Chapter 46 Panic
The Regent's Palace was brightly lit tonight, yet it was as silent as a tomb.
Only basins of clear water, stained red with blood, were carried in and out by the servants.
The air was filled with a suffocating stench of blood and a strong smell of bitter medicine.
Inside the master bedroom.
The top physicians in the entire Imperial Medical Academy knelt on the ground, trembling like leaves, cold sweat pouring down their foreheads, not daring to even breathe.
Because the man sitting by the bed looks absolutely terrifying.
Pei Yunjing sat in the position closest to the bed, like a demon god who had just been pulled out of a blood pool of hell.
His dark brocade robe was already soaked through with rain and blood, becoming stiff and clinging to his body.
It has the enemy's blood, his own blood, and even more so... Tang Li's blood.
His hair was disheveled, his face was still covered with dried blood, and his phoenix eyes were filled with terrifying red blood vessels as he stared intently at the small woman on the bed who was barely breathing.
"Your Highness..."
The head of the Imperial Medical Academy kowtowed tremblingly, his voice shaking:
"Your Highness's injury... was extremely dangerous. That sword pierced through her left shoulder. Although it narrowly avoided her heart, she lost a lot of blood. In addition, Your Highness's health was already weak, and she was also caught in the rain and frightened..."
The judge swallowed hard, not daring to look Pei Yunjing in the eye, and forced himself to speak:
"Tonight is a matter of life and death. If the fever comes down, the person will be saved. If... if it doesn't come down..."
He dared not say what came next.
"What if they can't back down?"
Pei Yunjing's voice was hoarse and rough, as if it had been severely sanded.
He slowly turned his head, his scarlet eyes falling coldly on the judge:
"how?"
"Then...then..." The judge lay prostrate on the ground, trembling all over, "we can only prepare for the worst."
"Crack".
The string of black jade prayer beads in Pei Yunjing's hand (which he usually used for show) was instantly crushed into powder.
"What happens afterward?"
He chuckled softly, a laugh that chilled to the bone, making all the imperial physicians in the room feel as if they had fallen into an ice cave.
Listen carefully.
Pei Yunjing stood up, his tall shadow instantly enveloping everyone.
He didn't yell or shout, but his tone was chillingly calm:
"If she dies, there's no need for the Imperial Hospital to remain."
“All of you, along with your entire families, will be buried with her.”
"Go and prepare the medicine."
The imperial physicians were terrified and scrambled out of the room, fearing that if they hesitated even a moment longer, this madman would chop them up on the spot.
Only Pei Yunjing and the anxious old butler Zhao Bo remained in the room.
"Your Highness..."
Looking at Pei Yunjing's still bleeding hand (the wound from catching the sword barehanded), Uncle Zhao was heartbroken and tears streamed down his face.
"Your Highness is blessed with good fortune and will surely pull through. But you... your wounds are still bleeding! And wearing wet clothes will only worsen the cold poison! Why don't you go and change your clothes so this old servant can bandage you up?"
"Need not."
Pei Yunjing sat back down on the edge of the bed, his gaze never leaving Tang Li's deathly pale face.
"I'm not leaving."
He was as stubborn as a madman.
He had an almost pathological intuition: that the moment he turned around, the moment he left, the person on the bed would vanish like a bubble, or stop breathing altogether.
“But Your Highness…” Uncle Zhao wanted to persuade him again.
"Get out." Pei Yunjing coldly uttered two words.
Uncle Zhao sighed, knowing he couldn't persuade him, and could only silently retreat and stand guard outside the door.
Finally, only two people remained in the room.
Pei Yunjing reached out, wanting to touch Tang Li's face, but stopped in mid-air.
His hands were covered in dried blood and were filthy.
At this moment, the pear tree looked so clean, yet so fragile.
Like a delicate porcelain doll, it was already covered with cracks, as if it would shatter completely if he exerted the slightest force.
[Buzz—]
[Buzzing—]
As time went on, Tang Li fell into a deep coma, and the calming magnetic field became negligible.
The familiar, maddening tinnitus in Pei Yunjing's mind began to rise slowly like a tide once again.
The world is becoming noisy again.
The sound of the wind blowing through the windowpanes, the distant fanning of the imperial physician as he prepared medicine, the footsteps of patrolling guards...
Little by little, it turned into sharp noise, beginning to sting his nerves.
A tremendous panic gripped Pei Yunjing's heart like an invisible hand.
He was afraid of the noise.
He was afraid to return to that hell filled with blood and clamor.
But what terrified him even more was—
Looking at Tang Li's tightly closed eyes and the faint, almost invisible rise and fall of her chest, he felt a pain that was even more unbearable than "sense overload."
She did it to save him.
That greedy, lustful, cowardly, and foolish woman who runs away faster than anyone else when danger strikes...
He didn't run away from the deadly sword.
Why?
For that box of gold?
Or is it for the so-called "long-term meal ticket"?
For whatever reason, she stood in front of him.
The sensation of the warm blood splattered on his face still burns hot to this day.
"Tangli..."
Pei Yunjing's fingers trembled, but he still gently placed them on the back of her cold hand.
He carefully grasped her fingers, as if clutching at a last straw.
"Don't you love money?"
His voice was low and hoarse as he murmured to the unconscious Tang Li, his tone carrying a hint of humble pleading that he himself was unaware of:
"As long as you wake up, you will be given the keys to the entire Regent's Palace treasury."
"You want to eat braised pork knuckle, you want to eat roast duck... even if you want to dig up all the floor tiles in this palace, I will grant your wish."
"Please don't sleep... I beg you."
"It's too noisy here...it's really too noisy..."
Pei Yunjing lowered his head and pressed his forehead against the back of her cold hand.
A drop of scalding liquid silently slid down and landed on Tang Li's fingertip, mingling with the still-damp bloodstains on her sleeve.
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