Priceless: A widow with a baby asks the prince to marry again

The story of the young prince's past ended, and the tent was silent for a moment, with only the faint sound of ointment scraping across the bamboo.

Liu Rusi silently applied the new medicine to King Kang, her fingertips feeling slightly cold. Eleven-year-old Chu Shiyu... set fire to the palace, snatched the whip to resist his father, stole tribute... each one of them was enough to be fatal.

Chu Shiyu's ability to survive such a dangerous situation demonstrates a mental fortitude and a temperamental detachment far beyond the imagination of ordinary people. While Prince Kang's narrative focuses on his "brutal" and "rebellious" nature, Liu Rusi senses the madness of a maniacal, utterly entangled hatred and a will to survive, all consuming him.

She tied the final layer of clean gauze, her movements still deft, yet her heart felt heavy. The story of Prince Kang, like a cold mirror, revealed the destructive claws deep within Chu Shiyu's character, twisted by the oppression of power. These claws were deliberately restrained and polished in her presence, but they never disappeared.

She didn't make any direct judgments about Chu Shiyu's childhood behavior. She simply raised her eyes, looked at Prince Kang with a puzzled look, and asked a seemingly irrelevant question: "Your Highness Prince Kang, in the dead of winter that year, was the palace really short of firewood?"

Without waiting for King Kang to answer, she paused and added, "Your Highness, were you... lacking anything at that time?"

Chu Shikun was slightly startled by her question. He had been shocked by Chu Shiyu's rebellious and horrific actions, and hadn't considered whether there was actually a charcoal shortage. He subconsciously recalled, his brows furrowed slightly, as if trying to distinguish the details in his memory. In the end, he could only vaguely say, "...The Imperial Household Department has its own regulations, and I naturally have my share..."

He avoided directly answering the question of "whether he was lacking or not". Obviously, as the Queen's biological son, the eldest legitimate prince, even if he was not appointed Crown Prince, he would not lack food and clothing...

Moreover, he was fifteen years old at the time and was facing the dilemma of leaving the palace and setting up his own residence. If he was made the crown prince, he would live in the East Palace on the east side of the former court, and would not need to leave the palace to set up his own residence. How could he care about other people's affairs? If Chu Shiyu hadn't done something so shocking, he wouldn't even have remembered that he had such a royal brother.

Liu Rusi saw his speechless expression and understood. She stopped asking questions and began to organize her medicine box. While wiping the ointment residue from her fingertips with a clean cloth, she recounted her experience with a trance-like and relieved attitude.

"Luckily, I've been in the south before, so the winters aren't too cold... But for someone like me who isn't very strong, it's still tough... I really don't know how we'd survive in the north if we were short on firewood and charcoal."

Her voice was low, carrying a hint of distant memories. "Especially now that Qin Hao's father is gone...On winter nights, even if I sleep with the child, my feet are as cold as ice. No matter how hard I try, they won't warm me up. I'm even more worried that the child will catch a cold."

Her words were plain, yet they painted a picture of a lonely, cold winter night. Chu Shikun looked at her drooping brows, not knowing how to respond.

"I also tried burning charcoal in a charcoal pot back then, but my family wasn't well off, so I couldn't afford good charcoal. And the bad charcoal..." Liu Rusi frowned, as if she could still smell the strong smell of that time: "Bad charcoal makes all the smoke! If you close the doors and windows, it makes you cry and feel dizzy! If you open the windows for some fresh air, the heat you've worked so hard to build up will dissipate in the blink of an eye!"

She raised her eyes to look at Chu Shikun, her gaze clear: "Your Highness, have you ever smelled the thick smoke from burning low-quality charcoal? It's so choking and spicy that it gets into your lungs, and you want to cough out all your internal organs."

Chu Shikun felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by her, and slightly averted his eyes. He had always lived a life of luxury, using only smokeless, high-quality silver charcoal. How could he have ever experienced the smell of inferior charcoal smoke? He could only imagine how unpleasant it must have been. He subconsciously wrinkled his nose, as if the pungent smell of smoke was actually wafting through the air.

