Li Shu let out a cold laugh. The night before she had been too consumed with surviving to let her fury at the Crown Prince rise to the surface — yet here Cui Jinzhi was, rushing in to give her the perfect outlet.

Cui Jinzhi saw her suddenly lash out in anger and froze for a moment.

Li Shu bit down on her temper and swallowed it back.

She could not startle the grass and alert the snake right now. Nothing about last night’s fall from the cliff could be allowed to give Cui Jinzhi the slightest hint.

She trusted that he had not been involved. But she did not trust that he would stand by while she impeached the Crown Prince.

Li Shu withdrew her gaze and walked straight ahead. The attendants who had been gripping Hong Luo loosened their hold at the Princess’s reprimand. Hong Luo stumbled free and scrambled to follow Li Shu.

All the maids filed into the main room in a stream after Li Shu, steadying her as they moved to settle her on the bed. Hong Luo wanted to come and attend her mistress but felt she had no right, and could only shrink into a corner.

Li Shu waved a hand at the maids. “I won’t lie down yet. I’m filthy all over — let me get out of these clothes first.”

The maids hurried forward and, with light and careful hands, began to remove Li Shu’s outer robe. They were about to peel off the inner robe as well, when Cui Jinzhi entered the room.

“Don’t rush to bathe yet — wait for the imperial physician to examine your injuries first.”

He had sent someone back to the city to summon the imperial physicians long ago; they would arrive before too long.

Li Shu had just shrugged the inner robe off her shoulders, but when she heard Cui Jinzhi’s voice she quickly pulled the robe back up, covering the jade pendant at her neck, and then turned to watch Cui Jinzhi enter the inner chamber.

“What are you doing here?”

Cui Jinzhi had only managed to glimpse Li Shu’s half-bared shoulder — covered in a crisscross of cuts, deep and shallow both.

He felt a stab of pain in his chest. Right now he could not be bothered about Li Shu’s coldness.

He spoke softly. “I’m afraid the servants won’t tend to you properly.”

He was her husband — he ought to look after her.

He moved closer. Li Shu took a step back and fixed him with a wary look.

Cui Jinzhi saw that she had one hand pressed to her chest, covering her neck.

She said, “There’s no need.”

But Cui Jinzhi replied, “Let me. The maids haven’t seen injuries this serious — they might panic and start trembling. The imperial physician won’t be here for a little while yet. Let me first clean the wound —”

“I said there’s no need!”

Li Shu suddenly raised her voice, her expression a wall of ice. “Get out.”

The maids, seeing the Princess in anger, all bowed their heads quietly, standing motionless, pretending they heard nothing.

Cui Jinzhi was momentarily stunned.

There was a room full of servants, and she had just dismissed him this bluntly, with no face spared at all.

The words were already out, and Li Shu was aware that her tone had been far too much.

No matter what else, publicly stripping him of dignity in front of the servants was the worst sort of conduct.

But she truly feared Cui Jinzhi catching sight of the jade ornament.

Li Shu drew a breath and softened her expression. “You’re covered in mud — go and bathe and change your clothes first. The imperial physician hasn’t arrived yet, and I won’t apply any medicine on my own. I’ll only change into clean clothes and have a quick wash first.”

Cui Jinzhi heard this, and his expression eased a little. He nodded, then called over the head maid and said in a low voice: “Be gentle when removing her clothes — don’t catch the wounds. Whatever you do, don’t let the wounds touch water.  She may like to be clean, but now is not the time to indulge her.”

The maid quickly assented.

Cui Jinzhi looked at Li Shu once more — she stood before the bed in only her inner robe, watching him as he gave his instructions, hand still pressed to her chest, every line of her radiating wariness.

Only once Cui Jinzhi had left the room and the door had closed did Li Shu finally lower her hand.

She said in a cool tone, “Hong Luo, come into the inner chamber. Everyone else, attend from the outer room.”

She had nearly lost her life to recover this jade ornament. It was the very foundation of her winning this fight. Before it reached her father’s desk, not a single thing could go wrong.

The Princess’s word was absolute; the maids withdrew from the inner chamber one by one.

