Zi Jin held the letter in his arms, burning the skin on his chest like a branding iron. They followed him on the road all night, and only dismounted to rest when the sky gradually brightened.
He leaned against a tree and looked at the letter solemnly. After a while, he opened it silently.
The man just now said that she fell off her horse and was injured. His words were so vague that he was completely confused and almost suffocated. But he didn't dare to ask, nor did he dare to ask where she was injured. Now, he was afraid that he would reveal the slightest flaw and make Xia Yue embarrassed.
Seeing this, Chu Qin could not help but advise: "Your Highness, since that person said that he would treat the young lady like a distinguished guest, it should be correct. You don't have to worry too much about her safety."
There was no one else here, so he didn't need to hide his feelings anymore. The uneasiness and grief in his heart were all written on his face. He pulled out the letter with trembling fingers, read it hurriedly, and remained silent for a long time after finishing reading it.
Zi Jin stood under the tree, staring blankly at the clouds in the distance that were dyed red by the morning sun, motionless. After a long time, he lowered his head and read the letter again, this time reading much slower than the last time, almost imprinting every word in his mind.
The eyes that were as bright as the sea of stars under the long black eyelashes were now surging with emotions.
Chu Qin couldn't help but touch Zi Jin.
Zi Jin came to his senses and handed him the letter.
Chu Qin quickly read it and asked, "What are your plans, Your Highness?"
Zi Jin said calmly, "He holds her life in his hands. Even if he asked me to commit suicide right here, I wouldn't hesitate at all, not to mention accompanying him in a play." He paused, then added, "It just makes others suffer."
Chu Qin lit the fire stick and handed it to him.
He put the letter on the fire, and the letter slowly turned into ash in the flames. The flames flickered in his eyes.
He asked calmly, "How is Wang Gan?"
When Chu Zhong heard Zi Jin's question, he simply reported what happened last night.
Zijin said: "If he is really not dead, let him live a few more days."
three
The soldiers were at the gates of the city, and Xu Jingye was standing on the parade platform. No one knew that while the entire Imperial Capital was in high spirits before the expedition, a man on a white horse had already arrived in the Southern Territory.
As soon as the sky brightened, Shang Rui was already dressed and stepped onto the reviewing platform step by step.
Everyone knelt in unison at the emperor's feet, shouting "Long live the emperor." The sound was so deafening that it sounded like an answer from heaven, echoing over the parade ground.
The flags are flying.
Shang Rui reached out and took the wine cup presented by the Imperial Observatory. The cold wind made his sleeves flutter, and he squinted his eyes and handed a cup to Xu Jingye: "General Xu, I'll wait for your triumphant return."
Xu Jingye knelt on the ground, clasped his fists and saluted: "I will not fail in my mission!" Then he stood up, took the wine and drank it in one gulp, turned around and shouted: "Let's go!"
Suddenly, the sound of gongs and drums filled the air, morale was high, and the soldiers shouted as they marched south.
Shang Rui stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the direction where Xu Jingye's flag was going. When the sky got bright, Ming Lian stepped forward and advised, "Your Majesty, it's cold and windy, should we go back to the palace first?"
Shang Rui did not make any comment and stood there silently for a long time. He only left slowly when light snow began to fall in the sky. He did not expect that he was called to Chengfu Palace by the Queen Mother on the way.
The Queen Mother was obviously a little nervous about her brother's going to the war. After Shang Rui arrived, she first scolded Prince Huai, then talked about her sister, the Princess Huai, and finally turned the topic to Jingtan.
"You said that if Jingtan had entered the palace last year, he would have at least thought about it." When the Queen Mother talked about this, there was still some blame in her tone for Shang Rui.
Shang Rui did not drink the tea on the table, but opened the lid and gently drew circles on the edge of the cup with his fingertips: "Her father's thoughts are not a whim, and I'm afraid a daughter alone cannot pull him back. Besides, if this is true, how will Tan'er deal with herself in front of me and my mother? She is competitive and has a strong temper. If she has any more ideas, her life will be ruined in vain." He changed his usual playful attitude and said lightly.
"You, you are too soft-hearted," the Queen Mother accused.
