Rebirth: After Becoming the Villainess-Chapter 159: I Like It When You Call Me by My Name
"You’re so afraid of pain, yet you dared to go to the Imperial Palace?"
Zhou Cangyan murmured, his gaze lowered.
"You were implicated because of me. How could I not go to save you?"
The torment in her palm, worse than any itch, was unbearable. She quickly pulled her hand back, rose, and went behind him again to inspect his wound. "I told you, I’m very loyal."
Seeing the gruesome wounds, she couldn’t help but recall the image of him protecting her without a second thought.
She pressed her lips together and quickly looked away.
The wounds had been given some basic treatment, but the work was crude. Song Lianhe quickly brought over her medical kit, unwrapped the bandages, and examined them again.
"The wounds are too deep. They need to be sutured." As she spoke, she began preparing to do just that.
Suturing wounds was not an uncommon procedure in the army, but they used threads made from mulberry bark. Song Lianhe, however, used silk thread. This type of thread was easy to suture with and breathable. After being soaked in wine, it became extremely soft and was easily absorbed by the skin, so it didn’t even need to be removed later.
Song Lianhe had her own custom-made disinfectant. After sterilizing the needle and thread, she cleaned the wound, disinfected it again, and was then ready to begin suturing.
But as she held the silver needle, she wasn’t very confident.
Every art has its master. She had some expertise in Chinese medicine and pathology, and her grandfather had forced her to memorize acupuncture charts as a child, giving her a solid foundation in acupuncture.
However, when it came to minor surgical procedures like suturing, she was not very skilled. She had once stitched up one of her family’s small pets, but her technique had been clumsy.
"Maybe I should go find Huai Xu..."
Zhou Cangyan looked back at her. "You don’t know how?"
She bit her lip. "I do, but I’m out of practice."
"It’s fine."
He turned his back to her again. ’Unconditional trust... No, this isn’t trust, it’s sheer carelessness!’ The thought made Song Lianhe even more flustered.
"It hurts," he said, without much conviction.
Song Lianhe grit her teeth. "Then you’ll have to bear with it. It might... it might hurt a little."
Her voice was soft and delicate, and she was so close to him as she spoke that he could feel her warm breath on his back.
Zhou Cangyan glanced slightly to the side. "Mm."
Song Lianhe had her own anesthetic mixture and asked Zhou Cangyan if he wanted it, but he said he didn’t need it.
So she braced herself and began, her expression immediately becoming focused.
Zhou Cangyan’s hands clenched into fists, the muscles in his arms tensing. A faint, hot breath gradually tickled his back. His heart suddenly hitched. He slowly found himself unable to feel the silver needle dancing across his back; all that remained was the sensation of her breathing.
Finally, she finished suturing the wound, so tense that she was covered in sweat.
Only then did she suddenly remember to ask, "How is the investigation into that palace servant going?"
"The Holy Emperor will handle the investigation."
"But will the Holy Emperor really investigate?"
She asked with such sincerity that if it were a test, no one could have been more clumsy.
He curled his lip in a sneer. "Of course he’ll investigate. He has to. After all, he still owes me, the King Qing, an explanation."
"Oh, right! Where’s my maternal grandfather? Where did he go?"
"Marquis Lin went to have drinks with Mr. Cao."
"Mr. Cao?"
She tilted her head to look at him. "Didn’t he berate the man all the way from the Imperial Study Room to East Yang Gate, making Mr. Cao so angry he went home and called in sick?"
Zhou Cangyan propped his head on one hand, giving her a sidelong glance with a faint, almost imperceptible smile. "Marquis Lin is a man of great character. Those who claim to be angry with him aren’t necessarily truly angry. Conversely, those who do nothing but praise him may not genuinely admire him."
Song Lianhe hummed in agreement. "That’s true. So, Grandfather should be a bit more reserved in the future, to avoid giving those petty people an opportunity to take advantage."
