Chapter 83

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

After Liu Qi left those words, Shaowei originally thought he ought to leave this room and temporarily stop bothering her.

But after a while, she heard footsteps that didn't match up; lying there, Shaowei turned her head to look outside the bed, only to see he had actually gone back to sitting behind that low table again.

Shaowei frowned slightly, said nothing, and continued lying flat waiting for food.

Clothing arrived a step before the rice and dishes.

Deng Hu returned with a pair of young servants.

The pair, one male and one female, were dressed as ordinary servants, both looked seventeen or eighteen, and their features bore quite a resemblance — at a glance one could tell they were blood relatives close beyond separation, only it was hard to distinguish at a glance whether they were brother and sister or older sister and younger brother.

The young woman held Shaowei's tattered clothes in her arms, along with some small items taken from Shaowei's person; the young man carried a medicine box.

After the two performed a silent salute to Liu Qi, the young woman called A Ya set down what she held, then knelt at the edge of the bed, pulled up the bed curtains and hung them on the silver hooks on both sides, leaned forward and reached out to test Shaowei's forehead temperature.

Shaowei turned her head to avoid that hand, concise and to the point: "I want to eat first."

A Ya withdrew her hand, turned her head to look at Liu Qi for instruction.

Liu Qi was currently holding a brush writing a letter; at this moment he did not raise his head, and hearing Shaowei's words, he casually said: "Her matters are all decided by her herself."

Not just the matter of eating first and seeing the doctor later, but other matters were also instructed clearly together.

A Ya bowed her head and accepted the order, then looked at Shaowei with a serious expression, gesturing forcefully with both hands for a while.

Shaowei, still lying there, realized something; her face showed no change, she only truthfully said: "I don't understand."

A Ya knitted her brows; Deng Hu translated for her: "A Ya is asking you, what is the antidote formula? It would be best to inform quickly."

Shaowei was already weak and out of breath; she had already finished speaking of this matter with Liu Qi, so now she just stared at the bed canopy and said no more.

"When she wants to speak she will speak, it's not too late; let her eat first." Liu Qi was still writing with his brush, his tone casual as if the one suffering a fatal poison was someone else.

A Ya, well-versed in poison theory, had a deeply anxious look between her brows; she tilted her head and signed a string of hand-talk at Deng Hu; Deng Hu could only shake his head helplessly at her.

The master has spoken; as servants they have no recourse.

A Ya's expression as she looked at Shaowei grew increasingly stern and displeased; she had a clear, cold face, and with her holding it so stiffly, it was cold upon cold.

Before long, the rice and dishes arrived; Shaowei could not get off the bed, so she leaned sitting at the bedhead; Deng Hu moved a small table onto the bed, the rice and dishes were placed on top, and A Ya attended to Shaowei eating.

Shaowei was very unaccustomed to being fed, but at this moment her whole body ached everywhere, and due to the high fever she began to fear cold and tremble; it was truly very difficult to control the chopsticks.

And feeding with chopsticks was also inconvenient in many ways; the two fumbled for several rounds, rice and dishes spilled, one couldn't feed much in, the other strained to open her mouth and cooperate but couldn't get more than a few mouthfuls down; both looked like they were about to lose their tempers.

Deng Hu watched from the side, under considerable psychological pressure.

Liu Qi gestured toward the long-handled wine ladle hanging to the side.

At present eating with a soup spoon is uncommon; spoons are mostly used for pouring wine or ladling powder.

Deng Hu understood, took that wine ladle, and hurriedly presented it to A Ya.

A Ya ladled half a spoon of rice and brought it to Shaowei; this wine ladle was not small, she thought the other might not be able to take it in her mouth, yet saw Shaowei open wide and eat it all in one big gulp.

A Ya was startled, then deliberately ladled a full spoon; Shaowei still swallowed it clean in one mouthful, her cheeks bulging round, chewing very seriously and hard, putting what little strength she had entirely into this.

Even though A Ya kept a cold face throughout, Shaowei had no leisure to mind it, just treated it as eating a bowl of ice-and-frost-mixed rice; anyway at this moment she couldn't taste anything.

Shaowei ate all the rice and dishes clean; A Ya had never seen such a hearty-eating severely injured person, moreover one running a high fever — normally it would be hard to work up an appetite, not vomiting would already be good.

Yet the other party, looking at the empty bowls and plates, actually asked: "Is there more? I haven't eaten my fill yet."

Liu Qi, unknown when he had set down his brush, now leaned back against the armrest sitting there, looking at Shaowei on the bed, and shook his head at her: "No more; eating too much would make people suspicious."

Shaowei heard the voice, turned her head to look at him: "You can't even eat your fill of rice?"

Liu Qi looked at the bowls and plates before her: "Usually I eat quite heartily."

Only then did Shaowei realize she had eaten precisely his usual portion, and in this Wuling Commandery Prince's Mansion of his, there were probably quite a few spies and watchers of the sort often mentioned in military strategy books, monitoring his daily movements.

