The reason those nine peach blossoms were so deeply etched in his memory was that they were no ordinary birthmarks.
Nor did those peach blossoms appear at all times—they only changed when the woman's emotions stirred.
That night of entanglement, he had watched the peach blossoms on her body shift from pale pink to blood red.
Mo Qianhan looked again at the Peach Blossom Brand on her body.
It was still there!
Though he didn't know if there were nine…
Ignoring the wound on his hand, he scooped Chu Fengge up into his arms. Just as he was about to leave the side room of Baoxiang Pavilion, Mo Qianhan glanced back at the medicine chest she had left on the table and called out, "Xiusha."
The guard Xiusha pushed open the door and entered the side room. "My lord."
"Pack up the Princess Consort's medicine chest and guard it well. No one is to touch it."
Before Xiusha could even respond, Mo Qianhan strode past him.
He hurriedly carried Chu Fengge out of Baoxiang Pavilion.
This scene happened to be witnessed by Bai Ruoshui, who was just walking out of the main hall of Baoxiang Pavilion.
Hongling frowned. "Isn't that the Prince? Why would the Prince be carrying the Princess Consort? Did that lowly woman use some trick to beguile him?"
Bai Ruoshui's eyes grew several degrees colder, her hands clenching tightly…
Mo Qianhan did not carry Chu Fengge back to Peach Snow Courtyard. Instead, he brought her to the side chamber of Moyu Pavilion.
When Nanny Song saw Mo Qianhan return carrying Chu Fengge, though her face was full of confusion, she still respectfully followed behind him and asked, "Your Highness, what happened to the Princess Consort?"
"Go fetch Tan Liangyi to examine the Princess Consort. Nanny Song, you help wipe her down." After laying her on the couch, Mo Qianhan stared with burning intensity at her flushed face, his brows knitted tightly. "Check whether the Princess Consort has any strange Peach Blossom Mark on her body. Examine her carefully."
Some of the servants in the room went to fetch Tan Liangyi.
Nanny Song looked with even greater curiosity at Chu Fengge lying on the bed. Though she had many questions in her heart, she dared not ask more.
She replied, "Yes, Your Highness."
Mo Qianhan turned and quickly walked out of the room.
Soon, a maid entered carrying a basin of warm water.
Mo Qianhan stood beneath the eaves, his expression stern, his brow deeply furrowed.
The servants coming and going, seeing the Prince Regent like this, all shrank their necks and went about their tasks with great care.
After a quarter of an hour, Nanny Song came out of the room and gave Mo Qianhan a slight curtsy. "Your Highness, this servant has carefully examined the Princess Consort's body."
"And? What did you find?"
"The Princess Consort does indeed have a peach blossom birthmark."
"One?!" The hope in Mo Qianhan's eyes instantly extinguished, but he asked again, his voice tinged with unwillingness, "Does the birthmark change in any way?"
"This… I'm not sure what Your Highness means…" Nanny Song was somewhat confused by his meaning.
"After wiping her down with warm water, does the birthmark's color change—to pale pink or blood red?"
Nanny Song immediately shook her head. "There was no change at all. The birthmark on the Princess Consort's body looks like an ordinary birthmark. However, while examining her, this servant discovered that the Princess Consort is covered in wounds—old injuries that look like they were inflicted by a whip."
"In some places, flesh was even carved away with a knife, leaving deep pits. And… when this servant attended to the Princess Consort's child, I saw that the child was also covered in scars."
The light in Mo Qianhan's eyes no longer stirred the slightest ripple. He mocked himself inwardly: If Chu Fengge really were the woman he was looking for, then what would Hua An's existence even mean? She had given birth to Zilou, then buried Zilou alive, then coupled with another man, bearing an illegitimate daughter out of wedlock—it was nothing short of an insult to him…
Zilou's mother could never be like that. He must have been blinded by ghosts to think Chu Fengge was the woman he was looking for!
"No one is to know what I ordered you to do today. Have someone send her back to Peach Snow Courtyard and let Tan Liangyi treat her wounds."
"Your Highness! Your Highness!" Hongling came running breathlessly into Moyu Pavilion, and after catching her breath, she said, "The Cousin has fainted!"