The tangled wounds, flesh torn and curled back to reveal raw muscle, made Li Mianyu dizzy and fearful the moment she saw them.
Leaning against the doorframe, she almost collapsed to the ground.
“Yan Shi?” she called out softly, trembling.
The young Dark Guard lying on the floor didn’t respond at all.
Li Mianyu’s eyes instantly welled with tears.
She stumbled forward and knelt beside Yan Shi.
As her hand reached to gently shake his arm, the pale-faced youth suddenly opened his eyes, sharp and alert, and caught her wrist with surprising strength.
His grip was so powerful it felt like he was trying to snap her wrist.
Li Mianyu cried out in pain, “Yan Shi!”
Her tearful voice seemed to confuse him.
Those cat-like eyes fixed on her face for a moment before releasing her hand and slowly closing again.
“You can’t close your eyes! Yan Shi, wake up!”
After freeing her wrist, Li Mianyu ignored the pain and shook his arm gently.
Her voice was urgent, anxious, but Yan Shi didn’t respond again.
She didn’t know what to do.
Looking at Yan Shi’s pale, silent face and the many wounds covering him, fear overwhelmed her.
Thinking of how he got hurt protecting her, tears streamed down her face.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. If I hadn’t stopped to bathe, we…we wouldn’t have stopped there. I’m sorry… please don’t die.”
Guilt spread through Li Mianyu’s heart.
She had never faced a situation like this and was momentarily panicked.
Then she recalled how Yan Shi had treated her wounds earlier and hurried to try to lift him up.
Though the young guard looked slender and lean in his clothes, once she started to remove his outer garments, his muscular structure became evident—heavy and solid.
Determined not to lose her Dark Guard, Li Mianyu summoned all her strength to pull him into a sitting position.
She gasped for breath, her face flushed and eyes brimming with tears, staring suspiciously at Yan Shi’s body.
He wasn’t fat, so why was he so heavy?
“Yan Shi, Yan Shi?”
She patted his face again, then tremblingly placed her hand under his nose to feel for breath. Feeling it gave her slight comfort.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to help him stand, but Yan Shi remained motionless on the ground.
Her legs trembled as she gasped twice.
Trying once more, she grabbed his arm to drag him inside the room, but even with minimal force, his shoulder wound tore open and bled again.
She immediately stopped moving him.
Tears streaming down, Li Mianyu bit her lip and thought for a moment.
She gently laid Yan Shi back down, then staggered into the room.
Returning with bedding from the bamboo bed, she squatted down to place it on the floor, then carefully helped Yan Shi sit up again.
She quickly spread the bedding beneath him and gently laid him flat on it.
After finishing, sweat broke out on her forehead.
Without rest, she rushed to the well.
The wooden bucket tipped over, emptying the water. Biting her lip, she looked at the well water with moist eyes, feeling at a loss for how to fill the bucket again.
Studying the long rope tied to the wooden bucket, she hesitated before picking it up.
Holding the rope with one hand, she threw the bucket into the well.
The bucket floated slowly on the water surface.
Leaning over the well, she struggled to shake the bucket.
Finally, it tilted and then sank beneath the water.
She blinked, seeming to understand, and quickly pulled the rope up.
But she hadn’t expected the water-filled bucket to be so heavy, nor the wet rope so slippery.
She lost her grip, and the rope slipped from her hands.
Instinctively, Li Mianyu reached down, nearly falling halfway into the well.
Suddenly alarmed, she broke into a cold sweat and quickly pulled herself back up.
Kneeling by the well, staring at the bucket faintly visible at the bottom, her eyes blurred again.
She sobbed quietly, feeling helpless.
Why was everything outside the palace so difficult?
Terrified that Yan Shi might die, she quickly wiped her eyes and searched his discarded clothes, finding the medicine bottle.
Unsteady, she staggered back inside with the bottle and fetched a cloth.
Squatting, she carefully wiped the wounds on his body.
The flesh peeled back and mixed with blood.
Just looking at it made her dizzy.
Her hands shook as she wiped for a long time before finally sprinkling the medicine powder on.
Unable to control the amount, she accidentally poured out almost half the bottle at once.
Yan Shi’s wounds were so numerous, and she had already used a lot earlier.
Li Mianyu worried that one bottle wouldn’t be enough, and now seeing half spilled, panic set in again.
Sniffling, she carefully spread the medicine evenly with the cloth onto other wounds.
His shoulders, arms, chest, abdomen, waist, and back were all injured.
Li Mianyu applied the medicine clumsily but carefully, tears silently streaming as she prayed for Yan Shi’s recovery.
When the bottle was empty, she found the gauze and mimicked how Yan Shi had bandaged her feet, struggling to wrap him up after helping him sit.
Exhausted, Li Mianyu collapsed onto the bedding.
After a few breaths, she opened her eyes again, licked her lips, and sat up.
She looked at Yan Shi beside her, then hesitated as she scanned the surroundings before cautiously heading toward the Temple Hall.
Along the way, Li Mianyu stayed alert—worried about ambushers suddenly appearing or thieves hiding nearby.
Frightened, she carefully made her way to the open doors of the Temple Hall.
Inside, a statue of the Buddha stood with a compassionate gaze.
Li Mianyu looked up at it for a while, tears welling in her eyes.
Despite her aching feet, she slowly moved forward and knelt on the Pilgrim Cushion, hands pressed together.
“Buddha above, your faithful believer Li Mianyu humbly asks for your blessing. Please protect my Imperial Grandfather and keep him safe. Please allow me to reunite with Imperial Grandfather soon. Please bless my Chuiling Nanny to remain alive. Please help my fiancé find me quickly. Please let my Dark Guard Yan Shi recover swiftly.”