Seeing her ponder and then look over with a displeased frown, Liu Qi subconsciously and with some interest thought she would say something mocking him, such as "Can't even let me eat my fill of rice, yet dare boast you're very useful" — that sort of complaint.

But heard her say displeased: "Since it's like that, why didn't you say so earlier? I could have divided a bowl for you."

Liu Qi was slightly stunned; this stun was not feigned.

He looked at that girl who was extremely sharp yet not at all biting; she seemed displeased that she had unknowingly snatched away someone else's rice; this behavior was not her intention.

Of course, she didn't feel she was wrong at all; what she was displeased about was him not saying so earlier.

Liu Qi recovered, just about to say it was fine, but saw she simply did not linger in this useless emotion to argue, and instead turned to say: "I've eaten well; now you can examine the injury and change the medicine."

Liu Qi rarely stunned again, then followed her words, nodded with self-aware amusement, tactfully rose from behind the table, and took Deng Hu to withdraw to the outer study.

The young man carrying the medicine box stayed behind to help.

The young man's name was A He; he and A Ya were twin brother and sister born on the same day.

The siblings were born in a small tribe in Nanjiang; struggles among the many tribes of the South were frequent, a place imperial authority could hardly reach; A Ya and A He's parents and clansmen were massacred by another tribe two years ago; it was Liu Qi who saved the siblings.

The two normally followed Liu Qi like ordinary servants and maidservants; Liu Qi had a strange temperament and disliked servants talking too much; in others' eyes, this mute brother and sister indeed suited this eccentric's taste.

Yet unknown to others, the siblings had been selected by the clan since childhood to cultivate poison and medicine arts; according to A He's recollection, his and A Ya's muteness was the price of cultivating the clan's secret arts.

A Ya excelled at poison arts, including driving snakes and insects; the introverted and gentle A He excelled more at medical theory; but Shaowei was a woman after all, so at this moment it was still A Ya who examined her injury and changed the medicine; another layer of opaque cotton cloth covered the bed curtains, A Ya knelt inside the curtains, A He assisted from outside the curtains.

This bedchamber and the adjacent study were connected; both rooms were spacious, using bamboo curtains as doors, and there were many staggered screens.

Normally Liu Qi received mansion officials or visitors in the study, but everyone knew the Wuling Commandery Prince was solitary and perverse; the study door was closed more often than not.

At this moment, during the wait for Shaowei to change medicine, footsteps and attendants' blocking voices came from outside the door.

The visitor was precisely Changshi Tang Jia; he saluted outside the door requesting an audience.

Deng Hu couldn't help but glare, and said in a low voice: "Lord Tang, how come you're here again? Isn't he..."

Didn't you just say yesterday that you were disheartened and ready to pack up and leave?

Tang Jia had indeed become thoroughly disheartened recently — since the Double Ninth Festival, the Sixth Prince had drunk himself into a stupor for three consecutive days, going on a drunken rampage in his room; on the second day, upon hearing the news, he hurried over to dissuade him, only to see that dissolute youth lying on his back behind the screen grab a wine jar and hurl it at him!

Drenched in wine, Lord Tang trembled with rage; after returning, he threw himself on his desk and wept bitterly, weeping until grief and indignation overwhelmed him, whereupon he wrote a letter of blood and tears, memorializing the throne to detail the Sixth Prince's every depravity and bad habit, focusing on narrating his own incompetence, lamenting that he could not bear the responsibility of educating the Sixth Prince, and imploring His Majesty to permit him to return to the capital to request punishment, and to select another Gao Ming to come educate and save the Prince.

Tang Jia sent this letter back to the capital by fast horse.

The next day, hearing the blue-robed monk call out "Amitabha."

Today, the blue-robed monk came seeking again, intoning "Amitabha" to say that the Sixth Prince had not drunk wine this day, and let people deliver meals normally; Lord Tang abruptly opened his eyes, muttering: "Has he realized his errors and turned back?"

The blue-robed monk hesitated, regarding Lord Tang with near-admiration as he recited: "This... Amitabha."

Lord Tang pondered left and right, but in the end still came seeking.

He saluted through the door, but Liu Qi did not have anyone open the door to receive him.

Liu Qi sat behind the book desk, propping his temples in a lazy posture, glanced toward the inner chamber's direction, and said in a perfunctory tone: "I am nurturing my spirit, have no mind to hear the Changshi's admonitions; Changshi, please return."

Hearing this, Tang Jia's face darkened, grief and indignation surging in his heart once more, and he declared resonantly: "The Sixth Prince need not find Tang Jia verbose, nor need he address me as Changshi any longer!"

As he spoke, he raised his hand and bowed deeply toward the direction of Chang'an City, saying: "Only awaiting His Majesty's edict permitting this lowly official to return to the capital; once it arrives, Tang Jia will depart immediately, and from then on, in this Commandery Prince's Mansion, there will be no one to needlessly trouble the Sixth Prince again!"

At the tail of his words, grief had far surpassed anger, and Lord Tang stood before the door, his wide sleeves raised but not yet swept down, not rushing to complete the gesture of flicking his sleeves and leaving.

