Chapter 87: A Secret Agent, Gossipy Women
Long Heng held her up with one hand. But as a result, her clothes were stained red due to the Red Pearl residue on his hands. But why would men care about things like that? He only blurted, “Why did she faint again? Call for the doctor, hurry!”
Suddenly, that small, crimson red hand grabbed ahold of him. With a trembling voice, Bai Xiangxiu said, “No… no need. Just bandaging my hand well will be enough.”
But how would Long Heng believe her? The doctor made his own appearance shortly thereafter.
This was the doctor from the manor’s inner estate. He inwardly sighed with emotion at the fragility of this Madame Xiu. It almost seemed like he was summoned every 3 to 5 days to pay her a visit. But what could he do? She was a beauty and was known to hold the prince’s adoration! But as he finished his check up, he realized that this madame didn’t seem to have any illnesses.
The doctor suddenly had an epiphany. Could she be faking ill to gain Prince Li’s favour? If that was the case, he creased his brow. At that point, he could only say the following to play along with his masters, “Fourth Madame’s sickness is only due to fatigue. It isn’t very serious.” He quickly wrote down a prescription for some supplements. It’s not like some supplements would cause her harm anyways.
Long Heng creased his brows as well. His original plan of pouncing on her right after they returned home had now gone to the dogs. Her body was currently too weak, and her hands and waist were also injured. Even as much as he wanted to give in to his instincts, he would have to endure for now. He’d endured so many times already, he was used to it by now. It helped that hee actually wasn’t in such a hurry to pounce on her that much recently. On the contrary, he just wanted to be by her side, and not just think about doing so.
Bai Xiangxiu really didn’t enjoy drinking medicine. She was actually wondering why the doctor had misdiagnosed her phobia of blood as bodily fatigue? She began to seriously doubt the doctor’s medical skills.
Long Heng originally wanted to leave after seeing her lying down, but he didn’t have an idea of what to do once he had left. He took a spin around her cramped quarters and actually decided to stay. He took a seat to the side and grabbed a book
Bai Xiangxiu was feeling uncomfortable lying down and now there was even a red handprint on her own clothes! After contemplating for a long time, she quietly raised her body. Before Xiao s.h.i.+ could even say anything, Long Heng, sitting by the side reading a book, spoke with a deep voice, “Lie down.”
Bah, Bai Xiangxiu lay back down and shut her eyes again. But she couldn’t fall asleep at all. It wasn’t just because of the red handprint, but also because of a biological process. She needed to use the toilet. But the prince was too strict! She was told to lie down as soon as she even raised her body. If this continued, she might be forced to pee on the bed! So, she tossed and turned on the bed as her face turned beet red. There was a few times she wanted to get up and say with a thick face that she needed to use the lavatory.
But it was too embarra.s.sing!
It would be fine to say that if Long Heng was just an ordinary man. But he just had to be the guy who wanted to pounce on her. If she said that she needed to use the lavatory before he pounced on her, won’t it make him feel a little too distressed?
Endure… Endure… but in the end, biological processes were simply impossible to endure. Feeling helpless, she sat up with her face blus.h.i.+ng bright red.
“Lie…”
“Your Highness, your concubine wants… wants to…”
“Wants to?”
“Use the lavatory.” Bai Xiangxiu felt like desperately ramming her head into a wall. This prince was really too dense!
Long Heng was stunned for a moment, then said expressionlessly. “Go!”
Bai Xiangxiu felt like she was a student asking for permission to go to the restrooms at school, and then walking out of the cla.s.sroom with everyone’s attention on her. At first, she walked, but right after leaving the room, she practically ran all the way there.
Actually, there was a side hall adjoining her room. 1 But since there was a man in her bedroom, she didn’t dare to use the toilet in that room! After using the lavatory, she asked Xiao s.h.i.+ to bring her to the inner room to change her clothes. Only after that did she feel relieved and proceeded back into her room to lie down. She felt so much more comfortable now compared to before.
