Chapter 31 Delirious Musings During Illness "My dear, tell me, who are you thinking of right now..."
"It's so cold..."
Xiao Heng sat down on the edge of the bed, lifted Gu Xi up, and pulled her into his arms.
The sudden warmth enveloped Gu Xi, making her want to snuggle into his arms comfortably, and she mumbled something incoherently.
He held her even tighter.
"Your Majesty, the imperial physician has arrived," Zhao Fuquan called from outside the door.
Cailian had only been gone a short while when she returned and saw Zhao Fuquan, only then realizing that the Emperor had arrived.
"Let him in."
The person who came was Mu Yunqi, who happened to be on duty today.
"How is it?" Xiao Heng asked.
"Your Majesty, Her Majesty is frail by nature. In addition, she has been lacking in food and energy recently and has been overworked, which has led to a deficiency of qi and blood. As a result, cold pathogens have entered her body, causing a high fever and fainting."
"Irregular diet and overwork?" Xiao Heng frowned.
He was about to question her when he suddenly heard Gu Xi's weak voice from inside his arms: "So cold..."
"Sweetie, you won't be cold in a bit," Xiao Heng coaxed softly, looking down at her.
His words seemed to calm her down, and her trembling body gradually calmed down.
Mu Yunqi was surprised by Xiao Heng's attitude towards Gu Xi. Rumors were circulating in the palace that the Emperor disliked this Consort Zhao, but it seemed that this was not entirely true.
Mu Yunqi continued, "Your Majesty, I will go and write a prescription for the Empress. If her fever subsides tonight, she will wake up tomorrow." He paused, then said, "The Empress needs to take good care of herself these next few days to fully recover."
"Okay, go down."
After an incense stick had burned, Zhu Yin brought over the prepared medicine. Xiao Heng fed it to Gu Xi and then dismissed everyone else outside the door.
Gu Xi felt her body enveloped in a scorching heatwave. The slight temperature that had just subsided quickly surged back up, making her dizzy and unable to distinguish between reality and a dream.
She shifted uneasily and whispered, "Zhuyin, I miss him so much..."
She was barely breathing, her voice sounded aggrieved and had a heavy nasal tone; it was unclear whether she was crying or sick.
Xiao Heng finally understood what she was saying.
It seems she mistook him for her maid. So, who is this "he" she's talking about?
He whispered in her ear, "Who is he?"
"He is..." Gu Xi suddenly sobbed and cried, two lines of tears sliding from the corners of her eyes into her temples.
She can't say...
"Be good, tell me, who is the person you're thinking of right now?" His voice was seductive.
Gu Xi sobbed in his arms, without answering.
Is the person you're thinking of me?
"Sob..." Gu Xi shook her head. She couldn't think about him; she had decided to stay away from him. He wasn't sincere towards her; he was just using her, and he would even do things to hurt others because of her. She didn't want someone like him.
After crying for a while, Gu Xi fell into a deep sleep again.
Xiao Heng wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. He looked at Gu Xi, who was curled up in his arms, his eyes like a deep pool shrouded in mist, unfathomable.
Gu Xi had a very long dream. In the dream, she returned to the Gu family mansion. Her parents, brother, Yao Yao, and Brother Che surrounded her as they celebrated her birthday. Zhu Yin, Hua Yue, and Cai Lian were also there, as was he.
In her dream, he treated her very well, with utmost tenderness. He had eyes for no one but her, and she smiled happily.
The dream ended, and dawn broke.
Gu Xi opened her eyes and saw Zhu Yin lying by her bedside. She stretched her hand out from under the covers to check if her fever had subsided.
Unexpectedly, this alarmed Zhuyin.
"Miss, you're awake?" Zhu Yin was already worried that Gu Xi wasn't sleeping soundly, so she woke up as soon as Gu Xi moved slightly.
Gu Xi grunted and found that her throat still hurt terribly. Zhu Yin gave her some water and it eased up.
Gu Xi's voice was hoarse: "Zhu Yin, I thought about him last night..." She seemed to have dreamed about him last night. She didn't know that she actually missed him like this.
"Miss, you scared me to death last night! Luckily, Physician Mu prescribed medicine for you, and your fever has finally gone down."
Gu Xi slowly recovered under Zhu Yin's care, but her illness had left her with a poor appetite and she had become even thinner. Mu Yunqi prescribed some appetite-stimulating medicine for her, and she was able to eat a little bit.
After that serious illness, Gu Xi seemed to have emerged from it.
