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Princess Ning"an cried out, "Imperial mother! Xinyang has harmed me! They all have harmed me!"
Empress Dowager Zhuang responded in a cold voice, "How have they harmed you? Did they force you to betray the Imperial Son-in-law and return to the capital for revenge? Or did they force you to take over Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing"s influence, colluding with the State of Yan’s people to harm our State of Zhao"s heroes? Or did they force you to a.s.sa.s.sinate the Emperor, ultimately framing Aijia for it?"
Princess Ning"an"s eyes flashed with panic, "Imperial mother... You mustn’t believe them..."
Empress Dowager Zhuang looked at her indifferently, "At this point, you don"t need to feign innocence. Aijia is not here to hear your confession. Whether you admit it or not, Aijia doesn"t care. Aijia says you"re guilty, so you are."
Princess Ning"an gritted her teeth and complained with a choked voice, "Imperial mother, you are biased! You were never like this before... You used to love Ning"an the most... Since that girl appeared... you"ve had no room in your heart for Ning"an!"
Empress Dowager Zhuang said sternly, "So what if Aijia is biased? Does Aijia need your permission?"
Princess Ning"an"s heart shook violently!
She never expected Empress Dowager Zhuang to be so direct, so forthright, so merciless!
Princess Ning"an"s tears fell steadily, "But imperial mother... I am your Ning"an..."
Empress Dowager Zhuang looked at her icily, and asked each word with emphasis, "Are you really Ning"an?"
Princess Ning"an"s pupils contracted!
……
Gu Jiao didn"t need to enter the imperial palace. After leaving the medical hall, she returned to Bishui Alley with Xiao Heng.
Huangfu Xian woke up, sitting in a wheelchair in the west room, lost in thought.
Little Jing Kong stole glances at him several times.
"What"s the matter with him?" Gu Jiao stood in the front yard, looking at Huangfu Xian through the half-open window.
Little Jing Kong sighed like a little adult, "Little big brother misses his mother. His mother is mean to him, she even hits him, but he still worries about her. I just thought, if JiaoJiao hit me, I would still really like JiaoJiao."
If Princess Ning"an was convicted, Huangfu Xian would suffer the most.
"I"ll go check on him." Xiao Heng said.
"Forget it, I"ll go. I want to see the extent of his injuries." Gu Jiao left Little Jing Kong to Xiao Heng and stepped into the west room.
The sun had already set, leaving the west room dimly lit.
Gu Jiao took out a flame stick.
"Don"t light the lamp." Huangfu Xian said.
Gu Jiao put away the flame stick and slowly approached Huangfu Xian"s side.
Huangfu Xian seemed to be sitting peacefully at this time, but before this, he had undergone a harrowing rescue. His residual limbs were already injured, and being soaked in river water had caused extensive ulceration in his wounds.
Jing Kong said he had been sleeping for two days, but that was because Jing Kong only saw him sleeping here for the past two days. Before that, it took three days of efforts in the medical hall to save him and wait for him to pa.s.s the critical period.
"Does it still hurt?" Gu Jiao asked, "Your wound."
Huangfu Xian paused, wanting to say it didn"t hurt. Hesitating for a moment, he still truthfully replied, "A little bit."
There was a slight choking sound in his voice.
Gu Jiao pretended not to notice, "Let me have a look."
By now, it was already dark, and there was no lit lamp in the room, so she couldn"t see much.
Huangfu Xian didn"t refuse.
Gu Jiao rolled up his pants leg.
Huangfu Xian felt a bit uncomfortable, but he still tried to endure it.
After all, nothing could be seen in this darkness.
He thought so.
But who would have expected Gu Jiao to directly pull out a small flashlight from her pocket, and with a click, she turned it on.
Huangfu Xian"s expression changed, "Didn"t I say not to light any lamps?!"
Gu Jiao said, "This is not a lamp, it"s a flashlight. I"m just... turning on the flashlight."
Huangfu Xian: "..."
Huangfu Xian wanted to accuse her of being unfair, but he was immediately attracted by the little thing that emitted light.
"Where is this luminous pearl from?"
