Chapter 63: with translation of chapter title

Gu Jiu Ling, from this sudden fright, her body ultimately couldn't hold up, and she collapsed.

By the time she woke up, it was already deep night.

The warm chamber was filled with a faint bitter medicinal scent; Jiu Yue led the maids and servant women out, and Xiao Yin, by the bedside, had changed into a clean cloth robe and sat there, waiting.

Gu Jiu Ling opened her eyes to meet Xiao Yin's pair of shimmering, affectionate peach-blossom eyes; at this moment, those eyes held less calculation and more sincerity.

"Your Highness!" Gu Jiu Ling hurried to struggle up, but Xiao Yin pressed her down with one hand.

"Don't move, lie still," he said, his voice sounding a bit tight and heavy; from childhood onward, no relatives had ever cared about his life or death.

Even the Empress Dowager and Emperor Longqing, appearing brotherly and filial on the surface, only valued him as a sharp knife in their hands—too sharp, and he would be broken or shelved.

Only this woman before him, just now shouting his name repeatedly, rummaging through corpses in the muddy street—that scene somewhat shocked him.

His marrying her was a move weighed by pros and cons; he hadn't expected to gain such sincerity, and Xiao Yin's heart felt heavy, an indescribable feeling.

"I'm fine," Xiao Yin said, raising his hand to gently stroke Gu Jiu Ling's crown, laughing softly, "No need to worry about me; earlier I didn't go to the teahouse, I merely went to rescue the Sixth Prince, Xiao Zheng."

Gu Jiu Ling stared for a moment; the Sixth Prince running to Liu Lane for tea was normal, but that her own lord also went there, and could still rescue the Sixth Prince from among so many muddy ruins and piled corpses?

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How come I feel a strong whiff of conspiracy?

Xiao Yin shifted his tone, focused his gaze on Gu Jiu Ling, and curled the corner of his mouth into a smile: "Gu Jiu Ling."

"Ah?" Gu Jiu Ling felt this guy's laugh made her somewhat unable to cope.

Xiao Yin slowly leaned in, his peerlessly handsome face nearly touching hers, smiling as he looked at her: "Do you like this prince?"

Gu Jiu Ling froze there; this guy… this guy… how could he be so narcissistic?

She hurriedly said: "I dare not defile the Prince's feelings; mainly, if the Prince died, I'd fear having no one to protect me, and they would tear me apart."

Gu Jiu Ling truly thought that at the time; now she and Xiao Yin are bound together—he cannot die! Absolutely cannot die!

The faint anticipation in Xiao Yin's eyes dimmed a little; he slowly rose, took a breath, and the smile on his face held a touch of mockery.

"Heh! Princess Consort is indeed a cool, rational, formidable woman!"

Gu Jiu Ling didn't know what he was angry about; wasn't their cooperation originally based on that—unity and mutual help, mutual benefit and win-win? Isn't it?

Looking at his awkward appearance just then, a thought suddenly flashed into her mind, and Gu Jiu Ling's body twitched slightly.

"Your Highness, you wouldn't think I like the Prince, and then you wouldn't have fallen for me, would you?"

Xiao Yin froze, then let out a soft, scornful laugh: "Princess Consort, you're overthinking."

"Heh! This prince won't fall for you first—unless you fall for me first!"

Xiao Yin saw Gu Jiu Ling wake up, ordered someone to bring in food and hot soup, and personally helped her up.

"Have some ginger soup to warm up," Xiao Yin said, bringing the bowl of ginger soup to her lips and personally feeding her.

Gu Jiu Ling swallowed a mouthful of soup, but felt nauseous in her chest and vomited with a "wah."

"What's wrong?" Xiao Yin's eyes flickered, and he hurriedly steadied her.

Gu Jiu Ling now felt the world spin, nauseous and dizzy; this feeling wasn't like morning sickness, more like fatigue from oversleeping.

Her face turned slightly pale, her whole body kept shivering, and waves of cold rushed straight into her body.

"Someone! Summon the imperial physician!" Xiao Yin's face suddenly darkened; Gu Jiu Ling's condition was not right.

Gu Jiu Ling felt weak all over and lay down again, her forehead still sweating incessantly, as if she had malaria.

She couldn't even keep down the ginger soup, let alone the food; Gu Jiu Ling couldn't take a single bite.

Ling Feng hurriedly walked to the door of the warm chamber: "Prince! Something serious!"

"Speak!" Xiao Yin had once witnessed a human purgatory in the frontier; the performance of those frontier civilians was exactly the same as Gu Jiu Ling's now.

Ling Feng exclaimed urgently: "The young masters and mistresses in the palace, as well as those little princes and princesses, have all fallen ill; the imperial physicians can't spare anyone."

"I've heard that the offspring of various great clans also show symptoms of vomiting and fever; Prince… this might be what we saw in the southern desert…"

Ling Feng didn't dare continue, glancing at the Princess Consort suffering terribly on the bed.

Gu Jiu Ling still felt awful and wanted to vomit; she looked at Xiao Yin: "The Official Ditch is unrepaired, blocked with years of sludge, sanitation is poor, and this internal flood drowned so many people—it might be… might be… an epidemic!"

Xiao Yin furrowed his brows tightly.

Gu Jiu Ling caught her breath, feeling awful all over, her ears buzzing, her head hurting to death.

"Prince, hurry out!"

"Leave the strong-bodied people in the warm chamber to attend to me; everyone else withdraw from the Peach Blossom Pavilion, each taking off their clothes… burn… burn them."

"Surround the Peach Blossom Pavilion; you stay inside for these few days, remain in the Eastern Garden, drink some medicinal soup to prevent beforehand, eat something good, don't act recklessly."

"Also… also… bring over the brush…"

Xiao Yin's brows knotted tight; without a word, his mind recalled the great epidemic in the southern desert—village after village of corpses, so many dead from illness, he led the army ceaselessly burning bodies, digging pits, burying them.

Seeing Gu Jiu Ling's gaunt, deathly pale face before him, it fiercely stabbed his heart, causing a faint pain, and he grew somewhat flustered.

He turned and handed the paper and brush to Gu Jiu Ling, but she couldn't even lift her arm.

Xiao Yin gripped the brush: "Speak! I'll write!"

Gu Jiu Ling's vision swam badly; she shook her head, clearing it a little.

"Stay away from me a bit, Jiu Yue; give the Prince… give the Prince a cloth to cover his face…"

"No need, hurry up and speak! How to treat it?" Xiao Yin's eyes were somewhat red, his fingers gripping the brush tightly, knuckles whitening.

"Ginseng, fresh ginger, mint, plus schizonepeta and saposhnikovia, decocted into a soup; for the poor who lack ginseng, go into the wild to dig… dig… artemisia for medicine…"

Xiao Yin noted it down and tossed it to Ling Feng to handle.

This time the entire Prince Rui's mansion fell into utter chaos—first the Princess Consort collapsed, then several maids, servant women, the young servants in the front courtyard, and even the guards beside Xiao Yin went down three.

Everyone's symptoms matched the Princess Consort's exactly—fever, vomiting, inability to keep food down, nausea, their bodies collapsing at a visible speed.

Following Gu Jiu Ling's method, Xiao Yin first set up an isolation zone in the mansion, ordering those who had previously survived the epidemic to attend, keeping the mansion running; their monthly stipends were tripled.

He then had Ling Feng deliver the medicinal soup Gu Jiu Ling had described to the estate, ordering someone to feed it to the Sixth Prince, Xiao Zheng.