Chapter 16: Careful care, and secret feelings?
The tent's oil lamp had been replaced with a third one. In the dim light, Yun Zhi lay in bed, still unconscious. Her breathing was shallow and even, and her complexion was better than yesterday, though still sickly pale. Her shoulders were wrapped in thick gauze, and occasionally, as she unconsciously turned over, her brows furrowed slightly.
Xiao Jin sat on a chair beside the bed, holding the ointment left by Xie Heng in his hand, his fingertips suspended in the air, not daring to let go for a long time.
This was the first time he had personally applied medicine to someone. In the past, on the battlefield, he'd simply bandage his own injuries and continue fighting, never mind applying medicine to others. But facing Yun Zhi, he treated her like fragile porcelain, even breathing softly, afraid of accidentally hurting her.
"Be gentle, don't pull on the wound," he whispered to himself, as if to encourage himself. Carefully lifting a corner of the gauze, he saw the hideous wound, and his heart couldn't help but twitch—the arrow had pierced the shoulder blade, the flesh turned outward. Even with the medicine applied, it still looked horrifying.
He dipped some ointment in it and was about to apply it to the wound when his fingertips accidentally touched her skin. Yun Zhi's skin was very cool, like the finest jade, but his fingertips instantly felt hot. His hand trembled and the ointment almost fell on the sheets.
"Damn it." Xiao Jin cursed under his breath and forced himself to calm down. He took a deep breath, dipped the ointment again, and applied it to the wound bit by bit. His movements were as clumsy as a child's. After each application, he would pause for a moment to make sure she didn't frown before continuing.
After applying the medicine and re-wrapping the gauze, his fingers accidentally hooked into her hair again. The black hair tangled around his knuckles, as soft as cotton wool. He froze for a moment, subconsciously twisting it with his fingertips before reacting and quickly brushing it away, as if he had touched something hot.
"It's just a stand-in, why are you so nervous?" He sneered to himself, trying to suppress the strange feeling in his heart with harsh words. But when his eyes fell on Yun Zhi's sleeping face, he couldn't help but soften his heart. Her eyelashes were very long, hanging on her eyelids like two small fans, her nose was small, and her lips were a little chapped from lack of water, but with a hint of pink.
She clearly resembled Shen Qingyue, but now, looking at her, she felt something was different. Shen Qingyue's beauty was like a flower in a greenhouse, delicate and fragile; while Yun Zhi's beauty was like grass taking root in the cold wind, with a stubborn tenacity that made people unable to look away even though she was unconscious.
"Knock, knock, knock—" There was a gentle knock on the tent door, and the subordinate's voice came in, a little cautiously: "Your Highness, I have found some clues and would like to report to you."
Xiao Jin paused, quickly covered Yun Zhi with gauze, tucked in the corners of the quilt, and then stood up and walked to the door of the tent. He lowered his voice and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Your Highness," the subordinate handed over a small cloth bag, "I found this in the grass near the stables—it's the 'crazy horse grass' mixed in with the horse feed. Also, the arrow that shot you had no forging marks on its shaft, but the arrowhead is made of the same material as the arrowhead left at the scene of Miss Shen's accident three years ago."
"Same?" Xiao Jin took the cloth bag and pinched the dry piece of crazy horse grass between his fingers. His eyes instantly turned sinister, like the surface of a frozen lake. "Have you found out who put the crazy horse grass in the horse feed?"
"Not yet," the subordinate lowered his head. "The stable guards said that only the maids accompanying the princess and the concubine went to the stables yesterday. They said they were delivering snacks to the old soldier who tended the horses. Other than that, no one else went near."
Lin Wanru? Su Yurou?
Xiao Jin's brow furrowed. These two women, one arrogant and jealous, the other hypocritical and vicious, each had reasons to attack him—Lin Wanru wanted to use his death to gain more power for the Lin family; Su Yurou might want to shift the blame to someone else and reap the benefits. But how could they have the same arrowheads as when Shen Qingyue was killed? Could Shen Qingyue's death also be related to them?
As soon as this thought came to mind, he forcefully suppressed it. Now wasn't the time to dwell on these things; the most pressing task was to find out what had happened, and also... to stay with Yun Zhi until she woke up.
