The room suddenly became quiet, with only the sound of medicine powder falling.
Pei Yuan stared at the ground, his Adam's apple rolling: "It is my duty to protect His Highness."
"It's just my duty?" Chu Qingluan suddenly paused what she was doing and turned her head away.
"Then why are you always the first to rush to save me?"
Pei Yuan raised his head suddenly, and met her eyes that were half-smiling. His heart seemed to be about to jump out of his chest.
He opened his mouth, and the lovesickness that had been hidden in his heart for many years almost came out.
"Your Highness—"
"Don't move!" She gently pressed her fingertips on the edge of the wound and carefully put new gauze on him. Her tone was gentle but unquestionable.
"You should take good care of your injuries in the next few days, and don't worry about the autumn hunt."
Pei Yuan struggled to get up as soon as he heard this, "Your Highness, no! There are too many people in the hunting ground, and the terrain is steep. I cannot let you take the risk alone."
The Autumn Hunt is held every three years and is the most important event since the founding of the Chu State.
At that time, Emperor Taizu made a rule: Anyone who won the first prize in the autumn hunt, whether a prince or a princess, or a noble or a minister, could ask for a favor from the emperor. Over the past hundred years, countless changes of military power and reshuffles of the court all started with this autumn hunt.
Pei Yuan's eyes sank slightly. He remembered that five years ago, the third prince shot a golden eagle with an arrow and took advantage of the opportunity to obtain the military power of Youzhou. From then on, he had a force in the court.
Two years ago, Crown Prince Chu Lang hunted a white deer and used it to gain the title of Crown Prince.
This year...
"That's why you need to take good care of your injuries." Chu Qingluan said, "The Crown Prince has already made some moves. I have received news that he has secretly recruited a group of hunters from the northern border to prepare for this autumn hunt."
Pei Yuan's pupils shrank.
Northern hunters are good at tracking and ambushing. Is the prince going to...
"Your Highness!" He was so anxious that his wound was bleeding. "My injury is not a problem. Let me go with you..."
"Pei Yuan!" Chu Qingluan suddenly interrupted him, "I can't let you get hurt again."
"I have my own plans for the autumn hunt."
Pei Yuan was stunned, his brows furrowed so tightly that they could kill a fly.
After a while, he took a deep breath and asked, "Your Highness, are you planning to send out the Phoenix Feather Guards?"
The Phoenix Feather Guard is a team left by the late queen, consisting of 300 elite female soldiers. This secret army has never been shown to the public, and even the current emperor is not aware of its true strength.
Chu Qingluan nodded and said truthfully: "Yes, I plan to let Jiuge accompany me and be responsible for my safety this time. In addition, my father has also privately arranged a team for me, which should be enough to deal with this autumn hunt."
Pei Yuan's eyes dimmed slightly when he heard this, but soon regained clarity.
He understood His Highness's concerns.
As a general in charge of the border troops, if he openly accompanies the protection, it will indeed give people a chance to criticize him and become an excuse for the prince's party to attack him.
"I understand." He clasped his fists solemnly, "But please allow me to deploy defenses outside the hunting grounds. Miss Qin is strong, but her numbers are limited after all."
This time, Chu Qingluan did not refuse. "Okay, but remember to have your people disguise themselves as ordinary guards so as not to alert the enemy."
"Don't worry, Your Highness."
After that, Chu Qingluan stayed for a while and soon planned to get up and return home.
At this time, Pei's mother hurried over with freshly cooked chicken soup and met Chu Qingluan face to face in the corridor.
"Your Highness, are you leaving now?" Mother Pei bowed hastily, the celadon bowl in her hand still steaming. "I specially made some chicken soup for you, Your Highness, please have some before you leave."
"No need." Chu Qingluan interrupted gently, her eyes falling on the bowl of chicken soup.
There were a few slices of okra floating in the clear soup, emitting bursts of fragrance, and Chu Qingluan's heart softened.
She was very pleased that Pei Yuan could be taken care of by his parents. "Thank you for your trouble, Madam. Let's leave this soup... for General Pei to nourish his body."
Mother Pei's eyes were slightly red, and she wanted to say something else, but she saw that the princess had turned around and walked towards the gate.
"mother!"
Pei Yuan had been standing behind him without him noticing, with the wound on his shoulder neatly bandaged.
He looked at Chu Qingluan's receding back and whispered, "Princess, you understand..."
Mother Pei was shocked when she heard this, "Then why did you still..." Let the princess go?
Pei Yuan smiled bitterly: "Mother, Your Highness is the king, and I am the minister. There are some boundaries... that cannot be crossed."
Mother Pei looked at his forbearing expression and sighed distressedly: "Silly child!"
She personally gathered Pei Yuan's clothes, her movements were particularly gentle, "Your father was also like this in front of the late queen..."
Mother Pei seemed to be speaking from inspiration, but halfway through her words, she suddenly realized something was wrong, as if she had remembered something taboo in the past, and hurriedly changed the subject: "Mom will go boil some medicine for you..."
Pei Yuan keenly grasped the key information: "Dad and the late queen...?"
Mother Pei's eyes were dodging, and she made up an excuse to get away, "You heard me wrong. I'm still boiling some medicine in the stove. I'm leaving now. You should go back to your room early, and be careful not to catch a cold."
Soon, Pei's mother disappeared at the gate of the courtyard...
Pei Yuan stood there for a long while before turning around and going into the house.
Dad and the late queen? It's really sad that there is such a past.
…
On the other hand, after Chu Qingluan returned to the princess's residence, she heard the housekeeper come to report: "Princess, Xie Xiang... is here."
Chu Qingluan's eyes darkened as she looked at the housekeeper.
Is the princess's mansion a back garden that Xie Yunqi can enter whenever he wants?
The housekeeper shuddered and knelt hurriedly: "Your Highness, please forgive me. Prime Minister Xie said that his old injury recurred and his heart hurts a lot. He insisted on living in the West Wing and said that only the doctor in the Princess's Mansion can treat him..."
Behind him, Liu Er covered her mouth in shock.
Could Prime Minister Xie's reason be any more perfunctory?
Chu Qingluan sneered, "Where is the person?"
…
A quarter of an hour later, Chu Qingluan watched Xie Yunqi finish the bowl of ginseng soup with coptis chinensis in cold eyes, and said indifferently: "Now that you have finished the ginseng soup, it's time for Prime Minister Xie to go back, right?"
Xie Yunqi was wearing a dark brocade robe and leaning lazily on the couch.
He put down the medicine bowl slowly, as if he couldn't feel the bitterness in his mouth. He looked up at Chu Qingluan, undercurrents surging in his eyes.
"Your Highness stayed in Pei's house for a full hour, but why do you think even a cup of tea is too long when you come here?"
He stood up and slowly took two steps towards her: "Is Pei Yuan's injury... okay?"
Chu Qingluan paused, her eyes slightly cold: "This is my business, Xie Yunqi, you trespassed into the princess's mansion, do you really think I dare not punish you?"
Xie Yunqi chuckled, with a bit of resentment: "My old injury relapsed, and I came to the princess's mansion to seek treatment from the doctor, but Your Highness left the mansion to meet a stranger, so I had no choice but to... come in by myself."
"If Your Highness wants to punish me, just tie me up and send me to the government."
"Anyway, I'm all alone now, and I have nowhere to go!"
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