Chapter 379: Prince Su comes to visit, Luoluo falls into a deep sleep!

Que'er: "Yes, old lady, seeing the young lady like this, she seems more like she's passed out."

Zheng Mama glanced and gave Que'er a pat on the butt.

Que'er only then realized she had misspoken.

Madam Pei also felt a vague unease in her heart that she couldn't put into words.

She feared that Luoluo would fall into a deep sleep from which she would never wake.

However, if she suffers another poison outbreak next time, one could consider giving her a cup of wine.

It's still better than drinking human blood.

Madam Pei: "Forget it, let her sleep."

"You all stay alert, come check on her every now and then."

"If her sweat dampens her undershirt, wipe her down and change her into dry clothes."

"Just make sure she doesn't catch a chill."

Que'er and Zheng Mama: "Yes."

The night grew deeper.

Madam Pei had originally wanted to wish Li Qingluo a happy birthday.

Today, there was no opportunity.

The whole courtyard was quiet, with faint sobs coming from next door.

Zhang Mama said that both Sixth Daughter Pei and Tenth Daughter Pei had received severe punishments.

Both of their calves had been beaten so badly they could not walk.

I fear that before dawn tomorrow, they will be sent back to Jinling.

Madam Pei was not interested.

She felt deeply disappointed with the Pei family.

But she simply could not fall asleep.

As it approached midnight, she heard some movement outside.

"Shall this old servant go take a look?"

Zhang Mama rose and was about to go out.

Madam Pei grabbed her: "What's there to see? It's just a big rat."

"Go to sleep, go to sleep, this old body wants to sleep."

But in fact, after lying down, Madam Pei's eyes widened even more and her ears perked up.

"Old Zhang, no snoring!"

Moonlight poured in through the window crack.

It fell all over the ground.

A tall shadow in black clothes silently slipped through the window into the room.

And slowly approached the bed.

Through the bed curtains, he gave a soft cough.

"I, the prince, have brought you a gift; would you like to get up and see it?"

In the darkness, only even breathing could be heard slowly coming from within.

Duan Rongshi: "Luoluo?"

There was no response.

Only deathly silence.

He furrowed his brows tightly, disregarding propriety as he lifted the curtain and lowered his head toward the person sunk in deep sleep on the bed.

"Li Qingluo?"

After a moment.

Que'er, cursing inwardly, was ruthlessly dragged inside by Zhui Yu.

The four-cornered lamps had been lit.

Sitting on the grand chair before the young lady's bed, who else could it be if not the prince?

Que'er suppressed her panic and knelt respectfully: "This servant pays respects to Your Highness, Prince Su."

"How come you come in the middle of the night… and sneak into the young lady's room… this is hardly appropriate…"

Zhui Yu's heart instantly leapt to her throat.

"Eh— truly worthy of being the young lady's personal maid!"

"Such a reckless, death‑seeking manner of speaking—if this were the past, her tongue would have been cut out by now."

"It's only because the prince has met the young lady that his temperament has become much gentler."

"Otherwise, what good fruit would he still want to eat?"

"Shut up! His Highness is asking you a question!"

Zhui Yu, fearing she would be beaten, spoke up first to reprimand her.

Only then did Que'er shudder and lower her head.

Duan Rongshi's brow indeed flickered with displeasure.

"If you were guarding the master's bedside, how could you only now discover that I, the prince, would come at night to visit your young lady's boudoir?"

Que'er and Zhui Yu both looked at the prince with utter disbelief.

"Your Highness, your twisted reasoning… is rather shameless."

Que'er felt a hundred grievances in her heart.

Her young lady rarely lets anyone keep watch while she sleeps; it's not something they can just stay if they want to.

Duan Rongshi's cold eyes like ice: "Why can't your young lady be woken? She might have been drugged."

Que'er didn't want to answer.

After all, this is the young lady's weak point; if Prince Su just casually grabs it, won't she be devoured to death in the future?

She wants to be a loyal servant!

Zhui Yu: "If you won't speak, then I'll shout it out loud."