Hong Luo had thought the Princess would never use her again. She had not expected to still be called to attend her mistress personally. She had been kneeling all night, her legs gone numb, yet she still dragged her feet and stepped into the inner chamber.

With a thud she dropped to her knees before Li Shu, and said nothing at all — only wrapped her arms around Li Shu’s legs and wept.

She had been standing watch below the pagoda terrace as usual last night, and in just one moment of inattention, the Princess had vanished from the terrace above.

Li Shu let out an almost imperceptible sigh and patted Hong Luo. “Stop crying. Help me change my clothes first.”

This was not Hong Luo’s fault. When all was said and done, she herself had been careless — she had not paid enough attention to her own safety before. This time had taught her. From now on, wherever she went, she would keep guards at her side at every moment, and she would never again give the Crown Prince any opportunity.

Hong Luo finally stifled her sobs and stood, knowing the Princess had always disliked people weeping and wailing. She swallowed her tears.

Others said the Princess had a cold nature and no warmth in her. But if she were truly cold-natured, another mistress would have had her beaten to death long ago.

The Princess was actually very soft-hearted.

Hong Luo had just swallowed her tears and was moving to help Li Shu undress from the filthy inner robe, but as the garment slipped off, Hong Luo drew a sharp breath.

How… how could this be so serious?

Hong Luo had assumed the Princess was fortunate and blessed — that having fallen from a cliff with no broken arms or legs, she must have been spared the worst of it. She had not imagined her body was covered in this many hidden injuries.

She could hardly bear to think what the Princess had suffered through in last night’s downpour.

Hong Luo quickly helped Li Shu lie down on the bed. The shock had passed now, and she was again the composed, methodical senior maid she always was. She directed the attendants in the outer room to bring water and medicine, and with careful hands wiped clean every part of Li Shu’s body that was uninjured.

After lying there for a while, Li Shu suddenly gave an order: “Send someone to prepare the carriage. We are returning to the mansion today.”

The longer the night, the more the dreams. Every moment this jade ornament hung at her neck was another moment of risk that someone might discover it.

She had to get back to the city as fast as possible, return to the palace, and accuse the Crown Prince before her father.

Li Shu thought of this, and stared up at the dark patterns on the canopy above her. The cold light in her gaze was absolute.

The Crown Prince had not finished her off. Then let him wait for her retaliation.

Cui Jinzhi bathed quickly and changed his clothes. He was just about to head back to Li Shu’s room when Cui Lin came to report that the imperial physician had arrived.

He was the finest medical officer in the Imperial Medical Bureau — His Majesty had personally sent him.

Cui Jinzhi’s mobilization of nearly the entire Ministry of War the night before had been such a commotion that by the next morning it had naturally reached the Emperor’s ears. The Emperor had immediately summoned the Imperial Medical Bureau in alarm; not knowing the extent of Li Shu’s injuries, he had ordered the physician to bring the best life-saving medicines from the inner storerooms and come at once.

Cui Jinzhi said quickly, “Please show the imperial physician in.”

Since the physician was coming, he stepped out of the courtyard first to wait at the gate and receive him.

Just then he noticed Li Shu’s servants rushing about busily, as if packing up belongings. Cui Jinzhi’s brow furrowed; he pulled one of them aside and demanded, “What are you all doing? Instead of attending properly to the Princess, you have the leisure to be packing things up?”

The servant quickly knelt and explained, “Prince Consort, this is the Princess’s order. She said she wishes to return to the city later today. We servants feared there would be a rush later on, and so are getting an early start on the packing.”

Cui Jinzhi’s brow creased.

What was her hurry to return? She was covered in wounds.

While he was still thinking, Cui Lin appeared, bowing respectfully as he led the imperial physician toward them. Cui Jinzhi quickly went to receive him.

Cui Jinzhi brought the imperial physician into the room. Li Shu had already been cleaned up; she wore a fresh inner robe and was leaning against the pillow headrest as a maid fed her water, sip by sip.

The physician paid his respects. A maid brought a round stool, and the physician had barely seated himself when he heard Cui Jinzhi say, “Please, physician, first examine her hands.”

He was uncertain whether they could still be saved.

Cui Jinzhi also took a seat at the head of the bed, nearly half-cradling Li Shu, holding both her arms raised for the physician.

