She looked at him with concern, wiping his face as she asked, "You've been looking for me for a long time, haven't you? It must have been very tiring, right?"
Cui Hao lowered his eyes: "It was our inadequate protection that led to the princess being kidnapped. It should be our responsibility to find you again."
"But His Highness is even more worried than us. We can still catch our breath during our occasional rest, but His Highness can't rest easy for a moment because he is worried about you. He can't eat or sleep well. He is more tired than us."
Yao Youqing's eyes were slightly red. She pursed her lips and almost cried when she lowered her head to wipe Wei Hong's hands.
Wei Hong had practiced martial arts for many years and had spent many years in the military camp. His hands were not as delicate as those of pampered young noblemen; they were covered with calluses and rough lines.
Now his rough hands are covered with chilblains and frostbite, probably from riding horses outside searching for him all these days, exposed to the cold wind for so long.
She then looked at Cui Hao's hands and saw that there were indeed some frostbite on them.
When Cui Hao saw her gaze sweep over him, he tucked his hands into his sleeves and said, "We are all rough men, thick-skinned and thick-fleshed, and we are already used to it. Your Highness need not take it to heart."
Yao Youqing didn't say anything. After wiping Wei Hong's hands and feet clean, she said to him, "I'd like to trouble Lord Cui to go to Doctor Dou's place and get some medicine for frostbite for me. I'll apply it to the prince, and you can apply some to yourself later too."
Cui Hao nodded in agreement and went to get the ointment from Li Dou. When he arrived, Li Dou, just like Wei Hong, had already fallen asleep on the bed without changing his clothes or washing his face.
He called out several times but Douzi didn't respond, so he reached out and pushed him.
"Douzi, find me some ointment for frostbite before you go to sleep. The prince is waiting for it."
After he finished speaking, the person on the bed still didn't react, snoring loudly.
He hissed, his eyes darting around, and leaned close to his ear, raising his voice: "Douzi, Qiongyu is here!"
The person who was sleeping like a log suddenly sat up in bed, feeling nervous and bewildered.
"Where? Where is it?"
As she spoke, she wiped her face with one hand and straightened her clothes with the other, afraid that Qiongyu would see her disheveled appearance.
Cui Hao shook his head and chuckled: "Give me a box of ointment for frostbite, the prince needs it."
Li Dou said "Oh," got up and rummaged through the medicine box. After finding it, he handed it to him. Seeing that he was about to leave with the ointment, he opened his swollen and groggy eyes and asked again, "Where is Qiongyu?"
Cui Hao waved his hand behind his back: "You're in your dream, go find it yourself."
Li Dou's muddled mind finally realized that he had been talking nonsense, but he didn't have time to argue with him. He yawned and dragged his noodle-like legs back to bed, falling into a deep sleep.
After receiving the ointment, Yao Youqing said to Cui Hao, "Lord Cui, you should also go and rest. I'm fine here now. You and the other Jingyuan soldiers have worked hard these past few days."
Cui Hao bowed and said, "It's no trouble at all. I'll take my leave now. If Your Highness needs anything, just have someone call me."
Yao Youqing nodded, and Cui Hao then left, making sure to close the door behind him as he departed.
After returning to the side room, he intended to lie down and sleep immediately, but then he remembered that his hands, which he had just washed clean during his bath, had touched Wei Hong and Douzi, and that neither of them had changed their clothes and were still wearing dirty clothes that hadn't been washed for who knows how many days. So he sighed, forced himself to stay awake, and washed his hands again before walking to the bedside and lying down. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
In the main room next door, Yao Youqing opened the medicine box, picked out a little ointment with her finger, and carefully applied it to Wei Hong's wound.
During this time, the man, who was usually very alert and would wake up at the slightest sound, remained completely unresponsive, only snoring intermittently. It was clear that he was extremely exhausted and completely at ease with the person beside him, which is why he suddenly let go of the pressure of the past few days and fell into a deep sleep.
Yao Youqing applied ointment to the frostbite on both of his hands, took off her shoes and socks, lay down next to him, looked at the man's profile for a while, reached out and touched the stubble on his chin, then closed her eyes and fell asleep with a smile.
