Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Exorcism.
During the period of the poisonous insect outbreak, Ji Lian started every day by drinking medicine.
The windows in the room were closed and covered with curtains, with only three or two small lights on, making the room dim and hazy.
Ji Lian was not wearing a jade crown, and her long hair like raven feathers was draped softly behind her. She was wearing a sky-blue cross-collared wide-sleeved shirt.
Leaning against a table, he held a roll of pale blue silk in his hand, and looked down at the candlelight on the small table. However, he was unable to do it well, and after looking for a while, he felt that the words were doubled.
Ji Lian closed her eyes tiredly and pressed her solar plexus with two fingers.
“Click—”
There was the sound of a door being pushed open, and very, very light footsteps coming from behind the screen. Under the light of the flickering candlelight, a figure fell to the ground and gradually retreated behind the screen.
"Coming?"
The person who was moving paused and made no sound.
Ji Lian thought it was Jiang Zhu and said, "Come in and massage my shoulders. Is Doctor Wang back?"
The man didn't move and just stood there.
"Um...why don't you come over?"
Ji Lian turned around and saw the person coming. Her pupils suddenly shrank and an almost inaudible gasp escaped from her throat. The silk in her hand fell to the ground. She looked like she had seen a ghost in broad daylight.
Xie Tingyu watched Ji Lian's expression first startled, then horrified, and then furious. She nodded secretly in her heart. The change in the beauty's expression was exactly what she had imagined before she came.
"call out--"
The teacup flew through the air, and Xie Tingyu raised her hand to catch it. Then, a soft pillow embroidered with gold thread flew straight towards her face. She leaned sideways and caught it.
"I said I came here on orders, Your Highness, do you believe me?"
Before he finished speaking, three more objects flew towards him one after another.
After watching Ji Lian throw everything that could be thrown on the couch to him, Xie Tingyu took it in his hands, held it in his arms, walked to the front of the couch, and placed them all on the table.
Ji Lian grabbed the soft pillow that he had lost and threw it forward again, but his knees hit the edge of the couch and he fell straight forward.
No, she fell right into Xie Tingyu's arms again.
Ji Lian, who lost her balance, subconsciously tightened her arms and grabbed Xie Tingyu's clothes tightly at the back of his waist.
The tingling sensation from yesterday came back, suddenly exploding from Ji Lian's fingertips, quickly wrapping around his arms and spreading to his chest. Wherever it touched Xie Tingyu, he trembled slightly, and the poisonous insect in his body showed signs of an attack.
The scene in the closet was repeated once again.
Ji Lian's clothes were specially fumigated by Jiangzhu with the scent of green lotus, which has a calming effect on the mind.
With the sweet and soft beauty in his arms, Xie Tingyu felt that she would be happy to do it again. However, she was afraid that the prince in her arms would be furious, so she could only hold Ji Lian's shoulders with regret and push her back to the couch.
"By order? By whose order? Your last name is Xie, so are you following the orders of Lord Xie? You are a sly and frivolous girl, you must have deceived Lord Xie."
After a series of actions, Ji Lian's clothes were disheveled, revealing her jade-like collarbone. When he thought that the current situation was caused by this person in front of him, a simmering anger rose in his heart.
"It is the order of the current emperor."
Xie Tingyu stretched out her wrist, and the imperial edict slipped out of her sleeve. She turned it in front of Ji Lian, but did not show it to him and took it back directly.
"I am grateful to His Majesty for his kindness in appointing me as a Prayer Envoy. Doctor Wang reported back that His Majesty had heard that Your Highness had been invaded by an evil spirit and was deeply concerned, so he specifically ordered me to exorcise the evil spirit."
"Evil spirit? I think you are." Ji Lian said angrily, "You evil woman, I will never be cured as long as you are around."
Xie Tingyu didn't answer, but just smiled gently.
Ji Lian was so angry that her cheeks flushed, her chest heaved violently, and a tingling sensation ran up her throat.
