青春期撞上更年期第1部

“My Lady, if you don’t feel well, go to sleep first. I’ll wake you up later.” The tent wasn’t that soundproof, so they could hear Yujie’s voice coming from inside.

“No, I’m fine!” Shao Wanru said in a very low voice, which could hardly be heard without listening carefully.

Yujie hesitated for a moment and said, “My Lady, you know, Great Elder Princess can present the gift on your behalf.”

Shao Wanru leaned against the couch with a large cloak covering her up. The set of clothes she had chosen before was just right. Although it was in quiet colors, it looked noble and graceful because of the embroidery pattern outlined by gold threads, which was very suitable for her status as Princess Chen.

Her black hair was tied up and held in position by merely a hairpin.

Her plain face, without any make-up, was still of dazzling beauty. However, her pallid face and pale lips made her look extremely frail.

“I won’t bother grandma. Since I can still get up, I have to do it myself. It’s also a display of my filial piety,” Shao Wanru answered softly, her eyes falling on the tent.

Her tent was built on the spur of the moment. The Empress Dowager didn’t intend to let her come over and allowed her to rest at home.

However, Shao Wanru insisted on coming, so servants in the Palace came up with an idea to build a tent for her. They decided to let her rest here and go back if she was tired.

The tents were temporarily set up. Besides, the weather was neither hot nor cold, so the tent’s material was a little thin.

Coincidentally, this tent was facing the east, and the sun had already risen, so she could see the shadows of two people on the tent. Two women were standing beside the tent.

When Shao Wanru was looking at the shadows of the tent, Yujie also saw them. She was stunned for a moment. Then, she wanted to go over there but saw Shao Wanru gently waving at her.

She immediately understood what her master meant and was about to say something when Qu Le, guarding outside the tent, suddenly came in and said, “My Lady, Her Majesty is here to see you!”

As she said, she stepped aside, and the Empress walked in with two palace maids.

With her hands pressing down on the bed edge, Shao Wanru tried to get up. However, the Emperor reached out to stop her with a smile and said, “Don’t do that. You are so seriously injured. There is no need to get up at all.”

“Greetings, Your Majesty.” Shao Wanru leaned sideways, lowered her head to greet her, and said, “I’m injured and can’t make a full salute. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!”

“Look at you! You are so seriously injured. Why would you apologize for not getting up? You’ve shown your best filial respect to Her Majesty by attending her birthday banquet. Her Majesty once told me that you must be very bored when spending so much time in the mansion alone. It’s good that you chose to be here. I’m worried about you, so I came to see you. You don’t have to get up.”

The Empress walked to the couch and looked at Shao Wanru with a benign look.

“What did the imperial physician say?”

“The imperial physician said that I should take good care of myself. If my arm couldn’t fully be recovered, it would become useless.” Shao Wanru lowered her head and said with a bitter smile.

If a young girl in her prime lost an arm at this time, she wouldn’t stand the tragic result.

“The imperial physician didn’t say it for sure. He meant if you made a good recovery, you still had a chance. I heard that Prince Chen has a miracle-working doctor with excellent medical skills. You will be fine with him around.” The Empress comforted her.

“Doctor Qi is not in the capital city. He went out with His Highness in case His Highness suffered poor health on the trip!” Shao Wanru said, forcing a smile. It could be seen that she was trying hard to look happy, though she was sad.

“It doesn’t have to be so troublesome. Prince Zhou has sent a good doctor into the Palace to nurse my health. I happen to be fine, so I brought him here to treat you,” the Empress said with a smile.

A person dressed in the clothes of an imperial physician came in with a medicine chest on his shoulder. Upon entering the tent, he bowed to Shao Wanru first.

“Does she think I’m feigning illness?” Shao Wanru sneered in her heart, and her eyes fell on the imperial physician coming over. There was an understanding smile on her lips. It turned out to be an acquaintance: Doctor Qiu!

“But didn’t he return to his home village?”

“Feel Princess Chen’s pulse and see how badly she has been hurt. If she needs any medicinal materials, I will try my best to get all the superior medicines for her,” the Empress ordered.

Doctor Qiu answered and stepped forward.

Yujie took the small cushion for pulse feeling from Doctor Qiu, put Shao Wanru’s hand on it, and covered her wrist with a handkerchief before retreating aside.

The tent became quiet, and everyone’s attention fell on Doctor Qiu.

After a while, Doctor Qiu put down his hand and observed Shao Wanru’s face. Her face was drained of color, which showed that her illness had taken a heavy toll on her.

Doctor Qiu had seen Shao Wanru when she was still Fifth Miss Shao. At that time, she was gorgeous and vivid, but now she was weak and pale.

“Doctor Qiu, how is her illness?” asked the Empress.

Her son sent Doctor Qiu to her, so the Empress trusted him very much. Those imperial physicians in the Palace were all thoroughly sophisticated. Even if they knew something, they would not say it. She brought Doctor Qiu here to see if Shao Wanru was truly injured because the Empress always felt something fishy was going on.