But just as soon as she lay down, a person came in to notify her that the old madame had fainted. Long Heng was shocked as he heard the news, and immediately took his leave. Bai Xiangxiu too couldn’t just lie there anymore and quickly followed behind him as they rushed towards the old madame’s residence.
After they arrived at the residence, the old madame had apparently already come to. As far as they could tell, it was a recurring health issue. Every time the temperature dropped, this would happen. It was explained more in detail in the novel. Old Madame had to travel south to recuperate for a period of time. Long Heng had then taken the female lead to some place to play and have fun. It was then that she gotten to know another male supporting character.
Bai Xiangxiu had long since forgotten where they’d gone. Since nothing bad had really happened to the old madame, she felt that there was really no need for her to be worried now. But still, he had to keep up appearances. When she arrived, she found that the three other concubines had long since arrived.
After Long Heng entered the residence, the other three concubines had brought their servants over and had already paid their respects. He didn’t even crease his brow a little as he walked into the room. The old madame needed a peaceful environment to get some rest. As a result, they could only look in from the outside and couldn’t enter the room.
Bai Xiangxiu knew her place, so she did not follow him inside. She paused at the door to wait outside. She was ranked number four, so she followed the rules and sat in fourth place.
She didn’t that the second madame would click her tongue right after she sat down and say, “Younger sister, you must be wounded! Your hands seemed to be quite seriously injured.”
“It’s nothing really.” Bai Xiangxiu responded as she raised her hand and gave it a little shake.
Second Madame laughed and said, “Younger sister, you are unexpectedly good at enduring pain. But, our prince’s heart must be aching for you.”
Bai Xiangxiu creased her brow. Was this really a good time to be saying things like that when the old madame was lying down just inside? She was different from these women. Ever since she’d arrived in this world, she had been living her life with extra caution. Things were no different now. She had no choice. Who told her to lack the halo of the female lead?
Therefore, she gave them a small smile and acted as though she was shy. She only hoped that the second madame would know her place a little and not continue the conversation. That way, the old madame wouldn’t have a bone to pick with her later.
Unfortunately, she underestimated the power of female jealousy. The four of them had entered the residence on roughly the same day. But because Bai Xiangxiu had the prettiest looks among them, she had always been discriminated against by them. They hadn’t expected that the prince would immediately take a liking to her after his return. Not only did he frequently go to her residence, he didn’t even bother glancing at the rest of them. This was an utter defeat for a woman. How could they stand it?
Therefore, finding problems and creating trouble became something they absolutely had to do. It wasn’t their fault that they were too bored and had nothing better to do.
“I heard that you were injured at the Song residence. So careless of them, how could they let a guest receive such a serious injury?” The second madame heaved a sigh. She’d found the entire incident to be rather odd. It was only a minor injury. Why was the Song residence and Long Heng trying to keep the incident a secret?
She felt that she had a strong intelligence network spread out, but she hadn’t exactly heard how Madame Xiu was injured. Were there some other things that had happened as well? It was rumored that Miss Lin had been in the area as well on that day. A main wife yet to join the family and a pampered concubine; some friction between them was inevitable.
The three madames actually couldn’t help but wish that they would start a fight. That way, they would have a nice show to watch. Of course, if there was a battle, then someone would get hurt. But no matter who got hurt in the end, the concubines would still be abnormally happy.
“It was just an accident.” Bai Xiangxiu was also a woman. Even though she wasn’t any good at internal politics, she could still imagine what they were cooking up in their heads.
If they wanted to hear some gossip from her, then they were truly underestimating her. That incident wasn’t anything nice to talk about either. Since both the Song family and the prince were keeping their mouths shut, there was no way she would talk about it. The three madames perked their ears and were prepared to listen, but they didn’t expect Bai Xiangxiu to say something as brief as that. It just didn’t seem possible to continue talking about this topic!
1. The a.s.sumption here is that there was a toilet in that hall.