Chapter 43 Side by Side I want to go to her side, to stand beside her...
The main urban area of Liangxi City is about 20 or 30 miles away from Jiuhua Mountain Villa. When Rong Jun returned from the villa, the outline of the moon was gradually appearing in the gray-blue sky.
People aren't as hard to invite as you might think.
Pei Danxing, the current owner of Jiuhua Mountain Villa, only asked a few questions about the illness before coming over.
He was a man in his thirties. His black hair was tied up with a silver crown, and a pair of light eyebrows were positioned below his smooth forehead. A wide white robe draped over his body, and his posture was as straight as a pine tree.
He is gentle in demeanor and humble in speech and behavior.
He has the air of a chivalrous doctor.
Through the curtain, Pei Danxing placed a white cloth over Xie Wenjun's wrist, took her pulse, and his expression immediately changed.
He seemed to realize then that he had forgotten to ask something.
"May I ask where you gentlemen are from?"
Chen Liangyu was about to say that he was "from Yongjia" when he remembered that the doctor in the gray cloth shirt had said that Jiuhua Mountain Villa had a habit of traveling doctors to treat and treat poor people who could not afford medical care or medicine. Since they often traveled around, they must be very familiar with the surrounding cities and people, so it would be difficult to deceive them.
“A northerner,” Chen Liangyu said.
Pei Danxing looked around, his gaze passing over the Eastern Palace guards dressed in plain clothes and turbans outside the door, and then over Yuan Rong and Dai Qing.
Although they wore ordinary clothes, the two women had entered the palace at a young age and were governed by palace etiquette in every word and action, from walking to speaking, and even sleeping and standing.
Hands that have never done rough work have no calluses, and are fair and delicate.
Both maids looked like daughters of wealthy families, but what about the one inside the tent?
The atmosphere in the private room instantly became tense.
Pei Danxing's gaze did not linger on the two girls for long, but fell on the Lancang sword in Chen Liangyu's hand.
The scabbard and hilt were wrapped in burlap, making it impossible to tell whether the sword was good or bad.
"From Shangyong City?" Pei Danxing asked.
Before anyone could answer, he asked again, "Are you all members of the royal family?"
He looked up, staring blankly at Chen Liangyu. A subtle change flickered in the depths of his eyes.
have to!
It was exposed so easily.
Dai Qing, being quick-witted, stepped forward and performed the palace salute, half-squatting and half-kneeling: "Doctor Pei, I have come here only to seek medical treatment, but I have heard that Jiuhua Manor does not treat officials, so I had no choice but to conceal my identity. Those who are ill are not distinguished by social status, and I hope that the doctor will be kind and compassionate, and please treat my young lady!"
Pei Danxing was in great pain for a short while, his chest heaving violently several times.
"What a terrible thing to do. It has caused so much harm to people."
Chen Liangyu placed her hand on the hilt of her sword and gripped it tightly. She moved silently, positioning herself between Pei Danxing and Xie Wenjun's tent.
She recalled what Sugan had said to her on Bogong Ridge that day.
"How do you think Xie Lin ascended the throne? During the Rebellion of the Five Princes, when he failed to seize power quickly, he ordered his lackey Xun Xian to find him a medicine and a book of treacherous techniques from a medicine manor in Liangxi City. He then captured hundreds of children to test them. Those who couldn't withstand the test died and were burned. The survivors were turned into monsters that could only obey orders to kill..."
More than 20 years ago, the Lingxiao Manor was wiped out...
I thought it was a meeting between a doctor and a patient, but it turned out to be a clash between enemies. And they even delivered themselves to my doorstep.
Chen Liangyu stared intently at Pei Danxing, who was still recovering.
If he does anything that is detrimental to the princess, her sword will be drawn instantly.
Pei Danxing's face was filled with conflicting emotions.
After a moment of silence, he said to Chen Liangyu, "Why are you acting like you're about to kill someone when you need someone to practice medicine?"
Yuan Rong and Dai Qing were bewildered, and Rong Jun was equally baffled. Why were they suddenly about to draw their swords?
"General Chen?" Yuan Rong asked tentatively.
Pei Danxing asked, "General?"
A woman? That's a rare thing.
Has this young woman's family recently experienced any major misfortune?
Pei Danxing pointed to the person in the tent.
"yes."
"Was it caused by a villain?"
"yes."
"Do you go through the days without eating or drinking tea?"
"yes."
“That’s it.” Pei Danxing stood up and slung his medicine box over his shoulder. “This young lady is just too weak, suffering from heart failure and exhaustion. She can be nourished by proper diet.”
Chen Liangyu asked, "Really?"
She thought about it again and realized that Xie Wenjun had been lucid for most of the day, so she seemed to have really improved.
Pei Danxing said, "I am a doctor, and I never joke about patients' conditions."
Chen Liangyu said, "But..."
"She sometimes loses consciousness, experiences body pain, or faints, right?"
"Exactly."
