Xu Ruan carried Qiao Zhen to see a doctor. Qiao Zhen's facial injuries had not been treated in time and had been washed away by tears. The doctor did not have any good medicine, and she was very likely to be disfigured as a result.
"Ah Kuang, so be it if you're disfigured. Let it scab over first, then we can treat it if it gets disfigured again," Qiao Zhen said casually, as if she wasn't in pain at all.
Xu Ruankuang, however, did not give up so easily. "Princess, I will go and plead with Emperor Qi. You are his own daughter, and he will not stand idly by."
Qiao Zhen looked up at Xu Ruan Kuang, "Does that mean I only have beauty to offer?"
Xu Ruankuang panicked, fearing Qiao Zhen would misunderstand. "No, Princess, you are perfectly fine. It's all Lu Yuanchuan's fault for being blind. You are kind, have a lovely personality, and warm hands. Even if you are disfigured, you are still the most beautiful girl in the world. You were just hurt too deeply by Lu Yuanchuan, which is why you don't care about your appearance. You used to go to Xiyan Pavilion to learn how to make beautiful cosmetics, and you suffered a lot, but you never gave up. I'm just afraid that you will regret this in the future when you calm down."
Qiao Zhen looked at Xu Ruan Kuang with emotion, tears welling up in her eyes again. "A-Kuang, you're so kind."
Xu Ruankuang clumsily wiped away Qiao Zhen's tears, afraid that the salt water would flow over her wound again. He advised, "Princess, I will take you back to the manor. Please bear with it for now and wait for the imperial physician to examine the wound."
He escorted Qiao Zhen back to the princess's residence, and then used his light-footed skills to go to the palace to fetch the imperial physician to the princess's residence.
The imperial physician listed many foods that Qiao Zhen should avoid. "Princess, these are the foods you need to avoid. Also, this ointment, once the wound has scabbed over, should be applied to the scar and the surrounding skin. It will cause intense itching, but it's best not to touch the wound with anything else while the ointment is on."
Qiao Zhen poked her cheek with her fingertip. When the skin sank in, it pulled at the wound, and the pain made her gasp. "Hiss—thank you, Imperial Physician."
Xu Ruankuang saw the imperial physician off, then returned to apply medicine to Qiao Zhen's wound. He was applying some hemostatic and analgesic drugs, and he used white gauze to wrap the medicine around Qiao Zhen's cheek. "Princess, please bear with it."
Qiao Zhen didn't need to think to know how ugly she looked now, with bulging eyes and a white gauze bandage wrapped around her face. When she went to look in the mirror, she found that Xu Ruan Kuang had tied the gauze bandage into her hair bun. "A-Kuang, bring me my rouge. Wearing a white cloth on your head is a sign of mourning. Quickly dye this gauze red."
"Yes." Xu Ruan Kuang sprinkled rouge into the tea, then used a brush to apply the red rouge to the white gauze, holding his breath, afraid of accidentally getting the color on Qiao Zhen's hair.
Qiao Zhen felt inexplicably sad when she saw Xu Ruan Kuang's cautious manner.
“Ah Kuang…”
"What are your orders, Princess?"
Qiao Zhen said nonchalantly, "Kick Chunzhu out of the princess's residence, and there's no need to care about her anymore."
"yes."
From that day on, Qiao Zhen never left the princess's residence again. Even when Emperor Qi sent someone to invite her, she refused to go out, saying that she was afraid her ugly appearance would tarnish the emperor's eyes.
In the end, Emperor Qi condescended to visit the princess's residence incognito, while Qiao Zhen was struggling with an itch.
"Zhuyu pays respects to Your Majesty."
"Call me Father!"
"..." Qiao Zhen, who couldn't understand why Emperor Qi was so persistent about this matter, chose to remain silent and resist.
Emperor Qi curled his lips in boredom, then looked at Qiao Zhen's injured face with heartache, "My good daughter, does your face hurt a lot? Let me warm it up for you."
As he spoke, Emperor Qi pouted and leaned in to blow air onto Qiao Zhen's face.
Qiao Zhen covered her face and dodged, "Can't we be normal for once? If the people of Qi knew that their emperor was like this, wouldn't they cry?"
Emperor Qi stripped away his wise and mighty facade, revealing a lewd smile. He glanced at Qiao Zhen with a sidelong laugh, "My good daughter, tell me what you've been plotting lately? You can fool others, but you can't fool your father. Xu Ruan Kuang's skills couldn't possibly be seen by an ordinary maid, let alone recognized. Xu Ruan Kuang is completely obedient to you, so it can only be that you made him do it on purpose."
Qiao Zhen revealed the ruthlessness in her eyes, "A man like Lu Yuanchuan is extremely difficult to win his favor. So let me be the bad guy. The worse I am, the more he'll hate me. When he finds out the truth, let's see how he faces it. Regret, guilt, self-blame? These are not what I want. A woman can only make the one she loves remember her forever if she is ruthless enough to herself."
Emperor Qi then asked, "What about Xu Ruankuang? He abandoned his original name because of a few words from you. How do you feel about such affection?"
Qiao Zhen's expression softened slightly. "Ah Kuang, as long as he stays by my side, that's enough. I can give him all my trust, nothing more."
Emperor Qi's expression was somewhat solemn. "He was the most successful, but also the one who lost the most miserably."
Qiao Zhen turned to look at Emperor Qi, "I suddenly understand why my mother chose my father."
Emperor Qi, his sore spot touched, grinned lewdly and asked, "Why?"
Qiao Zhen looked at Qi Di, who was hiding his wounds with a smile, and said in a joking tone, "Because there are no winners or losers in love. If you truly love someone, as long as they are well, why would you care about winning or losing? You take the outcome too seriously, which makes your feelings seem fake."
Emperor Qi was deeply hurt by Qiao Zhen's words, and he asked again, "And what about your feelings for Lu Yuanchuan?"
Qiao Zhen also looked at Qi Di with a wicked grin, "I don't love him enough, but I want his love."
Qi Di and Qiao Zhen chatted ramblingly for a long time. The two didn't seem like father and daughter, but rather like best friends who hurt each other. They established a (best) friendship in just one afternoon.
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