Chapter 22 Bathtub
Twenty thousand taels of gold.
Looking at her smiling face, Xiao Zhen couldn't help but laugh along with her. He held her fingers and said, "Xie Yushu, even the most unscrupulous merchant in the world would be ashamed in front of you."
Xie Yushu shook his finger in protest and said, "You're wrong. I'm neither a businessman nor doing business with you. This is the remuneration a professional actor should receive."
"An actor?" Xiao Zhen couldn't understand her nonsensical ramblings.
It seems that Xiao Zhen has no intention of paying 20,000 taels of gold.
Xie Yushu was too lazy to explain to someone who wasn't paying, so he forcefully pulled his hand back and said, "Fourth Prince, you'd better hurry up and figure out how you're going to deal with Prime Minister Song tonight. If you don't need me to cover for you, I'll have to go and do other things."
Is this a way of pressuring him to pay?
Xiao Zhen's palm still held her fragrance. He smiled and asked, "Are you busy accompanying Song Jie?"
He meant it sarcastically, but for some reason, it came out as jealousy in the dimly lit carriage. He didn't want Xie Yushu to misunderstand that he had any feelings for her, a married woman, so he subconsciously wanted to add something.
Xie Yushu, however, didn't care at all: "That's none of your business." She lifted the carriage curtain to leave, as if she didn't want to waste even a little bit of time with him.
Xiao Zhen suddenly became furious and called out to his servant, "Ping An, give Madam Pei five thousand taels of silver."
Upon hearing that it was time to pay, she actually stopped and turned around to give him a smile.
Xiao Zhen laughed in anger. What a shrewd Xie Yushu! In just one night, she had extracted ten thousand taels of gold and ten thousand taels of silver from him, enough to buy the entire Yongyi Marquis's mansion.
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Xiao Zhen did not return to the palace?
Song Jie soon received a reply from the palace that Xiao Zhen had not returned to the palace since leaving the Duke of Ying's mansion.
As luck would have it, Xie Yushu was not at the Pei residence either.
He couldn't help but wonder if Xie Yushu had been taken away by Xiao Zhen's men. Ever since the banquet at the Duke of Yingguo's residence today, Xiao Zhen had been puzzled. Now that it was past midnight and the palace gates were closed, Xiao Zhen was planning to spend the night outside.
Another heater was added to the room.
But his body continued to grow colder and colder. Every breath he took felt like it carried shards of ice through his lungs, and every word he uttered aggravated his cough.
"Go find out where Xiao Zhen is..." He forced out these words, then leaned over the bed and coughed violently, black blood dripping from his lips and teeth onto the ground, pool after pool, coughing up all the medicine he had just taken.
The icy pain was excruciating, penetrating to the bone. His fingers, gripping the edge of the bed, were almost broken. He wanted to stop and instruct Cang Shu to kill Xie Yushu and Xiao Zhen the moment they were discovered together...
He would never allow her to treat Xiao Zhen the way she treated him, and he would never allow her to impersonate Jia Ning and mingle with Xiao Zhen.
But after only managing to utter a single word, "thank you," he coughed up a large pool of bright red blood and collapsed by the bedside, unable to hold on any longer.
"Prime Minister!" Cang Shu immediately stepped forward to support him, and touched his body, which was completely "frozen," with his fingers turning purple and his lips turning blue.
The Prime Minister has been poisoned again. Today is the last day of his poisoning, and also the most difficult day. He will vomit all the poisoned blood in his body and suffer from the bone-chilling cold, entering a state of suspended animation. If his body cannot be warmed up quickly, he may not wake up.
Cangshu didn't have time to think. He lifted the Prime Minister up and placed him in a bathtub filled with warm water. He ordered people to keep adding warm water, then turned and ran out of the room.
We need to find Madam Pei quickly to help the Prime Minister through this last day. The word "thank you" that the Prime Minister uttered before he fell into a coma must have been for Madam Pei.
Where should we look for Madam Pei? The Marquis of Yong'an's residence? Or is Madam Pei really with the Fourth Prince? Perhaps she's already returned to the Pei residence?
He rushed out of the mansion gate, and just as he mounted his horse, he saw a brand-new carriage speeding towards him in the vast darkness of the night.
It's Madam Pei's carriage!
