“Zhenzhen.” Jiang Shiran set down her teacup and stepped forward to meet her, taking hold of Princess Zhenzhen’s hands and asking, “How are you? When I came to see you last time, you were resting, and I’ve been quite worried about you.”

Princess Zhenzhen managed a weak smile: “I’m doing alright.”

The two sat down together.

Jiang Shiran’s gaze fell upon Princess Zhenzhen’s face veil: “Zhenzhen, why are you wearing that in such hot weather?”

“I broke out in a rash.”

“We’re so close already, and you still need to cover up a rash? It must be so hot.” Jiang Shiran laughed dismissively.

Princess Zhenzhen quietly took a breath, struggling to maintain her composure: “But it looks unsightly.”

Jiang Shiran smiled slightly: “That’s true too. You’re so beautiful, Zhenzhen, that if there were even the slightest blemish on your face, you certainly couldn’t bear it—”

Midway through her words, Jiang Shiran noticed something strange in Princess Zhenzhen’s expression and quickly asked: “Zhenzhen, what’s wrong? Oh my, why are you crying?”

Princess Zhenzhen collapsed crying into Jiang Shiran’s embrace.

“Zhenzhen?” Jiang Shiran was stunned.

Princess Zhenzhen clung tightly to Jiang Shiran, crying harder and harder: “Shiran, what am I going to do from now on?”

“What on earth has happened?” Having never seen her friend lose composure like this, Jiang Shiran felt somewhat at a loss.

Previously, between the two of them, she had been the one who cried when she wanted to cry and laughed when she wanted to laugh, while Zhenzhen had been much more proper and well-mannered.

Princess Zhenzhen cried in Jiang Shiran’s arms for a long time.

Jiang Shiran’s chest became soaked through, and she awkwardly raised her hand to pat Princess Zhenzhen’s thin back: “Zhenzhen, please don’t cry anymore. If you keep crying, my undergarments will show through.”

Princess Zhenzhen’s whole body stiffened. She stopped crying, and after a moment, raised her head and slowly pulled down her face veil.

“Ah—” Jiang Shiran cried out in shock.

“Frightening, isn’t it?” Princess Zhenzhen looked utterly despairing. “Disgusting, right? Heh, these past few days I haven’t dared look in a mirror. Just thinking about how I look now makes me want to die!”

“Zhenzhen—” Jiang Shiran was, after all, just a young lady who hadn’t experienced any major setbacks. Seeing her stunningly beautiful friend transformed into this state, she didn’t know how to react for a moment.

“Please leave, go quickly. Don’t come to the palace to see me anymore—” Princess Zhenzhen covered her face and wept.

Jiang Shiran grasped Princess Zhenzhen’s hands: “Zhenzhen, I was just too shocked, but I don’t despise you. Don’t cry. No matter what you look like, we’ll always be good friends. If anyone dares to gossip about you, I’ll whip them!”

“Shiran!” Princess Zhenzhen’s tears fell like rain. “I’ve thought about not wanting to live so many times, but I’m unwilling to give up. I’m so unwilling!”

Born a princess, she was noble by birth, but her father the Emperor paid no attention to his daughters, and without an Empress Mother to arrange their futures, she had struggled so hard to reach her current position, only to have everything destroyed by a single landslide.

Princess Zhenzhen looked at Jiang Shiran through her tears, smiling bitterly in her heart.

Although Shiran had no malicious intentions, her temperament was willful and spoiled. For them to become good friends, how much had she endured? Who would know?

“Zhenzhen, I know you’re very sad, but you must not think of giving up. My father once said that people only have hope while they’re alive—once dead, there’s nothing left.”

“What hope do I have left?” Princess Zhenzhen asked in a daze.

“Have the imperial physicians examined you?”

“They have. Even Director Li from the Imperial Medical Academy was at a loss. I’m certainly beyond saving.”

“That can’t be true. The world is so vast, there must be physicians skilled in treating this condition. Zhenzhen, let me tell you, those truly capable physicians often don’t want to be constrained by official positions, like that world-renowned Physician Li.”

“Physician Li—” Princess Zhenzhen murmured these three words.

“Yes, Zhenzhen, you’ve heard of Physician Li, haven’t you?”

Princess Zhenzhen nodded: “Yes, I have. I’ve heard that Physician Li once treated the Empress Dowager.”

“So you see, don’t lose heart. That Physician Li might have a solution.”

“But Physician Li isn’t in the capital. In such a vast world, where would one even begin to search?”

Jiang Shiran smiled: “Don’t worry about that. I’ll go back and ask my father to help. Zhenzhen, have you forgotten what my father does?”

The Jinlin Guards originally managed intelligence throughout the realm—how could Princess Zhenzhen not know this?

Her eyes gradually regained some light as she gripped Jiang Shiran’s hand tightly: “Shiran, then I’ll have to trouble you.”

Though she was a princess, unless her father, the Emperor or her imperial grandmother gave the order, wanting to find Physician Li would be a pipe dream. Having Shiran’s help now couldn’t be better—this was also why she wasn’t ashamed to let Shiran see her current appearance.

“Why be so formal between us?” Jiang Shiran took out a handkerchief and gently wiped Princess Zhenzhen’s tears. When her fingertips touched her face, she couldn’t help but shudder.

Zhenzhen’s current appearance was truly too terrifying.

“Zhenzhen, weren’t you fine just a few days ago? How did you become like this?”

Princess Zhenzhen’s eyes became somewhat vacant: “I don’t know why either. Starting from the second day after I was rescued from the landslide, my face became like this. The imperial physicians said it might be because I was contaminated by some unknown toxin during the landslide.”

Jiang Shiran frowned: “How did you encounter a landslide?”

“Yes, I’m just that unlucky. Something that happens once in decades just had to happen to me.” Princess Zhenzhen laughed self-mockingly.

“By the way, I heard that the Li girl was also caught in it?”

“The Li girl?”

“Li San, the daughter of the Hanlin Academy Compiler.”

Princess Zhenzhen nodded: “Yes, we were walking on the mountain path together when the landslide occurred. She was luckier than I—her driver protected her and they ran uphill, so she probably wasn’t buried. But I don’t know what happened to her afterward.”

“What happened to her? She’s doing just fine!” At the mention of Qiao Zhao, Jiang Shiran gritted her teeth.

As soon as he heard she was caught in a landslide, Thirteenth Brother ran faster than anyone, and later Eleventh Brother went too. She’s simply a vixen!

“How is she?”

“According to news from Marquis Guanjun, she’s safe and sound, staying at Reflection Shadow Convent.”

Marquis Guanjun.

Princess Zhenzhen silently repeated this title in her heart, and a figure flashed through her mind.

That man was stern and resolute, unlike any other man she had ever encountered.

Everyone said her cousin Chi Can was a rare beauty in this world, but in her opinion, he couldn’t compare to even one ten-thousandth of that man’s bearing.

She had waited so long in that pitch-black darkness, with cold corpses pressing down on her body, sticky blood from the corpses on her face—even that blood was cold—making her think she would die in despair in such wretchedness.

Then, that man appeared and brought her back to life.

“Zhenzhen, what’s wrong?”

Princess Zhenzhen came back to herself: “Nothing, I just think Miss Li was much luckier than I.”

Both encountered the same landslide, yet Miss Li was protected by her driver and safely returned to Reflection Shadow Convent, while she experienced being buried and even disfigurement, going from one despair to another.

“Zhenzhen, don’t you feel that whenever you encounter Li San, you have bad luck?” Jiang Shiran suddenly asked.

Princess Zhenzhen was taken aback by the question.