Chapter 83 Chapter 83 I think you're about to kiss her. ...
Seeing Ji Lian's eyes welling up again, Ji Xun assumed she was heartbroken to see her savior so badly injured. Instead, he came over to comfort him, "Don't cry, little uncle. Teacher, you're blessed by fate and will definitely get through this."
Seeing Ji Lian still looking depressed, she advised, "My uncle has been restless since this morning in Penglai Palace. Now that he has seen the teacher, he should feel relieved."
Ji Lian murmured a response, his gaze glued to Xie Tingyu's pale face, even the unwiped medicine stains on the corners of her lips were clearly visible. He wanted to sit down beside the couch, but in the inner room, besides Ji Xun, there were two other servants guarding the bed.
In fact, the two men did not show any signs of overstepping the boundaries. They just silently wet the handkerchief and kept wiping Xie Tingyu's chapped lips. But when Ji Lian saw this, she couldn't help but want to snatch the handkerchief and wipe it for her herself.
Once again, he felt sad about the unclear status between him and her. If he was Xie Tingyu's husband, he should have been the one to handle such intimate matters. Why bother with...
When Ji Lian saw Yuan Fuxue walking in with a medicine box, her eyes froze for a moment, and she asked in a hoarse voice, "I wonder why Yuan Sanlang is here?"
Yuan Fuxue put down his medicine box and bowed to the two men. "Greetings, Your Highnesses. I am grateful to the Grand Tutor for trusting me in treating Madam Tingyu with acupuncture."
"Are you going to give me acupuncture now?" Ji Xun asked.
"Your Highness, yes."
Ji Xun gently tugged at Ji Lian's sleeve and said softly, "Uncle, why don't we go out first?"
Unexpectedly, Ji Lian stood up suddenly and said firmly, "Since Yuan Lang has such a heart, how can I fall behind? After all, Xie Tingyu has saved me before." After a slight pause, she added, "Twice. Naturally, I should stay here and help."
Ji Xun was stunned to see Ji Lian walking straight towards Yuan Fuxue, still saying confidently, "Yuan Lang should need help, right?"
"I didn't know that Your Highness knew the art of acupuncture." Yuan Fuxue raised his eyebrows.
Ji Xun happened to be standing nearby and saw the tips of her uncle's ears suddenly turn red, as if he was choking. He simply said, "Even though I don't know acupuncture, handing me something can certainly help."
Ji Lian lowered her voice so that only the two of them could hear, "I guess you came to Changhaoyuan last night?"
"Yes, I have been guarding her earlier than Your Highness." Yuan Fuxue responded in a low voice.
"Since I have come to Xie Garden, I will not leave you alone with Xie Tingyu."
"So His Highness is such a jealous person?"
"I only do this to Xie Tingyu."
Ji Xun looked at the two of them, and there seemed to be an invisible but palpable smell of gunpowder floating between them, "Uncle..."
But Ji Lian seemed not to hear and followed Yuan Fuxue behind the screen.
Ji Xun didn't understand the struggles between men, so he turned around and asked Jiang Zhu, "Why do I feel like they are fighting over something?"
"I don't understand these things." Jiangzhu lowered her eyes and replied, "Your Highness, why don't we go out and wait."
After everyone in the room had left, Ji Lian dared to reach out and gently lift a corner of the quilt. Although Xie Tingyu had changed into clean underwear, the bitter smell of medicine still lingered, drilling into his nose.
He trembled as he pulled back her collar, revealing a thick layer of gauze wrapped around Xie Tingyu's collarbone and chest. Fighting back tears, he choked up, "She's seriously injured, isn't she? Will it affect her future movements?"
Yuan Fuxue shook her head. "Aunt Bao examined him last night. As long as he takes good care of himself, he should be fine."
Ji Lian couldn't help but stroke Xie Tingyu's pale lips with his fingertips, whispering, "Who on earth wants to hurt her like this?" As he spoke, he leaned over unconsciously, but was suddenly awakened when he was about to touch those lips. He turned his head and saw Yuan Fuxue still standing beside him, staring at him with burning eyes.
"What are you looking at?" Ji Lian asked shyly.
