Sui Sui pinched his brows and said, "Your Majesty thinks too highly of me. I can't stand it even if I stay up all night."
Huan Xuan said, "Don't call me Your Majesty."
Sui Sui had always called him His Highness before, but now that he had ascended the throne he was naturally called His Majesty. She didn't know what to change the title to.
Huan Xuan said: "You can just call me by my courtesy name."
Sui Sui didn't bother to be polite with him: "Zi Heng."
Although there was no lingering meaning, Huan Xuan's heart seemed to be gently warmed, and he gently called her: "Sui Sui..."
"Okay, go back to your room and sleep," Sui Sui said mercilessly, "It will be even more troublesome if you catch a cold."
As he spoke, he spread out the account book on the desk.
Huan Xuan sat down opposite her and covered the words with his arm: "Don't read it anymore."
Sui Sui pushed his arm and said, "I'll go to sleep after I finish this volume."
Huan Xuan had no strength left, so he just laid down on the table like a spoiled child: "If you want to watch it, I'll watch it with you."
Sui Sui had no choice but to say, "Forget it, I won't watch it anymore. Go back and lie down."
Then he said to Gao Mai in the corridor, "Thank you, General Manager Gao, to help His Majesty return to his room."
Without waiting for Gao Mai to answer, Huan Xuan said, "Chief Steward Gao is hard of hearing. He can't hear you talking here."
Upon hearing this, Gao Mai quickly retracted his foot and obeyed the order.
Sui Sui raised his eyelids and said, "I will help Your Majesty back to his room."
Huan Xuan said: "I slept too much during the day. Without you, I have nothing else to do except sleep..."
He was still leaning over the table, looking up at her. His eyes were already blurry, and he looked particularly vulnerable.
Sui Sui knew that he had found her Achilles' heel, but she still couldn't help but compromise: "If you want to stay, then stay."
Huan Xuan stayed in the room because he was afraid that she would be busy again after he left, so he wanted to coax her to sleep first. He didn't expect that he could stay and sleep with her in the same bed. He was stunned for a moment.
Sui Sui said: "I'll ask someone to make a charcoal basin."
He touched Huan Xuan's forehead and frowned, "It's still hot. Go lie down on the bed."
The weather gradually warmed up in March, and the charcoal basin was no longer needed. However, Huan Xuan had been running a fever due to the poison and was particularly afraid of the cold.
Huan Xuan didn't need her to say anything, fearing that she would regret it, so he obediently crawled into bed.
The familiar light fragrance immediately enveloped him, and he couldn't help but hum comfortably, but deliberately curled up and said, "Hiss, it's really cold in the quilt."
Sui Sui helplessly put away the scroll, went to the bathroom, washed up, changed into pajamas, turned off the lights and lay down on the bed.
The man immediately came up to her and held her in his arms.
Even through my pajamas, I could feel his warmth everywhere, as if I was immersed in a hot spring.
Huan Xuan patted her back and said, "You've lost so much weight."
Sui Sui said: "You are still talking about me."
Huan Xuan's hands slid back and forth on her back, and before he knew it, the gesture changed and slowly moved to her waist.
Sui Sui moved uncomfortably, and her legs suddenly touched something. She was startled, then she understood, and suddenly grabbed his hand, saying in disbelief: "You are still thinking about this kind of thing after all this?"
Huan Xuan didn't know how to explain it to her. He didn't need to think about it. Once he got close to her, he couldn't control it at all. But he felt a little happy for some reason, rubbing his burning ears: "I didn't think about it. It just acted on its own..."
Sui Sui was a bit amused and said, "I'd better go to the dormitory and sleep."
"Don't leave," Huan Xuan held her back, "ask someone to bring the bed and bedding so we can sleep separately."
He knew that he was like a candle in the wind that could go out at any time, so he did not dare to be arrogant.
Soon, the warm bedding was brought in.
However, Huan Xuan refused to sleep on the new bedding and still occupied the bed that Sui Sui had slept on. Sui Sui had no choice but to let him do as he pleased.
The two lay side by side for a long while, and their heartbeats finally calmed down, but neither of them felt sleepy for a while.
Sui Sui suddenly remembered something, turned around, and looked at the handsome face of the man in the moonlight leaking through the gauze curtain: "Did we meet in the palace when we were young?"
Huan Xuan's eyes lit up: "Do you still remember?"
Sui Sui said, "It was you? I don't remember clearly, I just remember that the kid was a little weird and had a bad temper."
Huan Xuan snorted: "Then you played with him for half a day."
Sui Sui said: "Who told him to be born pretty and cute? Big eyes with long eyelashes, plump cheeks, and a pointed chin, as if it was made of powdered snow."
She said, poking his cheek.
Huan Xuan turned away angrily.
Sui Sui said, "I remember now that we also buried a dead mouse in the soil."
"It's a sparrow!" Huan Xuan said.
"Quezi, Quezi," Sui Sui said, "I remembered it wrongly."
Once the floodgates of memory were opened, those intermittent scenes gradually emerged from her mind. She remembered that day she followed her mother to the Queen's palace for an audience, and then went to the back garden to appreciate the plum blossoms. Her mother and the Queen were chatting, but she did not sit still like Huan Ye and the eldest princess. She soon felt bored, so the Queen asked the palace maids to take her to the garden to play. She slipped out when the palace maids were not paying attention, and somehow she walked to an empty palace, where she met a pretty boy who was unhappy.
She went back and told her wet nurse, who thought she had seen a ghost - how could a prince be playing alone in an empty yard without even a servant by his side
For this reason, she was taken to the temple by her nanny to burn incense and kowtow.
Huan Xuan said: "You have liked to lie since you were a child."
Sui Sui felt a little guilty: "What did I lie to you about?"
