The hunting came to an abrupt end due to the assassins and the Queen's unconsciousness.
Back in the palace, Du Gu Qingyi took care of Mei Qingxue without leaving her side. Mei Qingxue remained unconscious for several days. If it weren't for her slightly rising and falling chest, Du Gu Qingyi didn't dare to think about the consequences.
"Xue'er," Du Gu Qing looked haggard. They had kept the news from Xia Ruolan in the Prime Minister's Mansion. His mother - in - law was not easy to deceive. "How can I tell mother - in - law about this?"
"Tell what?" Xia Ruolan rushed in. She had long noticed that her husband and son were acting strangely. She never expected that her daughter would be in trouble. With her son's token to enter the palace, Xia Ruolan directly rushed into the palace. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at Du Gu Qing. "Give me back my daughter."
"Mother,"
"Don't call me mother. You give me back my well - behaved daughter..." Xia Ruolan's toughness completely crumbled when she saw her daughter's pale face.
"Mother..." Mei Qingxue, who had been motionless and unconscious for several days, murmured when she heard Xia Ruolan's voice. "Mother, I'm hungry."
Without even opening her eyes, upon hearing Xia Ruolan's voice, Mei Qingxue thought of the red bean porridge in the Prime Minister's Mansion.
"Ah?" Xia Ruolan quickly wiped away her tears and looked at Mei Qingxue, whose mouth was still moving, in disbelief. Du Gu Qing immediately rushed over.
Mei Qingxue's eyes were tightly closed. "Red bean, with sugar." "Okay, okay," Xia Ruolan looked at Du Gu Qing, her eyes full of complexity.
"You take good care of her. I'll deal with you later." Knowing that it wasn't Du Gu Qing's fault that her daughter was injured, Xia Ruolan still took out her resentment on him.
"Yes, yes." Du Gu Qing responded repeatedly. As long as Xue'er got better, he was willing to accept any punishment in the future. "Are you awake?" Seeing Mei Qingxue slightly opening her eyes, Du Gu Qing couldn't contain his excitement.
"Yeah," Damn it. It hurts so much. My chest is burning, and I don't even have the strength to lift my hand. The position of the wound seems to be right on the purple butterfly.
"Qing, take a look at my wound."
"The dressing is done well now. Can we check it when we change the dressing?" Du Gu Qing gently stroked Mei Qingxue's face. After several days of coma without eating or drinking, her chin had become much sharper. Just looking at her made Du Gu Qing feel heart - ache.
"Okay," Mei Qingxue closed her eyes again. "I'm so tired. I'll lie down for a while." She didn't know how many days she had been lying there. "Have the assassins been captured?" The person who said she wanted to rest was still concerned about the assassins.
"They've been captured and have been dealt with,"
"Who was the mastermind?" Mei Qingxue was more concerned about this. And what would the wound look like in the future?
"Who else could it be? It's that third prince," Du Gu Qing gritted his teeth in hatred when he thought of that person. "Forget it. Aren't you okay?"
"But seeing you like this, how can I let him go?" Du Gu Qing's voice was full of anger.
"You have so much resentment!" Mei Qingxue felt relieved when she saw that Du Gu Qing was okay. The thing she was most worried about was that something might happen to Du Gu Qing. Now she was completely at ease.
"Give me some water," Hearing Mei Qingxue's request, Du Gu Qing quickly poured water. He carefully lifted her head and watched her drink it mouthful by mouthful. His heart also settled down a lot. "As long as you're okay," Du Gu Qing's eyes were full of affection.
"You're getting more and more cheesy," Mei Qingxue wanted to laugh. Looking at Du Gu Qing with his stubble and haggard face, she knew that these days had been a great torture for him. As long as they were both alive, everything would be fine. A little injury didn't matter.
"There will be a scar here in the future. It won't look good," Mei Qingxue tried to lift her hand with difficulty and touched the wound. "Ouch," She didn't control her strength well and made the wound bleed again.
Du Gu Qing was scared and quickly came over to check. "Don't be afraid. It's okay. I'll like you no matter what." Seeing that Mei Qingxue's wound was just bleeding a little, he felt relieved.
"Pfft..."
"Madam, slow down!" Seeing Xia Ruolan in a hurry, the maid shouted behind her.