The physician leaned in for a closer look and immediately drew a sharp breath. He had never seen hands injured this gravely. He reached out and pressed Li Shu’s fingertips. “Princess — can you still feel anything in your hands?”

Li Shu’s brow furrowed slightly. She gave a small nod. “There was no feeling at all before. Now that you squeeze like this, there is a little pain — but it is not very bad.”

The physician let out a breath of relief. “Pain is good. Pain means there is still hope.”

He quickly opened his medicine chest and withdrew a porcelain vial. The moment the stopper was removed, the air filled with the sharp smell of strong spirits. “This will sting somewhat. Please bear with it, Princess.”

Li Shu had not yet processed what was happening when a searing pain erupted from her palms. She curled in on herself from the intensity, instinctively trying to pull her hands back — but Cui Jinzhi had his arms locked firmly around her, clamping her in place so she could not move at all.

He felt her whole body contracting against his chest; though she had clenched her jaw, he could still hear the muffled sounds of pain pressed back in her throat.

Cui Jinzhi wished with everything he had that he could take those wounds onto himself instead.

How had she endured the night before… how on earth had she survived it?

Li Shu was in so much pain that everything else ceased to exist. Hadn’t her hands been almost without sensation? How could they still hurt this much? She felt cold sweat breaking out in layers, and by the time she finally endured to the end of it, both her hands had already been wrapped in clean gauze bandages.

The physician wiped the sweat from his brow and let out a long breath. “This humble physician will not conceal anything from the Princess — your hands are too gravely injured, and were not treated in time. They ought to have been ruined. Fortunately, you applied the juice of fresh coptis root in time, which reduced a great deal of the swelling. You must take great care of them over the next several months. Take great care — do not use them carelessly.”

Li Shu wanted to nod to show she had heard the doctor’s instructions, but she no longer had the strength for even that. She heard Cui Jinzhi’s voice from above her: “Thank you, physician.”

The physician asked Hong Luo a few further questions regarding any other injuries on Li Shu’s body. Hong Luo replied that there were many scrapes and abrasions.

The physician understood — scrapes, though painful, were not serious. Applying medicine diligently each day would be enough.

Cui Jinzhi accompanied the physician to the outer room, received the written prescriptions for both internal and external remedies, and listened as he was told: “The external wounds are easy to manage. The worry is that the Princess may develop a fever — whether from infection or a chill, both must be watched carefully. This medicine must be boiled and administered immediately. One dose now before any illness can set in with full force.”

Cui Jinzhi accepted the prescription, thanked the physician once more, and sent him out the door. He then called Hong Luo over and told her to go and boil the medicine at once.

Then he stepped quietly back into the inner chamber and sat beside Li Shu’s bed.

She had been in extreme pain just now. At this moment she was resting against the pillow, unconscious or asleep — he could not tell which — and utterly still. Her face was very pale, and very quiet, and she appeared extremely fragile.

Fragile.

That word — Cui Jinzhi had never once connected it to Li Shu before.

He had almost lost her last night.

It is as if only at the very edge of life and death does a person finally understand the weight that some people carry in their heart — so much heavier than they had ever imagined in ordinary days.

Five years of suppressed feeling, five years of emotions he had run from, all burst forth in this moment of survival after disaster, of losing something and then finding it again.

Cui Jinzhi slowly reached out and gently stroked Li Shu’s face.

There were many small cuts on her face, though fortunately they were all rather shallow — a little time and they would heal.

But on her exposed neck was a deeper wound — to judge by the marks, a branch had slashed hard across it.

Cui Jinzhi looked at that wound and thought of the half-bare shoulder he had glimpsed earlier. The shoulder and neck together seemed to be covered in injuries.

It must have hurt terribly. Yet from the moment he had brought her back, she had not once cried out in pain — she had bitten it all back and endured it alone.

That was what she was like: all the pain buried inside, and toward the world always that cold and sharp-edged mask.

The motion of Cui Jinzhi’s hand was extraordinarily gentle, tracing the line of Li Shu’s cheek and slowly sliding down to her neck, and then carefully lifting the collar just a little, wanting to see exactly how deeply she was hurt.