After a night of treatment, the injuries of the Fifth Prince gradually stabilized.
The imperial physician managed to save his left hand, so it didn’t need to be amputated entirely, but it was now immobile and at best a decoration.
The next day, due to the Fifth Prince’s serious injuries, there were many guards stationed around the tent, each of them on high alert. Even a fly would find it difficult to enter through their defenses.
However, Chu Shao pushed the wheelchair with Xiao Jin and calmly walked to the side of the guards. She spoke in a gentle voice, “Her Royal Highness, the Prince of Yan, wishes to see the Fifth Prince.”
The stationed guards exchanged glances. Even if they dared to stop Chu Shao, when they saw the person in black sitting in the wheelchair, they had to put away their weapons and salute with clasped fists. “This subordinate will go in and deliver the message.”
Before long, a beautiful woman walked out from inside. She carried herself with grace, appearing like a lady from a prestigious family. However, her eyes were tinged with dark circles, and they seemed slightly red, as if she had just finished crying.
Seeing Xiao Jin and Chu Shao, the woman suppressed the trembling in her voice and respectfully greeted, “This cocunbine greets Her Royal Highness Yan and greets sister-in-law.”
As Xiao Jin listened to the woman’s voice, she finally remembered who she was—the one who sat next to the Fifth Prince during the banquet. She was most likely the Fifth Prince’s consort.
It was somewhat absurd that the Fourth Prince, who was locked up in the ancestral house, hadn’t even married yet, while the Fifth Prince had already married at such a young age.
Xiao Jin completely ignored the fact that if she hadn’t forcefully taken the initiative to snatch him on the day of the Fourth Prince’s wedding, the Fourth Prince probably wouldn’t be so thoroughly abandoned.
Thinking this way, she nodded slightly and exchanged pleasantries, “Sister-in-law, please don’t be polite.”
The Fifth Prince’s consort forced a smile and led Xiao Jin and Chu Shao into the tent, standing beside the bed.
Through a layer of white gauze, she softly spoke to the person lying on the bed, “Husband, Third Brother and Third Sister-in-law have come to see you.”
The title “Third Brother” was the last time Xiao Jin had heard it, back when the Fourth Prince was still alive. Now hearing it from the Fifth Prince’s consort, it inevitably brought a tinge of melancholy to her heart.
Understood.
Whoever calls her “Third Brother” will suffer.
The silver and embroidered dark patterned gauze resembled layers of flowing clouds, shielding the prying eyes of onlookers.
After a while, only a weak and hoarse voice could be heard, “Wife, please withdraw for now and let me have a private conversation with Third Brother and sister-in-law.”
“Yes, I’ll withdraw.” The Fifth Prince’s consort wiped her reddened eyes and walked out. When she reached the entrance of the tent, she turned her head to take a distant look before lowering her head and swiftly leaving.
Although Xiao Jin didn’t know what the Fifth Prince wanted to discuss with her, the system had instructed her to save the Fifth Prince, claiming that there was still crucial information to be uncovered from him.
Now that the Fifth Prince dismissed his own wife, it definitely meant he had a secret to share with her.
Clearly, Chu Shao standing beside her also understood this.
Therefore, when the Fifth Prince’s consort left, Chu Shao smiled and softly said to Xiao Jin, “Your Highness, let me go outside and check on Fifth Sister-in-law.”
Xiao Jin and Chu Shao exchanged a glance, and with just one look, they understood each other’s intentions.
Xiao Jin nodded, watching as Chu Shao walked away.
When the room was almost empty, a weak voice came from behind the white gauze, “Could you please help me, Third Brother, by lifting this veil?”
Xiao Jin replied calmly, “Okay.”
In reality, when she entered and saw the white gauze, she was momentarily stunned. If only it were a different color, it wouldn’t be so ominous.
Xiao Jin was relatively close to the edge of the bed, and she could reach the white gauze with her hand. Otherwise, her and the Fifth Prince, both disabled, would have to converse through a veil all the time.
Whoosh-
After pulling aside the white gauze, Xiao Jin clearly saw the Fifth Prince’s pale face, almost devoid of color.
