IOU

Blood splattered on the floor... just like Di Shaoze's cut, bloody heart...

After months of sleepless nights, days of toil, and a burning heart, Di Shaoze's body was completely stretched to its limit. His eyes were dazed, and even his body was swaying, but he forced himself to endure the discomfort, reaching out his hand and tightly grasping Lin Huaien's wrist before he fainted completely...

The attendants around were in a mess. Some rushed to support him, while others rushed to call for the imperial physician.

Lin Huai'en frowned and tried to squeeze Di Shaoze's grasping hand, only to find that even in his unconscious state, Di Shaoze hadn't lost his grip on his wrist. The hand was like an iron clamp, difficult to separate, holding onto him tightly.

Lin Huai'en was forced to stay by Di Shaoze's side. After the imperial physician came to see him, he prescribed medicine, saying that he needed to rest for at least a month and not to overwork himself in the near future.

At the same time, the imperial physician also checked Lin Huai'en's health and urged him to take nourishing supplements and not to worry too much.

"Wynn...Wynn..."

At night, Lin Huai'en fell on the bedside and heard Di Shaoze's sleep talk. She almost wanted to strangle this shameless man to death! But in the end, she held back. Her husband was still in Di Shaoze's hands, waiting for Di Shaoze to come and rescue him.

"Huai En... don't leave me..."

Lin Huai'en bit his lower lip, turned his face away, and covered his ears with the bed board and his palms, refusing to listen to another word. He didn't know why Di Shaoze couldn't let go of him.

Di Shaoze's inaction in seeing someone dying was at odds with his political principles. Furthermore, he was disgusted by Di Shaoze's hypocritical behavior.

There's no need to continue this drama between the emperor and his ministers...

The next morning, Lin Huai'en woke up from his sleep and squeezed Di Shaoze's hand again. He found that his hand had finally lost some strength after a night, so he quickly tried to pull his wrist out.

Unexpectedly, Di Shaoze woke up at this moment, staring at Lin Huaien with red eyes - "Where are you going?"

Lin Huai'en stood up and said in a serious tone: "I am a free man, I can go wherever I want."

Di Shaoze stretched his arms and gripped Lin Huai'en's sleeves tightly. "Wherever you go, you must take me with you. If you want to leave even a step... I will follow you even if I have to crawl..."

Lin Huai'en frowned and said, "Your Majesty, please take care of your health."

A dignified prince, yet he was acting like a scoundrel. Lin Huai'en didn't want to get into such a big trouble, so he pulled his sleeve back from his hand with all his strength, and then left without looking back.

The moment he stepped out of the room, Lin Huai'en heard the sound of something heavy falling to the ground. He hesitated for a moment and turned around again, only to see that Di Shaoze had fallen to the ground along with the quilt, and had also overturned a bench, looking very embarrassed.

Alas, I'm truly impressed. Which patient, having just woken up, could be as troublesome as Di Shaoze? Lin Huai'en lowered his eyes, and out of a touch of humanitarianism, he said, "I will go to the study and wait for your question. Your Majesty, please consider it carefully for a moment before responding to my previous question."

Di Shaoze fell to the ground, like a giant beast that had been drained of its strength. Facing the prey that he refused to let go, he could only watch it escape, breathing weakly and unwillingly in his chest and lungs.

He followed Lin Huai'en's disappearing figure with his eyes, anxious and scared to death. He never thought that there would be a day when Lin Huai'en would treat him like a worn-out shoe and not even give him a glance.

If anything happened to Xue Dingchu, this man, this heart, and every strand of hair on his body would be hidden in the crowd, and he and Di Shaoze would be separated by thousands of mountains and seas, never to see each other again, whether in life or death.

Di Shaoze was completely afraid. He didn't dare to refute, move, or even put up any resistance. He was like a fish on a chopping board, letting Lin Huai'en slaughter him.

Everyone in the world could leave him, except Lin Huai'en. Lin Huai'en was the light of his first half of life. Without this light, Di Shaoze would be trapped in that lonely city, shivering in the darkness.

He couldn't imagine how he would have to endure every second and every moment without Lin Huai'en. It was as if he could see the end of his life, where there was only a lonely mausoleum, with no grass growing and a gray and decaying state.

Di Shaoze shouted with great effort: "Eunuch Ding... convey my oral instructions..."

Eunuch Ding hurriedly supported Di Shaoze while listening carefully to what Di Shaoze said.

Emperor Shaoze said, "Order the county magistrate to temporarily manage Guangling's government affairs... open the Thousand Buddha Temple... open the Six Diseases Clinic... assign doctors... and treat the patients..."

Eunuch Ding kowtowed and said, "Yes."

Emperor Shaoze said, "Please ask Doctor Li to come again..."

After receiving the order, Eunuch Ding quickly left the room in two steps.

