Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Meng Huaiqing didn’t even stop for a drink of water before he hurried away.

Before leaving, he specifically warned me that my appearance was far too eye-catching and that it would be best if I didn’t go outside to avoid attracting trouble.

He said he would return in two days at the earliest, or five at the latest, at which point we would finalize the details of our plan to leave the Capital City.

I started a fire and cooked for myself.

The moment I took a sip of hot water, I felt the tension in my scalp finally loosen. The constant anxiety of the past few days was soothed, and I began to calm down.

Should I really wait here?

Granted, Meng Huaiqing had been a huge help at Ci’en Temple, allowing me to escape the tiger’s den.

But what was his reason for helping me?

Was it that saintly reason-the benevolent heart of a physician?

In my previous life, however, he never appeared to save me during my several brushes with death.

More importantly, in a certain sense, he was also a blade in Yuan Heng’s hand.

Every time I recalled him holding my flayed face in both hands, my skin crawled.

I decided to leave immediately.

I didn’t fully trust him.

As he said, this face of mine was too conspicuous; I had to hide it.

I remembered… earlier, Meng Huaiqing had put the cosmetic powders he used for my disguise into his room.

“Sir, I know this is a shameless act, but I’m sure you’ll understand.”

I crouched in front of the door, poking a hairpin into the large bronze lock, listening intently for any movement.

With a soft click, the lock opened.

When I was a child, I often went hungry. To prevent me and the servants from stealing food, my legal mother would lock the kitchen every day.

I had been forced to learn this little lock-picking trick back then.

I had been so hungry I couldn’t bear it; I just wanted to eat.

…

After entering the room, I glanced around. It was almost spotless, but since it hadn’t been lived in for a long time, it felt chilly.

I searched everywhere but couldn’t find any sign of the disguise powders.

Finally, I opened the only large cabinet in the room.

When I saw what was inside, I was so terrified that I stumbled back several steps and collapsed onto the floor.

In the middle shelf of the cabinet sat three bleached human skulls. Their hollow, dark eye sockets stared straight at me.

My heart hammered wildly. I closed my eyes and took a long time to recover.

Where did he get these bones? Did he kill people? Or did he dig them up from graves?

I had no time to dwell on it. Steeling myself, I walked back over.

Scanning the shelves, I saw that the cabinet was mostly filled with medical texts and various jars and bottles. Beside the skulls lay several journals.

I picked up the top journal. The title page stated it was Meng Huaiqing’s medical logs and insights. The handwriting was neat, as if carved in small regular script.

At the very bottom of the cabinet was an exquisite wooden box, next to which were three scrolls.

I opened two of them and saw they were diagrams of human meridians and organs.

The last scroll was actually kept in a sleeve made of Shu brocade, showing how much the owner cherished and valued it.

Intuition told me that this last scroll must contain Meng Huaiqing’s secret. Opening it would be a grave offense.

But I had already picked his lock; doing one more bad thing didn’t matter much.

I opened the cloth sleeve, took out the scroll, and slowly unfurled it.

It was a painting. In it, a young girl was transcribing sutras.

That girl… was me?!

Beside the painting, a line of small characters was written: “Summer of the Fifth Year of Tiansheng, a fleeting glimpse at Zhujing Hall, never forgotten since. I paint this to express my longing.”

The summer of the Fifth Year of Tiansheng-that was this summer!

I then opened the small box. Inside were two small pulse pillows and four silk handkerchiefs, folded neatly.

They looked familiar. That’s right-those were the handkerchiefs he used to lay over my wrist when he came to the Marquis Manor to check my pulse.

He had actually kept even these!

For a moment, I regretted picking the lock and coming in. It felt as though the secret I had uncovered wasn’t his, but mine.

I didn’t have time to think further and hurried to find the disguise powders.

Unexpectedly, a sudden, agonizing pain bloomed in my abdomen.

I collapsed to my knees in pain, leaning against the cabinet, unable to move.

It took about half an hour for the pain to subside slightly.

I quickly returned the items in the cabinet to their original positions, clutched my lower abdomen, and retreated from the room. I hurried back to the room next door and found the medicine to prevent miscarriage that Meng Huaiqing had given me. Regardless of the dosage, I swallowed several pills.

I had been anxious and terrified lately, and I had already shown signs of spotting once before. Just now, I had fallen after being startled by the skulls.

If I tried to flee in this state and ended up miscarrying out there, who knows what would happen? If I fainted, my life and death would no longer be in my own hands!

Now…

I could only trust Meng Huaiqing.

At least I knew his reason for saving me wasn’t some ‘physician’s benevolence,’ but because he harbored a secret love for me.