Zhu Yin never told Gu Xi that Xiao Heng had come that night. She didn't know if her decision to go to the Emperor was right or wrong, but since he didn't come again, she didn't plan to mention it to Gu Xi.
Gu Xi had been staying indoors for a long time and felt quite energetic today, so she wanted to go out for a walk.
She remembered that she hadn't thanked Mu Yunke in person yet, and planned to go see her with Zhu Yin.
As they approached the imperial kitchen, they saw several men in the distance seemingly bullying a palace maid.
"Don't you even know who you are? Trying to heal and save lives?" the leading man said disdainfully.
“Exactly! Do you think our Imperial Medical Academy is just sitting around doing nothing?” another man chimed in.
"Today I'll teach you a lesson..." The leading man raised his hand, about to slap the palace maid across the face.
Seeing this, Gu Xi quickly shouted, "Stop!"
She jogged forward and stood in front of the palace maid and the man.
Gu Xi then got a clear look at the men; judging from their attire, they seemed to be apprentice pharmacists from the Imperial Hospital.
The men were all taken aback; they hadn't expected anyone to appear so suddenly. The man in the lead recognized Gu Xi and pulled his companion to kneel down and pay his respects.
He was right next to Gu Xi when she saved someone at the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet, so he recognized her.
"This humble servant greets Consort Gu."
"What are you doing!" Gu Xi demanded, her voice slightly breathless.
"Your Majesty, we were passing by when we got lost, and we're asking this young lady for directions!" the leading man said fabricatedly.
"Nonsense! I clearly saw you bullying her!" Zhu Yin said angrily.
"I'm not talking nonsense. If you don't believe me, ask her." The man looked at the palace maid with a half-smile, his face full of arrogance.
Gu Xi turned around to ask the palace maid a question, but was startled when she saw the woman's face clearly. The palace maid looked somewhat like Mu Yunqi; she must be his sister, Mu Yunke.
Mu Yunke shook her head at Gu Xi, seemingly not wanting to pursue the matter further.
Seeing this, Gu Xi had no choice but to let them go, warning them not to come back, though she didn't know if it would work.
"Miss Mu, what exactly happened?" Gu Xi asked with concern after the person had walked away.
"Your Majesty, you may call me Yun Ke."
She had just learned Gu Xi's identity from Su Hong, and knew that she was the Consort Gu that her brother had been talking about.
"You should have already figured it out; those people just now were from the Imperial Medical Academy."
Gu Xi nodded.
"Your Majesty, you are unaware of this. The Imperial Medical Academy has always been like this. They dislike women practicing medicine and do not allow it."
Gu Xi was shocked by this news. No wonder Zhao Youdao was so unfriendly when she went to the Imperial Hospital to borrow books that day.
This is very different from the common practice in the countryside, where there are many women practicing medicine in private clinics. She had never been treated coldly when she was out with her apprentice brother.
Mu Yunke continued, "The man who just led the way is named Su Hong. His family has served in the Imperial Medical Academy for generations. The Imperial Medical Academy currently has two directors, and his father, Su Yuan, is one of them. He is also the most opposed to women practicing medicine, which is why..."
Su Hong was uneducated and incompetent from a young age, so even though his father was the head of the Imperial Medical Academy, he could only work as a medicine boy.
"I'm sorry, Yun Ke, I had no idea... that you'd ended up in this situation." Gu Xi said with a guilty expression.
"Your Majesty, please don't say that. This was my own choice. My brother mentioned it to me that day and I immediately agreed. I am very happy that I was able to cure those two palace maids."
"Does Physician Mu know?" Gu Xi asked worriedly.
"Please don't tell him about this, Your Highness. After all, they are his colleagues, and I don't want to put my brother in a difficult position."
"Okay, I understand." Gu Xi didn't know what else to say; she hadn't expected to cause such a big problem for the siblings.
So she would often come to visit her from then on. Although she was of low rank, she was still a Zhaoyi, and they should not dare to be too presumptuous when they saw her.
After meeting Mu Yunke, Gu Xi and Zhiyin were walking towards Weiyang Palace when suddenly they heard playful noises from afar.
"Look, that's the peach orchard His Majesty planted for Consort Li!"
"I heard that the Emperor specially ordered the seedlings to be transported back from Jiangnan, just to please Consort Li!"
Gu Xi hadn't heard from Xiao Heng in a long time, and when she suddenly heard from him now, she felt a little dazed.
