Ye Yunting was lying on the luohan bed, silently calculating what to do next to get the guards to agree to let Ji Lian out. However, his previous exertions had been too energy-consuming; he felt dizzy and fell asleep before he realized it.
When he woke up again, it was already midnight.
Ji Lian was lying beside the couch. When he heard his movements, he dazedly raised his head and asked in a low voice: “Master, are you feeling better? Do you want some water?”
“How did the guards react earlier?” Ye Yunting sat up in the dark and pinched the bridge of his nose. His voice was hoarse.
“They didn’t say anything but still refused to let me go,” Ji Lian said. “I had no choice but to give the two maids some more money, but I was able to get some information that way. The maids said that their higher-ups told them that as long as it wasn’t a matter of life and death, they could ignore any situation.”
The mouths of the two maids were not as tightly guarded, and their hearts were a bit softer. In addition, Ji Lian had taken care of them before. This time, probably because of how anxious and angry he’d been, they revealed some more information. Ye Yunting looked fine, but even if they reported upwards, no one would pay attention. They advised Ji Lian that instead of wasting his time asking the guards to let him go, he should instead just take good care of his master.
Ye Yunting thought for a moment after hearing this: “Is there still water in the room?”
“Yes.” Ji Lian didn’t know why he suddenly asked this, but he still said, “I just brought in two barrels this afternoon.”
Ye Yunting had been asleep all afternoon. Ji Lian figured that he would want to wipe himself when he woke up, so he had prepared water.
“Go and bring in the water,” Ye Yunting ordered, then turned around and began to untie his clothes.
Ji Lian came over with water and saw that he was holding a bundle of clothes in his hands. His upper body was bare and he was only wearing a pair of thin pants.
He put down the water and said in confusion, “Master, do you want to take a bath? There is no hot water right now. You should just wipe yourself with a cloth. Bathing with cold water will make you get sick.”
Ye Yunting shook his head and immersed the clothes he took off into the bucket. After making sure that they were thoroughly soaked in water, he fished them out and wrung them slightly before putting the wet clothes on his body.
Ji Lian almost jumped up when he saw this and reached out to stop him. “Master, what are you doing?!”
Why would anyone put wet clothes on themselves?
“Shh.” Ye Yunting held his hand and made a silencing gesture, signaling him to keep his movements down. “If I don’t really get sick, I’m afraid it will be difficult to hide the truth.”
Judging from the meaning of the maids’ words, it probably meant that as long as he neither died nor left the palace, all other matters would be ignored.
If he wanted to give Ji Lian an excuse to go out, the only thing he could do was come down with a serious illness. Once the guards see him gravely ill, they would definitely not dare take responsibility. They would either report it to the imperial palace and send a medical officer to the Yong'an palace to examine him, or they would ask Ji Lian to go out and call a doctor.
Either way, Ji Lian would have a chance to leave the palace on the pretext of getting medicine.
It was a cold night in autumn, and Ye Yunting was wrapped in soaked clothes. Soon, his face turned pale from the cold and his lips trembled.
He wrapped his wet clothes tightly around himself, sat down against a cold corner of the wall, and quietly told Ji Lian, “Take the bucket out and wipe away all the water stains on the floor. If I really come down with a serious illness from the cold tomorrow, go to the guards and make a scene. Make sure to tell them that I’m sick and dying.”
“Okay, I understand.” Ji Lian sniffed and squatted in front of him, feeling distressed and worried at the same time. “But if they really don’t care, what will happen if you get sick, Master?”
Ye Yunting forced a smile. His face was pale, but his eyes were resolute. “Since it’s a bet, there’s always the possibility of failure.”
In fact, he was not 100% sure, but now that such a good opportunity was placed in front of him, he could not sit back and wait for death.
He and Li Fengqi were tied together in life and death. If Li Fengqi got out of trouble, he would also be able to escape this deadlock. Moreover, with the friendship they now developed as they got through difficulties together, Li Fengqi was sure to remember them when he ascended to the throne in the future.
Ye Yunting wrapped his arms around himself tightly, his teeth uncontrollably chattering. “Go to sleep. I’ll sit here all night.”
