Chapter 15: Seriously injured and dying, the prince loses control
His dark robes swirled with the wind as Xiao Jin, Yun Zhi in his arms, galloped down the camp trail, the clatter of horses' hooves and the shouts of the guards far behind him. The person in his arms was as light as a feather, yet so heavy that it made his heart sink. Warm blood seeped through her riding clothes, soaking his clothes, its scalding heat nearly burning his skin.
"Yunzhi! Hold on! We're almost there!" He lowered his head and roared at the person in his arms, his voice trembling unnoticed. Yunzhi's head rested in the crook of his neck, her breathing as weak as a candle in the wind. Her face was pale, devoid of any color. Only the teardrop mole at the corner of her eye shone a faint hue, stinging his eyes.
The camp tents were right in front of him. Xiao Jin kicked open the door of the nearest empty tent, rushed in with Yun Zhi in his arms, and carefully laid her on the cushioned camp bed. As he stood up, he roared at the door: "Xie Heng! Get over here! Now!"
The roar caused the dust on the top of the tent to fall down. The guards outside the camp were so frightened that they ran to the imperial physician's tent and crawled to call Xie Heng.
Xiao Jin stood by the bed, his hands shaking as he watched the blood pouring from Yun Zhi's shoulder. He wanted to reach out and touch her, but was afraid to hurt her, so he could only clench his fists tightly, his knuckles turning white, and he didn't even notice the nails digging into his palms. "Evil creature! Who asked you to take the arrow for me? Who allowed you to die?" He cursed in a low voice, his tone full of anger, but he couldn't hide the panic in his eyes - it was the first time in his twenty-five years of life that he had tasted "fear", fear that this substitute who was always ignored and hurt by him would be gone just like that.
"Your Highness." Xie Heng walked in quickly, carrying a medicine box. Seeing Yun Zhi lying on the bed covered in blood, his expression instantly became serious. "Your Highness, please make way. I need to treat Miss Yun immediately."
Xiao Jin stepped aside, but didn't go far. He stood a step away from the bed, staring intently at Xie Heng's movements. Xie Heng took out a pair of scissors and carefully cut open the fabric at Yun Zhi's shoulder, revealing the hideous arrow wound - the arrowhead was deeply embedded in the shoulder blade, and the surrounding flesh was already stained red with blood and swollen. It was obvious that the injury was serious.
"The arrow is poisonous." Xie Heng pressed his fingers lightly beside the arrow, his brows furrowed. "We must remove the arrow immediately to remove the poison, otherwise..."
"Otherwise what?" Xiao Jin interrupted him immediately, his voice as cold as ice, yet with a hint of barely perceptible panic, "No otherwise! You must heal her! If she dies, I will tear down your Imperial Hospital!"
Xie Heng paused, looking up at Xiao Jin. This Prince Duan was always cold and unfeeling. When had he ever lost his composure like this for a "slave substitute"? He didn't dare ask further, only replying in a deep voice, "I will do my best."
He pulled a silver needle from the medicine box and quickly inserted it into Yun Zhi's acupuncture point. He then pulled out a bottle of antidote and carefully applied it around the arrow wound. The only sounds in the tent were the soft thud of the needles hitting the ground and Xie Heng's breathing. Xiao Jin stood by, not daring to breathe, his eyes fixed on Yun Zhi's face, watching her occasional frown. He felt as if something was tugging at his heart, the pain so severe that he could hardly breathe.
Just as Xie Heng was about to pull out the arrow, the tent door was gently pushed open. A guard walked in with his head lowered. His voice trembled, "Your Highness, I've checked carefully. We found a small amount of 'crazy horse grass' in the black horse's stable. Someone must have deliberately mixed it into the horse feed. And as for that cold arrow, there's no marking on the shaft. It looks like... a common style used in the martial arts world."