"If you wake the Old Lady, what crime should you be charged with?"

Que'er: "I'll just say it. After the young lady drinks, she's always like this."

"It's just that she sleeps more deeply; there's nothing else."

Duan Rongshi: "Just that, she sleeps more deeply?"

This isn't just her sleeping deeply.

Obviously, she has completely lost consciousness.

"When did these symptoms start?"

Que'er: "The first time I saw the young lady drink, it was already like this."

"It seems as if it were innate?"

"That time, she stayed a few days at the Pei family's Si Garden."

Duan Rongshi: "When she wakes up, does she have any abnormalities?"

Que'er shook her head.

"Besides not remembering anything, she feels no discomfort anywhere."

Duan Rongshi had Zhui Yu take Que'er away.

"Ask her if the young lady has suffered any injustice today."

After Zhui Yu closed the door from outside, Duan Rongshi rose again, walked to the bedside, and lifted the curtain.

He bent over, leaned in, and pinched Li Qingluo's tender, smooth little cheek, quite annoyed.

"I came to see you, and you're sleeping so soundly."

Then he reluctantly let go slowly.

And he felt around in his own embrace.

He took out a box and gently placed it beside her pillow.

"Happy birthday."

A kiss filled with longing and tenderness lightly fell on her forehead.

After Duan Rongshi left Li Qingluo's room, he did not immediately depart.

Instead, he went straight to the outside of Pei Lao Furen's room and respectfully said, "Pei Lao General, Duan Rongshi requests an audience."

Although the lights inside were out, Duan Rongshi's movements upon coming to this courtyard today were not deliberately concealed.

So, the old lady must still not have truly fallen asleep at this moment.

Given her sincere affection for Luoluo, she must certainly still be waiting for him.

Indeed, the candlelight inside flickered slightly and then lit up again.

Zhang Mama respectfully came to open the door: "Your Highness, please come in. Our Old Lady has been waiting for you a long time."

Li Qingluo struggled to wake up.

It was already broad daylight.

She breathed heavily, feeling her chest.

She felt as if she were drowning.

In utter darkness, there was no breath, and she could not move.

It was as if she were imprisoned in an endless, barren black sea; no matter how her consciousness struggled, she could not escape the tight binding that gripped her.

This feeling was as if her soul were trapped and unable to return to her body.

For a reborn person, this is certainly not a good thing.

Que'er came in with hot water, saw Li Qingluo already up, and looked delighted.

"Miss, you've finally awakened?"

"Miss, why does your complexion look so bad?"

"Granny Zheng said you only took a sip of wine yesterday, yet you were drunk for so long. Perhaps you shouldn't drink again next time."

Li Qingluo: "Yesterday the Empress Dowager bestowed the wine; I could not refuse."

Que'er merely felt heartache.

She saw the item by the pillow and quickly reminded: "Miss, look."

"It must be what Prince Su intended to give you yesterday."

Li Qingluo's heart stirred: "Did he come?"

Then she felt a bit regretful.

He had come at risk, yet she hadn't even seen him.

Que'er brought a hot cloth over to wipe Li Qingluo's hands and face.

"He only came just before the zi hour."

"But no matter how you called, you wouldn't wake; I had no choice, so I said you couldn't drink alcohol."

"Miss, Prince Su is really quite thoughtful toward you; he had Zhui Yu ask me many things about whether you suffered any injustice yesterday."

"I just told him everything."

Li Qingluo rubbed her head: "You still like to tell on people? Next time you don't have to say everything."

"I can handle it myself."

He is usually busy with myriad affairs, unable to free himself, and Li Qingluo does not want her trifles to become his burden.

Under Que'er's urging, Li Qingluo opened the box.

Upon seeing the gift, Li Qingluo could not hide her delight.

"What an exquisite and delicate gold hairpin! Miss, this is real gold!"

Que'er couldn't help drooling: "And there are three of them! Prince Su, Your Highness, is really generous!"

Li Qingluo indeed loves money.

But the hairpin's surprise is not because it's made of gold, but because its design is not ordinary.

