Hua Qiyue reddened and snapped, "Lv Xin, don"t talk nonsense!"
Huangfu Xuan went white. He looked away, unwilling to see such a sweet scene. It wasn"t until Yun Shimo put Hua Qiyue in the carriage that he grimaced and told everyone that Hua Qiyue had just had the Ice Venomous Insects.
Bingyi and Huangfu Xuan, who knew about the Ice Venomous Insect, were surprised to see Hua Qiyue and Yun Shimo with a weird look.
"Did you take a bath together?"
"No. It"s all right now. Let"s continue on our way back to the capital." Hua Qiyue found what had happened a great headache. She didn"t want to face their strange gazes.
After dropping the curtain, Yun Shimo asked Lv Xin to fetch a gourd that held water and fed Hua Qiyue some water. Then Hua Qiyue fell into a deep sleep.
She was so tired after what had just happened that she slept like a log in the b.u.mpy ride.
Yun Shimo sat beside her, staring at her pale little face. Suddenly he seemed to think of something, with his hand on his forehead. There was a pain in his brain that seemed to tear him apart!
Yun Shimo clenched his teeth, trying not to moan. To his surprise, the pain went away in a flash.
After the pain, Yun Shimo exhaled and wiped the crystal cold sweat off his head. Suddenly, he froze.
He seemed to remember something.
His eyes were full of shock and disbelief.
"Icy Sect!" Yun Shimo mumbled, through gritted teeth. His voice was frigid, and the murderous look in his eyes was as strong as the dazzling light, as if he wanted to destroy the whole world...
After a while, the fierce look in Yun Shimo"s eyes finally dissipated. He took a deep breath, and the light white anima energy came out of the window into the carriage, then into his body and calmed his anger.
Hua Qiyue still slept soundly in the bed. As she breathed, her long curved lashes twitched, and her pretty little nose twitched, but her rosy lips tightened, her brows furrowed slightly.
Yun Shimo gently took her hand and conveyed the warmth of his own to Hua Qiyue...
Two days later, they finally returned to the capital. It was dusk. Hua Qiyue stepped down from the carriage and saw the Old Madame, Hua Liting and others waiting outside the gate. When she saw Tianci, her eyes were red-rimmed.
When she was tortured by the Ice Venomous Insect, what she feared most was death.
Because if she died, who would protect Tianci? Yun Shimo or the Hua"s Mansion?
No matter who it was, she was not reconciled. She wanted to be by Tianci"s side, to watch him grow up, to be educated, as she grew old quietly.
"Mom!" Tianci rushed to Hua Qiyue as soon as he saw her. Hua Qiyue hugged him with a smile, tears almost coming to her eyes.
However, just as she was about to enter the mansion with Tianci, a sharp pain spread from the soles of her feet to every nerve in her body. She turned feeble in the blink of an eye, and almost fell down. Luckily Yun Shimo held her from behind.
Hua Qiyue quickly took out the bottle and swallowed a Thawing Magic Pill.
"Qiyue, what"s wrong with you?" The Old Madame asked with surprise and solicitousness.
Hua Liting also looked worried and asked, "Qiyue, you just came back from the Green Mountain Temple, how did you become like this? You look so pale!"
Hua Qiyue shook her head. It was a long story, and she really didn"t want to remember what happened. Especially she got hurt by jumping into that pool because she didn"t listen to Yun Shimo. It was the first stupid thing she did after her rebirth.
"Old Madame Hua, General Hua, Qiyue is not feeling well. Let"s go back to the house first," Yun Shimo suggested softly.
Hua Liting smiled and nodded when he looked at Yun Shimo, saying, "Your Highness, thank you for going out with Qiyue this time. She is hot-tempered and loves to play. It"s must be a tough job to be with her!"
The Old Madame nodded and smiled. They said conventional remarks while entering the mansion. Yun Shimo, of course, was cool with all this. A man like him was cool and calm at all times, except when Hua Qiyue annoyed him.
After helping Hua Qiyue into her Cuihua Court, Yun Shimo asked Youshui and Lv Xin to take good care of her, and then took Tianci to the dining-room.
While in the carriage, Hua Qiyue told Lv Xin and Youshui not to talk about Hua Mengshi"s real disappearance.
Therefore, during the dinner in the dining-room, Yun Shimo also used Hua Qiyue"s excuse to say that Hua Mengshi had left a note for the abbess and would come back in three years.
Hua Liting, of course, didn"t believe such a lie. Yet, he couldn"t ask Yun Shimo too much in front of the Old Madame, so he kept urging Yun Shimo to drink.
"Your Highness, Qiyue has been instructed by a mysterious master, and she is a little impetuous and proud. Please excuse any mistakes there may be," Hua Liting said, beaming. He would have asked Hua Qiyue to come here to dinner if she hadn"t been feeling ill.
Yun Shimo smiled lightly. His beauty brightened the eyes of the maidservants present. If they had a man like him to accompany their life, they thought their lives would feel worthwhile.
"You are too kind, General. Qiyue has a good temper. At least she is reasonable, and never does gratuitous things or is bound by some old rules. That"s great," Yun Shimo said matter-of-factly. He was telling the truth. If he was a conservative man, he wouldn"t like Hua Qiyue.