"Crazy horse grass?" Xiao Jin's eyes instantly turned sinister, and the air pressure around him dropped so low that water could drip out. "Investigate! Investigate thoroughly for me! No matter who did it, I will find them even if I have to dig three feet underground!"
"Yes!" The guard responded quickly, turned around and left quickly.
Xie Heng took advantage of Xiao Jin's pause to pull the arrow out of Yun Zhi's shoulder with a sudden effort! "Ugh..." Yun Zhi, who was in a coma, uttered a faint groan, her brows furrowed even tighter, and a layer of cold sweat oozed from her forehead.
"Yunzhi!" Xiao Jin immediately stepped forward and wanted to reach out to help her, but was stopped by Xie Heng.
"Your Highness, don't touch her!" Xie Heng quickly took out some hemostatic herbs and applied them to the wound, then bandaged it tightly with clean gauze. "The arrow has been pulled out, and the poison has been temporarily controlled, but Miss Yun has lost too much blood and is still in a coma. Whether she can wake up depends on her own will."
Xiao Jin paused, his panic undiminished as he stared at Yun Zhi's still-pale face. He walked to the bedside, reached out his hand, and paused with his fingertips an inch from her cheek, but he dared not move any further—he was afraid his touch would disturb her, afraid that this fragile hope would shatter like a bubble.
"She will wake up, right?" He looked at Xie Heng with a barely perceptible pleading in his tone. This was the first time he bowed his head to someone.
Xie Heng was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "Miss Yun has a strong character and will definitely wake up. Your Highness, don't worry too much. I will come to change her medicine regularly. As long as she rests well, she will recover soon."
Xie Heng packed up the medicine box, gave a few more instructions, and then quietly retreated, leaving the space to Xiao Jin and Yun Zhi.
They were the only two left in the tent, so quiet that Yun Zhi's faint breathing could be heard. Xiao Jin pulled a chair over and sat beside the bed, his eyes fixed on Yun Zhi's face. Her eyelashes were long, hanging down from her eyelids like two small fans. Her face was as pale as paper, and her lips were so dry and cracked that they were bleeding.
He thought of the bowl of sterilization soup on their wedding night, her frail figure when she was punished to kneel in the snow, his despair when the wrist guard she had sewn was thrown into the charcoal brazier, and her unhesitating look when she blocked the arrow for him... His heart seemed to be hit hard by something, and the pain made his eyes hot.
He had always thought that Yun Zhi was just a substitute, a slave to sin, a tool for him to remember Qingyue. But until today, when he saw her risking her life to save him, he realized that he seemed to be wrong - this woman who always silently endured his hurt had already left a mark in his heart without him knowing it.
"You are not allowed to die." He reached out and gently held Yun Zhi's cold hand. Her fingers were very thin, and there were scars on her knuckles from the previous time in the laundry room. "Without this king's permission, you are not allowed to die."
His voice was soft, with a subtle tenderness that was completely different from his usual coldness. He held her hand like this, sitting by the bed, looking at her motionlessly, from afternoon to dusk, and from dusk to late at night.
The wind outside the tent grew stronger, making the fabric on the tent roof rustle, but Xiao Jin didn't notice at all. He only had eyes for the person on the bed, and only one thought in his mind: Yunzhi, you must wake up.
As long as you wake up, I will forgive everything that happened before. As long as you wake up, I will never let you suffer any injustice again. As long as you wake up...
He didn't dare to think any further and could only hold her hand tightly, as if he was grasping at the last straw.
As the night deepened, an oil lamp lit in the tent, its dim light reflected on Xiao Jin's face, revealing the fatigue and panic in his eyes. He stayed by the bed, awake all night, his eyes never leaving Yun Zhi's face.
What he didn't know was that, in the darkness outside the tent, a figure was quietly watching the scene inside, a flicker of jealousy and calculation in his eyes. Lin Wanru had never imagined that Yun Zhi, after blocking the arrow for Xiao Jin, would actually make Xiao Jin so concerned about her. It seemed that Yun Zhi could not be kept.
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