Min Li woke up with a start.

Rather, she kind of woke up. A part of her brain woke up. The rest of her brain clearly refused to wake up as she still couldn’t manage to move at all.

There was a reason Min Li had woken up and that reason was that someone had come in to annoy her.

“Oh, are you alright? I have been worried about you all this time. But I had gone to the wrong room, I didn’t know that they would have laid you here.” The offending person sniffed.

Min Li couldn’t even register what the person was saying she was so out of it and tired.

She had been having quite a nice sleep and the nape of her neck no longer hurt at all, so she wondered bitterly who dared to enter in and disturb her peace.

“They are trying to rest.”

Min Li recognised the voice of the doctor straight away. He seemed to be sitting on one of Min Li’s chairs on the far side of her room. And from the faint noise of pages turning, he seemed to also be disturbed from his relaxing, reading a book.

“I have only allowed visitors again now because they seem to be getting better. They will wake up soon.”

“That doesn’t matter. I am here to see my darling. Being cooped up in this stuffy room this whole time is not easy. Oh…colour is gone. Oh, what should I do? I should have never left for so long?”

It was Jess who had burst into the room.

She definitely wasn’t Min Li’s friend.

Min Li wondered whether the girl’s voice had always been so squeaky and annoying. She wouldn’t stop talking. Didn’t anyone ever tell her that patients needed rest?

Why was the girl here for her?

And why was she speaking such nonsense? From when had they ever been friends? Let alone darlings? Such words made Min Li want to get up from her bed and run to the bathroom to heave.

As If knowing something was annoying her. Min Li could feel a hand lightly touch hers in comfort.

But the hand wasn’t on the side of the doctor and Jess, but from the other side.

Min Li nearly jumped out of her skin. She still couldn’t move, so the keyword was nearly.

Was it that Jess had stretched over to touch Min Li’s other hand? But that wasn’t possible, Min Li was sure that she would never derive such comfort from the girl’s touch.

To Min Li, Jess was practically reptilian. And just in case no one knew, Min Li wasn’t the biggest fan of reptiles.

Just like most reptiles, Jess’s blood ran cold but the hand that was currently touching Min Li didn’t feel so cold to the touch. It didn’t seem so scaly.

It was then that what had happened dawned on Min Li.

She had thought that they would have moved Fenhua’s whole bed into the room for her room was big enough for his gigantic bed to fit in the room twenty times over.

But no, the man was probably right next to her in the same state of a lack of consciousness that she was. He had obviously felt her distress and reached over to comfort her. She should have known that it was Fenhua, only one man could calm her to the point that the nape of her neck no longer hurt.

But even with that being said, if she had known that they would both be put in the same bed, she would have gotten up and said something.

This was wildly inappropriate for a young woman and the chosen one’s chosen friend. What would the kingdom think? She was the epitome of perfect wife and now they were risking her reputation in such a way.

Given that Fenhua had not said anything since Min Li had woken up, and there was no movement sans his light touch of her from his side, Min Li thought that just like her he probably wasn’t able to really move his body.

"Why don’t you move this girl out of the room? She is dirtying the crown prince’s robe. But she’s so low down. You said that now they were both relatively stable. Is there a reason why they are so close? This isn’t even her room. It’s mine... It’s the room of the future crown princess. This is terrible. What would the king and queen think? Do they know? I am appalled at your lack of care for the rules. You should be focusing on healing the crown prince, not thi-this-this servant. Oh, how terrible. Oh, my prince what injustices have you faced?”

Min Li was sure that without the squeeze of the crown prince’s hand, she would have woken up for just a couple of seconds. That was all that she would have needed to show the wretched girl just how low down she could get.

Just then a couple more people came in. It was as if they were all given the memo that people were now allowed to visit both Min Li and Fenhua.

She could tell that all her three friends had come in as well as Betti the head maid.

Now there was five people in total to fuss over Min Li and Fenhua and fuss they did.

“Oh, is she alright?”

“Is he alright?”

“Luckily they look kind of peaceful.”

“I can’t believe this happened to them.”

“What happened to them?” Jess inquired; she had obviously not been made privy to what had taken place in the gardens.

The room, for the first time since Jess’ arrival was silent.

Min Li kind of knew what happened to her, but she had no idea what had happened to Fenhua so although she didn’t want Jess to know about the power tree, she kept her ears peeled just in case anyone let out any interesting information.