How could Ji Lian sleep in such a situation? He sat opposite Ye Yunting and stared at him without blinking. “I will guard the young master.”
Seeing that he refused to sleep, Ye Yunting couldn’t pay him any mind anymore. He was really cold, and his whole body was exhausted. He hugged his knees with his hands, his head resting on his arms, huddling tightly. A bone-chilling cold penetrated from his skin to his bones, as if all the blood in his body had stagnated. The arms around his knees were frighteningly pale, and the backs of his hands turned black and blue from the cold.
The night passed extremely slowly.
Ye Yunting tried his best to hold on to his groggy consciousness. In the second half of the night, he felt that his soaked clothes were about to be dried by his body heat, so he asked Ji Lian to take the clothes and soak them in water.
Ji Lian’s eyes and nose were all red, but he could only follow his instructions.
When a trace of the dawn finally appeared on the horizon, Ye Yunting, who had been enduring with all he had, finally collapsed.
His forehead was covered with cold sweat, his lips were pale and bluish-white, and his cheeks and neck were unusually red.
Ji Lian raised his hand to touch his forehead and found it frighteningly hot. He suppressed his sobs and removed his wet clothes to hide them. Then he pushed open the door and ran towards the front door with a look of panic.
Ye Yunting was genuinely ill and feverish, and Ji Lian’s worry was just as real.
He looked much more anxious than yesterday.
The guards at the door were impatient with him yesterday and paid him no attention, but Ji Lian angrily and loudly knocked on the door. “Open the door, open the door, I need to find a doctor. If something happens to my young master, can you take responsibility?!”
He was already very strong, but now he became even more fierce. The hard red lacquer door shook at his strong knocks.
The two guards looked at each other, and one of them said, “Looks like he’s really sick. Why don’t we go and check?”
Their master only told them to keep an eye on that person, but did not say that they would kill him.
Ji Lian finally brought a guard to check the situation.
The guard followed him, thinking that he must have been acting just as madly as he had been as yesterday, but upon arriving, he saw Ye Yunting lying unconscious on the couch, his face burning red. He tentatively reached out and touched his forehead, which was frighteningly hot.
Ji Lian said, “My young master was injured yesterday and was exposed to cold air at night. He was unconscious by morning. I only ask you to be kind and let me go to call a doctor. If you can’t, you can help call a medical officer to examine him.” He wiped away his tears and said, “My young master is also the son of the Duke. If anything happens to him, I will risk my life to seek justice for my young master!”
He cursed bitterly: “They say he’s a Wangfei personally appointed by the Holy Emperor himself, but I see that in this palace, he’s treated worse than a prisoner in the Ministry of Justice’s prisons!”
The guard’s eyebrows jumped when he heard this, and he hesitated for a moment, but did not dare to let him go. He only said, “I will ask the medical officer to come.” After that, he strode away.
Seeing that the person had left, Ji Lian wiped his tears with his sleeves, then went to get a wet handkerchief to put on Ye Yunting’s forehead to lower his temperature.
He had done everything the young master had ordered, so all that was left to do was to wait.
He stood by Ye Yunting’s side with his eyes wide open, raising his sleeves to wipe his eyes from time to time.
He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there, but Li Fengqi suddenly called him over from the inner room. Ji Lian glanced at Ye Yunting before slowly getting up and going inside.
“How is your young master doing?” Li Fengqi’s face didn’t look very good either, with heavy green shadows hanging under his eyes. Of course, last night’s commotion couldn’t be concealed from him. Ye Yunting stayed up all night, and he had followed suit.
He didn’t expect Ye Yunting to be so cruel to himself.
Listening to the noise outside last night, he had wanted to put a stop to it for a moment, but held back.
He knew that Ye Yunting was right.
Although Li Zong acted unconventionally, he was never stupid. Not to mention that he had Cui Xi and Han Chan by his side. These two were foxes who have achieved immortality, with minds deeper and more winding than the alleys in the capital.
Actually becoming sick was obviously going to be more prudent and more believable than simply pretending to be sick.
Li Fengqi sighed inwardly, thinking of the gentle-looking young man who had gently fed him congee, and felt somewhat guilty.
