Chapter 32: Getting Princess-Carried!
Bai Xiangxiu felt the urge to cry from embarra.s.sment. How could she get a nosebleed in front of a man!? She immediately took out her handkerchief to cover her nose, then turned her face away where no one could see her quietly bleed it out.
But the male lead seem to be her natural-born enemy. A cold voice shattered the silence, “We’ll go back first and see a doctor.” As he spoke, Bai Xiangxiu felt her entire body turn weightless as she gaped. She’d been picked up in a princess carry by the male lead who would kill her in the future! How should she react?! She’s waiting online urgently for answers! Urgent! Emergency! As it turned out, she didn’t have enough time to form a reaction before she was carefully placed on a bed, and soon greeted by the arrival of a doctor.
Indeed, a simple nosebleed had sent about half the temple into alert because Long Heng had carried her in looking for a little monk at the same time most of the monks were having their noonday rest. Bai Xiangxiu felt a profound sense of wanting to give up on herself. The nosebleed had clearly stopped, but she still used the handkerchief to block her face, afraid to look at the doctor. Originally, it would’ve been just fine if she washed it off, but the male lead kept staring at her. He wouldn’t let her off the bed!
As a result, the doctor saw Bai Xiangxiu’s face while it was covered in blood. He examined her before concluding that the problem had resolved itself. All she had to do was wash it off and prevent herself from running into such hard objects in the future.
Bai Xiangxiu glanced at the ‘hard object’ who had his back to her as he looked out the window. She nodded and said, “Understood, thank you very much.” Meanwhile, the oblivious ‘hard object’ mused that he hadn’t expect her to be so polite to a common doctor. Her personality wasn’t half-bad. It was just that she was too weak.
Xiao s.h.i.+ finally came back at this time, feeling greatly distressed at Bai Xiangxiu’s blood spattered face. She hastily pumped some water to clean her mistress’ face, her movements light and gentle for fear of injuring her further. But after was.h.i.+ng up, she noticed that the skin at the tip of her mistress’s nose was still red.
“Madame Xiu, your nose is a bit red here. I’ll go fetch some medicine.”
“No need, it’s just a minor injury.” She didn’t mind. After all, that fiendish man was still here and she had no idea what he was planning.
“Use this medicine for your mistress,” Long Heng also felt it unwise to linger long in a woman’s rooms, thus he turned and walked out.
Xiao s.h.i.+ hurriedly took the medicine bottle in her hands before opening it up to take a sniff. “Madame Xiu, it smells really nice. How about we smear just a little on. This is also a measure of the prince’s kindly feelings towards you, too.”
Would he bear a grudge if she didn’t accept this kindness? When her thoughts ran here, she was quick to nod her head, so Xiao s.h.i.+ helped her apply the medicine. After that was done, the two of them gave a start. This medicine was actually transparent, but turned red after they applied it. Not only was it red, it was also hard to wash off. It also really hurt if they tried to use force and scrubbed. Once again, Bai Xiangxiu came to the conclusion that the male lead was definitely her lifelong bane. How was she supposed to face people like this?
Fortunately, she managed to hide herself using the pretense of treating her injury until it was time to return to the capital. Whenever she needed to go out, she wore a headcover so that no one else could see.
She felt depressed after settling herself in the carriage for the ride home. Because the female cousin’s carriage had met with problems, the two of them had to ride in the same carriage. As soon as Bai Xiangxiu climbed into the carriage and took off her headcover, that cousin broke into rude laughter. The laughter incited all the people outside to look her way. Bai Xiangxiu clutched her nose without explaining anything, her face red as she looked to the side.
“What did you do to your nose?” Although Yu Xiaoshu loathed this overly pretty girl, she didn’t pay her much attention after finding her to be well behaved and easily threatened. She maintained a superior air in front of this girl even when she talked.
Xiao s.h.i.+ greatly disliked this female cousin from the mother’s side. She was only living in the household temporarily, but didn’t respect her mistress at all because the old madame doted on her. Despite all the doting in the world, the old madame hadn’t allowed her to be one of her daughter-in-laws.