“Cough cough cough cough…”
Xie Tingyu raised his hand, poured a cup of warm tea, and handed it over. Ji Lian snorted coldly and turned away, but her hand honestly took the teacup and covered her face with her sleeve. When she lowered her sleeve, the cup was empty.
Just at this moment, Jiangzhu came in with a bowl of steaming lotus seed soup. She looked at the girl in front of the bed, then looked at Ji Lian's ashen face, as if she understood something, but also seemed not to understand.
Jiangzhu first called out "Your Highness," then hesitated and knelt toward Xie Tingyu: "Who is this gentleman...?"
"What a jerk."
"The new envoy of prayer."
The two said in unison.
Ji Lian looked at Jiangzhu's confused expression, and he probably knew in his heart that he was not the one who let the person in.
Three more people came in.
It was Wang Shuhe, followed by a palace servant holding a medicine cup, and another holding a small incense burner and a book with the words "Baopuzi" written on it.
Ji Lian's eyes pierced the last palace attendant and said in a cold voice, "Kneel down."
The palace attendant didn't understand why, but didn't dare to hesitate. He immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed, "Your Highness, please punish me."
Ji Lian scolded, "Who allowed you to let outsiders in when I was resting without being summoned?"
The palace attendant trembled, "Master Xie holds the Emperor's imperial edict in his hand, and he also has the imperial edict with him... I really don't dare to stop him." He glanced at Xie Tingyu in panic, and then hurriedly added, "Doctor Wang was also present at the time to testify, so I..."
Although Wang Shuhe did not understand the situation clearly, he still dutifully recounted what happened in Penglai Palace.
Xie Tingyu looked calm: "The injustice against me has finally been cleared at this moment. I had originally intended to wait outside the screen to exorcise the evil spirit for His Highness, but His Highness personally called me in..."
Before he could utter the last word "come", Ji Lian interrupted him, "Shut up." He looked embarrassed and glared at Xie Tingyu. Then he turned to the palace attendant and said, "Put down your things and leave."
Xie Tingyu took the incense burner and the Baopuzi, and said confidently, "I will exorcise the evil spirit for Your Highness right now."
"Thank you, sir, and wait a minute."
Wang Shuhe came over, took the incense burner, lightly twisted the ashes in the burner with his fingertips, and then put it to his nose and sniffed it carefully. He found that it was just benzoin, which has a sleep-inducing and sedative effect, so he put the incense burner back into Xie Tingyu's hands.
Ji Lian saw Xie Tingyu place the incense burner on the small table and thought she was going to perform a grand ritual. However, she simply inserted three incense sticks into it, clasped her hands together, and bowed to it, muttering to herself, "The sky and the earth are dark yellow, the laws are nine chapters, the evil spirits will retreat quickly, and the righteous path will prosper forever."
After saying this, Xie Tingyu took the book and knelt behind the screen. "The evil spirit has left. I will recite the Meditation Sutra for Your Highness to calm your mind."
The deliberately suppressed sound of turning pages came from behind the screen.
...Can this dispel the so-called evil spirits?
Everyone was puzzled and felt that this person was extremely perfunctory.
Ji Lian had no time to worry about what the fake Taoist priest was doing. The ordeal had already drained him of energy. He sighed inaudibly, picked up the medicine bowl, and drank it all in one gulp.
Wang Shuhe said, "Your Highness, please move to the bed. It's time for acupuncture."
Ji Lian stood up and, supported by Jiang Zhu, walked towards the bed. Several layers of curtains covered the inner room tightly.
This time the acupuncture was much easier than last night. Ji Lian only needed to place her wrist on the pulse pillow and let him operate the needle.
Perhaps it was the low chanting sounds from behind the screen, or the curling incense from the incense burner, or perhaps it was the effect of the medicine, but Ji Lian just felt dizzy and fell asleep after a while.
