Chapter 46 Chapter 46

The sky in the courtyard was dark, with dark clouds gathering. Zhe Rou used the dim light from the lamp in the house to just make out Xie Yunzhou's appearance.

Xie Yunzhou was wearing a cross-collared coarse cloth robe, as if he had deliberately disguised himself as an ordinary citizen. At this moment, he leaned almost half of his body against the door frame, looking tired, with an abnormal blush faintly on his pale face, but the light at the door was dim, so she couldn't see clearly.

Zhe Rou sensed something was amiss with Xie Yunzhou, and after carefully examining his expression, she asked, "Mingqi, why are you here?"

Xie Yunzhou smiled, as if he wanted to answer her question, but before he could open his mouth, he fell straight down, as if he could no longer hold on, and fell headfirst towards Zhe Rou.

Zhe Rou was startled and subconsciously reached out to help him. Her palm suddenly touched his shoulder and back. Only then did she realize that Xie Yunzhou had a high fever. His whole body was burning hot and he was even trembling slightly.

Zhe Rou barely supported Xie Yunzhou's exhausted body, raised her head with difficulty, and glanced outside the door.

However, the courtyard was empty, probably because Xie Yunzhou's guards did not follow him.

Zhe Rou secretly felt that something was wrong. If nothing unexpected had happened, Xie Yunzhou would never come to her so suddenly. He was alone and had a fever. She didn't know whether he was sick or injured. The most urgent thing was to get medical treatment as soon as possible.

Seeing the current situation, with no one able to lend a hand, Zhe Rou gritted her teeth, put one of Xie Yunzhou's arms on her shoulder, propped up most of his body, and half-dragged and half-carried him into the house.

The little fox was extremely alert when it saw a stranger. It barked at Xie Yunzhou a few times and followed Zhe Rou closely.

Zhe Rou had no strength left, so she could only lift her toes and gently push it away, "Little Li, move aside."

Xie Yunzhou looked thin, but he was actually very strong and tall, almost the same size as Lu Chen. He had lost consciousness, and his pressure on her shoulders was hard and heavy. It was only a distance of more than ten steps from the door to the couch in the inner room, but he had already made Zhe Rou breathless and sweating from exhaustion.

The candlelight in the bedroom was dim and only vaguely illuminated the edge of the bed. The light was dim, and it was as if there was a cloud of fog in front of my eyes, and everything I saw was a blurry shadow.

Zhe Rou walked cautiously to the footrest, gritted her teeth, and finally held on with her last breath, helping Xie Yunzhou to lie down on the bed. However, she didn't expect that as soon as his back touched the mattress, a look of pain appeared on his face.

As if awakened by the pain, Xie Yunzhou took a breath and his eyes, which were originally tightly closed, opened slightly.

Zhe Rou was stunned for a moment, then reacted and hurriedly called him: "Mingqi, is your back injured?"

Xie Yunzhou's Adam's apple rolled up and down slightly, and he responded with difficulty. Before Zhe Rou could ask for details, he fainted again due to the fever.

Looking at Xie Yunzhou lying on the bed with his eyes closed and breathing heavily, Zhe Rou frowned and hesitated for a moment, but decided not to wait for Shui Qing to come back for help, and to save him first.

Zhe Rou lit a candle in front of the couch, turned around and walked to the outer room, found a pair of small scissors in the basket of needlework, brought it back and burned it over the candle flame, then untied Xie Yunzhou's outer robe and cut his inner clothes.

The clothes were cut open, and with the help of the lamplight beside him, Zhe Rou suddenly saw his injuries clearly and was shocked.

There was a large area of ​​bloody skin on Xie Yunzhou's waist and back. It looked like it was not caused by a sword or knife, but rather by a burn. It was not treated properly, so that the blisters had turned red and burst, oozing blood and sticking tightly to his inner clothes.

Burns this large could be fatal if they developed swelling. Zhe Rou didn't dare delay any longer and hurried to the kitchen to mix some salt water. She returned and carefully cleaned the wound on Xie Yunzhou's back. She then dug out a handful of dandelion roots from the medicine box, pounded them with a pestle to extract the juice, mixed it with honey, and applied it to Xie Yunzhou's back.

After everything was done, Zhe Rou's clothes were already soaked with sweat and stuck to her body, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.

Shui Qing happened to have bought lamp oil, so Zhe Rou left Xie Yunzhou in her care and went to the outer room to quickly wipe herself and change into dry clothes.

Soon after he finished washing up, Xie Yunzhou showed signs of having a fever subsiding. Zhe Rou felt a little relieved and went to the kitchen to make a Coptis chinensis detoxification soup, and told Shui Qing to feed it to him.

Finally, the situation was resolved efficiently. By the time Xie Yunzhou's fever had completely subsided, it was already late at night. Xie Yunzhou had taken her bed, and the small, emerald-green couch in the west room couldn't accommodate two people, so Zhe Rou simply settled down on the bamboo chair in the outer room.

She was so tired from being busy that she soon fell into a deep sleep.

She didn't know what time it was when she woke up. Zhe Rou moved slightly and suddenly found that she was sleeping on her own couch. The quilt covering her and the mattress under her were also newly changed.

Zhe Rou was stunned for a while, then quickly sat up and looked around.

The room was empty and she was still a little dazed. She almost thought that what she saw of Xie Yunzhou last night was all a dream.

As if hearing her movements, there was a sudden knock on the bedroom door, and Xie Yunzhou's low voice rang out from outside: "Jiu Niang? Awake?"

Zhe Rou responded, lowered her head to check carefully, straightened her clothes, and got up from the bed.

Xie Yunzhou leaned against the door with his arms folded. Seeing her coming out of the house, he immediately raised his lips and smiled, "Jiu Niang, thank you for saving me again."

