Situ Li glanced at her before he shifted his gaze to the wooden table, his finger slowly tracing the last two words.
“Third Imperial Prince, did you see the woman who set fire to the shed just now?” Su Xi-er asked. When did he arrive? Was it before or after I kicked the door?
“It appeared to be extremely easy for you when you kicked the door open. Your skills are pretty good. Have you trained before?” Situ Li could tell what she was hinting at, unreservedly stating that he had arrived right when she kicked the door.
Su Xi-er could only spin a lie. “This servant carries out heavy manual labour for work, so my strength is simply better than the typical palace maid. With how panicked I was at the woman setting fire to the shack, I used my maximum strength to kick the door.”
“I suppose that is a reasonable explanation.” Situ Li didn’t take this matter too seriously. Ever since I saw her for the first time, I knew that she wasn’t a simple person. As for what makes her special, it remains to be seen.
“There are still two more characters carved on the table.” Situ Li’s brows were creased as his hand slowly slid along the outline of the words.
However, the damage to the table was too severe that it made those two words unreadable.
Su Xi-er’s gaze landed on the wooden table as her eyes traced the contours of the characters.
Although she couldn’t read them either, she had a good idea as to what they might be thanks to the silk fabric she had discovered earlier.
These two words are ‘Xie Yun’.
The relationship between Liu Ye-er and Commandery Prince Xie is definitely not simple. It’s already beyond the common connection formed with a puissant personage.
At this moment, the corner of Situ Li’s mouth suddenly raised upwards and he lifted his hand from the wooden table. “I see, so that’s what it is.”
Su Xi-er looked at him. It seems like he has also found out what those two letters are.
But, how did he only figure it out now? Based on his identity, he should definitely be aware of the relationship between Liu Ye-er and Commandery Prince Xie.
“It doesn’t look like his style. Otherwise, why would she be able to live until now?” Situ Li muttered lowly. Then, he looked at Su Xi-er.
The ‘he’ and the ‘she’ Situ Li mentioned didn’t clearly point to anyone, but Su Xi-er could faintly surmise that he was referring to Commandery Prince Xie and Liu Ye-er.
“Cruelly bullied by people again?” He pulled Su Xi-er to his side.
With Situ Li pulling on her still injured left hand, Su Xi-er had to bite her lips to prevent herself from making a sound.
Situ Li noticed the subtle changes in her countenance and immediately looked at her left hand. Then, he rapidly grabbed it and caressed her wrist slowly.
He’s stroking it so seriously. The expression in Su Xi-er’s eyes changed and she quickly retracted her hand.
“Who set your bone for you?” Situ Li gave her a probing look, his eyes deep.
The moonlight streamed past the door of the room and shone on his face, painting it a sickly ashen white. Coupled with his current expression, there was an eerie feel to it.
“Or perhaps I should ask you why the bones in your wrist were displaced? Because of scrubbing the chamber pots?” Situ Li took one step forward, causing the distance between them to be extremely close.
Su Xi-er was very averse to having a man being so close to her, causing her to take a step back. “I simply sprained it by accident. It went out of alignment and I set them back properly.”
Her words resulted in Situ Li chuckling. “That’s fortunate. Here, use these medicinal herbs to apply to the injury three times a day; otherwise, there’ll be plenty of pain waiting for you.” He then sized her up from top to bottom, causing Su Xi-er to feel very uncomfortable.
“This figure of yours is too skinny. Eat more to nourish yourself. If something were to happen in the future and you have to suffer a beating from the plank, you wouldn’t even survive ten strikes.”
Su Xi-er raised her head to look at him. “Third Imperial Prince, based on what you said, the reason for taking care of my body is to suffer a beating from the planks?”
“Is the number of injuries you have received small? Your arms are filled with welts, right?”
I didn’t reveal my arms in front of outsiders, so how did he know that my arms are covered with welts?
“No matter which girl, regardless of whether she is proud and noble or petty and lowly, would care about her appearance. Her face, arms, waist, and her whole body from top to bottom,” Situ Li slowly said while looking at her.
