Yun Si opened the door, still bleary-eyed. “What is it?”
The person knocking was Lan Xin.
“My lady, His Highness was ambushed on his way back from the palace. I saw that he was covered in blood and seemed to be seriously injured. Lu Yu has already gone over to find out what happened. Would you like to go and take a look as well?”
Yun Si was slightly startled when she heard this.
How could that be?
In her previous life, Qin Ye had never been ambushed…
Could it be that fate had found another way to put him through this calamity?
Two events had already diverged from the course of her previous life. What, exactly, had gone wrong?
Yun Si had no time to analyze it further. She quickly calmed herself, turned toward the pharmacy next door, grabbed the medicine chest she had prepared during the day, and immediately headed for the main courtyard.
“My lady.”
Lan Xin called after her, “It’s chilly at night. Put on an outer garment before you go!”
Yun Si did not slow down.
Lan Xin had no choice but to go to her room herself and fetch a cloak. She hurried after Yun Si and draped it over her shoulders.
When they arrived at the main courtyard, Yun Si went straight toward Qin Ye’s bedchamber.
However, there was not a soul outside the door.
“Main courtyard?” Wait no. "My lady!" Lu Yu arrived breathless. “He’s in the side hall.”
Yun Si frowned.
She was somewhat puzzled, but did not ask any questions. Instead, she followed Lu Yu to the side hall.
At the entrance, Yun Si immediately saw Qin Ye standing on the stone steps.
She hurried forward, her gaze sweeping over him from head to toe.
His clothes were stained with quite a lot of blood, especially around his left arm. Fresh blood dripped from his sleeve onto the ground.
Compared with her previous life, however, his condition did not appear too serious.
Yun Si silently let out a sigh of relief.
“You’re injured. Why are you standing outside?”
She reached out, but just as her fingertips touched Qin Ye’s bloodstained sleeve, he turned aside and avoided her.
The man’s sharply defined profile looked especially cold and hard beneath the dim yellow lamplight. His eyes met Yun Si’s worried gaze, then fell upon her thin clothes, and his brows drew together slightly.
A deep, inky darkness seemed to lie within his eyes.
“This prince is fine.”
He stared at her for a moment before speaking, his voice low and hoarse, rough as grit. “This blood isn’t mine.”
Not his blood?
That was true.
Aside from the blood around his arm, the rest had merely splashed onto his clothes.
Qin Ye’s eyes shifted toward the door before him. His cold, firm jaw was taut, and a trace of faint vexation seemed to be concealed in his eyes.
Was he worried about the person who had caused him to become drenched in blood?
Instinct told Yun Si that the injured person inside had to be a woman.
“Your arm is bleeding.”
Yun Si grabbed his bloodstained wrist. The medicine chest struck her leg with a dull thud, and the pain nearly made her lose her balance. A searing palm suddenly wrapped around her waist and held her steady.
Their eyes met. Qin Ye pushed her away and said coldly, “What are you doing here? Go back.”
“I’m going to treat the injury on your arm.”
“It’s only a minor wound. There’s no need.”
“What do you mean, minor? You’ve lost this much blood. Do you not want your arm anymore?”
From the corner of her eye, Yun Si glanced toward the candlelight spilling from the side hall. The faint moans of a woman in pain drifted out, confirming her intuition. A chill inexplicably rose in her heart.
“Or is it that Your Highness cares more about someone else’s life or death?”
Qin Ye looked at her, the air around him turning cold.
Yun Si paid him no heed. She seized his arm and dragged him toward the front hall.
The night wind beneath the corridor carried the smell of blood past them.
Yun Si pressed him into a grand armchair, then used scissors to cut open his bloodstained sleeve. The wound was long and deep enough to expose the bone, but fortunately, it had not struck anything vital.
“Is the woman inside the secondary consort you intended to marry?”
She pressed a cloth soaked in medicinal alcohol firmly against the wound. When she saw Qin Ye’s brows draw together slightly, an image suddenly flashed through her mind: in her previous life, he had stormed into the Shen Residence and been impaled through the shoulder by Shen Qian’s hidden guards with a long spear, yet he had not even so much as furrowed his brows.
A faint ache and softness rose in her heart.
The movements of her hands became gentler as well.
