Spring arrives and the land smiles

When Marquis Yong'an Shao Feng received the secret letter from the Prince of Jin, he frowned just as much as Qing Yan did.

Lady Hou, Lu Qian, was a clever and shrewd woman. Seeing that her husband had been locked in his study for a long time after receiving a message from the secret guard, she took a cup of ginseng tea and knocked on the study door by herself.

"Madam." Marquis Yong'an took the teacup and, seeing that Lu Qian had glanced at the secret letter on the table, did not hide it and gestured for her to read it herself.

Lu Qian opened the letter, and after reading it, her expression darkened slightly. She said softly, "What does the Marquis need me to do?"

Looking at the gentle and charming woman before him, Marquis Yong'an was moved and stood up to embrace her.

"My wife, it is I who have dragged you into this."

"You flatter me, Your Excellency." Lu Qian hugged the Marquis of Yong'an back and said softly, "If it weren't for Your Excellency's protection back then, how could the Lu family be where it is today? Over the years, Your Excellency has cherished me like a precious jewel. The Lu family and I are enough."

The Lu family was originally a prominent clan, with several generations of patriarchs serving as the Imperial Household Department's Director. The Lu family members were skilled in mechanics and divination, especially Lu Qian's father, Lu Changlin, who authored "Kaiwu Chengwu," a treatise on world affairs. However, while Lu Changlin excelled in research, he was inept at officialdom and was ultimately defeated by petty villains. Had it not been for the protection of the Marquis of Yong'an with his military merits, the Lu family would likely have been wiped out long ago.

"Qianqian, back then you risked ruining your reputation to save me, and that's how I was able to save the Lu family. In a way, Qianqian saved herself." Overwhelmed with emotion, Marquis Yong'an called out his wife's maiden name.

Recalling her extraordinary encounter with her husband, Lu Qian couldn't help but smile: "My husband saved the Lu family out of a sense of righteousness. At that time, my husband didn't know that I was a daughter of the Lu family."

"So this is destiny." Marquis Yong'an laughed. He had been married to Lu Qian for ten years and had only one daughter. Although he was over thirty, Marquis Yong'an had never thought of taking a concubine. His deep affection for her was the envy of others.

“My lord, how about we…” Lu Qian hesitated.

Marquis Yong'an interrupted her: "We're not going anywhere. If Madam likes Yingzhou, we'll stay in Yingzhou. If Madam doesn't like Shengjing, we won't set foot in Shengjing."

“My lord.” Lu Qian leaned happily into the arms of the Marquis of Yong’an. Her husband’s words had explained everything, and the letter was no longer a problem.

The backyard of Yushan Council Hall.

Qingyan has been recuperating here for many days. Counting the days, Luo Qing has been in the Immortal Doctor Valley for three days. Qingyan's desire to return is very obvious, because the nightmare has made her mental state extremely poor. She even mistook Sicheng for Ningyuan on several occasions, which caused some embarrassment.

"Ouch, Zhui'er, be gentle!" Qingyan exclaimed, her brows furrowing in pain.

Zhui'er was so frightened that her hand trembled, and the bandage fell onto the bedsheets: "Princess, this servant..."

"Forget it, let's go find a female healer." Qingyan said impatiently.

"Princess, have you forgotten that we are in the Yushan mining area? How could there be a female healer here?" Zhui'er pouted. The princess's wound was too deep. Young Master Luo instructed that the medicine powder must be sprinkled on the joint between the bone and flesh. Her hands trembled just looking at it, so she naturally stumbled when bandaging it. Young Master Luo was not around these past two days, and she was scolded by the princess every time she changed the dressing.

Helpless, Qingyan could only grit her teeth and take a deep breath: "Alright, be careful."

Seeing the princess's resolute expression, Zhui'er felt heartbroken, but had no choice but to help.

At this moment, Sicheng knocked on the door, requesting an audience.

"Princess, urgent news from Shengjing."

Upon hearing this, Qingyan waved for Zhuier to leave, adjusted her inner garment, and allowed her to enter.

"Princess, Li Chengyi, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, has been executed."

"So fast? What crime?"

In just three days, the Ministry of Justice had already made a decision, and the Emperor could no longer sit still.

"malfeasance."

