"Hold the wound, hold it!"
"Commander!"
"The wound is open, bring the boiled cloth!"
The torrential rain poured down, and the blood was washed by the water in a meandering manner, flowing down the stone steps of the palace.
Countless palace people came and went in a hurry with hot water and cloth towels, but no one stopped or even turned their eyes when they passed by Shan Chao, as if he was an air that did not exist.
Shan Chao's chest was drenched by the winter rain, and a pinprick-like cold rose in his bone marrow. He himself couldn't feel the existence of his body, and his eyes were only fixed on the threshold a few steps away, which was sprinkled with blood.
"I can't stop it!" A shrill cry erupted from the house.
The sounds of coughing up blood, running, and panic-stricken shouts rang out, and Empress Wu's shout suddenly overwhelmed all the din: "Come on! Call all the imperial doctors in the palace immediately, hurry up!"
The court lady was ordered to rush out, and when she passed the threshold, she even lost one of her shoes, and before she could turn her head back, she plunged into the heavy rain. Several voices in the room shouted at the same time: "Golden sore medicine!" "Keep the golden sore medicine pouring up, hurry up!"
Shan Chao's already stiff body finally moved, and he staggered forward.
But at the next moment, the two long knives crossed in front of him, and there was a loud "clang!", and it was the two guards who had been watching the movement here brazenly drew their knives and stopped him.
Someone said: "The magician is here!"
Ming Chongyan floated over from the end of the corridor, and wherever his figure went, the guards knelt on one knee. In the past, everyone knew that Xie Yun hated to see this "jumping god", but seeing him now, a sense of absurd impulse and hope suddenly arose in everyone's heart.
"..." Shan Chao moved his lips before making an extremely hoarse and difficult voice: "Mr. Ming..."
Ming Chongyan paused, seeing the handsome and tough young guard in front of him with a pale face, he blinked his eyes in surprise: "You are—"
Ma Xin stepped forward quickly without even looking at Shan Chao, and bowed to Ming Chongyan: "Sir, please come this way quickly."
Shan Chao's eyes were red, and he choked up, "Please..."
Ming Chongyan was silent for a moment, sighed softly, and beckoned: "You come with me."
"No!" Ma Xin interrupted furiously: "It is he who, in order to seize the position of the leader of the martial arts alliance, avenged the leader of my family and wanted to put the leader to death! This white-eyed wolf—"
"He may be needed in the healing process," Ming Chongyan interrupted: "Besides, how to deal with this person, Commander Xie needs to make his own decision... You come with me."
There were people coming and going in the room, and Empress Wu stood outside in person, holding the marble screen tightly with her golden finger guard hands, with such force that even her arms were shaking.
Behind the marble screen, several people surrounded the blood-stained couch, and when they saw Shan Chao coming in, they all raised their heads and glared.
Ming Chongyan stepped forward quickly, and only glanced at the couch before his eyebrows twitched fiercely.
Xie Yun's left rib was pierced by an extremely sharp and narrow sword wound. Although he had been poured with the golden sore medicine secretly prepared by the palace, the blood continued to wash away the medicine powder. Due to excessive blood loss, from his sweaty side face to his bare upper body, he presented a lifeless ice-white color, as if in such dim light, he could see through the transparent skin at a glance, and see the light blue color underneath. The weak, throbbing blood.
Ming Chongyan took a hot cloth towel and wiped his hands, bent down and pressed the wound to check, and said, "Blood transfusion is needed."
Everyone was stunned for a moment, Empress Wu said in astonishment: "Transfusion... what blood transfusion?"
"The commander has lost a lot of blood, and his life is dying. He needs to take blood from a young and strong man and pour it into his body to make up for the lost blood." Ming Chongyan turned around and scanned the surroundings, his eyes flicked over several guards one by one, He frowned and said, "Originally drinking sheep's blood would have the same effect, but now it's not too late. Who of you..."
Shan Chao interrupted: "I'll come."
Shan Chao strode forward, the room was quiet for a moment, Ma Xin yelled: "Get out of here! Let me do it!"
"Yes, you get out of the way!"
"I'm coming! Draw my blood!"
"Mr. Ming! I..."
"Quiet!" Ming Chongyan patted the bed, and said loudly: "Not everyone can take blood, come here! Get a drainage bowl!"
Everyone was puzzled, but there was no other way at this time, so they had to get the water bowl as promised. Ming Chongyan took Xie Yun's blood and dripped them into the bowls respectively, and then took the blood of Shan Chao, Ma Xin and others and dripped them in respectively. After a while, I saw two drops of blood rolling in Shan Chao's water bowl , merged together.
Ma Xin stared eagerly, and was furious when he saw this: "What does this mean?"
