The Prince of Pingyang, who had been observing Duoduo all along, noticed her unusual behavior.
He followed Duoduo's gaze, but there was only empty space; nothing was there.
However, her expression clearly showed that she was looking at something.
The Prince of Pingyang looked thoughtful.
Being a well-read man, he naturally had dabbled in miscellaneous records and unofficial histories.
Could it be that Duoduo could see spirits in the air?
The Prince of Pingyang did not really believe in ghosts and monsters, but the bizarre things surrounding Duoduo made him somewhat suspicious.
The Prince of Pingyang could not help but think that perhaps it was precisely because of Duoduo's peculiarities that the Song family considered her a jinx.
However, he was not afraid of any demons or ghosts.
In his view, sometimes people were far more terrifying than any demon or ghost!
"Let's go. To the Jixiang Fabric Shop," the Prince of Pingyang ordered Ling Feng.
Ling Feng gave a low command to the outside, and the carriage began to move.
Duoduo played with the koi fish. "A miraculous encounter"? What could that be?
She was very curious and did not understand what this "miraculous encounter" meant.
She still had not figured it out by the time the carriage came to a halt again.
"Your Highness, Princess Consort, we have arrived."
Ling Feng lifted the carriage curtain and pushed the Prince of Pingyang out.
Duoduo and the Princess Consort of Pingyang followed behind.
When Duoduo looked up, she suddenly saw the golden words before her eyes turn orange and flash incessantly.
"There are assassins! They want to assassinate the Prince of Pingyang!"
Duoduo did not recognize the second word, but she could roughly guess the meaning of the sentence.
She frantically looked around in a panic.
Suddenly, her pupils constricted.
"Watch out!"
Duoduo broke free from the Princess Consort of Pingyang's grasp, jumped straight off the carriage, and threw herself into the Prince of Pingyang's arms.
Ling Feng froze for a moment. In the next second, a feathered arrow flew over at lightning speed and struck Duoduo directly.
Had Duoduo not blocked it, this arrow would have definitely hit the Prince of Pingyang.
The Prince of Pingyang held Duoduo tightly. "Ling Feng, close the net!"
"Yes." Ling Feng put two fingers to his mouth and let out a sharp whistle.
Instantly, over a dozen men rushed over and surrounded the Prince of Pingyang's carriage.
Meanwhile, another dozen figures lunged toward the direction the arrow had come from.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye.
Seeing Duoduo shot by an arrow, the Princess Consort of Pingyang's legs went weak from fright.
She stepped down from the carriage and almost collapsed to her knees.
"Your Highness, how is Duoduo?"
The Princess Consort of Pingyang threw herself in front of Xiao Yi.
Xiao Yi checked Duoduo. The feathered arrow had struck her from behind, right in the shoulder blade.
"She is fine. It is not fatal."
"Someone, go get a doctor!" Xiao Yi ordered coldly.
A guard took the order and left, while the other guards vigilantly kept watch over the surroundings.
Seeing that an incident had occurred, the commoners all hid far away.
Duoduo only felt an excruciating pain in her back. She tightly gripped the jade stone in her palm to keep herself from crying out loud.
The blood from her body flowed down her arm and into her palm.
The jade stone in her hand began to frantically absorb Duoduo's blood.
Suddenly, the jade stone in Duoduo's hand vanished.
And in her palm, the mark of a fish appeared, looking just like a birthmark.
"Duoduo, bear with it for a moment. The doctor will be here soon!"
The Princess Consort of Pingyang shed tears of heartache.
This child had actually just saved the Prince's life!
She was so young, yet how could she be so brave?
The doctor arrived quickly. As soon as he saw the arrow in Duoduo's back, he was startled.
"Your Highness, please hold the young lady tightly so that I can pull the arrow out."
With trembling hands, the doctor picked up a pair of scissors and cut open Duoduo's clothes, exposing the wound.
The Princess Consort of Pingyang turned her face away, unable to bear the sight.