"Dereliction of duty?" Qingyan was slightly taken aback. It wasn't fabrication or framing, nor was it treason, yet the punishment was so severe. It seemed her father was about to declare war on the Prince of Jin. Therefore, no matter how many followers the Prince of Jin had, the serious crime of treason wouldn't fall on them. Thinking about it, it made sense. Princes appointed by the late emperor, unless they were guilty of treason, were generally not punishable by death.

“The Prince of Jin will definitely take some action. Sicheng, send someone to infiltrate Yingzhou. If I remember correctly, the Marquis of Yong'an, who is stationed on the southeastern border, is the cousin of the Princess Consort of Lin.”

"Yes." Si Cheng accepted the order and withdrew.

"Lord Sicheng." Zhui'er looked at the bandage in her hand and saw Sicheng about to leave, so she quickly called out to him.

Si Cheng stopped, Qing Yan was slightly taken aback, and both of their eyes looked at her at the same time.

Zhui'er held the bandage up to Sicheng: "Please, Lord Sicheng, change the princess's dressing. This servant... this servant is clumsy."

Qingyan chuckled softly. This little girl certainly knows how to find help. Sicheng is a bodyguard, and his skills in treating wounds are comparable to those of ordinary doctors.

but……

Qingyan felt a bit agitated just thinking about the mistakes she had made over the past few days.

"Alright, alright. Although there's a difference between men and women, Sicheng is my personal bodyguard, and besides, my life is more important, so everything else is fine." With that thought, Qingyan nodded.

Si Cheng was taken aback. For the past two days, it had been Zhui'er who had changed the princess's dressings. Because Young Master Luo had instructed that the wound required special treatment, and Zhui'er's technique was inadequate, the princess's cries of pain grew louder and louder each time the dressing was changed, making his heart ache. He had hesitated at the door countless times, thinking of the embarrassment of being mistaken for someone else these past few days, and ultimately dared not go in. Now that the princess had let go of her resentment and taken the initiative to acknowledge him, Si Cheng couldn't help but tighten his hands at his sides, his expression changing slightly. He carefully took the bandage, picked up the medicine box, and walked to the bedside.

"Your subordinate will change the princess's dressing."

With someone taking over, Zhui'er felt relieved and said happily, "Princess, this servant will make you some mint tea to cool you down and refresh you."

"Ah."

Si Cheng stood by the bed, too nervous to move for a long time. Qing Yan thought he was afraid of hurting himself and being punished, so she couldn't help but speak up to comfort him: "I can tolerate that girl Zhui'er's technique, you can't be any worse than her, right? If you can't hold back, I'll tell you to stop." The implication was that he could do whatever he wanted, and he wouldn't be punished if he didn't do it well.

Si Cheng felt embarrassed and composed himself. He reached out to pull at Qing Yan's inner garment, but his hand trembled slightly. He paused, steadied himself, and said, "Princess, when changing the dressing, you need to apply pressure to the wound. If it hurts too much, please let me know."

Qingyan nodded.

As the inner garment was pulled down, the wound was clearly visible. Qingyan dared not look at her wound, but Sicheng's eyes were burning from the pain. He washed his hands and carefully touched the wound, causing Qingyan to tremble slightly.

"Wait a minute." Qingyan gritted her teeth.

Fearing she might be uncomfortable, Sicheng immediately stopped.

After a while, Qingyan spoke again: "Press my acupoints, then I won't move around, you can move faster, and I'll suffer less."

Seeing his princess give her orders with such seriousness, as if she had made a great decision, Si Cheng felt a pang of heartache, but upon reflection, it made perfect sense. Regardless of whether she could move or not, the pain would be unbearable, and staying still would actually improve efficiency. After thinking for a moment, he sealed several acupoints on Qing Yan, which would not only immobilize her but also slightly alleviate her pain.

So, Sicheng took a deep breath and moved even more nimbly, changing in no time.

Once the acupoints were released, Qingyan's breathing became disordered due to the pain she had been enduring. She was hunched over, her hands gripping the mattress on either side of her so tightly that it crumpled, as if she desperately needed an outlet for her emotions.

A strong arm stretched out in front of her, and without thinking, Qingyan grabbed it with both hands and took a big bite.

Perhaps because the pain came so suddenly, Si Cheng couldn't help but groan, and Qing Yan finally came to her senses.