"Why should he be reserved? Marquis Lin is perfect the way he is. He doesn’t need to change. If any blind fool dares to target him, this prince will take care of them."
Hearing that, Song Lianhe was instantly reassured. ’With a deeply cunning and black-bellied villain providing protection, someone with a straightforward personality like Grandfather could do whatever he wanted and have nothing to fear!’
She immediately started flattering him. "Hehe, I never would have thought the Prince would be so good to my grandfather!"
Zhou Cangyan lifted his gaze, his eyes like a passing ripple of emerald water. "What makes you think it’s for your grandfather?"
"It couldn’t possibly be for me..."
The expression on her face faltered slightly.
Realizing she was getting ahead of herself again, Song Lianhe quickly tried to recover. "This servant and the Prince are on the same side. The Prince is unfailingly good to both this servant and her family, to the point of giving his all! This servant is endlessly grateful! To have earned the Prince’s favor is truly the fortune of three lifetimes! This servant certainly didn’t pick the wrong side back then..."
Her chin was suddenly caught.
Stunned, she stared at him.
The man’s face had drawn near at some point, growing larger and larger in her eyes. ’His features were so perfect, you couldn’t find a single flaw!’
Her astonished face was reflected in his light brown pupils. He slowly curled his lips, drawing closer and closer, his slightly husky voice like a siren’s call. "Song Wenxin, are you deliberately whetting this prince’s appetite?"
Song Lianhe’s breath caught. Before she could even react, her heart was pounding—THUMP THUMP THUMP—like the resounding strike of a temple’s morning bell and evening drum.
’Who... who could possibly withstand this?!’
She suddenly lashed out and shoved him away.
By the time she realized her great disrespect, Zhou Cangyan was already slumped over the table, coughing.
"Ah... P-Prince... Your Highness... I’m sorry, I’m sorry!" She scrambled to help him up. "Did you hurt your wound? Let me see!"
Fortunately, the stitches hadn’t torn. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.
She tried to help him put his clothes back on, but her hand was suddenly grabbed. He seemed to have no strength as he leaned against her.
His voice, even huskier than before, sounded by her ear. "Weren’t you calling me Zhou Cangyan? Why did you stop?"
"..."
Her earlobes instantly turned red, as if scorched by fire. But this time she didn’t dare push him away. ’The wound was just stitched up. What if it tears open again?!’
"I... This servant... uh..."
"Next time, call me that. This prince likes to hear it."
Just as Su Huaqing came out carrying a bowl of medicine, he saw the two of them "embracing."
He stopped, raising an eyebrow and teasing them with a half-smile. "This medicine isn’t quite ready yet. Perhaps I should go brew it a while longer?"
Song Lianhe pulled back a little, not daring to look at him. After haphazardly draping his clothes over him, she said directly, "Your Highness, it’s time for your medicine."
Wearing his usual faint smile, Su Huaqing slowly walked up to Zhou Cangyan. "Your Highness, if you please."
Zhou Cangyan shot him a glance, took the bowl, and was about to bring it to his lips.
"Wait!"
Song Lianhe quickly stopped him. Even with Su Huaqing still present, she couldn’t be bothered with propriety. She took the bowl, brought it to her nose to sniff it, and only after confirming it was safe did she hand it back to Zhou Cangyan. "You can drink it."
From her previous comment—"He’s one of Prince Ling’s men"—Zhou Cangyan could guess her intention now. In response, he simply pressed his lips together, took the bowl, and drank it all.
But Su Huaqing couldn’t accept this!
"This is utterly heart-wrenching! Second Miss Song~ Princess Cheng Hong~ could you at least have waited until I was gone to do this? I’m still right here!" He leaned one hand against a pillar, looking completely wronged. "My loyalty to His Highness is absolute! How could I commit such a vile act? Besides, even if I intended to do him harm, am I not Su Huaqing, the Wanzhang Hermit, one of the most brilliant scholars in all of Da Cheng?! Would I be stupid enough to use a method that might as well proclaim to the world, ’I am the murderer’?!"
