Chapter 1108: Lost to the Dead Man
"Xiaoxue."
He stroked the jade dragonfly that was about to fall in her hair with his fingertips: "I went to see Master Yun this morning."
The wolf hair brush on Jiang Xue's wrist created a ball of ink on the rice paper. When she raised her eyes, she had already suppressed her surprise: "But has there been any change in the grain route at the border?"
She knew that Xiao Zhan never liked the drug dealer who always wore a moon-white shirt, unless...
"You've had a low-grade fever for the past two months. Xiao An has tried seven different prescriptions but none of them worked."
Xiao Zhan placed the medicine bowl heavily on the rhino horn paperweight, startling a pair of thrushes outside the window: "The Yun family has been dealing in rare medicinal materials for generations, perhaps..."
The words hung in the air as Jiang Xuesu's hands trembled slightly and the word "poison" appeared clearly on the rice paper.
"Xiaoxue." Xiao Zhan helped the kneeling woman up, and after sitting down himself, he held her on his lap.
His warm palms pressed against her thin back, and his voice was wrapped in the coolness of the night dew: "The day Yun Zhen performed a cesarean section on you, he drove us all out of the delivery room. At that time, I only hoped that you could live, and didn't care about anything else."
His Adam's apple moved. "Your health has been deteriorating these days. I always thought that he was proficient in Western witchcraft and claimed to be the living dead. I was afraid that the seeds of disaster were sown at that time."
"So you went to confront him?"
Jiang Xue raised her face, the candlelight flickered in her eyes, "This is not like you."
She knew the man beside her best, and unless he was absolutely sure, he would rather lie dormant for three years than act rashly.
His bony fingers ran through her loose black hair: "I should have been more patient, but this concerns you..."
The unfinished words turned into a sigh.
In fact, he had already suppressed his doubts, and was just using this as an excuse to cover up a deeper secret.
Jiang Xue pressed her cheek against the ambergris-stained fabric on his collar, but she didn't suspect anything. Love is always a tormenting thing, and she had her share of moments of confusion.
"How did he answer?"
"He said that the cesarean section was going to take your life, but he defied fate and changed it."
Xiao Zhan's fingertips unconsciously stroked the cinnabar mole behind her ear: "He also said that I need to feed you anger regularly to prolong your life." Before he finished speaking, he felt the person in his arms gasp.
"Then I am now..."
She clutched the jade belt around his waist with her fingers turning white: "Is this a borrowed life span?"
The man who used to be ready to face death suddenly became greedy. He wanted to see Yaoyao with her hair tied up in a bun, wanted to see Xiao Zhenger standing in the court with a sword in his hand, and wanted to see the person beside him with a head full of frost and snow.
He placed his warm palm on the back of her trembling hand: "Witchcraft is treacherous and unpredictable, and may not be true."
But there was a panic in his voice that even he couldn't deceive himself.
“It’s not difficult to verify.”
She suddenly sat up straight, the candlelight illuminating her eyes with determination: "Just stop being angry."
"Xiaoxue!"
There was tenderness in his sigh, and his thin lips lightly touched her smooth forehead.
This woman always chewed up her blood and tears and swallowed them. Others only saw her noble status, but had no idea of the hidden pain she felt when she tossed and turned in the middle of the night.
"There's another strange thing."
He suddenly changed the subject: "Yun Zhen frankly said that the so-called living dead is just a technique of sealing meridians to fake death. He is actually a living person."
Jiang Xue suddenly raised her eyes: "What's your plan?"
"I haven't got an answer yet." Xiao Zhan smoothed her frowning brows: "But since I'm here for you, I have to be on guard."
Before he could finish his words, the person in his arms suddenly grabbed his sleeve.
"perhaps……"
Her eyes were filled with tears: "He is the emperor's brother?"
"Absolutely not!"
The resolute rejection made the lamp sparkle on the desk.
If it was really Jiang Ke, why would he stare at his own sister with such eyes? That was clearly the look a man gives to someone he likes.
Xiao Zhan's Adam's apple rolled a few times, and finally uttered two words: "Instinct."
