The anxiety of searching all the way reached its peak upon seeing the person who had fallen into the water.
Water splashed everywhere, two figures bobbing on the river’s surface.
Xiao Zhi’s gaze fixed on one of those heads. Though he couldn’t make out her features clearly, he knew it was Yun Yi.
The back of her head was especially round.
Plop—on instinct, he leaped into the water.
Xiao Qingzhu had never expected Xiao Zhi to go rescue her: “Imp—!”
The commoners on the shore craned their necks.
Earlier, when she had been playing the manservant, Xiao Qingzhu had shouted several times, “Save my mistress!” and “A hundred taels of silver reward!”
No one had gone into the river.
A mere hundred taels of silver was not worth risking one’s life over—what if they ended up as a sacrifice to the River God?
On such a festival day, who would want a funeral at home?
Now that her imperial brother had also jumped in, Xiao Qingzhu was weeping and wailing: “Ten thousand taels reward! Help!”
Why wasn’t anyone moved?
She stamped her foot, hating only that she couldn’t swim.
“Ten thousand taels—of gold!”
The onlookers shot her a look as if she were simple-minded.
A mere manservant, spouting nonsense—ten thousand taels of gold—what household could afford that?
The canal was broad and ordinarily calm, but now with several heads splashing about, it had become quite lively.
Xiao Zhi’s anxious heart eased slightly only after he swam to Yun Yi’s side.
Her round head was soaked, her hair disheveled, her hairpin gone—she should have looked a mess.
Yet at that moment, with the sun high above, she was as steady as a piece of driftwood in a torrent, utterly composed.
Yun Yi spat out a mouthful of filthy river water and asked him: “Why did you jump in?”
The Hu girl beside her was flailing wildly and grabbed hold of her shoulder.
Yun Yi, still spitting water, reminded the Hu girl: “Don’t grab at me like that—I can’t swim properly.”
Smack—Xiao Zhi’s palm came down, and the Hu girl went unconscious.
Simple and brutal.
Yun Yi: “…”
No wonder they called him a tyrant.
The attendants jumped into the water, and together they carried the unconscious woman ashore.
Xiao Qingzhu had never seen a corpse before; her brows were full of helplessness: “Is she dead?”
“Don’t jinx it.” Yun Yi, ignoring her own bedraggled state, slapped the Hu girl’s face firmly and leaned down to listen for a heartbeat.
She could still be saved.
She placed her hands on the woman’s chest and pressed down hard.
One compression, then another.
Xiao Zhi didn’t understand what she was doing, but intuition told him it was serious: “Do you need help?”
The crowd still wanted to watch the excitement.
The attendants formed a circle, blocking the gawking gazes.
A thin sheen of sweat broke out on Yun Yi’s forehead. She had already swum a distance to rescue someone, and now she was doing repeated forceful compressions—she was running out of strength.
“Copy what I’m doing—press right here.”
His Majesty had already jumped into the water, nearly giving the guards a heart attack. And now he was going to imitate Miss Yun’s actions to treat this unknown woman?
Wang Delan, disguised as an attendant, blurted out: “Young Master!”
Xiao Zhi shot him a sharp glare.
As for the stuffy rules about men and women not touching—he had long thrown them out of his mind.
Without a word of protest, he immediately began the compressions.
The woman’s face remained pale, showing no sign of improvement.
Xiao Zhi kept pressing, until he heard Yun Yi say: “Let me.”
He understood at once, yielding the spot and waiting for her to take over.
But Yun Yi did not continue the compressions. Instead, she pinched the woman’s nose, pried open her jaw—
And bent down to press her lips to the woman’s.
Xiao Zhi: “…”
Xiao Qingzhu: “!”
It wasn’t a kiss.
It was breathing life into her.
The two siblings watched this scene with unwavering attention.
Yun Yi paid no heed to the onlookers’ stares; all her focus was on the rescue breaths.
Heavy and rhythmic sounds of breath—one after another. Water trickled from her soaked clothes, pooling into a small puddle at her feet.
Xiao Zhi said nothing, only signaling the guards to form a tighter circle so the curious commoners could not see this scene.