"Continue investigating," he said in a voice as cold as ice, "focus on investigating the people around the princess and the concubine, as well as all the clues from Shen Qingyue's accident three years ago. Nothing can be left out."
"Yes!" the subordinate responded, turned around and left quickly.
Xiao Jin stood at the tent door, cloth bag in hand. A cold wind blew in, rustling his robes, but it didn't sober him up at all. He stared at the dark forest in the distance, his mind a tangle of knots—on one side was Yun Zhi's injury, on the other was the unsolved conspiracy, and then there was Shen Qingyue's old case, all like a web, trapping him.
When he returned to the tent, he saw Yunzhi's head tilted to one side, a thin layer of sweat on her forehead. He walked over, picked up the handkerchief next to him, and gently wiped the sweat from her forehead. The handkerchief was soft, and when it brushed against her skin, her eyelashes trembled, as if she was about to wake up.
Xiao Jin paused, held his breath, and stared into her eyes. But after waiting for a long time, she still didn't wake up, only unconsciously mumbling: "Water..."
The sound was soft, like a mosquito's buzz, but it instantly made Xiao Jin panic. He quickly stood up and poured a cup of warm water. Fearing it was too hot, he took a sip himself to confirm the temperature was just right. Then he carefully helped Yun Zhi up, let her lean against him, and brought the cup to her lips.
"Drink slowly." He whispered, with a tenderness in his voice that he himself didn't even notice.
Yun Zhi's lips touched the cup and opened unconsciously. She drank a few sips of warm water, a satisfying sound coming from her throat, and she fell into a deep sleep again. Xiao Jin didn't put her back to bed immediately. Instead, he held her in his arms, sat on the chair, and let her lean on his chest.
Her body was light, leaning against his arms like a docile kitten. He could clearly feel her breath, warm and gentle against his clothes, and the beating of her heart, weak but powerful.
A peace he had never felt before spread throughout his heart, more reassuring than the joy of victory or the satisfaction of holding power.
"You can't die," he said, looking down at the person in his arms, his voice as soft as a whisper, "You haven't yet investigated your father's injustice, and you haven't...you haven't been Qingyue's substitute long enough."
The last sentence seemed to be a way of convincing himself, but also like an excuse. He knew clearly that he cared about Yun Zhi not because she looked like Shen Qingyue. But he didn't dare to admit it - admitting that he had fallen in love with a criminal slave, admitting that he had been soft-hearted towards the daughter of the criminal who killed the Taifu Mansion, to him, this was an unforgivable "betrayal".
He held Yunzhi in his arms and sat all night. As dawn approached, he gently placed her back on the bed and tucked in the quilt. Looking at her still sleeping face, he couldn't help but touch her cheek again. The cool touch made his heart skip a beat.
"When you wake up, I will..." He wanted to say, "I won't punish you," he wanted to say, "I'll find you the best doctor," but the words were on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them back. In the end, he just turned around, walked to the door of the tent, and said to the guards outside, "Keep an eye on the people inside. Report any movement immediately."
The guard replied "Yes." However, Xiao Jin did not leave immediately. Instead, he stood at the door and glanced back at Yun Zhi on the bed with a complicated look in his eyes.
He didn't know why he cared so much about Yun Zhi, why he personally applied medicine and fed her water, and why seeing her injured was more painful than if he were injured himself.
He could only attribute all this to "she was still useful" - she was the only person who could remind him of Qingyue, and she also knew some old stories about the Taifu Mansion, and perhaps she could help him find out the truth of that year.
But only he himself knew that this excuse was becoming less and less tenable.
Inside the tent, Yun Zhi's eyelashes trembled again, as if she had a sweet dream. Outside the tent, Xiao Jin stood in the morning light for a long time, until the first rays of sunlight shone on him, then he turned and left. He wanted to find out who was trying to harm him, who was trying to kill Yun Zhi.
No matter who it is, he will not let anyone who dares to touch him go.
When this thought came to his mind, he was stunned for a moment - when did Yun Zhi become "his"?
He shook his head, suppressing the thought, and quickly walked towards the guards' tent. However, the corners of his mouth inadvertently curled up slightly, but the smile disappeared quickly, so quickly that he didn't even notice it.
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