai family or someone from the royal family, who could it be?
As her thoughts raced, her brows furrowed involuntarily, and the next second, Aunt Dai held her hand.
"Don't look so glum. Let me tell you a story, okay?"
She has been with Aunt Dai for more than ten years, and Aunt Dai often tells her stories when she is in a daze or depressed.
Although most of the time it was just the familiar stories from old opera excerpts repeated over and over again, she never showed any impatience and always listened from beginning to end.
Xiao Nanhui nodded, and there was some light in Aunt Dai's beautiful eyes.
"The story I want to tell is a story that becomes a prophecy."
Xiao Nanhui paused subconsciously, and a strange feeling arose in his heart.
Aunt Dai had never told this story, nor had she seen a play with this name in any other repertoire.
Aunt Dai obviously didn't notice Xiao Nanhui's reaction. She was immersed in her memories, and even her previously sluggish sense of language gradually became fluent.
"Once upon a time, there lived a wealthy family who loved to build gardens. Everyone in the family was an expert in this craft: some carved stone, some cultivated flowers and plants, and some repaired the earthworks. Each performed their duties in perfect harmony. One day, a deity passed by their garden and was struck by its exquisite beauty. The deity summoned the owner of the house and offered him a blessing, asking what he desired."
"The owner of the house said that he was always troubled by not knowing when the wind would blow or when it would rain, and that often delayed his garden work. The gods understood and gave the man the ability to predict the celestial phenomena."
"From then on, the master discovered that whenever he muttered in his sleep, he could always predict the next day's celestial phenomena, and these predictions would come true the next day, without exception. As time went on, other families in the city would sometimes come to inquire about the next day's weather, and the master always responded to their requests."
"However, it's difficult to satisfy everyone, and the human heart is unpredictable. The coachman hoped for sunny weather, while the umbrella seller hoped for rain. Over time, some people became dissatisfied with the master's predictions, and even began to doubt everything he said. Rumors began to spread that the gods had bestowed upon the master a kind of witchcraft that could control the celestial phenomena, and that the so-called prophecies were just a cover."
Aunt Dai paused. Beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. She couldn't tell if it was the pain or the new charcoal fire that raised the temperature in the room.
Xiao Nanhui felt inexplicably nervous. She wiped the sweat from the woman's forehead and asked in a low voice, "And then?"
"Finally, one day, the city residents gathered and surrounded the garden of the wealthy family, intending to burn them to death. The family head prayed to the gods to revoke this divine gift, but the gods did not respond. Finally, to save his family's lives, the family head cut off his own tongue in public, and the next day, the whole family disappeared from the city."
A strange and familiar feeling came over Xiao Nanhui. She vaguely felt that some details in the story were familiar, but she couldn't remember where the familiarity came from.
"Where did you hear this story, Aunt Dai?"
"Of course someone told me."
"Who is it?"
"Who?" Confusion gradually filled the beauty's eyes, and she returned to her previous somewhat sickly state. "Maybe it's a familiar friend."
The door was pushed open, and Shrike clumsily walked in with the bowl of medicine and replied to Xiao Nan.
"Uncle Chen is outside. He said someone from the palace is here and is looking for you."
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