Chapter 44: with translation of chapter title

"Who told you to kowtow? Are you complaining that my gold dragon gall grass is too much and you can't use it all?" Mu Yuanzhi lifted her chin, gesturing for Xiao Yunzi to keep adding hot water to the bathtub.

Xiao Yunzi nodded slowly, overjoyed to tears, knowing his master not only trusted him but also wouldn't hold it against him! He hurried to pour hot water.

"From now on, no matter the reason or purpose, you must obey only my orders, understand?" Mu Yuanzhi also said this to the other three present.

Working for her, the most important things are loyalty and obedience.

Xiao Yunzi shouted loudly: "Understood! I, the servant, will keep it in mind!"

"You said Gu Rongjin has done you a favor; what favor is that?" Mu Yuanzhi asked.

Xiao Yunzi explained calmly: "Do you know what the 'fighting arena' is, master? It's a place where people are made to fight beasts, a disgraceful entertainment enjoyed by many officials and nobles. Two years ago, I was sold into the fighting arena."

Mu Yuanzhi furrowed her brows, so cruel…

"Was it he who saved you?"

"That's one way to put it." Xiao Yunzi recalled the scene, still frightened: "That night the fighting arena caught fire, and we 'beasts' hurriedly took the chance to escape."

Hongdou and the other two all listened with bated breath, eager to ask: "And then?"

"The fire spread quickly, but luckily Gu Rongjin, who happened to be passing by, let us all get on his carriage, so we could escape! Later I learned that besides us 'beasts,' the arena's management and spectators all perished in the flames!"

"That's poetic justice!" Linglong exclaimed excitedly.

Mu Yuanzhi listened, her brows never relaxing, she pondered and then asked Xiao Yunzi: "Do you know who is behind the fighting arena?"

Xiao Yunzi hesitated, then said: "I heard it's the Minister of Justice."

"The Minister of Justice?!" Mu Yuanzhi frowned even tighter.

Everyone else, upon hearing, felt the Minister of Justice deserved to die!

"Master, if you don't soak now, the water will get cold again," Hongdou reminded.

Xiao Yunzi saw Mu Yuanzhi still thinking, knowing she had nothing more to ask, and said: "I'll take Xiao Yunzi out first."

"Mm." Mu Yuanzhi answered absentmindedly, while two maidservants attended her herbal bath.

Could Gu Rongjin really be connected to the arson and extermination case of the Minister of Justice's residence?

"Hongdou, Linglong, have you heard any news about the Minister of Justice's case? How is Prime Minister Xiao's investigation going?"

Hongdou: "I heard the case has been sent back to the Imperial Court of Justice; Prime Minister Xiao is investigating the kidnappers of the abduction case, but that fool is still in the great prison of the Court."

Linglong nodded: "Since the Minister of Justice's post went vacant, all big and small cases seem to have fallen to the Imperial Court of Justice."

Mu Yuanzhi thought that fool wouldn't live much longer; Pei Yunxi wouldn't let him stay alive.

If the Ministry of Justice were to decline like this, the Imperial Court of Justice would benefit, yet it seems the Court has nothing to do with Gu Rongjin.

I can't figure it out.

Mu Yuanzhi thought and thought until her head ached; she reflected that if she weren't destined to marry Gu Rongjin, she truly would have no interest in the former dynasty's power struggles.

Pei Shangyan couldn't stay a moment in the Eastern Palace; he ordered people to divide all the precious medicinal herbs there into two halves, sending one half to Changle Palace for Pei Yunxi and the other half to Weiyang Palace for Mu Yuanzhi.

"Elder brother Crown Prince, you came but didn't go in to see little sister?" Pei Shangling happened to be leaving Changle Palace, saw Pei Shangyan merely entrusting someone to deliver the goods while he himself was about to leave, and asked puzzledly.

Pei Shangyan: "I still need to go to Weiyang Palace to visit little sister Mu Yuanzhi; although the poison has been resolved, I'm still uneasy and must see her myself."

"The poison is gone? I said she has a way, so don't worry needlessly; besides, her constitution is robust, just like little sister's—little sister is frail, and at times like this we brothers most need to stay by her side."

The elderly physician who had just come out of Changle Palace couldn't help but approach and say: "Your Highness Fourth Prince, that's mistaken; Princess Mu Yuanzhi has been through a life-and-death crisis!"

He shook his head, unable to bear recalling, and continued to describe the day's harrowing ordeal: "First we had to suspend his life with a thousand-year-old wild ginseng, then drain almost all his blood, then slowly transfuse the toxin-laced blood back drop by drop; a slight mistake would be fatal."

Not to mention how painful and agonizing the whole process would be!

Pei Shangling frowned after hearing, and almost immediately said: "If that's the case, little sister also had no choice but to pass through the gates of hell."

"That's not comparable," the elderly physician objected, "His Majesty must guarantee Princess Yunxi's safety, absolutely not allowing the princess's blood volume to drop too low, which caused Princess Mu Yuanzhi to waste a lot of blood." At the same time it increased the difficulty of the blood exchange.

One could say that if it weren't for Princess Mu Yuanzhi's tenacious vitality and her understanding of medicine, even after repeatedly falling into coma she would have barely survived, couldn't have discussed with them what to do next, and this blood exchange wouldn't have been so successful!

But no matter what the elderly physician said, Pei Shangling only felt relieved that Pei Yunxi was safe and sound.

Anyway, Mu Yuanzhi always has a way to save herself, but little sister is different—she only has us!

On the contrary, Pei Shangyan was completely dazed, speechless.

He hadn't failed to imagine how dangerous the process was, but hearing the elderly physician say it himself still pained him greatly.

Pei Shangyan felt as if his heart were on fire, he didn't care how Pei Shangling was, turned and hurried to Weiyang Palace.

But just as he had vaguely feared, little sister Mu Yuanzhi simply refused to see him, only allowing the medicinal herbs he brought to enter.

Fortunately, she still accepted his things, which suggests there might still be a chance for reconciliation between the siblings.

This time Pei Shangyan couldn't even enter the gates of Weiyang Palace, and he didn't want to contend with these servants now, lest he upset little sister Mu Yuanzhi.

He paced at the gate without leaving, from time to time seeing people from Weiyang Palace carrying bundles of medicinal herbs rushing in and out.

Little sister Mu Yuanzhi has suffered such a great ordeal; how much precious medicine will she need to recover?

Once upon a time she was so healthy, only occasionally bumping into things, and she would seize them to act coquettishly.

Nowadays? Injuries are as routine as meals, and she no longer acts coquettish with them, silently enduring alone.

She has grown up, become just as he once hoped, capable of standing on her own, yet he isn't happy at all; he misses her former self.

Will little sister Mu Yuanzhi still act coquettish and cling to him as she used to?

Clearly knowing it's impossible, Pei Shangyan stubbornly assumes over and over, as if everything happening now were just a dream; when he wakes, his little sister Mu Yuanzhi will return.

One month later, on a day of warm spring and blooming flowers, precisely such an auspicious day, the funerary coffin of the Protector-General and his wife was escorted back to the capital by Prime Minister Xiao Yichen.