Chapter 103 (Three Fresh Rice Noodles + Intestine Vermicelli...)

There's a lot of romance over there.

On the other side, the team escorting King Xuan out of the capital was rushing back to Kyoto like crazy.

I just went out in the afternoon and didn’t walk far, but now I want to go back.

However, Luo Zhen, the cousin of King Xuan who was escorting King Xuan, was sweating profusely. He ran in front of the team and roared to the people behind him: "Don't walk too fast. You must not shake King Xuan. I will go back to the capital to ask for a doctor. Everyone, cheer up. If there are any more assassins, I will kill you..."

The roar faded away as the horses galloped away, leaving behind a group of people with the same expression. The driver of the carriage used his driving skills to perfection at this moment. He couldn't drive too fast, as it would cause more pain to King Xuan, whose meridians were broken. He couldn't drive too slowly, as it would delay the treatment of the disease.

When he was trying his best, there were bursts of wailing in the carriage.

“Ouch! It hurts!”

Suddenly, the carriage seemed to run over a stone, and the jolt caused the carriage to tremble, and a burst of wailing came from inside.

The driver shivered and became more focused.

Inside the carriage, King Xuan's face was twisted: "Ah! It hurts! It must be Xiao Huai Ting! It must be him!"

"Your Highness, please calm down..." The palace maid who was kneeling beside him and serving him was trembling all over. Looking at the once invincible King Xuan lying in front of her like a corpse, her face turned frighteningly pale.

Even after being bandaged, King Xuan's limbs continued to bleed. Her hand, which had once been able to make her spit blood with a slap, now had no strength to even bend her fingertips.

Not only was his spine broken, but even his limbs were broken!

The palace maid was frightened, and suddenly realized this, and became a little braver.

It doesn’t seem that scary?

King Xuan had no idea what the palace people were thinking. He just stared at the roof of the carriage with hatred, as if it was Xiao Huaiting. Others did not recognize him, but he regarded Xiao Huaiting as a thorn in his side and was naturally very familiar with his appearance.

Xiao Waiting first broke his spine, making him fall to the ground unable to move, and then he cut the tendons in his hands and feet like a doll. The person who did it even said, "That scorpion is really delicious."

Xiao Waiting was taking revenge on me for deliberately sending the poisonous scorpion to harm Xiao Wai-chi!

He is definitely seeking revenge!

King Xuan felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar at that moment. Why did he insist on taking revenge before leaving, leading to his current situation?

But it's no use regretting, he has become like this now, the Xiao family is so terrible!

He was just angry about a small lecture, but he didn't expect to end up in his current situation. He is now worse off than Xiao Huaiqi. At least he just can't walk, but he may have trouble even raising his head for the rest of his life!

When King Xuan thought about the rest of his life, everything went dark before his eyes. He desperately wanted to stand up and go before his father to accuse Xiao Huaiteng, but he couldn't move. At this moment, he seemed to feel Xiao Huaiteng's helplessness at that time.

He regretted it!

It wasn't until Doctor Yu came that the convoy stopped moving forward to diagnose him. Then, in front of him, Doctor Yu shook his head and said: "The spine and tendons are all rotten..."

It's rotten...

King Xuan's heart seemed to be plucked up and crushed at this moment, and he was so depressed that he could hardly breathe: "I want to see my father! Take me to see my father quickly, it was Xiao Huai Ting who hurt me, I want to see my father!"

Doctor Yu was so frightened that he knelt down in front of him and said tremblingly, "Your Highness, please be careful with your words. The King of Zhennan was sent away from Kyoto by His Majesty a few days ago. He is in the south of you and the north of you. How could he come here? The King of Zhennan has just returned after a great service. We must not let down the hearts of the thousands of soldiers!"

King Xuan immediately stared at him with a pair of red eyes: "He is a liar! He is the one who harmed me, I want him dead! Do you hear me?"

Doctor Yu's breathing stagnated and he kowtowed quickly, not daring to say a word.

