As I saw them approaching the green fruit tree, I began to pray to God and Buddha in my heart and prayed silently for Princess Rushuang.
But even when they were about to pass under the tree, Princess Rushuang did not stop because of dizziness. The two of them continued to communicate and walked slowly forward.
My heart skipped a beat, and I had a very ominous premonition - if they didn't stop and continued according to the normal timeline, wouldn't it be -
I quickly turned my head to the right, only to see Duan Xiao standing on the same line with me. Noticing my turn, he also turned to look at me.
A huge brown bear suddenly appeared, roaring and lunging at Duan Xiao. I opened my eyes wide and instinctively pounced on him. Princess Ru Shuang had pushed Song Heng away and got hurt herself. If I threw Duan Xiao away and dodged him, could I keep both of us safe?!
But the next second, a gust of wind brought by sharp claws blew from behind me - as expected, the brown bear would not let me go.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, but the next second my waist was suddenly tightly clamped and I was turned over.
I opened my eyes in surprise, and a few strands of Duan Xiao's long hair fell on my face. He shuddered and groaned. Then he quickly rolled me to the side several times before stopping.
Those few movements took only a few seconds, but they were thrilling.
As planned, the bear had been quickly trapped by the soldiers. Duan Xiao's arms were on either side of me, and he seemed to be trembling. He tilted his head and spat out a large mouthful of blood. Then, as if he had used up all his strength, he moved away from me and fell to the side with a "bang".
I quickly sat up and leaned over to him. His face was pale, his lips tinged only with blood from the spit. He suddenly raised an arm to cover my eyes, his brow furrowed in pain, but his voice was still tinged with laughter: "Don't... look."
Seeing the glaring blood slowly flowing out from Duan Xiao's back, leaving a trail of mottled bloodstains on the lawn, I suddenly felt like I was struck by lightning, and a flash of white light flashed through my mind.
Yes, in the original book, the princess felt dizzy and stopped because she was framed by the original owner and then imprisoned, which caused her to suffer from the disease!
But because of my changes, the princess no longer has the root cause of her illness, so she naturally won’t stop!
Because of my slow reaction, I turned to look at Duan Xiao at that moment.
With his agility and skills, he would have been able to avoid the bear on his own if I hadn't interfered with him. Why would I have to go to the trouble of protecting him?
I opened my mouth and trembled, unable to utter a single word. Then I screamed hysterically like a madman, "Imperial Physician, call the Imperial Physician! Imperial Physician!"
My hands slapped the grass, staining it with blood. The imperial doctors quickly surrounded me and I was pulled up forcefully: "Chen Shuang, it's okay. Chen Shuang, look at me..."
I looked at the man in front of me with anxious eyes in a daze, but in an instant my mind was filled with the pain of being the instigator. It was the first time I faced the real bloody passing of life, and I was not able to escape from it.
Song Heng held my hands tightly, completely ignoring the blood on them. He locked eyes with me and said, "It's okay. Duan Xiao has been practicing martial arts since he was young. The bear only scratched him with one claw. I assure you, it's no big deal."
The fragrance of the osmanthus trees in the palace grew stronger, and the Agarwood Pavilion seemed to be immersed in the sweet fragrance of osmanthus flowers. Duan Xiao was recuperating from his injuries in the inn outside the palace, and the imperial physician came every day to diagnose and change the dressings.
In the book, when the two princesses were scratched, they only had to lie down for a few days, so Duan Xiao's physical condition was not a big deal. However, because he rolled on the ground a few times while scratching the wound, he also had to lie down for a while.
After he woke up, I received a text message from him: he asked me to prepare some Begonia pastries and send them to him, and he also wanted two boxes, one of which he said he would kindly leave for Duan Sheng.
When I received the letter, two sparrows were jumping on the marble table, eating cake crumbs. When they heard my low laugh, they fluttered their wings and flew back to the tree.
I quickly wrote a letter to Mu Chenfeng, asking him to help me buy three boxes of Begonia Pastries from Zhouji Pastry Shop on Zhuque Street and send them to the Beijing Posthouse.
One of the boxes is for Duan Xiao, and the other two boxes are for Duan Sheng, because I also want to be kind.
Then I received another letter from him: he said Duan Sheng was living comfortably in Donglin, and he suddenly didn't want to be so kind anymore, so he gave up trying to persuade me. He had already eaten all three boxes of Haitang Su and thanked me for my kindness.
I wanted to tease him, saying that he only liked to eat Song Huaguo's candied haws, but in the end I didn't reply.
When I went to the Imperial Medical Bureau to have Doctor Jiang take my pulse, his burns had healed a lot. When he put his hand on my pulse, he suddenly smiled and said, "Mu Jieyu, you can eat your peach blossom cakes as much as you want."
I looked at him in surprise and delight: "Are you serious?" Then I immediately changed my tone: "Don't pay attention to me, I believe what Doctor Jiang says!"
He chuckled softly, "I also want to thank Concubine Mu and His Majesty for finding the 'White Pearl Oil' for me."
I explained that it was the princess who told me the effects of the white pearl oil and informed His Majesty. He smiled even more and said with a chuckle, "Thank you, Princess."
When I left, I found that his desk was full of atlases. Since I usually study the atlases of the capital of Song Hua State, I am particularly sensitive to this.
He followed my gaze and spoke naturally, "We're preparing some things right now, but nothing's finalized yet. I'll tell Mu Jieyu once it's finalized."
I stopped asking questions after he said that, only thinking the place name on the atlas sounded familiar—"Dongxiang"? Was it the war-torn place the concubines had mentioned in their conversation?
Song Heng came to the harem several times, but he was very calm and steady. He sat with several concubines, which added some interesting scenes of commercial flattery to each concubine's gathering.
I continued to practice "Autumn Water Filling", flipping through the storybook and occasionally taking out the atlas from the storybook to start drawing.
If it is really more appropriate to go through the Dongbei Gate as Duan Xiao said, then I can just deposit some money at the Qianji Money House along the way and withdraw it when the time comes.
But it seemed that taking money from the palace out was not allowed. When I was biting the pen, the door was suddenly pushed open, and Song Heng walked in in casual clothes.
I subconsciously slammed the atlas shut. I heard that he went to Concubine De's place today, so why did he come to me so late?
He glanced at me and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I don't like this storybook. I'm planning to change it!" After saying that, I walked to the cupboard, stuffed the atlas in, and took out another storybook at random.
He raised his eyebrows slightly and didn't ask any more questions, then sat down as usual.
It seemed like it had been a long time since we had read books together like this. I asked Xiao Cui to make some tea and then I started flipping through the storybook.
I'd actually read this story before! I knew the plot so well I didn't take it too seriously, and with a quick glance I noticed Song Heng sitting across from me, looking at me.
I was stunned, and he quickly turned his head away, but then turned back and stared at me as if nothing had happened.
Now I felt uncomfortable. I couldn't bow my head, nor could I look at him. So I could only awkwardly ask, "Your Majesty, is there something wrong?"
He took a sip of tea calmly: "I forgot to bring my book today, so I have nothing to do for a while."
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