Chapter 17 Cannon Fodder White Moonlight 16 As if A World Away

The summer rain started falling suddenly. Ali stood under the porch of the Prime Minister's Mansion and reached out to catch a handful of raindrops.

The raindrops were icy cold, sliding down the cuffs into my clothes, and I couldn't help but shiver.

Ali put down her hand and saw from afar that the servant who had just gone to inform her had returned. She came back to her senses from her trance, understood, raised her umbrella and followed him into the mansion.

Pei Miao met A Li in Yueshang Hall. He was sitting at the top seat and saw A Li approaching gracefully.

"A-Li, please forgive me for coming here without any warning, Master Pei." She bowed deeply, feeling uneasy.

Pei Miao's usual smile returned to his face, and he didn't seem surprised by A-Li's arrival. He raised his hand and asked her to stand up: "Why? Miss He, please take a seat."

His eyes swept across Ali's face and saw that she was pale, with dark circles under her eyes, and looked frightened. His eyes deepened a little, but also a little disappointed.

However, he had never thought that he could hit the target with one strike, so this was within his expectations.

Ali thanked him and sat down.

A servant brought hot tea, and Ali held it in her cold hands, feeling much more at ease. She lowered her head, and her eyes happened to fall on Pei Miao's legs.

Pei Miao's perfect smile froze: "Miss He, what brings you here?"

Only then did Ali hold out the item from his sleeve: "This is a special ointment made by my father. It can heal common injuries from falls, and it can also penetrate deep into the muscles to help reshape the bones."

Pei Miao was slightly stunned and motioned Mingxing to take it.

Seeing him take it, Ah Li heaved a sigh of relief: "Mr. Pei has injured his bones and muscles this time, so he needs to recuperate for a while. Don't be impatient. I believe that Mr. Pei will be blessed by fate and will definitely recover as before."

Pei Miao smiled faintly, his eyes calm and calm: "Then I will accept Miss He's good wishes, and thank you for your father's ointment."

Ali pursed her lips and smiled, her long eyelashes drooping, forming a slightly trembling arc.

As if he had made up his mind, Ali raised his eyes again, his face slightly red with shame: "I wonder if Master Pei has heard about the recent events at the Medical Officers' Court?"

Pei Miao came back to his senses: "I've heard a little bit about it."

Ali clenched his hands tightly on his knees. "My father was also implicated and imprisoned, but he wasn't responsible for the Queen Mother's health... Master Pei, do you know why so many people were implicated this time?"

The hall was silent for a moment, and Ali felt uneasy.

"I don't know about that," Pei Miao's nonchalant voice sounded again. He stared at Ali, as if admiring her expression at the moment, "But..."

Ali looked up, seemingly unaware of the strangeness in Pei Miao's tone.

Pei Miao looked at her intently, a serious expression on his face. "Although I don't have a close relationship with Lord He, we do have a lot in common. If he needs help this time, I will certainly do my best to help him."

"What's more, there is Miss He..."

Ali's eyes instantly filled with tears, as if he had grasped a life-saving straw, and he hurriedly said, "If Master Pei is willing to lend a hand, our family will be extremely grateful. We deeply thank you for your great kindness!"

Pei Miao wanted to stand up and help Ali up, but it seemed that his injury was affected and he was about to fall. Ali supported him in time.

Pei Miao's entire weight was on Ali. Ali lowered his head, his face flushed, but his eyes were filled with bone-chilling coldness.

He was the one who framed his father.

After coming out of Lianyunxuan, Ali politely declined the servant's offer to lead the way: "The main gate is just ahead. I'll go out on my own. Sorry for the trouble."

The servant looked at the road ahead and retreated as instructed.

Ali turned the corner and saw a familiar face in front of him.

"...Madame Song?" She stopped, extremely surprised.

Nanny Song bowed to her and smiled kindly, "Miss He, our wife wants to see you."

*

It was already dusk when Ali got off the carriage from the Prime Minister's Mansion.

The carriage just stopped in front of the He family's gate, and the courtyard door happened to open from the inside, revealing He Zhiyan.

He didn't seem to realize that this was the carriage from the Prime Minister's Mansion. He walked straight to Ali and supported her in time as she was dizzy.

After learning about what happened to He's father, she was panic-stricken and at a loss. She was also ill and at the end of her strength. After getting off the car, she fainted in He Zhiyan's arms without saying a word.

When I woke up again, it was already late at night.

The light beside the bed flickered, and the entire He family was so quiet that even the chirping of cicadas could be heard clearly.

Ali tried to sit up, but he felt weak and frail, and couldn't muster any strength.

When he looked up again, He Zhiyan appeared at the door holding a bowl of medicine. He seemed to have not expected Ali to wake up at this time, and his footsteps suddenly stopped.

Ali was also stunned. The two looked at each other from a distance across the candlelight, and neither of them moved.

This glance feels like a world away.

Ali couldn't help but think of the tragedy of that night again.

Every night these days, those scenes would replay in her mind, over and over again, as if this nightmare would never end.

The man's head was cut off by a sword, and blood gushed out, but he was still staring at Ali. There was surprise, unwillingness, resentment, and sadness in his eyes.

This man wanted to kill her out of revenge for his kindness, but unexpectedly he died himself and got the retribution he deserved. Ali should have felt relieved, but as soon as she closed her eyes, those eyes that were unwilling to close would appear.

But what frightened her the most was He Zhiyan.

Ali's hands under the quilt suddenly clenched.