Duoduo was very skinny. After her clothes were cut open, all that could be seen were her bones.
The arrow had pierced her shoulder blade and was wedged between the bones.
The doctor's hands shook, and he hesitated for a long time, unable to bring himself to do it.
The Prince of Pingyang could not stand watching this any longer.
He reached out, pressed down on Duoduo's wound, and pulled with force.
"Ah!" Duoduo fainted from the agonizing pain.
A spurt of blood splashed out, spraying onto the Prince of Pingyang's face.
"Hurry, pour the hemostatic powder!"
The Prince of Pingyang reprimanded the doctor with utmost calm. The doctor finally snapped out of his daze and hastily poured the medicinal powder over the wound.
As soon as the powder was applied, the bleeding slowly stopped.
The doctor took some gauze from his medical box and began to bandage her.
After finishing the bandaging, he took Duoduo's pulse.
"Your Highness, the young lady fainted due to blood loss. I will prescribe two doses of medicine. After taking them for a few days, she will be fine."
"Also, it would be best for her to eat more blood-nourishing foods."
The doctor wrote down the prescription and handed it to Xiao Yi.
At this time, Ling Feng returned with his men.
He dropped to one knee. "Your Highness, your subordinate was a step too late. That person took poison and committed suicide."
"However, your subordinate found this on his body."
Ling Feng took out a waist tag and handed it to Xiao Yi.
Xiao Yi took it and examined it. There was a single word engraved on the tag: "Duan".
Prince Duan was the title of the Third Prince.
Xiao Yi slipped the waist tag into his sleeve pocket.
"Return to the manor!"
"Yes. And the young lady..." Ling Feng reached out, wanting to carry Duoduo.
Xiao Yi stopped Ling Feng. "There is no need. Let her lie on her stomach like this; it is better for her wound."
The coachman and Ling Feng lifted Xiao Yi's wheelchair onto the carriage together.
The Princess Consort of Pingyang also hurriedly followed them onto the carriage.
"I am sorry. I will have the shopkeeper deliver the fabrics to the manor later for you to choose."
Xiao Yi looked at his wife, his face full of guilt.
"It is all my fault. I should not have urged Your Highness to come out. It almost got you killed!"
The Princess Consort of Pingyang cried her heart out.
"It has nothing to do with you," the Prince of Pingyang said, looking at the unconscious Duoduo on his lap.
"Everything is my fault. I used myself as bait to lure the enemy, but I never expected this silly child to actually throw herself over."
Hearing the Prince of Pingyang say this, the Princess Consort of Pingyang was so surprised that she forgot to cry.
"Your Highness, do you mean that you intentionally left the manor today?"
"Yes!"
"Does the Princess Consort remember the incident where someone poisoned me?"
"I remember. Was it not discovered by Duoduo?" the Princess Consort of Pingyang asked, her face full of confusion.
"Yes. I had Ling Feng investigate, and the result was that two groups of people had arrived in Xianyang from the capital."
"They both visited the manor one after another, but it was impossible to verify exactly which group administered the poison."
"Therefore, I came up with this terrible plan of using myself as bait to lure the enemy."
"I just wanted to see exactly who wants my life."
The Prince of Pingyang stroked the jade thumb ring on his hand. His tone was calm, as if he were not talking about his own life and death, but rather someone else's story.
The Princess Consort of Pingyang remembered the waist tag from earlier and turned pale with fright.
"Your Highness, could it be Prince Duan?"
Xiao Yi turned his jade thumb ring and shook his head.
"The waist tag does indeed belong to the Third Prince's manor, but aside from this waist tag, the other party had nothing else to prove his identity."
"Perhaps this waist tag is a smokescreen deliberately left by someone."
The Princess Consort of Pingyang looked terrified.
"Then, Your Highness, exactly who is so vicious? To actually want Your Highness's life!"
Xiao Yi's hand, which had been turning the jade thumb ring, came to a stop.
"I also want to know."
He also wanted to know how Duoduo knew there was danger.
