The Prince Consort's Beloved

She was terrified and tried to run to the shore, but she was far away from the shore and her legs could not run faster than the speed at which the ice cracked.

The two maids on the shore were also frightened and shouted in panic, "Princess," and ran onto the ice to save Li Yuanrou.

In a flash, Xiao Luobai and Qingfeng leaped into the air, each lifting a maid up from the cracking ice surface.

Qingfeng carried Daya back to the shore and scolded her with disdain, "What a trouble."

Arya was not so lucky. She was thrown back to the ground by Xiao Luobai, causing her to scream in pain.

Xiao Luobai didn't stop and flew directly towards the girl in the center of the lake.

Daya was still in shock and looked at the ice with horror.

Li Yuanrou's entire body was submerged in the cold lake water, with only his head exposed. His hands were raised above his head, trying to grab something.

Xiao Luobai reached out his big hand, lifted the person up and held him in his arms. Li Yuanrou was soaked all over and shivered as she nestled in Xiao Luobai's chest.

She looked at the man who fell from the sky in front of her. His brows were furrowed and his thin lips were slightly pursed. He rescued her from the ice cave as if he had cast a spell, like a god descending from heaven.

For a moment she had the urge to blaspheme.

Xiao Luobai brought the people to the shore, anger in his eyes, and scolded: "It's only been winter for a short time, don't you know how dangerous it is?"

Li Yuanrou's teeth were chattering. She looked up at her savior, her eyes were misty, and in a blink, tears welled up.

She couldn't say a word and just hugged Xiao Luobai and cried loudly. She was really scared.

Xiao Luobai's body stiffened for a moment, looking at the crying girl buried in his arms. Gradually, her face slowly overlapped with the tear-stained face of the girl in his dream. He sighed softly as if talking to himself: "Little crybaby..."

He put his big hands on her back and patted her twice, and said in a gentle tone, "It's okay, don't cry."

Li Yuanrou trembled in Xiao Luobai's arms and said, "It's cold."

Upon seeing this, Xiao Luobai immediately picked the person up and held him tighter in his arms, then quickly ran towards the Green Plum Garden.

Qingfeng and two maids ran after him.

After entering the bedroom of Qingmei Garden, Xiao Luobai quickly picked up the quilt on the bed and wrapped Li Yuanrou, then put her on the low couch, ordered the servants to boil water for Li Yuanrou to take a bath, and told her to change into dry clothes quickly.

Li Yuanrou thanked Xiao Luobai: "Thank you for just now."

Xiao Luobai paused as he was leaving and looked back at her. His brows were furrowed, his eyes were dark, and he asked calmly, "Can you sing nursery rhymes?"

Li Yuanrou was stunned. She didn't expect him to ask this question. She smiled embarrassedly and said, "A little bit."

Xiao Luobai's expression changed slightly, and he looked at her with a little surprise: "You said no last time."

Li Yuanrou thought about it and suddenly realized: "Oh, last time, you asked about nursery rhymes. I don't know nursery rhymes, but I can sing children's songs. I didn't expect you to like listening to those children's songs?"

Li Yuanrou narrowed her almond-shaped eyes and smiled into a crescent shape.

Xiao Luobai looked at her steadily with a complicated expression.

Li Yuanrou chuckled: "If you like it, you like it. There is nothing to be embarrassed about. You saved me today, so I will sing a song for you."

As she spoke, she began to sing happily: "A group of ducks swam past the bridge in front of the door. Come on, count them. Two, four, six, seven, eight..."

Xiao Luobai's pair of dark eyes were bottomless. He sighed faintly, "The songs here are very special..."

Li Yuanrou's eyes curved: "Does it sound good?"

Xiao Luobai's eyebrows were filled with tenderness, and he whispered softly: "It sounds nice..."

Li Yuanrou was still smiling happily.

Xiao Luobai lowered his eyes, and his dense eyelashes cast a faint shadow on his eyelids.

