On the first day he met Zhuang Li, King Qi gave up the idea of pulling out the poison needle because he knew he could not afford to lose.
If closing his eyes meant saying goodbye to this person forever, he would tremble with fear.
But now, when Zhuang Li said firmly that it must be pulled out, he couldn't say no.
He was the one who couldn't afford to lose, and he was also the one who was willing to lose everything for the boy in front of him. So he gave up struggling and responded with his eyes closed: "Okay."
Zhuang Li hugged his head and whispered softly into his ear, "Don't be afraid, it will be okay. Trust me, okay?"
The words "believe me" were clearly spoken by the young man for the first time, yet they evoked an inexplicable, profound sense of familiarity in the King of Qi's ears. His uneasy heart immediately calmed, and he nodded in response, "Okay."
Those two simple words, "OK," were entrusted with the life of the King of Qi. He didn't understand why he could trust someone so easily, but he was willing to do it. There was nothing to think about. At this moment, staying in this warm embrace was eternal for him.
So he reached out and slowly hugged the boy's slender waist, waiting for the boy's reaction with bated breath.
To accept or to push away?
Zhuang Li not only accepted the hug, but also buried his head in his lover's neck and quietly wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes.
The carriage suddenly became very quiet, but two violent heartbeats could be faintly heard, merging into a warm atmosphere that made people feel at ease.
The King of Qi, who hadn't known how to write the word "relaxed and happy" for a long time, kissed the young man's soft hair inconspicuously, with a happiest smile on his lips.
However, Zhuang Li said in a disastrous tone, "You got married and had children?"
The smile on the corner of King Qi's mouth immediately turned straight, and he firmly denied it: "I didn't!"
"Then how did your son come about?" Zhuang Li asked aggressively.
"That's my general's son." The King of Qi pinched the young master's waist, afraid he would run out of his arms without listening to his explanation. He spoke rapidly, "My general died on the battlefield saving me. I returned to the capital to find his wife to repay her kindness, but I found that she had died in childbirth, leaving behind a newborn baby. Coincidentally, my father, the emperor, and my mother, the empress, forced me to marry and have children, so I secretly passed this child off as the emperor's son to cover up the matter."
"I've never looked for a woman in all these years, let alone thought of getting married and having children." The King of Qi turned his head to look at the young gentleman and said in an embarrassed tone, "If I say that I have been waiting for someone in the dark, and that person is you, would you believe it?"
Zhuang Li looked into his deep eyes, smiled softly and nodded: "I believe it."
After he finished speaking, he called out in his mind: "System, did you hear that? Do you still doubt the gods' feelings for me?"
7480: "...Master, you are a bit childish!"
Zhuang Li didn't care about the system's complaints. He quickly approached his lover and stole a kiss on his lips.
The King of Qi was stunned. After he came to his senses, he immediately held the young gentleman's cheeks and forcefully gave him a deep kiss.
---
It was already late when the convoy arrived at the villa. Zhuang Li, whose lips were swollen, was picked up from the carriage by the King of Qi, holding his waist.
When he landed, Zhuang Li pinched the King of Qi's burning ears in revenge.
The two looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.
Zhuang Lao Er and his companions were assigned to the west wing, while Zhuang Li and the King of Qi went to the east wing. The guard commander gathered the 150 guards and arranged patrol assignments.
Zhuang Li seemed to remember something and deliberately reminded them, "Don't bother with Luoxia Village at the foot of the mountain, and don't pass by there."
The commander of the guards looked at the prince, but saw that he was savoring something with a satisfied look on his face, and was completely unaware of the movement here.
"Yes, your subordinates will avoid Luoxia Village." The guard commander agreed respectfully.
"Has the imperial physician followed?" Zhuang Li asked again.
"I'm following you." The guard leader waved his hand behind him, and a white-haired old man came forward carrying a medicine box.
"Give me the box, and you go get some rest." Zhuang Li dismissed the imperial physician and pointed to the east wing, saying, "You must guard this area tonight. Don't let anyone get close. I need to help the prince remove the needles."