Jiang Xue tucked her long black hair behind her ears, and a vague smile appeared on the corner of her lips: "My instinct says that maybe he is the reincarnation of my brother."
She tapped the table with her fingertips: "But we still have to wait for the results of the star chart deduction from the Imperial Astronomical Observatory."
Her eyes suddenly became as sharp as a knife: "Before that, I will make sure that he can't even get close to a piece of my clothes."
She had already noticed something strange these days. The burning sensation when the medicine went down her throat was always accompanied by palpitations.
Now that she had obtained Yun Zhen's testimony, she simply played along. Every day, she personally took the bowl of medicine that Jiang Xiaoan brought to her and drank it all in one gulp as the other's pupils suddenly contracted.
It would depend on whether the soul-catching lock of Yama Palace is faster or the swords of the twelve shadow guards she has placed in the dark are sharper.
Within three days, the beauty couch behind the gilded screen became drowsy all day. When the cloud pattern brocade was stained with the third mouthful of cinnabar blood, Xiao Zhan kicked over the rosewood medicine cabinet.
Jiang Xiaoan knelt on the ground covered with broken porcelain and trembled, while there was still no news from the miracle doctor far away in Mobei.
Yun Zhen came at midnight, his dark cloak carrying snow and wind. The moment his fingertips touched Jiang Xue's cold wrist, his pupils suddenly shrank to the size of a needle.
A bright white light appeared in the palm of his hand covering her heart. Seeing the pale lips gradually turn red, the veins on the back of Xiao Zhan's hand that was gripping the bedpost finally calmed down.
"On the full moon day of each month, you need to draw the light of the stars into your body."
Yun Zhen wiped the sweat from his forehead and glanced at Xiao Zhan's tense jawline: "It seems that I will have to bother you for a while."
Xiao Zhan felt a slight ache in his back teeth.
He naturally knew what this meant. On every full-moon night, this man would be alone in a room with Qingyun.
What’s even more hateful is that face that is 80% similar to the late prince, and is clearly modeled after the softest scar in Qingyun’s heart.
When Jiang Xue sat up, leaning against the soft pillow, the Nine-Phoenix Pearl Step-Shaking in her hair made a clear sound: "I promised not to pry into your secrets."
She suddenly leaned forward, her nose almost touching Yun Zhen's silver mask: "But, don't you have anything to confess to me?"
Yun Zhen glanced at Xiao Zhan's instantly tensed back, and suddenly laughed softly, "There is indeed one thing."
He raised his hand and took off his mask, revealing the same facial features as the late Crown Prince: "I have admired Your Highness for three years."
The bronze crane lamp burst into sparks, illuminating half of Xiao Zhan's face. His knuckles crackled, but he held back when he saw Jiang Xue's pupils suddenly shrink - he couldn't lose his composure in front of this person.
"I remember..."
Jiang Xue touched the teardrop mole at the end of Yun Zhen's eye with her fingertips, and said in a light tone that sounded like a sigh: "My royal brother originally didn't have this cinnabar mole here."
She suddenly took a half step back, her wide sleeves fluttering like clouds: "From today on, you will be included in the family tree and given the national surname. How do you think?"
The stars in Yun Zhen's eyes suddenly dimmed, but he knelt on one knee and said, "It is my honor to be your sworn brother."
He caught a glimpse of Xiao Zhan's suddenly loosened fist, and a taste of blood rose in his throat. In the end, he still lost to that dead man.
Yun Zhen lowered his eyes to hide his emotions: "I am just a hostage of a small country on the border. How dare I overstep my status."
His hands hidden in his wide sleeves curled up slightly - more importantly, he was absolutely unwilling to stand by her side in the name of brother.
Jiang Xue did not force it, and her fingertips stroked the gilded incense burner: "Alright."
"Since Your Highness is recovering, I will take my leave. I will come back to check on your pulse in half a month."
He was about to turn around when he heard the sound of a beaded curtain.
"Wait a minute."
Jiang Xue stood up, holding onto the jade table. Her frosty skirt swept across the candlelight on the floor. "It is said that witch doctor techniques are the most detrimental to the essence of the practitioner. How long can you last every time you use your blood to extend my life?"
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