In the front yard, Liancheng waited from day to night, and when he was sure that Wei Hong really hadn't come looking for him, he was still fuming with a tense expression.
"You really think this is your own home? I'm the guest waiting to be received by the host?"
When the owner is unhappy, he won't see him and will leave him here to dry for a day!
The servants muttered to themselves, "This is your residence, young master. The prince really seems comfortable living here. Aren't we afraid we'll tamper with things while he's asleep?"
What is he afraid of?
Lian Chengqi's voice rose several decibels.
“This is my house, but it’s his Shuozhou! So many people watched him come here with me. If something happens to him here, do you think I can escape?”
Although it is said that those who have nothing to lose are not afraid of those who have something to lose, Liancheng is not barefoot. He still wants to return to Nanyan and has a great cause to accomplish. He cannot risk everything just to get rid of Wei Hong. That is why Wei Hong is so fearless and not worried at all about the danger of staying here.
Besides, apart from the people in the front yard who belong to him, the inner courtyard and the surrounding area are all Wei Hong's men. If a fight really breaks out, he would be killed before he even gets close to Wei Hong!
"Go to sleep! If he doesn't contact me, I'm not waiting for him anymore! Even if he tries to contact me tomorrow, I won't talk to him!"
After saying that, he walked back to the inner room in a few steps, pulled back the covers, and lay down inside.
...
"Your Highness, can't we wait until dawn to say what we need to say?"
Liancheng had just said last night that he wouldn't talk to Wei Hong, but before dawn this morning, Wei Hong dragged him out of bed and sat him in front of him wearing only an undergarment, his hair still uncombed.
After Wei Hong helped him up, he sat down at the table, poured himself a cup of tea, and gulped it down.
Liancheng was also a little thirsty when he got up. Seeing that he had drunk a cup, he poured himself a cup and sipped it in a daze. But after only one sip, he spat it out with a "pfft".
"It's cold..."
He always had servants attending to him, and unless it was truly in the middle of nowhere with no other choice, his first cup of tea in the morning would always be at the perfect temperature to drink.
It seems that Wei Hong's arrival was so sudden that the servants hadn't even had time to change the tea before he picked them up and made them drink it.
Liancheng, unaware of the situation, took a sip and realized something was amiss, muttering, "Your Highness, you're being too inconsiderate. How can you drink cold tea so early in the winter morning?"
After saying that, seeing that Wei Hong was about to drink a second cup, she stopped him and called in a servant to bring in a hot pot.
Wei Hong was thirsty and didn't want to wait: "Why make such a fuss?"
He tried to take the teapot back, but Liancheng refused, saying, "That won't do. I'm not like you, Your Highness. I'm a refined person!"
The teapot was then handed to a servant, who returned shortly afterward with a fresh pot of hot tea.
After the servants left, Wei Hong drank several more cups of tea before getting down to business.
"Why were you being chased? And why did Zhao Wu bring people to Daliang and kidnap my princess? Tell me the whole story from beginning to end."
Although Yao Youqing had already given a general overview yesterday, Wei Hong knew that it was already quite difficult for a weak woman like her to escape on her own. She might not be able to clearly explain or remember the various things involved and many details. Therefore, he still needed to ask Liancheng.
Liancheng shrugged: "I don't know why I'm being hunted down. It's strange, I even sent people to investigate myself, but we couldn't find anything out after a long time. My brothers seemed to have found some huge weakness, and suddenly they went crazy and started chasing me. What's even stranger is that my father hasn't looked for me at all, even though I've been missing for so long!"
He was not favored from a young age, and his father did not like him. It was normal for him to forget about him for a year or two at a time, but that was all in the past.
Since he gradually established himself through his own strength and took control of most of the wealth of Southern Yan, no one dared to underestimate him, including his father, the emperor.
Logically speaking, even if everything in Nan Yan is still running normally, he should be worried about the terrible consequences of not being able to find him after his sudden disappearance.
But it was as if he had forgotten about his son again; he not only didn't send anyone to look for him, but he didn't even ask him a single question.