Tom piped up finally, “We were in the gard- oof”

It seemed that again Tom was the recipient of a hard elbow in the stomach from Lily or maybe even Rose.

The poor boy, Min Li thought, he doesn’t know much better.

“We don’t know,” Rose spoke up instead.

With that the conversation was over and all five people carried on fussing over Min Li and Fenhua.

“Oh, poor prince.”

“He is so valiant.”

“Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Look where caring for his subjects has gotten him.”

“Do you think he is covered enough? Cover him a bit more.”

Min Li felt the blanket, which Min Li wanted to point out was her blanket on her bed, being pulled away for her to cover the crown prince.

“Poor prince.”

Though Min Li had categorised them as people who were there for her, it seemed that Lily and Rose as well as Betti were paying more attention to the crown prince.

Min Li wasn’t jealous. She didn’t do jealous. She never got jealous. Not over her friends, not over her guardian, and definitely not over a man.

Min Li didn’t mind that they were paying attention to Fenhua. What she did mind was that even though they were paying attention to him, they weren’t paying attention to the right things.

Of course Fenhua was warm, he was in one of the best rooms in the palace.

No, the prince wasn’t to be called ‘poor man’. In fact, Fenhua was extremely rich. He could buy as many beautiful dresses as he wanted.

Rather, what they should have been paying attention to was that he was slowly waking up.

He had squeezed her hand lightly so many times that Min Li had no idea why they hadn't realised. His arms, as well as Min Li’s, were over the cover where the good, old doctor had probably placed them.

Min Li wasn’t a doctor, so she didn’t know just how important it was for the doctor to know that Fenhua was waking up, but she was sure that Fenhua’s family and the whole kingdom would be relieved if they had been informed that Fenhua was showing great signs of life.

But instead, everyone was fussing about how much pain the crown prince was probably in.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Jess especially had taken it too far.

The woman was currently leaning on Min Li, one elbow on Min Li’s stomach, so that she could get a better look at Fenhua.

Even though that hurt, that was not even the worse of the situation. What Min Li really hated was that the woman was speaking over Min Li and insisting on profusely nattering in her high-pitched voice not caring that she was letting a spray of spittle over Min Li. And unfortunately, Min Li did not have the strength to clean it up.

Again, as if knowing that Min Li was annoyed, the crown prince squeezed her hand lightly.

This time Min Li felt some sparks travel up through her arm. She wondered whether she was getting better and gradually getting more feeling in her arm or if she was just excited that she was close to Fenhua.

Min Li tittered inwardly, wondering if the crown prince was feeling the same way as her. He hadn’t bothered to alert everyone else to his waking up. Instead, the only thing he did was squeeze her hand.

Then she stopped tittering realising that he had only started squeezing once Jess had entered the room.

She wondered, it was possible that Fenhua thought that Min Li’s hand was actually Jess’ and in that case was actually not reaching to calm Min Li down but to tell Jess that he was okay.

Min Li had conveniently forgotten that she had only been awake for as long as Jess had been in the room.

Min Li wanted to snatch her hand away from under Fenhua’s.

If the lovers want to reunite, why should I stop them? she thought.

She tried as hard as she could manage but Min Li still couldn’t move her hand. Apparently, jealousy is not even suitable motivation for my body to comply with my orders. Wait... jealousy. Not jealousy. That not possible. I don’t do jealous. I never get jealous. Not over a friend, not over a guardian, and definitely not over a man.

Whilst Min Li was trying to convince herself that she was not jealous in the least over Fenhua’s relationship with Jess, her three friends and Betti the head maid had taken their leave with a brief goodbye.

They had work so Min Li was in complete understanding why they had left, she had bigger issues to deal with.

She just didn’t understand why Jess wouldn’t leave. Does she have no job? Does she have no chores? Why is she just dawdling in my room?

The crown prince was still running interference even in the state he was now. Every single time Jess said something that could annoy Min Li, Fenhua squeezed her hand. Whether he thought he was squeezing Min Li’s hand to reassure her, or Jess’ hand to stop her from talking, Min Li didn’t know.

All she knew was that he was squeezing her hand, and although it was lovely, the more he did it, the more it was starting to hurt.

