Chapter 63 Are you being coquettish?
Yan Xuecui, mindful of her blindness, did not look away from the gaze directed at her, but calmly focused on the inch of snow-white skin that her fingertips were moving over.
"Sorry, I can't see," he asked in a low voice, "Is there any area that hasn't been washed?"
Chi Ying's face was flushed red from the steam, and she didn't want to stay any longer.
The way his rough fingertips rubbed against her always stirred her imagination. Even though he was clearly washing her carefully, she always felt that his hand would soon wander to places it shouldn't…
She bit her lip and whispered, "I'm done washing. Help me up."
"Mmm." Yan Xuecui tightened his arms around her waist and steadily lifted her out of the water.
Chi Ying was soaked to the bone, her fair and rosy skin resembling soft silk, with translucent water droplets rolling down her smooth skin.
She stepped on the plush blanket and whispered, "The dry towel is on the shelf behind you."
Yan Xuecui took it down from the shelf as instructed and was about to go forward to wipe it for her when Chi Ying bit her lip with difficulty: "You... give it to me, I'll do it myself. I'll only bother you with the parts I can't reach."
Yan Xuecui didn't give it to her, saying, "Don't move, aren't you afraid the wound will reopen?"
Chi Ying moved her left arm slightly, but the incision was still very painful. She was still very afraid of pain, and after thinking it over, she didn't dare to push herself recklessly.
Yan Xuecui carefully wiped her face and neck, making sure the gauze on her shoulders wasn't wet, then bent down and gently stroked her soft, white skin with a handkerchief.
Yan Xuecui saw the old scar that always felt somewhat abrupt to the touch.
After using the scar removal cream for a long time, the unevenness has been significantly reduced, leaving only a very faint red mark. Yan Xuecui ran her fingertips over it and gently pressed and wiped it.
This place is so familiar, but only today was I able to see it with my own eyes. I could only perceive the skin by drawing pictures on the street. It was so white, like solidified cream and snow, and as pure as the soft moonlight.
His gaze was calm and collected, as if he hadn't seen it. He calmly raised his hand and slowly wiped it away with a handkerchief.
Chi Ying shuddered violently, but gritted her teeth and held back her voice.
After all, he was just wiping her body; it would be too strange if she made those unpleasant moans.
After wiping her front clean, Yan Xuecui turned to her slender back, where there was no flaw in the whiteness, like milk and snow jade. Her two legs were straight and long, and every part was even and smooth.
Yan Xuecui took a deep breath.
I thought that once my sight was restored and my five senses were harmonized, the restlessness and anxiety caused by not being able to see would gradually subside.
But it didn't happen.
In front of his wife, he was just an ordinary man. Even her touch and voice had a fatal attraction for him. The visual impact only intensified his love and physical impulses.
She was standing on a velvet carpet, but there were still some wet spots. Yan Xuecui knelt down and gently reminded her, "Aying, lift your foot."
Hearing his hoarse voice, Chi Ying realized he was going to wipe the water off her feet. She lifted herself up slightly, but was a little unsteady on her feet.
Yan Xue urged, "Step on my knees."
Chi Ying felt even more embarrassed. Actually, it wasn't that they hadn't stepped on her feet before; they had tried everything, but there was no precedent of him kneeling down to wipe her feet. This feeling of being superior made her feel completely out of place.
She hesitated and didn't move, but Yan Xuecui grasped her slender ankle and placed her left foot directly on his knee.
Chi Ying was so startled that she curled her toes.
From her perspective, with him kneeling before her, she even had the illusion that she was humiliating him.
He was a prince, there was no need for him to do this... But then Chi Ying thought that he couldn't see anything, and was probably just following his instincts to wipe every wet spot on her skin, without any thoughts of rank or romance, so she felt a little relieved.
Yan Xuecui carefully wiped the back of her feet. Even her feet were beautiful, delicate and fair, with smooth toes and nails that had a faint pink tinge.
A slight, tingling itch spread from the area in front of her knees. Yan Xue's Adam's apple bobbed, and she finally resisted the urge to lean down and kiss him.
She was so shy that he was already trembling all over before he even did anything. The slightest touch would probably aggravate her wound.
Well then, today is the first day he regains his sight, and he will have more time to carefully examine her for the rest of his life.
He carried her back to bed. Because her shoulder was wrapped in gauze, Chi Ying could only slightly open her clothes. After the dressing was changed, the pain in her wound was relieved a little. She closed her eyes and slowly became sleepy.