Next day

Even without sunlight shining through the windows, the brightness was still blinding.

Yan Qiushu turned over to avoid the glaring sunlight.

Suddenly remembering something, she quickly sat up and opened the curtains. She saw a young man wearing pajamas and a coat, reading a book on the couch near the window.

Yan Qiushu felt relieved and rubbed her eyes.

"Are you awake?" Xiao Huai Ting heard the noise and asked.

Yan Qiushu hummed, observing his complexion. Seeing that although his face was pale, he was still in good spirits, she felt relieved and stepped forward to pull open his clothes to see the wound: "Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere else?"

Xiao Waiting broke away subconsciously, his face flushed a little.

Yan Qiushu frowned unhappily.

He explained: "No, Zhuo Ning just came over to change my dressing."

Yan Qiushu had no expression on her face: "Oh."

Xiao Waiting tugged at her sleeve, his eyes showing a hint of flattery: "I can only stay here for the next two days. I'll have to trouble Ah Shu to bring me food."

Yan Qiushu looked at him coldly. If he could go out and let Zhuo Ning apply medicine to him, why did he need to send him a meal? But seeing his expression, she softened: "If you want me to send you a meal, then don't move. Let me see the wound."

Her hand had already reached his collar, but Xiao Waiting still resisted and directly held her hand and squeezed it: "Don't look at it, it's scary."

It was different from night, where the light was bad and there was blood, so it wasn't necessarily scary. But it was not necessarily the same during the day, where the light was just right and everything was visible clearly, including the centipedes on the back. The scars were so ugly, he was afraid of scaring her.

Yan Qiushu was a little annoyed. Isn't it just a wound? She thought about it, stretched out her hand and pinched his ear, and said angrily: "You have to be obedient! The first condition for the fiancé I asked my aunt to find is obedience!"

Xiao Waiting's dark skin turned dark red, and the blood color came up easily. He was frightened, but also felt a little happy. He let go of the hand that was holding her wrist and reminded her: "It's very scary, just take a look, it's enough."

"I know." Yan Qiushu reached out to unbutton his collar with disgust.

Xiao Huai Ting wanted to untie it himself, but she refused. He could only sit there and let her do it. She took off her loose pajamas, revealing the gauze stained with blood.

There was no suturing technology at that time, so we could only let it heal. Fortunately, it was bandaged.

The wound on the back was bleeding a little, staining the white gauze red, but the wound on the arm was fine.

His back wasn't actually scary, but the scars from before were a little ugly, even more ugly than they looked under the candlelight. Just by looking at it, Yan Qiushu felt that she could imagine the scene when he was injured.

She sighed and asked, "There's some bleeding on your back. Should I ask Zhuo Ning to come over and bandage it for you?"

"No, it should be just a little bit, don't worry about it." Xiao Huaiting shook his head: "Others don't know I'm here, it's inconvenient for him to come over."

"It's enough for you to know." Yan Qiushu smiled, pulled his clothes up, and went out.

After a while, Zhuo Ning came over to bandage his wound, but she didn't go to see him. She brushed her teeth and washed her face outside, and asked Shui Xuan to help her tie her hair.

When everything was done, Zhuo Ning came out with a bunch of red things, wiped the sweat off his face, and smiled at Yan Qiushu: "Xiang Jun, he has bled a lot, can you please make more blood-replenishing food these days?"

"I will." Yan Qiushu nodded, glanced inside the house, and asked again, "What's the situation outside?"

It seemed that the group of people last night left after a short while, all thanks to Zhuo Ning. Yan Qiushu now feels a little guilty and doesn't dare to send anyone to Kyoto to inquire about the situation, so she can only ask others.

Zhuo Ning said calmly, "Nothing happened. His Royal Highness Prince Xuan was assassinated and is now being rushed back to Kyoto for treatment. His Majesty is extremely worried and vomited blood during the morning court session. The Imperial Hospital is in a mess. His Royal Highness Prince Huai is very angry and is sending people to look for the murderer. Anyway, it's a mess, so don't worry."

