Shui Xiang followed the eunuch consul and walked forward. Yan Xun stretched out his right hand and placed it flat on the desk. Shui Xiang was kneeling below, with a veil covering most of her face, and her bangs hanging down, even covering her eyes. She lowered her head, her eyes like water, and at the bottom where no one could see, it seemed as if a dark snowstorm was blowing. It was still the same hand, slender and pale, with calluses all over the fingertips from years of holding knives and drawing bows. A large section of the little finger was broken off, and the new flesh had become rough after years of grinding, with hideous scars.
She was stunned for just a moment, then she regained her consciousness, placed her fingers on the emperor's pulse and took his pulse. Yan Xun couldn't help but look at her. Most doctors would be stunned when they suddenly saw his hand, but this one adjusted his mood so quickly. He was indeed a smart person.
After taking the emperor's pulse, Shui Xiang silently stepped back and said with his head down: "The emperor's illness is not serious, it's just overwork and lack of sleep. I will prescribe a dose of medicine later. The emperor will drink it and pay more attention to rest, and he will naturally get better."
Her voice was low and hoarse, and it didn't sound like it came from her mouth at all. Yan Xun raised his eyebrows slightly, looked at her calmly, and said, "Is your voice like this since birth?"
Shui Xiang said: "Your Majesty, my home was hit by a fire when I was young, and my throat was damaged by the smoke."
Yan Xun stopped talking, his eyes moved across her face, then dropped again. At this time, a eunuch came in from outside the hall to deliver a memorial. A cold wind suddenly blew in. Yan Xun frowned slightly, and the fingers pressing on his temple unconsciously exerted some force.
Shui Xiang said, "I have a set of massage techniques that can relieve headaches. Would Your Majesty like to try it?"
The candlelight in the hall grew brighter. Outside the window, the sun set, dusk fell, time passed slowly, and Yan Xun's gaze fell like snow. He looked at Shui Xiang, his eyes vaguely filled with some deep meaning, and after a moment of silence, he nodded and said, "Okay."
Shui Xiang walked steadily behind him, stretched out a pair of white hands and pressed them on his forehead. Her fingers were icy cold, and at first touch they felt like the snow on the top of a mountain, so cold that it made one's heart tremble. Yan Xun, however, remained calm. Feeling her nimble and powerful fingers pressing on his head, his headache was indeed relieved a little. He closed his eyes slightly and asked casually, "Is your master Master Jingyue?"
Shui Xiang replied in a low voice: "Yes."
"How many years have you been in the imperial capital?"
Shui Xiang said: "It's been five years."
Yan Xun raised the corners of his mouth, but there was no smile in his eyes, and asked lightly: "Where were you from before?"
Shui Xiang said calmly, lowering his head, "I am from Minzhou."
Yan Xun frowned slightly, clenched his fist, put it to his mouth and coughed lightly, saying: "You are right, Didu."
Shui Xiang responded in a low voice, but said no more. The hall was absurdly large, and a breeze blew from somewhere, light and fluttering, carrying a faint fragrance. Shui Xiang looked calmly at the person in front of her silently. Even though she was looking at the back of the person and even though she had not looked up since entering the hall, she could still imagine what the person looked like. Yes, it must be like this, narrow eyes, deep gaze, high nose bridge, thin lips, even the lip color is very light, always pursed like that, as if disdainful of everyone. How long ago was that? Shui Xiang stood there, but her memory went back to that bygone era across mountains and seas. She hid behind her brothers, held tightly by her wet nurse. She looked through the gap in the crowd and saw the young man walking towards her from afar. The other little princes and young masters were crying non-stop, and even the quiet ones were sent in unwillingly with red and swollen eyes. He was the only one with a bright look in his eyes and a confident smile, not at all afraid of leaving his hometown and becoming a hostage. When he saw himself staring at him stupidly in the crowd, he winked at himself mischievously.
From then on, there was a series of bright days. The palace was so big and there were so many people, but from then on, she could only see him. She was still so young at that time, but the threshold of the palace was so high, almost higher than her calves. She ran from one palace gate to another every day, sweating profusely, just to hide outside the door of Shangwu Hall and secretly take a look at him...
However, those days are finally over.
Shui Xiang took a deep breath silently, slowly and deeply. His mind flashed through the scenes of the fall of the country in the midst of fire and swords, the battles and conquests, the struggles in shame and darkness. Finally, everything disappeared, leaving only the back of the man in front of him, this man who had been as tall as iron from beginning to end.
Shui Xiang's right hand pressed his forehead, his neck, his shoulders, and his back, as if it was pressing down her entire life of wandering. She looked at him, the man whom she had been chasing for half her life, loving for half her life, hating for half her life, and who had ruined her entire life. Her heart was beating so violently that it seemed like it was going to jump out of her mouth. So be it, what else can we do, isn't this the best? She endured the struggle, suffered humiliation, hardship, and torture. Wasn't this the moment she was waiting for?