Ming Chongyan pulled out an extremely slender silver tube from his sleeve, and said decisively: "Blood and energy also need to be in harmony with each other. Needless to say, we can only use a single guard-I dare you, taking blood needs to be quiet and clean, and it is necessary Please Your Highness the Queen lead the rest of the people to evade for the time being."
Both ends of the silver tube are connected with pale gold needles, which are obviously the secret gold used for the soul-fixing needle, and the whole thing looks very strange. Everyone present looked at each other in blank dismay, all hesitating and refusing to move, a few people even impulsively stepped forward and wanted to say something; but then they were stopped by the queen: "Everyone back down!"
"Empress, we..."
Empress Wu gasped slightly, and said after a while: "Listen to Mr. Ming."
Although the queen was extremely worried, but when she saw Ming Chongyan cured the emperor's headache and chronic illness with a needle, she had to order all the left and right to retreat, and she also exited the room.
Before closing the door with her own hands, she raised her eyes and glanced through the gap. I saw Shan Chao kneeling on the side of the bed, one arm had already been pricked with a gold needle by Ming Chongyan to take blood, while the other hand was tightly grasping Xie Yun's cold, white hand that was hanging down by his side.
—From the perspective of the outside, it is clearly a palm-to-palm posture without gaps.
Empress Wu's eyes flashed with astonishment, shock, and disbelief, but then she gritted her teeth and closed the door gently without saying a word.
·
With a soft click, the room fell into silence again.
Xie Yun's profile was lost in the gray, even his lips were light blue, and his eyelashes cast a fan-shaped circle of deep black on the eyelids. Ming Chongyan pierced the secret gold needle on the other end of the silver tube into the inside of his elbow, wiped off his sweat, and said anxiously: "This...it should be all right, let's see, if you feel uncomfortable, please tell me..."
Shan Chao turned a deaf ear to it, and poured his internal energy continuously from his palm into Xie Yun's weak meridians.
All his sight, hearing, and perception were focused on this quiet silhouette on the bed. It was as if nothing else existed in this world except them who were connected by blood.
All resentment, jealousy, and pain turned into ashes at this moment, and gradually fell silent in a colder despair.
Ming Chongyan shook out large and small bottles and jars from his sleeves, picked a few and opened them, mixed the medicine powder with the secret gold sore medicine made in the palace, and sprinkled it on Xie Yun's left rib wound one by one. I don't know what the medicine powder is made of, but the room is filled with a fragrant fragrance, which actually covered up a lot of the thick blood; the blood flow that had gradually slowed down gradually solidified, and after a while, it was finally completely suppressed by a thick layer of medicine powder up.
"Okay, just stop the bleeding completely, and the rest... stop!" Ming Chongyan was startled: "It's ok! Are you dying?"
He reached out to snatch the silver tube, but Shan Chao protected his arm and dodged to prevent him from interrupting the blood transfusion—the extremely rapid blood loss had made it difficult for him to get up, and he staggered on the soles of his feet in an instant, almost falling to the ground.
Ming Chongyan said: "I didn't tell you to drain all the blood for him! Stop it!"
"...it's okay," Shan Chao said stubbornly, the corners of his lips were chapped and gray, his whole body was haggard, but his eyes were shining with an unusual, bright light like a gambler's excitement: "it's okay, it's okay... I'm still Can… "
"You're going to die! What's the point of that?"
Ming Chongyan was furious and wanted to say something, but suddenly felt something and turned around suddenly.
On the bed, Xie Yun opened his eyes slightly at some point.
"—Thank you Commander?"
Ming Chongyan stepped forward, Shan Chao also moved behind him, but it seemed that his feet suddenly fell with a thousand weights, and he stopped abruptly.
Ming Chongyan was concerned: "Are you okay?"
Xie Yun's gaze was hidden behind the eyelashes, loose, blurred and unclear, perhaps because of the blood transfusion, a few traces of blood were vaguely revealed under the thin ice-like fragile skin, as if it would turn into thousand-colored at the slightest touch. Thousands of cracked pieces.
He hasn't passed the most dangerous time yet.
This man who controls tens of thousands of forbidden troops in the Beiya, and hides behind countless mysterious and cruel rumors, stands at the pinnacle of imperial power, should be as firm as a blade and as cold as ice and snow.
But at this moment, he looked thin and weak, as if he could easily be killed if he stretched out his hand to hold down that slender throat and pinched it a little.
Ming Chongyan bent down, but was blocked by Xie Yun's raised hand.
"..." The breathing in the quiet room was unusually obvious. Under the unblinking gaze of the two eyes, Xie Yun withdrew his hand, turned to his left arm, and pulled out the needle with great effort and could not refuse.
