FID – Chapter 971

Chapter 971: What about defense against wolves?

“What are you doing?” Liu Yusheng frowned, taken aback.

“My lady, I… I have a request!” Liu Ya avoided the woman’s hand as she tried to pull her up, kowtowing deeply. “I know my status is lowly, and I have no right to ask anything of you. I only beg for your mercy!”

Liu Yusheng looked at the girl’s hands pressed against the ground, pale from gripping so hard, her frail body trembling uncontrollably.

The words she had just spoken were likely summoned from the very last ounce of her courage.

Sighing helplessly, Liu Yusheng reached out and pulled the girl to her feet again. “What is it you want from me? Stand and speak. You don’t need to kneel and kowtow. I’m listening.”

Raising her tear-filled eyes, Liu Ya’s gaze was thick with anguish, almost tangible. “My lady, I beg you… please heal my grandfather, father, mother, and brother. I’ve heard your medical skills are extraordinary, far better than the imperial physicians in the palace. Can you cure them? I am willing to work as your servant, to do anything—just please… please treat them! It’s my fault that they were hurt. It’s all because of me…”

Seeing Liu Yusheng remain silent, Liu Ya suddenly seemed to remember something. She forcefully grabbed her own face.

Startled, Liu Yusheng quickly caught her hands. “What are you doing now?”

“My lady, is it that you dislike my face? I’ll destroy it right now. As long as you agree, I’ll truly do anything!” Liu Ya pleaded desperately.

She knew many girls disliked her face, and she knew why.

If she could secure a chance for her family to be healed, she didn’t care about her face: it was nothing but a burden anyway.

Beyond that, she didn’t know how else to plead. She had nothing to offer, only the hope that people from a benevolent household would have kind hearts.

“I don’t need you to do this,” Liu Yusheng said, feeling a bit exasperated. She wasn’t sure whether to call the girl foolish or obsessive. “You came to ask for treatment. It’s not that I won’t help, but I need to know what kind of injuries your family has before I can say whether I can heal them, right?”

Before she even spoke, the girl had hurriedly tried to disfigure herself, blocking every possible way to bargain. It was almost painfully naïve.

“My lady, will… will you help?” Liu Ya froze, asking in a daze.

“My brother hasn’t finished handling his affairs yet. We’ll probably be at the estate for a few days, so there will be time to examine your family. But whether I can cure them, I can’t say yet.” Aside from Uncle Liu, who she knew had a crippled leg, she didn’t yet know the extent of the others’ injuries.

Her second brother had said that this family had been severely beaten by their former master, leaving lasting disabilities. That had happened a long time ago, at least over half a year. She would need to examine them before making any judgment.

The girl, overwhelmed with joy, began crying tears of relief. She waved her hands frantically, “Even if you can’t heal them, My Lady, I’m grateful! Whatever you ask me to do, I’ll do it!”

“I don’t need you to do anything; healing is my duty,” Liu Yusheng said with a smile, releasing the girl’s hand. “Stop scratching your face. Your body and skin are given by your parents; you should cherish them. Some things are not your fault. It’s just that some people’s hearts are far too ugly and corrupt.”

In the kitchen, the gentle and noble lady had already left long ago, but the girl still stared in the direction Liu Yusheng had disappeared, unable to recover for a long while.

The lady said it wasn’t her fault.

The fault lay with those ugly, corrupt hearts.

As Liu Yusheng left the kitchen and turned the corner, she saw the man standing there. He was clad in purple, unparalleled in elegance, his narrow eyes shining with delicate, soft light as they fixed on her.

“When did you wake up?” She walked up to him, tilting her head with a smile.

He looked down at her, a faint smile playing on his lips. “Not long ago.”

“So you’ve been standing here watching for quite a while?”

“Not long—just long enough to watch you.”

The woman scrunched her pert nose and snorted at him. “Messy hair, dirt-streaked face, what happened to Your Highness’s obsession with cleanliness?”

“When it comes to you, when have I ever cared about cleanliness?” he said, unable to suppress a chuckle, taking her hand as they walked outside. “You said you’d get up to walk with me. Shall we take a stroll in the courtyard first?”

“You haven’t washed yet.”

“I’ve already sent Wei Zi to fetch hot water.” He wouldn’t go into the kitchen while she was there.

Liu Yusheng looked around and feigned a sigh. “Wei Zi is the head of the Shadow Guards. Working as a servant by your side—what a waste of talent.”

“The capable ones always take on more work. He’s happy to do it.”

A certain boss of the shadow guards was just about to step into the kitchen, but hesitated for a moment. Just to amuse the princess, the King was even willing to compromise his own guard’s dignity.

He really had a good master.

Spinning lightly, he landed at the kitchen doorway. Before he could even ask for hot water, Wei Zi noticed that the young girl who had been standing at the door in a daze suddenly let out a shriek and bolted inside.

She squeezed herself behind a small mountain of stacked firewood in the corner of the kitchen.

Huddling her tiny body among the wood, she peered out frantically and fearfully through the gaps.

Just like a frightened rabbit.

Defending herself against wolves?

Wei Zi stepped expressionlessly into the kitchen and went straight to the stove to fetch water.

Before leaving with the wooden basin, he glanced toward the pile of firewood. The little figure huddled inside immediately pressed further back, as if his gaze were poisonous. Any point of contact might be lethal.

The stacked firewood shook slightly under her squeezing.

If he didn’t leave soon, he was certain that the little rabbit would keep burrowing further in and eventually be buried alive by the firewood.

“I’m just here to fetch water. I’m not going to eat you.”

Feigning ignorance of the cautious, peering eyes from behind the wood, Wei Zi stepped out.

Once the man left, Liu Ya collapsed onto the floor, clutching her chest and gasping. She had been so scared that she hadn’t even dared to breathe properly.

Creak—

A sound came from above.

Liu Ya looked up.

Her eyes widened as she saw the firewood above her start to fall.

Thud—it struck her on the head.

Overwhelmed with fear and tension, combined with the final blow from the firewood, the young girl spectacularly fainted.

Breakfast was brought by Liu Tiao. By that time, Liu Zhixia, Liu Zhiqiu, and the others had already gotten up and were sitting in the main hall, chatting and laughing.

“Steamed buns, flower rolls, rice porridge.” Liu Zhiqiu moved to the dining table, grabbed a flower roll, and took a bite. He frowned slightly, “Not bad, but still can’t compare to what grandma makes. Ah, I should have brought grandma along. With her here, even plain porridge and pickles feel full of happiness.”

His forehead immediately got a slap from his elder brother. “Is grandma your personal servant? Bringing her along just to cook for you?”

“You’re picking faults again, huh? Don’t you know why grandma likes working in the kitchen so much? It’s because we all love eating what she makes. When she cooks, she’s happiest.” With a flower roll stuffed in his mouth, Liu Zhiqiu mumbled back, “We’re happy eating, grandma’s happy cooking, happy plus happy equals double happiness. And you, top scholar of the imperial exams, can’t even get emotional intelligence right. Bad review!”

Liu Yusheng had just sat down. She hadn’t even taken her first sip of porridge before almost spraying it out. “Second Brother, can you stop repeating everything you pick up from me?”

“Then you should speak less in all those weird archaic phrases. I haven’t heard them, so naturally I wouldn’t repeat them.”