When Doctor Li arrived, he still had his medicine box hanging on his shoulder and bowed to ask for instructions.

Emperor Shaoze said, "My dear minister, you are the chief medical officer... Would you be willing to accept my orders and develop a prescription to cure the plague?"

Imperial Physician Li reported, "I will obey your orders. I have something to report to Your Majesty. I recently received a letter from Imperial Physician Wen, saying that a plague also broke out in Loulan two months ago. I wonder if the source is the same..."

Di Shaoze held his aching brow and said, "I understand... I will send someone to fetch Imperial Physician Wen... to come here and examine him..."

Doctor Li bowed and said, "Yes."

Lin Huai'en waited in the study, stroking his weak belly up and down. He felt sorry for the baby. He had not rested well during this period and even did not eat meals on time, causing his baby to suffer a lot in his belly.

But the baby was really well-behaved and obedient. Even in such a situation, there was no sign of fussing. He just stayed with him quietly. Thinking of the baby, Lin Huaien's almond-shaped eyes softened.

With a click... the door opened... and Di Shaoze, supported by his attendants, slowly and steadily sat down on a bench, writing. Di Shaoze no longer had the fragility he had when he first woke up. His features now held a subtle dignity, still making it difficult to look directly at him.

Lin Huai'en's expression suddenly turned serious. He straightened his back and assumed a negotiating attitude.

Emperor Shaoze said, "I have carefully considered your proposal. After careful consideration...why should I accept it? You are the head of all officials, yet you threaten to resign and defy my decision. Why should I endure your anger?"

Talking continuously requires breathing. Di Shaoze couldn't continue, so his chest rose and fell violently to catch his breath. But he endured it, pausing only briefly to avoid revealing too much of a flaw.

Lin Huai'en's heart skipped a beat, wondering if Di Shaoze was going to turn against him.

Di Shaoze changed his tone, "I am not a kind person. As you think, I am indeed very selfish. Since it is your decision, you will bear the risk."

As he spoke, Di Shaoze placed his brush on the pen holder and pushed a piece of paper over. Lin Huai'en gritted his teeth, thinking of the suffering patients, and made up his mind. Even if he was heavily in debt for the rest of his life, he would never frown.

After thinking about it, Lin Huai'en took a step forward and took a closer look at the IOU on the table.

He had thought that the higher-ups would settle this huge bill, but rather than a settlement, it felt more like Di Shaoze's own account. Every single one of the above items was inseparable from Di Shaoze's requirements of him.

As long as Di Shaoze told him to eat, he had to eat. As long as Di Shaoze told him to rest, he had to rest. As long as Di Shaoze gave him medicine, he had to drink it.

After the child was born, Di Shaoze had to be the child's godfather, the only one. Every two weeks, the child had to be brought to see Di Shaoze, preferably with him accompanying them.

Don't even mention resigning. Not now, not ever.

…

Lin Huai'en frowned completely, baffled by this strange IOU. No matter how he thought about it, the logic didn't make sense.

So he looked up and observed Di Shaoze's expression - the other party's expression was extremely serious, so serious that it couldn't be more serious, and there was no sense of joking at all.

At the end of the IOU, Lin Huai'en thought carefully and put his fingerprints on it.

Under the desk, out of Lin Huai'en's sight, Di Shaoze's clenched fists slowly loosened, his palms already sweating with nervousness. Di Shaoze knew that Lin Huai'en's resignation was not fake, and he must have made up his mind.

Right now, this was the only way he could possibly keep Lin Huai'en. This was his only chance of success.

If Lin Huai'en had seen the IOU and had been even more suspicious, he would have only needed to poke through Di Shaoze's pretense, knowing that he wasn't as confident as he thought. In reality, Di Shaoze had long been in his control, allowing him to play with him, manipulate him, and demand whatever he wanted.

Fortunately, Lin Huai'en was not in the mood.

There were two knocks on the door.

Di Shaoze said, "Come in."

Four attendants brought lunch and placed it on the table one by one.

Lin Huai'en was not in the mood to eat, but thinking about his children and the IOU, he sat on the chair and ate half a bowl of rice, and then he couldn't eat any more.

On this side, Di Shaoze saw that he only ate white rice and only ate half a bowl, so he used a soup spoon to scoop up half a piece of fish meat, along with the sauce, and poured it on his rice.

Lin Huai'en frowned in disgust and tried to throw the fish away with his chopsticks.

Emperor Shaoze immediately added, "Every grain of rice you eat can be transformed into five large bags of fresh rice and sent to the mouths of patients. Every mouthful of fish you eat can be transformed into four large bags of medicine to cure diseases and save lives and sent to the hands of doctors. Don't forget what you owe me..."

Lin Huai'en stared at Di Shaoze with an expression that showed his annoyance, then he willingly bit the fish and ate various dishes one bite at a time.