"At that time, I felt like I had to choose between 'suffocating to death' and 'freezing to death'..."

Liu Rusi's voice was calm, yet it carried a power that penetrated people's hearts: "But I didn't choose either."

Chu Shikun's attention was drawn back, and he looked at her with a subtle hint of doubt. He knew the woman before him wasn't simply telling a story, but he didn't understand what she was trying to say. Why not eat meat?

After folding the towel and placing it back in the medicine box, Liu Rusi's medical work for the injured Prince Kang was complete. Her cold eyes faded slightly, and she even spoke with a hint of pride, "I built a kang... Your Highness, do you know what a kang is?"

She answered without being asked again, "Kangs are generally used by people in the north. There's a chimney underneath. Firewood is burned outside, and the smoke follows the chimney, warming the entire surface. No matter how thick the smoke is, it can't reach into the house. As long as there's enough firewood, the house will be warm. People sleeping on it will be warm from head to toe, so they won't be afraid of the cold."

Chu Shikun couldn't help but feel slightly angry. He naturally understood that this woman was mocking him for not knowing the sufferings of the world, and was also implying that he was indifferent to Chu Shiyu's predicament back then! He suppressed his unhappiness and maintained the demeanor of a prince, speaking with a hint of deliberately cold praise: "Doctor Liu will find a way to change the status quo, instead of being like someone who simply burned the house to the ground and let everyone suffer with him."

Liu Rusi seemed not to hear the sting in his words and responded calmly, "Of course. At that time, it was just me and the child, and I was the one who made the decisions on everything."

She sighed softly, her tone filled with deep emotion: "Fortunately, I am still at home, otherwise Qin Hao is so young... Alas, when people are young, they need the care of their parents and family the most."

Seeing that she was still avoiding the main point and even hinting that his father had not fulfilled his responsibilities, Prince Kang could no longer suppress the slight anger in his heart. He stopped beating around the bush and got straight to the point. His voice became colder: "Doctor Liu, are you trying to say that Chu Shiyu had his reasons for what he did, and that his arrogant behavior was only because it was too difficult?"

"But even if it was difficult and painful, could we just set the fire? What would Chu Shiyu gain? Freeze? Kneel? Be whipped?! And that fire burned all the remaining charcoal in the palace, as well as many other storages, causing huge losses to the Great Xia Palace! Father, a hundred lashes wouldn't be enough!" His question carried the authority of a superior, pointing out that his rebuttal of Liu Rusi's views was unorthodox: "Doctor Liu, do you think setting the fire is right?"

Liu Rusi smiled softly. There was no mockery in that smile, but rather a complex and compassionate look that seemed to see through the world. "I don't know the specific situation at that time, and I have no intention of judging right or wrong."

She looked at King Kang with a clear and profound gaze. "I only know that when people are in trouble, they will desperately seek a way out... And when they are on the verge of despair, if a path seems to lead them there, they probably won't think too much about it, nor care whether it's right or wrong, a path through which they can escape or an abyss, and will simply plunge into it..."

"Heh..." King Kang couldn't help but sneer, his tone tinged with sarcasm: "Regardless of right or wrong, I only pity his situation. It seems that Doctor Liu is deeply in love with Chu Shiyu. It's unnecessary for me to remind him of his arrogant nature..."

Before he could finish his words, heavy footsteps approached!

Prince Duan Chu Shiyu, who had been "eavesdropping" in the shadows inside the door for a long time, suddenly appeared in front of the two of them. His tall figure, dressed in dark clothes, carried a lingering chill.

His face was as dark as steel, his piercing phoenix eyes gleaming with a chilling glare, as if tempered by ten thousand years of black ice. However, when his gaze met Liu Rusi's, a crack suddenly appeared in his frozen gaze, and his expression softened involuntarily. He had heard the conversation within the tent vividly, the sharpness of Liu Rusi's gentle arguments, especially her remarks on "the road to survival in desperate situations," like an unexpected warm current, crashing into his heart, already numb from frostbite.

But this warmth was fleeting. When his gaze locked onto King Kang on the couch again, the storm brewing in his eyes threatened to burst out, and the cold resentment that had been dormant for many years surged.

