"Shuwan, I'll take you back." Pan Wenjun also got up to escort Wei Shuwan back to her tent, but Wei Shuwan gently declined by pressing her hand down.
Although Wei Shushu didn't say a word, Pan Wenjun could tell what she meant. She was trying to help her get together with Sun Xingjian, which was why she didn't want Pan Wenjun to see her off.
Pan Wenjun naturally appreciated her gesture and didn't insist further, letting go of her hand. Unexpectedly, Wei Shuwan turned around and suddenly tripped, nearly falling: "Ouch—"
"Watch out!" Fortunately, Pan Wenjun was quick enough to catch Wei Shuwan in time.
This wasn't Wei Shuwan's deliberate act; her foot genuinely felt unresponsive, as if it had been petrified, unlike anything that belonged to her body. Wei Shuwan looked down and saw that her foot was indeed much more swollen than it had been that afternoon, stretching her silk socks to a full circle.
Pan Wenjun glanced down at her and felt a pang of heartache. She whispered, "Let me take you. It won't take much time to get back."
She spoke very softly, so that apart from Wei Shuwan, who was right next to her, the two people opposite her should not have been able to hear her.
Wei Shuwan shook her head at her again, and Pan Wenjun had no choice but to compromise: "Then how about we call Ziqiao or Miaoxiang?"
“They didn’t go to sleep until late last night while packing all the supplies, and this morning they came over before dawn to sweep the beds. We finally managed to get them to go back to sleep for a while, so let’s not wake them up.”
"You can't just do it yourself..."
Seeing Pan Wenjun's worried expression, Wei Shuwan smiled, her dark, bright eyes slid to the left, glancing at Li Qingchen sitting opposite her: "Young Prince, didn't you say you had some ointment to reduce swelling and relieve pain in your tent? Could you take me to get it now?"
Li Qingchen met her gaze, a cryptic smile playing on his lips. After a moment of silence, he replied, "Okay." He then dusted off the ashes from his hands, straightened his clothes, and walked ahead.
Wei Shuwan followed behind him, leaning on her wooden cane, but because she walked too slowly, she quickly fell far behind Li Qingchen. Li Qingchen, who was walking ahead at a brisk pace, seemed to have no recollection of her existence and did not turn around even once.
Pan Wenjun, observing this, couldn't help but mutter again, "Is this young Prince Qiaochuan a suitable match?"
Sun Xingjian was quite satisfied with Li Qingchen's previous reply and didn't care about these minor details at all. He replied casually, "Men are not as meticulous and sensitive as women. Even if they have something in their hearts, they don't necessarily have to show it all the time."
These words immediately drew Pan Wenjun's attention away from Wei Shuwan's back and onto Sun Xingjian. "So, Brother Sun, are you the same way?"
"How did this come back to me?" Sun Xingjian hurriedly looked away and picked up a thin stick to turn over the firewood.
Pan Wenjun smiled. Normally, she would have thought he was clueless and always dodging her probing, but tonight she didn't care about anything. Because she would always remember how Sun Xingjian had shielded her from the bear that pounced on her in the forest, sacrificing himself to protect her.
Why bother about whether a man who is willing to give his life to you can say sweet words?
"Brother Sun, have some chicken butt. The story says it's called 'Thousand Mile Fragrance,' and it's incredibly nourishing!" As she spoke, Pan Wenjun broke off a triangular piece of chicken butt and offered it to Sun Xingjian's mouth.
"No—" Sun Xingjian opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, his mouth was blocked by a butt, and he was forced to put it into his mouth.
"Waaaaah—" Sun Xingjian wailed angrily, turned around and spat out the chicken's rear end, looking at Pan Wenjun with annoyance.
But for some reason, when he met her affectionate eyes, the words of rebuke that were on the tip of his tongue got stuck in his throat and he swallowed them back.
Through the flickering flames, he saw Pan Wenjun resting her chin on her hands, her fair and jade-like face flushed with a rosy glow in the firelight, a scene reminiscent of admiring beauty under lamplight.
And her smile, illuminated by the flames, was so bright and lovely.
Sun Xingjian was momentarily stunned, his gaze lingering for a long time. It wasn't until Pan Wenjun's bright smile turned into one tinged with mockery that he realized he had lost his composure. He quickly looked away, frantically glancing around, but couldn't find a place to look.
Pan Wenjun's mocking smile deepened. She wasn't laughing at anything else about him, but simply at how a grown man like him could never face his own heart. If he were truly an unyielding stone all these years, she would have given up long ago.
It was precisely because she understood his true feelings even better than he did that she couldn't bear to let go and was willing to keep waiting for him to speak.
But this wait has lasted for so many years.
As for Wei Shuwan, by the time she finally limped to Li Qingchen's tent, he had already been inside for quite some time. Wei Shuwan felt somewhat annoyed. Although she understood that Li Qingchen didn't want to marry her because he liked her that much, she was still going to marry him anyway, so why did he have to treat her so coldly?
Besides, this happened while my foot was injured.
The more she thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt. When Wei Shuwan pushed open the tent door and entered the tent, she was filled with resentment for no reason, so much so that she forgot about the things she should be careful of underfoot.
Wei Shuwan shifted her foot slightly, but tripped over the wooden threshold, which was neither too high nor too low, and fell straight in!
In that instant, she thought she was doomed, that she was going to lose all face, to fall flat on her face right under Li Qingchen's nose...
However, just as her forehead was about to hit the ground and her mind went blank, a pair of large hands grabbed her around the waist and immediately steadied her!
Wei Shuwan stood stiffly in the doorway, her mind still reeling. After a moment of stunned silence, her thoughts gradually cleared. She stared at Li Qingchen, a strange tension gripping her. Her heart pounded wildly, as if it were about to leap out of her throat.
She had felt this way several times before, but the only time she had ever felt this intensely was when she was kidnapped by bandits and taken to that Lianhuan Village. Li Qingchen and she were locked in a room together, and he bit off the piece of cloth stuffed in her mouth, and their lips lightly touched.
Suddenly remembering that incident, Wei Shuwan realized that what Zi Qiao said about Li Qingchen feeding her medicine mouth-to-mouth was not their first intimate contact.
So, they've already kissed twice before they've even officially become a couple?
As Wei Shuwan looked at Li Qingchen, who was so close to her, these images kept flashing through her mind, and her cheeks became increasingly flushed.
Li Qingchen's lips, which had been taut just a moment ago, gradually curved upwards as he watched Wei Shuwan's face. "Are you really not faking it?"
All the scenes, because of Li Qingchen's words, vanished like ink spilled from a painting. Wei Shuwan retorted angrily, "Of course not! I didn't even know you were here when I climbed the astrological platform on my cane!"
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