After a moment of silence, Lin Yuhuang asked, "Then what did Yuan Shuangshuang want with you?"
Xuezhi looked at Shangguan Tou and Feng Zi again, and shook her head: "I...I'm not feeling well."
Shangguan Tou immediately stepped forward and tucked the blanket around Xuezhi: "Look at you... you're injured now, so don't talk so much. Cover yourself up properly, or you'll suffer from a cold."
Xuezhi looked at him, turned to her side to lie down, and hummed in agreement.
Lin Yuhuang slapped Shangguan Tou's hand away: "Get your dirty hands off me."
"Uncle Lin, I'm just concerned about Zhi'er."
"Zhi'er doesn't need your concern!" Lin Yuhuang stood up, leaned close to Shangguan Tou's ear, and whispered angrily, "You bastard, there are very few people in the world who are worthy of my precious daughter. I was going to never let you pursue her, but I turned a blind eye because you really liked her. And look at you, you went and pursued Feng Zi in the blink of an eye. I told you not to be so infatuated, not to ruin my daughter. Luckily, Zhi'er didn't tell me she likes you, otherwise, even if you already have a wife, you would have to divorce her immediately and marry her!"
At this moment, Feng Zi was resting her chin on her hand and smiling at Xue Zhi: "Sister, these past few days, Young Master Shangguan has been staying at Chonghuo Palace. The first thing he does every morning is ask, 'Has Zhi'er woken up yet?' And the first thing you say when you wake up is, 'Where's Shangguan Tou?' It's such a pity that you two aren't getting married."
Lin Yuhuang said, "Xiao Zi, don't talk nonsense. He is your fiancé."
Feng Zi immediately stood up and waved her hands vigorously: "No, no, Young Master Shangguan said that marrying me was just to get information out of some people, to help my sister. Didn't you see that this matter hasn't spread yet? We will not get married." After saying that, she looked at Mu Yuan.
Mu Yuan still did not react at all.
"We can talk about these things later. Right now, Zhi'er's health is the most important thing." Shangguan Tou lowered half of the bed curtains. "It's very late now, everyone should go back and rest—Uncle Lin too, you haven't slept for three days. I'll stay here with Zhi'er."
Lin Yuhuang threw down the words, "Don't you dare take liberties with my daughter," and then left with the other two.
Mu Yuan took two steps, then turned back and said, "Palace Master, you probably know yourself... your current physical condition is very special. Please take care of yourself."
Feng Zi asked, "What's so special about it?"
Mu Yuan said, "It's nothing, the injury is serious."
Watching Mu Yuan's departing figure, and pondering his words, Xue Zhi suddenly remembered the most crucial thing—she had suffered such severe injuries and fallen countless times, could it be, could it be…
She looked at Shangguan Tou in a daze; he was slowly blowing out two lamps.
"Young Master Shangguan..."
Shangguan Tou sat down next to her again: "What's wrong?"
"Did the doctor say anything?"
"He said your hand injury is okay and will fully recover in about half a month, but the back injury is very serious and has broken the bone. It will take at least a hundred days to heal. So you should not leave for the next few months and stay in Chonghuo Palace to recuperate. Leave everything else to me or my subordinates."
"No, I want to know, my...I..." Only then did she realize that speaking about this was a thousand times harder than she had imagined.
"Oh, you mean the secret manual? I've already put it away for you."
Xuezhi had no choice but to nod reluctantly.
After a while, Shangguan Tou said again, "...The child is also very good."
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Then, he moved a chair over, lowered the other bed curtains, and sat outside to watch over her. After a moment of relief, Xuezhi felt that this wasn't the time to be happy.
Xuezhi panicked and said, "Then my father..."
"I asked the doctor to keep it a secret, so they don't know."
The last candle flickered in the soft, warm air. Through the bed curtains, Xuezhi saw Shangguan Tou's figure vaguely. He was holding a book, seemingly just tending to a stranger, a patient. He wouldn't say anything more.
She had only thought about how to let Shangguan Tou know about this, or whether she should let him know at all. She had also fantasized about whether he would feel a little overjoyed after finding out, or whether he would coldly tell her that the child was not his.
But he just sat there and gently told her that the child was fine.
That's all.
