Inside the room, the Crown Princessâ moans suddenly stopped and not knowing if it had affected her heartstring. Everyone glanced at Min Lan successively with eyes filled with profound meaning. Face flushed, Min Lan pointed at Yu Xiang with trembling fingers while her lips quivered without uttering a sound. Moreover, the Crown Prince and Yu Pin Yan were standing just three meters away at some point, looking askance at them with cold and stern countenance.
âYour Elder Sister is severely ill inside the room yet you outrageously make a scene outside? Get out of here!â
The usually gentle and refined Crown Princeâs face sank abruptly and was truly terrifying. Eyes brimming with tears and looking like âan infatuated woman meeting a heartless manâ, Min Lan looked up at the Crown Princeâs handsome face and whispered pitifully, âYour Highness, why are you treating me like thisâŠâ
As the scene was too tragic to look at, Yu Xiang turned her face away while the eyes of the several side consorts revealed contempt. Min Song and Min Zhi felt extremely embarrassed that they wanted to bury their heads in their arms.
The Crown Princess suddenly screamed inside the room in which her high voice filled with intense fear that terrified everyone. Yu Pin Yan hurriedly bent down to press his younger sisterâs cheek into his bosom and gently patted her back as he comforted, âDonât be afraid, Xiangâer. Elder Brother is here and wonât let anyone hurt you.â He then kept her earlobe in his mouth and emphasized in a low voice, âNot even the Emperor himself.â
Yu Xiangâs stiff body slowly relaxed. Scratching her numbed earlobe, she raised her face and smiled sweetly to her elder brother. Yu Pin Yan rubbed her full red lips quickly then straightened his back and looked at the sudden opened door.
They merely saw the imperial physician wiping his sweaty forehead as he stepped over the threshold and bowed to report, âYour Highness, the Crown Princess is out of harmâs way.â
Before the Crown Prince could open his mouth, Consort Xu and Min Lan cried out in unison, âWhat? Out of harmâs way? Isnât she dead? Are you sure youâre right?â
There was a strong sense of disappointment hidden in their words that everyone present could distinguish as long as they were not deaf. The Crown Princeâs joyous expression unexpectedly sank when a loud noise of smashing cups resounded in the room.
The imperial physician glanced at them indifferently, nodded and said, âYes, the Crown Princess was not poisoned. She is safe now and thereâs also no more worries about her life in the future. Your Highness, please come in as this humble official will tell you in detail.â
The Crown Prince immediately followed him inside. Yu Xiang craned her neck to look, her heart felt uncomfortable like cat scratch.
Grabbing her jaw, Yu Pin Yan turned her face away and whispered, âDonât look around. Elder Brother will tell you what you want to know. The Crown Princess is able to be safe and sound should be related to the potted plant you sent.â
The burning candles illuminated all corners of the room brightly. Lots of blood-soaked cotton wads were scattered on the ground while the air was suffused with the sweet scent of blood which was not uncomfortable at all. The Crown Princess was half lying on the bed, the lapel of her clothes soaked with lots of nosebleed while her face was paler than before yet the lacklustre in her eyes had vanished completely.
âZhenâer, are you really all right?â They are after all a pair of young couples and the Crown Princessâ importance is irreplaceable in the Crown Princeâs heart. At this moment, he almost burst into tears with excitement seeing her bright dazzling eyes.
The Crown Princess was crying openly with large droplets of tears trickling down and soon dampened the lapels of her clothes.
Not caring about the blood stains on her body, the Crown Prince gathered her into the crooks of his arms and looked at her earnestly as if he couldnât get enough of her. The imperial physician listened to the couple with his head hung low and only came forward with a small teacup after they had finished expressing their feelings.
Withdrawing immediately from the Crown Princeâs embrace, the Crown Princess held firmly to the small potted plant sent by Yu Xiang within her bosom, blocking the small teacup as if it had imprisoned an evil spirit that would pounce on her once the lid is lifted.
The Crown Prince was puzzled. When he looked inside the teacup, he immediately got goosebumps all over his body. He saw an eight-inch thumb-sized black leech at the bottom of the porcelain-white teacup, humping and sniffing around the wall of the cup with its pointy thin head as it couldnât find any source of blood to suck.
Even the imperial physician felt extremely disgusting looking at it and slammed the lid of the teacup to cover it as he spoke slowly, âYour Highness, this leech had crawled out of the Crown Princessâ nostril. Looking at its size, it must have been living for more than half a year in her body. After Niang-niang[1] gave birth, her vital energy was greatly damaged and due to insufficient feeding of blood, this leech which was found in the nasal cavity burrowed itself in her brain and itâs the culprit of her incurable serious illness. Now that the leech has been drawn out, all she needs is to take some nourishing tonic and will recover in about two to three months time.â
The Crown Prince was stunned hearing this and as if struck by lightning, he asked alarmingly, âLeeches only live in the sewage and muddy area while the Crown Princess had never been near to any of these filthy places, so how did the leech get into her brain?â
Stumped by the question, the imperial physician was humming and hawing for a long while without any answer.
With a sudden smirk, the heartfelt joy that the Crown Prince felt was replaced by monstrous anger. This was not contracted by the Crown Princess herself but precisely the work of a vicious manipulator. Such an insidious method was simply unheard of. And the person who was able to implant such an evil creature into the nasal cavity without the Crown Princessâ knowledge must be someone close to her.
If this leech had not been flushed out by the nosebleed, how long would the perpetrator hide and how many more people would have been secretly harmed by this method? Pondering it deeply, the Crown Prince could only feel an absolute terror.
The imperial physician had never seen such an enraged Crown Prince before yet he could not help but feel anxious as he expedited his speech and explained, âReporting to Your Highness, the reason the Crown Princess could turn adversity to safety was because of this small plant. This is worthy to be called a blessing. Once the leech enters the brain, thereâs probably no cure in this world except for this small plant. Incidentally, this miraculous medicine was sent to Niang-niang during the most critical moment which proved that Your Highness and Niang-niang are blessed with profound godsend fortune.â
Turning his head, the Crown Prince looked at the potted plant with astonished gaze.
Looking like someone who had survived a catastrophe, the Crown Princess hugged the potted plant tightly. Xiangâer is indeed Bengong[2]âs lucky star. Bengong can eventually turn adversity into safety as long as Xiangâer is summoned to my side â since the smooth birth of the dragon and phoenix twins and catching sight of the Taoist ray that shone on all things when this thought took root in the mind of the Crown Princess.