06 The Mysterious Man in Black
Back in her bedroom, Liu Hanruo pondered the matter again and again. She decided that rather than waiting to be killed, she should take the initiative. Since she had made up her mind to take revenge no matter what, the first priority was to win the favor of the Prince of Xiaoyao and thus safeguard her position.
With the Double Ninth Festival approaching, a banquet was about to be held at the Prince's residence. The imperial court had stipulated that if the principal wife was alive, she must preside over such a large banquet; other wives and concubines were only allowed to assist and were forbidden from interfering. She could use this opportunity, under the guise of discussing the banquet details, to spend more time with the Prince and let him see her changes. Before that, she had some things she needed to do; her current sickly appearance was hardly a source of any interest.
For Liu Hanruo, Chunxiang was a different story. According to her original memories, Chunxiang had been with her since childhood, more like a sister than Liu Hanxue. To her original self, Chunxiang was a confidante, a sister, someone she would confide in. And to the current Liu Hanruo, Chunxiang was the first person she saw after her rebirth. Chunxiang's sincere eyes were overflowing with concern, completely genuine, making her feel very close. Combining memories with reality, she also considered Chunxiang the only person she could trust. To allow Chunxiang to focus on her recovery, she directly relieved Chunxiang of her work, and she herself acted very dutifully, rarely leaving the house except to secretly check Chunxiang's pulse every other day, focusing on her own health, eating different medicinal meals she prepared daily, and applying various Chinese herbal masks.
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed. Chunxiang's injuries had fully healed, and she returned to Liu Hanruo's side to take up her duties. After a month of recuperation, Liu Hanruo was completely different from a month ago, which surprised even Chunxiang.
If Liu Hanruo was previously thin and frail, a sickly beauty who evoked pity, then she now gives people a completely different feeling, making people's eyes light up.
Her eyebrows were like crescent moons, her face was lightly made up, her eyes were bright and her teeth were white. Her eyes and brows were full of flirtatious glances. Her bright red dress did not make her look vulgar. Instead, it added a touch of charm. She was like a lotus flower emerging from the water, beautiful and charming.
"Your Highness, I never expected such a big change in just one month. It's refreshing. Even a prince who is used to seeing beauties would probably be a little stunned."
Hearing Chunxiang's words, Liu Hanruo remained silent, but the slight upturn of her lips betrayed her feelings. Indeed, what woman doesn't love beauty, especially one carrying such a heavy responsibility?
Liu Hanruo recalled that when she was in the Prime Minister's residence, the concubines would cook ginseng soup every night and send it to her father to nourish him. She thought that men all liked gentle and tender women, so she asked her maid, Lü'er, to cook a pot of ginseng chicken soup and personally carried it to the residence of the Prince of Xiaoyao—Shuiyue Pavilion.
Inside the master bedroom of Shuiyue Pavilion, a candle flickered on and off, and two figures entangled on the rosewood bed were faintly visible. Clothes scattered around the bed were in disarray, and ambiguous moans could be heard from inside the gauze curtains. It turned out that they were busy at the moment.
When Liu Hanruo arrived, she heard ambiguous breathing sounds from afar. Having been a wife in her previous life, how could she not know? It was impossible not to be disappointed. She had come full of hope to improve the relationship, but instead encountered such an ambiguous scene. However, she understood even more that she could not afford to offend the Prince of Xiaoyao now. She sighed and turned away helplessly.
Liu Hanruo walked alone under the moonlight, appearing cold and lonely. As she passed the artificial hill in the backyard of Shuiyue Pavilion, she suddenly smelled a faint smell of blood in the air, and at the same time, she heard shallow breathing.
Out of a doctor's instinct, Liu Hanruo stopped and wanted to help, but suddenly remembered her past life. Before she died, she had sworn that if she was kind and bullied, she would be a villain in her next life! Thinking of this, Liu Hanruo stopped.
Although it wasn't late at night, it was still dark. For someone to appear in the backyard in the dark, especially one so badly injured, was either a criminal or a thief. There was no need to get involved in such trouble. Just as she was about to leave, her skirt was tugged, and a low, weak cough sounded repeatedly.
"Cough cough. Cough cough..."
"I'm sorry, no matter who you are or why you're injured, I have absolutely no interest in it. You have things to do, and I have things I have to do. Call me unreasonable or cold-blooded if you want, but I don't want to get involved in any trouble." After saying that, Liu Hanruo raised her hand and forcefully tore off her skirt, then left without looking back.
In the dead of night, Liu Hanruo tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, the image of the blood-soaked man in black would appear in her mind. She kept telling herself: Didn't I decide long ago that after being reborn, I would no longer be a kind person, but a villain? Why do I still worry when I see injured people? Why do I feel guilty when I leave injured people behind? Is it because of the heart of a doctor? Even after being reborn, she still cannot abandon this conscience as a doctor. No matter if the injury is good or bad, she instinctively wants to heal it.
Struggling to no avail, Liu Han simply got up, lit a candle, put on a coat, and hurriedly ran to the rockery in the backyard of Shuiyue Pavilion. By the time she arrived, some of the bloodstains had already congealed, and the area around the wounds had begun to swell and turn red, some even starting to fester. The man in black had already fallen into a coma, his face unusually red, presumably running a fever.
Liu Hanruo half-dragged and half-carried the man in black back to the bedroom. She found the emergency medicine that Chunxiang had prepared beforehand, did some simple treatment, applied medicine to each wound, bandaged them, and then went to the well to fetch a bucket of water. She kept applying a towel to the man in black's forehead as an ice pack, alternating between the two throughout the night, until the man in black's fever finally subsided just before dawn.
Only then did she have time to examine the man in black. His left cheek was completely disfigured, and a long gash ran across his right eye. Even in his sleep, he seemed uneasy, his brows constantly furrowed. His body was covered in knife wounds, some deep enough to expose bone. He must have a story to tell. She sighed and said softly:
"Hey, I know you can hear what I'm saying now. I don't care what happened to you or what your purpose was. I saved you today just out of that last bit of instinct. I only did some basic first aid for your wound. If you wake up, just leave. Forget about today and go back to find a good doctor to treat your wound properly. Otherwise, if the wound gets infected again, it will be very difficult to treat."
Unconsciously, Liu Hanruo leaned against the table and fell asleep. Chunxiang shook her awake. She glanced at the clothes draped over her body, then her right eye subtly swept over the bedside. Seeing the empty bed, she figured the man in black must have heard her words in her sleep last night and quietly left. She sighed and told herself that no matter who the man in black was, or whether his purpose in coming to the Prince's mansion was assassination or something else, to her he was just a patient, a passerby, nothing more. Even if they met again, they would only be strangers. And this was the last time she would show such kindness!
As dawn broke, a dark figure sped off, its destination clearly the direction of the master bedroom of Shuiyue Pavilion.
---Aside---
The male lead is clean-cut, you know what I mean! Hehe.
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