"That's why I haven't shown up yet, because I wanted to wait until the investigation was clear before I spoke, so that I wouldn't be followed around by those people again."
"If it weren't for saving your queen, I wouldn't have bothered to expose my whereabouts and let them find me."
Wei Hong glanced at him: "It was your men who kidnapped my princess, so you should be held responsible."
Liancheng choked, "Yes, yes, yes, I knew I couldn't escape responsibility, so I came out to find the princess as soon as possible. Luckily, she's been returned intact, otherwise I would have been wronged to death!"
"Where is Zhao Wu now? Do you know?"
Wei Hong asked.
"I don't know. The Japanese were almost catching up with him when the princess escaped on her own. I thought that although Zhao Wu was hateful, the princess's safety was more important, so I protected the princess and escaped first."
Yao Youqing had fainted from the cold, so he couldn't afford to go looking for revenge against Zhao Wu. He immediately took her to the nearest town to rest and receive treatment. Otherwise, it would be unknown whether Yao Youqing, who was now returned to Wei Hong, would be alive or dead.
"But don't worry, when I find that bastard in the future, I will definitely..."
Before he could finish speaking, Cui Hao came from the inner courtyard to find Wei Hong and told him that the princess had woken up.
Wei Hong, who had just been talking to Lian Cheng, sprang up from his chair like a firecracker and disappeared through the door in the blink of an eye.
Liancheng was dumbfounded, then flew into a rage.
"What do you take this place for? Someone you can come and go as you please! A brothel?"
Wei Hong's mind was entirely on Yao Youqing, so he ignored him.
Cui Hao paused for a moment, turned around and smiled, "Young Master Lian, don't smear yourself like that. If this place were a brothel, what would you be? Besides... our Prince doesn't like the south wind."
Liancheng: "..."
Whose house is this? Whose house is this?!
Chapter 83 The Return Journey
"Your Highness need not rush back."
Yao Youqing sat on the edge of the bed and said softly.
"I just woke up and saw you weren't here, so I was just asking casually. I didn't need to talk to you about anything. If you're busy, go ahead and do your thing. Don't worry about me."
She had just realized, in her half-awake state, that the person beside her was not there. She went to the bathroom to check but found nothing. Although she knew that nothing should happen here, her experiences over the past few days still made her a little uneasy. She put on her clothes and went outside to ask.
To everyone's surprise, Wei Hong returned shortly after asking.
"There was nothing much going on. I just chatted with Liancheng for a bit, and then I came back."
Wei Hong said.
After saying that, he looked at the sky again: "It's still early, why don't you sleep a little longer? I'm going to the bathroom to take a shower."
He slept through the day yesterday until this morning. After waking up, he looked at the sleeping woman for a while and then went to Liancheng. He didn't even drink a drop of water or take a bath, and he's still dirty.
Yao Youqing nodded: "Then go ahead, I won't sleep either, I'll wait for you here. It'll be good to have the kitchen prepare breakfast earlier, Your Highness, you must be hungry after sleeping for so long."
She went to bed early yesterday and isn't sleepy at all right now, so she might as well eat breakfast earlier.
Wei Hong smiled and said okay, kissed her on the forehead, and then went to the bathroom to take a bath.
He washed his hair in two buckets of water before coming out. By the time his hair was dry, breakfast had just been delivered. He sat down at the table, picked up his chopsticks, and began to wolf down his food.
Yao Youqing looked at him and smiled, her eyes crinkling as she held the porridge bowl.
Wei Hong wasn't afraid of losing face in front of her, and continued to eat heartily, even putting a piece of braised meat into her dish as he ate.
"Eat more, and after you've eaten your fill and rested for a while, we'll set off back to Cangcheng. I'll have someone find you a more comfortable carriage later."
"So fast?"
Yao Youqing looked up from the bowl, somewhat surprised.
"Didn't you get enough rest?" Wei Hong asked. "Then wait two more days, there's no rush."
“No,” Yao Youqing shook her head, “I’m worried that Your Highness hasn’t rested well. You’ve been even more tired than me these past few days. You only arrived yesterday and you’re leaving today. Can you handle it?”