Chapter 19 The Forbidden City
The pain in her leg gradually loosen. She has no idea why the snake suddenly loosen it’s bite on her and slowly slithers back to the bush.
Her body suddenly floats as she is lifted up by the person in purple clothes.
She softly whispers something, “The viewing pavilion…….”
The hand that is holding her freeze, at that very moment, a snowflake enters her eye. The blurry haziness in her eyes gradually disappears. She looks at the man carrying her, he is actually…..
“Your M—-“ She freeze mid-sentence, silently taken aback.
After a little while, he carries her to a place under an eave.
She has no idea how they left the mountain pit, perhaps, this is the other end of the pit?
She is a stranger to everything within the Forbidden City.
Why is Xuan Yuan Yu here? She does not understand.
Yes, that person is Xuan Yuan Yu.
Even though he is wearing a bianpao and her vision isn’t exactly clear, but she knows she didn’t see wrong.
His appearance is unrivalled, once a person sees him, they will never be able to forget him.
He place her in a little stool under the eaves and unties his cloak before wrapping it on her. After he did that, he enters the house and comes back out carrying a green porcelain bottle and a very thin knife.
He lifts her skirt aside, lowly muttering, “Please bear it for a while.” After he said that, he hands her a bundle of cloth.
She shakes her head, bluntly saying, “Can…. Can you be a little quicker?”
Even though she is afraid of pain, she is not willing to bite into things like that.
That snake is definitely poisonous. If she is not treated, her life will be at stake. But she really wants to go to the viewing pavilion, if he can do it faster it’d be better. If she bite into things, he will think she is scared of pain and will be even more careful.
Besides, bite as she may, the pain will not lessen.
He wrinkles his brows a little. Even when wearing a simple bianpao he exudes an extraordinary aura.
He crouches in front of her, cutting across the bitten area with the knife. Ink black blood rushes out. He force out the black bloods as it flows down to her socks.
She is afraid of blood, so she looks away as it oozes out of her leg.
The pain is so clear.
It really hurts ah.
She grits her teeth. Cold sweat forms on her head and on that snowy day, the feeling of coldness is as clear as the pain in her calf. She grasp her hands.
After a while, the blood flowing out from her calf gradually turns red. He takes the bottle and sprinkle it’s powdery content onto her wound.
“Chenqie—-“ she looks over to see if he finish sprinkling the powder. Just as she said that word, he looks up and stares at her. She cannot find it in her to look back. She looks down and continues her sentence, “—thanks the Emperor.”
After saying that, she gets up. Her legs are frail, she can barely move. She holds into a pillar and suddenly finds out that she can see the eastern part of the city through some trees not too far away.
She lowers her eyes as it turns misty.
She is suddenly in the air again as he lifts her up and walk towards the direction she was staring at.
She wants to break free from his arms but she knows her legs are too weak, she will not be able to walk there by herself.
At that very moment, she can see the funeral procession for Xiang Qin w.a.n.g slowly walking out of the manor. The rows of white flags give off solemn atmosphere.
There are white things floating around the procession, she doesn’t know if it’s snow or paper money.
Her body trembles slightly. He wraps her hand and hugs her tighter.
Did he think she was cold?
The truth is she isn’t cold at all. Just, her heart cannot feel any warmth.
She must not cry.
It is considered disrespectful to shed tears in front of the ruler. So she cannot cry.
She looks up. The tears that are originally about to fall retreats back to the corner of her heart.
All of her pain and bitterness must also retreats back along with it.
“Your Majesty, can you put chenqie down?” she asks softly.
The hands that are holding her hesitates a bit, but in the end follows her request and place her down. She kneels down and place her forehead on the ground full of snow. Her forehead is cold, mirroring the desolateness of her heart.
Just like that, she kneels for a long; long time.