His expression became subtle, and he opened his thin lips slightly: "Have I ever been in your dream?"

Li Yuanrou felt that Xiao Luobai's question was a bit nonsensical, but she immediately remembered the dream in which she asked Xiao Luobai if he had money. She shook her head guiltily and said, "No."

Xiao Luobai's voice trembled slightly: "You should have a good rest, and remember to drink some ginger soup to get rid of the cold."

Although he had known that she had returned a few days ago, his heart still trembled when he finally confirmed her identity.

Xiao Luobai staggered uncontrollably, held onto the door frame, and walked out without looking back.

If he turned around, Li Yuanrou would definitely see the strangeness in his eyes.

Li Yuanrou felt that there seemed to be something unusual about Xiao Luobai, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

She had a severe headache, so after taking a shower, she quickly changed into pajamas and lay down on her 2.8-meter-tall bed and fell asleep.

Li Yuanrou developed a high fever, causing a flurry of activity in the mansion.

The palace doctor was an old man with gray hair. Xiao Luobai also arrived during the diagnosis. He asked solemnly, "How is the princess?"

The court doctor paused for a moment and then said, "It's caused by the cold. The disease came too suddenly. I'll prescribe a prescription. You can boil the medicine according to the prescription. It should be fine."

Xiao Luobai's heart sank. He was indeed frozen.

Daya went with the palace doctor to get and boil medicine. Xiao Luobai looked more worried than the maids. He stayed by the bed without taking off his clothes, and did not ask anyone to change the handkerchief or feed the medicine.

Qingfeng came several times but failed to call Xiao Luobai away.

Li Yuanrou was in a daze due to the fever and fell into a dream.

In the dream, she smiled like a flower: "Xiao Luobai, you have to live well."

She looked at him with curved eyebrows and eyes: "We all have to live well, no one can die."

Li Yuanrou frowned, as if she was not at peace even in her dream.

Li Yuanrou felt someone helping her up. She tried to open her eyes and vaguely saw a handsome man in front of her holding a medicine bowl and feeding it into her mouth with a spoon.

A strong bitter taste came over her, almost making her vomit.

She can take Western medicine but not Chinese medicine, as she will vomit as soon as she takes it.

Xiao Luobai wiped the remaining medicine from her mouth with a handkerchief and coaxed her softly, his voice extremely gentle: "Be good, Rou'er, drink a little more, you'll be fine after you finish it."

Rou'er? Are you calling her? So intimate?

She thought she was hallucinating.

The man spoke again: "Rou'er, come, drink some more and be obedient."

The man's deep voice was as gentle as water. Li Yuanrou felt that this auditory hallucination was quite good, and her ears seemed to be pregnant.

She struggled to open her eyes, her eyelids felt heavy.

She seemed to see Xiao Luobai, but before she could think about it, she felt sleepy. She knew she had a fever, and it was quite high.

She couldn't drink the Chinese medicine. After drinking a little, she would retch, her brows were twisted together, and she looked quite painful.

"Well……"

Li Yuanrou felt a soft layer covering her lips, with a cool and sharp breath. A strange numbness climbed up to her heart and made her feel a little itchy, causing her to not even notice the bitter medicine going into her stomach.

She fell asleep with a strange feeling like an electric shock. In her dream, she waved at the man and shouted loudly: "Xiao Luobai, remember to come find me~"

Xiao Luobai...

Li Yuanrou suddenly woke up, and when she opened her eyes, she felt dizzy. She shook her head and looked at the person sitting beside the bed. A heavy stone fell from her heart, and she said, "Daya, I'm hungry."

It was indeed a dream.

Daya looked up in surprise: "Princess, you are awake. I will bring breakfast right away."

Li Yuanrou looked at the exquisite hollow carvings on the bed, wondering if she was blinded by lust? So she dreamed of Xiao Luobai?

Li Yuanrou recovered very quickly, and soon after the fever subsided, she was full of energy again.

She started going to Qingzhu Garden as usual to get a free meal.