The guard leader suddenly looked up, staring at him in disbelief. The other guards also stared at him with stern faces.
It’s no wonder that they reacted so violently, because the poisonous needle that pierced the prince’s chest has become a source of worry for all of them.
The needle was too close to the heart; if too much force was used when pulling it out, or the angle was off, the prince would die instantly. Even more difficult was the difficulty of removing the needle, which required cutting open the prince's chest skin and repeatedly scraping and searching in the flesh. The excruciating pain was unbearable for an ordinary person.
If the prince could not bear the pain and struggled himself, and the imperial physician who was removing the needle was disturbed, the prince would end up dead.
They had considered restraining the prince's hands and feet, but he was a skilled warrior, and even seven or eight guards couldn't restrain him. If they chained his wrists and ankles, he would break them in no time.
Tempered in battlefields of blood and fire, the prince even slept with one eye open. How could he possibly allow someone to wield a knife in his fatal area? His mind knew not to struggle, but his body would subconsciously resist. No imperial physician could approach him with a knife and remain unscathed.
In short, if the practitioner wants to remove the poison needle safely for the prince, he must meet four requirements: one is painless, two is fast, three is accurate, and four is to gain the prince's 100% trust.
Can this young man really do it?
When the guards hesitated, the King of Qi said in a deep voice, "I have already promised to remove the needles tonight."
"Yes!" The guards' flickering eyes immediately turned into determination.
The group returned to the East Courtyard, cleared out a room, and, following Zhuang Li's instructions, lit several candles at different angles and used a bronze mirror to reflect the candlelight onto the Prince's chest. As the light wasn't enough, the guard leader opened the Crown Prince's storehouse and took out several night-shining pearls.
Zhuang Li sat across from the King of Qi and said softly, "I'm going to hypnotize you now. Once you enter a deep hypnotic state, you'll lose your sense of pain, and I'll be able to remove the poison needle. You have to trust me and follow my instructions, okay?"
The King of Qi nodded in agreement.
Zhuang Li then instructed, "Now please close your eyes and imagine yourself lying in a halo of white light."
The King of Qi kept his eyes on the young master, not even willing to blink.
"Close your eyes." Zhuang Li emphasized.
The King of Qi closed his eyes for a moment, but opened them quickly again.
Zhuang Li raised his eyebrows and said, "You say you trust me, but your body is resisting me. Are you worried that I will hurt you?" He was thinking too simply. How could someone who had only met twice build such deep trust?
The King of Qi shook his head and murmured, "I can't bear to close my eyes."
More worries were stuck in his throat, but he couldn't say them out loud. Because he knew that every day he lived was a day less, every eye he saw was a eye less, and when his eyelids drooped, the boy would disappear into the darkness, which made him very scared.
Zhuang Li stared at his lover's eyes full of attachment and reluctance, and quickly understood his feelings, so he couldn't help but chuckle.
No matter how many worlds he travels through, this person will always be so lovable.
Zhuang Li stretched out two slender fingers and gently pressed down on his lover's eyelids, coaxing him softly, "Don't be afraid. I promise that when you open your eyes, the first person you see will be me. I will always be by your side."
"Sleep, sleep. Your eyelids are growing heavier. Your body gradually begins to relax, from your scalp to your cheeks, then your neck and shoulders. The muscles in your back stretch like wings, lifting away your ailments and making you as light as a cloud. Your abdomen rises and falls with your deep breaths, and you achieve complete relaxation. Your legs also relax inch by inch, all the way down to the soles of your feet."
While guiding him with words, Zhuang Li gently stroked the King of Qi's entire body with his palms, from his scalp to his cheeks, and then to his lower abdomen and legs.
The miraculous thing was that every time he touched a place, the King of Qi's tense body would soften and he would fall into a completely defenseless state.
Finally, Zhuang Li placed his palm on the King of Qi's gauze-wrapped chest and said slowly, "Do you feel my comfort?"
"I feel it." King Qi answered slowly with his eyes closed.
"Is my palm warm, with a gentle power?" Zhuang Li continued to induce.