"Does mother really think that her son will be useless in this life?" he suddenly said.
The Queen Mother was stunned for a moment when she heard what he said. She looked at him and then retracted her gaze. She scooped a spoonful of hot ginseng soup and said, "I know you have grievances. I interfere in everything because I am afraid that you are young and will repeat the mistakes of the previous emperor. These words should not have come out of my mouth, but the previous emperor favored eunuchs and women, and he was defeated in the wars in the west. He allowed himself to be free and easy, and didn't care about the country and the court." The Queen Mother put down the jade bowl in her hand, wiped the corner of her mouth, and said, "Your grandfather was fighting outside at the time, and he was in urgent need of food and grass. He waited for a long time for no food, so he had to kill the war horses, drink the blood and eat the meat of the horses. And your father brought a civilian woman into the palace from somewhere, and even placed her in his own bedroom. He threw the urgent report for food on the table without even looking at it. I was pregnant with you at the time, and I ran to the front of the palace at night and knelt to beg him, but he called a eunuch to send us away.
"The evidence of Madam Wei's guilt is clear. She used medicine to poison us mother and son. But just because she whispered some words in his ear and cried and shouted that she was innocent and wanted to commit suicide, he let her do whatever she wanted. Later, she came to harm me a second time and made your sister die in my womb before she was born. How can I not hate her!" The Queen Mother was so sad and angry that she even forgot to call herself.
"When your grandfather held the military power, some people tried hard to persuade him to establish himself as emperor, but he was loyal to his heart and wanted to hand over the country to you. One reason was that he loved you, and the other was that he wanted you to be the wise ruler of the Wei family forever."
"Son knows." Shang Rui replied softly.
"You don't know! You have no idea how scared I am. When the late emperor ascended the throne, there were rumors among the people that my David dynasty would die out in seven generations. Wouldn't your father be exactly the seventh generation?"
"Later, when the throne was passed to my son, didn't the message already prove itself false?" Shang Rui said.
"That's because of your grandfather! I never believed in these things before, but your father was not like he is now when he was young. It seems that he was really possessed by evil spirits."
Shang Rui knew this. Ever since he was old enough to understand, the late emperor seemed to have hysteria. His condition was sometimes good and sometimes bad. When he was good, he was just like before, doing everything himself, being wise and diligent, but when he was sick, he would drink and indulge in sex, be licentious and irritable. Once, Xian Chu tried to persuade him, but the late emperor almost drew his sword and killed him on the spot.
Later, after Shang Rui ascended the throne, the King of Wu, Shang Rui's elder brother, who was in his fiefdom, was also the same age as the late emperor. He developed the same illness and became crazy at any time. One day, he slipped and fell from the attic and died in his fiefdom.
Shang Rui put down his finger that was circling the edge of the teacup, took a handkerchief from Ming Lian, and wiped his fingertips that were wet by the tea: "If that day really comes, my son will pass the throne to Jun'er while he is still conscious, and then cut himself off from Kangning Palace."
When he spoke, his tone was extremely calm, as if he was talking about something that had nothing to do with him.
Even Minglian's hand paused slightly.
Shang Rui rarely disobeyed his mother and never said a harsh word, because when he was young, he and his mother depended on each other in this palace, and it was not easy along the way, so after he succeeded to the throne, he obeyed his mother in everything. If Xu Jingye had not become arrogant and greedy for power and wealth, and held military power, making him controlled by others in every way, he would not have wanted to kill his uncle.
Now he suddenly blurted out such a sentence, which choked Empress Dowager Xu so much that she didn't know what to say for a long time.
After leaving the Queen Mother, Shang Rui felt very upset, so he took Hongwu out of the palace. He rode a horse to Tianjiazhuang. Tian Yuan heard the noise and came out early, looking a little strange.
"What's wrong?" Shang Rui handed the reins to someone else and asked Tian Yuan.
"Miss Min said that she had a sore on her body and she wanted to see a doctor named Mu, whom she knew well. No one else was allowed to enter." Tian Yuan said as he followed Shang Rui.
"Where are the people?"
"And locked himself in the house."