Hua Qiyue was unmarried but adopted a son. This had never happened in the Tianyuan Continent, and had aroused the suspicion, irony and ridicule of countless people.
However, Hua Qiyue was not affected at all, and now she regarded Tianci as her own son. Who could do this? A woman with this kind of n.o.ble personality, even if she was not very beautiful, would be attractive to many people.
For Hua Qiyue, it was not because she had a n.o.ble personality, but because it was something that she had to do. No one knew that Tianci was her child in the previous life, the one she cherished.
If it weren"t for Tianci, she wouldn"t cultivate so hard after her rebirth.
"Haha, Your Highness, you are really a broad-minded man. I"m impressed!" Hua Liting laughed.
For the first time since Hua Mengshi left, he laughed so happily. Now he was relieved. Hua Mengshi and Hua Xiaoyi harbored evil to Hua Qiyue, trying to frame her to death.
Their means were too vicious, so, they must have a lesson. Hua Qiyue was not cruel, or she would have killed them.
Then they drank together, and Yun Shimo kept offering Tianci his favorite food. Tianci tilted his head and called him dad with a smile.
No one was surprised to see the scene. But seeing them getting on so well together, the others were involuntarily pleased. It used to be said that Prince Nan was too proud to wait on. Now it turned out that the rumor was unreliable.
...
As soon as Hua Qiyue got back to her room, she lay down on the bed and rested. After a long time, Lv Xin brought dinner. Hua Qiyue did not go to the dining-room to eat with the others because she was not feeling well.
"Miss, the crown prince came yesterday and left you this stone," reported Qiuyun, putting the little stone Huangfu Shenglin had sent on the table.
Hua Qiyue stared at the dark message spiritual stone in a trance, not interested in listening to what Huangfu Shenglin said immediately.
Huangfu Shenglin was now the crown prince. His success as crown prince was inseparable from her help.
Hua Qiyue helped him not only to conform to public opinion, but also because he was more suitable to be crown prince. Besides, if he was the crown prince, the Hua"s Mansion could be safe in 100 years.
At least she believed so. If Huangfu Shenglin wasn"t a very honest man, he would have robbed Tianci of his Evolution Pearl in the Magic Beasts Forest.
Moreover, she was paying him back. Thanks to Huangfu Shenglin, Tianci was able to get out of the Magic Beasts Forest, or else Tianci would have been taken away by someone else. If he had missed, it would have be very hard for her to find him.
"He didn"t say anything, did he?"
"No, Miss, His Highness only asked where you had been. Knowing that you went to the Green Mountain Temple, he got very worried. Miss, I think the crown prince has a crush on you, too. He is no longer an ordinary prince, you know, but he is still so close to us, more attentive to you," chuckled Qiuyun, covering her mouth.
Hua Qiyue shook her head. "Perhaps his real purpose in coming to me was to see you?"
Qiuyun got annoyed with Hua Qiyue for making fun of her. Both Lv Xin and Youshui couldn"t help laughing.
There was a dull ache in the place where those Ice Venomous Insect had stayed. Although Hua Qiyue had taken the painkiller, the pain was not entirely under control.
She managed to eat some food and then went back to bed, a little dazed. After a brief doze, her spirits improved, but she still felt weak.
"Qiuyun, give me that stone," Hua Qiyue said, closing her eyes.
She was too lazy to get up.
"Qiuyun? Aren"t you there? Well, Youshui, give me that stone." Hua Qiyue frowned, still slightly dazed. The cool jade bed was so comfortable that she didn"t really want to get up.
In fact, at this point, someone was looking at her lightly. Seeing her languid look, the man smiled and silently fetched her the stone.
It was Yun Shimo.
After dinner, Yun Shimo went to Hua Qiyue"s yard to see her. Lv Xin and other maidservants sensibly left Hua Qiyue"s room. After all, Hua Qiyue had been with Yun Shimo for so long that they didn"t have to worry about some old customs.
Hua Qiyue took the stone, put it to her ear, and tapped it. From the stone came Huangfu Shenglin"s deep, slightly gentle voice. "Qiyue, when you come back, come to my palace, or tell me, and I"ll come to you."
The short sentence contained a haunting ambiguity.
It wasn"t loud, but Yun Shimo heard it. Immediately, his face grew grim, and he took the stone away from Hua Qiyue.
Hua Qiyue was startled. She opened her eyes and looked at the person standing in front of her bed. When she found it was not Qiuyun or Youshui, but Yun Shimo, she sat up in surprise.
"When... when did you come in?"
"Just now," Yun Shimo replied faintly, but his dark eyes were clouded.
"Is this the legendary message spiritual stone? Hum, Huangfu Shenglin is really generous. He even uses the spiritual stone to communicate. Ugly as the stone is, it is very rare in the world..." Said Yun Shimo with a thin smile, his voice as cold as ice. "It"s really poetic to convey feeling and ideas. Then I"ll take it for myself!"
After saying that, Yun Shimo put the stone into his arms calmly, and then turned lightly to go outside.
Hua Qiyue jumped off the jade bed and grabbed his wide sleeve. "Hey, Yun Shimo, what do you mean? This is a transmission device between me and the crown prince. How can you be so greedy to appropriate it for your own use?"