The carriage moved slowly, struggling forward in the rain. With each step the old horse took, its legs would tremble, making the coachman who had been pushed aside by Long Ying watch with trepidation.

Inside the carriage, Princess Zhenzhen hugged her arms across her chest and bit her lip lightly: “You—”

Aren’t you embarrassed?

These words reached her lips but were swallowed back down.

The other person had just saved her—she still had that much conscience.

“Do you have any clothes to change into?” Princess Zhenzhen changed her question.

“Binglu, give the clothes to Her Highness.”

Generally, when young ladies from prominent families went out, they would always prepare an extra set of clothes to deal with unexpected situations. Qiao Zhao was naturally no exception.

Binglu felt unwilling in her heart, but the other party was a princess. Apart from agreeing, there seemed to be no other option, so she could only secretly pout as she took the clothes from the chest and respectfully presented them.

Princess Zhenzhen stared at that set of plain-colored clothes with considerable disdain. However, no matter how much she disliked them, they were still better than wearing soaking wet clothes, so she reluctantly said to Binglu, “Help me change into them.”

Binglu looked toward Qiao Zhao.

Qiao Zhao nodded lightly.

This princess was injured and caught in such heavy rain. Even though she had taken her cold-dispelling pill, it still wasn’t safe. Changing into dry clothes would naturally be better.

Binglu felt somewhat distressed in her heart.

Poor young lady, hateful princess!

The little maid’s face darkened as she silently helped Princess Zhenzhen change into dry clothes.

Having changed out of the soaking wet clothes, Princess Zhenzhen immediately felt much more comfortable. She leaned against the carriage wall to rest and asked Qiao Zhao, “Why aren’t you changing?”

Binglu couldn’t hold back anymore and interjected: “There’s only one set of clothes. After giving it to Your Highness to change, where would our young lady get clothes to change into?”

Princess Zhenzhen was slightly stunned.

When a princess traveled, she naturally wouldn’t bring only one set of spare clothes.

She looked down at the clothes she was wearing, and after a long while, looked toward Qiao Zhao. Her lips moved as she said softly: “Thank you.”

The young lady across from her still maintained a calm expression and spoke in a light tone: “Your Highness should close your eyes and rest. In a while, you’ll start feeling the wound hurt, and you’ll need good strength to endure the journey back.”

Princess Zhenzhen was startled upon hearing this, only then belatedly realizing that before she lost consciousness, she had been in such pain that even speaking a word was extremely difficult. Yet after waking up, she seemed to have felt no pain at all.

She looked down at her injured left leg.

The newly changed dry clothes covered the bandages, even concealing those bloodstains. If others looked at her, they wouldn’t be able to tell she was injured at all.

“Why don’t I feel any pain now?”

“Oh, you’ll start hurting soon.”

Princess Zhenzhen: “…”

There was nothing wrong with her brain—she had no desire to start hurting quickly!

“What I mean is, why can’t I feel the pain?”

“Because when stopping Your Highness’s bleeding, the silver needles pierced certain acupoints, which can temporarily relieve pain. However, it can only provide relief for a very short time.”

So what Grandfather Li had been obsessing over for several years was researching the legendary Mafeisan that could make people feel no pain throughout an entire procedure. But he had never found the right main ingredient, and she wondered how things were going now.

Qiao Zhao became somewhat lost in thought.

Mafeisan—that was the miraculous medicine mentioned in ancient medical texts. If Grandfather Li succeeded in developing it, how many people would it benefit, especially those soldiers who bled and suffered injuries defending Great Liang?

While Qiao Zhao was lost in thought, Princess Zhenzhen looked at her, equally lost in thought.

How did this Third Miss Li know so much? She seemed completely different from those other noble ladies.

Princess Zhenzhen’s gaze fell on the wet clothes Qiao Zhao was wearing.

That Third Miss Li had given her the only set of dry clothes—this didn’t surprise her.

With her status as a princess, could the other party dare to change into dry clothes herself while leaving her in wet clothes? Even letting her use this carriage, she wouldn’t think much of it.

But how could there be a girl who, wearing wet clothes, showed not the slightest bit of shyness in front of a man?

Yet strangely, the other party’s lack of embarrassment didn’t make people think she was shameless. Instead, it had a kind of forthright bearing that made those who thought about such things feel their minds weren’t pure enough, appearing petty instead.

The more Princess Zhenzhen thought about it, the more vexed she became.

She knew it—this Third Miss Li was very strange indeed!

The pain came suddenly. Princess Zhenzhen let out a muffled groan, pressed around the wound area on her thigh, and instantly went pale.

“Feeling the pain now?” Qiao Zhao came back to her senses and asked.

“Yes…” Princess Zhenzhen gritted her teeth and said no more.

For some reason, she felt it would be very embarrassing to scream miserably in front of this girl.

“By the way, I still don’t know—”

Before Princess Zhenzhen could finish her question, the carriage suddenly sank downward.

In that moment of chaos, Princess Zhenzhen and Binglu’s screams rose one after another.

Long Ying moved lightning-fast, embracing Princess Zhenzhen and jumping off the carriage the instant it overturned, protecting her firmly in his arms.

In that critical moment, Qiao Zhao instinctively grabbed tightly onto the carriage wall, and a thought flashed through her mind: Oh no, there must be too many people—we’re overloaded!

Binglu fell straight out, tumbling to the ground. Fortunately, the muddy road was soft, so the fall wasn’t heavy. But then a dark shadow followed, falling and landing on top of her.

“Ah—” Binglu let out a miserable scream.

She came to her senses and finally saw clearly what had fallen on her. Her second scream pierced the sky.

Qiao Zhao held onto the now-stabilized carriage wall and poked her head out to look. She saw the corpse of the deceased palace maid pressing down on Binglu. The poor little maid was frantically trying to push the corpse away, but probably because she was too frightened, the corpse remained firmly pressed against her, unmoving.

Qiao Zhao’s eyes darted around and saw that Long Ying was protecting Princess Zhenzhen under a large tree with lush branches by the roadside, while the coachman was desperately holding the reins to prevent the old horse from breaking free. For a moment, no one was available to help Binglu.

Qiao Zhao sighed and climbed out of the overturned carriage, walked to Binglu, and crouched down to help.

Her body was originally slender and delicate, and she was young—where would she get the strength? She tugged hard several times but couldn’t drag it away, so she could only comfort Binglu gently: “Binglu, don’t panic. Aren’t you very strong? Calm down and use your strength—you’ll be able to push the corpse aside.”

Binglu nearly cried.

Even the young lady knew it was a corpse! Her hands and feet were weak now—where would she get the strength?

“Binglu, think about it—what if it were me being pressed down right now?”

With one sentence from Qiao Zhao, Binglu instantly exploded with energy, using her hands to flip the corpse to one side.

Finally saved!

Binglu breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly felt it was too quiet. Taking a closer look, she couldn’t help but be greatly alarmed.

The palace maid’s corpse had fallen right onto the young lady’s legs, knocking the young lady completely down!

Oh heavens, her poor young lady!

Miss Qiao, lying in the mud with a corpse pressing on her legs, had a face full of despair.

Why had she made such a hypothesis just now? Her head must have been kicked by that old horse!

The rain blurred people’s vision. Qiao Zhao blinked and saw a pair of high-topped white-soled black boots appear before her eyes.

The owner of the boots crouched down, pushed aside the corpse, and bent over to lift her.