Las bellezas de la dinastía Song

Capítulo 114

"Your Highness, how badly are you injured? It's very dangerous here. The pursuers could come at any time. We need to find a place to hide." Zuo Yi looked at his pale face and worriedly reached out to check his wrist pulse. His expression suddenly changed. "Your Highness, your internal injuries are very serious. Your qi is disordered and running wild. You need to regulate your breathing and rest immediately. Otherwise, the consequences may be unimaginable."

Before Zuo Yi could finish speaking, everything went black before his eyes, and he suddenly collapsed.

I seemed to hear Zuo Yi's anxious calls in my ear, and then I knew nothing more.

...

He awoke again in a vast wilderness. He was hidden in the tall grass, surrounded by complete silence, with only the sounds of insects and birds. His chest throbbed with pain, and with the slightest movement, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, instantly staining the delicate white silk chrysanthemum pendants on his body crimson.

...White chrysanthemums? A pendant? He suddenly froze, realizing he was wearing women's clothing. Pink in color, covered in crabapple blossoms, with a loose circle of white chrysanthemum pendants around his waist... It looked very familiar...

He had a photographic memory since childhood, and immediately recalled seeing a similar garment in Zuo Yi's bag that night. Zuo Yi had been looking through it under the lamp when he happened to enter, and Zuo Yi hurriedly put it away. He had even jokingly asked Zuo Yi which woman he had taken a fancy to. Who would have thought that he would be wearing that garment now?

What's going on?

He struggled to his feet from the thick grass. Before him stretched a vast, desolate field, where grass grew tall and birds sang. There was no one around. A road lay quietly across the field not far away. The sky was vast and the wilderness was boundless. He had no idea where he was.

Suddenly remembering what happened last night, he realized that Zuo Yi must have led him to escape, only to encounter pursuers. One of them was seriously injured, and the other was unconscious. In desperation, Zuo Yi had a flash of inspiration, dressed him in women's clothing, hid him in the roadside bushes, and then led the pursuers away.

With his beautiful face, delicate skin, and supple figure, he was quite convincing as a woman, making it difficult to distinguish him from the real thing.

Zuo Yi thought that he didn't know whether he would live or die on this journey. If he survived, he would naturally return. If he died, leaving only the second prince, who was seriously injured and unconscious, with no power to resist, the pursuers might easily let him go if they found a woman unconscious in the grass. If he encountered some local people who could help him, it would be a blessing from heaven.

Understanding Zuo Yi's thoughts, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. Then he suddenly remembered that Zuo Yi hadn't returned yet; could it be that he had already perished?

He suddenly coughed violently, and blood gushed from his mouth like a fountain. The injuries he had sustained yesterday were too severe, and without treatment, they had already damaged his internal organs. After finally managing to stop the coughing, he struggled to sit up, intending to meditate and heal his wounds, but suddenly remembered something, and his face paled in horror.

Chapter 252: [Bonus Chapter] Nine

Second Prince - Exquisite Cherry Blossoms ③

He didn't know where the strength came from, but he suddenly sat up, cross-legged, and tried his best to circulate his internal energy... Nothing... Nothing... No matter how hard he tried, his dantian was empty, without a trace of internal energy... He tried to throw a punch, almost knocking himself over, but the grass didn't budge; there wasn't a trace of internal force in his fist...

He began to panic, and another fit of violent coughing erupted, a coughing fit that seemed to rip out his internal organs... Blood splattered from his cough... He collapsed to the ground, barely breathing, unable to move again...

The sky gradually darkened... then it brightened again...

On the ground in front of him, blood mixed with soil, turning a strange dark brown. He slowly awoke from his unconsciousness, stood up blankly for a moment, then staggered to his feet, his eyes filled with madness and confusion.

What should he do? What should he do?!

Kyoto is far away, and the journey will be fraught with peril, assassins lurking everywhere. All my allies have been lost, and the skills I've painstakingly cultivated over the years have vanished overnight. The hatred for my mother's unjust death and the vengeance for my father's forced surrender remain unfulfilled. Even seeing my mother one last time is a pipe dream, and as for my father, I fear I'll never see him again... Though I am not dead, what use is this body? What use is it?!

He has become a cripple. He has become a cripple.

He stumbled forward aimlessly, as if drunk, his eyes unfocused, not knowing where he was going or what he was doing; he was completely lost in thought.

At the far end of the road, a caravan slowly approached. The carriages were adorned with vibrant colors, draped in light gauze and brocade, and filled with the sounds of singing, weeping, and cursing—a cacophony of noise, yet the only sign of life in the deathly silence of the wilderness. For some reason, he stopped, staring intently at the caravan until it slowly came to a stop in front of him.

A woman dressed in flamboyant attire swayed and wiggled, waving a handkerchief in one hand, giggling as she looked at him with an eyes that seemed to have discovered a priceless treasure, her gaze frighteningly bright.

The woman circled him a few times, gently patted his bottom, and giggled, covering her mouth. "Oh dear, this time I've only found some ugly ducklings, all shy and unruly. I was so angry! I never expected to meet such a stunning beauty here. Oh my, look at that face, that look! She's even more beautiful than Zi Ru... Tsk tsk tsk..."