In the dark night of that day, the hem of his clothes swept across the pool of blood, shattering the dim light in the room. He raised his hand to wipe away her tears, and his gesture was as gentle as when he wiped away the sugar stains for her in the past.

Ali subconsciously turned his head to avoid it, his teeth biting through his lip, and the taste of blood spread in his mouth.

He Zhiyan's eyes grew darker, he held her chin gently yet forcefully, and slowly stroked her lips with his long fingers, as if just to confirm her temperature. His dark eyes were filled with surging emotions that Ali couldn't understand, sweeping over every part of her inch by inch.

A short whimper came from his throat, and Ali's whole body was tense. He even forgot to breathe, and his chest felt like it was exploding with pain.

The cold, sharp and chilling man in front of him was completely different from his usual taciturn, yet meticulous and gentle brother.

Which one is the real him?

Now when Ali looked at him, all he felt in his heart was fear.

After a moment, He Zhiyan lowered his narrow black eyes, silently placed the medicine bowl and candied fruit on the table not far from the bed, and then walked towards the door without looking at Ali again during the whole process.

Staring at He Zhiyan's receding back, many scenes flashed before Ali's eyes, and finally stopped at the moment when the family was drinking happily in the yard outside on the night before He's mother's death.

Her nose felt sore, and in a trance, something was blurred by the swaying lights.

Ali opened his mouth but didn't call out to him. He Zhiyan's figure quickly disappeared from his sight.

*

After dinner, He Zhiyan caught a glimpse of two letters on the stone table in the yard, but the person who put the letters there was not there.

He looked at it for a moment and opened one of the letters addressed to him.

There was only one sentence in the letter, which he read quickly, but his fingers slowly touched the handwriting that was extremely similar to his own.

He Zhiyan stood tall, the cold moonlight reflected in his eyes, like a small boat on a deep pool, not knowing where to drift.

After settling matters at home, he left the courtyard under the cover of night.

When Ali heard the sound of the courtyard gate being locked, he slowly got off the bed, sat down at the table and lit a calming incense. His thoughts, which had been confused by his illness, finally became a little clearer.

Of the two letters, one was for her brother and the other was for Xu Lingjia. Now her brother should have delivered the letters to the Prince of Fuguo's Mansion on her behalf.

Ah Li's breathing was rapid, and a little bit of cold sweat appeared on her forehead. She took her pulse and found that it was worse than during the day. If she didn't get the right treatment, she was afraid...

She withdrew her worried gaze, took a deep breath, cleared the confusion in her mind, and took her wrist pulse.

After pondering for a moment, she wrote something on the paper, and then spread out another piece of paper in her arms next to it for comparison.

After a moment, she picked up the two pieces of paper and placed them under the lamp. As Ali had expected, her pulse seemed to be exactly the same as that of the young man.

High fever that lasted for several days and general fatigue are symptoms of wind-cold. I think it was caused by sweating from fear that night and catching a cold.

However, the teenager still suffered from occasional vomiting and diarrhea, and even convulsions and pain in severe cases.

This is not an ordinary cold, but an epidemic.

At that time, she saw that the young man was extremely thin and looked like he had not eaten properly for a long time. She just thought that his poor physical condition caused such symptoms and did not think deeply about the possibility of an epidemic.

The night wind blew into the room, and Ali started coughing repeatedly, almost unable to hold the brush in his hand.

On the second day of her illness, her physical reaction and the young man's pulse made her guess that her illness was unusual. It was just that her mood had been fluctuating and her external symptoms had recurred in the past few days, so she only had the energy to see clearly at this moment.

She did not contract the disease.

The medicine prescribed to the young man at that time could only temporarily relieve the symptoms of cold, but could not cure it.

Ali endured the discomfort and tried his best to sit still at the table, recording the boy's pulse and symptoms one by one.

She could see that the young man was not from the capital and had entered the capital with the disease. She was afraid that he had infected more than one person along the way.

Under the lamp, Ali was concentrating on writing at the desk, his long hair draped softly over his shoulders, his eyes calm and serious, unaware of the deepening night.

She compared it with what she had read in a book before and wrote down dozens of medicinal herbs that could cure epidemics. After thinking for a while, she crossed out two of them.

Unfortunately, there are still many unconfirmed aspects of this prescription, and its efficacy is unknown.

Ali stood up with the help of the table, and suddenly her vision went dark. She grabbed the edge of the table in panic to steady herself.

After a long time, when the dizziness disappeared, Ali walked to the window and closed it, then turned around to put on his clothes and walked towards He's father's study holding the purple bell lantern.

She had some doubts in her mind and needed to look up medical books to confirm.

As soon as I opened the door of my room, I saw all kinds of lanterns hanging in every corner of the courtyard, moon rabbits, orioles, fairies... There were lanterns everywhere in the corridors and corners of the house, lighting up the whole courtyard like daylight.

Even though Ali has an eye disease, his walking is not restricted.

She took a few steps forward and felt that the lanterns looked particularly familiar.

Ali looked confused for a moment, and then she remembered that this was when she was still in her hometown. During every festival, she always had to drag He Zhiyan to the market to buy a lot of things. She was short of money, so He Zhiyan always followed her to pay.

When she was young, she was fickle-minded and forgot about the lanterns after lighting them once.

Ali stood in front of the door in a daze, the night wind blowing, and a feeling of helplessness surged in his heart.

She bit her lip and exhaled a few breaths with difficulty, and her eyes were red from the wind.