Yan Qiushu nodded and also felt that chaos was better.

It would be better if the old emperor died quickly. Now the Xiao family controls most of the military power. If the old emperor dies and the Xiao family supports Prince Chang, no matter how the other princes jump around, it will be of no use.

However... she looked at Zhuo Ning: "I thought you came here because of the Fifth Miss."

But after what happened last night, that’s not necessarily the case. If it hadn’t been agreed upon in advance, would Zhuo Ning have been able to cooperate so well in stopping those people from coming?

The suspected Zhuo Ning coughed awkwardly, and when he saw that Xiao Huaiya was not there, he muttered softly: "Of course I have to listen to my brother-in-law in the future. Of course, it was mainly because I chose this place."

"Zhuo Ning! What nonsense are you talking about!" Xiao Huaiya shouted coquettishly.

Zhuo Ning was so frightened that he saw the person he hadn't seen just now appeared at the gate of the yard. His face suddenly changed and he ran out quickly.

"Come back!" Xiao Huaiya shouted, but the other party ran away, so she followed him. A wooden sword suddenly appeared in her hand, and she stabbed at him.

The two left in a quarrel. Zhao Shuhong came over from behind and patted her chest with a lingering fear: "I was so scared just now. When did the fifth lady make a wooden sword? When they started fighting, it was really scary."

She was almost affected just now, but luckily she dodged quickly enough.

Yan Qiushu pursed her lips and smiled, shaking her head: "I don't know, I'm hungry, eat!"

"I've prepared it for you a long time ago." Zhao Shuhong said softly, "I was just about to ask you whether you want to bring it over or eat it in your own room. I also made you some ginger and brown sugar water, drink more later."

Yan Qiushu was dumbfounded, thinking that she knew.

Yes, for an event as important as the assassination of King Xuan, the fewer people who knew about it the better. Shui Yu was a slave of the Xiao family, but Zhao Shuhong was different.

She nodded: "Just eat in the house. There are no other guests these two days, so Sister Zhao can have fun by herself. If you want to go to the city, there are carriages. Remember not to go out alone."

"I know, I'm older than you, don't worry." Zhao Shuhong smiled, turned around and walked out.

Shui Yu went to bring breakfast to Yan Qiushu and brought it to the house.

Yan Qiushu's room was quite big, and was designed according to the layout of the Xiao family's courtyard. Originally, there was supposed to be a couch for Shui Yan to keep watch at night, but since she came here, there were fewer maids, so Yan Qiushu let her sleep alone in a room.

At this moment, Xiao Huaiting is sitting on the couch.

There was a round table in the middle of the room, which was just right for eating. After putting down the food, Shui Xuan closed the door. However, there was still light in the room. Yan Qiushu saw the breakfast on the table at a glance and immediately felt hungry.

"Come and eat, we're having rice noodles and sausage noodles today!" Yan Qiushu said cheerfully as she came over and supported Xiao Huaiting.

The person who was about to say that he could walk shut his mouth silently, leaned a small part of his weight over, and was helped to sit on the stool. Yan Qiushu first scooped some rice noodles in a small bowl for herself, and gave the rest to Xiao Huaiting.

Neither of these two dishes was strong in flavor. Probably because they were afraid she couldn’t finish it, they put two kinds of sauces and a portion of chili powder on a small plate.

As soon as she put down her bowl, Xiao Waiting took a spoon and added two more spoonfuls of soup to her bowl, reminding her: "Give some more to the other side, there's so much!"

Yan Qiushu saw the same and saw that Shui Yu used a large bowl this time and filled it to the brim.

There was still a lot of sausage noodles on the side, and she was afraid that it would be wasted and he wouldn't be able to finish it, so she gave him some more and filled up her own small bowl.

"Can you eat?" Yan Qiushu asked before eating: "How about I feed you?"

