Chapter 83 Take care of yourself at night.
Princess Chun'an finally woke up. The pain in her lower abdomen was much relieved, but she felt a chill in her bones.
Outside, a single candle lit up, and someone lifted the bed curtains, carrying a medicine bowl. It was Prince Consort Xuan. His expression was cold and indifferent, but his eyes couldn't hide the scarlet glow. Seeing her staring at him, he turned away and said, "Drink the medicine."
Princess Chun'an took the medicine bowl and sniffed it: "What are you doing here?"
Prince Consort Xuan said, "When something so serious happens to you, even if it's just for others to see, I should stay by your side, not to mention..."
He asked the question that had been lingering in his mind for so many times, word by word: "You knew you were pregnant, but you still planned to scare the horse, right?"
Princess Chun'an held the medicine bowl and smiled: "Yes."
Prince Consort Xuan said, "We've been married for ten years, and I never knew you had such a cruel heart. That's your own flesh and blood, a living being! Xiao Li, if you wanted to take revenge on me, you could have given me a sword and slashed me to pieces. Why did you resort to this method to destroy my heart?"
He had never been so furious and loud before, but Princess Chun'an remained calm: "Why are you so anxious? It may not be your child."
The princess kept more than a dozen lovers in her mansion, but the ones closest to her were undoubtedly the twin, handsome men. In the past, her husbands had never been upset when she summoned them, yet now they were pretending to be deeply devoted and possessive.
Prince Consort Xuan was choked by her words, and after a while he said coldly, "But it must be your own child."
What's more...
"I've given all the people you've brought into the mansion a drug that will kill them. If you haven't had any affairs with random people outside the mansion, then the child in your belly must be mine."
Seeing the princess looking at him in surprise, Prince Consort Xuan raised the corner of his lips in a mocking tone, "Yes, I am jealous, and I am narrow-minded. If I had confessed it to you earlier and followed your wishes, would you have been willing to keep this child?"
The princess put down the medicine bowl, her hands trembling slightly, hidden in the sleeves of her nightgown.
She said, “No.”
As if he was slapped in the face, the prince consort looked at her, his expression gradually becoming cold and silent.
He said "OK" three times in a row, flicked his sleeves, turned around and left the princess's tent.
Xiao Li lay on the couch, gently stroking her belly. The medicine was taking effect, and warmth flowed through her internal organs and throughout her body. She couldn't help but imagine whether the child would look more like her or more like her husband. As she thought about it, tears fell from the corners of her eyes, soaking the pillow one by one.
This blood debt...she must make Xie pay it back.
*
The enclosure was strictly restricted for four days, and then the camp was moved back to Beijing.
Thanks to Nanny Li's care and the effects of the Black Jade Ointment, Cong Ying's bone injuries were no longer serious, and she was able to walk around slowly. She and Madam Xie rode in the same carriage, and she kept lifting the curtains to look out, but she didn't see Xie Xuanlan.
She hadn't seen him for four days.
During these four days, Cong Ying should have breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that the princess had woken up and Prince Jin was out of danger. However, she had a strong premonition that things were far from over and the true blade had just been revealed.
Mrs. Xie patted the back of her hand soothingly: "It will be fine. Besides, everyone has their own destiny. You can't replace him."
Princess Ying ran to her and burst into tears. Only then did Lady Xie realize what had happened. She had lost her appetite and looked much more haggard these past few days, yet she still forced herself to comfort others. Cong Ying felt sorry for her and felt she had no words to express her suffering. She gently took her hand and leaned on her shoulder, "I will definitely bring him back safe and sound and make amends to Madam."
Back in Yunjing, Cong Ying sent someone to buy the official gazette. It only mentioned the princess and the Prince of Jin's injuries, but not a single word about the Western Tartar envoy or Xie Xuanlan. This veiled silence only intensified her unease. Finally, with no other options, she submitted a visiting card to the Prince of Jin's mansion.