The fire in the stove was burning brightly, and the room was very warm.
She felt as if a boulder was pressing down on her chest, making it difficult to breathe.
A voice came from behind the bed curtains: "Can't you sleep?"
Xuezhi shook her head.
Through the bed curtains, she could vaguely see him put down his book and blow out the last lamp. Only the remaining starlight and his familiar yet blurry figure remained in the room.
Is this better?
"Um."
"What do you want to eat tomorrow?" he suddenly asked, startling her.
"I want to eat meat."
"What kind of meat?"
"Any kind of meat is fine, I'm just craving it."
"good."
After that, she didn't close her eyes, secretly using her little finger to pull back a corner of the bed curtains and peek out through the small gap. Her vision suddenly became much clearer, but she still couldn't see his expression. She could see him leaning back in his chair, his boots pointed, his long, straight legs. She could clearly see the outline of his eyelashes, nose, and lips... his profile was outlined with beautiful lines in the darkness.
Xuezhi doesn't remember when she fell asleep.
The next day, as soon as she woke up, Shangguan Tou brought fresh, piping hot mutton stew to Xuezhi's room and carefully fed her bite by bite. The stew was thick and flavorful, with meat that was tender but not greasy, but it still tasted strangely bitter after swallowing.
In the afternoon, Shangguan Tou had to leave on business. Yanhe rushed to Xuezhi's side with a lovesick look on her face: "Palace Master, Palace Master, you had mutton stew this morning, right? You don't know, Young Master Shangguan went out before dawn and specially went to Chang'an to buy it for you. His lightness skill is really good. He went so far in the dead of winter to buy it, and the soup was still steaming hot."
Xuezhi was still unable to lie flat, and was lying on her side with her long hair scattered messily on the pillow.
"I really envy the Palace Master. Sigh, when will I be so lucky to meet someone who loves me so much..." Yanhe rested her chin on her hand, gazing longingly out the window.
"Yanhe, I'm a little sleepy."
"Ah, have I disturbed the Palace Master? Then Yanhe will take her leave."
From that day on, Shangguan Tou treated her very well, so meticulously that it was almost unbelievable for someone like the infamous Shangguan Tou. But from that day on, he never even touched her hand, let alone his habitually gentle touch on her head.
Even if she were stupid, she would understand what Shangguan Tou's behavior meant at this moment.
The child she had been carefully protecting turned out to be a burden on his father even before he was born.
Xuezhi was seriously injured and could do nothing but lie in bed to recuperate. She tried to talk to him, but every time she saw his calm expression, she was afraid that if she opened her mouth, he would say something she could not accept at all.
It wasn't until ten days later, when her wound was no longer so painful and she was able to get out of bed and walk around a little, that he took the initiative to speak to her.
“Someone attacked Chonghuo Palace last night.” He sat on the edge of the bed and peeled a pear for her.
Who is it?
"I don't know. But this person didn't come to kill anyone."
"He came to steal the 'Snow Lotus Sword of the Vast Ocean,' right?"
"I guess so. He kept running towards your room. He was so light that even Haitang didn't notice him. It was only when Yunhui got up in the middle of the night that he accidentally bumped into him. But this person also seems to be afraid of people. As soon as Yunhui called out, he escaped with even more amazing speed. Logically speaking, the fact that he dared to break into Chonghuo Palace alone and run towards Chaoxue Tower shows that his skills should not be underestimated."
"Not only should they not be underestimated!" Xuezhi sat up straight, her hands turning cold. "She raided Chonghuo Palace alone at night, and Haitang didn't even notice, and she managed to escape unscathed... Wait, where's the secret manual?"
Shangguan Tou reached into the pillow and pulled out the secret manual and several neatly folded but slightly wrinkled sheets of paper:
"Here, is the crumpled paper you brought back."
Xuezhi flipped through the manual and, after confirming that it hadn't been switched, breathed a sigh of relief.
Shangguan Tou cut off a small piece of pear and fed it to Xuezhi: "Zhi'er, what exactly happened to you that day? Where did you find the secret manual?"
Xuezhi told him what had happened that day.
"I have a rough idea of what happened." Shangguan Tou was somewhat taken aback. "It's Fengcheng."
What do you think?