Undoubtedly, his face was still handsome, but the spirited air between his brows was gone.
Lying flat on the bed, his attire neat and proper, but his entire being appeared deflated, exuding an air of listlessness.
Xiao Jin was never good at comforting others, but as she looked at the white bandages wrapped around the Fifth Prince’s left hand, stained with shocking red, she managed to squeeze out a sentence from her mouth, “Don’t think too much about it, take care of your health first.”
The Fifth Prince looked at the crease between Xiao Jin’s eyebrows, slightly startled, and then smiled, “Thank you, Third Brother, for your consolation. In truth, I also know that at this point, it’s useless to think about it anymore.”
Xiao Jin didn’t know how to respond to this. After all, she really wasn’t familiar with the Fifth Prince.
Actually, it was for the best that they weren’t familiar. Mainly because she had no idea about the relationship between the original owner and the Fifth Prince—she didn’t dare to respond rashly.
“Speaking of which, Third Brother has been here for so long, and I have yet to express my gratitude for your life-saving grace that day.” Fortunately, the Fifth Prince had something to say to Xiao Jin.
Struggling to sit up, leaning against the bed, his eyes filled with sincere gratitude, he said, “If it weren’t for Third Brother’s intervention, perhaps that giant creature would have taken my other hand as well.”
After being trapped in this cliché world for so long, Xiao Jin encountered a person with a normal disposition for the first time.
For a moment, she even felt a little uncomfortable—uncomfortable that someone actually matched the original setting so well.
In the original work, the Fifth Prince was positioned as a supporting character with little presence.
The only thing that left a slight impression on Xiao Jin was that this person seemed to be on the same side as the male lead, belonging to the Crown Prince faction.
However, based on Xiao Jin’s speculation from the hunting incident, the identity card the Crown Prince possessed was probably not simple. Even if he wasn’t the mastermind, he was likely involved in a conspiracy with certain individuals.
In reality, it was easy to deduce that disabling the Fifth Prince’s hand would benefit only a few people—the first being Xiao Shuang, the second being herself, and the third being the Crown Prince.
Logically speaking, Xiao Shuang did have a strong suspicion, but considering that the original owner’s leg was already disabled, it was unlikely that she would go mad and do something like this. So, she could be temporarily ruled out.
As for Xiao Jin, the second suspect, she believed that she herself didn’t possess the ability to find the white tiger amidst the vibrant and cliché world.
So, it must be the male lead.
He truly had a wicked mind.
Although Xiao Jin knew that the male lead was not a good person, as she looked at the Fifth Prince’s hand, still oozing blood even when wrapped in a ball, and thought that he was probably still on the Crown Prince’s side, she couldn’t bear the impact for a moment.
She thought for a moment and decided not to reveal her speculation, calmly saying, “No need to thank me. Even if I hadn’t intervened, the Crown Prince would have saved you.”
That was the truth.
Xiao Jin saved the Fifth Prince in the first place just to prevent the male lead from succeeding, and also to complete her mission.
However, upon hearing Xiao Jin’s words, the Fifth Prince shook his head, self-mockingly smiling, “The Crown Prince saved me, but I’m afraid it was only to shoot that giant creature and destroy the evidence.”
Xiao Jin suddenly raised her head, surprised that the Fifth Prince was being so straightforward.
The Fifth Prince met Xiao Jin’s gaze and smiled, “Third Brother, there’s no need to look at me like that. I was the one who hunted down that giant creature, so naturally, I knew what would happen afterward.”
This situation was too absurd, completely beyond Xiao Jin’s expectations.
She couldn’t help but furrow her brows and ask in a calm voice, “You knew that the giant creature would go berserk?”
The Fifth Prince nodded, “Yes.”
“And you also knew that another white tiger would appear afterward and attack Prince Shen?”
“Yes.”
Xiao Jin fell silent.
This? It was truly beyond absurd, absurd to the point of being outrageous.
Xiao Jin processed the information and looked at the Fifth Prince’s disabled hand, asking the question she couldn’t understand the most, “Then why did you save Prince Shen?”
