The music flowed out of the room like fish swimming out of water, attracting animals nearby to come and listen. The windowsill was crowded with plump little birds, and the squirrels in the trees jumped up and down, trying to see who was playing.
Ah ah--!!!
The sudden scream cut through the air, interrupting the harmony between the people and animals.
The frightened birds and beasts scattered and fled!
The pipa let out an abrupt high note before stopping abruptly.
The tune then changed to "Ten Sides Ambush".
Qin Zhao thrashed violently on the bed, the iron chains colliding with the bed rails and turning into bursts of wild noise!
It was as if a drumbeat had been added to "Ten Sides Ambush", making up for the pipa's lack of momentum.
In Qin Zhao's consciousness space, 502 cried even harder than Qin Zhao, the person actually experiencing this!
Before Qin Zhao fell asleep, 502 had advised her to use five thousand points to purchase pain blocking functionality.
But she didn't want to waste points, and insisted on enduring it herself.
The overwhelming pain swept over Qin Zhao's whole body, obscuring her other four senses.
She had lost perception of the outside world, her whole being filled with agony!
It felt as if her five viscera and six bowels were being crushed and reassembled, her blood surging and pounding, slamming against her blood vessels to deliver the pain to every corner of her body!
Yu Qingzhu watched Qin Zhao's twisted expression and couldn't help shedding tears, her fingers had been cut open by the pipa strings at some point, bleeding nonstop, but she persisted in continuing to play.
She hoped the music could help Qin Zhao by diverting some of her attention.
In the process of repeatedly fainting from the pain and waking up again, Qin Zhao endured two days and two nights.
On the third day, her face was bloodless, her hair matted with sweat and tangled together, messily stuck to the sides of her face, looking extremely disheveled.
Her voice was so hoarse that she could no longer scream.
Her body was also so weak that she could no longer struggle.
But judging from her slightly trembling body, the pain had not alleviated at all!
Yu Qingzhu had accompanied Qin Zhao for two days without sleep, and had collapsed limply over the pipa from exhaustion.
Feng Tinghe brought a blanket to cover her.
Then she went to Qin Zhao's bedside and said, "I didn't expect you to endure for so long.
There's one more day left, I hope you can get through it."
Qin Zhao's eyeballs moved slightly, seeming to respond.
Feng Tinghe used a handkerchief to wipe away the sweat stains on her face, tucked her disheveled hair behind her ears, and left the room.
On the morning of the fourth day, Qin Zhao croaked, "Yu Qingzhu, untie me!"
502 suddenly stopped crying, seeing that Qin Zhao had pulled through, she was so happy that she exploded into fireworks in the consciousness space!
Qin Zhao: "So annoying!"
The scattered points of light re-coalesced into a sphere of light, 502 felt wronged: "I was just happy!"
Qin Zhao: "You can choose a quieter way to express it."
502 cheered: Yay! Host is alive! (softly)
Qin Zhao: "Very good, keep it up."
Yu Qingzhu happened to walk in from outside the door at that moment. Hearing Qin Zhao's voice, she excitedly rushed to Qin Zhao's bedside and threw herself on her, saying, "You really did it!"
Qin Zhao patted Yu Qingzhu on the back, "Yes, it was so difficult to survive, and now I'm almost suffocated by you."
Yu Qingzhu hurriedly let go of her and wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes. She went to get the key to unlock the chains and free Qin Zhao from her restraints.
Then she checked Qin Zhao's pulse and said, "Other than still being somewhat weak, your body has no other problems. Congratulations!"
"Thank you."
"You haven't eaten for three days, I've prepared breakfast for you."
"Great, thanks." Qin Zhao got up and rubbed her swollen wrists, "But please let me bathe first, I reek of sweat and it's really uncomfortable."
"Alright, Master had the foresight to prepare hot water already."
Qin Zhao followed Yu Qingzhu to another room with a bathtub.
Yu Qingzhu said, "Please wait a moment, I'll go bring the hot water over."
Qin Zhao nodded, "Thank you."
Under normal circumstances, she definitely wouldn't have troubled Yu Qingzhu, but in her current physical condition she had no choice but to accept her kindness.
She would find an opportunity to repay her later.
Yu Qingzhu made four round trips, filling the wooden tub, and said, "Your body is weak, don't bathe for too long or you might faint."
"After you finish, wear my clothes first, they're new.
I'll stand guard right outside."
Qin Zhao did not refuse.
Having grown used to being served in the princess manor, she was not shy about her body being seen.
