Chapter 5

The crisscrossing wounds, with flesh curled back and raw, caused Li Mianyu to grow dizzy and faint the moment she saw them. Overcome with panic and dread, she leaned against the doorframe, nearly collapsing to the ground.

"Yan Shi?" she whispered, her voice trembling. The young shadow guard on the ground remained motionless.

Li Mianyu’s eyes welled up with tears instantly. She stumbled forward and knelt beside him. As she reached out to gently shake his arm, the pale boy suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze sharp and vigilant as he reflexively seized her wrist.

His strength was astonishing, as if he intended to snap her wrist in two. She gasped in pain, "Yan Shi!"

Her tearful cry seemed to bewilder him. His feline-like eyes fixed on her face for a moment before he released her and slowly closed them again.

"Don't close your eyes! Yan Shi, wake up!" With her wrist freed, she ignored the pain and grabbed his arm, shaking him gently. Her voice was urgent, but there was no further response from him.

At a loss and terrified by his deathly pallor and silence, she wept as she looked at his many wounds. Thinking that he had suffered them to protect her, tears streamed down her face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. If I hadn't wanted to bathe, we wouldn't have stopped there. I'm sorry... please, don't die."

Guilt surged within her. Never having encountered such a situation, she panicked, but soon remembered how Yan Shi had tended to her own wounds. She bent down, trying to lift him up.

The youth was tall and, while he appeared slender in his clothes, he was muscular and solid as a rock once they were removed.

Desperate to save her shadow guard, Li Mianyu summoned all her strength to pull him into a sitting position. Gasping for breath, her face flushed and eyes teary, she looked at him with suspicion—how could he be so heavy when he looked so thin?

"Yan Shi? Yan Shi?" she patted his cheek, then tremblingly placed a hand under his nose. Relieved to feel his breath, she took a deep breath and tried to help him stand, but he remained limp.

With trembling legs, she tried to drag him toward the room by his arms, but as soon as she applied pressure, his shoulder wound began to bleed again. She froze, terrified to move him further.

Biting her lip through her tears, she laid him down gently and stumbled back into the room. She returned carrying the bedding from the bamboo cot. After spreading it out, she laboriously sat him up, laid him carefully onto the quilt, and wrapped him up. By the time she finished, she was covered in sweat.

Not resting, she ran to the well, but the wooden bucket had overturned and was empty. Biting her lip, she looked at the well, feeling helpless. She studied the rope attached to the bucket, hesitated, and tossed it into the well. The bucket merely floated on the surface.

Leaning over the edge, she struggled to tilt the bucket until it finally sank. Realizing the trick, she pulled the rope, but the weight of the water-filled bucket was more than she expected. The wet rope slipped, and she lost her grip. She lunged forward to grab it, nearly tumbling into the well herself. Terrified, she recoiled, breaking into a cold sweat.

Kneeling by the well, she watched the bucket disappear into the depths and began to sob quietly, feeling useless. Why was everything outside the palace so difficult?

Fearing he would die, she wiped her eyes and searched through his discarded clothes for the medicine bottle. She ran back to the room for a cloth and began to clean his wounds. The sight of the mangled, bloodied flesh made her dizzy, but she persevered, shaking as she applied the powder.

She accidentally poured out half the bottle. Panicked that there wouldn't be enough, she carefully wiped the excess with her cloth to spread it onto another wound. As she tended to his shoulders, arms, torso, waist, and back, she wept and prayed for his recovery.

Once the medicine was gone, she used the bandages, mimicking how he had treated her feet, and wrapped them around him as best she could. Exhausted, she collapsed onto the quilt beside him.

After a few breaths, she sat up, looked at Yan Shi, and hesitantly headed toward the front shrine. She moved with caution, fearing enemies, until she reached the hall. The door was open; the Buddha stood inside, looking down with compassion.

Li Mianyu knelt on the cushion, her eyes brimming with tears. "Great Buddha, your devotee Li Mianyu prays for the safety of my Imperial Grandfather, that we may be reunited soon. Please keep my Aunt Qingling alive, let my fiancé find me, and heal my shadow guard, Yan Shi." She kowtowed as she prayed.

After a pause, she added, "I also pray that you let my uncle die a miserable death—shot by arrows, hacked by blades, or even drowned in a cesspit! Anything to bring peace to the world. Please, Buddha! When I return, I will offer you daily sacrifices! I am a princess with a fief of five hundred households; I have plenty of money!"

She kowtowed with equal solemnity. Her forehead was red from the impact.

When she looked up again, her eyes were wet, and she looked embarrassed. "Buddha, there is one more thing." She blushed deeply and stammered, "You... you cannot eat all these offerings yourself. Could you share some with my shadow guard? He is covered in wounds and I fear he will die. He is not a villain like my uncle; he is a good person... please, share a little with him."

She stared up at the statue, as if listening for an answer, then whispered, "If you do not object, I shall take them."

Embarrassed, she took a small bunch of loquats and two cakes, scurrying back to the room like a thief, her face burning.

Back in the room, seeing Yan Shi still pale, she grew anxious. She set the food aside, grabbed a pillow, and spotted a parasol in the corner, which she took to shield him from the summer heat.

She propped him up, placed the pillow under his head, and shielded him with the parasol. When he winced in his sleep, she guiltily stroked his hair, pretending nothing happened.

Suddenly, she shook his arm. "Yan Shi? Are you awake?" He didn't respond. Disappointed, she reached out to touch his forehead and found it burning hot.

"So hot..." she murmured. Seeing his cracked lips, she wept again. "Don't die... please don't die."

Recalling how Aunt Qingling used to treat her fevers, she decided to wrap him in the quilt to make him sweat. When that failed, she hesitated, then bit her lip and climbed into the quilt with him, holding him tight to share her warmth. She could not let him die; he had been injured protecting her.

As she lay there, she prayed to the Buddha to prioritize Yan Shi's life over her uncle's death. Eventually, exhausted by the heat, she drifted into a fitful sleep.

...

Yan Shi was jolted awake by the intense heat, as if he were being roasted in a furnace.

He opened his eyes to see a yellow oil-paper parasol. Confused, he tried to sit up but felt a heavy weight pinning him down. His instincts flared, and he tensed to strike, only to see the young princess sleeping soundly on his arm, her eyelashes fluttering, her dark eyes tightly shut.

Yan Shi was bewildered. He looked around and realized he was in the courtyard, lying on bedding. He turned his gaze back to the princess.

Li Mianyu, sensing movement, woke with a start. When she saw his dark eyes, she beamed. "Yan Shi, you're awake!"

Yan Shi remembered fainting from exhaustion and pain. He nodded slightly.

Before he could speak, Li Mianyu suddenly realized the situation. She stiffened, scrambled away from him, and rolled to the side in such a rush that she knocked the parasol flying.

Sitting up, she cleared her throat and said sternly, "You were shivering from fever, so you insisted on clinging to me. I couldn't break free, so I had to lie outside with you! I am a princess, and I have a brilliant, handsome, and gentle fiancé! I am only overlooking this offense because you are my shadow guard and you protected me with your life!"

She held her head high, her tone urgent and serious.