Zhao Xing slept a long time, maybe she was indeed very 'tired' like the poison master had said. She slept and didn't dream.
"Mistress had been asleep since yesterday evening…" It was already the afternoon of the next day. Lan'er watched her mistress sound asleep in bed. When Zhao Xing came back yesterday, the Crown Prince had also tagged along and gave them strict instructions. He also arranged for a physician to check on her once in a while. But they weren't aware when Zhao Xing would wake up, the Crown Prince had only told them to tell people that the previous poison hadn't been well treated and had caused her to go into a coma. With this excuse people wouldn't ask much, the day before Zhao Xing had fallen into the lake at the Lu's Mansion. So even if people asked they would secretly think about this incident, and blame it on the Lu family.
Lan'er thought this was the perfect timing. Her lips couldn't help but curve happily. She approached Nuo Nuo and nudged the later a little. "Hey, sis, Miss Tang came this morning, she was very angry when she heard what I said. Oh, and General Yang's manor sent some medicinal herbs over, sis, you've been watching mistress all along, you didn't have the chance to see their faces when they heard the news. The Master's idea of an excuse is perfect! I suddenly wish more people would visit. Very soon it would become the talk of the town! Lu family harmed the Crown Prince's benefactor."
Nuo Nuo rolled her eyes as she smiled at Lan'er. "I say, you really can talk."
Lan'er was in a good mood. "Even sis is smiling, surely if word goes out it could be considered revenge for how badly our mistress was treated at that banquet!"
It was unknown how long she had slept, but when Zhao Xing woke up she discovered something was wrong with her. There was no pain, only this slightly numb feeling all round, and she was breathing just fine, but she couldn't open her eyes, nor could she move.
'Two week? A month? A year? How long have I slept?' If she slept a year, what happened to the Crown Prince? Did he finally realize what he wanted? Did he take over the imperial court? Or even the throne? Or did was it the Fourth Prince that won?
She asked herself a lot of questions. She tried moving for thousandth time, but to no avail. She tried opening her mouth, and got the same result.
'This feeling…' She wouldn't be in a coma, would she?
In the end she gave up, feeling frustrated. She hoped Zhang Zhengyang would get the poison master to figure out what was wrong. He couldn't have given her the wrong antidote, right? Or an expired one. After all, someone who had stopped making poison for so long, if he had just kept the cure with him, it might go bad…
That old man wouldn't have damaged her brain, right? She sighed inwardly. 'Maybe'
'Save me.' She didn't want to remain like this forever… How boring would that be!
"This child, kept telling her not to sleep late, now look."
'Mom?' Wasn't that the sound of her mother?
Was she hearing things?
'I actually heard my mother's voice. Did I return?' It was plausible. If her health affected her returning, after taking that antidote, she wouldn't be ill anymore.
After hearing her mother's voice she heard a lot of things all at once, like the sound of footsteps, people's hushed voices and so on. It was like someone who had been deaf, then could suddenly hear, or someone who had been kept in a quiet place for too long. She heard another person speak.
Who else was there? She wondered.
"Alright, alright, thank you doctor..."
'Doctor?'
Was she in the hospital? What happened to her? Was it an effect from staying too long in another world? What was this aftereffect? Brain damage? Total paralysis?
'No wait…' If that was the case, wouldn't her mother have sounded even more worried?
Just then she had a feeling of relief, like she had regained control over her body. She didn't waste time, and tried to open her eyes.
"Xing Xing." Her mother rushed to her side when she saw her daughter's movement.
Zhao Xing really regained back her ability to move, her vision was blurry at first, but after a while it became clear.
She was indeed in the hospital.
"Ma1…" (1: Mom, mother), for some reason when she was able to see her mother's face, her eyes became teary. If she had to calculate, it had been a few months since she last saw her. It seemed she had traveled a long distance just to see her again. Before this, she had started to lose hope, thinking she'd end up like many other transmigrators she'd read about, unable to go home and having to spend the remains of their lives in a strange land.
Mrs. Zhao helped her as she tried to sit up. She was at lost for words. She didn't know whether she should scold the kid, or not.
"Here, have some water." In the end she decided not to trouble her.
"How long have I been asleep?" She asked. She didn't even try to recall anything, the last time she had spent too much time in the other world, it was a real pain trying to remember things that had happened. She was already a patient might as well give herself a break.
Mrs Zhao gave her a look, instead of answering, she threw her a question of her own. "Don't you know what happened to you yesterday?"
Zhao Xing of course didn't know, so she shook her head. "I forgot."
Mrs Zhao's face changed. "You…does your head hurt? The doctor said that you lacked sleep that's why you blacked out, how come you also forgot what happened yesterday?"
"…" 'If I had indeed blacked out how wouldn't remember?'
Zhao Xing was indeed worried about her health. But she felt her mother was overreacting. "I'm fine, just tired, but my head does hurts but just a little bit…"
Mrs Zhao brows creased. "What do you mean just a little bit?" with that she walked out of the room as if to get the doctor.
She ignored Zhao Xing even after she called out to her.
'Tch, never mind.' Her head did hurt even if it didn't feel serious, she thought it would be better to be safe than sorry.
With that in mind she lay back in bed. She didn't dare sleep despite feeling sleepy, for fear that when she opened her eyes, she would be back to that troublesome world.