At dawn, a streak of fish-belly white appeared in the sky.
Faint light washed over the eaves and through the streets and alleys, like a pair of gentle hands softly lifting away last night's gloom.
It was as though even the epidemic and unease lingering in the world were being dispelled, little by little, by the light of dawn.
Old sorrows ended with the night; a new morning dawned clear and bright.
"Your Highness, the areas hardest hit by the epidemic are rather dangerous. Why not let Lord Little Shen go with this subordinate instead?"
Cui Mingjian watched Mo Xuanchen's expression as he asked cautiously.
What a joke.
The fourth prince was the apple of His Majesty's eye. If anything happened to him in Qingzhou, even the heads of Cui Mingjian's nine generations of kin would not be enough to chop off.
Mo Xuanchen said nothing. His pitch-black phoenix eyes swept lightly over to rest on him, yet it seemed he had said everything.
Under that gaze, Cui Mingjian's heart tightened, and he instinctively softened even his breathing.
He promptly lowered his head, shut his mouth, and played dead.
He should never have opened his mouth.
The smell of quicklime and mugwort filled the air.
The bandits they had brought back had already changed into matching clothes and put on cloth face coverings, and were weaving back and forth among the rows of patients.
At first, when the common people recognized them as bandits from the mountain stronghold, they were extremely resistant.
The impact left by the bandits' evil deeds could not be erased all at once.
The fourth prince had given the order, and with manpower so scarce at a time like this, the common people could only do their best to overcome their fear and dread of the bandits.
Fortunately, the bandits knew they were unwelcome. Every one of them kept his face taut and expressionless.
They neither spoke nor interacted with anyone.
The little boy they had met yesterday spotted Shen Yuxi from far away. Unable to hide his joy, he eagerly scampered over.
"Sister Shen!"
Shen Yuxi greeted him with a smile.
"How is your grandmother? Is she any better today?"
"Yes, Grandma's doing much better."
Douzi's face was earnest and grateful. "Sister Shen, thank you."
Shen Yuxi stroked his head, the corners of her lips lifting. "What are you thanking me for? You should thank yourself. You were the one who looked after your grandmother, and you were the one who stood up for her at the crucial moment."
Douzi shook his head vigorously.
On his dark little face, only his eyes were especially bright and clear.
"If you hadn't helped, Sister Shen, I could never have saved Grandma on my own."
Even Lord Cui and those physicians had given him and his grandmother extra attention because of Sister Shen.
Who would care about two people of no consequence?
Mo Xuanchen lifted his eyelids and gave a soft "tsk."
It was not loud.
Douzi happened to glance toward the man and froze at first sight.
He had never seen anyone so good-looking, like an immortal descended from the heavens.
The man stood there as though wrapped in a thin layer of frost, his features cool and refined. When he was not smiling, he carried an air of aloofness.
The sight of him inspired awe and fear.
Seeing Douzi staring blankly at Mo Xuanchen, Lord Cui had three black lines streak across his forehead.
He held a fist to his mouth and coughed heavily.
Looking directly at a prince was a grave act of disrespect.
Douzi came back to himself, his gaze pure and free of the slightest impurity. "Big brother, you're really good-looking."
"You and Sister Shen make such a perfect match!"
The impatient furrow between Mo Xuanchen's brows instantly smoothed away, touched with pleasure.
The corners of his thin lips curved slightly, and even the air around him seemed to grow a little lighter.
When he looked up at Douzi, his eyes actually held a rare hint of warmth, as though he found the boy pleasing to look at.
Shen Yuxi corrected him with a serious expression. "Little Douzi, you mustn't say things like that carelessly."
She turned to Mo Xuanchen. "Your Fourth Highness, Little Douzi doesn't know who you are. Children speak without restraint. Please don't take it to heart."
"Mm."
Mo Xuanchen gave a mild, noncommittal hum.
He had taken it to heart.
Shen Yuxi felt a bit of a headache coming on.
She was no fool who knew nothing about romance.
Although she had never been in a relationship even counting her previous life, and had been single since birth through and through, even if she had never eaten pork, surely she had seen pigs run.
Anyone with eyes could see that Mo Xuanchen treated her differently.
Let alone her, the person involved.
Little Douzi's eyes widened like bronze bells.
He almost thought his ears were playing tricks on him.
His Fourth Highness?
This handsome man before him was actually a prince?
A cold sweat broke out down his back.
Then had he...
Had what he had just said counted as speaking disrespectfully to a prince?