“She pulled through on her own,” Pei Danxing said. “If she were to be treated with medicinal cuisine, she would recover faster. But General Chen doesn’t trust me, so I doubt that even if I prepared the medicine, she would be able to swallow it.”
Let's not beat around the bush. Pei Danxing cut to the chase, "General, given your reaction, may I assume that you know about an old incident from over twenty years ago?"
Chen Liangyu remained silent.
Dai Qing hoped that the doctor would stay to treat the princess's illness, so she spoke up for Chen Liangyu, "Doctor, General Chen grew up in the northern border and has never been to Liangxi City. She must not know about what happened in the city more than 20 years ago."
Pei Danxing put down a medicine bottle. "It can relieve pain. If you want the medicine, come to the manor tomorrow. The general can decide for himself."
After Pei Danxing left, Chen Liangyu uncorked the medicine bottle and poured a few pills into her palm.
The smell and color were exactly the same as the medicine in the female thief's hand today.
"Rong Jun, keep watch tonight." Chen Liangyu put on his coat and was about to leave. "I'm going to the villa with the doctor to get medicine. If anything happens, signal me immediately."
Jiuhua Mountain Villa wasn't too far from the restaurant where they were resting, but it was mostly mountainous terrain and difficult to traverse. If she went now, she could return before dawn tomorrow.
In these turbulent times, they should not stay outside for too long.
“I will go with you.”
A corner of the tent flap was lifted, and Xie Wenjun woke up sometime earlier. The temperature was low on the mountain at night, and even breathing felt slightly chilly.
Chen Liangyu quickly took off her outer cloak and put it over her, pulling the collar closer to the center.
Chen Liangyu said with concern, "This matter cannot be explained in a few words. I do not know anything about this Doctor Pei. I am afraid that it will be dangerous for the princess to go."
Xie Wenjun said, "We are unfamiliar with this place, and if there is danger, it could happen anywhere."
Rong Jun echoed, "General Chen, it's best not to separate right now."
Chen Liangyu thought for a moment, then said, "Alright."
She knelt down in front of Xie Wenjun, holding up the jade shoe with one hand.
Xie Wenjun was uncomfortable with her behavior and shrank back a little, leaving Chen Liangyu's hand frozen in place.
Both of them were taken aback.
Chen Liangyu: "I..."
Xie Wenjun: "You..."
Yuan Rong stepped in to defuse the situation: "General Chen, this servant has come to serve the princess."
Chen Liangyu, in a daze, handed over the shoes. She realized she had overstepped her bounds.
He was inexplicably distraught.
Jiuhua Mountain Villa is a medicinal herb garden.
Along the cobblestone path in the garden, the grass is a mixture of withered yellow and tender green, but these are not ordinary grasses; they are all medicinal seedlings. After passing a rockery and crossing a vermilion wooden bridge over a babbling brook, you arrive at the pharmacy in the villa.
The air was filled with a faint medicinal smell, a mixture of various herbs, but it didn't smell unpleasant.
It was already midnight.
There was a young apprentice wearing a children's hat on duty in the pharmacy. He was dozing off when he saw the manor lord leading a large group of people over. He immediately woke up and chased away his drowsiness.
"Master, the lady refuses to drink the medicine," the medicine boy said.
Pei Danxing coughed. The young apprentice, still dazed, said, "It's all over."
Pei Danxing gave the apprentice a few instructions, and the apprentice then slipped into a small door in the corner of the clinic.
"My wife caught a cold, but she disliked the bitter taste of the medicine and refused to take it."
Shaoqing, the medicine boy came out carrying several boxes.
The young apprentice said, "Master, these herbs are not commonly used, and some of them are old. Why don't we gather some fresh ones tomorrow and then prepare the medicine?"
Pei Danxing glanced at the sky and said, "It's getting late. Why don't we rest for the night and gather the new herbs early tomorrow morning?"
Chen Liangyu pondered for a moment and then nodded.
"Then please follow me."
Pei Danxing pointed the way, and as soon as he stepped out the door, he saw a woman coming this way.
She had willow-leaf eyebrows, peach-blossom eyes, and a red jade hairpin dangling from her hair. She was beautiful in herself, but the sight of her pregnant belly and extremely thin waist created an inexplicable disharmony, making her appear as if she had been pieced together.
Pei Danxing wanted to help her up, but said, "It's cold and the dew is heavy..."
Before he could finish speaking, the woman gently pushed his hand away. Pei Danxing sighed, heartbroken, "A-Yuan. Be good."
It was a scene brimming with deep affection, yet also filled with desolation.
The woman lowered her long eyelashes, placed her hand on her lower abdomen, and turned to go back to her room.
The guest room faces a small garden with a few scattered trees. Under the moonlight, the treetops look as if they are covered in frost.
Xie Wenjun asked the people at the villa for pen and ink, and wrote the same words on different sheets of paper. After putting down her pen, Rong Jun knelt down and presented her with a box the size of a palm.
Inside the box was a seal that was one inch long and wide.
The Imperial Seal of the State of Daqing.