She might not know the whole picture, but she felt that the female cousin’s status couldn’t compare to her own mistress. It wasn’t as if her ident.i.ty was that much more n.o.ble.
“It was injured and turned into this after I used some medicine,” Bai Xiangxiu didn’t say much, and gave out a casual answer.
Across from her, cousin Yu Xiaoshu’s expression immediately turned unwell. She said angrily, “You…you smeared Red Pearl onto your face? Something so precious, why would elder cousin give it to you?! Unless you stole it?”
Stole?
She was a little astonished to find out this medicine was so precious. But wasn’t it a little too much to accuse her of stealing in such a loud voice? She furrowed her eyebrows and replied, “The lady cousin is jesting. How could this concubine dare to take the prince’s things?”
“I know you wouldn’t dare take cousin’s things. Wait, that’s not right! If you didn’t steal it, then my cousin gave it to you? Don’t you know that this was bestowed by the emperor? A single bottle is worth thousands of taels!”
Yu Xiaoshu was in a rage. Her elder cousin had given this woman something so valuable! Had he been smitten by a beauty trap?
Unexpectedly, the woman who heard these words was even more anxious than herself. Bai Xiangxiu immediately turned to Xiao s.h.i.+, “Quick, return this item to the prince. We can’t use something so precious!”
It was just a little redness, so using something worth thousands of taels to treat it was a bit wasteful. Moreover, it had been given by the male lead, so she might get accused of some crime for it in the future. One truly couldn’t become entangled with the male lead without trouble coming!
Xiao s.h.i.+ was stunned as well, but dared not delay before her anxious mistress. She took the medicine bottle and jumped off the carriage, finding Long Heng settling himself atop a horse. She dipped in a light curtsey before speaking, “Your, Your Highness, Mistress told this servant to return the medicine to you. She has used it with excellent effects.”
Long Heng had heard the words from inside the carriage, so how would he not know his cousin’s thoughts? But who knew that the item he wanted to use to show off had given that woman a fright, enough to have her return it to him immediately! She really was too cowardly. Did he think he was a master only in name?
“Keep using it if it’s good.” He didn’t say anything else, but went to the old madame’s carriage and spoke a few words. Afterwards, an old female servant invited Yu Xiaoshu into the old madame’s carriage.
Xiao s.h.i.+ seemed to have realized something. So it seemed the prince was protecting her mistress! Otherwise, he wouldn’t do such a thing. But Bai Xiangxiu didn’t dare to touch the medicine bottle again. She only said, “When we get back, we’ll put it in the cupboard in a s.p.a.ce all by itself. We have to make sure it doesn’t fall down.” She was clearly implying that they really couldn’t afford the loss. Since they couldn’t return it, they could only take good care of it.
Yet outside the carriage, Long Heng felt a sense of warmth wash over him as he heard those words. He never would’ve guessed this little la.s.s honored him to this extent. She even wanted to take such good care of his simple gift to her, how sensible and well-behaved!
As a result, he spend the entire journey in good spirits riding outside of Bai Xiangxiu’s carriage like an emissary protecting a feminine blossom. An old female servant smiled as she saw this from inside the old madame’s carriage, “Madame Xiu thinks well. As I see it, the prince is being attracted to her bit by bit.”
“It’s fine to just play around with a concubine. But it won’t be seemly if he takes it seriously. But the Lin family’s young miss is truly insensible.” The old madame’s side had also gotten the news as well. Unbelievably, that girl had fled from her marriage.
People had been sent in secret to find her since the news would cause her son to lose face if it was exposed. However, which wall in the world didn’t have its cracks? It might be spread all over the city by the time they returned. She also felt some slight regret about her decision that now. She’d always thought the other was a nice girl, beautiful and talented, but the girl had made a joke out of everything even before getting married. If she’d known earlier, she would have found a girl from a small family to wed to her son, thus preventing damage to his reputation.