"Hiss..."
"Did I hurt you?"
"Your Highness, be gentle."
"Then bear with it, it will be fine soon."
...
The prison cart escorting Meng Yuan and Feng Niannian drove through the streets of Yongcheng. From a carriage following the cart, conversations that made one blush and beat their heart could be faintly heard.
Lin Jin, who had just rushed back from Jincheng, followed the carriage with his sword drawn, his sharp eyes scanning the surrounding citizens who were curiously looking at the carriage and murmuring. Occasionally, he couldn't help but reprimand them, saying, "His Highness is bandaging Lord Zhong's wound. Don't speculate wildly."
"Is it okay?"
Inside the carriage, Lu Wuxie finally finished his work. While tidying up Zhong Li's medicine box, he pushed Zhong Li's index finger towards her, seeking praise, and asked.
Zhong Li lowered her gaze to her fingertip, which was wrapped like a meat dumpling. It was just a small knife wound, at most a piece of flesh missing. Yet, almost all the gauze she carried had been used on it. Her middle finger was only as far from her index finger as the boundary between Chu and Han.
"Your Highness truly has good skills. When the bandage is removed, I don't know if this hand will heal, but the strength in my wrist will certainly increase." She pulled at the corner of her mouth, expressing her thoughts.
"How so?"
As Lu Wuxie raised his eyes, Zhong Li's fingertip was already thrust before him. "The gauze is too heavy. If my hand cannot be lifted, my wrist strength will naturally increase."
After saying that, she remembered Lu Wuxie's wrist in Anding County, which was wrapped so much it almost threatened the gauze business. She was certain this man had no talent for medicine.
Lu Wuxie's lips twitched. He countered by avoiding her injured fingertip and grasping all her remaining fingers in his palm. "It's done. For the next two days, don't think about examining corpses or anything like that. Rest is what's important."
Zhong Li hadn't expected him to act this way. Her cheeks flushed, and she tried forcefully to pull her hand back, but the strength in his grip was greater than she had imagined. No matter how she struggled, her fingertips remained firmly held, unmoving.
Lu Wuxie lowered his gaze and watched her wriggling movements. He recalled her pitiful expression when she closed her eyes during the bandaging. The corners of his mouth curved involuntarily. He had discovered another little secret beneath her usually cold demeanor: the aloof female coroner of Dali Temple was actually a little rabbit spirit who feared pain.
"Li'er." Just as Zhong Li was still preoccupied with how to break free from his grasp, Lu Wuxie's wrist tightened slightly. Her body was unstable, and with the bumps of the carriage along the way, she unexpectedly half-stumbled into his embrace.
Lu Wuxie hid the slight surprise in his eyes caused by this little accident. He lowered his gaze to the woman in his arms. At such close proximity, he could see her fluttering eyelashes and the tiny tears clinging to them, which she had held back due to the pain of the bandaging.
"Do you know?" His Adam's apple bobbed, and his fingertip unconsciously and subtly brushed against her cheek, slowly moving towards those few tears. "When I felt you deliberately trying to pull away from me in Wu Lane, do you know how scared I was?"
Zhong Li froze. She tried to avoid his gaze and instinctively prepared to push his body away.
But Lu Wuxie seemed to have anticipated this. His other hand, she didn't know when, had already quietly covered her waist, firmly holding her in his embrace. His gaze was steady and deep, pulling at her eyes, refusing to let her look away.
"I..." Zhong Li hesitated, her fingertips sliding over his slightly open collar, accidentally touching his hot Adam's apple. This was the first time she felt flustered. She knew her actions at the lantern festival on Fenghuo Street were acting on her own initiative, but she was confident. Only by doing so would Meng Yuan fall for it. Otherwise, without witnesses or evidence, everything they had was circumstantial, and Meng Yuan could not be apprehended.
The only uncertainty was whether Lu Wuxie would understand the hint she had given him. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
"In the end, didn't you still rush over?" Zhong Li thought for a long time and could only blurt out this sentence.
Lu Wuxie sighed. He took out a half-dismantled paper lantern from his embrace. "Yes, you didn't leave a single word. You just pulled out the red wick and stuffed it into my hand. If it weren't for the old man selling tea by the lake, and I guessed you meant 'red tea,' I would have been certain you were captured by Meng Yuan. By now, you would be a decorative piece in his secret chamber."
Zhong Li's lips parted, wanting to say something, but realizing she couldn't argue with Lu Wuxie, she simply turned her head and ignored him.
Lu Wuxie looked at her pouting red lips, then lowered his gaze to her injured hand. His tone softened as he said, "Fortunately, it was only your hand that was injured. Otherwise, I would have been truly angered to death by you."
"Angered to death?" Zhong Li's eyebrows shot up at his words. "Then Your Highness's temper is truly narrow. There will likely be more such instances in the future."
"You!" Lu Wuxie was choked by her words. He opened and closed his thin lips for a long time, unable to utter a single syllable. He, the carefree Young Master Lu of Jincheng, had been completely outmaneuvered by a mere coroner.
Seeing his exasperated expression, Zhong Li chuckled softly. The somewhat ambiguous and tense atmosphere immediately became relaxed.
Lu Wuxie narrowed his eyes and looked at her. Seeing her eyebrows curved into crescent moons and her dark eyes like a bottomless pool, the anger that had been building in his heart could no longer ignite.
"Li'er." After her laughter subsided slightly, Lu Wuxie gently tightened his grip on her waist, his fingertips wiping away her tears. "Do you know what my biggest regret is?"
Zhong Li collected her smile, puzzled.
"It was bringing you away from Anding County," he said, taking a deep breath and speaking his heart.
Zhong Li lowered her eyes, her brows furrowed. "Your Highness should know that the moment I took that half of the jade from you, whether you wanted to take me with you or not, even if I were alone, I would have thoroughly investigated my adoptive father's death."
"At least then I..." Lu Wuxie's eyes flickered as he gazed at her. "Would not have felt worried or heartbroken."
Zhong Li lowered her eyes and extended her other, uninjured hand to gently cover his cheek. She looked at his tightly furrowed brows and her fingertips quietly smoothed them out inch by inch. "Does Your Highness still remember what you told me about yourself when we were in the small fishing village?"
Lu Wuxie nodded.
"Your Highness could have foreseen various risks and avoided them, or even disappeared into the mountains without caring about anything. Why are you still like this now?" Zhong Li asked.
Lu Wuxie's Adam's apple bobbed, and he remained silent.
"Like Your Highness, even if this path is very dangerous and difficult, I must walk it. Some things are more important than one's own life," Zhong Li said.
Lu Wuxie looked at her deeply. In her dark pupils, he saw his own moved expression.
"Li'er." His heart began to beat uncontrollably. His hand unconsciously and slowly moved down, tenderly touching her luscious red lips.
Lu Wuxie's breathing grew shallow and rapid, and his eyes were filled with a hint of bewilderment.
His thin lips parted, and he couldn't help but want to kiss her.
"Your Highness!"
A voice from outside the carriage called out.
Lu Wuxie and Zhong Li snapped back to reality.
Before either of them could respond, the carriage suddenly stopped, and they were completely separated. Zhong Li returned to her original seat.
"What is it?" Lu Wuxie closed his eyes, the two words seeming to be squeezed from between his teeth.
"We've arrived at... the yamen!" Lin Jin's voice lacked the boldness it had when he called out to his Highness, carrying a hint of caution and probing in his tone.