She looked in the direction of their voices and saw a man and a woman standing in the peach grove, looking like a perfect couple, which aroused envy.
She suddenly felt a pang in her heart, even though she knew it was fake.
"I also heard that when the Emperor goes on his inspection tour soon, he specifically requested that Consort Li be taken along!"
"Huh? Why not the Imperial Concubine?"
"Her Imperial Concubine needs to oversee things in the palace; how can she just go out like that?"
"That's true... Do you think His Majesty prefers Consort Gui or Consort Li?"
As the palace maids walked away, Gu could no longer hear what they said afterward.
Gu Xi's eyes darkened. He was leaving the palace, and with Sister Lu no less. He wondered what he was planning this time.
He seems to be drifting further and further away from her.
Gu Xi was lost in thought and walked absentmindedly down the street, when she unexpectedly bumped into someone.
"Oh dear! Which one isn't long..."
"I'm sorry... Are you hurt?" Gu Xi asked anxiously.
"Consort Gu?" Zhao Fuquan was surprised that the person who bumped into her was Gu Xi; he had thought it was some clueless palace maid.
"Manager Zhao? Let me help you up." He said, reaching out to pull Zhao Fuquan up.
He dared not, and quickly supported himself to stand up.
Gu Xi, with her small frame, shouldn't have been able to knock him down. But some little brat threw a piece of melon rind on the ground, causing him to slip and almost break his back.
"This servant is at ease, greetings to Consort Gu."
"No need for formalities, Steward Zhao, what are you doing here? You don't need to accompany me..." Gu Xi looked at the two people in the peach grove in the distance, lowered her eyes to hide the expression in them, and her voice gradually became softer.
"Your Majesty, I have some business to attend to for His Majesty and I am on my way there now," Zhao Fuquan said respectfully.
"Then Steward Zhao, you should go ahead with your work. Gu Xi won't bother you any longer." With that, she turned to leave.
Zhao Fuquan turned around and his gaze fell on Gu Xi's thin figure. In just over a month, the woman's already slender shoulders and back had become even thinner, as if a gust of wind could carry her away, making people feel sorry for her.
“Consort Gu…” Zhao Fuquan suddenly called out to her. He strode to Gu Xi’s side, bowed and said, “Your Majesty, this servant dares to presume to say a few words. Please do not hold a grudge against the Emperor.”
He spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear: "Your Majesty blames the Emperor for killing Consort Wan and using Consort Li. Does Your Majesty know that Consort Wan is actually the Empress Dowager's person and has been working for the Empress Dowager all these years? If the Emperor does not kill her, then the Emperor and you will be in danger in the future."
Gu Xi was utterly astonished. She hadn't expected that Consort Wan was actually the Empress Dowager's person? No wonder the Empress Dowager was shocked when she heard Consort Wan had been banished to the Cold Palace on the day she returned to the palace...
Before Gu Xi could react, Zhao Fuquan continued, "As for Consort Li, the Emperor and she were merely exchanging what they needed. Your Highness need not feel sorry for her. As for those two palace maids..."
Zhao Fuquan paused. In fact, he had been deeply moved when he heard Gu Xi crying for the two palace maids outside the door that day. These nobles in the palace had always treated them, these servants, like dirt. No one had ever cared about their lives. Even though he was someone close to the emperor, they were only respectful on the surface, but looked down on him behind his back.
"As for those two palace maids, if it weren't for Your Majesty's intercession, they would have been dead long ago, given His Majesty's temperament. Now that they have recovered, Your Majesty should stop being angry with His Majesty."
He didn't know what happened between the two of them that night, he only knew that after the emperor returned, his days became more and more difficult.
"This servant has said all I have to say. Please consider this carefully, Your Majesty."
"Thank you, Steward Zhao, for telling me all this..." Those words lingered in her mind, and she didn't know how to react for a moment.
"This servant takes his leave."
After returning to Weiyang Palace, Gu Xi locked herself in her room again and refused to come out until night.
Zhu Yin looked at the tightly closed door and sighed. It seemed that her mistress still hadn't let go.
At this moment, Xiao Heng was standing outside the gate of Weiyang Palace.
He came over simply because Zhao Fuquan said, "This servant ran into Consort Gu today, and she doesn't look well."
Through the door, Xiao Heng's deep voice rang out, still so familiar.
"Gu Xi, open the door."
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Author's note: This family will fall apart sooner or later without Old Zhao~~[helpless]
Thank you so much for the free tickets and nutrient solution! [Sprinkling flowers]
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