A small knife, a small sword, an arrow shaft.

All are very petite in size.

Li Qingluo pinched their hardness, finding they were not as easily bent or deformed as ordinary gold; the sharpness and pointed tips at the ends could easily pierce anything.

Li Qingluo smiled faintly: "As expected, he has always known what she likes best."

Li Qingluo held the small knife and rubbed it in her palm.

Thinking of something: "Yesterday I asked you to handle a matter—how did it go?"

Que'er: "Miss, rest assured. I sent the letter out, and this morning the items were delivered."

Saying this, Que'er went to the nearby dressing table and took out an embroidered pouch.

Inside the pouch was precisely that jade-white hollow crescent moon jade pendant.

Originally, the true Pan Li was pushed into the lake by Princess Qin Yu and killed; this jade pendant was accidentally picked up by Yang Qinwu.

Later, the Pei family, to help Princess Qin Yu interrogate the whereabouts of this jade pendant, bound the unaware "Pan Li"—actually the twelfth daughter—into the Pei family prison.

As a result, although Pei Twelve Lady escaped together with me, the grudge between the Pan and Pei families was thus truly formed.

Wherever Pan Li goes now, she is accompanied by a martial maid who never leaves her side.

Moreover, Li Qingluo has heard that the Pan residence is now on close terms with the parents of Pei Twelve Lady.

Thinking of how Twelve Lady has been reborn and is gradually helping her parents emerge from painful concealment also makes her very happy.

However, since Li Qingluo obtained this jade pendant, she has not yet found an opportunity to truly use it.

Now, this opportunity has finally arrived.

"Go call Sha wu."

Sha wu came to see Li Qingluo; Li Qingluo handed the jade pendant to him: "Place it silently on that Noble Consort Jing—can you do it?"

Sha wu received it with both hands: "Miss, rest assured."

Li Qingluo added: "Be careful not to reveal the tattoo on your face."

Sha wu touched the facial tattoo that had been painted as a small vine,

lowered his head and replied: "Yes."

After Sha wu left, Li Qingluo spread out the three small gold hairpins in her hand: "Que'er, do my makeup."

South Mountain Logging Camp.

Li Qingluo had just gone to the logging camp with her grandmother, and after paying respects to the three palace masters at the camp, she was pulled by the Nanping Princess onto a horse in haste.

"Sister Luo'er, you've finally arrived."

"Those gentlemen have already been in the logging camp for half an hour, having hunted a pile of game and sent it back."

"Wait another half quarter-hour, and it'll be time for our ladies to take the field; if you dawdle any longer, I won't wait for you!"

Li Qingluo hurriedly apologized: "It's all my fault—I slept too deeply and woke too late."

"Not keeping you from seeing Cui Seven Lang, right?"

The Nanping Princess instantly blushed: "Oh, you're teasing me. Hurry, let's line up at the front!"

Pan Li quietly told Li Qingluo from the side: "Since Cui Seven Lang entered, her neck has almost stretched to breaking."

"However, that Cui Seven Lang really does have talent."

"I heard he hunted plenty yesterday, and today he was the first to bring back game."

Li Qingluo: "How many people did the Princess's manor send to watch her?"

Li Qingluo truly feared that upon entering the logging camp, the Nanping Princess would dash off like an arrow released from a bow, making it impossible to find her.

Pan Li: "Six guards have been assigned; don't worry."

"When the bugle sounds later, the gentlemen in the forest will immediately stop hunting."

"To avoid accidental injury to us who go in for fun, there are royal guards everywhere in the forest; even if she truly gets lost, she can be found."

Li Qingluo is visiting the imperial hunting grounds for the first time, and also participating in the Xia Miao hunt for the first time.

Therefore, sitting among the crowd, she inevitably feels a bit nervous.

Just as the bugle sounded, a guard hurriedly came to report: "Report—"

"Your Majesty, Prince Su, leading the Northern Map troops, has returned victorious from suppressing the bandits, comes to report back, and requests an audience with the Emperor!"