After Chu Yi shot the two bandits with arrows, he dismounted and walked toward his son.

Who would have expected that someone would reach Yu’er before him and hold the child in her arms.

Seeing that woman holding Yu’er, he vaguely felt that Yu’er’s features seemed somewhat similar to the woman before him.

Wait, Changsheng looked even more like Madam Xie—the eyes, nose, mouth… as if carved from the same mold…

An absurd thought surfaced in Chu Yi’s mind. Could it be…

Just as he was lost in thought, the bandit with an arrow in his eye suddenly grabbed the long blade beside him and slashed toward Yun Chu.

Yun Chu turned swiftly, but she didn’t dodge. The long blade sliced across Yun Chu’s waist, and that bandit continued slashing wildly like a madman.

Chu Yi’s expression darkened. He kicked out viciously, then grabbed the long blade and directly slashed the bandit’s throat.

The flesh at the bandit’s wounded neck quickly turned black.

“Madam Xie, the blade is poisoned!”

Chu Yi scooped up his terrified son and handed him to a nearby guard, then looked at Yun Chu. “Madam Xie, forgive my offense.”

Before Yun Chu understood what was happening, the man lifted her horizontally into his arms and carried her into a nearby wooden shed that hadn’t caught fire.

If she didn’t have sufficient understanding of this man and know he wasn’t that type of scoundrel, she would have already pulled out her hairpin to stab him.

“Madam Xie, that blade has deadly poison on it.” Chu Yi spoke concisely. “There’s no physician on the mountain. I’ll help you suck out the poison first, then we’ll go down the mountain for treatment.”

Yun Chu immediately pulled aside the cloak.

The clothing at her waist had been slashed open, revealing a long bloody gash. The flesh seemed dyed with black ink, making one’s heart tremble.

She hadn’t felt the wound was particularly painful, but upon seeing the vicious scar, her entire body began to go weak.

It had only been a little over two months since her rebirth—there were still so many things left undone. How could she die like this?

“Your Highness is of royal blood, supremely noble. I dare not let this poison harm Your Highness’s body.” Yun Chu spoke. “I would trouble Your Highness to simply find anyone at all.”

This body of hers had been ruined on her wedding night. What chastity, what virtue—these things held no meaning for her whatsoever.

Chu Yi saw defeat in her eyes.

She probably didn’t lack concern for her chastity, but rather… had no need to be concerned…

He had heard that Lord Xie and Madam Xie were a devoted couple, that the two were deeply in love. How could she be so indifferent to her own chastity?

But now wasn’t the time to think about this. Chu Yi spoke. “Madam Xie was injured by bandits while protecting Yu’er. My sucking the poison from Madam Xie’s body is repayment for this life-saving grace.”

Having said this, he bent down.

Yun Chu instinctively dodged.

A woman’s chastity was a cage that confined women within it. No matter how indifferent she was, she couldn’t ignore her instinctive inner resistance.

“Madam Xie, don’t be afraid.”

The man’s large palm pressed against her waist. Immediately after, a soft sensation, a burning temperature, spread from her waist through her four limbs.

She closed her eyes, commanding herself to calm down.

To survive, the poison must be sucked out in time. Otherwise, once they descended the mountain, it would likely be too late.

Just pretend—just pretend the man before her was some random guard, pretend she didn’t know him, and then it wouldn’t feel so difficult to face.

Her mind began recalling events from her past life, one matter after another, one incident after another, reviewing them over and over… Finally, the sensation at her waist disappeared.

Yun Chu opened her eyes and met Chu Yi’s face. His lips had turned pitch black.

“Madam Xie, there isn’t much residual poison left. Your life is no longer in danger.” Chu Yi took a mouthful of water and spat it out. After rinsing his mouth three times, he finally spoke. “What happened today—you know, I know, only we two need to know. I would ask that you…”

“Bang!”

Before he finished his sentence, someone kicked the wooden shed door open.

“Chu’er!”