The crown prince obviously didn’t realise, but that was the hand that Min Li had touched the tree with. Therefore, it was the first part of Min Li that the tree latched onto, and it was the part of her body where the skin had burned the most as Fenhua had tried to rip her off.

“Ugh, she is still here. Why don’t you take her out doctor?”

Squeeze. Min Li felt pain.

“Ugh, how does she look so annoying even in her sleep?”

Squeeze. Min Li felt striking pain.

“From up close I don't know why many people like her.” Min Li felt what she thought was a finger poke her forehead. “Ugly.”

Squeeze. Min Li felt blinding pain.

At this point all the time she had spent in her own head with only infrequent visits from family and friends had bored Min Li. And so, she had thought a lot about the recent happening in the Eastern palace and was sure that the crown prince could sense her pain.

The issue was that when Min Li felt a little pain from the squeeze delivered by Fenhua, she was sure that Fenhua was mistaking it for pain from the verbal blows that Jess had delivered. What Fenhua didn’t know was that insults from someone like Jess, was a compliment in Min Li’s eyes and couldn’t be interpreted as anything different.

But as there was no way to deliver this information to Fenhua, it was a cycle of frustration and pain.

The door opened and another visitor entered.

“Hello, how is she?” Someone croaked.

Finally, someone who cares for me, Min Li thought.

The only problem was Min Li didn’t know who it was who cared for her because she couldn’t recognise the voice.

Min Li always knew when Fenhua was speaking by his voice, but that was not the case for this man talking in the room. But he was talking to her with such a level of comfort that Min Li thought that she ought to know his voice.

“Min Li, I have brought you flowers. They are tulips, your favourite.”

Tulips were in fact not Min Li’s favourite. Water lilies were.

But the man had said it with such confidence Min Li second guessed herself, wondering if she had suffered with a personality change or maybe even amnesia in her troubles.

On the bright side, the man had been one of the only people that had addressed Min Li directly and made her feel like a proper person in the recent week.

The crown prince had stopped squeezing Min Li’s hand since the man had come into the room, and his hand was now just resting on top of hers.

Softening his voice, the man carried on addressing Min Li. “I have missed you so very much. I am waiting for the day they return you to me.”

Was their relationship really close enough that he could miss her? And if so, why didn’t she know about it?

“When you wake up, I will take you to the very best places in Xilin, I will feed you the tastiest of food and I will buy you the most beautiful of dresses.”

How presumptuous. How did he know that she would want to do such things with him? I do want to do those things. It sounds nice, but definitely not with him. A girl should be chased and courted, but only by a man she liked. And not by a man who just assumed that she loved him back, just by the title he thinks that he holds.

Before Min Li could figure out who it was, the crown prince seemed to know. Min Li could feel Fenhua slide his hand away from on top of hers.

She was offended by the crown prince‘s act. She was mostly offended because she knew how much effort it took to move even the littlest of body parts. She hadn’t managed it despite how hard she had tried.

“I am so sorry that I didn’t manage to win the fight last time. But if you want me, I will carry on fighting to have your hand in marriage. In fact, if you wake up now, I will march up to the king and ask for your hand in marriage.”

Min Li laid as still as she could. All this time she had wanted to move even just her pinkie finger, and now she was wishing for the very opposite. She stayed so still; she was sure that the autonomic beating of the heart also stopped.

Min Li finally recognised who was talking to her and she was sure that she didn’t ‘want’ him. It was Kit, termed the bovine, boorish brute by Fenhua.

Min Li was now confused, she was sure that Kit wasn’t talking to her by what he was saying, but by the process of elimination and the fact that he was saying her name, he must have been talking to her.

“Why would you do such things for her?” Jess, who was still in the room with her elbow still leaning on Min Li’s stomach sounded utterly confused.

“Because I love her.”

“Why do you love her? Look at her, ew.”

Min Li disagreed with the ‘ew’, but she did want to know why he loved her, so she kept her ears pricked up.

“We would be amazing together.”

“How so?”

Yes, how so.

“Well, it goes like this.”

Jess leaned forward and the doctor feigning reading his book sitting on the chair at the other side of the room leaned forward. Min Li tried her best to lean forward, and she was sure that Fenhua was also trying to lean forward.

Kit carried on.

“I could remove her from her sorry life of being servant and she could in turn get me closer to the royal family.”

Min Li was positive she had heard a jaw drop.

