DTBCF Chapter 4

In the story “The Little Fugitive Concubine of the Prince,” there are quite a few male supporting characters. The female lead is constantly trying to escape, and along the way, she encounters various men.

One of these men, and the only one she doesn’t meet on the road, is Song Jiaoyue, the first deeply affectionate male character. Just as his name suggests, he is as cold and noble as the bright moon. Yet, in the end, he winds up alone.

Song Jiaoyue comes from a prestigious background. He is the legitimate son of a noble family, the only son of a long princess, and the top scholar of the imperial exam in the year of Bingchen. He is known as “Young Master Jiaoyue.”

He is the only male character whose status rivals that of the male lead, but unfortunately, he does not win the heart of the heroine in the end.

Bai Xiangxiu looked at him and inwardly sighed, feeling exasperated. After all, this man had once threatened her after learning that the original Bai Xiangxiu had persecuted the female lead.

Of course, none of that had happened yet. At this moment, she seemed to be staring blankly at the male supporting character, though in reality, she was lost in thought.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about something.” She felt embarrassed. When would she ever stop zoning out at random moments? What if people thought she was some sort of lovesick fool?

Song Jiaoyue didn’t mind at all; in fact, he thought her reaction was perfectly normal.

Bai Xiangxiu wasn’t interested in interacting with the male supporting characters. Finding the person calling for help was the most important thing. Suddenly, she noticed a piece of cloth sticking out from behind the man’s shoe, with a strange, dark, thorny object poking through.

Her heart began to race, and she quickly pushed him aside. “Move, move,” she muttered. Could it be? Was it really…?

Song Jiaoyue had just been wondering why the girl seemed so flustered, but the next moment, she had pushed him aside and was crouched on the ground, carefully inspecting a pile of discarded fabric.

He couldn’t help but twitch his lips. Since when had he become less important than a pile of trash?

He was about to leave, but for some reason, he found himself intrigued by the girl’s strange behavior and decided to stick around to see what she was doing.

To his surprise, she slowly sifted through the fabric, then exclaimed excitedly, “Found it! I can’t believe I found it!” She reached out to grab something but immediately jumped back with a scream.

Song Jiaoyue frowned. She knew it was covered in thorns, yet she still reached for it. This girl was far too careless. Just look at how her hand was now covered in cuts.

And she seemed shocked, just staring at her hand as blood dripped out, without doing anything about it.

“Young lady… your hand is injured pretty badly,” he gently reminded her.

He hadn’t expected his words to startle her so much that she took a few steps back, her earlier joy completely gone. She shook her head, looking a bit lost. “It’s nothing.”

“These things have a lot of thorns. They’re not worth the trouble,” he said as he saw her reaching for it again.

This time, she simply grabbed the whole pile of fabric, her mood still somber. She thanked him quietly and then held up the cloth, asking, “Whose is this? I’d like to buy it.”

Song Jiaoyue almost laughed. This was something someone had thrown away, and here she was, sincerely asking to buy it. But for some reason, looking at the blood on her hand, he couldn’t bring himself to smile. She didn’t seem to care for herself at all.

As it turned out, the thing had been thrown away by a caravan returning from the desert. Afraid of sunburn, they had cut some local plants to use, which were said to help with sunburn relief. Once they reached their destination, they no longer needed the thorny plants and discarded them, which is when the girl found them.

Song Jiaoyue learned this from asking around. The girl who had taken the plants hadn’t said much. Once she heard they were no longer needed, she just left with them, not even sparing him a glance.

Song Jiaoyue touched his face. He’d always thought he was quite popular, but today, he found himself losing out to a prickly, ugly plant.

He chuckled to himself. It seemed that there were indeed some women in this world who didn’t care for status or appearance. But what did they care about, then?

As for the girl who had been mistaken as someone who didn’t care for status, she was very simple. Her favorite story was about princes and Cinderella. But alas, that was just a story.

Reality, on the other hand, was much more pressing. After being pricked by the thorns, she realized that no matter how much blood she shed, she wasn’t going back to where she wanted to be. Feeling disheartened, she had no energy left to think about anything else.

She finally managed to bring the cactus to Sun Si’er’s cart. After waiting for a while, he came, and without saying much, she climbed into the cart and was taken into the prince’s estate.

With help from others, everything went smoothly, and before the servants searched the backyard, she had safely returned to her winter garden.

Xiao Shi was so worried that she burst into tears, but she quickly helped her mistress change clothes and fix her hair. When she saw the strange, thorn-covered plant her mistress had brought back, she was shocked.

“Go find me a flowerpot. I want to plant it,” Bai Xiangxiu said. She had worked so hard to find it; even if it couldn’t take her back, she would at least make sure it stayed alive.

Xiao Shi found a pot, and Bai Xiangxiu carefully used chopsticks to plant the cactus in the soil, watered it, and then placed it by the windowsill. She gazed at it thoughtfully.

“Ah! Madame, your hand!” Xiao Shi cried. How had her hands gotten so injured? She hurried to find some ointment and applied it carefully. “Madame, you need to take better care of yourself. Your hands are so delicate, and now they’re covered in cuts.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. It doesn’t hurt.” Bai Xiangxiu was used to getting scratched and pricked from gardening in the past.

Xiao Shi assumed her mistress was feeling down. After all, ever since the prince had returned, he’d been busy and ignored the ladies in the backyard. With her mistress’s beauty, it was a shame she was left in such a secluded place.

But Bai Xiangxiu was just thinking that she had finally found the cactus. Unfortunately, it hadn’t taken her back. What was she going to do now?

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“You’re welcome,” Bai Xiangxiu absentmindedly replied.

“What do you mean by ‘you’re welcome,’ Madame? Are you alright?” Xiao Shi, who had just finished applying the ointment, was startled by her mistress’s sudden response.

Bai Xiangxiu blinked. “Didn’t you just thank me?” She was certain she’d heard someone thank her, but thinking about it, Xiao Shi didn’t have any reason to thank her. Was she hearing things again?

Xiao Shi shook her head. “Madame, you must be exhausted from wandering around all day. Why don’t you rest?”

“Alright.” Maybe she was just too tired. Bai Xiangxiu lay down to rest.

A short while later, the old matron’s maids came by in groups. Although the old madam didn’t require these concubines to fawn over her regularly, they still had to be mindful of the household’s activities, which led to periodic inspections.

These maids had been with the old matron since she entered the household and were all very shrewd. They would sit in each room, exchange pleasantries, and then leave. Of course, their conversations were polite, filled with inquiries about whether anything was needed.

They were polite, but in reality, they were just gathering information to report back to the old matron. Even if someone complained about a lack of food or clothing, it wouldn’t do any good—in fact, it might even backfire.