It would be embarrassing to be so fussy about childhood events, so Huan Xuan said, "It's nothing."
Sui Sui said: "It turns out that you have been weird since you were a child, saying one thing and thinking another..."
She stopped talking midway.
Huan Xuan asked, "What's wrong?"
Sui Sui's eyes moved slightly: "I just remembered something..."
The image of the child squatting alone in the yard playing in the mud became clearer and clearer in her mind. She was awkward, saying one thing and thinking another. She said she didn't want to play with her siblings and that she hated her eldest brother, but her eyes were clearly filled with desire.
A completely different face emerged in her mind, an ugly, hideous and distorted face. But when he mentioned his eldest brother, was there something else in his eyes besides jealousy and hatred
Sui Sui pinched his brows and said, "I went to Prince Chen's Mansion today, and I felt that Huan Jiong was not as simple as I thought..."
At that time, her heart was filled with raging hatred. She only saw his viciousness and wanted to tear him into pieces. Inevitably, she ignored some other things.
Now that I think about it carefully, he unconsciously used words like "bright and clear", "kind, filial and fraternal" when mentioning his elder brother. Even when he called him "stupid", it seemed that there was more resentment than hatred.
From childhood to adulthood, apart from his cowardly mother, only his eldest brother cared for him sincerely. He was the only one who saw his talent through his unbearable appearance and encouraged him to make progress. This kindness would certainly make him painful, overwhelm him, and even crush him, but kindness is kindness after all. Isn't he a little grateful and moved
Huan Xuan said: “In fact, when I first found out that it was Huan Jiong who poisoned me, I was very surprised.
He paused and said, "I always thought he had a good relationship with his eldest brother, and his grief at the funeral didn't seem fake."
He did not cry heart-wrenchingly, but just stood silently in front of the coffin. Huan Xuan can still recall the empty and numb look in his eyes, as if his elder brother's departure also took away a part of his soul.
Thinking about it now, Huan Jiong at that time was completely different from his usual self. However, Huan Xuan himself was immersed in the pain of the death of his loved ones and did not take Huan Jiong's abnormality to heart.
Sui Sui thought thoughtfully, "To personally poison someone who is kind to you and cares about you, if you still have a trace of humanity left, it must be contradictory and painful."
The two were silent for a while, and suddenly said in unison: "Medicine King Sutra."
When Sui Sui learned that the Medicine King Sutra was given by Huan Jiong, she suspected that the sutra was poisoned, but she immediately denied this suspicion. Huan Jiong was already preparing to poison the soup, so wouldn't it be redundant to give him a poisoned sutra in advance? It was not easy to determine the amount of poison in the sutra, and it might be exposed in advance, causing the whole plan to fail.
But why did he give him a copy of the Medicine King Sutra as a birthday gift? Using a sutra as a birthday gift was a bit strange, and it was not written by a famous monk, but just his own practice. In any case, this birthday gift had an unusual meaning.
Perhaps he had conflicts and struggles before he took action, and perhaps deep down he hoped that someone would stop him and that his elder brother could be saved.
Perhaps what is hidden in the scriptures is not poison, but an antidote.
The two of them thought of this almost at the same time and sat up casually: "Where is the scripture?"
After finding out that the "Medicine King Sutra" was poisoned, she asked the guards to deliver the sutra to the Prince of Qi's palace.
Huan Xuan said, "It is stored in the warehouse specially set up by the Shang Pharmacy. Gao Mai has the key."
Sui Sui said: "There is no time to lose, I will enter the palace now."
Then he said without hesitation: "Let me lend you my token."
Huan Xuan held her arm and said, "We can go tomorrow, or ask the guards to get it. You go to sleep first, and they will wake you up when they get it."
Sui Sui shook his head and said, "It will take longer to go back and forth, and I can't sleep anyway, so I might as well go there myself."
Huan Xuan simply hugged her waist and said, "The scripture is still poisonous, don't touch it."
The scripture had been fumigated with poison and sprinkled with extremely fine poison powder. Although the medical officer had carefully cleaned off the poison powder, it was still possible to cause poisoning if contacted with it.
Sui Sui said: "That's why we have to go to the Shang Pharmacy. There are medical officers there. They know how to deal with poisons."
She said as she broke his hand: "Don't stop me. If we were in each other's shoes, could you sit still?"
Huan Xuan felt a thousand emotions surge in his heart at the same time. He knew he couldn't stop her, so he slowly let go of her hand.
Sui Sui ordered someone to prepare the car, asked Gao Mai for a token and key, quickly changed his clothes and went out.
When he arrived at Deshang Pharmacy, he followed the doctor's instructions, covered his mouth and nose with silk cloth soaked in medicine, and then put on gloves made of the same silk cloth. Only then did he open the box and take out the scriptures.
She had been harmed by this scripture once, so she couldn't help feeling uncomfortable when she saw it again, but she couldn't care less at this moment.
She held the silk against the firelight to check if there was any layer inside, then she cut the silk open and removed the rosewood shaft for careful inspection. The shaft was carved from a single piece of wood, with no signs of splicing. However, just in case, she sawed open the wood core to check if there was anything hidden inside.
Her heart slowly sank, but she still held on to a glimmer of hope, for she knew there was a potion for writing secret letters that looked colorless and would only become visible when exposed to heat.
As the scriptures were placed on the fire and burned inch by inch, no secret words appeared.
She soaked it in water, then in liquid medicine, and together with the medical officer tried all the methods they could think of. Before they knew it, the candle was almost burned out, the sky was already getting light in the east, but she still found nothing.
She was unwilling to admit it, but she had to admit that the scripture that Huan Jiong gave to the prince was just an ordinary scripture, and there was no antidote or prescription hidden in it.