Chapter 13 Coma
The winter wind howled, and the upturned eaves were covered with snow, resembling a pure white ink painting.
Shen Panyan was unconscious for three whole days and three nights.
She seemed to have many dreams, or perhaps she was trapped in a completely dark dream, unable to find a way out, until a ray of sunlight shone through the window and fell on the ground, dispelling the lingering cold, and she slowly woke up.
"Autumn Frost..."
Shen Panyan's eyelashes trembled, and she slowly opened her eyes. Her mind was in a daze, and she subconsciously called out to Qiushuang.
Hearing the noise from inside, the maidservant who was waiting outside quickly pushed open the door and went in, her face beaming with undisguised joy. "Princess, you're awake!"
Shen Panyan turned her head and saw a young palace maid with an unfamiliar face, and was stunned.
Her throat was dry, and her voice was hoarse. "Who are you?"
"This servant is Mu Ying, the maid who sweeps and cleans your courtyard, Your Highness." Mu Ying curtsied and then poured her a cup of warm water.
With Mu Ying's help, Shen Panyan's hazy mind gradually cleared, and all the events before she fainted slowly surfaced in her mind. Mu Ying was still speaking softly beside her: "Princess, after Sister Qiushuang disappeared with you that day, she never appeared again."
Shen Panyan rubbed her head. "I understand."
She clearly remembered falling asleep in the cave. In her hazy state, she felt extremely unwell. Then, she seemed to fall into a deep sleep and had no idea how she got back. It must have been Lin Xiao... Thinking of this, Shen Panyan finally realized, "Where is Lin Xiao?"
She woke up, but why didn't she see him?
Mu Ying pointed outside, "They're kneeling!"
Shen Panyan stood there, stunned, still somewhat unable to understand, "Why kneel?"
"As Your Highness's personal guard, he failed to protect you, so naturally he should kneel down and admit his mistake..."
No, this has nothing to do with Lin Xiao!
Shen Panyan threw off the covers and hurriedly got out of bed, but Mu Ying quickly stopped her, "Princess, what are you doing?"
I have to go see him!
It's winter now, and the wind and snow outside are so cold. It must be so uncomfortable for Linxiao to kneel outside. He'll definitely get sick.
Shen Panyan was anxious and rushed out without even putting on her clothes and shoes... As soon as she opened the door, she saw the swaying black figure amidst the silvery frost on the floor.
A thick layer of snow had already piled up around him, and Shen Panyan couldn't even imagine how long he had been kneeling there.
Mu Ying stood anxiously to the side, trying to dissuade her, "Princess, you've only just woken up, you're not fully recovered..."
At this point, Shen Panyan couldn't listen to anything else and rushed towards him.
For three days and three nights, a full three days and three nights, even with Lin Xiao's strong will, his body began to tremble uncontrollably. The cold was enough to temper one's mind, and his consciousness went from being clear at the beginning to becoming blurred...
Frost and snow fell on him, already soaking his clothes. The black iron mask was colder than ice, and beneath it was his pale, paper-white face.
The princess is still asleep, and no punishment has been given yet; he cannot faint.
Lin Xiao circulated his internal energy, forcing himself to regain consciousness.
But his inner strength had already been exhausted. He could only hold on for a moment before his body began to fall forward uncontrollably. He reached out his hand, ready to support himself, but a pair of soft, white hands caught him even faster.
"Lin Xiao, get up quickly!!" The voice beside my ear was filled with familiar panic and sobs.
"Princess... Princess." Lin Xiao looked up tremblingly, but her vision was blurry and she couldn't see anything clearly.
The last breath he had been holding onto completely dissipated, and just as he was about to apologize to her, darkness descended, and his body collapsed weakly toward her.
Even though he couldn't see anything clearly, at that moment, he saw the princess barefoot on the snow, her delicate, soft feet, which, he didn't know when, were covered in dust...
"Lin Xiao!!"
Seeing that he had fainted, Shen Panyan's heart pounded, and she quickly reached out to support him, letting him lean on her shoulder.
Lin Xiao was tall and strong, and Shen Panyan couldn't support him. She quickly called Mu Ying over, her heart filled with panic, and she forced back her tears, "Quick!! Go and call someone to help Lin Xiao back to his room, and also Physician Lin, call Physician Lin here too!!!"
She spoke urgently, and Mu Ying was worried about her health but dared not disobey her. She quickly called several strong eunuchs from the villa. Everyone was in a hurry and carried Lin Xiao back to his own room. Mu Ying persuaded Shen Panyan to go back to her room. After a long time of dressing up, she hurriedly went to Lin Xiao's room.
Physician Lin wanted to examine her first, but Shen Panyan refused. Now, he examined Lin Xiao's pulse and frowned deeply.
Shen Panyan asked him anxiously, "Imperial Physician Lin, how is Lin Xiao's health?"
"This..." It was the first time that Physician Lin had seen someone with such a disordered pulse. He reached out and examined the pulse again and again, feeling that something was wrong.
After much thought, I decided to tell the truth.
Shen Panyan panicked, "What should we do?"
"Princess, please go out first, let this old minister take a look."
Physician Lin summoned a young eunuch and asked him to help remove Lin Xiao's clothes. However, when his gaze fell on Lin Xiao's mask, he was stumped.
He turned to look at Shen Panyan, "Princess, what do you think of his mask...?"
Remembering what Lin Xiao had said before, Shen Panyan hesitated for a long time, but finally gritted her teeth and said, "I'll do it!"
After saying that, she stepped forward and gently removed his mask.
The moment the mask was removed, a pale, unremarkable face instantly came into view.