After entering the Green Bamboo Garden, Xiao Luobai was nowhere to be seen.

Xiao Ya was cleaning alone when several people surrounded her like hooligans. She was so scared that she stepped back repeatedly, as if she was going to be eaten by the big bad wolf.

Li Yuanrou said, "As for the prince consort, even if he is very busy, he can't always come back at night."

The little girl looked around, with a strange light in her eyes, showing her guilty conscience, and stammered, "I don't know."

Li Yuanrou raised her eyebrows and asked in a blaming tone: "Don't know?"

She then gave Daya a look, and Daya followed her orders and pulled Xiaoya aside to induce a confession: "Xiaoya, why can't you see clearly? This is in the princess's residence. If you know something and don't report it when the princess is questioning you, it is a serious crime. If it were someone else, you would definitely be punished."

The little girl avoided his gaze and kept silent.

Daya held her hand and continued to coax her: "Do you know why you are called Xiaoya? Because the prince consort had already planned to give you to the princess. Think about it carefully. Otherwise, why did the prince consort give you the same name as us?"

The little girl seemed to be thinking, but remained silent.

Daya continued, "Now the prince consort and the princess are married. The prince consort is already 21 years old. Other people's sons are already young and capable at 21, but look at your master, he is all alone."

Daya said, clapping her hands together: "It's been a few days, and the princess can't even see the prince consort. How can she cultivate feelings? You concealed the prince consort's whereabouts. Are you really doing this for your master?"

Xiaoya bit her lower lip: "Sister Daya, it's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just that..." She bit her lip again, looking very embarrassed: "Qingfeng specifically told me not to tell anyone about this."

Daya corrected her: "Is sister Daya an outsider? Just tell me whether sister Daya is good to you and whether the osmanthus cake I gave you the day before yesterday is delicious. Also, is the princess an outsider? The prince consort is the princess's husband. Are you stupid?" As she said that, she tapped Xiaoya's forehead with her hand.

After some coercion and inducement, the little girl confessed that the prince consort would sometimes stop outside a mansion after finishing his official business, as if he was looking at someone. She was usually in the mansion so she didn't know much about it. Qingfeng had been accompanying the prince consort every day for many years, so she knew more about the matter.

Li Yuanrou was already suspicious and suspected that Xiao Luobai might have gone to meet his true love, and she was extremely curious.

It would definitely not work to ask Qingfeng directly, so she immediately sent Qingluan and Zhuque to track the prince consort and investigate his whereabouts.

Sure enough, on the evening of the fourth day, Qingluan came back alone to report, leaving Zhuque to continue monitoring the prince consort.

Li Yuanrou went out in plain clothes without saying a word and followed Qingluan to find the place.

When I arrived, I saw Xiao Luobai standing at a corner, looking very lonely.

Looking from his position, the two big characters "Zhao Mansion" were very eye-catching. A loving couple came from afar, and they entered the mansion hand in hand, accompanied by a boy about five or six years old. The boy was shaking a rattle in his hand and running and laughing around the two adults, just like a happy family of three.

There was a full moon in the sky, but Xiao Luobai was hidden in the darkness of the moonlight. Only a little afterglow was sprinkled on the black boots on his feet. He looked sad, with his brows tightly furrowed, as if filled with endless sadness and sorrow.

It's true that love cannot be achieved, even though the other person is married and has children.

Li Yuanrou poked her head out from behind him: "Hey, is she the one you like? She's so old, she's married with children, and it seems that she has a deep relationship with her husband. Do you want to be a third party and break up her family?"

Li Yuanrou said, "I didn't expect you to have such a strong taste."

Xiao Luobai turned to look at her, his brows furrowed, his eyes filled with a hint of anger.

On weekdays, Xiao Luobai always looked aloof, noble, casual, indifferent and gentle when facing her. He was calm and at ease in the face of any situation. Li Yuanrou rarely saw Xiao Luobai showing his emotions like this.