maidservant

Chapter 73: Yunshan visits the Queen at her residence
When Lin Xiao heard the servant report that Yunshan had entered the Marquis' Mansion to find him, he ignored the pain in his body and hurried out to meet her.

Seeing Yunshan walking quickly towards him from afar, he forced a smile and walked towards her as if nothing had happened, just like he usually did when meeting guests after being injured. At first glance, it seemed that she was not seriously injured.

But when Yunshan saw that his face was pale, she knew that he was seriously injured and asked him directly about his injury.

Seeing that he was seen through by her and seeing her heartache, the cunning in Lin Xiao's heart emerged again, so he slowly put on an appearance of being seriously injured, his steps became unsteady, and he deliberately frowned slightly, as if he was trying his best to endure the pain.

Seeing this, Yunshan hurried forward to support him. He leaned on her, secretly delighted in his heart.

When they arrived at the bedroom, Yunshan anxiously urged him to let her see his injury, and Lin Xiao did as he was told and showed her the wound on his shoulder.

"I was too focused on sword training recently and used too much force. It was originally fine."

"The blood coming out of the yin wasn't caused by Yan Lie. It was caused by a previous injury that was pulled and recurred."

Lin Xiao did not tell anyone about the assassination attempt last night.

"Hey! I was planning to go to Li Mao's place today to congratulate him on his high school graduation, but now I have to postpone it."

Yunshan listened, frowning, and said with eyes full of heartache:

"Recovering from your illness is the most important thing. Look at your injuries, new ones stacked on top of old ones. I don't know how many underlying illnesses you've developed over the years."

As she spoke, her eyes gradually turned red. Lin Xiao looked at her intently, and following her gaze, he tore off the clothes on his arms, revealing to Yunshan without reservation the scars on his arms, some deep and some shallow, which recorded the past years.

“These were very painful at the time.”

Yunshan was shocked by the devastation in front of her. She felt her face go numb and her heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible hand. The pain was indescribable.

After Yunshan left, Lin Xiao's two sword-wielding guards, Zhan Qian and Gu Hou, came down from the edge of the room.

"General, I see this girl is very close to you. Why don't you tell her what happened yesterday so she can be more prepared?"

This remark actually made Lin Xiao understand, "I just wanted to prevent her from worrying, but I was careless. If those bandits knew that she was an important person to me——"

"Looking ahead, Yunshan might be going in and out of the palace frequently these days, so you should go and protect her."

After returning to the palace from the Lin Mansion, Yunshan did not sleep all night.

"The wounds on his body always seem strange." She thought to herself. The wounds had a strange shape and were faintly dark blue in color. They didn't look like ordinary sword wounds at all. Instead, they looked like wounds from a sharp blade that had been poisoned.

The next morning, at first light, she hurried into the private pharmacy and carefully read the prescriptions for healing and detoxification in the classics.

"Bidu powder?" "Fushao medicine?" Li Miao was on duty. Seeing her preparing these two prescriptions, she asked in confusion, "Who's injured?"

"Lin Xiao."

"Oh, I've heard this rumor about you two a long time ago. I thought it was just a ploy to stop my eldest sister-in-law from getting suspicious, but I didn't expect it to be true. There's still true love here~"

Yunshan just shook her head and smiled without further explanation.

She couldn't remember when it started, but she tacitly accepted the relationship between the two. Instead of being reluctant, she decided to embrace it and let the tree of love take root and grow in her heart.

"The pregnancy medicine from Concubine Bianliang should be ready soon. I didn't handle it yesterday because I was worried. Please keep an eye on the stove for me. I'll be back soon." After instructing Li Mi, he went to Concubine Bianliang.

"You go ahead. I'll be watching here. This is a task that the Queen has entrusted to you alone, so you should be careful."

The two of them had thought that no one else was in the alchemy furnace room today, but they didn't expect that there was a mouse in a green shirt outside the corner, which heard everything.

After several hours, the anti-poison powder and the poria medicine were ready. Looking at the fine powder, Yunshan began to worry again. She knew that Lin Xiao was busy outside, and it was inconvenient to carry bottles and jars. They would easily break if they were slightly bumped.

After much deliberation, Yunshan divided the prepared powder into two parts. One portion was placed in a delicate medicine bottle, and the other was made into small pills. Worried about the difficulty of handling the small, round pills in a hurry, she fashioned them into the shape of a six-sided dice and named them "Life-saving Pills."

In a blink of an eye, more than ten days passed. Yunshan was able to rest for a while, and the fatigue of the past few months gradually faded away.

This night was the same as usual. Yunshan was resting in Liuhua Palace. It was just past midnight and everyone in the palace was in a deep sleep.

A sudden, rapid banging on the door instantly shattered the silence. The sound was like thunder in the dead of night, each one carrying an undeniable urgency.

"Your Highness, Chief Song Yao—"

Yunshan suddenly woke up from her sleep, her heart in her throat. Without thinking too much, she hurriedly got up and quickly got dressed.

Yun Jin had also helped Lin Yu dress up simply. The three of them didn't have time to say much and hurried towards Fengyi Palace under the anxious guidance of the palace maid.

Along the way, the atmosphere was oppressive and suffocating, as if an invisible boulder weighed heavily on everyone's heart. When they arrived at Fengyi Palace, the scene before them made their hearts tighten.

Outside Fengyi Palace, there were many people kneeling.

The two imperial physicians lowered their heads and looked so solemn that it seemed as if water could be squeezed out of them. They crawled on the ground, and their figures looked particularly hunched under the cold moonlight.

Three colleagues on duty at the pharmacy were also kneeling on the ground, their bodies trembling slightly. In this cold night, it was unclear whether it was because of the cold wind or because they were frightened by the extremely depressing atmosphere.

Yunshan's hand that was supporting Concubine Lin tightened unconsciously. She could feel the stiffness in Concubine Lin's body.

Several more imperial physicians hurried over and joined the queue waiting outside the hall, making the already heavy atmosphere even more depressing.

The queen's condition took a turn for the worse and was beyond recovery. She was now lying in the palace, like a candle in the wind, so weak that it could go out at any time.

Judging from the situation, I’m afraid I won’t survive the night.

Xin Qing walked out of the hall quickly, went straight to Lin Yu, and bowed respectfully, "The Queen has ordered to summon the Imperial Concubine and Song Yao."

The inner hall was filled with a strong medicinal smell, mingled with an oppressive silence. The queen lay quietly on the couch, looking haggard, her former majesty and grace completely gone.

She saw Lin Yu coming, and a tear slowly slid down the corner of her eye. She wanted to turn her head to look at Lin Yu, but she was already unable to do so. She could only tremble her lips and say:

"Sister, I'm really sorry to bother you by asking you to come here so late at night. But I'm afraid I won't make it through the night. There are some things I absolutely need your help with."

The queen has always been dignified and respectful, but this time she did not refer to herself as "this palace".

Upon seeing this, Concubine Lin hurriedly half-knelt in front of the couch and gently held the Queen's hand with both of her hands. Her eyes instantly turned red:
"My Lady, aren't you getting better? Why are you suddenly..."

The Queen shook her head slightly. "I know my body best. Heart disease is difficult to cure. I worry too much. The doctors have told me long ago that it's my own fault."

Lin Yu's eyes were filled with tears, which could not be stopped. Yun Shan also knelt silently beside him.

The queen took a deep breath, looked at Lin Yu earnestly, and couldn't help sobbing:

"Sister, I have no other wish but to have a son. The Second Prince has been ill since he was in the womb, and his body has never been strong."

"If I go now, I really can't bear to leave him. I want to entrust him to you."

(End of this chapter)