Yan Xuecui, however, could not sleep.
He didn't even close his eyes all night, gazing intently at her face by the light of the lamp outside the tent.
His sight was restored today so suddenly that he hasn't had a chance to see Dr. Lin. Perhaps he is fully recovered, or perhaps it is just a temporary recovery, and he will be back to normal after a good night's sleep.
It was the first time I'd seen her, and I wanted to look at her a little longer, to remember her face forever.
Just looking at her serene profile, his body was already restless.
He recalled all the picture books she had ever read, but he couldn't think of any calming posture that wouldn't aggravate her wounds and would allow her to quietly accept him.
She trembled at the slightest touch, let alone his strength; tonight would be the last time.
Yan Xue Cui slowly moved closer to her body, placing the hot water bottle on her uninjured shoulder and putting it into her loosely clasped palm.
As he observed her expression, he slowly tightened his grip on her knuckles. When her brows furrowed slightly, revealing her discomfort, he sighed deeply and slowly stopped applying pressure.
Late at night, Kunning Palace.
Princess Yuxi came out of the side hall and went to Kunning Palace to visit the Empress.
The Empress had just taken her medicine and was resting against her pillow. Her face was as pale as paper, and there were faint dark circles under her eyes.
Upon seeing her, a faint smile appeared on his lips: "You're back?"
Princess Yu Xi nodded. "Mother, something terrible happened at the palace banquet today."
The Empress's expression hardened slightly.
Princess Yuxi then truthfully recounted how Prince Xuan and Prince Qing had arranged for a divine physician to enter the palace and assassinate Prince Zhao.
Upon hearing the name "Prince Zhao," the Empress instinctively shivered. After a moment of stunned silence, she asked, "How is Prince Zhao? Has his eye ailment healed?"
Yu Xi shook her head: "No, Prince Zhao couldn't see it. Besides, the silver needle was poisoned. It was meant to kill Prince Zhao. Fortunately, my sister-in-law blocked it for him. Luckily, my sister-in-law is not seriously injured."
The Empress looked worried and did not feel relieved upon hearing this.
Back then, she was scheming for the throne and, for her own selfish reasons, made a mistake in a moment of weakness. Now he has come back to take revenge, tormenting her and leaving her with no peace every night.
Every day she would look at the box and see the dark wood beads spread under the brocade cushion. She would take them out with unease and throw them into the stove, but after a few days, the box would be filled with dark wood beads again.
These beads haunted her, appearing before her eyes like a persistent ghost, even haunting her nightmares with the shadow of that Soul-Separating Pill from back then.
The Empress kept her eyes tightly closed, veins bulging on her forehead, and cold sweat soaking through her undergarments.
Yu Xi was startled and panicked: "Is Mother having another headache?"
After calming down for a moment, the Empress shook her head and said wearily, "Mother is fine. Prince Zhao... did he say anything else to you?"
“There’s nothing else,” Yu Xi thought for a moment, “just say that the Princess Consort is injured and unable to come today, but will visit the Empress Dowager in the future.”
The Empress gave a bitter smile and closed her eyes.
Those who harmed her and her two children back then—Consort Ning, Prince Rong, and even Consort Li and Prince Xuan, who had the Ning family's backing—were not spared. Now that they were either dead or imprisoned, he had already found out about the Soul-Separating Pill and was determined not to let her go.
For her mother clan, for her Yu Xi, and for herself, she had no way out.
...
Within three days, Shao Shouyuan could not withstand the torture in the imperial prison and finally confessed the truth.
It turned out that King Xuan suspected that King Zhao was concealing the fact of the restoration of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, he asked his uncle Ning Sheng to select a subordinate who had some knowledge of medicine to pretend to be a folk doctor. He also sent his confidant to persuade King Qing by explaining the advantages and disadvantages, and to bring him into the palace to expose King Zhao's lie in public.
Seeing that Prince Rong and Prince Xuan had both met with misfortune, Prince Qing believed Prince Xuan's threats and thought that Prince Zhao was pretending to be blind in order to secretly kill his brothers. In a moment of impulse, he brought this "miracle doctor" into the palace.
However, Prince Qing was unaware that Shao Shouyuan was a loyal follower of the Ning family, and that his purpose in entering the palace was not merely to diagnose Prince Zhao's eye ailment, but to assassinate him.