Ye Yunting was only nineteen years old and hadn’t even been crowned yet. If it weren’t for his involvement, he wouldn’t have been so ruthless toward himself.
“The young master has a severe fever, and the guard has agreed to call for a medical officer.” Ji Lian said while holding back his sobs.
“You should keep an eye on him. The medical officer should be here soon.” Seeing how red Ji Lian’s eyes were, looking like he had lost his backbone, Li Fengqi gave him some reassurance.
Ji Lian gave an “mn”1 sound and went back outside to guard Ye Yunting.
Li Fengqi’s guess was indeed correct. Within half an hour, the medical officer arrived. Moreover, Cui Xi personally brought people over.
He stood in front of the couch with his hands folded, looking down at the unconscious Ye Yunting. For a moment he was not sure if he was looking at the wrong person.
His subordinates reported back that after Ye Yunting’s madness yesterday, he became ill today. He looked very dreadful and his life might actually be in danger.
He had originally been sure that the other party was pretending to be crazy out of some agenda, so out of curiosity, he personally came over to take a look.
But seeing the actual person unconscious and burning with fever, he was no longer sure.
It looked like he was really sick, and quite seriously so.
Cui Xi lowered his eyes and thought deeply, and said to the waiting medical officer: “Medical Officer Chen, please examine him.”
Only then did Medical Officer Chen put down his medicine box and step forward to diagnose and treat Ye Yunting. After the examination, he bowed and replied, “Wangfei is suffering from depression in his heart and evil wind entering his body.”
“Is it serious?”
Medical Officer Chen hesitated for a moment, but truthfully said, “This fever is raging. I can only prescribe some medical pills to help him sweat out the fever, but it will mainly depend on Wangfei if he can survive it. If he survives it, after taking a few pills of medicine and a period of recuperation, he should be fine.”
“Then prescribe medicine.” There was no way that Medical Officer Chen would help in covering up. Since he said it was dangerous, it meant that the person was truly gravely ill.
The doubts in Cui Xi’s heart were gradually dispelled.
Medical Officer Chen quickly wrote the prescription. “I came in a hurry, so I didn’t bring many medicinal ingredients with me–”
“I’ll go grab the medicine!” Ji Lian, who was waiting at the side, said quickly. “I’m a fast runner, I’ll be able to bring the medicine back quickly.”
Cui Xi glanced at him and saw that red and swollen eyes and his terrified expression. Without thinking much about it, he waved his hand and let him go.
Seeing this, Ji Lian bowed and took the prescription from Medical Officer Chen’s hands, then hurried out of the mansion.
Cui Xi glanced at Ye Yunting, instructed Medical Officer Chen to take care of him, and then went inside to see Li Fengqi.
Li Fengqi, who was lying on the bed, had his eyes closed, seemingly unconcerned about what was going on outside.
After looking at the surrounding environment, Cui Xi slowly said, “Wangfei had taken good care of Wangye these past two days. Now that that person is sick, why doesn’t Wangye show any concern?”
Li Fengqi abruptly opened his eyes and stared at him coldly, an unpleasant look on his face. “When has it been your place to comment on this Prince’s affairs?”
“Wangye is still the same as before.” Cui Xi was unimpressed with his attitude.
Although the Wolf Prince had lost his sharp claws, the arrogance in his heart hadn’t been reduced even by half.
Besides, Prince Yong’an was always cold-faced and cold-hearted, but he had had some affection for the former emperor. Although Ye Yunting took care of him for two days, he had been used by the emperor to cause him humiliation. There was something wrong with being so caring toward a man who was being used to humiliate him.
Cui Xi completely dispelled his doubts and did not want to engage in any more verbal disputes. He turned around and went out, taking his people back to the palace to resume his duties.
At this time, Ji Lian, who finally stepped out of the palace gate, went to pick up the medicine according to the address that Ye Yunting gave him.
===Translator’s Notes===
Li Fengqi, you owe Ye Yunting so much!
- Technically just “n” (嗯) but, eh, see footnote in previous chapters ↩︎
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Thank you so much for translating, thoroughly enjoying this!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind comment! Happy reading :)
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