“Her Highness is seriously injured. She needs to take good care of herself. Otherwise, she’ll suffer from after-effects,” Doctor Qiu said bluntly.

“How could it be real?” The Empress frowned because such a result was totally different from what she had guessed, so she froze there for a moment.

“Your Majesty…” Shao Wanru raised her watery eyes and looked at the Empress.

“Well, do you need any special medicinal materials?” When the Empress was awakened, she coughed awkwardly and asked.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. Our mansion has plenty of them,” Shao Wanru said.

There were a lot of medicinal materials in the Prince Chen’s Mansion, which might be even more than those in the Palace. Because of Chu Liuchen’s poor health, he would receive rewards from Palace from time to time. They had sufficient medicinal materials.

“That’s good. If you need anything, tell me. Take good care of your health. Prince Chen is not in the capital city. When the person in charge of the mansion is away, you should be more careful.” Seeing that she could not find anything, the Empress said a few more polite words and left with Doctor Qiu and her servants.

After the Empress left, Qu Le said indignantly, “My Lady, did Her Majesty come to check if your injury was true?”

“Maybe she thought I wouldn’t be so seriously wounded!” Shao Wanru muttered.

“That night, you had a narrow escape and nearly dead. Those arrows would have hit us if we hadn’t been standing by the window.” When Yujie mentioned these things, she shivered with fear.

Qu Le’s voice also began to tremble. She was not willing to mention what had happened last night. How could any girls spending most of their time in the inner court ever experience the brutal assassination that day? “My Lady, from now on, more guards in the mansion will make more inspection tours every day. The chief supervisor said the Emperor had sent more guards over and wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen in our mansion again!”

“My Lady, His Majesty will find out who intended to hurt you. These men in black attacked us by vicious means and obviously wanted to kill you!” Yujie gnashed her teeth and said angrily, “I only hate myself for not knowing martial arts. Otherwise, I would find out who wanted to kill you that day.”

“Is Princess Chen here?” When they were talking, a voice came from outside the tent.

The voice was sharp, which belonged to a eunuch in the Palace.

Yujie hurriedly went out to welcome them, and after a while, she came in with a group of people. Shao Wanru actually knew the two in the front. One was Consort of Virtue from the Palace, and the other was Prince Yue, Chu Liuyue.

It was reasonable for Consort of Virtue to come, but it was rude for Prince Yue to come in here.

Shao Wanru sat up, supported by Qu Le’s hands. Then she struggled to stand up and salute but was also stopped by Consort of Virtue.

“Princess Chen, you don’t have to be so polite. I just came to see you. I heard you were seriously injured and planned to see you, but I haven’t found the right chance to do it.” Consort of Virtue smiled more sincerely than the Empress. She looked very kind with her gentle female image, which always helped her make a great impression on others.

A woman who could give birth to the eldest prince was indeed extraordinary!

“Thank you, Your Imperial Highness. I… I’m fine!” Shao Wanru said. Now that Prince Yue was here, it was inconvenient for her to lie down again.

“It’s good that you’re fine. His Majesty will find out what happened that night. He won’t let go of those who make you suffer so much,” Consort of Virtue comforted her. Her eyes fell on her arm and her face. Indeed, Shao Wanru seemed to be badly injured. At this moment, her complexion was way different from before. Her illness could be seen at a glance.

Chu Liuyue didn’t say anything and just stood near Consort of Virtue silently as if he casually dropped in on her with his mother. Yet, his eyes were glued to Shao Wanru’s face. He carefully observed her expression to see if she had applied white powder to cover her face.

After a long time, he concluded that Princess Chen was injured for real. She wasn’t pretending.

Consort of Virtue soothed Shao Wanru for a while and was about to leave. Before Chu Liuyue left, he suddenly said in a deep voice, “Third brother is not in the capital city. If you have anything inconvenient to tell the Palace, you can send someone to the Prince Yue’s Mansion for help.”

“Thank you, Your Highness!” Shao Wanru murmured her thanks.

After Consort of Virtue and Prince Yue left, the tent became quiet again. Qu Le held Shao Wanru’s hand and helped her lie down again. After lying down, Shao Wanru sighed in a low voice and looked at the two shadows on the tent. The shadows shook twice and were gone…

“My Lady…” Yujie whispered.

Shao Wanru smiled a little sadly, her long eyelashes fluttering twice, and she slowly closed her eyes. “Let Nanny Gao tell other imperial consorts that I’m too feeble to receive guests if they come over!”

She hadn’t yet recovered from the wound. If visitors came one after another, she could not hold on any longer.

“Yes, I’ll inform Nanny Gao right away!” Qu Le nodded and left to tell Nanny Gao, who was guarding outside. Rui’an Great Elder Princess left Nanny Gao here because she feared some people would disturb Shao Wanru’s rest.

Though Nanny Gao couldn’t keep the Empress and Consort of Virtue out of the door, she could stop others.