Two neat rows of teeth marks were visible on her arm, the bites so deep and forceful that faint purplish-blue marks were visible. Qingyan looked up at Sicheng, the embarrassment from the other day welling up again.

Si Cheng looked at the princess with a complicated expression, his heart sank, and he immediately withdrew his arm, knelt on one knee and said, "This subordinate has overstepped his bounds." Then he quickly retreated.

"Hey—" Qingyan wanted to express her apology, but seeing Sicheng flash away, the rest of her words got stuck in her throat.

Ah, that back view looks more and more like Ning Yuan; it's clear that my longing for him is growing stronger every day.

After resting for a while, Qingyan heard a request for an audience outside the door, and Zhuier led the people in.

"Greetings, Princess." Xu Zhao bowed deeply to Qingyan, holding a medicine box in his hands.

"Get up." Qingyan waved her hand dismissively, then looked up and saw that Xu Zhao's face was bruised and he looked disheveled. Only then did she remember why Xu Zhao had come to see her.

Chu Shen, the commander of the Yushan Border Army, ordered his deputy Xu Zhao to go to the Immortal Doctor Valley to seek medicine for the Princess in order to repair the scar on her shoulder from the knife wound. Qingyan suspected that Xu Zhao was an internal traitor and wrote to the Old Urchin to give him a good beating, which is why he was in such a sorry state.

Qingyan looked at the medicine box in front of her, assuming that the medicine must have been obtained, so she opened it and saw that there were dozens of dark red pills inside.

"Did the immortal physician say how to use this medicine?" Qingyan asked in detail.

"The physician said to take one pill every three days, and after taking fifteen pills, dissolve the remaining pills in water to form a paste and apply it to the scar. Remove it after three days, and the scar will disappear." Xu Zhao answered respectfully, afraid of angering the important person in front of him and being sent to do even more difficult tasks.

Qingyan handed the medicine box to Zhuier and told Xu Zhao to leave. Xu Zhao breathed a sigh of relief and ran away as fast as he could.

Qingyan smiled inwardly. How could she let him get away so easily? This matter concerned the Yushan gold mine, and no one with even the slightest suspicion could be let off the hook.

“Princess, this medicine…” Zhui’er thought it was a new medicine to treat the princess’s injuries.

"Let's put it aside for now." We'll have to wait until Luo Qing returns before we can discuss the medication.

For three consecutive days, Sicheng came to change the dressing. His technique became more and more proficient. Qingyan's pain during the dressing change was reduced from initially having to use acupressure to prevent her from moving around to a level that she could endure on her own without external force. This showed that Sicheng had become a skilled worker.

After the pain subsided, Qingyan was quite exhausted and quickly fell asleep in bed. She didn't know how much time had passed when she woke up to find Luo Qing sitting beside her bed, his fingers resting on her pulse.

"How many times has the princess had nightmares these past few days?" Luo Qing asked casually when Qing Yan woke up.

"About four or five times," Qingyan replied after thinking for a moment.

"Four or five times?" Luo Qing murmured, repeating, her expression gradually changing. "However, four or five times only means that the princess's recovery is too slow. Otherwise, in the few days I was away, the princess would have had nightmares more than ten times."

"What? Does that mean the more nightmares you have, the faster you recover?" Qingyan looked at Luo Qing in confusion: "Young Master Luo gave Zhuier a medicinal diet recipe to cure nightmares, so it must have worked."

"What I gave her wasn't a medicinal diet recipe to cure nightmares, just ordinary dietary supplements. So the frequency of nightmares best reflects how much the princess cherishes her body." Luo Qing looked at Qing Yan's unhurried reply, and Qing Yan gradually felt apprehensive.

"Princess, you look down on yourself so much that I feel it would be foolish of me to go back to Immortal Doctor Valley to find medicine for you," Luo Qing continued. This usually good-tempered first disciple of the Immortal Doctor was clearly angry.

Hurry up and appease them, or they'll give up on their responsibilities.

Qingyan smiled broadly and said, "How could that be? It's all my fault. I will obey your orders from now on. I hope Young Master Diehua will take pity on me."

Qingyan has a good grasp of Luo Qing's mild temper and easily blushing personality.

Sigh—the speed with which he admitted his mistake and the obvious attempt to appease her left Luo Qing speechless. She couldn't say anything more and could only gently tell him to rest well, otherwise medicine would be useless.