Her slender fingers suddenly stopped at her hair, and she didn't respond.
"Sister, actually he is interested in you. I guessed it not long after I returned to Chang'an." Xuyu slowly sat up from her arms and continued.
Wei Yinniang's eyelashes moved slightly and she looked up at her.
"It was when you were tortured. Do you remember that when I went to visit you, I saw a bottle of medicine in your room. You probably didn't want me to find it, so you put it away immediately, but I saw the doctor's note on it. This note was left by different doctors to distinguish when they made medicines, and outsiders couldn't see it. Later, I suspected that you still had contact with Li Yan, and wanted to know who in the palace sent you the medicine. I found an excuse to privately check the doctor's record of dispensing medicine at that time, and it turned out to be Yuan Zhi."
"He was ordered to torture you, but he didn't use too much force, considering his usual cruel methods. He even left you some medicine afterwards. How could it be that he did it just because you were a woman? That's why I suspected that he might have some connection with you."
Wei Yinniang also remembered the scene at that time, her face flushed and shame appeared in her beautiful eyes.
"Sister!" Xuyu immediately held her hand, "You don't have to feel guilty, and don't look down on yourself. You have never let anyone down, it's God and others who have been mistreating you. You are so beautiful and so good, it's only natural for anyone to fall in love with you."
Wei Yinniang lowered her head and said nothing.
"He came to see me yesterday."
Wei Yinniang raised her eyes.
"I had learned about his origins from Zhao Bandang long ago. His ancestors were all stonemasons, working in the palace, and they carved Buddhist caves for the royal family for generations. He was destined to spend his life in a cave since he was born. His father was a master carpenter because of his outstanding skills. It was the last year of the Jingsheng Dynasty, and the turmoil was coming, but no one knew it. To show his filial piety, the prince wanted to build a ten-meter-long cave on the cliff wall for the queen mother to pray for her longevity. He ordered that it must be completed before the birthday came, but time was running out. In order to rush the work, the cave official forced the queen mother to work without caring about the lives of the craftsmen. They were forced to carve caves and carve statues in the cliffs day and night, and people died every day. His father spoke up to plead for the lives of the craftsmen, but was beaten by the cave official and died of illness soon after. He was so angry that he looked for an opportunity to kill the cave official, but he didn't have time to escape and was caught. He was originally going to be beheaded, but he was lucky because the person sent by the prince to supervise the cave affairs was your father, sister. He also sympathized with the plight of the cave stonemasons, but he was helpless under the name of the prince being filial to the queen mother. After learning about this, he saw that Yuan Zhi was a teenager, so he used this as an excuse to change the sentence to exile. "
"Yuan Zhi was saved and was imprisoned for a few days with a group of prisoners who were to be exiled. The people who were escorting him probably heard some news at the time and were not interested in this matter. The prisoners found an opportunity to escape and Yuan Zhi took the opportunity to flee. He met Zhao Bandang who was taking me to escape that night."
Wei Yinniang was stunned, with a look of surprise in her eyes.
Xuyu continued, "Zhao Bandang said that during the years he returned to the palace, he could not find me. He thought I was gone and felt extremely guilty. He did not want to stay in the palace any longer and begged my father to allow him to guard the mausoleum. It was not until a few years ago that I came back and he returned to the palace. As for Yuan Zhi, after Zhao Bandang returned to the palace, he got permission from my father and made an exception to allow him to enter the palace as a eunuch without going through the usual channels. At first, he was responsible for construction. Later, my father thought he was capable and found an excuse to promote him—"