In the Guanxi Garden of the Prince of Jin's Mansion, the smell of medicine was strong. From time to time, the imperial physician would come in to take his pulse, as if he was afraid that he would die if he was not careful.
Prince Jin's condition was indeed not good. Although he had awakened, his frail frame looked even more haggard, his face pale and his eyes red, and he looked like a man with little life. He drank the entire bowl of medicine and rested for a while before finding the strength to speak to Cong Ying. "I really don't want to see you like this, but I know you're worried about him... ahem..."
The attendant handed over a handkerchief. Prince Jin suppressed a few coughs and hid the blood-stained handkerchief in his sleeve.
He said, "Don't worry...Xie San won't die."
He is now hanging on inexplicably by a breath. As long as Xie San is alive, he will live. If Xie San dies, his existence in this world will be erased.
This was the only piece of news she had received from Ying in all those days. Her eyes instantly turned red as she looked at Prince Jin expectantly: "Your Highness, do you know where he is? I really want to see him."
Prince Jin looked at her silently, but he couldn't resist the temptation and said, "Okay, I'll take you to see him."
At nightfall, the two left the palace in a carriage and changed into a sedan chair in front of a gatehouse. In their haste, Cong Ying didn't see clearly where they were. It wasn't until the sedan chair was halfway there that they were confronted by the imperial guards and questioned. Only then did Cong Ying realize that they had actually entered the imperial palace.
She looked at the Prince of Jin in surprise. The Prince of Jin said, "Xie San has committed such a serious crime. It would be risky to imprison him in the Ministry of Justice or the Dali Temple. To the west of Chuigong Hall is the Zongzhi Office, which was once where officials awaiting punishment were imprisoned. Those who lived there were all the emperor's confidants, so it would be safest to imprison him there."
Hearing a hint of something in Ying's words, his eyes lit up slightly: "Your Highness means that His Majesty wants to protect Saburo?"
Prince Jin said calmly, "Perhaps he has some other use. Don't be too happy. When you meet him later, what do you want to know?"
Cong Ying shook her head. "Since the Emperor has locked him up here, he probably doesn't want the news to get out. I don't have any questions, I just want to see if he's alright."
Prince Jin covered his face and coughed a few times. Because he was traveling secretly late at night, he was afraid of attracting attention, so he tried his best to suppress the coughing and wheezing in his throat. People outside could not hear it, but the people in the sedan chair were extremely frightened.
When Prince Jin put away the handkerchief, he caught a glimpse of bright red from Ying's eyes, and his heart was in suspense: "Your Highness's injury..."
The King of Jin said, "You only thought of asking me after you knew Xie San was alright."
Cong Ying felt embarrassed for a moment.
Seeing the shame on her face and knowing her embarrassment, he sighed and said, "I'm fine. I won't die for a while."
The sedan stopped at the side entrance of the Zongzhi Office. Pre-arranged guards arrived to meet them, guiding them past the triple security and into a locked courtyard. While the courtyard was simple, it certainly didn't resemble a prison. Cong Ying glanced at the Prince of Jin, wondering how he even knew about this place and had arranged for the assistance. He seemed to have abilities others couldn't fathom.
After unlocking the door and entering the courtyard, he saw a light in the house and a familiar figure reflected on the window lattice. Cong Ying hurried over and pushed open the door, and his eyes met Xie Xuanlan's for a moment.
Xie Xuanlan originally thought it was another eunuch coming to deliver something, but when he saw it was her, he was startled.
Cong Ying threw herself into his arms, feeling both happy and angry at the same time. Her voice was choked with sobs. "You just disappeared without a trace. You didn't say anything for all these days. I was just worried that you were dead and buried in the enclosure. What big thing happened that you couldn't even tell me?"
She became angrier and angrier as she spoke. With tears in her eyes, she punched him twice. When she tried to hit him again, his wrist was grabbed, his jaw was lifted up, and a cool and soft touch covered his lips.