The King of Qi, who was half lying on the couch, nodded subconsciously.
"Now, this power is penetrating your chest and protecting your heart. It can isolate pain, so the severe pain in your chest will soon disappear. I am exerting force, can you feel it?" Zhuang Li's palm was always suspended above the blood-stained chest of King Qi.
"I feel it." King Qi showed a comfortable expression.
"Your wound no longer hurts, do you feel it?"
The King of Qi closed his eyes and felt for a moment, then said briskly, "I feel it."
The guards standing by, staring intently at Zhuang Li, were already stunned. Was this some divine magic? Using the power of thought to cure illness, who else but a god could do that?
However, only Zhuang Li knew that everyone's subconscious mind possessed god-like superpowers, and they could completely control the body they were in.
After numbing the King of Qi's pain nerves, Zhuang Li continued his guidance: "Tell me where the poison needle is."
The King of Qi frowned, as if he didn't know how to answer this question.
After a long time, he spoke in a daze: "I don't know."
"No, you know, as long as you feel it carefully, you will know." Zhuang Li said firmly.
7480 couldn't stand it any longer and whispered back, "Master, there's no way he knows where the poison needle is! His eyes aren't X-ray machines."
Zhuang Li shook his head and said, "It's precisely because we don't have X-rays or other diagnostic equipment that I let him find the answer himself. I wouldn't operate on his heart without absolute certainty. Human potential is beyond your imagination. I once hypnotized an interstellar pirate."
When she rebelled against the Union, her husband and son were killed by Union troops. She was so grief-stricken that she stopped menstruating for six years. Six years later, her inner trauma was slowly healed by her close friends. She wanted to marry them and have another child.
"So, she came to me, hoping I could prescribe medicine for her. I hypnotized her and asked, 'When will your period come?' Confused, she replied, 'Three days from now.' After she woke up, I told her the answer, and three days later, her period arrived as expected. So, you see? The human subconscious mind has complete control over its own body.
"People with low blood sugar will crave sugar, and those deficient in trace elements will suffer from pica. This is all caused by our subconscious mind. Our subconscious mind can see through our bodies like an X-ray, but we are just unaware of it."
7480 was stunned by what he heard. It took him a long time to realize that when had the host ever hypnotized an interstellar pirate? What was the host's origin?
However, despite being shocked, 7480 didn't dare to even fart. As long as the host didn't kill it, it would always be the host's sweetheart.
At the same time, the King of Qi frowned and said, "I feel it. It's here, an inch under the skin. A straight knife can cut it open." He slowly raised his hand and pointed to his heart.
The heart is no more than ten centimeters from the chest, and since the King of Qi was so thin, his heart was probably only five to seven centimeters below the skin. In other words, the needle was really close to the heart. One inch below the skin is three centimeters, and another two centimeters would have taken the King of Qi's life!
Zhuang Li immediately cut open the gauze and, following the direction indicated by the King of Qi, picked up a sharp knife that had been sterilized long ago, cut through the skin, and inserted tweezers straight in to an inch below the skin. With a slight turn, he touched a needle, which he then quickly pulled out.
The whole process was completed in the blink of an eye.
When the poison needle fell into the bowl and made a crisp tinkling sound, the guards standing around realized belatedly that the disease that had tormented the prince for years had been cured!
Fast, precise, and painless! Nothing beats this!
While the guards were still in shock, Zhuang Li had already used a small knife to neatly scrape away the rotten flesh from the poison needle's corrosion, poured strong liquor on it to disinfect it, then sutured the wound with catgut and wrapped it with clean gauze. The whole process was quick and gentle.
Finally, he pressed two fingers against the King of Qi's brow and whispered, "Okay, you can sleep peacefully now. When you wake up tomorrow morning, your illness will be gone forever. You will feel refreshed and comfortable, and you will quickly recover to your best health. Go to sleep, and everything will be fine when you wake up tomorrow."
The King of Qi tilted his head slightly, following his voice, then fell asleep with a long breath, a happy and satisfied smile on his face.
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