She naturally took off her clothes.
Yu Qingzhu didn't manage to turn her head in time, and caught a glimpse - just one glimpse was enough to be stunned by the beauty of Qin Zhao's body!
She hurriedly looked away, waiting for her heartbeat to calm down.
Listening to the water sounds behind her, she asked a question she had long wanted to ask: "Qin Zhao, why do you wear a mask?"
Qin Zhao replied, "Because I'm so ugly I have to cover up, or I might scare little kids."
"I don't believe that. Even with half your face covered, I can see you're a very beautiful person.
If you don't want to answer, just pretend I didn't ask."
Qin Zhao was silent for a while, then said, "For now I have to live wearing a mask.
When I can take off the mask, I'll let you see for yourself whether I'm pretty or not."
"Alright, I'll be waiting."
After bathing and changing into Yu Qingzhu's blue ruqun, Qin Zhao went with her to have breakfast.
On the table there were steamed buns, porridge, vegetables and eggs, which made Qin Zhao feel very comforted.
She sat down, picked up her chopsticks, and put a steamed bun in her mouth.
This was Yu Qingzhu's first time seeing a girl eat a steamed bun so boldly, and she was a little surprised.
Although Master had never specified that she must eat slowly in small bites, she had seen other girls all eating daintily in small mouthfuls.
She imitated Qin Zhao and shoved the whole steamed bun into her mouth.
At first she felt a little choked, but quickly realized it was more satisfying and felt better this way!
She silently decided she would eat like this from now on.
After the meal, Qin Zhao went to the yard and walked over to Feng Tinghe's side. She took out 10,000 taels of silver bills and handed them to her, saying, "Thank you Doctor Feng for saving my life.
This is all I have on me today, if you feel it's not enough, I'll come by another day to make up the consultation fee."
Feng Tinghe didn't even glance at the silver bills, and said, "I only have one condition - you take me as your master.
Otherwise, this consultation fee will be 100,000 taels of silver.
I give you one month to consider."
Qin Zhao: "......"
How was this any different from an overlord's terms?
Even as a princess, 100,000 taels was still an enormous sum, she'd have to sell off treasures from the manor treasury to pool that much together.
"May I ask why?"
Feng Tinghe said, "Before meeting me, you already knew the Xue Lian of Ghost Lake could cure fire poison.
This is not something an ordinary person could accomplish. You have great talent in medicine."
Qin Zhao wanted to say it was all thanks to the Medical Encyclopedia, but she had no plans to tell anyone about the existence of that book.
Finally, Qin Zhao spoke, "Let me consider it for a while, I'll give you a reply in a month as you said."
After bidding farewell to Yu Qingzhu, Qin Zhao left No Illness Hall.
Seeing the lively streets, she took the chance to stroll around.
The golden mask was too recognizable. Having previously revealed her identity to the public, there were now more gazes focused on Qin Zhao.
Looks like for her next outing, she'd have to swap the golden mask for something more low-key.
The voices of the common people entered her ears.
"Look, isn't that the princess!"
"Why is the princess wearing a mask?"
"I heard it's because she's ugly!"
"Speak softer, don't let the princess hear you!
I also heard the princess has a terrible temper, is petty minded, often throws tantrums and abuses her power, be careful or she'll have your head!"
"Who did you hear that from?!"
"Everyone's been talking about it these past few days, I heard it from others."
......
Qin Zhao frowned, these remarks were not entirely groundless.
The reputation of Princess Zhaoyang in noble circles had indeed been rather poor.
But how did the commoners come to know of it?
Someone must have spread rumors.
Who?
There were no shortage of people who disliked Princess Zhaoyang, finding the culprit would not be easy. She would have to wait and see for now.
Up ahead, a kneeling fat girl entered Qin Zhao's line of sight.
Qin Zhao ignored the commoners' discussion and walked towards the girl.
Upon coming to the front of the fat girl, she saw a corpse wrapped in straw matting in front of her.
Hanging on her chest was a wooden sign that read "Selling my body to bury my father".
Below were a few lines of small words.
I have divine strength.
My cooking skills are excellent.
I am skilled at making wooden objects!
After reading Lu Ban's Manual, Qin Zhao had the idea of bringing the wooden devices recorded in it to life.
She hoped this book could aid her on her path to seizing power.
Finding a highly skilled craftsman had already been included in her plans.
Qin Zhao looked at the fat girl and asked, "How can you prove your woodworking skills?"