He looked like he had just washed up, his dark hair was slightly wet and a little messy sticking to his forehead. Although his face was still pale and bloodless, his spirits were much better.

Zhe Rou smiled and opened her mouth, about to say that she wanted to thank him for his help, but was suddenly interrupted by Xie Yunzhou raising his eyebrows, "Don't say thank me."

He didn't want her thanks, that was too much.

When would she ever say "thank you" to Lu Bingyan? Just this one sentence easily made the distinction between close and distant.

Zhe Rou pursed her lips and smiled, no longer being polite with him, and turned to ask something else: "What happened to your injury?"

Xie Yunzhou's expression paused slightly.

Zhe Rou didn't notice his unusual behavior, but her years of medical practice made her frown slightly, "Your injuries are serious. Why didn't you get proper treatment? Instead, you're walking around with a high fever?"

Xie Yunzhou's eyes drifted for a moment, and after a moment, he hummed nonchalantly, "Nothing much, I just messed up this mission and got into quite a mess. I'm afraid I'll be severely punished by the government when I return. I happened to encounter an assassin on the way, so I simply escaped and hid, so I didn't have time to deal with it properly."

As he spoke, Xie Yunzhou turned his head to look at Zhe Rou and grinned lazily, "I have nowhere to go for the time being, so I just want to ask Jiu Niang to take me in for a while. I will go back after the official's anger subsides."

Sunlight filtered into the room through the peach blossom window paper, casting a light golden hue on his profile.

Xie Yunzhou's inner garment had been cut, so he was only wearing an outer robe. Although he had covered the collar intentionally, it inevitably became a little loose when he moved, just revealing a section of his handsome and neat collarbone. He was cold, pale and thin, with a faint lingering coolness from washing.

Zhe Rou couldn't help but be stunned. Last night, when the situation was urgent, she thought that doctors didn't care about men or women. Now that the sun was bright and clear, she felt a little uncomfortable.

She looked away slightly, and to hide her slight discomfort, she asked, "I cut your undershirt in a hurry last night. What size do you usually wear? Aunt Zhang next door is a tailor. I'll ask Shuiqing to make you a suit."

Xie Yunzhou was stunned when he heard this, and he was really embarrassed. "...I don't know either."

A soft meal.

She was confused. A young prince like Xie Yunzhou, who was raised in luxury, had naturally been served by others since he was young. How could he know the size of his own clothes?

Zhe Rou took another quick look at his figure and had a rough idea in mind. "You and Lu Chen are about the same size, so just make it according to his size."

After saying that, she walked out of the house, intending to look for Shuiqing and instruct her to go to Aunt Zhang's house to make a new undershirt for Xie Yunzhou.

"no the same."

She had just taken two steps when Xie Yunzhou suddenly spoke behind her.

Zhe Rou was startled and turned around, "Huh?"

"Lu Bingyan and I have different sizes."

Xie Yunzhou stopped leaning against the door frame and stood up straight under her gaze. He straightened his back as if inadvertently, raised his eyebrows and said casually, "I'm half an inch taller than him."

Zhe Rou: “…” Childish.

Shangjing, Forbidden City, Funing Palace.

It was not yet time to light the lamps. The light in the deep and dark hall was dim, and the air was filled with a lingering bitter smell of medicine.

That day, when the emperor suddenly received the news that Xie Yunzhou had been assassinated and disappeared, he was so anxious that he fell ill and has been bedridden for more than three days.

After the emperor woke up, he issued an edict before taking any medicine.

"Call Li Zhen here."

The official's voice was extremely hoarse, and every word he uttered seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth. His anger was so blazing that it made people tremble with fear.

The attendant Huaizhong's legs went weak and he hurriedly obeyed the order.

Less than half an hour later, Li Zhen entered the hall, bowed his head and saluted, "Daddy..."

Who would have thought that before he could even finish his greeting, he was interrupted by the official's stern voice: "Kneel down!"

Although the government has always had great power, it is rare for it to be so harsh and stern. Today, it is obvious that it is furious and the situation will be difficult to resolve.

Li Zhen's face turned pale, and his heart was shaken. He was afraid that he would have an incident concerning the Lianghuai salt transport, so he immediately knelt down.

The emperor leaned against a soft silk pillow, taking a few quick breaths, his cold gaze fixed on Li Zhen. "Unfilial son, let me ask you, was it you who ordered the assassination of Mingqi?"

He had been prepared to be questioned about his involvement in the smuggling of salt, but he didn't expect to hear such a question. Li Zhen was suddenly startled and looked up in astonishment: "Father, what do you mean? I am innocent!"

The official suddenly raised his voice and shouted angrily, "At this point, you still want to quibble?!"

As he spoke, he was so angry that he suddenly raised his hand and smashed the medicine bowl beside the couch, hitting Li Zhen right in the face.

Li Zhen didn't dare to hide and could only endure the blow. A thin line of blood was cut on his forehead by the broken porcelain. He hurriedly explained, "This matter really has nothing to do with me, your son. I hope the emperor will understand."

The official laughed in anger, glaring at him with gritted teeth, his gaze as sinister as ice. "Who else could it be but you? Who else could it be?! Mingqi was ordered to eliminate the pirates, and his trail led back to the salt transport, and finally to you... Seeing that you couldn't escape the blame, you began to harbor evil thoughts, but is this the case?"

Halfway through his speech, the emperor leaned forward and coughed violently several times, as if he was going to cough out his heart and lungs. His eyes suddenly filled with bloodshot. "You think that because you are my only son... Zhao'er is too young to be an heir... you are so fearless... that you have the audacity to attack Mingqi in order to cover up your own guilt. Is that what I am saying?!"