"What are you doing?" Mei Zhenguo had never seen his wife so impatient. "Xue'er wants to drink red bean porridge," Xia Ruolan's voice was a mixture of surprise and joy.
"What?" Mei Zhenguo's face also showed joy. Did his daughter wake up? No, he had to go into the palace to see her. It would take two hours to cook the red bean porridge, and he couldn't wait.
"Old Prime Minister, where are you going?" On the way, he met Minister Zai Pu, who was also an official in the court. Zai Pu asked, but Mei Zhenguo didn't hear him.
He rushed into the palace in a hurry. The guards knew that this was the father - in - law of the emperor, so they didn't stop him.
"Du Gu Qing, is my daughter awake?" The old prime minister didn't even address the emperor properly. Now Du Gu Qing was the sinner in his family.
"Father, she's awake. She just said she wanted to eat red bean porridge," Du Gu Qing carefully covered Mei Qingxue with the quilt. "Xue'er, father is here," Mei Zhenguo felt much more relaxed when he saw his daughter's obviously more ruddy complexion.
"She's awake, so why doesn't she respond?"
"I don't know either. She was still talking just now," Du Gu Qing didn't know why Mei Qingxue didn't make a sound. He was afraid that Mei Qingxue would fall into a coma again, so he called her a few more times in her ear.
"Annoying. Buzz, buzz, buzz," Mei Qingxue frowned. She had finally fallen asleep for a while, but her mother called, her father shouted, and Du Gu Qing was also annoying.
"Father, look. She's okay!" Du Gu Qing smiled bitterly. Mei Qingxue was most likely to call others flies when she was woken up from sleep.
"Well, I can see that," Mei Zhenguo felt heart - ache looking at his daughter's sharp - featured face. Hearing his daughter's voice, which was still quite energetic, he felt a little more at ease.
"Take good care of her. Don't be negligent," Mei Zhenguo walked out slowly with his official steps. As long as his daughter was okay, he was relieved.
Since his daughter was married, it wasn't appropriate for him, as a father, to be overly concerned.
"Old thing, I wondered why I couldn't find you," Xia Ruolan was impatient when she saw Mei Zhenguo's official steps. Looking at the snack box in her hand, "Shall we go in together?"
"Let's go."
"Our daughter is sleeping," Mei Zhenguo said.
"It's okay." She'll wake up by herself after I serve the porridge.
"Xue'er, smell it. It's so fragrant..." Xia Ruolan coaxed Mei Qingxue as if she were a child. Mei Qingxue really opened her eyes. "Mother, Xue'er is so hungry."
Du Gu Qing quickly helped Mei Qingxue sit up and put two thick pillows behind her so that she could lean on them comfortably.
"It's not hot anymore. Come and eat," Xia Ruolan looked at her daughter, her eyes glistening with tears.
"Yeah. It's really delicious. When I get better, I'll go back and stay for a while,"
"You can stay as long as you like,"
"No!" A married daughter shouldn't always go back to her parents' home. As soon as Mei Zhenguo objected, he saw Xia Ruolan looking at him with a half - smile.
Mei Zhenguo secretly thought something was wrong.
"Du Gu Qing, do you have a place for your mother - in - law to stay for a while?"
"Yes. Mother can choose any place," Du Gu Qing adapted to the situation. Mei Zhenguo gritted his teeth looking at his son - in - law. "Your Majesty, how did Xue'er get injured?"
As soon as they heard this, Xia Ruolan's face also looked bad. Mei Zhenguo proudly lifted his beard. Let's see who's more powerful.
"You're her father, aren't you? And Xuan'er was also there. How did you two act as her father and brother?" Xia Ruolan gave her husband a sidelong glance and didn't fall for it.
Du Gu Qing looked guilty. "It's all my fault." If he had listened to Xue'er's advice, this wouldn't have happened today, and Xue'er wouldn't have suffered this much.
If possible, he really hoped to share her pain.
"Okay, okay," Mei Qingxue looked at the few people. "I want to sleep. Does anyone have any objections?" Who would dare to have objections? Now the patient was the most important.
"Let's go out and sit for a while," Du Gu Qing said. He didn't want to be too far away from her.
"We won't sit. We'll just go back," Xia Ruolan looked at her son - in - law. "Take good care of Xue'er. You're really lucky. I won't care about who the sword was originally meant for. With such a good wife, don't let her down," At this time, Du Gu Qing felt extremely guilty, and Xia Ruolan quickly gave him a lecture.