"Now, the troops and population in the Zhuodong area all belong to the Second Prince, and the Imperial Guards in Yongdu are also under his control. Marquis Luping, Heng Jinan, is stationed in the southern border. The Heng family was ennobled for their military merits and is now a general guarding the border. Before Prime Minister Zhang established the Agricultural and Sericultural Bureau, the Heng family had encroached on a lot of farmland. They had objections when the Second Prince first implemented the new tax law. When the Second Prince abolished the Agricultural and Sericultural Bureau in his fiefdom, he was the loudest in advocating for it."
As Xie Wenjun spoke, he stamped the seals one by one.
Chen Liangyu said, “I have His Majesty’s edict, which can mobilize the garrison in the south. Even so, Lord Heng should still try to win them over. If the south is also under the control of Prince Qi, we will be attacked from both sides. I have already sent troops to Linxia, and Prince Shen must have made preparations. Now we only need to contact Yongdu and the north to issue edicts widely to raise troops to defend the emperor.”
However, there is one situation where Chen Liangyu's edict cannot mobilize the troops in the southern border.
If Prince Qi murders his father and ascends the throne, or Emperor Xuanyuan abdicates, Heng Jinan will no longer obey his orders if he supports a new ruler.
Xie Wenjun thought of someone: Zhao Zhouqing.
This man was originally the garrison commander of the southern border, and was quite prestigious in the army. He was promoted to the Ministry of War by Xie Yu, but in a moment of arrogance, he wanted to reform the military and political system. He was demoted to Cangnan as the chief administrator.
Later, the Cangnan people's disaster case implicated a wide range of people, and Zhao Zhouqing was caught in the crossfire and beheaded.
But he had an eldest son who had followed his father in the army since childhood. Xie Yu once praised him for having the same qualities as his father.
After Zhao Zhouqing was beheaded, he was exiled to the army.
If he were still alive, bringing him up would allow Zhao Zhouqing to mobilize his former troops in the southern region, even if Heng Jinan did not cooperate.
Xie Wenjun thought for a moment and said, "Rong Jun, tomorrow you send someone to Nanbu Macang to find a man named Zhao Mingqin and bring him back."
Rong Jun: "Your subject obeys."
Chen Liangyu asked, "Is Heng Jinan's youngest daughter, Heng Yang, still in the palace?"
Xie Wenjun nodded, "My brother has chosen several people to be my study companions, and she is one of them."
Chen Liangyu thought for a moment, then said, "Rong Jun."
"Your humble servant is here."
"Tomorrow, send someone to the Marquis of Luping's residence in the southern border to inform Marquis Heng that the princess has adopted Heng Yang as her goddaughter."
"Your humble servant has... your adopted daughter?"
Rong Jun grabbed his hair and said, "The youngest daughter of the Heng family is about the same age as the princess."
Chen Liangyu said, "Age is not a problem at all. The princess is my adopted daughter, and she is recognized as a member of the imperial family."
Rong Jun suddenly realized: "This subordinate obeys the order."
I have difficulty falling asleep at night.
Xie Wenjun, preoccupied with her own thoughts, walked into the courtyard and stopped under a plum tree in a secluded spot.
Chen Liangyu followed.
"Have any of my brother's remains been collected yet?"
The cold moonlight cast a silvery glow on Xie Wenjun, making her appear aloof and cold.
My heart felt like it had been ripped open, aching and throbbing.
"Your Highness."
Xie Wenjun looked up at the bright moon, and Chen Liangyu called to her from behind.
She turned around.
Chen Liangyu forced a smile. "It's cold outside."
She felt sad because the person was all alone.
So she took two steps forward and walked to Xie Wenjun's side to stand beside her, so that Xie Wenjun wouldn't feel so empty next to her.
Upon closer inspection, several butterflies had landed on the plum branches. Their bodies were small and delicate, their thin wings fluttering lazily as they lingered there.
The plum blossoms have already fallen this season, and the butterflies are small and weak.
Chen Liangyu caught one and placed it on Xie Wenjun's fingertip.
The butterfly wasn't afraid of people at all; it rested on my fingertip, its almost transparent wings fluttering gently—it was quite amazing.
I've been observing it for a long time but I still don't know what kind of butterfly it is.
"That's a winter butterfly."
The sound came from behind me.
Chen Liangyu and Xie Wenjun turned around and saw the female thief who stole the horse climbing down a low wall.
The palace guards drew their swords in an instant and surrounded the people.
"What are you doing here?" Chen Liangyu asked.
The female thief dared not move amidst the flashing blades. Her finger struck the blade, cutting a gash. She said, "This is my home. Didn't you guess who I am?"
A cold butterfly flew to the cracked finger joint. The butterfly crawled around on the wound, secreting a milky white liquid, and the bleeding stopped.
The female thief raised her hands, "I went home to pay respects to my father, what law did I break?"
Chen Liangyu gestured, and the Eastern Palace guards stepped aside. The female thief fled as if escaping.
Author's note: Thank you for reading this far!
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