In Xiao Jin’s mind, since the Fifth Prince was involved in this scheme, it meant that her speculation was partially wrong.
She originally thought that these were all tricks played by the Crown Prince against the Fifth Prince. But the Fifth Prince claimed to know everything, which meant that there were indeed people in the hunting ground who wanted Prince Shen to be eliminated.
And the Fifth Prince’s intervention was another layer of calculated butterfly effect.
Considering who would plan all of this meticulously, it was obviously the latter. And if someone were to calculate so much, they must be someone who knew both the Fifth Prince and Xiao Qing well.
So, it had to be the Crown Prince.
And it had to be the male lead himself, who single-handedly participated in two plots and betrayed his own teammate.
What did this indicate? It indicated that the male lead was truly despicable.
Even dogs, upon seeing him, would probably kneel down and kowtow to him.
While Xiao Jin was lost in her thoughts, the Fifth Prince seemed to have realized something. A gentle smile appeared on his pale face, “Third Brother, you may not know this, but since childhood, I have spent little time with the others in the palace. Under Aunt Yang’s care, Prince Shen’s late official wife, who is Qing’er’s mother, was a very gentle person. She once saved both me and my mother’s lives.”
Xiao Jin had no knowledge of this.
Even if she did, she couldn’t comprehend the smile on the Fifth Prince’s lips, the softened voice when mentioning Prince Shen’s wife, and the flicker of gratitude in his eyes.
She couldn’t understand why, even if Prince Shen’s wife had shown kindness to the Fifth Prince, he would risk his life to save Prince Shen instead of Xiao Qing.
However, the Fifth Prince explained, “Prince Shen always wore a blood jade around his waist, and he also had a sachet embroidered by his wife. The blood jade was their token of love, and the sachet was handcrafted by Prince Shen’s wife herself. When he escaped from the white tiger’s mouth, he realized that he had lost the sachet and hurried back to find it, but couldn’t.”
“Although Prince Shen is weak-willed and not particularly loyal, he has never shed tears in front of others. Today, when he visited me and talked about this, he cried with his back turned to me.”
Xiao Jin, who knew the whereabouts of the sachet, fell into silence.
If she returned quickly enough, she might still be able to stop Su Tan from tampering with the sachet.
The Fifth Prince sighed, “As for Qing’er, before her mother passed away, she wasn’t as willful and unruly as she is now. In my memory, Qing’er used to smile a lot and always liked to go with Prince Shen’s wife to see the koi fish in the Taiye Pool.”
Xiao Jin found it difficult to connect the Xiao Qing described by the Fifth Prince with the current Xiao Qing.
The Fifth Prince had no idea what Xiao Jin was thinking and simply asked, “Third Brother, do you know why Qing’er likes brightly colored flowers?”
“I don’t know,” Xiao Jin shook her head.
“It’s because Qing’er’s mother used to love planting flowers in the nursery, especially vibrant and colorful ones. She would hold Qing’er and teach her the names of various flowers. So, before Prince Shen’s wife was buried, Qing’er spread flower petals around her body.”
The Fifth Prince’s voice was low, pausing for a moment before continuing, “That day, Qing’er earnestly told me that her mother wouldn’t be able to see beautiful flowers anymore, so she would take her place and see lots and lots of beautiful flowers in the future.”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Jin finally understood.
The male lead was truly inhuman.
Xiao Jin vowed not to beat around the bush, so she straightforwardly opened up, “So, how did he know all these things?”
At that moment, the Fifth Prince’s face turned pale in an instant.
Xiao Jin suddenly had a very bad premonition.
After a long while, the Fifth Prince trembled and spoke with quivering lips, “These things… I told him when I trusted him before, after getting drunk.”
“Third Brother, so in reality, it wasn’t that I saved Prince Shen and Qing’er, but… I… caused harm to their family.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Translator’s note: sigh… The crown prince is so despicable just like his father🙂. Who cares, right?!. At the end of the story they are nothing…
TO BE CONTINUE…
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