"No, I can do it." Xiao Huaiting shook his head quickly. Although his left hand was a hindrance, his right hand was often injured and was more skilled than most people's left hands. He picked up a piece of rice noodles with chopsticks.

The rice noodles were steady and not dropped.

Then he lowered his head and took a big sip. The hot rice noodles were slurped into his mouth. The soup should be made of chicken soup. It was delicious. He ate it with eyes brightened. When he looked up, he saw the woman in front of him looking at him. He was a little embarrassed and said, "You eat it too. It's delicious."

"Yeah." Seeing that he could eat by himself, Yan Qiushu felt relieved and slurped the noodles from the small bowl.

Today's noodles are three-fresh flavor. The soup is chicken soup with shrimps in it. However, the third fresh ingredient was changed to Yan Qiushu's favorite mushroom because it was out of season. It was white and soft, and the soup was so fresh that it made the tip of my tongue tremble.

The soup is delicious, and the rice noodles cooked with it are also very delicious, crispy and springy, and you can swallow them directly without chewing.

Yan Qiushu ate the soup and noodles very seriously.

Her eyes suddenly darkened and then brightened. Then, there was a shrimp in her bowl. Then Xiao Waiting brought another one. Seeing her looking at him, he smiled and said, "Eat more."

Yan Qiushu's eyes narrowed, she picked up the shrimp and started eating.

The cooked shrimp is a little older than normal, but the taste is surprisingly sweet.

So sweet!

After finishing her meal, Yan Qiushu suddenly remembered the pork jerky she had given to Xiao Huaiting before he left for the battle. She was quite puzzled at the time. It wasn't sweet, so why did he lick it while he was eating it?

But now, she suddenly realized where this sweetness came from.

Yan Qiushu ate the shrimp and drank the remaining soup in the small bowl. At this time, her stomach was already seven-tenths full.

But I haven’t eaten the sausage noodles yet!

Yan Qiushu picked up a piece of intestine vermicelli and put it into the bowl.

The one she picked up was filled with lean meat and drizzled with soy sauce. The white and tender sausage was dyed light brown. When she ate it in one bite, the texture, which was softer than an egg, melted in her mouth, revealing the lean meat filling inside.

The lean meat was probably marinated in advance, so it was very tender and easy to chew. The whole rice noodle dish had a light taste, and there was a piece of green vegetable in it, which was probably just blanched and very crispy.

Yan Qiushu ate a palm-sized piece of sausage in two bites. After finishing the last bite, a drop of soy sauce slid down the corner of her lips. She subconsciously licked it with her tongue. The light salty taste made her want to continue eating!

The breakfast portion was really big, so she didn’t skimp on it and reached for her chopsticks again.

In the end, Yan Qiushu ate two and a half bowls of intestines rice noodles and a small bowl of three-fresh rice noodles by herself, while Xiao Waiting ate a large bowl of rice noodles and the remaining intestines rice noodles by herself.

Yan Qiushu was stunned. She had known that Xiao Huaiting had a big appetite, but it seemed that he ate even more than before?

Xiao Wai Ting wiped his mouth and explained, "I didn't want to waste it, so I ate it all. It's a bit heavy."

"Then let's have a lesser amount at noon?" Yan Qiushu asked.

"Okay." Xiao Huai Ting nodded.

The two people here are already discussing what to eat.

Everyone in the palace was thinking about what to do if the emperor died.

Concubine Lu, who had been under house arrest for three months, walked out of her palace openly to visit the emperor, and no one in the palace dared to stop her.

There is no empress dowager, no queen, and Concubine Lu is the most powerful in the harem. The previous dynasty has no control over the harem for the time being, so naturally no one objects to what she does.

The old emperor lay weakly on the bed, his fat body pressing on his heart. After so many gas illnesses, his body had long been broken. He was unwilling to die like this, even if he could still hold on. But now it seemed that he was breathing in more than out.