"I'm asking about the one with the surname Mu." Shang Rui said.
"I have already sent someone to invite him."
Shang Rui nodded and walked straight towards Xia Yue's room.
Xia Yue locked herself in the room. After breakfast, she ground ink and wrote down the development of her illness over the past few days with paper and pen. While writing, she took off her clothes and checked them.
At this time, she heard some noise outside and thought it was Mu Yuanzhi coming, so she asked, "Mr. Mu?"
"It's me." Shang Rui replied.
"Mr. Hong?"
"What are you doing locked up in the house?"
"I have sores on my body and I'm afraid I'll infect you."
"What sore?"
"I don't know, maybe it's jaundice..."
"There's nothing to be afraid of about jaundice. I've had it before." Shang Rui pushed the door and found that it was locked tightly from the inside.
"It's okay if it's yellow sores, but I'm afraid it's—" she said slowly, "I'm afraid it's black sha."
This black sha was once an infectious disease in the Western Regions. At first, it was just a fever, and then sores would appear all over the body. The sores were first yellow, then turned red, and finally black. One village after another was infected with black sha, and it was said that very few people survived.
However, this disease has not appeared for decades, let alone in the capital, thousands of miles away, where it is unheard of.
Shang Rui couldn't help but burst out laughing when he heard that she actually suspected that she had this disease.
From last night to this morning, Xia Yue had thought that if she really got the disease, she would be in danger of death, so she even thought about how to arrange her affairs after death. When she answered just now, she was very cautious and serious, but she didn't expect to be laughed at by Shang Rui with contempt.
This mocking laugh almost irritated her.
He then continued, "This is the Imperial Capital, and it's winter. This is not the Western Regions, so there is no such thing as black sha. Open the door."
She said unhappily, "We'll have to wait for the doctor to come to know whether it is true or not."
"Can you open the door and talk?"
"I'm doing this for your own good! Mr. Hong has a large family and a great fortune. If I make him sick, I can't afford it."
Shang Rui frowned, feeling unhappy: "In all these years, I have never repeated the same sentence to anyone for the third time."
Tian Yuan had been following carefully behind him, but when he saw Shang Rui's expression, which was a sign of anger, he hurriedly said, "Sir, calm down."
Hearing Shang Rui's words, Xia Yue almost jumped up from the stool, walked to the door and said, "This is Mr. Tian's house, not yours. What right do you have to threaten me? I just said that I am doing this for your own good, and you are still trying to bully me!"
When Tian Yuan heard that Xia Yue dared to scold Shang Rui, he almost knelt down in front of Xia Yue in the room, just wanting to beg her to stop.
"You said I was a dog?" Shang Rui asked back.
He was already a little angry today, and now he was even more unhappy.
"I say you don't know what's good for you, so what?" Xia Yue was also angry. "Aren't you quite conceited? You act like the best in the world. Then come in. Anyway, I'll take you with me when I die. In the underworld, there's still-"
With a "bang", before she could finish her words, Shang Rui kicked the door open angrily.
Xia Yue was standing at the door when she felt a gust of cool wind blowing past her eyes and the door was kicked open. Fortunately, she was still some distance away from the door, otherwise she would have been knocked over by his kick.
As soon as the door opened, the two people facing each other were stunned.
She was checking the sores on her body, her clothes were half hanging on her body, her shoulders and chest were exposed. She thought it was safe with the door closed, but who could have thought that this person would suddenly kick the door.
Xia Yue screamed, and in her haste, she seemed to have no time to cover herself. Tian Yuan followed behind, not knowing what was going on. When he heard the scream, he was about to take a step forward and step into the house to see what was going on.
Upon seeing this, Shang Rui quickly closed the door with his backhand, blocking the view of others outside.
She covered her chest and turned away, but found that her back was empty, so she had to turn around again and pull up her clothes to cover the front. She glanced at him and said in a sharp tone: "Can you turn around first so I can put on my clothes."
Unexpectedly, Shang Rui smiled coldly: "You tried every means to irritate me, let me in, and took off your clothes, just to show me."
Xia Yue was so angry at his words that she almost went crazy. She didn't care about anything else and just picked up the teacup on the table and threw it at him.