Min Li didn’t know what was wrong with nobles these days. All she had heard recently were people telling on themselves. She no longer even had to eavesdrop; people spoke directly in front of her.

The man didn’t even have an excuse, he had spoken to her before so clearly, he knew that there was a possibility that she could hear them. Where was the shame? Or maybe he maybe he didn’t think he had done anything to be ashamed about.

On the bright side, Fenhua’s hand had found his way back on top of hers.

“On top of that she is wise beyond her years, as beautiful as a flower, more talented than a tainted courtesan, as funny as a court jester and as elegant as a queen.”

Elegant, Min Li hadn’t expected, but with all the rest Min Li did think he was completely correct on.

On second thoughts, Min Li thought that he could also be wrong on ‘more talented than a tainted courtesan’.

She was sure that women whose profession it was to entertain the wealthiest of men were talented. And they were probably even better at what they did if they were putting their emotions into it.

But Min Li had learned from a young age that the noblest of women didn’t have to be talented, they had to be pretty. No matter what anybody said, all the women who had married into a noble family were above all, pretty.

On third thoughts, Min Li didn’t know whether she would call herself funny either. She thought that she was funny, but she wasn’t sure that even her best friends would agree with her. The queen had also always said she should leave the jokes to proper entertainers.

But apart from that the man was definitely right. She was definitely beautiful. Well, beauty was subjective, but Min Li was absolutely sure that if she was ranked by all the people in the three kingdoms, she would rank at least fifth.

She chose the number five for modesty reasons. Apparently being boastful and arrogant was unbecoming for a woman.

Min Li didn’t know whether in disagreement or annoyance, but Fenhua had again removed his hand from on top of Min Li’s.

“She is an absolutely wonderful woman,” Kit sighed.

Yes, I am an absolutely wonderful woman.

Min Li felt that Kit had moved away slightly from the place right next to her face that he was previously occupying.

“And if you would excuse me.” Min Li felt the removal of the weight of Jess, and she heard Jess yelp as she hit the floor, “do not lean on my bride,” Kit snarled.

“UGH. UGH. Do you know who I am?”

It was a silly question, Min Li knew that they had met each other at least a thousand times before, she knew as she too had been there at a lot of their meetings.

“Do you know who I am?”

“I am the daughter of the head of the west of Xilin”

“I am the son of the head of the south of Xilin.”

“I am the future queen of Xilin.”

Min Li felt Fenhua’s hand move over her hand again. She was getting quite fed up with how much the man was moving around. It reminded her of what he had been doing all her life since they were teenagers. One day they were friends, the next day he wasn’t taking to her. The next day he was saving her. The very next minute he wasn’t talking to her.

But she couldn’t do anything about it, so she just carried on listening to the conversation between the two clowns above her.

“I am one of the very best of warriors in the kingdom.”

“Second to my future husband.”

How immature. Min Li wondered what the doctor was doing that he was making no moves to remove the two quarrellers from the room and restore peace to the environment.

“I don’t know why you think you will marry the crown prince. You should know that he doesn’t like you. Us men can tell these things.”

“You are one to talk, Mim Li doesn’t like you either and she is a mere slave.”

“You are begging over a prince who probably hasn’t done anything for himself ever in his life.”

If Min Li could manage, this would be the time she would choose to squeeze the crown prince’s hand to comfort him.

“Min Li doesn’t even deserve you but that’s not saying a lot seeing that you are positively vile.”

Min Li couldn’t even take offense because she was thinking of something else.

She was currently wondering whether it was just her or there was a little bit of tension in the atmosphere and not of the platonic kind.

She was rooting for the two of the anyway. Of course, they wouldn’t achieve their dreams of climbing up the social ladder even more. And just like them of course, any offspring that they reared in the same way they were would be positively vile, but they did suit each other in a weird way.

Whether or not her assumption was correct that the two would be good for each other, Min Li decided that when she completely recovered, she would mention it to the queen. With the way both Jess and Kit were talking possessively, if she didn’t, both her and Fenhua would be forced into arranged marriages that they didn’t want.

She wondered whether the crown prince had the same thought as he squeezed her hand.

Min Li couldn’t even hear the rest of the conversation and figure out whether Kit and Jess would be a good match and her very first stint as a matchmaker would be successful as without her permission again her body waded out of consciousness.