The lights in the hall flickered, and people were passively pushed away from their original positions. The crowd around Wei Shuwan changed wave after wave, but she remained sitting in the same spot, unmoved by the commotion.
She gathered her strength, grabbed one of the men's robes, and with all her might, managed to pull herself up to her feet! The most dangerous moment had passed.
Wei Shuwan looked up, intending to thank or apologize to the man she had grabbed, but the moment their eyes met, the man's eyes lit up, and he shouted excitedly, "Found her! She's here!"
Was it too late to mistake her for the fake Wei Shu who had escaped?!
The crowd erupted in a frenzy once more! Everyone surged toward Wei Shuwan! Wei Shuwan's face turned ashen instantly. Just as the demonic claws were waving wildly before her eyes, and she was about to suffocate, a figure suddenly swept down from above, stepping on the heads of countless people. He swept past like a gust of wind, and before anyone could even see him make a move, the crowd was swept away like withered leaves hanging on the treetops in late autumn.
Those who had been baring their teeth and brandishing their claws were now lying piled up on the ground. Wei Shuwan was precisely pulled away from the crowd by Li Qingchen.
This time, he didn't pull the wrong one.
Wei Shuwan didn't know how far Li Qingchen had carried her. In any case, when they landed, the surroundings were completely silent, far away from the previous noise and commotion.
She was panting heavily, still shaken, and hugged herself tightly, her hands trembling uncontrollably. Just then, a low voice floated down from above her head: "I'm sorry."
Wei Shuwan looked up and met the palpable guilt in his eyes. She didn't know if his apology was for taking her to such a place or for grabbing the wrong person when leaving. But deep down, she didn't blame him.
Her long eyelashes fluttered for a long time, but she didn't know what to say. In the end, she could only manage to stammer, "I want to go back."
Li Qingchen nodded. "Alright, wait here for a moment, I'll go find the carriage."
However, having just experienced those terrible things, how could Wei Shuwan leave alone here now? Seeing him lift his foot, she immediately followed.
Li Qingchen had only taken two steps when he heard a "Hmm—" from behind him.
Turning around, he saw that Wei Shuwan had fallen to the ground again. Just as he was wondering what was wrong, he saw her clutching her right ankle and shedding tears. He quickly went over to take a look and found that there was a large red and swollen area there.
He then remembered the time she fell earlier, "Was she stepped on just now?"
Wei Shuwan nodded. In fact, she hadn't felt any pain during the previous critical situation. Now that she was safe, the pain was flaring up fiercely. She tried her best to hold it in, but tears still involuntarily streamed down her face.
Li Qingchen sighed silently, said, "I apologize for the offense," and then picked her up in his arms. There was no need to find a carriage; he simply used the rooftops for support and gracefully drove away.
Wei Shuwan was held tightly in his arms, feeling awkward about the overly intimate gesture while also worrying about his wound. However, his speed was much faster than the carriage, and several times she tried to move away, only to be immediately pushed back into his arms by the wind. The more she tried to avoid the wound on his right chest, the more she bumped into him.
Finally, she learned her lesson and pressed herself tightly against Li Qingchen's chest.
Back in the room of reflection, Li Qingchen placed Wei Shuwan on a bench and took out the medicinal oil that he had stolen by sneaking through the window when passing by Fuquxuan.
Wei Shuwan watched him open the bottle and raise an eyebrow as if gesturing for her to take off her shoes. Her face flushed instantly, and she reached out her hand, saying, "I can do it myself."
"If you want to walk out of this room of reflection on your own tomorrow, you must use my internal energy to activate the medicine so that it takes effect in a short time."
Seeing Li Qingchen's serious and determined expression, Wei Shuwan didn't know why she gave up resisting and obediently removed her hand from her ankle.
But the moment Li Qingchen's hand touched her silk shoes, she suddenly came to her senses and regretted her previous compliance. However, to change her mind and refuse now would seem pretentious, so she finally gritted her teeth and closed her eyes.
Li Qingchen removed her shoes and socks with extreme gentleness. He had only ever been served like this before, and had never served anyone like this before. But when he thought of Wei Shuwan, who had been pampered since birth, yet had stayed up all night to take care of him, he felt that as a man, what was there to be ashamed of?
The silk stockings were removed, revealing a pair of fair and delicate jade feet. This was the first time Li Qingchen had ever seen a girl's feet.
He had always thought that girls' feet were just smaller than men's, but he never imagined that it was a completely different perspective, just like "oranges grown south of the Huai River are sweet oranges, but grown north of the Huai River are bitter oranges."
Perhaps feeling a little nervous under his gaze, Wei Shuwan's toes unconsciously curled inwards, which, to Li Qingchen, resembled two lotus petals turning inwards...
Li Qingchen suddenly realized his rudeness and hurriedly looked away to pick up the medicated oil on the table. When he looked back, his gaze was much colder. He poured the medicated oil into his palm, then rubbed his hands together to warm it before applying it to the red and swollen area of her ankle.
After repeating this several times, the medicated oil could no longer be absorbed, so he helped her put her shoes and socks back on and sat back down on the bench.
Neither of them knew what to say, so Wei Shuwan tried to break the awkward silence by making conversation: "In that case, can I get out of bed and walk again tomorrow?"
"It should be fine, but you still need to be careful to avoid spraining it again."
“Then…” Wei Shuwan lowered her eyes and looked at her toes, wanting to ask him if it was time to leave, but thinking of the long night, she was a little scared.
Although his presence here might make her somewhat uncomfortable, it's far better than facing her fear alone.
In the end, she harbored a selfish thought: as long as he didn't mention leaving, she wouldn't ask.
Thinking of finding some more topics to talk about, Wei Shuwan pondered for a long time before finally remembering one: "Oh right, just now at Xunfang Pavilion, I thought the man bidding looked somewhat familiar, but I just couldn't remember where I had seen him before."
As she was frantically searching through her memories, Li Qingchen gave her the answer: "The second son of Prince Jing, Zhu Gaozhuo."
"It's him!" Wei Shuwan felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She immediately recognized him. No wonder he looked familiar. He had also appeared beside Princess Jing and Princess Yun'an during the last birthday celebration of Duke Sheng.
The reason Wei Shuwan had a strong impression of him was because his eyes were always fixed on her, cold and slippery, like a venomous snake.
Now that she knew the other party's identity, Wei Shuwan roughly guessed what had happened tonight: "I understand. It seems that I offended the Prince Jing's mansion too badly last time, and he held a grudge against me. Tonight, he seized the opportunity to humiliate me."
"No wonder some people rushed to the street to use my name as a gimmick. It seems they deliberately spread rumors about this matter. In the end, it was hard to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and I naturally took the blame."
"What a vicious scheme!" Wei Shuwan said bitterly.
In her previous life, she had suffered enough from rumors and gossip. Many unfounded rumors became true as they were spread, and they became more and more outrageous!
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