Shang Rui dodged it.
The cup hit the door.
Tian Yuan and Ming Lian were terrified when they heard what happened outside.
However, Xia Yue only had one hand that could move, and she used it to grab the clothes. She was so angry that she let go and tried to deal with him again. The clothes started to slide down again, and she was so scared that she quickly squatted down and pulled the clothes in front of her.
Shang Rui raised his eyebrows: "See, you said you didn't take it off just for me to see."
It was really the first time that she was mad at someone, but she had no way to deal with him. Her usual stubbornness and sharp tongue were totally useless. She squatted there, her clothes in disarray, and a man stood in front of her, laughing at her condescendingly.
She felt extremely desperate and suddenly began to cry. At first, she shed tears silently, but later she actually cried out loud.
This made Shang Rui dumbfounded.
"Young Master." Ming Lian didn't know what was going on in the room, and called Shang Rui worriedly.
Then Shang Rui heard that Hongwu had also come, and of course Tian Yuan was still there.
For a moment, he actually felt that the current situation was more troublesome than the 300,000 troops in Huaizhou.
"Young Master." Ming Lian saw that there was no movement from Shang Rui for a long time, and only heard Xia Yue's crying, so he called out again worriedly.
Shang Rui rubbed his forehead and squeezed out a sentence after a long while: "Don't stay here, go away."
"Young Master..." This time it was Tian Yuan who spoke hesitantly.
"Hurry up." Shang Rui raised his voice and gave an order.
So, everyone dared not stay any longer and retreated to another place.
After the footsteps gradually faded away, Shang Rui turned around and looked at Xia Yue again. Not to mention her clothes, she probably didn't even comb her hair because her hands were inconvenient, and her long hair fell to the ground with her.
“Stop crying…” He really had a headache.
"I was a little angry at first, but then I was just teasing you," he explained.
"Stop crying, the doctor will be here soon, put on your clothes," he said again.
Xia Yue then raised her tear-stained face and said, "Turn around."
This time, he did it immediately.
When she relaxed, she felt the discomfort in her body. She put her clothes on bit by bit with one hand. After a long while, she finally finished dressing. Then she stood up from the ground with the help of a stool, walked to the dressing table, picked up a comb and combed her hair.
She suppressed her dizziness and trembling hands, held onto the dressing table, and walked back to the stool in front of the table with unsteady steps and sat down.
After everything was done, she looked at herself again, and after making sure she was dressed properly, she coughed lightly.
"alright?"
"Um."
Only then did Shang Rui turn around and look at her.
"What do you want me to say to you?" she asked him.
"I… "
This question stumped him. He really didn't know why he had rushed into the house in such a rage just now.
He said, "I will give you an explanation for the offense just now." It would not be difficult to marry her back to the palace.
"Why are you still bringing this up? When the doctor comes, you'll know whether I'm telling the truth or not." Xia Yue said softly.
Shang Rui then remembered the important matter. He walked a few steps towards her, took her hand, rolled up her sleeves, and sure enough, he saw several sores that were no bigger than green beans. The color of some of the sores had turned from red to orange.
He had a good physique and was not afraid of the cold in winter, so his hands and feet were always warm in such cold weather. But at this moment, his five fingers gently clasped her wrist, and he could feel that her skin was much warmer than his palm.
Shang Rui's expression became serious, and he stretched out his other hand to touch her forehead, trying to confirm whether she had a fever. Unexpectedly, Xia Yue turned her head away, avoiding his action, and said, "This disease is really contagious, you should stay away from me." After that, she pulled her wrist away.
Shang Rui turned around and went outside to call Ming Lian.
Of course, those people didn't really go far. When they heard Shang Rui's call, they responded hurriedly.
Shang Rui said in a deep voice to the outside: "Call Li Ji here, and quickly."
But that name touched Xia Yue's heart. She didn't even care about anything else. She grabbed Shang Rui's sleeve from behind and asked, "Who were you talking about?"
Shang Rui turned around in surprise, his eyes fell on her anxious face, and was about to answer, but was interrupted by Hongwu who had returned.