Chapter 28: She Seems to Have Lost Weight

Xiao Che’s voice was cold and gloomy, clearly full of anger.

He truly sounded furious.

Startled by the tone of his voice, Shu Ruohua trembled.

Only then did she seem to realize her mistake. With a guilty conscience, she quickly called for Qian Ning to help her support Xiao Che to his feet.

Perhaps because of the injury to his waist combined with his torn foot wound, Xiao Che couldn’t steady himself.

Only after leaning on Shu Ruohua for quite some time did he finally manage to stand upright.

“Your High—” Qian Ning seemed to notice something and was just about to speak, when she was immediately silenced by a sharp glare from Xiao Che.

She paused, swallowed her words with a gulp, and then continued with a slight tremble in her voice, “Your… your foot…”

She furrowed her brows and stared at Xiao Che’s foot, her face full of alarm.

Shu Ruohua also followed her gaze and looked down.

And what she saw—

Even though Xiao Che was wearing a pair of black short boots today, they couldn’t conceal the fact that blood had already seeped through them, dripping onto the floor.

Xiao Che immediately pulled his foot back.

He knew Shu Ruohua was aware that the Crown Prince had an injured foot.

He absolutely couldn’t let her connect the dots and suspect his identity.

But Shu Ruohua didn’t think much of it. “You—you’re injured?!”

Her full attention was on his bleeding foot—he needed treatment immediately.

Xiao Che’s dark eyes flickered evasively.

He didn’t respond and simply lifted his foot, intending to leave.

But just as he raised it, the pain from his waist and foot struck at once, nearly causing him to collapse.

Shu Ruohua hurried forward to support him.

She helped Xiao Che over to her bed and gently coaxed him, “Your foot is bleeding. Just stay here for now and don’t move.”

In that moment, Xiao Che felt an unexpected warmth in his heart.

Shu Ruohua told Qian Ning to fetch the medicine box.

Then, she quickly went out herself to draw a basin of well water.

Last time, Qian Ning had used this very spiritual water to clean her wounds, which had healed remarkably fast.

She placed the basin by Xiao Che’s foot.

Then she crouched down, intending to take off his shoes and clean his injury.

Xiao Che wasn’t sure what she was trying to do, and his guard went up. Out of reflex, he pulled his foot back again.

Shu Ruohua gave him a gentle smile. “Don’t be afraid. I’m just going to clean the wound a little. It won’t hurt once it’s clean.”

She spoke as if soothing a child, her warm smile incredibly reassuring.

Xiao Che was stunned for a moment as their eyes met.

This might’ve been the first time in the two years of their marriage that he had looked at Shu Ruohua so seriously.

He gazed at her for a long time.

And then, almost without thinking, he murmured in a low voice, “You… seem to have lost weight?!”

His voice was very soft.

He had finally realized what was different about her.

Before, Shu Ruohua weighed over 160 pounds, her whole body soft and rounded.

But after just a few days apart, he suddenly realized—she had slimmed down.

And it wasn’t just a little.

At a glance, she probably weighed no more than 140 pounds now.

Which meant… she’d lost at least a dozen pounds.

…

By this time, Shu Ruohua had already removed his shoe.

She was fully focused on cleaning Xiao Che’s wound and hadn’t heard what he murmured.

Perhaps she accidentally brushed against his injury while taking off his sock—

“Ugh…” Xiao Che let out a sharp gasp of pain, jolted back to full awareness.

He quickly averted his eyes from Shu Ruohua, pretending nothing had happened.

Fortunately, Shu Ruohua hadn’t noticed.

Holding his foot, she kept apologizing over and over. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Xiao Che pursed his lips slightly. “It’s fine.”

The atmosphere between them was unusually calm and peaceful—unlike anything they’d ever experienced before.

Once the sock was removed, Shu Ruohua gently wiped his foot with a clean white cloth.

After carefully cleaning off all the blood, she went out and fetched another basin of water, this time focusing on cleaning the wound itself.

And during this second rinse, Xiao Che suddenly realized—

His foot no longer hurt the way it did before.

…

…

(End of Chapter)