"I think you're about to kiss her." Yuan Fuxue said without hesitation.
After being exposed, Ji Lian became even more angry, but she was also afraid of being heard by people outside the house, so she could only whisper: "So what if I kissed her? We didn't know about each other for a long time..." She had kissed him countless times.
The words came to his lips, but he swallowed them back. Those intimate pasts were only between him and Xie Tingyu, and he didn't want to share them with others.
Ji Lian saw the silver needles Yuan Fuxue took out and her eyes tightened. "How did you perform acupuncture last night?"
"Of course..." Yuan Fuxue's eyes flashed with a mischievous smile, "You have to take off your clothes before I can give you acupuncture."
"But it only faded to the collarbone."
As Yuan Fuxue was about to reach out to untie her belt, Ji Lian grabbed her wrist and said, "I'll do it, you just give me the acupuncture."
"Your Highness, why do you have to do this? When I give her acupuncture, my fingertips will touch her skin. How can you prevent this?"
Yuan Fuxue grasped Ji Lian's wrist, the cold touch running up along the veins of her wrist. "Your Highness can handle this now, but what about the next time?"
"Everyone says Yuan Fuxue lives up to his name, being aloof and indifferent to others, but I don't think so. You're not fighting, you're fighting and grabbing."
"Why fight? Why fight? Are you going to marry Xie Tingyu?"
"Cough cough cough cough--" The person on the bed coughed violently.
Ji Lian hurriedly shook off Yuan Fuxue's hand, took the tea bowl from the small table, and carefully fed her water spoon by spoon. Seeing the tea dripping down the corners of her pale lips, he freed his other hand and gently wiped away the water stains with his fingertips until the lips finally regained some color, then he put down the tea bowl.
The smell of gunpowder between the two of them faded a little because of this episode. Ji Lian gently tore open Xie Tingyu's clothes and silently gave her seat to Yuan Fuxue.
Yuan Fuxue stopped arguing with Ji Lian and, after washing his hands, leaned over to give her acupuncture. Within moments, a dense patch of silver needles covered Xie Tingyu's smooth collarbone, like a layer of falling snow.
Ji Lian stood by attentively, and seeing Xie Tingyu sweating profusely from the acupuncture, she hurriedly took a towel and wiped away the sweat for her.
The ordeal lasted a full quarter of an hour.
Ji Lian had originally thought acupuncture would only take a few sessions, but she hadn't expected to return to the Changhaoyuan for five days straight, only to see the same dense patch of silver needles on Xie Tingyu's collarbone. The gleaming tips of the needles pierced her skin, but it felt like they were piercing his heart, and the pain grew more excruciating with each passing day.
"How long will the acupuncture treatment take? She has been in a coma for about six days, including the night of the accident. When will she wake up?" Ji Lian asked anxiously in a low voice.
"I don't know." Yuan Fuxue withdrew the silver needles one by one. "Although most of the remaining poison in her body has been eliminated, the dream soul has not yet been cleared. This coma is most likely related to the poison."
Ji Lian reached out to help, but accidentally pricked his fingertip with the needle. Blood oozed out, mingled with a few strange strands of gold. He was about to wipe it away when Yuan Fuxue suddenly grabbed his wrist.
Yuan Fuxue stared at the strange blood bead, wiped it with a handkerchief, and asked in a deep voice, "How could there be such a thing in your blood?"
"I've had it since I was a kid, and so has my father."
Ji Lian didn't take it seriously, still thinking about Xie Tingyu, and asked again: "Then how do we interpret this dream soul guide?"
Yuan Fuxue twisted the silver needle and explained, "This dream soul guide will confuse the mind and put people in an illusion. To break it, she has to walk out of the illusion herself, and then she may wake up."
"What if it can't be cracked?"
"Then you will remain in a deep sleep and coma until you run out of life force and die in your dreams."
Ji Lian's figure swayed, his face pale. "But I clearly heard the doctors say that most of the poison in Xie Tingyu's body has been removed and his life is safe. Why does he still have such a fatal hidden danger?"