The woman suddenly coughed violently, spraying water all over Yun Yi’s face.
Wang Delan produced a handkerchief and handed it to Yun Yi to wipe her face.
Yun Yi took it, but used it to dry the rescued woman’s face instead.
Xiao Zhi looked at Yun Yi’s wet, smudged face and felt a heavy weight in his chest.
Without thinking, he raised his arm to wipe the droplets from her face.
Forgetting that he was just as drenched and disheveled as she was.
Yun Yi: “…”
“Little Basket,” Xiao Zhi ordered, “take this woman to a medical clinic and have her properly treated.”
“Yes… Master.” Wang Delan was still not used to his new name.
Half-conscious, the Hu girl felt someone pressing on her chest. Soon after, that person pressed their lips down to hers.
A breeze swept by, carrying a floral fragrance. She took a deep breath, and that scent seeped into her heart and lungs.
It was that very breath that brought her back to life.
“Savior…” she murmured, clutching the damp hem of Yun Yi’s clothes. “This humble woman shall…”
Yun Yi bent down, took her hand, and smiled radiantly: “Shall pledge yourself to me in marriage?”
Smack!
A large hand shot out of nowhere and mercilessly slapped away the clasped hands of the two young women.
.
They changed into dry clothes at an inn.
“Second Brother.” Xiao Qingzhu insisted on squeezing into Xiao Zhi’s room.
Yun Yi opened her door and, seeing the princess enter the room opposite, wisely retreated back inside.
Just before Xiao Zhi’s door closed, he caught a glimpse of that round head across the way quietly shrinking back.
“What is it?” Xiao Zhi withdrew his gaze.
Xiao Qingzhu folded her arms and studied him for a moment. “I remember you’re not much of a swimmer.”
“So you wish me dead?”
Ha—her imperial brother’s tongue was a stinging wasp.
“You clearly can’t swim well, yet you still jumped.”
Xiao Zhi: “Little Chair jumped too. We both saved that woman together.”
“Oh, ‘we,’” Xiao Qingzhu said, slouching in her seat with one leg propped up like a ruffian.
A sovereign of a nation jumping into a river to save someone—in all history, her imperial brother was probably the first.
He had thought Yun Yi had fallen in, and without a second thought, he jumped.
“Second Brother.” Xiao Qingzhu studied his slightly pale face and said with concern, “You swallowed a lot of water too.”
Xiao Zhi accepted her concern.
“Only a kiss from Little Chair will make it better~” Xiao Qingzhu clutched her head and made a tactical retreat out of the guest room.
The door opened.
As if sensing it, the door to the room opposite also swung wide open.
As Xiao Zhi raised his gaze, he saw her equally pale face.
“Are you alright?”
“Are you alright?”
In unison.
Xiao Qingzhu on the corridor turned her gaze toward them.
He was smiling. She was smiling too.
Xiao Qingzhu couldn’t smile—she felt utterly superfluous.
Not wanting to draw attention, Wang Delan arranged for an ordinary carriage. The few masters boarded discreetly.
Yun Yi lifted the carriage curtain. The painted boat on the canal was nowhere to be seen.
“That woman was kicked into the river by the man on that boat.”
Xiao Zhi instructed the guard commander: “Order the Ministry of Justice to have Cen Ni handle this case.”
As he spoke, a portrait suddenly appeared before his eyes—one that Yun Yi had drawn at the inn.
Nose, eyebrows, eyes—a textbook wanted-criminal sketch.
Yun Yi was a decent artist; all those cute cultural-creative designs were her work.
But this particular drawing gave the Xiao siblings a strange sense of familiarity.
Xiao Qingzhu pointed at the black mole at the corner of the man’s mouth, from which a single black hair sprouted: “Why do I feel like this is Fifth Brother?”
“Who else was on the boat?”
Yun Yi pulled a dried-up brush from her pocket; the tip was blackened, but she had forgotten to bring paper.
“We’ll draw it back at the residence,” Xiao Zhi said.
But to his surprise, the girl beside him put the brush tip against her tongue.
Xiao Zhi averted his gaze stiffly, no longer looking at her.