Meeting at this moment, the surprise seemed like a dream. Xie Xuanlan still felt his heart beating violently. He kissed her eagerly and pushed her against the table, probing and sucking deeply to calm the unreal feeling that made him feel dizzy.
Cong Ying wanted to say that there was someone else, but she couldn't push him away. Instead, the grip tightened, leaving no room for movement. Her cheeks burned with anxiety. It wasn't until Xie Xuanlan lifted her up and started to walk inside that she finally caught her breath and cried out, "Put me down! There's someone here!"
Unexpectedly, Xie Xuanlan just glanced out the window and said, "Tell him to wait."
The man outside the window coughed lightly, as if unhappy: "I didn't bring her here to see a dog that can't be tied up."
Xie Xuanlan sneered, and Cong Ying took the opportunity to jump off him, turned around and straightened his clothes and hair.
The Prince of Jin then walked in and said to Xie Xuanlan, "I have something to tell you."
Cong Ying covered her face, not daring to look at anyone: "Then...you guys talk first."
Then she quickly slipped out along the door, but she didn't go far. After cooling down in the wind for a moment, she tiptoed to the lighted window.
First, I heard the Prince of Jin say, "The princess was pregnant with a stillborn baby, but I still suggest you take the blame. This will appease her grievances and avoid implicating Ah Ying. You've already been responsible for several deaths, so this one item isn't a big deal in the impeachment memorial."
If it were in the past, Xie Xuanlan would definitely ask him back: What’s it to you?
But he remembered the scene in the enclosure where the King of Jin committed suicide for Congying, and knew that he was indeed thinking about Congying. He felt uneasy, so he said dryly: "I would do it even if you didn't tell me."
The King of Jin added, "The remaining Western Tartar envoys have fled the capital. With the peace talks now broken down, war with the Great Zhou will undoubtedly begin soon. This, too, is your responsibility."
Xie Xuanlan disagreed: "The Western Tartars once colluded with Wang Si, and now they want to collude with the King of Ying. Their peace talks are not sincere."
"But the court officials disagree," said the Prince of Jin. "The Emperor has detained you here temporarily, perhaps because he's still debating whether to kill you and eliminate the threat once and for all, or to send you to the northwest to atone for your crimes."
Xie Xuanlan asked him, "Why do you care about this? Anyway, we won't send His Highness the Prince of Jin to the northwest. I'm afraid a gust of wind will choke you."
The King of Jin said coldly, "When I went to the northwest, you were playing in the mud in some corner of the country."
Xie Xuanlan thought he was talking nonsense: "Oh, maybe it happened in the previous life."
The two of them were inevitably on the verge of another argument, but the Prince of Jin held back and said calmly, "I warned you before that Congshan Academy is not a good place for Ah Ying. If you are going to the northwest, Ah Ying must not stay with the Xie family. Otherwise, given Prime Minister Xie's harshness and lack of grace, something bad will happen in the future. How do you plan to treat her?"
Xie Xuanlan was silent for a moment and turned his gaze to the window. At this moment, Zong Ying was sticking close to the window and listening, leaving a faint outline on the window paper.
He seemed to ponder within himself, and after a long moment, he softly spoke, "I was foolish before, not realizing her heart was in Taiyi Girls' Academy. I thought I was doing her a good deed, but in reality, I only caused her so much worry. From now on... we're thousands of miles apart, and the distance between us is immense. I'll listen to her own wishes. Whether she wants to wait for me or break off the engagement, I'll wish her all the best from afar. If, in a few years, I can find my life again in the northwest, I hope she'll have three thousand students at Taiyi Girls' Academy, and that she'll have achieved her dreams."
Cong Ying knew that these words were meant for her, and she felt an uncontrollable sadness in her heart.
She wiped her eyes, pulled the window open, and said to the two people in the room with a slightly angry voice: "Don't try to be so hypocritical, but please take care of your own lives and stop worrying about me!"
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