Qin Ye lifted his eyes to look at her. He stared fixedly at her face, complicated, unreadable emotions hidden in his pitch-black eyes.
He did not answer, and Yun Si already had her answer.
She said nothing more, merely treating his wound in silence.
The expression on her face had become utterly calm. Not a trace of worry remained. Even when she saw the wound, there was no sign of heartache—only concentration and solemnity.
Qin Ye turned his face away, the corners of his lips curling with mockery.
At that moment, footsteps sounded outside.
Doctor Ji hurried in, both hands stained with blood. He spoke anxiously, “Your Highness, Miss Lin’s injuries are dangerous. The dagger is lodged near her heart, and I don’t dare pull it out rashly…”
Qin Ye abruptly rose, but Yun Si stopped him first.
“You’re not a physician. Going there won’t help.”
“That’s none of your concern.”
Yun Si drew a deep breath.
She placed a packet of hemostatic powder in Qin Ye’s palm and said firmly, “Have the wound bandaged before you go.”
“…”
…
A moment later.
Yun Si carried the medicine chest and went with Qin Ye to the room in the side hall.
Amid the swaying candlelight, the moment Yun Si saw the person lying on the bed, not the slightest trace of surprise appeared on her face.
As expected, it was her.
Lin Shuyan.
Qin Ye’s younger neighbor-sister from his days among the common people.
Yun Si remembered that in her previous life, Lin Shuyan had relied on her relationship with Qin Ye to marry the son of a noble family. As for how she had fared after marriage, Yun Si did not know.
But in her previous life, Lin Shuyan had not appeared at Qin Ye’s side this early.
In this life, not only had she come to the capital ahead of time, she had almost become Qin Ye’s secondary consort as well…
Such a drastic change in the course of fate was impossible without some kind of force arranging it.
“Your Highness, if this dagger isn’t pulled out, Miss Lin’s life will be in danger at any moment. But if it is pulled out, I’m afraid she may not survive the moment it leaves her body. She might die even faster.”
Doctor Ji’s voice drew Yun Si back from her thoughts.
The way he put it, an ordinary person might have been scared to death even if they were not already dying.
He had not softened a single word.
Lin Shuyan’s face was pale as paper and covered in fine beads of sweat. Her light-colored dress was soaked through with blood around the chest, and her whole body was weak and limp, as though she might be carried away by the wind at any moment.
She struggled to extend a hand toward Qin Ye, but he merely stepped forward and consoled her coldly, “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine.”
Then he turned to Doctor Ji. “This prince doesn’t care what method you use. You must ensure her life is preserved!”
Doctor Ji was nearly in tears.
He was a physician, not an immortal.
There was no way he could guarantee that.
“It’s… it’s all right. I don’t regret taking this blow for Your Highness. Doctor Ji, you needn’t have any reservations. Please… please pull out the dagger.”
Yun Si watched coldly from the side, with no intention of meddling.
She had studied medicine, but she had never learned that whole business about a physician’s benevolent heart.
Besides, she was merely a half-trained amateur whose knowledge was limited to theory. She did not dare show off her meager skills before Doctor Ji.
But when she heard Lin Shuyan say that she had taken the blow for His Highness, Yun Si’s eyes flickered faintly.
First, there was the affection of childhood sweethearts. Then came the debt of having saved his life.
If Lin Shuyan had also been reborn, then was this ambush truly an accident—or had she meticulously arranged it herself?
If it was the latter, then this woman was truly ruthless in pursuit of her goal.
Yun Si glanced at Qin Ye.
Seeing his tightly furrowed brows and darkened expression, Yun Si felt somewhat vexed as well.
If Lin Shuyan died, would Qin Ye remember her for the rest of his life?
Then there would be no place for Yun Si at all.
She would repay whatever she owed him, but if someone else had already occupied his heart, she would not shamelessly cling to him.
Being foolish once in her previous life was enough. In this life, she wanted to remain a little more clear-headed.
Yun Si did not believe that Lin Shuyan had not left herself a way out.
Unless she, too, had not expected things to turn out this way.
“Since Miss Lin has said so, I’ll do my best.”
Doctor Ji made all the necessary preparations. Just as he was about to pull out the dagger, a voice suddenly came from the doorway.