As she spoke, she kowtowed repeatedly.
Then, after a pause, she continued, “I also ask Buddha to curse my Second Uncle to a miserable death—may he be pierced by arrows or cut down by a great blade, even drowned in a cesspit if possible! In any case, may he just die, so that the world may find peace. Buddha, please grant this blessing! When I return, I will send offerings to you every day! As a princess with a fief of five hundred households, I have no shortage of money!”
Her head hit the ground just as earnestly.
With her pale skin and sincere heart, the repeated kowtows reddened her forehead.
Looking up again, her eyes wet with tears, Li Mianyu blushed slightly and shyly added, “Buddha, I have one more request.”
She hesitated, cheeks flushing, and stammered, “You…you can’t eat all this food alone. Could you please share some with my Dark Guard? He has so many wounds. I’m afraid he might die. He’s not like my Second Uncle, who is a complete villain. My Dark Guard is a very good person… Buddha, please share some with him.”
After speaking, she looked up, tears shimmering as if listening intently to the statue.
After a moment, she added, “Buddha, if you don’t mind, then I will take it.”
For the first time doing something like this, Li Mianyu dragged her injured leg slowly to the offering table, still embarrassed and shy.
She glanced up at the majestic Buddha statue before taking a small bunch of loquats and two biscuits.
Then, like a thief, she quietly returned to the dormitory, her face flushed the entire time.
Back in the dormitory, seeing Yan Shi still lying pale on the floor, she grew anxious again.
She placed the offerings on the table, then grabbed the pillow from the bed.
Noticing an oil-paper umbrella in the corner, she thought of the summer heat outside and took it too.
Outside, Li Mianyu opened the umbrella and held it above Yan Shi’s head.
Then, squatting down, she lifted his ponytail and placed the pillow beneath his head.
When she let go, she saw the faint furrow of his brow in sleep, then nervously touched his smooth hair, pretending nothing had happened.
But she soon realized something and happily shook Yan Shi’s arm, “Yan Shi, you’re awake?”
Yan Shi remained unresponsive, as if the furrow was just her imagination.
Disappointed, Li Mianyu was about to withdraw her hand but suddenly felt the skin in her palm burning hot.
She froze, remembering something, and hurriedly mimicked how Chuiling Nanny had checked her forehead before.
“Very hot…”
Li Mianyu murmured, lowering her gaze to Yan Shi.
His lips were dry and cracked, looking like he was near death.
She truly didn’t want her Dark Guard to die.
“Don’t die…don’t die,” she whispered, eyes blurring again.
Shaking out a blanket, she wrapped Yan Shi tightly.
When she had a high fever before, Chuiling Nanny would wrap her in blankets, and sweating it out would make her better.
Kneeling beside Yan Shi, she stared at him for a while.
No sweat appeared on his forehead, and she grew anxious, biting her lip in hesitation.
But thinking of Imperial Grandfather, Chuiling Nanny, and Cui Yunqi, she swallowed her pride.
Ignoring cleanliness, eyes watery, she pulled back the blanket, lay down on the floor, and held her Dark Guard tightly.
She covered him again with the blanket.
Her Dark Guard could not die.
If he died, how would she survive out here alone?
Besides, Yan Shi was hurt protecting her.
Praying silently for the Buddha’s protection and pleading for her Second Uncle’s demise to come after Yan Shi’s recovery, her heart trembled with fear.
Yan Shi had yet to sweat, but she was already drenched from the summer heat wrapped in blankets.
When she couldn’t bear it, she quietly lifted the blanket to let air in before quickly wrapping it back.
After several cycles like this, Li Mianyu finally gave in to exhaustion and drifted into a drowsy sleep.
Yan Shi woke from the heat, as if cast into a furnace.
Opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was a yellow oil-paper umbrella.
He was confused, trying to get up but found himself heavily pinned down and unable to move.
Instantly alert, he tensed his arm to deliver an elbow strike, but his peripheral vision caught the sleeping girl resting her head on his arm.
Her forehead was damp with sweat, her long lashes closed, eyes peaceful in deep sleep.
More puzzled, Yan Shi furrowed his brow slightly and scanned the surroundings.
He realized he was lying outside the dormitory in the courtyard, lying on a bedding, covered with a quilt, and resting on a pillow.
His gaze slowly returned to the princess in his arms.
Though Li Mianyu had fallen asleep, the hard ground beneath her was uncomfortable.
Her mind still restless, she startled awake at any slight noise.
When she opened her eyes, she met the dark gaze of her Dark Guard.
Surprised at first, then joy blossomed on her face. “Yan Shi, you’re awake!”
Yan Shi knew he had fainted from fatigue and injuries.
Hearing Li Mianyu’s voice, his lashes trembled, and he nodded slightly.
Before he could speak, Li Mianyu suddenly realized something, stiffened, and quickly withdrew her limbs, rolling to the side.
Her swift movement knocked the oil-paper umbrella flying.
Sitting up beside him, she looked at Yan Shi and said in a sharp voice, “You get especially cold when you have a fever. The moment I came over, you insisted on hugging me. I couldn’t break free and had to lie outside with you! I’m a princess, with a brilliant and gentle fiancé who’s my childhood sweetheart. For you to offend me like this…I’m only putting up with it because you’re my Dark Guard and have fought so hard to protect me!”
She raised her head, her tone both anxious and stern.
Li Mianyu: “Anyway, I’m not the one who wanted to lie with you.”
Yan Shi: “It was me who wanted to lie with you.”