Cangshu dismounted and quickly went to meet him.
"Atractylodes lancea?" As soon as the carriage stopped, Madam Pei lifted the curtain and looked over, frowning as she asked, "Has Prime Minister Song fallen ill again?"
For some reason, at that moment Cangshu felt that Madam Pei was like a savior descending from heaven.
"Yes." Cang Shu didn't have time to say more, nor did he care about etiquette. He reached out and lifted Madam Pei out of the carriage: "The Prime Minister has fainted. He needs you."
"I heard from the servants that you and Prime Minister Song came to the Pei residence to see me, so I guess he has fallen ill again." Xie Yushu helped Cang Shu to the ground, his brows furrowed with anxiety.
A faint floral fragrance filled Cangshu's arm. Only when he was so close did he realize that Madam Pei had a plain face, her hair was loosely tied up, and a wide robe was worn under her crimson cloak, as if she had already removed her makeup and hair and was preparing to go to bed before rushing over overnight.
Without even mentioning money, she quickly instructed the coachman to stop the carriage at the back gate. Jin Ye followed her into the mansion, and, supporting Cang Shu's arm, hurried towards the Prime Minister's residence.
This time, even Panpan didn't bark at her, as if it already knew she was there to rescue Song Jie, and just wagged its tail at her.
When Xie Yushu entered the room, even though he had witnessed Song Jie's illness before, he was still shocked. Song Jie looked as if he were soaking in blood, with blood flowing from his tightly closed eyes, mouth, and nose, and his face looked like a zombie.
Bucket after bucket of warm water was added, but his body still didn't get warm at all.
Could he already be dead? The onset of the disease in the original series wasn't this scary.
Xie Yushu was so frightened that he checked Cangshu's breath with his hand, and immediately looked at him in shock: "He's not breathing..."
"It's a feigned death, Madam, don't be afraid." Cang Shu quickly reassured her, "The Prime Minister's blood and body are currently frozen by the icy poison. He needs his body temperature restored as soon as possible so he can wake up, otherwise..."
The chives really died.
Xie Yushu stood by the bathtub, looking at the zombie-like Song Jie, and suddenly asked the system, "Why can I warm Song Jie? Literally, I'm curious why only my body temperature can dispel Song Jie's icy poison?"
She had wanted to ask this before, since it seemed like her body temperature was always a little higher than others.
"Yes, host, your body temperature is higher than others." The system immediately replied, "It's because of your life points. The more life points you have, the stronger your inner fire will be. According to the setting of this world, only inner fire can dispel Song Jie's icy poison. This is also why the female lead Xie Jianing was able to save Song Jie, because she is the center of destiny and the character with the strongest inner fire in this world."
Surprisingly, there is actually a reason to justify it.
Xie Yushu was surprised; she thought it was a random setting created by the short drama to force a connection to the genre.
Without much hesitation, she converted all 12 points of her "green hat" value into health points.
The original 140 days of life points have increased to 260.
She felt nothing else in her body except that she felt much lighter and had a feeling of being full of energy.
"Madam, you must help the Prime Minister." Seeing her standing frozen by the bathtub, Cangshu hurriedly said, "Any amount of silver is fine."
"Ten thousand taels," Xie Yushu said. "Gold."
Cang Shu thought he had misheard. He believed that Madam Pei genuinely wanted to save the Prime Minister, but little did he know that she had already set a price for him...
But Madam Pei didn't wait for his reply. After speaking, she took off her cloak and decisively instructed him and Jinye: "Cangshu, go boil water and bring it behind the screen. Jinye, add water and get a few handkerchiefs. Everyone else, leave the room."
Cangshu immediately agreed, waved for the other attendants to leave the room, and turned to go out and fetch hot water.
The kitchen had been sending hot water back and forth. Cangshu carried the boiled water back to the room from outside the courtyard gate and subconsciously walked around the screen to the bathtub.
But then he hurriedly turned around.
Madam Pei actually got into the bathtub and hugged the Prime Minister inside...
"What's wrong with you! Didn't I tell you to carry the water outside the screen!" Jin Ye took a handkerchief, angrily pushed him outside the screen, and then took the hot water from his hands.
Cangshu hurriedly said, "I...I didn't see anything." He only saw that Madam Pei's robe was soaked and had fallen down a bit behind her neck. She had tied up her black hair, and the back of her neck was wet and pink.
