Ji Wujing finally noticed that her leg was in an awkward position.
He lowered his gaze to look at her, grabbed her slender arm, and helped her up. Gu Jianli’s facial features were twisted together, and her eyelashes trembled lightly. Ji Wujing glanced at her, then helped her move two steps back, allowing her to slowly sit down on a chair.
Gu Jianli kept her head down, her hands resting on her knees, gripping her skirt tightly, her knuckles turning white from the excessive force.
Ji Wujing squatted down in front of her and lifted her skirt. The layers of the skirt piled up on her knees, revealing two pale calves pressed together. The left calf was swollen, which was particularly noticeable compared to the right leg. Gu Jianli instinctively tried to pull her leg back but the movement caused her pain, making her bite her lip hard, leaving a white mark on her pale pink lips.
Ji Wujing’s cold palm brushed over her swollen calf. It was fractured.
As soon as his hand touched Gu Jianli’s calf, she moaned in pain, and the tender flesh on her leg trembled. She gripped her skirt even tighter. Blood oozed from her lips where she had bitten down.
Ji Wujing looked up at her, his gaze falling on the fine beads of sweat on her forehead. The side hall had no fire, and on such a cold winter day, she must be in severe pain to be sweating like this. Ji Wujing’s expression was inscrutable, giving no hint of his emotions, and he said, “You are very brave.”
Gu Jianli did not understand why Ji Wujing seemed displeased. However, he was always unpredictable, so she did not think much of it and asked in surprise, “You… know something?”
Judging by the seven-day timeframe, he should have come here immediately after waking up. So he shouldn’t know what happened in the palace, right?
Ji Wujing snorted coldly, “Liar.”
The pain made it difficult for Gu Jianli to think about what exactly she had lied to him about.
Concubine Li had been waiting outside for the imperial physician to arrive. The palace was in chaos today, with one palace maid after another being sent to the Imperial Hospital, but no physician had been brought back. Although Gu Jianli’s injuries were not fatal, they were painful!
She couldn’t help but feel that the sounds of fighting and conflict had never ceased and seemed to be quite close.
She finally saw a physician being pulled towards her by her trusted palace maid. The physician looked young, probably not even qualified to diagnose patients usually. But now, who could care about his qualifications?
Concubine Li quickly brought him into the room.
Just before the door opened, Ji Wujing casually let the layers of skirts on Gu Jianli’s knees fall back down, covering her calves.
“The physician is finally here…” Concubine Li was startled to see Ji Wujing squatting in front of Gu Jianli. She had been outside the whole time; when did Ji Wujing arrive? And from where?
Seeing Ji Wujing, the young physician was also taken aback but steeled himself and carried his medical box forward.
“Leave the things and get out,” Ji Wujing said.
The young physician was more than eager to comply. He quickly placed the heavy medicine box that had been slung over his right shoulder on the ground and ran out.
Concubine Li watched the fleeing back of the physician, her heart burning with anxiety. She complained, “Why chase him away? It was so hard to get a physician here! Although he looks young and inexperienced, he could still be of some use!”
Ji Wujing ignored her and lifted Gu Jianli’s skirt again. He pushed open the medicine box lid, glanced at its contents, and took out a small porcelain bottle, pouring the liquid inside into his palm.
Gu Jianli also glanced at the messy contents of the medicine box and looked at Ji Wujing with suspicion.
Ji Wujing met her gaze and said speechlessly, “No needles.”
Gu Jianli inexplicably felt a sense of relief.
Ji Wujing rubbed the medicinal liquid into Gu Jianli’s swollen calf.
“It hurts!” Gu Jianli closed her eyes.
“Hurts?” Ji Wujing snorted, his tone slightly muffled.
Gu Jianli felt it wasn’t as painful as she had imagined. She opened one eye to peek and then opened the other. Her calf felt cool and a bit numb, not as painful as before. She pursed her lips and remained silent.
Ji Wujing slowly wiped the remaining liquid from his palm with a cloth from the medicine box and said nonchalantly, “I wanted to break your leg earlier, and now you’ve done it yourself. Nice, you’ve saved your uncle some trouble. Such a considerate child.”
His elongated tone was filled with schadenfreude.
Concubine Li watched anxiously from the side.
Gu Jianli frowned, disliking his words.
Ji Wujing continued, placing his hand on Gu Jianli’s calf, feeling the swollen area. He said, “But it wasn’t me who broke it. That’s not acceptable. I’ll have to break the other one too.”
He placed his other hand on her calf.
“Tell me. What should I use to break it? A hammer, a brick, or the hilt of a knife? Or should I just break it with my hands?”
Gu Jianli glared at him and angrily said, “Not only did you chase away the physician, but you also… ah—”
The crisp sound reached Gu Jianli’s ears, making her scalp tingle. It was the same sound she heard when her bone fractured after falling from the building. Did Ji Wujing really break her other leg with his hands?
The intense pain made Gu Jianli cry out, screaming and pushing Ji Wujing wildly. Ji Wujing lazily squatted in front of her, but no matter how hard Gu Jianli pushed, she couldn’t move him an inch. Frustrated, she started kicking him, one kick after another.
Soon, Gu Jianli’s actions suddenly stopped. She looked confusedly at her right calf, which was pressed against Ji Wujing’s chest. Her right calf was smooth and intact, not hurting at all. She lowered her head to look at her left calf, and it dawned on her that Ji Wujing hadn’t broken her other leg; instead, he had set the fractured bone in her left leg back in place.
