Chapter 13: Who was Spying?
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Chu Liuyue suddenly remembered that the Seventh Prince—Rong Xiu—had indeed left the Imperial City earlier on since he was not in good health. He had only returned once or twice in all these years.
Even some court officials did not really take the Seventh Prince, Rong Xiu, seriously, let alone the original Chu Liuyue—a small character that got bullied all day long in her residence.
There were only a pitiful few memories related to the Seventh Prince, Rong Xiu, in the original Chu Liuyue’s brain, so Chu Liuyue did not even realize that he wasn’t supposed to be in the Imperial City.
“But I’ve heard that the Seventh Prince is coming back… Yue’er, did you say that you met the Seventh Prince at Lin Zhong?” asked Chu Zhong curiously.
Chu Liuyue let out a sigh of relief secretly and took advantage of the situation. “Yeah! I was also wondering about that then. I didn’t expect to meet him so coincidentally just as he came back.”
“No wonder… It seems like the Seventh Prince has really come back. However, there hasn’t been much news in the Imperial City.” Chu Ning thought for a while as he knitted his brows, but did not care about this incident much. After all, Rong Xiu was part of the royal family, and he had his own logic in doing things.
Now that he was no longer in court and was away from all these disputes, there was no use to think about this further.
He caressed Chu Liuyue’s head dotingly. “This time, we really owe the Seventh Prince a big favor. If there’s a chance, I’ll definitely thank him in person.”
Chu Liuyue disagreed silently. What favor? I just made use of his Lake Bibo for a while. However, looking at Chu Ning’s assured expression, she did not explain further and shifted the topic to the boiling herbs.
“Father, I boiled this according to the formula. I heard that it’s useful for old injuries. Try it!” said Chu Liuyue as she scooped out a bowl of medicine and opened the jade box next to her to take out a one-inch-long red rhizome that was as thick as a thumb. She squeezed it hard, and red juice dripped into the medicine.
Chu Liuyue then passed the bowl to Chu Ning.
Chu Ning looked down at the light-red medicine and was rather unsure. “Yue’er, is this really useful?”
Chu Liuyue naturally knew what he was worried about. Nobody could be confident about an ignorant person boiling herbs for the first time.
He did not hope for the herbs to be effective; he just hoped that it wasn’t poisonous.
She could only let him try the medicine directly since she could not tell Chu Ning her real identity. She also could not say that his old injury was just a small case in her eyes.
“Yue’er, did you properly prepare this according to the medical book’s formula…?”
Chu Liuyue was just about to explain, but Chu Ning had already taken the bowl from her hands. He chuckled. “Since Yue’er spent so much effort to make this for me, I can’t let your goodwill go to waste.” As he spoke, he directly finished the bowl of medicine in one go.
When he was done, he even showed the empty bowl to Chu Liuyue. “Look! I’ve finished every single drop!” Even if everyone in the world wanted to harm him, Yue’er would not. Even if he was not sure what effects this bowl of medicine had, he still drank it willingly because this was his precious daughter.
Chu Liuyue was dazed as she looked at Chu Ning’s delighted face, and asked subconsciously, “This is my first time making this medicine. I don’t have any experience at all. Father, aren’t you afraid you…”
“Don’t you have experience now? With me here, you will never have to worry! You can do whatever you want.”
Chu Liuyue felt her heart tingle as her entire body warmed up. Her heart was already frozen solid; even her bones and blood were cold after going through the painstaking betrayal in her past life. However, her heart warmed as she stared at Chu Ning’s loving smile. She looked down and wiped away the tears in her eyes. After some time, she finally spoke. “Father, you will get better!”
Chu Ning was in a daze, but he heard her every word clearly.
“One day in the future, Father, you’ll be as strong as you were before! No, you’ll become even stronger!”
Chu Ning laughed bitterly in his heart. Be stronger than in the past?
His leg was already… incurable. He could no longer advance in his cultivation. It was easy to say those words, but not easy to accomplish it. However, he could not bear to hurt his daughter, so he squeezed Chu Liuyue’s cheeks with a smile and asked, “Oh, yeah. The money for the herbs…”
Chu Liuyue’s eyes sparkled. “The Crown Prince gave me the money. Don’t worry about it.”
Chu Ning did not quite believe what Chu Liuyue said, but he did not probe further after seeing her confident expression and left after some instructions. After all, he had come back on leave. Since his daughter was fine, he should return to work.
Chu Liuyue waited for him to leave before continuing to boil her herbs.
Chu Ning’s injury was not a big problem; it only required her to boil a few herbs for two hours. The next medicine was the star of the show.
…
Time flew past quickly, and it was already nighttime.
The herbal smell in the house became even stronger. Even though she closed the windows and doors, the yard was still filled with the strong fragrance that strengthened one’s heart. However, as they were in an isolated corner of the estate and with this morning’s drama, none of the Chu family members would step foot into this place.
The moon hung high in the sky.
It was completely silent inside and outside the house.
Chu Liuyue poured all the medicine into the wood container for showering that she had already prepared at the side. The fragrance of the herbs and the rising heat merged together and permeated the air.
She then undid her belt and prepared to take off her clothes. Even though she was very skinny, she already had some of a young woman’s curves.
Her clothes dropped on the floor, revealing her white, pearly shoulders.
Dong!
She heard a loud sound coming from outside.
Chu Liuyue rapidly put on her clothes, went to the windows to open them, and took a look outside. “Who’s there?”
The yard was deadly silent; she could vaguely see a white figure flash past a distant wall.
When she was about to take a closer look, the figure disappeared into thin air.
She alertly waited for a while, and only stopped looking when there were no more sounds. Just as she was about to lock the windows securely, a thought flashed in her mind. Did Xue Xue come back? Other than this, she really could not think of anyone else who would be here.
But why did it leave?
After thinking for a while, Chu Liuyue closed the window but did not lock it.
If it came back, it could come in from the window.
After doing all of this, she took off her clothes again and finally entered the bath.
The hot power followed her skin, and ferociously entered her body.
Chu Liuyue’s face immediately flushed red as all the blood rushed to her face. It was hard for her body to take such a strong surge of energy since her body’s Yuan meridian was lacking, and she was very weak.
Chu Liuyue opened the last jade box at the side and took out the jade-green cold pearl that was as big as a longan before placing it in her mouth.
A cold air that chilled her heart immediately went into her lungs.
Her body started to prick and hurt everywhere.
Cold on the outside, warm on the inside. She felt like she was being attacked by ice and fire at the same time. However, her Yuan meridian could only be revived and recovered through this strong and intense shock.
Chu Liuyue slowly closed her eyes.
In her dantian, the torn and tattered invisible book pages became small lakes and suddenly started rippling.
…
A bulky figure hid in the darkness of the night, outside the Chu family’s estate and in a dimly-lit alley. The shiny moonlight was not even as clear as his eyes.
Behind him, a white lion was squatting down with grievances; there was a bruise on its forehead, which clearly just formed.
Rong Xiu stood with his hands clasped behind his back and silently looked at the pitch-black, quiet yard. His voice was slightly cold as he said, “If you do it again, I’ll smack your eye. Do you understand?”