It's the kind of person you can't find even if you put them in a crowd.
Shen Panyan was stunned for a moment, a look of surprise flashing in her eyes. So Lin Xiaochang was like this?
This was somewhat unexpected for her.
However, she was only surprised for a moment before turning around and leaving.
"Thank you for your help, Physician Lin."
"You're too kind, Princess."
Seeing her leave, Physician Lin instructed a young eunuch to remove Lin Xiao's clothes and carefully examine his injuries. He then discovered that his body was covered with various large and small wounds, but they were all old injuries. The most serious one was the head injury he had suffered from a fall.
With so many injuries and a heavy body, plus the fact that he knelt in the snow for three days and three nights, even a person of iron would not be able to endure it. It would be strange if his pulse was not erratic.
The Imperial Physician Lin was astonished to find out who could have so many injuries, but wisely refrained from asking and focused on his duties.
Having identified the root cause of the problem, he was able to prescribe medicine more quickly.
Seeing Physician Lin come out, Shen Panyan hurriedly asked, "Physician Lin, how is Linxiao?"
Physician Lin explained his findings to her in detail before saying, "His body needs to be well-rested; otherwise, he may not live past thirty."
Shen Panyan's heart pounded, she clenched her hands, and nodded, "I've got it."
After examining Lin Xiao, Physician Lin then examined Shen Panyan. Her high fever had subsided, and she had woken up from her coma. Her condition was no longer as critical. Physician Lin changed her prescription and instructed Mu Ying to remember to change the princess's dressings every day before leaving with his medicine box.
She had been so worried and anxious that she had forgotten about her injuries. Now that she had come to her senses, Shen Panyan realized that she was in pain in her left shoulder.
However, her injury was only superficial and did not involve the bones; she just needs to rest and recover.
Since Shen Panyan had just stepped into the snow barefoot and wearing only a single layer of clothing, her body was already weak. If she caught a cold, she might not recover. Therefore, Mu Ying had prepared medicine for typhoid fever early on. Now that the medicine was being served, Shen Panyan had a bitter face. She didn't need Mu Ying to feed her spoonful by spoonful; she just picked it up and drank it all in one gulp.
She has taken countless medications since childhood and is already experienced in this area.
Mu Ying was a diligent worker, and since Shen Panyan had no one she trusted at the moment, she recommended Mu Ying to be her head maid. Mu Ying never expected to encounter such a good thing. She was stunned for a moment, then immediately knelt down to express her gratitude.
"This servant thanks Your Highness for your great kindness!"
"Get up."
Recalling Qiu Shuang's betrayal, Shen Panyan wanted to say a few more words, but she was not good at such things, and her words lacked force, so she gave up and only warned softly, "You have to be serious when you work by my side, otherwise, you should not stay by my side anymore."
"This servant understands."
From the moment Mu Ying entered the palace, she was always a lowly palace maid. Because she was not good at speaking, she was often ostracized by the other palace maids. Later, when the people from the Imperial Household Department came to select people, the palace maids with some connections all begged the head maid to refuse to go. So, she was selected and sent to Chen Panyan's Fanghua Palace.
However, her personality destined her to never get any good jobs, and even after entering Fanghua Palace, she was destined to be just a lowly palace maid.
The palace women above all looked down on her, and she couldn't associate with them. Over time, Mu Ying stopped talking to them altogether.
Whether in Fanghua Palace or the Royal Villa, she was always the one who was ostracized and isolated.
Now that the princess has taken a liking to her and promoted her to head palace maid, Mu Ying is both surprised and delighted. She has become much more diligent in her work, and she doesn't care at all even when others secretly mock her.
"Tch, what's so great about her? She just got a piece of trash..." Before she could finish speaking, someone interrupted, "Shh, walls have ears. Do you want others to find out that you're disrespecting the princess?"
"So what if she found out? What can she do to us?" The speaker rolled his eyes dismissively. "In my opinion, given the princess's personality, even if she had a hundred lives, she wouldn't dare to raise her voice..."
What are you talking about?
Leng Buran, Mu Ying, who had already left, suddenly appeared behind them and scolded them sternly, "Have you prepared what the princess ordered? You're all just slacking off. Wait until I report back to the princess, and you'll all be in big trouble!"
"you--"
"Alright, Lanruo, stop fooling around." Someone gently tugged at her clothes and whispered in her ear, "Sister Qiushuang isn't here now, so let's behave ourselves and not get into trouble."
"Hmph—" The palace maid, known as Lanruo, snorted coldly and ultimately did not cause any more trouble.
Mu Ying glanced at her, smiled, and turned to report back to Shen Panyan.
“Princess, those girls used to be closest to Qiu Shuang, but I’ve noticed that Qiu Shuang hasn’t been in contact with them lately.”
"I understand." Shen Panyan nodded, not expecting Mu Ying to know much.
"You may leave now."
"yes."
Mu Ying left, and Shen Panyan looked at Lin Xiao lying unconscious on the bed, her heart filled with worry.
It's already the second day, why hasn't Lin Xiao woken up yet?
Physician Lin said there was no rush, but how could she not be anxious?
A note from the author:
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[Keep it up!] I'm back with an update. My update time is pretty weird, I'm basically busy during the day, only at night. Please forgive me!
I write slowly. Actually, writing a princess with a secret guard is not easy because I didn't plan to follow the path of a king or general. He is just a secret guard, and the female lead is a soft girl, which means there are fewer conflicts. So it's easy to mess up the writing if I'm not careful. Every time I finish writing, I will read it two or three times before I publish it. Please don't blame me for updating slowly.
Please][Please][Please]
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