“I never thought Fengcheng would get involved in this,” Shangguan Tou said in a deep voice. “All I know is that one or both of Yuan Shuangshuang and Xia Qingmei obtained the ‘Lotus Wings’.”
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Xuezhi asked in surprise, "You got 'Lotus Wings'? Which one is that?"
"If one of them got it, it's still unclear. It's highly likely that Yuan Shuangshuang got it. If both of them got it, then one of them cultivated the 'Hibiscus Heart Sutra' and the other cultivated the 'Nine Forms of the Lotus God'."
"how so?"
"Don't worry, they haven't finished repairing them yet."
How did you know?
"Do you remember when Yuan Shuangshuang exposed Xia Qingmei's affairs at Shaolin Temple?"
"Um."
"I overheard their conversation. It seemed that Xia Qingmei's approach to Feng Zi angered Yuan Shuangshuang, so Yuan Shuangshuang turned against him. At that time, Yuan Shuangshuang was already on the verge of exploding, but Xia Qingmei used both soft and hard tactics to calm her down temporarily. However, it seems that someone put Feng Zi's things in Xia Qingmei's room later, and Yuan Shuangshuang turned against him again."
How do you know someone else put it there?
"Xia Qingmei's reaction clearly showed that she was truly wronged. Moreover, why did Yuan Shuangshuang discover Feng Zi's things at that exact moment? Someone must have relayed the message. Besides, there was a third person present when I heard them talking."
Who is it?
“Feng She.” Shangguan Tou fed Xue Zhi another piece of pear. “So, it is highly likely that Feng She put Feng Zi’s things in there and then told Yuan Shuangshuang.”
Before she could even swallow the pear, Xuezhili mumbled, "Amazing, that's how it is!"
You know?
Xuezhi then told Shangguan Tou about Feng She's request for her to go to Lingjian Manor with her.
“That’s simple,” Shangguan said. “Yuan Shuangshuang and Xia Qingmei were in cahoots many years ago. It’s just that Xia Qingmei has grown up and is no longer manipulated by Yuan Shuangshuang. He also has infatuations with Lin Fengzi, which forced Yuan Shuangshuang to turn against him.”
"Many years ago?"
Shangguan Tou briefly recounted what happened before he was expelled from Lingjian Manor: At that time, Lin Yuhuang was also staying at Lingjian Manor, studying martial arts manuals with Shangguan Tou every day. Many of Lingjian Manor's manuals required prior cultivation of internal energy techniques, but Shangguan Tou, arrogant and proud, and having heard the legendary story of Lin Yuhuang's cultivation of the "Azure Lotus Eyes," secretly learned the "Seven Swords of Void" while Yuhuang was away from Lingjian Manor. During his cultivation, he felt unwell, often experiencing shortness of breath, so he wandered around Lingjian Manor. One day, he accidentally entered a separate courtyard and overheard Yuan Shuangshuang and Xia Qingmei secretly discussing obtaining the "Lotus Wings." After escaping, he seemed to escape unnoticed by the two. However, a few days later, Shangguan Tou began to lose his mind, and even after stopping his cultivation of the "Seven Swords of Void," he could not control his internal energy. After waking from a coma, he found several people standing around him, and he was sleeping disheveled next to the unconscious Lin Fengzi.
Having secretly learned martial arts and defiled the manor lord's daughter, Shangguan Tou was naturally expelled from Lingjian Manor. At that time, Shangguan Tou wasn't naive, so he naturally assumed it was his fault. He didn't consider that he was just a young man new to the martial world; how could his martial arts compare to Yuan Shuangshuang's? He had eavesdropped on their conversation; how could he not be discovered?
He only learned the truth after overhearing their conversation at Shaolin Temple. Since it was Xia Qingmei who did it, then he and Feng Zi were framed by these two.
Xuezhi said, "When Yuan Shuangshuang made the plan, she probably didn't expect Xia Qingmei to actually take the opportunity to harm Lin Fengzi, so she held a grudge for many years?"
"I think that Yuan Shuangshuang really did ask Xia Qingmei to attack Lin Fengzi back then. It's just that she has only recently started to regret it and has begun to harbor resentment towards Xia Qingmei. Otherwise, it's impossible for them to have gone so many years without any conflict."