Concubine Lu cried and rubbed some ginger water on her eyes. When she came over and saw the old emperor in such a state, she was shocked and knelt beside the bed. This time she really cried: "Your Majesty, you can't be in trouble! If you are in trouble, what will we mother and son do? What about Lao Wu?"

Concubine Lu cried and shouted for a while, and then she found that her son was not there. She became anxious and turned around to yell at the nanny: "Where is the fifth elder? Why don't you go and call him over?!"

The nanny quickly took the order and left. Concubine Lu began to blame the imperial physician again: "Everyone come here to see His Majesty! Why are there so few people?"

"Wouldn't it be enough to leave two with King Xuan? Your Majesty, here is more important!"

"If His Majesty doesn't get better, you can forget about it!"

After venting her anger, Concubine Lu finally felt a little relieved. She looked at the old emperor eagerly, thinking about the worst outcome. What if he died?

Now that Prince Chang is powerful, he must be killed first. Prince Huai does not care about power, so he will not compete with her son.

We have to hurry up...

Her hands were shaking, and her eyes looked increasingly weak as she looked at the old emperor, with tears streaming down her face.

The old emperor had no idea what she was thinking. Instead, he was extremely relieved. He held the concubine's tender hand and said in a hoarse and unpleasant voice: "My beloved concubine, there is no need to panic. I am fine. I will not die like this!"

Who knows if he can become emperor in the next life? Of course, he has to live long enough in this life.

Otherwise, why was he so reluctant to appoint a crown prince?

The older he gets, the more he feels that everyone has ill intentions towards him, that everyone wants him dead and wants the position under him.

Even the second son, who was once so trusted, was still like this.

The more powerful they were, the more afraid he was.

The Xiao family in particular was his knot in his heart, something he wanted to get rid of even in his dreams! Six years ago, the second brother discovered that the third and sixth brothers had colluded with foreign enemies and leaked military secrets, which led to the deaths of Xiao Huaian and his two brothers-in-law. He had been clamoring for him to punish the third and sixth brothers.

He refused, as he felt that his son was too upright. As a king, he should make use of all the forces he could, even if it was his own son. However, the second son did not understand and still argued with him out of his passion.

At that time he was somewhat worried that his own reputation would be affected if his second son continued to be the crown prince, so he took the opportunity to reveal that he had condoned those two children in doing those things.

The second prince really couldn't stand it, and broke down and blamed him for losing his composure in front of the palace maids and eunuchs. He then beat him with thirty sticks for the crime of rebellion, and deposed the prince and imprisoned him.

When the old emperor did this, he actually felt regretful. He also felt sorry for his child, so he kept him in prison and turned a blind eye to what he had done to consolidate his position.

Until half a year ago, he was soft-hearted for a moment, and now he has raised a tiger to harm him!

Now the third brother is gone, the sixth brother is useless, only the fourth and fifth brothers are left. The fourth brother is a meek person, if he ascends the throne, he might be eaten by someone, and that person will be the fifth brother. Thinking of this, he looked at the imperial concubine with gentle eyes.

The concubine's crying also reminded him that he had to accept his old age. His health was getting worse and worse. What would he do if he really passed away one day?

He suddenly looked at the people in the room and said, "All of you go down. I have something to tell the Imperial Concubine."

"Yes." They just withdrew temporarily. Everyone cooperated and in a moment only the noble concubine was left.

Concubine Lu was delighted and looked at him with tears in her eyes.

The old emperor exerted force on his hands, pulled the concubine close to his ear, and whispered: "My private seal is hidden on the third row of the bookshelf in the study. Use it to contact the State of Qi. I am willing to give up two cities in exchange for them keeping Xiao Huaiting there! You ask the fifth brother to withhold the military pay after the Xiao family sends troops..."

Concubine Lu widened her eyes in horror, but when she realized what the old emperor was going to do, she covered her mouth and a look of joy slowly filled her eyes.

It looks like she is definitely paving the way for her son!