She slowly raised her eyes to look at Ji Wujing. Tears streamed down her face.
Ji Wujing, his face dark, forcefully wiped the tears off her eyelashes. He did it so harshly that Gu Jianli’s eyes hurt. She heard him say grimly, “Gu Jianli, you’re insane.”
Embarrassed, Gu Jianli retracted her right calf. The overwhelming embarrassment made her hang her head, but she couldn’t resist sneaking a glance at Ji Wujing’s expression. To her surprise, she met his gaze directly and quickly looked down again.
Her leg still throbbed with pain, the kind that pulsed and was hard to bear. Her continuous tears soaked the brocade skirt piled on her knees.
“But it still hurts a lot…” Gu Jianli cried, feeling wronged. She slowly raised her hands to cover her face, hiding her unbecoming and ungraceful crying expression.
Ji Wujing said sarcastically, “If I knock you out, it won’t hurt.”
Gu Jianli shivered and shook her head vigorously.
Lies. It would still hurt when he hit her. And if she didn’t pass out, she’d suffer two kinds of pain.
Ji Wujing chuckled indifferently, then took two wooden boards and some white cotton cloth from the medicine box. He placed the boards on either side of Gu Jianli’s left calf.
Gu Jianli’s leg had been hurting intensely, and the pain worsened when the boards touched it. Ji Wujing gradually pressed the boards inward.
Pain. A pain she had never experienced before.
“Jianli, bear with it, bear with it a little longer,” Concubine Li said, squatting beside Gu Jianli and holding her hand, her heart aching with empathy. She wished she could take the pain on herself.
A drop of blood fell on the back of Ji Wujing’s hand. He paused, looked at Gu Jianli, and saw that she had bitten through her lip, the fresh blood turning her pale lips a bright red.
Ji Wujing’s expression darkened further as he licked the blood off the back of his hand. He picked up the cotton cloth and began wrapping the wooden boards tightly. “Gu Jianli, you know what pain is? Could delaying it another day kill you?”
Gu Jianli wanted to speak, but another wave of intense pain surged as soon as she opened her mouth. Instinctively, she grabbed Ji Wujing’s hand tightly, as if clutching it would alleviate the pain.
Ji Wujing didn’t shake her off. Using his free hand, he carefully wrapped the cotton cloth. It had to be wrapped tightly to allow the bone to heal properly. As he wrapped the cloth, he noticed that there was a long piece left. Glancing at his hand held by Gu Jianli, he then looked away.
Concubine Li, who had been watching, turned around to take a pair of scissors from the medicine box. When she turned back and saw the scene in front of her, she was stunned by the unexpected sight.
Ji Wujing, one knee bent low and the other kneeling on the ground, leaned forward and, expressionless, used his teeth to tear the cotton cloth.
Gu Jianli realized what he was doing and released his hand, embarrassed.
Concubine Li’s eyes flashed with a subtle change as she glanced at Ji Wujing, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it, focusing instead on Gu Jianli’s condition.
After about fifteen minutes, the medicine began to take effect, and the pain in Gu Jianli’s leg eased slightly.
Just as Gu Jianli looked up at Ji Wujing, he bent down, placed one hand around her waist and the other under her knees, and lifted her up.
As she was lifted into the air, Gu Jianli heard Ji Wujing say, “It’s time to settle the score.”
The cold wind blew against her face, and Gu Jianli realized she was high above the ground. Perhaps due to her previous fall from a building, she now had an irrational fear of heights. Instinctively, she tightened her grip around Ji Wujing’s neck. Unaware of her fear, Ji Wujing moved swiftly, leaving a trail of red behind him like bat wings.
Gu Jianli closed her eyes in terror.
When Gu Jianli opened her eyes again, Ji Wujing was standing with her on the highest branch of a red plum tree in the palace garden.
“Fifth Master, what are you going to do?”
Ji Wujing looked down at her and asked, “Do you remember what you lied to me about?”
Gu Jianli stared at him in confusion.
“If you can’t remember, I’ll throw you down from here.” He leaned forward slightly, pushing Gu Jianli closer to the edge.
Terrified, Gu Jianli hugged his neck tightly and cried out, “I’m thinking! I’m thinking!”
When did she lie to him?
Gu Jianli racked her brain and tentatively said, “Was it when you were unconscious and I told you I was going home for a few days?”
“Oh, so you do remember?”
Gu Jianli, her hands still around Ji Wujing’s neck, cautiously reached for the plum branch behind him in case he let go and she fell. She babbled, “I didn’t mean to deceive you, I just wanted you to sleep peacefully…”
“A lie is a lie, regardless of whether it’s well-intentioned or malicious,” Ji Wujing said, his eyes deep as he stared into hers.
Gu Jianli finally managed to grab the branch behind him. She met Ji Wujing’s cold gaze and muttered, “So you could hear people talking while you were unconscious, you were aware…”
“Of course.”
Suddenly, Ji Wujing seemed to remember something, and he smiled strangely, pulling one corner of his mouth up. He looked at Gu Jianli and said, “I also know that you stripped me naked and touched me all over.”
Startled, Gu Jianli’s eyes widened, and her hand shook, causing the plum branch to tremble and the red blossoms to fall gently.
