After giving her long-winded instructions, Wushuang hurried to the study.
Since the incident, Chu Yao has not been to the government office. Whenever there is something going on with the Lingguang Guard, they send someone to the Prince's Mansion to report. He either goes to see Chu Wan or deals with matters in his study.
When Wushuang approached, Chu Yao was sitting at his desk reading official documents. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure in the window. Looking up, he saw that the figure had a topknot with two hairpins in it. It was exactly how his princess had dressed that morning.
"What secrets are you trying to eavesdrop on, peeking around like that?" Chu Yao suddenly shouted.
"You didn't say anything, what could you hear?" Wushuang retorted, pushing open the door and walking in, her voice softening unconsciously, "I just came to see if you've eaten."
Chu Yao had not eaten yet, so the couple walked hand in hand back to Yuanxiang Hall for dinner.
Wushuang had been working hard lately, and her thoughts were inevitably a bit incomplete. Only after picking up her chopsticks did she remember Wang Hongbo, so she instructed Qiqiao to invite him to eat with her.
"Why did he come?" Chu Yao said with displeasure. "You even left him alone in Wanwan's room."
Wushuang was also dissatisfied: "How is it alone? There are several people here, including Liu'er, Cui'er, and the wet nurse. Besides, he is my brother."
Chu Yao looked up, about to retort, when the curtain was suddenly lifted, and Cui'er, who had been beaten a few days ago and was still not fully recovered, rushed in, panting as she said, "Your Highness, Your Highness, great news! The Princess has woken up."
Wushuang and Chuyao simultaneously dropped their rice bowls and rushed over without even touching the ground.
Chu Wan had been eating rice porridge for several days and was very weak. She could barely sit up, leaning against a pillow.
Chu Yao, tall and long-legged, moved swiftly and sat down on the edge of the bed, asking, "Wanwan, is there anything that feels uncomfortable..."
Before he could finish speaking, Chu Wan frowned and pushed him away with obvious disgust: "Go away, go away, you're not allowed to sit here. Men and women shouldn't touch each other. Why are you sitting on my bed?"
She was already weak, and now, combined with her physical exhaustion, she felt that Chu Yao was like a mountain that she couldn't push away no matter what she did. In her anxiety, she turned her little head around the room looking for a savior: "Brother Bo, who is this person? He's so annoying! Come and help me get rid of him!"
Upon hearing this, everyone in the room was quite surprised.
Wushuang turned to look at Qiqiao, who had arrived before her, and saw that she also looked bewildered.
Chu Yao's eyes were wide open. He had been unable to eat or sleep for days, filled with worry. He was still excited when Chu Wan woke up, but before he could release his excitement, he was annoyed by her words, "How annoying!": "I am your brother. That person is just an unrelated... relative."
Chu Wan looked suspicious, her little hands tightly gripping the corner of the blanket. She glanced at him, then immediately looked at Wang Hongbo: "Brother Bo, is he lying? Do I really have a brother?"
Chapter Index 129 | 128.4
Chapter 129:
The scene was undeniably comical, but due to Chu Yao's authority as a prince, no one present dared to laugh.
Wang Hongbo stepped forward and patiently explained Chu Yao and Wushuang's identities.
Chu Wan looked the two of them up and down.
Wushuang looked to be about the same age as her, with a pretty and approachable oval face that still had a bit of baby fat.
Chu Yao, given his age and status, was used to giving orders and naturally carried an air of superiority. Coupled with the irritating scene before him, he seemed rather unapproachable.
Chu Wan tentatively took Wushuang's hand and timidly asked her, "Sister-in-law Shuangshuang, you look so much younger than him, why did you marry him?" The "him" naturally referred to Chu Yao. "Did he force you? He was so fierce from the moment he came in, he's really not likable. Brother Bo is much more kind. You're so lucky to have such a good brother, I'm so envious."
Wushuang was both amused and exasperated, completely unsure how to respond.
Chu Yao was furious, but he still sensed that something was wrong.
“Wanwan, I understand that you are upset because you are injured and not feeling well. I am willing to grant you any request to make you happy. However, it is too much for you to not even acknowledge your brother.” He said with a stern face.
Chu Wan pouted, looking aggrieved, and said, "I...I really don't remember you guys, why are you scolding me?" As she spoke, tears streamed down her face.
"Alright, alright, Wanwan, don't cry. Your brother just talks loudly, that's how he always is. He's not scolding you." Wushuang quickly stepped forward to comfort him. "You hit your head and were unconscious for days. Your brother was so worried that he couldn't sit still or eat, and he lost weight. He's too busy taking care of you to scold you."
Chu Wan tilted her head and looked him over for a while: "I don't remember what he looked like before, so I can't tell if he's lost weight or not."
"Then do you remember Brother Bo?" Wushuang asked.
"Yes, I recognized him when I woke up," Chu Wan replied somewhat ambiguously.
Chu Yao was so angry she was practically spitting fire. She didn't recognize anyone except that brat Wang Hongbo. She hadn't even settled the score for secretly corresponding with him before, and now something even more outrageous had happened...
However, this is not the time to concern ourselves with such trivial matters; we must first summon the imperial physician to give us a proper examination.
Before Chu Wan woke up, the old imperial physician was forcibly detained in the Prince's mansion by Chu Yao and not allowed to leave. Now that Chu Wan has woken up, he naturally arrived very quickly.
After examining her, the old physician shook his head and said, "It seems the Princess is suffering from a kind of soul-loss disorder." [Qiushu.cc has almost every book you want to read; it's much more stable than other novel websites, updates faster, and it's all text with no ads.]
Chu Yao and the others had never heard of this strange illness before, but Wu Shuang had heard Ye Mingzhu mention it when she was with her.
"Imperial Physician, is amnesia not the same as forgetting one's past and not even knowing who one is?"
"That's not necessarily true. According to the examples recorded in the imperial medical books, some are indeed as the Princess Consort said, while others may simply be due to forgetting a person or thing that is extremely unpleasant to face..."
Before the old physician could finish speaking, Chu Yao interrupted him, saying, "She's been pampered and spoiled at home since she was a child. What reason does she have to be unwilling to face the fact that she's forgotten all of us?"
“Your Highness, please don’t worry,” the old physician waved his hand. “That’s just one of the symptoms. Loss of consciousness is rare and the symptoms vary. Some patients never remember the things they’ve forgotten in their entire lives, while others can recover after some rest. The princess may only have lost consciousness due to her external injury. As long as she rests and recuperates, she should be fine and recover gradually.”
However, even the imperial physician couldn't say exactly how slow that "slow" was, only saying that everything should be left to nature.
But something unsettling happened that day: Chu Wan refused to let Wang Hongbo go, saying that she only remembered him and couldn't trust anyone else.
Trying to reason with a patient is like casting pearls before swine. Although Chu Yao was reluctant, he still arranged for Wang Hongbo to stay in a courtyard.
So, Chu Wan would either have someone call Wang Hongbo to her place or go to Wang Hongbo's yard to stick to him. During meals, she insisted on sitting next to Wang Hongbo. She would eat the dishes he picked up with a smile, but she would disdainfully push the dishes Chu Yao picked up to the side of the plate and refuse to touch them.
Such blatant favoritism infuriated Chu Yao, and he changed his mind within a day.
"Going to the garden in the western suburbs tomorrow?" Wushuang had just lain down when Chu Yao's words startled her so much that she sat up. "Going to escape the summer heat is certainly a good thing, and I can't wait to see that garden. But we haven't packed anything yet, and neither has Wanwan. It's not like we're going to go shopping. How can we just leave like that?"