The woman then asked him a series of questions, tugging at him and touching him all over. He suddenly became impatient, turned around to leave, but after only two steps, a sharp pain shot through the back of his neck, his vision went black, and he slipped and fell to the ground. He heard the woman jumping up and down, yelling, "You brat, couldn't you be gentler? Ouch, you've ruined my darling little beauty... Quick, carry her to the car..."

No longer aware of things outside oneself...

Chapter 253: [Side Story] Ten

Second Prince - Exquisite Cherry Blossoms ④

This woman was Rong's mother.

He later learned that on that day, Madam Rong happened to be searching for beautiful women in the countryside of Dawei. When she reached that area, she happened to encounter the search following the assassination. In fact, that avenue was usually a bustling and lively place, but because Meng Tai had ordered all traffic to be blocked, it was deserted, so much so that he lay there for two days without anyone noticing.

Madam Rong had been out for a while and was heading back to Zhongfang Garden. Others weren't allowed to pass, but as Meng Tai's subordinate, she could disregard such restrictions and go ahead on her own. With her token in hand, no one would stop her, nor would anyone search her car. It was only through this coincidence that she was led out of the encirclement and brought to Huaicheng, the capital of Tianxing Kingdom, becoming a little "girl" in Zhongfang Garden.

Throughout the journey, he seemed lost and offered no resistance, which initially delighted Madam Rong. However, she later discovered that the beauty she had taken a liking to and wanted to cultivate as a cash cow alongside Ziru was actually quite sickly. She coughed constantly, sometimes coughing up blood, and would become breathless and pale after even the slightest exertion. She always had a cold expression on her face, ignored everyone, and made no attempt to escape.

Madam Rong wailed and lamented, regretting that she had brought home a sickly child, and cried out that it was bad luck. She was reluctant to call a doctor, and instead grabbed some random herbs to treat him. After a few treatments, she lost patience. However, she saw that he was really handsome, even more so than Ziru, so she couldn't bear to drive him away. She had no choice but to harden her heart and leave him to his fate, no longer caring about him.

He slowly recovered in Zhongfang Garden, his mind returning to normal. He soon sensed something was amiss; Zhongfang Garden was shrouded in mystery. While Madam Rong was the apparent owner of Zhongfang Garden, there was another hidden figure within its walls, someone Madam Rong consulted on many matters.

He had only been at Zhongfang Garden for a short time when he encountered the man by chance, and the man noticed his inconsistencies. The man was originally one of Meng Tai's men. He had seen him before and felt that the man looked familiar, but seeing that he was a woman and that he was weak and sickly, he was not the person he thought he was. So he was just suspicious and did not dare to confirm his identity. Finally, he came to test him in the middle of the night.

Although his martial arts skills were gone, his eyesight and techniques remained. Taking advantage of the man's underestimation of his opponent, he mustered all his strength and used the tip of his sword to guard a point where the man's attack would be vulnerable. The man was caught off guard and accidentally placed his vital point on the tip of his sword, thus dying instantly.

He lay prostrate on the ground for a long time, finally catching his breath. He then realized that this was Meng Tai's territory, and a sense of dread filled him; he had no way to escape. He knew that although he had escaped this time, in a few days, either Rong Mama or Meng Tai would discover something was wrong and trace it back to him, at which point he would be dead. But where could he possibly escape to in this situation, given his physical condition?

Before he could come up with a solution, an unexpected incident occurred in the garden. The quirky little girl, who was only interested in having fun, suddenly appeared and took over the Zhongfang Garden. She then formed the Xiaoyao Gang and quickly drove Meng Tai's forces out. It was as if all his worries had vanished in the blink of an eye.

He stared in disbelief, allowing her to be close to him, entrusting him with important responsibilities, and trusting her completely. She even personally sought out renowned doctors to treat his injuries, providing him with the most expensive medicinal herbs without hesitation, no matter how rare. The Free and Unfettered Gang grew rapidly. His injuries gradually healed, and his martial arts skills returned. Based on the Free and Unfettered Gang, his new power was established.

Chapter 254: [Side Story] Eleven

Second Prince - Exquisite Cherry Blossoms ⑤

That day, after many twists and turns, Zuo Yi finally arrived, bringing with him his father's imperial edict and the decree abdicating the throne to him. For his father and mother, for revenge, for the subordinates who had followed him and died for him, he devised a series of schemes, one after another, each linked to the next. He couldn't care less about anything else; he desperately wanted to return to the capital, to see his mother's grave, to see his terminally ill father one last time, and to seek revenge. He even went so far as to use her. Using her as bait, he placed her in peril. Not only did he refuse to save her, but he also repeatedly erased her pleas for help.

He had always known her personality, so he always knew what the consequences would be after hurting and using her. However, he kept telling himself that he had no regrets.

Even when she finally saw through his scheme, even when she calmly questioned him, even knowing that they would never see each other again, even when she would retaliate a hundredfold, even when his heart was already aching a thousand times over, he still... had no regrets.

—Because, in his life, there were some things that he simply had to do.

He had already erected a hard wall around his heart, his lips tightly pressed together, his face expressionless, to deal with even the slightest frown, a reproach, or a hateful word that could cause him a hundredfold heartache and excruciating pain.

But it was all in vain.