※
"Host, you have gained 1 point of Popularity Points from Cang Shu," the system announced.
Xie Yushu was sweating profusely in the bathtub and had stopped trying to analyze the source of the man's affection. She hadn't even taken off her outer robe, and her wet makeup was completely ruined.
She took the handkerchief from Jin Ye and haphazardly wiped Song Jie's face and neck.
She deserved those ten thousand taels of gold.
Jin Ye added hot water to the tub and watched as the lady scrubbed Song Xiangguo's face as if she were taking a bath. She couldn't help but say, "Madam, let me do it."
"It's alright." Xie Yushu simply soaked the handkerchief in hot water, wrung it out, and covered Song Jie's face with it, leaving his mouth and nose exposed so as not to suffocate him.
It was so hot that she kept adding basins of hot water, making it feel like she was in a sauna. She couldn't help but put Song Jie's icy hands into her sleeves so he could hold her arms to cool her down.
He was like ice; the place where my palm touched quickly cooled down.
Xie Yushu simply leaned her whole body against him and hugged him in the steaming water.
His head rested on her shoulder, and Xie Yushu pressed her flushed face against his cheek, muttering, "It's so hot."
It's so hot.
Song Jie felt warmth on his frozen cheeks, warmth on his icy body, and his numb palms gradually thawed and regained sensation. In his dazed state, he felt that he was holding something warm and soft, the touch of which was like... human skin.
Who is holding him?
The embrace was warm and secure, just like the feeling of being held by his mother when he was a child.
That was the first and last time he was hugged by his mother. Ironically, that hug came right after she had poisoned him. He collapsed to the ground in agony, and it seemed that his pitiful state at that moment awakened a bit of pity in his mother. She cried and hugged him...
The icy poison and his mother's embrace created a sensation, and all he felt then was pain.
But now, this warm embrace is quietly holding him, letting him lean on its shoulder, its warm, damp palms gently stroking his aching back.
What he experienced was an incredible warmth, peace, and gentleness.
Even someone as cold as him was gradually warmed and melted by that embrace and those hands.
He gradually wanted to hold that person tighter, to press closer, and to melt away with her...
The face pressed against his suddenly moved, and he heard a familiar voice, hot and hoarse, ask him, "Are you sweating or crying, Song Jie?"
Xie Yushu...
It was Xie Yushu! It really was Xie Yushu.
He couldn't quite describe the complex emotions he felt, just as he couldn't quite say whether he felt hatred or resentment when he recalled his mother's embrace, or hatred that she didn't love him at all.
Just like the various emotions surging in his heart towards Xie Yushu at this moment, he despised her, yet he always looked at her.
He disliked her, yet he went to see her again and again.
When he couldn't find her tonight, he truly wanted to kill her and Xiao Zhen...
But at this moment, his aching body and bones yearned for Xie Yushu to hold him tighter, to hold him a little longer; he was so cold…
"Host, you have gained 1 point of 'charm' value and 1 point of 'cuckold' value." The system announced in a steaming voice: "All of these come from Song Jie."
Xie Yushu was almost asleep from the heat when he opened his eyes again to look at Song Jie in his arms. Was he awake?
But his eyes remained tightly closed, showing no sign of waking up. Only his lips returned to their normal color, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on his pale face.
She reached out and checked his breathing. She felt that his breathing had become even, so he must have passed the initial stage of the poisoning.
"Song Jie, are you awake?" She gently patted his face, and seeing his brow furrow in pain, she quickly called out to Cang Shu, "Cang Shu, he's awake..."
The hands that were holding her arms suddenly tightened around her, pulling her into their embrace, and wrapped their arms around her waist under her robe through her sleeves.
She heard Song Jie murmur with difficulty and pain, "Don't go... I'm so cold..."
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Author's Note: Hehe, updating on time! More red envelopes today!
Tonight, after midnight, at 12:01 AM, I will update Thursday's chapter. Because Friday is for the ranking and subscription of the clips, I will update Thursday's chapter a little earlier (related to clip ranking and subscription). Friday will be updated at 11 PM, and there will be two chapters!
Thank you all for your support; your subscriptions are the foundation of my updates. [Heart emoji]
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