Yun Ze rushed in looking panicked. When he saw the scene inside the room, he froze completely.

That Prince Pingxi and Chu’er were alone together in a room, man and woman, was one thing, but Chu’er’s clothing was disheveled, exposing half her waist. If not for the vicious scar on the exposed skin, he would have almost thought something inappropriate.

He saw Prince Pingxi’s lips were black, and there was much black poisonous liquid on the ground. He immediately understood what had happened.

Yun Chu quickly grabbed the cloak and wrapped her body up.

Being seen in such a state by her own brother was somewhat uncomfortable, more or less.

Yun Ze maintained his composure as he walked in and bowed with cupped hands. “Many thanks to Your Highness for saving my sister’s life. The Yun family will never forget this.”

“It was Madam Xie who saved my son. This is what I ought to do.” Prince Pingxi’s expression was calm. “Lord Yun, don’t waste time. Quickly descend the mountain to treat Madam Xie. I happen to know a female physician—I can have someone fetch her to treat Madam Xie’s injury.”

“This humble official also happens to know that female physician. There’s no need to trouble Your Highness.”

Yun Ze walked to Yun Chu’s side and pulled off the cloak she had wrapped tightly around herself.

Yun Chu didn’t know what he was doing and held on for dear life.

Yun Ze lowered his voice. “Your elder brother also has a cloak.”

Yun Chu’s expression became sheepish as she released her grip.

Yun Ze pulled off the cloak, quickly draped his own garment over Yun Chu, and only then looked at Prince Pingxi. “Many thanks, Your Highness.”

Chu Yi accepted his own cloak. Besides the smell of blood, he could faintly detect a scent that belonged uniquely to a woman’s body.

When he had been clearing the poison for her just now, he had smelled this scent—a very familiar fragrance…

Yun Ze lifted Yun Chu into his arms and walked outside.

There was a sedan chair outside. He carefully placed her inside.

The people from Prince Pingxi’s residence and the people from the Yun family—the two groups quickly descended the mountain.

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Yun Ze cupped his hands toward Chu Yi, and the two parties went their separate ways.

Chu Hongyu leaned weakly in Chu Yi’s embrace, his gaze fixed tightly on the Yun family’s carriage. “Father, why aren’t we taking Mother back to the prince’s residence for treatment?”

“She is not your mother.” Chu Yi spoke. “Her surname is Yun. She is Madam Xie. She can go to the Yun family, and she can also go to the Xie family, but she cannot go to the prince’s residence.”

“That Xie whatever-his-name-is she married treats her terribly. I heard servants from the Xie family say that all these years, that Xie something has never once visited her chambers…” The little one bit his lip. “That man definitely doesn’t like Mother at all… doesn’t like Auntie Yun. Auntie Yun’s life must be very difficult…”

Chu Yi’s expression darkened.

Everyone said the Xie couple were devoted to each other. Could the rumors be untrue?

Yun Chu was brought directly back to the Yun family by Yun Ze. They summoned a renowned female physician from the capital to clean her wound, apply medicine, and bandage her waist.

After taking medicine, Yun Chu slept. She didn’t wake from this sleep until the sun was high in the sky.

Tingfeng and Tingxue attended to her as she drank her medicine.

Just after finishing the medicine, her eldest sister-in-law Liu Qianqian walked in, smiling. “Last night, your elder brother went to the Xie family and said the carriage you were riding in had an accident and you were slightly injured. These next few days, you should rest and recuperate at the Yun family home.”

Yun Chu nodded. Since learning the truth about her wedding night, she indeed temporarily didn’t want to return to the Xie family.

“That…” Liu Qianqian coughed and spoke. “For us women, although chastity is important, in the face of life and death, chastity isn’t worth shit. You absolutely must not take what happened last night to heart.”

Yun Chu laughed with a snort.

To console her, her sister-in-law from a scholarly family had actually spoken such crude words.

Actually, after sleeping through the night, yesterday’s events already seemed mostly forgotten.