Ming Chongyan moved and said: "Commander!..."
The choked sobs were like breaking ice, slowly oozing out from the frozen air. Shan Chao gasped for breath, blocked his mouth with his fist, and his broad and strong shoulders couldn't help trembling.
"... let's go..." Xie Yun said each word in a soft and hoarse voice.
Shan Chao stepped forward suddenly, grabbed his hand tremblingly, and knelt on the ground on one knee: "No! I was wrong, I really didn't mean it, please..."
Xie Yun shook his head.
"You... you can do whatever you want, and I can do whatever you want. I can do whatever you want, please don't let me go..."
Shan Chao tightly grasped Xie Yun's cold and bone-chilling hand with both palms, and pressed it against his forehead. Tears flowed down the young man's straight nose and spilled drop by drop onto the blood-stained couch.
"Sitting in the mountains and rivers, Vega and the world..." He said desperately: "As long as we can go back to the time when nothing happened... when nothing happened... At that time..."
However, Xie Yun slowly withdrew his hand.
"You go," he said, closing his eyes exhausted:
"you're free."
·
In the second year of Linde, today he led civil and military officials, and Empress Wu led internal and external wives, gathered envoys and chiefs from various countries, toured Mount Tai eastward to sacrifice to heaven and earth, set up three platforms of Wuhe, Long live, and Jingyun, changed Yuan Qianfeng, and curbed Shi Jide.
The emperor's grace shines universally, amnesty to the world, civil and military officials above the third rank will be awarded a first rank, and those below the fourth rank will be given a rank.
In the first year of Qianfeng, the Ersheng returned to Beijing with a guard of honor.
Xie Yun, the commander of the Imperial Army of the Beiya, was unable to move because of serious injuries. He was allowed to stay in Gaoxing Palace to recuperate his injuries until he returned to Beijing in the early spring.
"I do not go."
It just snowed in the evening, and the Imperial Garden of Qingliang Palace was covered with snow. The queen was wrapped in a silver-white fox fur and a silk brocade skirt made by the big red palace, with a gold curved phoenix inlaid with precious tassels in her hair. Standing under the plum tree, she turned her dark and sharp eyebrows and looked behind her carefully.
Snow fell on Shan Chao's shoulders, but his arrow-sleeved waist was straight, like a sharp sword standing in the snow.
Empress Wu's tone slightly increased: "The Holy Majesty and the Palace have decided to promote you to a real position and be awarded a noble title after returning to Beijing, but you are unwilling to leave?"
Shan Chao said: "Thank you for the promotion. But the commander's life is in danger, and the minister has committed a lot of crimes, so he cannot leave. Please forgive me, the queen."
Shan Chao's words were not heavy, even his voice was very weak, but for some reason Empress Wu heard some kind of decisive and irresistible meaning.
"Even if you want to stay and serve the decoction, your commander may not be willing to see you, right?" Empress Wu sneered: "I heard that you stood at the gate of the side hall again last night. Xie Yun didn't even open the gate of the courtyard, but really of?"
"..."
"Even if you stay in the palace, it won't help. It's better to go back to the capital first, and restrain the Beiya imperial army for the palace, which can be regarded as a great help to your commander - besides, swords and swords have no eyes in the martial arts field, Xie Yun can't really do that. And if he regards you as an enemy, maybe when he returns to Beijing and sees you are diligent and loyal, the grudge will disappear, wouldn't it be the best of both worlds?"
The queen felt that she had said all the good and bad words, but the answer to her was still silence.
Not far away, the eunuch carried a lantern and walked around the corridor, followed by the little palace lady bent over, her footsteps creaking in the snow.
It was to send medicine to the side hall.
Empress Wu turned around and looked Shan Chao up and down for a long while.
This young man was already much taller than her, his eyebrows and eyes were cast from black iron, deep, indifferent and masculine, and his body was strong and neat, enough to make a boudoir girl's heart flutter.
But his hair is still short, and the ebony beads are wrapped around his wrists with a vermilion ribbon, which can be seen faintly from under the arrow sleeves of the imperial guard uniform—the temple atmosphere of the ancient Qingdeng Buddha has not disappeared from him, faintly revealing the abstinence and harsh temperament of his family.
Empress Wu narrowed her eyes thoughtfully:
"What on earth are you thinking?"
"I'm going to die." Shan Chao's answer was still succinct: "After the commander recovers, I am willing to escort the commander to Beijing, and I will definitely let him handle it at that time."
If the needle can't get in and the water can't get in, Empress Wu is almost at a loss. If there is a memorial around her, she will definitely fall over with her head and face: "It means that Xie Yun will not leave even if Xie Yun is not good, just keep in the cool Serve as a watchdog at the gate of the temple, right?"