“This servant’s arms are indeed full of welts. In order to not suffer from whipping again, this servant requests that you leave as soon as possible, Third Imperial Prince.”
To put it frankly, she was chasing Situ Li away. Su Xi-er didn’t want to stay with him any longer.
His reply was full of profound meaning, the expression in his eyes vaguely sounding her out.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. Not only am I not leaving, but I’m also going to rest here.” Right afterwards, Situ Li sat on the wooden stool and took out a pearl hairpin from his sleeve.
Su Xi-er recognised this pearl hairpin. It’s the deposed Empress’ jewellery.
Su Xi-er was tactful enough to know that Situ Li was reminiscing about the owner of the hairpin and that she mustn’t disrupt him. As a result, she wiped off a stool and prepared to move it to the corner of the room.
Before she could do so, however, Situ Li raised his hand to stop her. “Sit here.”
Su Xi-er glanced at him and noticed that his expression was calm. There were neither ripples nor waves of emotions in his eyes as his gaze remained on the pearl hairpin.
“I searched about in the repose palace. Other than this pearl hairpin, there was no other jewellery,” Situ Li slowly recounted, his right hand beginning to stroke the pearl hairpin.
Su Xi-er understood. The repose palace he mentioned is the place the deposed Empress stayed.
Since only a pearl hairpin was left behind, it must indicate that the deposed Empress was the most reluctant to part with this object.
“Su Xi-er, sleep if you’re tired. Since I’m here, incidents like someone setting the shed on fire won’t occur.” Situ Li’s attention didn’t deviate from the pearl hairpin even as he addressed her.
I have just met him, yet he treats me like this? No one treats someone well for no reason. What exactly does he want to do?
Su Xi-er observed him secretly and realised that he was already immersed in his thoughts.
He had mentioned that they were fellow travellers on the same path. Are our circumstances very similar?
I’m a servant girl from the Palace Side Quarters while no matter how incapable he is, he is still an imperial prince. How can our circumstances be the same?
Su Xi-er pursed her lips. Despite being in Beimin’s imperial palace, she didn’t understand the people here.
With her lack of understanding of the situation, it felt as if she was walking in the dark where she could only blindly grope around and personally explore by relying on her own hands.
She needed to be extra cautious and not lower her guard. I definitely won’t bear the pain from my previous lifetime again.
I will repay that pain hundreds upon thousands of times. When this thought crossed her mind, the expression in Su Xi-er’s eyes changed.
In the end, she brushed away the dust on the wooden table, placed her right hand down, set her head upon it as a pillow, and closed her eyes.
Situ Li shifted his gaze and looked from her face down to her cheeks, then finally her left wrist.
This type of injury is definitely not the result of spraining it on her own, but someone forcefully breaking and injuring her.
Don’t tell me that the person who ambushed Prince Hao was her? Prince Hao sprained her wrist?
This woman is really bold to have plucked hair from the tiger’s head. What’s even more interesting is that Prince Hao doesn’t know who it was.
Currently, there’s a palace maid from the Palace Side Quarters who admitted that she attacked Prince Hao. However, after she declared that, she died, leaving no testimony.
There was a sudden development in the situation. The person who attacked Prince Hao is like a riddle, making people curious yet afraid.
Situ Li’s gaze moved back and forth on Su Xi-er emotionlessly. After confirming that she was asleep, he took out a white porcelain bottle from his sleeve and poured out some green powder.
This is a high-quality medicine for sprains. One will recover after applying it for three days.
He poured some of the powder on her wrist. After smearing it evenly, he kept the white porcelain bottle back into his sleeve.
It was unclear how much time had passed when Situ Li stood up and walked out from the woodhouse.
Outside the shed, a man clad in black clothes bowed deferentially. “Your Highness.”
“Watch her,” Situ Li ordered him expressionlessly before leaving.
The man in black looked at the woodhouse with a complicated expression.