"I don't know," Chu Shiyu's voice was not loud, but every word was like an ice cone, piercing Chu Shikun with a piercing chill. "When did my royal brother become so proficient in this art of sowing discord?!"

Though Chu Shikun was still recovering from his injuries, his dignity as the eldest of the imperial princes could not be slighted. He forced himself to straighten his back, meeting the hateful gaze without flinching. His voice trembled slightly with weakness, yet it radiated a sense of self-righteousness and coldness. "What I've said is merely a story from your youth. Every single one of it is true. Your domineering and tyrannical nature is well known to everyone in the court! How can you be provocative?"

Chu Shiyu's jaw was tense, and his eyes were filled with anger. Just as he was about to explode, a slightly cold hand reached out quietly and gently held his palm.

The gentle comfort and restrained persuasion from his beloved's fingertips were like an invisible warm current, instantly calming the cold resentment that had been aroused in him, as if the lake in his heart in the severe winter suddenly jumped into the spring season with warm flowers.

Chu Shiyu took a deep breath, and when he spoke again, although his tone was still cold and hard, he had restrained himself a lot: "I will tell Madam Liu about my childhood in detail, so there is no need for my royal brother to say more!"

Yet, this disrespectful, cold, and blunt response still infuriated King Kang. He abandoned his confrontation and instead offered a sarcastic, mocking tone, "Oh? I'm afraid you only know how to pick up pathetic stories to garner sympathy and beg for mercy, don't you?"

"Ha!" Chu Shiyu laughed in anger. Just as he was about to retort, the small hand in his palm suddenly tightened like the reins of a wild horse! The rage that was about to burst out was instantly locked by this silent force, and strangely tamed.

While Liu Rusi used her gestures to soothe the man beside her, her face was already covered with the gentle smile that a doctor would wear to comfort a patient. Her voice was clear and abrupt as she changed the subject: "Your Highness, the medicine has been changed and the injuries have been examined. Your temperature is now normal and the wounds are healing well. However, Your Highness must remain calm and rest. Avoid any large movements for the next few days to avoid disturbing the wounds and ruining the progress."

This sudden medical advice was like adding cold water to boiling water. It startled King Kang slightly, and the atmosphere of confrontation just now dissipated a little.

When the atmosphere eased slightly, Liu Rusi naturally continued the previous argument, but her tone became more nonchalant: "It's really boring to argue about the right and wrong of those old things. After all, the difficult days when His Royal Highness Duan was short of clothes and coal, and had no choice but to live, are long gone."

She changed the subject, with a hint of certainty: "As for the term 'overbearing and tyrannical', I still don't agree with it..."

Liu Rusi's gaze wandered across the luxurious tent, finally settling on the exquisite copper censer, adorned with layers of rare and auspicious beasts, emanating a warm warmth. Her smile deepened, and she pointed to the nearly smokeless, quietly burning charcoal within. In a tone almost playful and casual, she said, "If His Highness Prince Duan were truly so 'overbearing,' why would he have sent such exquisite silver-thread charcoal to this tent?"

She paused, her tone tinged with the certainty of on-the-ground observation. "During my time in Mobei, I've seen Tatar captive women and children making fires. On this plateau, where grasslands, Gobi deserts, and sand dunes stretch endlessly, they mostly burn cow dung or coal dug from the open air. Ordinary charcoal is a rare commodity that only tribal leaders can afford."

Chu Shikun followed her finger, his gaze fixed on the bright red, translucent charcoal fire within the furnace, emitting a delicate, warm aroma. He was stunned. He paid close attention, and a fresh, gentle warmth silently flowed through the tent, forming a startling contrast to the suffocating coldness of the low-quality charcoal smoke he had just imagined...

He recalled the thrilling rescue of Wan Jun, and how it was this female doctor in front of him who, together with his "unruly" brother, had dragged him back from the brink of death...

An indescribable complex emotion suddenly surged into his heart. The slight anger aroused by Liu Rusi's words just now strangely disappeared at this moment, and was replaced by a heavy feeling of stagnation.