Other than fire and luminous pearls, Huangfu Xian had never seen anything else that emitted light, but this one was brighter.
"Would you like to know?" Gu Jiao asked.
"I don"t want to." Huangfu Xian turned his face away stubbornly.
Gu Jiao smiled faintly, bent her knees, and squatted down. With one hand holding the flashlight, she used the other to remove his bandages.
Huangfu Xian suddenly grabbed her hand, held his breath, and said, "It"s very ugly!"
Gu Jiao raised her gaze and looked into his eyes steadily. Her eyes were as pure and clean as Little Jing Kong"s, without a hint of disdain.
But compared to Little Jing Kong"s innocence, there was a hint of convincing calmness in her eyes.
Huangfu Xian"s eyelashes trembled lightly, and he slowly let go of her hand.
Gu Jiao unwrapped the bandages layer by layer, revealing the wound she had sewn up.
"It"s healing well, there"s no postoperative infection, but you still need to take your medicine on time." Gu Jiao said, went back to the east room to get the little medicine chest, and then carefully changed his dressing, "Your pain isn"t severe, so I won"t give you any painkillers."
"Mm." Huangfu Xian responded sullenly.
After Gu Jiao finished bandaging him, she began to clean up the medical supplies.
"What about that chubby kid?" Huangfu Xian suddenly spoke up.
Gu Jiao said, "You mean Qin Chuyu? He returned to the palace. Lian"er is also in the palace. The Empress has some questions for her, but she won"t trouble her too much."
The events of that night were dangerous. After she and Huangfu Xian fell into the water, she stabbed a dagger into a stone in the middle of the river.
Long Yi took down those black-clad people in a few moves, and then jumped into the river to rescue her and Huangfu Xian.
After that, they returned to the capital together.
Huangfu Xian turned his head and looked at her chin. Earlier, when she was squatting down, he didn"t see it, but now that she stood up, the st.i.tched wound on her chin was exposed to Huangfu Xian"s sight.
Huangfu Xian was stunned, "Your chin..."
Gu Jiao replied nonchalantly, "Just sc.r.a.ped it."
The wound was on the inner side of her chin, very discreet. Huangfu Xian had sharp eyes; otherwise, he wouldn"t have noticed it.
Huangfu Xian lowered his gaze, pinching his pant leg, "Did you hit it underwater?"
Gu Jiao responded lightly, "Mm."
It was dark, and the splashes were too big to see clearly. Gu Jiao only realized there was a stone there after her chin was sc.r.a.ped.
Huangfu Xian said, "For someone like me, it"s not worth it."
Gu Jiao didn"t say anything and continued with her work.
The room was quiet, but occasional sounds from the neighboring rooms and front yard could be heard. Little Eight was chewing on Gu Yan"s shoes again, and Little Nine was with it. As for the other seven chickens, they had obediently returned to their coop.
Next door, Uncle Zhao was scolding his youngest son, while in the alley, Aunt Liu was chasing out geese. Grandma Zhou"s family was frying stinky fish again, and the smell wafted over here.
Huangfu Xian looked at Gu Jiao"s busy figure again. For some reason, a strange emotion surged in his heart.
"When I was little, she was very kind to me."
When Gu Jiao had finished tidying up, Huangfu Xian spoke again, "She always took me out to play, cooked delicious food for me, and even when she went to help the disaster victims, she would carry me on her back. The most vivid memory I have is lying on her back, doing things together like serving porridge and herding sheep."
"Is life on the border so hard?" Gu Jiao had been to the border and naturally knew that the people there were very hardworking. She had also heard that Princess Ning"an didn"t have any imperial burdens and shared the hardships with the common people.
But hadn"t Princess Ning"an"s true face been exposed? It made people doubt whether those so-called hardships were just a show.
"I don"t think it"s hard." Huangfu Xian said.
"That"s true." Gu Jiao agreed.
Even during their family’s impoverished times in the countryside, Jing Kong never once complained about the hardships at home.
Sometimes, what children wanted was very simple.
Huangfu Xian looked at the endlessly dark night sky, "But then, everything suddenly changed."
Gu Jiao glanced at him.Raz P."s Thoughts
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