Until a youth's raised voice came from within the room: "Good, when that day comes, I will personally host a banquet to congratulate Lord Tang on the joy of escaping this poor mountain and bitter water!"

Lord Tang's eyes twitched at those words; his robe sleeve ultimately swept down fiercely, he turned and walked down the stone steps and away.

However, after walking ten-odd steps, Lord Tang's footsteps suddenly paused, wait...

He turned his head back, gazing at those two tightly shut doors, then carefully reconsidered the words that had just come from within; hosting a banquet to drive someone away was infuriating enough, but "escaping poor mountain and bitter water"... the Sixth Prince also knows this place is poor mountain and bitter water? Yes, who would not know!

Lifting his foot again, Tang Jia's steps became heavy and slow.

Setting aside all the bad habits, the Sixth Prince still wishes him well in his heart, and does not want him to stay here suffering alongside him.

As for the excessive drinking, it is indeed wrong... but it was the Double Ninth Festival, surely because of myriad longings and pains in his heart, yet unable to pay respects, he could only drown his sorrows in wine.

Lord Tang, whose heart was very skilled at dying and coming alive again, walked a stretch of road, gazing at the autumn colors filling his sight, and sighed deeply, filled with incomparable regret.

If even he leaves, who else will truly guard the Sixth Prince? At that time this child will likely spiral completely out of control, ruined thoroughly inside and out, rotting and festering completely.

Ai, truly should not have impulsively sent that letter back to the capital.

Tang Jia suddenly became incomparably anxious.

However... His Majesty manages myriad affairs daily, toils over state matters, worries over the Xiongnu, and is busy seeking longevity; one supposes he may not even have the leisure to read his letter? Even if he reads it, he may also have no time to attend to it, merely tossing it aside and letting it be?

Tang Jia soothed and persuaded his own anxiety, one hand clenched in a fist, the other cupping it, fist lightly striking palm, ceaselessly chanting silently in his heart: "It's fine, it's fine... it's fine!"

Liu Qi was completely unaware that over here Tang Changshi had once again coaxed himself into calm.

Two ke and more had passed, yet the matter of A Ya cleaning and changing medicine for Shaowei in the inner chamber had still not finished.

The words spoken to provoke Tang Changshi into leaving — Liu Qi had originally been worried that the noise from the inner chamber would arouse Tang Changshi's suspicion.

That still-unnamed she was gravely injured, necessarily requiring the wound to be cleaned first before reapplying medicine and bandaging; this process was utterly torturous, not much different from the various ordeal techniques in the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

She was by nature extraordinarily vigilant; hearing people speaking outside, she would surely force herself to endure without a sound; this undoubtedly doubled the suffering, hence dispatching Tang Changshi away as quickly as possible was the proper business.

Yet the man was sent away, but the inner chamber still transmitted not a shred of pained sound, remaining quiet throughout.

Liu Qi turned his head to look toward the inner chamber's direction.

Only now did he realize that the reason she insisted on eating first was probably to have the strength to endure this bitter punishment.

She is very skilled at arranging her body, yet so reckless with her life, daring to assassinate Zhu Zhi alone.

After waking, not a trace of lingering fear; hearing Zhu Zhi was still alive, in that instant she seemed already to be pondering how to kill him next time.

After another ke passed, A Ya and her brother finally came out.

A He held a copper basin, piled full of bloodstained bandages removed and replaced.

Deng Hu received it, personally taking it away to burn.

A Ya pointed toward the inner room, made three simple gestures toward Liu Qi: first winding her arm, then pinching fingers to bring something to her mouth, finally pressing palms together at her cheek — indicating the person inside had finished changing medicine and also swallowed medicine, and had now fallen into a deep sleep.

Liu Qi nodded, did not go in again, only had A Ya attend to the care.

Shaowei's current condition — being able to fall into deep sleep — is actually beneficial for recovery from her injuries.

Only she is truly weak, and on top of that developed a high fever, which provoked the trace of cold poison remaining in her body to seize the opportunity and flare up, adding to this lively mess.

On ordinary days, when this remaining bit of cold poison flared up, Shaowei could already endure it quite easily, but now with half her life gone, it was truly adding insult to injury, pain upon pain in unconsciousness, as if falling into an ice cellar, causing continuous nightmares.

Mother's pained face, ice-cold trembling hands clamping around her throat;

The Feng family brothers and sisters' mockery, Feng Xu's helpless sighs;

The icy river water beneath Tianlang Mountain, winding around her so she could not breathe;

When the cold poison flared, Feng Xian suddenly bursting in...

The dagger in Hu Wu's grasp, the large hand with which Qin Fu held up a blood bowl...

Countless scenes entangled like a silk net; just as Shaowei was about to suffocate, she shouted: "... Scram, all of you scram!"

The nightmare instantly collapsed; Shaowei opened her eyes gasping, only to see a candle lamp suspended in the darkness, that candle lamp held in someone's hand.