Emperor Yongcheng considered that he had only been instigated by Prince Xuan and had made a serious mistake in a moment of confusion, so he only punished him by deducting his salary, suspending him from his post, and confining him to his residence to reflect on his mistakes.
King Xuan had previously been imprisoned for inscribing talismans in treason. This time, he sent experts into the palace with the intention of killing King Zhao. His crime was unforgivable. After much deliberation, Emperor Yongcheng punished him with fifty strokes of the cane and demoted him to a commoner. Ning Sheng was also suspended from his post and imprisoned.
The execution day at Prince Xuan's residence.
The Imperial Guards supervised the execution. After fifty strokes of the cane, Prince Xuan's entire face and back were torn open, covered in blood, and there wasn't a single patch of unscathed flesh on his body. He fainted twice and was carried back to his bed, almost on the verge of death.
Princess Xuan, trembling, lifted the already tattered, blood-stained robe. The marks from the caning were crisscrossed with blue and purple welts, a shocking sight. Each mark was as thick as an arm and was still oozing blood. Only the faint rise and fall of her body proved that she was still breathing.
The helplessness and hatred surging in her eyes at that moment caused her twenty years of dignified pride as a noble lady to crumble in an instant. She bit her lip tightly, her throat so tight that she couldn't cry out.
The Fu family has been weakened, her grandfather has been suspended from his post, and Prince Xuan is now seriously injured and demoted to a commoner. Everything she used to be proud of and could rely on is gone. She has nothing left.
After the Imperial Guard finished supervising the execution, they returned to the Northern Garrison and reported to Yan Xuecui: "Prince Xuan's legs are crippled, and I'm afraid he will spend the rest of his life in bed."
Yan Xuecui casually sipped her tea, unsurprised.
The Imperial Guards, when administering punishments, knew how to control the severity of the punishments, whether they intended to kill or maim the victim.
However, Yan Xuecui was not quite ready to let him die so easily.
Didn't they all hope that he would go blind and be unable to ascend the throne?
He wanted him to suffer pain and torment for the rest of his life, and to experience the taste of being crippled and hopeless.
Chi Ying rested for a few days, and the wound had scabbed over. However, she still couldn't move her shoulder much, so she could only stay in Shuyu Zhai every day, barely flipping through books and doing some needlework.
Unexpectedly, news of her injury reached Consort Zhuang's ears, and she actually came to see her in person that day.
Chi Ying didn't want her to worry, so she just said that she had fallen and scraped her skin at the palace banquet.
Now I can finally understand how Yan Xuecui felt when she concealed her blindness. If she had said that she was injured by a poisoned needle, I don't know how worried Consort Zhuang would have been.
To show that she was alright, Chi Ying gritted her teeth and rubbed her hands together a couple of times despite the pain, saying, "See, I'm really fine."
As they were talking, Yan Xuecui stepped through the door and frowned when she saw Yan Xuecui swinging her arm to show off.
When Chi Ying saw him return, her eyes lit up: "Your Highness?"
Consort Zhuang turned to look at him, and inevitably launched into another long-winded nagging about why she hadn't protected her daughter-in-law properly.
Yan Xuecui could only smile and assure her, "Mother is right to reprimand me. It was my oversight, and such a thing will not happen again."
Consort Zhuang couldn't be too harsh on her, after all, her son was blind and she herself needed to be served.
After Consort Zhuang left, Chi Ying immediately showed a pained expression and raised her hand to rub the skin of her wound.
Yan Xue frowned and stared at her, "If it hurts, it hurts; if it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt. Why are you pretending to be strong like this?"
Chi Ying was still a little unaccustomed to his seriousness, but since returning from the hot spring resort, she was no longer as reserved and fearful of him as before. This time, after being injured and receiving his meticulous care for several days, she no longer felt afraid when she saw him frowning.
She reached out and hugged his waist, nuzzling her cheek against his chest. "It doesn't hurt that much. Besides, I covered up the assassination attempt at the palace banquet for you. Don't be mean to me anymore."
Yan Xuecui rarely saw her like this, and couldn't help but chuckle: "Aying, are you being coquettish?"
Chi Ying said softly, "If you think so, then so be it."
Yan Xuecui ran her fingertips across her shoulder: "Are you sure it doesn't hurt so much anymore?"
Chi Ying nodded vigorously.
Yan Xuecui raised an eyebrow: "So it's okay to do it today?"
After Chi Ying realized what was happening, she glared at him fiercely. This person was truly... indescribable!
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