"What mother said is very right. I've learned my lesson," Originally, he wouldn't let her down. "Let's go!" Mei Zhenguo thought his wife really wanted to stay in the palace. When he saw his wife calling him to go home, his eyes immediately narrowed.
"Father, mother, walk slowly. I'm worried about Xue'er, so I won't see you off,"
"Go," Mei Zhenguo had no right to speak now.
Xia Ruolan waved her hand, and the two of them walked away without looking back.
"Lan'er, why don't you give me some face?" Mei Zhenguo complained. Xia Ruolan's temper had really grown recently.
"Do you want the inner substance?"
Mei Zhenguo didn't know what her words meant, but he knew they weren't good anyway. Xia Ruolan learned this phrase from Mei Qingxue.
"Xue'er, I'm so glad you're awake," Du Gu Qing looked at Mei Qingxue, his heart full of joy.
"I'm okay. Change the dressing for me," Mei Qingxue wanted to take a look at her chest. Before the incident, the purple butterfly had been continuously heating up.
"Okay," Du Gu Qing replied. He wanted to see how her wound was healing.
"It will hurt. Are you afraid?" Du Gu Qing's words made Mei Qingxue want to bang her head against the wall. She could bear a sword being stabbed in and then taken out.
"I'm not afraid. I just want to see the purple butterfly on my chest," She intuitively felt that it was really fate that the sword had stabbed right there.
"Drink the medicine first," Du Gu Qing was holding a medicine bowl in his hand. It had been boiled long ago.
"I won't drink it." It's so bitter. Did I drink it in the past few days?
"Be good. Or should I feed you?"
"How did I drink it in the past few days?" Mei Qingxue was curious.
Du Gu Qing blushed. "I took a sip and then fed it to you!"
"Ah." So I drank a lot of this bastard's saliva. Mei Qingxue glared at him angrily.
"Give it to me." It's just a bowl of Chinese medicine soup. I'll drink it with my eyes closed. Mei Qingxue closed her eyes as if it were a matter of life and death and drank the bowl of medicine.
"Xue'er, drinking the medicine will make you recover faster," This imperial doctor was good. Du Gu Qing nodded in satisfaction. He should reward him well.
"Got it. Stop being so wordy. Change the dressing,"
"Okay,"
Mei Qingxue watched as the cloth strips wrapped around her chest were slowly unwound. She saw that a deep red wound had already closed.
The purple butterfly on her chest had actually disappeared. Mei Qingxue was shocked, and Du Gu Qing was also extremely surprised.
"How strange," Mei Qingxue murmured. "It's really the will of heaven," Du Gu Qing was safe now. She just had an extra scar. "Xue'er. How could this happen?"
He had been thinking about that purple butterfly for six years. "Just those days, the purple butterfly was always heating up, and I felt anxious." Then the accident happened.
"It's really fate," Du Gu Qing also understood why Xue'er could predict so accurately. Du Gu Qing gently stroked the place where the purple butterfly used to be.
"From now on, I'll do whatever you say,"
He would never let such a thing happen again. If it did, he would rather it happen to himself.
"Are you really that obedient?" Mei Qingxue's eyes regained their cunning. Du Gu Qing knew at a glance that his Xue'er was back.
"It's really strange. How could it disappear?" Mei Qingxue watched as Du Gu Qing changed the dressing for her and then carefully wrapped the cloth strips. He helped her lie down slowly.
"Really. I'll listen to you from now on. All of your words,"
"Yeah. I want to sleep now," There were sedative drugs in the medicine soup, and Mei Qingxue soon felt sleepy. Du Gu Qing sat on one side quietly guarding her.
His eyes were full of love and heart - ache.
Sorry, Xue'er. It's all my fault.
"I'll sit here and watch you," Du Gu Qing said. He really couldn't bear the days without her. Those days he was almost crazy and on the verge of collapse.
Xue'er had no consciousness at all. She didn't respond when he called her, and her body was getting colder and colder.
If it weren't for her breathing, he was really afraid, afraid that she would leave him.
Now seeing that Mei Qingxue was recovering well, Du Gu Qing felt relieved. But that person still hadn't been found.