For the first time, he truly felt the unburdened, pure warmth brought by the finest charcoal. It was also the first time he was forced to stand in another harsh perspective and imagine what it was like to be in that cold predicament filled with smoke and despair.

Liu Rusi keenly caught the subtle shift in Prince Kang's gaze, knowing full well that too much is as bad as too little. She said no more, gently released Chu Shiyu's hand, and bowed gracefully to Prince Kang. "Your Highness's injuries haven't healed yet, and he needs to rest. I, Liu Rusi, will take my leave."

Chu Shiyu frowned his straight nose in dissatisfaction. The moment Liu Rusi stood up, he immediately and domineeringly grabbed her hand back into his palm. With his other hand, he took the lead in picking up her medicine box, and without any explanation, he pulled her and strode out of the tent.

The curtains rose and fell, isolating the two worlds inside and outside.

Chu Shikun was the only one left in the tent, staring blankly at the silvery charcoal burning quietly in the furnace. The dancing flames flickered in his deep eyes, reflecting the turbulent emotions in his heart.

Liu Rusi's whispers about the "road to despair" just now, her survival wisdom in building a kang, and the warm, smokeless charcoal fire in front of her... all of this is like a closed pond suddenly connected to a rushing river, with rolling waves pouring in, washing away the inherent cognitive barriers and bringing a heart-pounding sense of lightness and openness.

Outside the tent, the two held hands and walked silently in the cool spring breeze on the grassland. Suddenly, Chu Shiyu stopped and tightened his grip on Liu Rusi's hand, so strong that she couldn't help but frown slightly.

He lowered his head. The storm in Ruifeng's eyes had not yet completely subsided, but was mixed with deeper and more complex emotions - there was lingering anger, the pain of old scars being uncovered, and a hint of... vulnerability and desire that was deeply touched by her protection just now, which he himself had not even noticed.

"He said..." Chu Shiyu's voice was hoarse and tense, with an almost stubborn desire for confirmation, "...Do you believe it?"

What he asked was King Kang's final verdict on his "domineering and overbearing" nature, and the shadow cast by his past that she could not bear to look back on.

Liu Rusi raised her eyes, meeting his gaze filled with complex emotions, but a hint of amusement curved the corners of her lips as she asked, "Don't you think you're overbearing and rude?"

A childish annoyance suddenly flashed across the tall and handsome man's face, and he even bared his teeth on purpose, looking ferocious.

"But," Liu Rusi changed the subject, smiling broadly, "So what if I'm overbearing and tyrannical? Just like the dark corners of my heart, haven't you seen them too?"

She smiled and gently shook the big hand back, signaling him to ease up a little.

Chu Shiyu followed her gesture and loosened his grip slightly, and the two continued walking forward. He said with disdain, a bit nonchalantly: "Those of yours? What kind of dark side is that?"

Liu Rusi imitated his tone and returned it intact: "So what about you? How can you call it overbearing and tyrannical?"

This nonsensical comparison made both of them laugh out loud, and the tense atmosphere instantly melted away in the spring breeze.

"Don't worry too much about how your past self affects how I think of you now," Liu Rusi's voice softened with a hint of seriousness. "Just stop acting like that now. For example..." She deliberately dragged out the tone and hummed twice with a strong threat, "If you dare to set fire to your own things again... hum hum..."

A hint of embarrassment flashed across Chu Shiyu's face, but then he explained with a hint of pride, "That time... although I was severely punished, a short pain is worse than a long one. Since then, no one in the palace has dared to deduct a cent from me."

"Oh?" Liu Rusi tilted her head deliberately, looking thoughtful. "So, it was solved by tyranny and brutality?"

"Tsk!" Chu Shiyu was suddenly choked with anger and speechless, unable to find any words to refute.

Seeing his frustrated expression, Liu Rusi's smile grew even brighter. She softened her gaze and looked towards the spring-filled grassland before her. With a sense of sudden enlightenment, she softly chanted, "I've forgotten where I heard this, but there's a really good saying..."

"Knowing my darkness, grant me the spring morning."

The breeze blew, the grass rolled, and her words were like spring seeds, quietly falling into each other's hearts.