Though it was early spring, the carriage interior inexplicably radiated a wave of heat.
As if in defiance, she reached over and grabbed the long robe draped over Xiao Zhi’s knees.
Xiao Zhi took a deep breath and redirected his gaze to Yun Yi’s face.
Her lips were pressed together as she pulled out the damp brush tip, a sly smirk curling at the corner of her mouth: “See? Now I can draw.”
When he looked down, the robe now bore a figure with a bristling beard and tiger-like whiskers.
The proportions were spot-on! Yun Yi was extremely satisfied with this “foreigner portrait.”
“Did this man also push the woman into the water?” If so, that would be a bit tricky.
“No, he actually tried to save me.”
Xiao Zhi paused, then asked: “Then why didn’t you let him?”
After a moment of serious thought, Yun Yi answered: “I don’t like beards.”
The bitterness that had gathered in his throat instantly dissipated.
His thoughts swayed gently with the rocking carriage. Once again, the image of Yun Yi saving that woman flashed through his mind—her lips pressed against another woman’s lips…
If he had been the one in the water, would Yun Yi have done the same to him after saving him?
At that thought, Xiao Zhi’s mind became a tangled mess.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” Yun Yi wondered. Ever since her heroic rescue, Xiao Zhi had been acting strange. “Did you swallow too much water?”
Xiao Zhi snapped back to the present, his gaze returning to her lips.
Her lips had turned black in two patches, as if poisoned.
“…” The romantic little bubbles in his head all burst with a pop.
Beneath the red palace walls, sunlight split the world into light and shadow. Outside the walls was the bustling mortal world; inside was the solemn majesty of the imperial palace.
Her buttocks were thoroughly sore from sitting. Yun Yi jumped down from the carriage, her shadow stirring up dust from the palace bricks, dancing up and down and scattering the sunlight.
Xiao Zhi also stepped down to walk, planting his feet squarely on the crooked shadow ahead of her.
Xiao Qingzhu, bringing up the rear, alternately crossed her arms and pouted, her dark eyes studying Xiao Zhi intently.
“Imperial Brother, why do you keep touching your chin?” she called out.
Xiao Zhi glared back at her. Xiao Qingzhu let out a yelp—”Little Chair, save me!”—and went pattering off ahead.
Yun Yi turned around.
On the long palace path, the red walls rose against a sky washed clean.
Xiao Qingzhu crashed into her arms seeking protection. Yun Yi held the delicate princess and squinted, her gaze falling on Xiao Zhi’s chin.
It seemed to have gained a bit of stubble.
He wore a mountain-blue outer robe embroidered with auspicious cloud patterns, and at his waist hung an exquisite little gourd—the very one she had brought with her when she first arrived in the Yan Dynasty. The vine-like dragon-head was wrapped with gold-and-green silk threads, and as the breeze passed, the tassel on the gourd flowed like water.
Yun Yi thought: if he weren’t emperor, he would look like a spoiled young scion.
She dropped her gaze slightly and noticed a shallow engraving on the gourd’s belly—the character “Zhi,” encircled by a little cloud. As if she were embracing him. That felt a bit suggestive.
Xiao Zhi met her gaze frankly: “Whatever name is carved on it, it belongs to that person.”
Pfft, Yun Yi thought privately—a five-yuan gourd—who would even return that? I’m not stingy.
The playboy had returned to the palace. Robed in dragon robes, he was once again the solemn emperor.
The Emperor ordered the princess back to her own quarters.
“Can’t I at least grab a quick meal?” Xiao Qingzhu pouted.
“One more word, and it’s a hundred strokes.”
“Imperial Brother, you—”
“Go on, go on.” Yun Yi gathered her robe and tiptoed out of the hall with the princess.
“You stay.” Xiao Zhi’s brow twitched—who said she could leave?
Yun Yi tilted her head and shot him a sidelong glance: Stay for what?
Xiao Zhi leaned against the screen, his figure almost merging with the golden dragon embroidered on it.
He lifted his chin and wielded imperial authority: “If you dare leave, a hundred strokes for you too.”
Yun Yi: “…”
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