"There's no conflict. That night, I removed the poison that corroded her internal tissues, but this Dream Soul Inducer is specifically designed to cause mental confusion. It's not the same kind of poison. I can use acupuncture daily to keep her alive and prevent her mind from being completely devoured. But whether she can wake up depends on herself."
"Have you told this to Master Xie?"
Yuan Fuxue was silent for a rare moment, then said, "I've said it, but what's the point? Although Grand Tutor Xie has offered a generous reward, no famous doctor in Jiankang dares to take up the offer." He put the needles into his medical box, stood up, and straightened his sleeves. "It's getting late, so I should return to Yuan Garden."
Before leaving, he turned back to look at Ji Lian and said, "I heard that the Lantai Pavilion in the palace has a vast amount of ancient books. Your Highness, why don't you go back and look for them? Maybe there are some clues."
Ji Lian returned to the palace in a daze, heading straight for the Lantai Pavilion. For three days, he spent his time rummaging through the pharmacopoeia and medical books. The sunlight outside the window gradually dimmed, and the last rays of sunlight shone through the carved window lattice onto the desk, casting a dim light across the room.
Suddenly, a candle lit up beside him.
"Your Highness." Jiangzhu approached, holding a candlestick. Seeing Ji Lian writing furiously at her desk, she said softly, "It's late. Why don't you go back to Posa Pavilion and have some food?"
Ji Lian raised her head, her bloodshot eyes illuminating the candlelight, looking particularly terrifying. "If I indulge in my appetite, Xie Tingyu will be in even greater danger. How can her life be compared to a mere meal?"
Seeing that she couldn't persuade him, Jiangzhu could only find another way. "May I ask, Your Highness, what does Lord Xie like most about you?"
Ji Lian was stunned, "It's... it's my appearance."
"If Your Highness doesn't eat, he will become thin and his appearance will be damaged. If Master Xie wakes up, then Your Highness..."
Ji Lian stood up suddenly, but because of the sudden heavy shadows in front of her, she had to hold on to the bookshelf. "She is such a heartless person. If she saw my haggard face, I'm afraid she wouldn't even bother to look at me."
As his sleeves swept across the bookshelf, several ancient books fell to the ground.
Coincidentally, on one of the opened pages of the book, the three words "Menghunyin" were clearly visible.
This library is located in the deepest part of Lantai Pavilion. The dusty bookshelves are piled with obscure classics, and even the palace cleaners rarely set foot there.
Ji Lian's heart was pounding, and he ignored the darkness before his eyes and grabbed the scroll. He saw the following words written inside.
The Dream Soul Guide is a strange poison from the northern border. Its branches and leaves can be made into incense, and its sap can be used as medicine. It initially confuses the mind, then gradually corrodes the heart. There's no cure, but only a soul-calling song, which can help the poisoned person see through the illusion and return to their true form.
Ji Lian turned another page.
This piece of music was composed by Wang Yi of the Wang family of Langya. Yi was a master of the qin and medicine. He once tested poison on himself, fell into a dream, and was awakened by the sound of celestial music. He then composed this piece of music and kept it in the Wang family of Langya.
Ji Lian's fingertips trembled slightly, and he suddenly felt that the name was familiar. In a flash, he stood up and stumbled back to Posa Pavilion.
In the piano room, he searched through boxes and drawers until he finally found a fragment of a score in a dusty rosewood box. On the burnt-yellow mulberry paper, one could vaguely see the traces of the notes his mentor had casually given him.
The next day, in Changhao Courtyard, Wang Qiwu held a complete music score in his hand and looked at Ji Lian with doubt, "Does this really have this effect?"
Ji Lian handed over the ancient book she had found in Lantai Pavilion last night, "The book records it this way, why not give it a try."
Wang Qiwu's expression suddenly became dazed. "I've heard this song several times before, but I never knew it had such miraculous effects. In the past, whenever my mother was away and encountered a soldier who had tragically perished, she would personally play this song to guide the soldiers' souls back to the Great Zhou."
Yuan Fuxue silently took out the guqin and placed it on the table. "You have to try all the methods before you know them."
Ji Lian took the complete music score, placed it on a corner of the piano table, spread out her sleeves, and the sound of gurgling water flowed out from her fingertips, slowly entering the inner room.
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