“Wait!”
A maid hurried in, flustered and out of breath.
“Doctor Ji, please see whether this medicine will help. Miss obtained it through an act of kindness on the road to the capital. They said it could save a life.”
Doctor Ji looked at the exquisitely crafted medicine box in her hands. After taking it and opening it, his eyes immediately lit up.
“This is something good.”
Yun Si looked over curiously.
The moment the medicine box opened, a strange medicinal fragrance wafted toward them, carrying the faint bitterness of herbs and wood, along with an almost imperceptible sweetness tinged with blood.
Inside was a pearl-white pill. A faint radiance seemed to flow across its surface, and beneath the candlelight, it resembled moonlight frozen into solid form.
Doctor Ji clicked his tongue in wonder. He had never seen a pill like this before.
A trace of confusion flashed across Yun Si’s face.
Strange.
Why did this medicine seem vaguely familiar?
Oh, right. The handwritten medical notes had recorded the formula for this medicine.
This was a miraculous medicine capable of saving a life. She would have to try later and see whether she could compound it herself.
Doctor Ji’s excited voice rang out. “This medicine can hold a pulse that is on the verge of breaking and temporarily slow the loss of blood and qi. Though it cannot directly cure such a serious injury, it will be enough to sustain her through the dangerous moment when the dagger is removed. What a pity…”
He did not finish saying what, exactly, was so regrettable.
From the expression on his face, Yun Si could guess what he was thinking.
The medicine had to be given to Lin Shuyan immediately. Otherwise, he could have extracted its ingredients and studied the formula.
A faint glimmer passed through Yun Si’s eyes, and the corner of her lips curved almost imperceptibly.
The outcome was utterly predictable. She had no interest in staying any longer, so she picked up the medicine chest and left.
She could feel Qin Ye’s intense gaze fixed on her departing back. Yet he did not follow her out, and she did not look back.
On her way back to Qixiwu Court, Yun Si passed Nanny Qian’s room and saw that the light was still on inside. The back of Nanny Qian’s hand appeared to have been scalded, and she was applying medicine to it herself.
The injury seemed to have occurred two days earlier. The wound was red and moist, with a layer of small blisters forming over it.
Clearly, the medicine she was using was not very effective.
Yun Si took out a trial batch of golden wound medicine from her chest and placed it outside Nanny Qian’s door before leaving silently.
She did not sleep soundly during the latter half of the night.
All kinds of disorderly thoughts kept swirling through her mind.
She thought of Shen Qian, Qin Ye, Lin Shuyan, and her parents and elder brothers.
Who was the mysterious person behind Shen Qian?
The Shen Family had always supported the First Prince, Prince Jin, Qin Su. Could that mysterious person behind Shen Qian be Prince Jin?
As for Qin Ye, he seemed to have no power in court. In truth, he had already made preparations before returning to the capital from among the common people. He had many capable and unusual people around him, while the officials supporting him in court were hidden extremely well. At present, however, his wings were not yet fully grown, and he still needed to bide his time and conceal his strength.
As for Lin Shuyan, Yun Si was certain that she had been reborn as well!
Lin Shuyan had returned carrying the memories of her previous life. She must have known perfectly well that, following the course of events from her previous life, Yun Si should have died by this point. How, then, could she have returned to the prince’s residence and even ruined Lin Shuyan’s plans?
Therefore, when her first plan failed, she had immediately put her second plan into action.
In fact, it was not difficult to guess.
Lin Shuyan knew that Qin Ye would eventually reach the highest position. She wanted to marry into the prince’s residence before the Chancellor’s legitimate daughter could do so, and in the future, she might even fight for the position of empress.
Amid these tangled thoughts, Yun Si gradually fell asleep.
In her drowsy sleep, she seemed to return to three years ago, to that mountain cave. She had been suffering from a high fever that would not break, alternately burning hot and freezing cold. It was still that gentle little brother who had stayed by her side, held her, wiped away her sweat, and warmed her body.
The fever had left her delirious. She wanted so badly to open her eyes and see what that little brother truly looked like, but no matter what she did, she could not open them.
She exerted all her strength.
At last, bit by bit, she slowly opened her eyes.
She saw that face.
It was actually…