After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

Lu Zhiyuan followed behind Xiao Yebai. When she passed the princess, she took a step back with her hands behind her back and said, "Your Highness, I made you a little kitten. I'll have Liuying deliver it to you later. Xiao Yebai is injured, so I'll take care of his injury first. After all, this misunderstanding was caused by me."

Princess Ping Le waved her hand: "It's alright, you should check his injuries first."

After Lu Zhiyuan and Xiao Yebai left, the princess, holding the cat, asked the princess beside her, "Don't you think Yuan'er and that Xiao something-bai are a good match? They are both good-looking and look especially pleasing to the eye together."

The palace maid lowered her head: "This servant thinks Your Highness is more beautiful!"

Princess Ping Le watched their retreating figures: "Of course I'm beautiful, but my beauty is different from Yuan'er's. Yuan'er once told me that beauties are divided into those with striking features and those with delicate features. Striking features are those with prominent features, such as thick, dark eyebrows, large eyes, and a high nose, like Yuan'er. Delicate features are like mine, with light-colored eyebrows, and eyes, nose, and mouth that fit perfectly on my face, making me very pleasing to the eye. Do you know about red peonies and white peonies? Yuan'er is a red peony, and I am a white peony. Can you say which one is more beautiful, the red peony or the white peony?"

The palace maid was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously said, "Red peonies and white peonies are equally beautiful, but I think the white peony is more beautiful."

“I think so too.” Princess Ping Le pinched her cheek. “Yuan’er said that a pale face can be made into a more striking one through makeup, just like a white peony can be dyed into a red peony. However, a red peony can never become a white peony. Even if it fades, it will still look sickly. Therefore, I am more beautiful.”

Princess Ping Le waved her hand: "Come on, let's go back to the courtyard and wait. Yuan'er said she wants to give me a cat."

Lu Jinyuan tugged at Xiao Yebai's sleeve and returned to Jinxiu Palace. Along the way, no matter what she said to him, he remained cold and indifferent.

"Xiao Yebai, I didn't complain to the princess, and I didn't know she would punish you because of the injury on my hand. It's just a superficial wound; I applied my own medicine twice and it healed. I'm not that petty, ouch..."

Lu Zhiyuan bumped into Xiao Yebai's back, but Xiao Yebai turned around and supported her arm.

“Even without you, without that scar on your hand, they would still find a way to humiliate me. I am a hostage from Southern Chu, an enemy to Northern Liang. There is nothing wrong with wearing down, punishing, and humiliating one’s enemy.”

"No, that's completely wrong. You didn't do anything wrong." Lu Zhiyuan rubbed her temples. "You can't think like that! Your mother was a princess sent for a political marriage, someone who made huge contributions and sacrifices for Beiliang. Without her marriage, where would the peace on the border come from? The people of Nanchu bully you because they consider you a descendant of Beiliang. Why should the people of Beiliang bully you?"

Xiao Yebai's gaze darkened: "Is that what you think?"

He was sent to Beiliang as a hostage at a very young age, moving from one palace to another. Apart from A'luo, everyone he encountered looked at him strangely, including the palace servants he brought from Nan Chu.

They called him a bastard, and said he was a monster with blue eyes.

Mingming A'luo had told him that blue eyes were a symbol of the gods of Southern Chu, and that if one was born with blue eyes, one would surely become the king of Southern Chu. But because his mother was a princess from Northern Liang who was sent to marry a foreign ruler, and he had half Northern Liang blood in his veins, he was transformed from a god into a demon.

For more than a decade, he has always considered himself a bastard, a monster, and believed that being alive was a blessing.

But now, someone tells him that his blue eyes are caused by poisoning, and that his mother was a meritorious official of Northern Liang and should not be abandoned by Southern Chu. Because her sacrifice not only brought peace to Northern Liang, but also allowed Southern Chu to recuperate.

He looked up at her, his gaze falling on her forehead, and gently touched it with the back of his finger: "Would you like me healed?"

Lu Zhiyuan's eyes lit up, and she grinned, "Treatment, treat by taking off your clothes!"

Xiao Yebai's eyes darkened slightly. Lu Zhiyuan thought he was going to refuse, so she quickly explained, "It's not that I'm taking advantage of you, and you don't need to repay me with your body. It's just that your injury can't be treated while you're wearing clothes."

Xiao Yebai turned and walked into the side hall.

The side hall was small and perpetually dark, its only window sealed shut. It smelled faintly of anything inside, but it was dark and chilly. Xiao Yebai, with his back to Lu Zhiyuan, took off his shirt. Seeing this, A'luo retrieved the oil lamp from the corner. The lamplight was dim, illuminating only a small area.

In the candlelight, Xiao Yebai's skin seemed even whiter.

How much longer are you going to stand there and watch?

Being stared at made her feel somewhat uncomfortable. Xiao Yebai pursed his lips and looked at Lu Zhiyuan. Meeting his gaze, Lu Zhiyuan stiffened, then her ears burned. She quickly patted her face, muttering to herself, "Lu Zhiyuan, Lu Zhiyuan, why are you blushing and feeling guilty in front of a child?"

He walked over with his head down, grabbed the quilt from the bed, and wrapped it around himself. The quilt was rough, somewhat stiff, and had a damp feel to it. This hostage prince from Southern Chu was indeed having a hard time in the Northern Liang palace.

"I'll go back and get my things!" Lu Zhiyuan turned to leave, but accidentally bumped into the table, causing the broken table to wobble. Despite the pain, Lu Zhiyuan pushed away Xiao Yebai, who was trying to help her, saying, "Wrap yourself up so you don't catch a cold. I'll be right back."

Lu Zhiyuan was indeed quick; when she returned, she carried a medicine box in one hand and a glass lamp in the other. Liu Ying followed behind, carrying a quilt. Seeing A Luo standing frozen at the door, she gestured towards the main hall with her chin: "There's another quilt, two mattresses, two buckwheat pillows, and a stove for winter heating. Sister A Luo, come with me to get them later. Miss said these all belong to the Xie family; the ladies in the palace can't interfere. You and your young master can use them without worry."

Aro had never seen such good things before. He subconsciously grabbed the hem of his clothes and rubbed his legs vigorously.

Liu Ying put the quilt inside and pulled A Luo to the main hall to move things. Lu Zhiyuan placed the medicine box by the bedside, lit the glass lamp she had brought, and placed it beside the bed. The originally dark side hall suddenly became bright.

Xiao Yebai sat there wrapped in a blanket, looking at her with a restrained and calm gaze.

"No need to thank me. I have no pity for you, nor do I pity you. I am investing in my future." He opened his medicine box and took out various items. "Besides medicine, I can also read faces. Your Highness Xiao is no ordinary person. Given time, you will surely soar to great heights and become a dragon. At that time, just don't forget the little bit of kindness I showed you today."

He prepared a packet of upgraded anesthetic and handed it to Xiao Yebai. "My uncle and mother are both in business, and I'm a businessman at heart. Everything I do is for the sake of reward. I'm saving you today, so if I ever fall into trouble, I hope Your Highness will lend me a hand."

Xiao Yebai did not answer, but took the anesthetic from her hand and drank it all in one gulp.

Lu Zhiyuan glanced at the bottom of the bowl and asked, "Isn't it bitter? Aren't you afraid I'm giving you poison?"