“…Hot…So hot…”
Ji Lian lay on the bed, murmuring unconsciously, feeling a heat running through her body like a snake. Her forehead was covered with beads of sweat, and she tossed and turned restlessly on the quilt.
Jiangzhu lifted the curtain, looked inside, and was about to go out to look for Wang Shuhe.
"Is this palace attendant looking for Doctor Wang?"
Jiangzhu nodded.
"I just saw Doctor Wang hurried to the Imperial Medical Office." Xie Tingyu stood beside the red lacquer pillar, a scroll in his hand rolled up into a scroll, tapping his palm thoughtfully. He asked with concern, "Is there anything wrong with His Highness?"
Jiangzhu nodded again.
"Although I am not proficient in medicine, I am good at exorcising evil spirits and calming souls. Your Highness must be possessed by an evil spirit right now. I will go and take a look." Xie Tingyu looked confident and was about to walk in.
...Huh?
Jiangzhu opened her arms to block the way, her face flushed red as she said anxiously, "Men's curtains are not for outsiders. How can you, a woman, enter? Why not wait for Doctor Wang to come and discuss this?"
"I will not see your Highness sleeping. You only need to give me his hand."
……ah?
Using hands does seem to be more appropriate than just looking at a sleeping face... No, that won't work either!
Jiangzhu watched Xie Tingyu first pull aside the outermost layer of pearl curtain, then layer after layer of curtains, until the last layer.
The curtain was as thin as a cicada's wing but opaque to the light. Although it was only one layer, it was impossible to see what was going on inside.
As luck would have it, one of Ji Lian's hands was hanging outside the tent.
Because the owner of this body was feeling unbearably hot, the joints of that hand were abnormally crimson, the finger bones were tense, and the knuckles were trembling.
"Your Highness, are you feeling unwell?" Xie Tingyu asked in a low voice.
"It's hot... I'm so hot... No..." Intermittent murmurs came from inside the tent.
"I have a way to make your Highness feel better." Xie Tingyu paused deliberately, then asked with a hint of temptation: "Your Highness, do you need it?"
There was no response from inside the tent, but the unconscious curling of his fingertips allowed Xie Tingyu to feel the torment of the person inside.
Jiangzhu held her breath, watching in shock as Xie Tingyu reached out and gently grasped Ji Lian's hand. Their pulses met, their hearts pounding.
Jiangzhu's pupils suddenly shrank.
...What did he see?
He saw His Highness actively open his five fingers and clasp them tightly with Lord Xie's hand, refusing to let go as if grabbing a piece of driftwood while drowning.
Jiangzhu forced herself to calm down, covered her mouth tightly with her hands, and retreated step by step in shock.
Xie Tingyu's hands were very cold.
Ji Lian felt as if she had grasped a clear spring amidst the chaos, like a thin layer of snow melting, then transforming into a gurgling stream, flowing slowly along her pulse. Although they were just palms touching, the coolness spread like a spider web, soothing the heat in her body by a factor of three.
He unconsciously sighed with satisfaction, wanting to press that hand even tighter...tighter...
The tent gradually became silent.
When Ji Lian woke up, it was already dusk. He sat up from the tent and drew aside the curtains, only to see Jiangzhu waiting beside him.
He sat in front of the dressing table, and Jiangzhu picked up a jade comb and combed his hair.
The jade comb slid across the silky long hair, combing it all the way to the end.
Jiangzhu asked, "Did Your Highness sleep well this afternoon?"
Ji Lian lazily held up her chin, "It's a rare cool breeze. Today is much more comfortable than yesterday."
Jiangzhu looked at the slight redness at the corners of the prince's eyes in the bronze mirror, which had not yet faded, and began to wonder whether he should tell her what happened in the afternoon or not.
The author has something to say:
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I think it’s better not to say it, hahahahaha
Thank you all for the nutrient solution and landmines!!
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