There was a gleam of sharpness in her eyes, and with a flick of her wrist, a soft silver light slid from her sleeve into her palm!
Yan Xun's calm eyes flashed slightly, his gaze was deep, as if he saw through something in an instant.
At this time, a palace maid in plain palace dress came over with white charcoal to add fire to the incense burner behind the screen. Yan Xun moved his feet, stepped on the carpet, and suddenly exerted force. Suddenly, he heard the palace maid scream and fall over here, and the basin of white charcoal in her hand fell towards Yan Xun and Shui Xiang!
In an instant, the palace people exclaimed and screamed. Shui Xiang was also shocked by this sudden change, and Yan Xun took advantage of this opportunity to retreat.
"Quick! Someone come quickly!" The eunuch consul was horrified and rushed to Yan Xun's side, shaking Yan Xun's clothes up and down in panic, fearing that he would be burned in the slightest.
The palace maid had fainted with fright, and the guards rushed in and held her down, fearing that the "assassin" would do something else.
Although the empire has gradually become peaceful in recent years, there has never been a lack of assassins who are willing to risk their lives in the Emperor Yan's palace. No matter whether they are the unwilling remnants of the previous dynasty or the followers of the declining and hiding Great Guild, they have sneaked into the palace time and time again with the intention of assassinating.
The hall was in chaos, and everyone looked pale, as if facing a great enemy, fearing that the emperor would be angry with them because of this incident. However, Yan Xun did not utter a word from beginning to end, and frowned tightly, seeming puzzled, doubtful, and even at a loss, but these did not undermine his dignity. His eyes were still looking at that person coldly, as if to penetrate the strands of hair on her forehead, penetrate her thick veil, and see into her heart.
The eunuch consul followed his gaze and saw Shui Xiang.
The guards were busy dealing with the assassins, summoning the imperial physician, and protecting the emperor. Only she was still standing there, her skin pale and her eyes blank, like a wandering ghost, without a trace of blood on her face. The clothes on her back were burned and her neck was also red, but these were not the most important things. The most important thing is that she still had her arms crossed, standing there like a scarecrow, and the clothes on her arms had been burned, forming a big ball of red fire.
"Ah!" the consul eunuch shouted, "Hurry up and save him!"
A bucket of water was poured over her with a plop. Her clothes were in disarray and her arms were badly burned. Several palace servants rushed forward to support her, and then they heard the eunuch in charge hurriedly say, "Hurry up and help Master Shuixiang to the side hall. Go and get the imperial physician."
The palace maids agreed and helped her out.
"stop."
He suddenly shouted, his voice was extremely cold, like the ashes of burnt incense, mixed with a bitter and gloomy tone, which lifted layer after layer of gorgeous and luxurious brocade curtains and reached her ears. There was a howling wind and rain outside the window. Raindrops dripped across the eaves, making a dripping sound, which contrasted with his quiet ending and echoed clearly in the empty hall.
"You...turn around."
The light in the room was dim, and there seemed to be an eerie red. A bright yellow arm-length candle was burning quietly, casting rays of light on Yan Xun's tall and slender back. The golden thread on the collar was shining, and the dragon claws were ferocious, as if they were about to break through the black brocade and fly away. He frowned, and heard only the rumbling thunder rolling in the sky, so far away, and yet so close.
Shui Xiang stood there, but seemed to hear nothing. The world was terribly empty and everything in front of him became ethereal. All the years of enduring humiliation, escaping death by the skin of my teeth, fleeing like a stray dog, painstaking planning, and the loneliness and pain at every night, suddenly turned into a pool of cold ashes, without a trace of warmth. She lowered her head, looking at the jade-containing double phoenixes holding a golden hook of emerald green, which was holding a piece of smoke-like brocade gauze. A slight breeze blew, and the gauze swayed lightly, like a rootless duckweed, just like her. This life, this life, has never been truly in her own hands.
So be it, she moved the corners of her mouth but couldn't even force a bitter smile.
So it is, what else can I do? After all, it is so useless, so stupid, and so despicable that it is beyond description!
She bit her lower lip so hard that she almost broke it. She didn't know what she was thinking at that moment, why the needle couldn't go in, and she stretched out her hands to block it like a possessed person.
Are you crazy? Is your mind not clear? Is it a demon?
Or, or... or is there still that disgusting thought lingering in my mind, unable to be forgotten for ten or twenty years?
She suddenly wanted to cry, she wanted to cry desperately, to cry out all the suffering, tiredness, pain and shame of these years, and never again to cower and struggle in nightmares every night. But since when did these eyes become dry? Was it the day when he fled from his defeat? Or was it the day when Cheng Huan was humiliated by that old man? Or was it the moment when his clothes were torn off by those beasts?
Or, was it the night many, many years ago when she wore a bright red wedding dress, kneeling in the night sky filled with fire, watching those two people riding horses, rushing out of the Zhenhuang city gate hand in hand?