Cousin?
Chu Liuyue only ended her training for the day when the sun went down. Without even looking, she knew that her body must be packed with bruises, but she was very happy. Doing such training would not only completely unleash the herbs' effectiveness, but she could also strengthen her fitness, which would be advantageous for her future cultivation.
Chu Ning noticed the extra quincuncial pile in the yard the moment he came home.
A thin, young girl was currently removing the sandbags attached to her limbs beside it.
Even though the sky was already dark, he could still see her exhaustion. Chu Ning's heart immediately started to hurt. "Yue'er."
Chu Liuyue raised her head and smiled at him. "Father."
Chu Ning's words of advice stopped at the tip of his tongue, and he decided not to say them anymore. Chu Ning knew that Yue'er had gone through an enormous setback after the previous incident, and she had changed completely.
It was obvious that she was trying hard to become stronger. The only thing he could do now was to do his best to support and protect her.
"Yue'er, I think the herbs you boiled yesterday are pretty useful!" Chu Ning walked over and wiped her sweat. Although he had tried his best to contain himself, he could not hide his excitement and curiosity.
Chu Liuyue showed a look of surprise. "Really?"
Chu Ning nodded and did not tell her about what happened in the store, but just said that he suddenly felt that his condition was much better than before.
"It looks like our Yue'er really has the gift to become a heavenly doctor!" Chu Ning was extremely emotional. If they had discovered this earlier, Yue'er would not have to suffer so much all these years.
Chu Liuyue smiled and blinked. "It's great if it works! It's not too late to discover this talent now."
Chu Ning thought that she was comforting herself and nodded. "Yeah. Yue'er, you should rest well during this time. We'll find you a good teacher after some time."
Chu Liuyue smiled and did not say a word. Teacher? Even all the heavenly doctors in Country Yao Chen combined aren't good enough to be my teacher.
"Oh yes, your birthday is coming. By then… what are you going to do about your marriage agreement with the Crown Prince?" Chu Ning spoke hesitantly. He did not bring this topic up previously since the father and daughter had literally been abandoned by everyone else, and his daughter always had some wild dreams about the Crown Prince.
Now that they started anew, she should start to consider this problem. After all, there was only about a month left.
Chu Liuyue's smile turned slightly cold. "I'll just wait and see." She was not the first person to panic.
…
At night, Xue Xue appeared as usual, but there was an extra bruise on his head.
Chu Liuyue asked about it, and Xue Xue buried its head in grievance.
Was it easy for him? Its master clearly agreed to let it come here, but he hit it in the end. When it came the previous day, it did not know that it would coincidentally see Chu Liuyue taking off her clothes. It was frustrated to death.
Chu Liuyue did not pay much attention to it after
When Chu Liuyue was sleeping soundly, Xue Xue then opened its eyes and inched closer toward her, wrapping its exuded warmth and strength around Chu Liuyue.
…
Everyone quickly forgot about the conflicts in the Chu family. This was because there was new popular news in the Imperial City—Seventh Prince Rong Xiu came back from Mingyue Tianshan.
Even though he was dressed casually and was very low key, an imperial edict from the Emperor immediately made the Seventh Prince the hot topic during meals.
Seventh Prince Rong Xiu finally came back after staying outside for so many years. The Emperor was so happy, he directly named him 'Prince Li' and gifted him a mansion—Prince Li Mansion—to stay in.
One could see the important meaning behind this imperial edict upon closer inspection.
Firstly, this proved that the Seventh Prince would stay in the Imperial City. Secondly, this showed that the Emperor liked and thought extremely highly of the Seventh Prince.
One had to know that the current emperor had nine sons—three of them passed on early, and six were left. Other than the first son, Rong Jin, who had been made the Crown Prince the moment he was born, out of the remaining eight sons, only Fifth Prince Rong Qi—who had the same mother as the Crown Prince—was made 'Prince Ping.'
One could tell from this that naming Rong Xiu as 'Prince Li' would attract a lot of attention.
Initially, no one had much of an impression of him and did not really care that the weak Seventh Prince had come back. However, it was hard not for one to overthink now that he was made 'Prince Li' the moment he came back to the Imperial City.
Overnight, Prince Li Mansion became a hotspot; many people sent letters to seek an audience. However, the Prince Li Mansion rejected all of them, claiming that Prince Li was exhausted from all the traveling and needed to rest.
Chu Liuyue naturally did not know about all these secret happenings. Now, she was most concerned about her own body.
Zhen Bao Pavilion was very diligent in their work; the second batch of herbs was delivered over punctually.
Chu Liuyue did not busy herself with arranging the herbs, but chose to go out instead. This time, she did not directly leave from the main entrance but disguised herself as a young man. She wore a black robe and a hat, and flipped over the wall near the backdoor.
The Imperial City was very crowded, and many people wore all sorts of weird outfits on the streets, so Chu Liuyue's garb did not gather much attention.
She left the Chu family compound and headed all the way west until she reached Ghost Street at the city's west side.
The name was Ghost Street, but it was actually a place where people from all walks of life sold or bought items. It was a very messy place, and it sold everything at different prices. It was unknown how much money was needed to buy what kind of items.
It was precisely because of this that people loved to visit this place. If they were lucky, they could buy some items at a lower price.
Chu Liuyue also came here today with similar thinking.
Ghost Street was indeed very crowded, and it was filled with all sorts of stalls on both ends.
Chu Liuyue leisurely walked as if she was casually looking around, but her gaze was actually rapidly sweeping past the items.
Time passed slowly. After going through half of Ghost Street, Chu Liuyue did not find anything she liked and was quite disappointed.
When she was considering if she should go back, she spotted something in a torn stall from the corner of her eyes.
Her heart tingled, and she walked over calmly.
It was a rock around the size of a fist. It was grayish-white on the outside and even grew green moss. It looked just like a rock that someone casually picked up from the ground. However, if one took a closer look at it, one could see the two red streaks coming from the rock.
This showed that a precious ruby was most likely hidden in the rock.
Just when Chu Liuyue was about to ask for the price, someone intercepted her and picked up the stone.
It was a man around the age of 20. He had a chubby head, big ears, and was wearing a cotton gown. His entire body was exuding the aura of an upstart.
"Heh. I can't believe my luck is pretty good today, and I met with this red stone! Old man, name your price."
The owner of the stall was an elder with white hair. It was currently summer, but he was wearing a torn, cotton gown and was shaking a thin fan as he lay there lazily. Upon hearing this voice, he opened his eyes and extended one finger.
"One hundred silver taels?"
The elder shook his head.
"Ten thousand silver taels."
The young man exploded, and his fat body started to vibrate. "Are you crazy? I'm already giving you face by quoting 100 taels for a red rock. How dare you try to scam me? Do you know who I am? I'm the future Crown Princess's cousin!"
Upon hearing this, the silent Chu Liuyue raised her brows.
Why did she not remember having such a cousin?