"yes."
"I have searched for the spirit of Ganoderma lucidum for thousands of years. Tomorrow, I will hurry back to Beijing to get it, and then send it back for your commander to take. By then, the dead will be brought back to life!"
"..."
"Can't wait for just a few days?!" Empress Wu couldn't believe it, and said sternly: "Shan Chao! What are you thinking about all day long?!"
The implication in these words is already very obvious, Shan Chao paused, then raised his eyes and asked: "Your Majesty has searched for a millennium Ganoderma lucidum?"
It is completely talking about chickens and ducks, not on the same level of thinking. Empress Wu was about to be laughed out of anger, and finally gave up trying to persuade him with good words, and flung the sleeves of her robe behind her: "Forget it, think about it for yourself! There is nothing here in this Palace, the Holy Majesty's over there..."
Shan Chao asked, "When will it be delivered?"
Empress Wu lost her temper completely, and she didn't want to talk to him anymore, she said coldly: "This is all I have to say, so you can do it yourself!" After saying that, he walked away.
As a result, that night, Empress Wu returned to her bedroom after dinner, and was about to invite someone to ask how her luggage was prepared for her return to Beijing tomorrow. Suddenly, she saw her confidant palace maid trotting all the way to report: "My lord! The single guard robbed you. I went back to Beijing to get the token of the thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum essence, left the palace before the key was released, and now flew towards Chang'an!"
The teacup in the queen's hand fell on the table with a bang: "What?"
Empress Wu stood up abruptly, confused in her heart, and blurted out, "Does Commander Xie know? Come on, follow me to the side hall..."
The maid was about to step back and order the sedan horse, when Empress Wu suddenly reacted: "Stop! Does Commander Xie know about this?"
"Reporting to my lord, the side hall reported that Commander Xie had been in a coma all afternoon. I dare not disturb the patients..."
Empress Wu sat back slowly, her eyes flickered, she didn't know what she was thinking about, and after a while she raised her hand and waved it: "Go down. Since Commander Xie doesn't know yet, don't let him know... Take care Your mouth."
The confidant maid has served Empress Wu for a long time, and she intuitively felt that the sentence "Since he doesn't know, don't let him know" has other meanings; but she shuddered, nodded yes, and then stepped back cautiously.
·
Three days later, Shan Chao flew thousands of miles to Beijing and entered the palace to get the Ganoderma lucidum; then, without resting for a moment, he turned around and drove away along the same road.
Thousands of mountains and rivers, wind and rain, and several horses were exhausted at the post station all the way. On the day I returned to Fenggao Palace, it was snowing outside the courtyard, and the ground was empty and white.
The little doctor girl under Ming Chongyan took the Ganoderma lucidum, opened the door and went in. After a while, he came out, stood on the steps and gave Shan Chaoying a blessing, and said softly: "Shan Guard, please go back, the Ganoderma lucidum has been presented, and you can decoct it and take it later."
Shan Chao stood at the bottom of the steps, with snow foam on the ends of his hair and eyebrows, his eyes were bloodshot, his chin was faintly visible with ashen stubble, and his voice was as hoarse as if it had been ground on sandpaper: "Commander these few days... "
"It's better, now I can sit up and lean for a while."
Shan Chao said "oh", but didn't leave, as if hesitating for something. After a long time, he took a deep breath and asked in a low voice, "Then... what did he say just now?..."
"It's nothing," the little doctor's voice came from above, seemingly inexplicable: "Well - I just said I got it, please go back, there is nothing else."
Shan Chao stood motionless for a long time, like a black and haggard stone statue in the snow.
After a long while, he finally gave another soft "oh", turned around, and walked slowly step by step along the way he came.
An earth dragon was burning in the side hall, and the window lattice was slightly hidden. Xie Yun closed his eyes slightly and leaned against the window, wearing a snow-white fox fur that could not be seen. In the cold winter, his thin and cold side cheeks and fox fur were integrated into one, and the two colors were completely indistinguishable.
Ming Chongyan put down the medicine book, shook his head and sighed: "In the past, I only thanked Commander for his perfection of martial arts, but now I know that he is familiar with the thirty-six tactics. No wonder he can climb to such a high position..."
Xie Yun didn't answer.
Ming Chongyan turned his head to look up and down, but saw that his face was calm, as if he had fallen asleep. After a while, the alchemist finally couldn't help but snorted and laughed again: "Soldiers without bloodshed, playing hard to get - the commander's move is really clever, I can only say admiration, admiration!"
Xie Yun's eyes were motionless, and even his face was like the surface of a frozen lake without any waves.
It took a long time to see him raise his hand and gently push the window lattice, and the wind and snow in the room disappeared without a trace.