"Master!" Feng Yunshu let out a startled cry and suddenly opened her eyes. Right in front of her was a face she knew all too well.
Helan Yanting stared at her with his deep-set eyes. "My lady is awake?"
Feng Yunshu was momentarily stunned, then slowly nodded. But when she tried to move, she found her body still a bit weak, though the pain seemed to have subsided.
She tentatively felt her body and looked down at the places where she'd had wounds before. It took her a while to come to her senses. Was she already okay?
"Your Highness, is my body... healed?"
Helan Yanting nodded and held a cup of warm water to her lips. "Yes. Have some water to moisten your throat. With me here, you're fine now."
"Just now, while you were sleeping, you kept calling out 'Master' off and on. Is that your master from your past life?"
Feng Yunshu nodded blankly. "Yes, he is..."
"Oh," Helan Yanting raised his eyebrows meaningfully and glanced at Feng Yunshu. "It seems you must have had a very deep affection for your master? You even missed him in your dreams."
Feng Yunshu was taken aback by his last words. "Your Highness, my master... shouldn't be considered an old man."
"Oh? Why do you say so?"
"My master, Immortal Liuyun, attained the right path in his early thirties. Since then, his appearance has never changed. He's always looked like a man in his early thirties. He should be only a bit older than Your Highness."
Feng Yunshu explained very seriously, but then she noticed that Helan Yanting's expression seemed to be getting weirder and weirder.
"Your Highness?"
"I'm suddenly curious. If you and your master had such a good relationship, why didn't your master take you with him when he ascended to immortality? Weren't you feeling wronged being left alone?"
"Er, this..." Feng Yunshu finally caught the sarcasm in Helan Yanting's words.
"Your Highness, why do I suddenly smell a whiff of sourness? Has a vinegar jar been knocked over somewhere?"
As she spoke, Feng Yunshu pretended to look around for the vinegar jar.
Helan Yanting looked a bit uncomfortable for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. "My lady hasn't answered my question just now. Don't try to change the subject."
"Your Highness is really jealous!" Feng Yunshu looked at Helan Yanting, who was acting so awkwardly, clearly having been hit on the nail but still refusing to admit it, and couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Your Highness, what on earth are you thinking? I've always regarded my master as an elder like my father or brother. Do you think the affection I'm talking about could be romantic love?"
Helan Yanting blushed and his eyes darted away and then back.
"Is there anywhere on your body that still feels uncomfortable, my lady?"
"Just now, Your Highness told me not to change the subject. But now, aren't you doing the same? One may do wrong, but another may not!"
Looking at Feng Yunshu in front of him, who was smiling playfully and speaking bluntly, Helan Yanting felt his temple twitch. He couldn't help but want to reach out and pinch this smug little kitten.
But when he raised his hand halfway, he remembered that she had just recovered not long ago, so he hesitated for a moment. Finally, he reached out and gently stroked her small face.
"You, why are you so naughty? Have you been practicing for over a hundred years of cultivating immortality just because you foresaw that you would meet me and thus prepared in advance how to deal with me?"
"Eww..."
Feng Yunshu pretended to be disgusted and slapped his hand away. "Your Highness, you're being too narcissistic. I didn't cultivate immortality to deal with you!"
After the joking, they still had to get down to business.
"By the way, Your Highness, how is Xiaoling? And where are Ziyuan and Yan Qi? Are they all safe and sound?"
Just as Feng Yunshu finished speaking, she saw Xiaoling waddling clumsily into the room, wrapped up like a mummy, and walking towards her.
"Xiaoling, how did you become like this?!" Feng Yunshu didn't see clearly at first glance and thought it was a mummy from the ground coming back to life.
Xiaoling's tail wagged as she finally reached Feng Yunshu's bedside.
"Master, you're awake! Are you okay?!"
At this moment, seeing Feng Yunshu awake, Xiaoling was so excited that she wanted to jump up and give her a big hug. However, the reality didn't allow it. She could only tug at the quilt on the master's bed and look at her longingly.
"Xiaoling, you're..." Feng Yunshu pointed at Xiaoling's mummy-like body and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Don't worry, Master. Xiaoling is okay. The doctor treated and bandaged Xiaoling's wounds... Is your body okay, Master?"
Feng Yunshu shook her head and even rotated her arm to show that she was really okay, which made Xiaoling extremely nervous.
"I'm fine. Look, I'm perfectly okay."
After Xiaoling was sure that Feng Yunshu was okay, she heaved a huge sigh of relief. But then she turned to look at Helan Yanting meaningfully.
Helan Yanting glanced at Xiaoling. Xiaoling was stunned for a moment and then turned to look at Feng Yunshu.
"Xiaoling, why are you looking at His Highness like that? Did something happen after I was knocked down by that little spirit fox? I don't remember what happened afterwards. Tell me."
Feng Yunshu was very puzzled. Clearly, she was seriously injured before she passed out, and her body felt useless. How could she be fully recovered when she woke up? Did her master save her?
Xiaoling silently glanced at Helan Yanting again and then looked at Feng Yunshu. "Master, not long after you fainted, Xiaoling also passed out for a while due to excessive blood loss. When I woke up, my body was already bandaged like this. So I don't really know what happened afterwards."
"Ah, is that so..."
Feng Yunshu seemed a bit disappointed after hearing this. Was there really no one who knew what had happened?
"What about that red-robed woman? Where did she go? And that little spirit fox? Don't tell me they got away?"
"The red-robed woman is dead. As for the little spirit fox, it was controlled by a bug that the red-robed woman planted in it. After the red-robed woman died, I led the bug out of the little spirit fox's body and killed it. The little spirit fox has regained consciousness, but it's still in a coma because of its injuries."
"I see... That red-robed woman was quite powerful. How did she die? I remember I didn't succeed in summoning the thunder at that time..."
"Well..." Xiaoling silently glanced at Helan Yanting again. "Xiaoling doesn't know. Xiaoling knows nothing. It's good that you're okay, Master!"
Feng Yunshu thought Xiaoling was acting very strangely today. Why did she keep looking at Helan Yanting?
"Your Highness, do you know what happened to me afterwards?" Feng Yunshu looked at him suspiciously. Helan Yanting also looked at her blankly and shook his head.
"I noticed that you left the prince's mansion and immediately sent people to look for you. Then we found you by the cliff on the western outskirts of the imperial city. Your maid and Yan Qi were also found there. I immediately ordered people to bring you all back to the mansion. As for the rest, I don't know."
"Ah, I see... Well, okay..."
Feng Yunshu murmured to herself. It seemed very likely that her master had stepped in to deal with that red-clothed woman and then saved her.
But her master was already an immortal. Could he kill?
Feng Yunshu always felt that something didn't quite add up, but all she could remember was what had happened before she passed out. The things after that were completely blank in her mind.