Chapter 275 Contraceptive Soup
When the door opened again, the sky outside the window was already shrouded in darkness, and the twilight was spreading little by little like thick ink that could not be dissolved.
The servant came in quietly with the food box. After the two of them had dinner, Pei Jing couldn't rest yet because he had a lot of important things to deal with.
Since Emperor Zhaowen passed away, the political situation has been unsettled and the country cannot be without a ruler for a day. Every matter is waiting for Pei Jing's decision, and piles of memorials are sent to the palace every day.
After Pei Jing went to the study, Jiang Fei hurriedly called Jiu Tao in, "Where's the medicine? Is it ready?"
Jiutao nodded, "It's ready. I'll get it right away."
After a while, Jiutao came back with a bowl of pitch-black medicine. The smell was not too strong, but it also had a bitter taste of grass and trees.
Jiang Fei took the bowl of medicine and drank it.
Jiu Tao looked at her frowning brows as she drank and reminded her, "Miss, the doctor said that it's not good to drink this medicine all the time."
Jiang Fei finally swallowed the last bite, quickly took a piece of candied fruit and stuffed it into her mouth, then said: "It's okay, I can't drink it for a few months."
Jiutao knew that she couldn't persuade him, and was about to leave when Pei Jing walked in from outside and stopped when he passed by Jiutao.
"Wait."
Jiutao was startled, and Pei Jing had already taken the bowl from her hand and put it under his nose to smell it.
"It's medicine." Pei Jing frowned and asked, "Where do you feel uncomfortable?"
Jiang Fei gathered her sleeves with all her might, "It's nothing, it's a medicine to replenish qi and blood."
Pei Jing nodded, and when he passed by Jiang Fei, he gently touched her chin with his hand, "There are a lot of things to do today, if you are tired, go to bed first."
He took the seal and went back to the study.
There was a large pile of memorials on the desk in the study. Duan Jiu and a eunuch were there. The young eunuch was Meng Yuande's godson and was standing by to sort out the memorials.
Pei Jing sat down, took a book and opened it, then casually asked, "How is your godfather?"
Lu An quickly replied, "Your Highness, Godfather is in good health. Thanks to the doctor Your Highness specially found to treat the bone injury, his medical skills are very good. Godfather said he wanted to kowtow to Your Highness to express his gratitude."
"No rush." Pei Jing quickly scanned the memorial. "Let him take care of it for now."
The study became quiet, with only the sound of flipping through documents.
Pei Jing reviewed the papers very quickly, flipping through one book after another, his brows sometimes relaxed and sometimes tense, occasionally writing a few comments on the papers, his movements quick and decisive.
But as he read, he slowly stopped writing, and what happened in the room before came to his mind again.
The girl was spoiled by him and was afraid of hardship. Even if she was sick occasionally, she would take a long time to take the medicine.
It was fine when he was staring at her, but when he wasn't staring at her, she would secretly pour it out. She even killed one of the flowers under the windowsill.
How could someone who is so afraid of suffering consciously and secretly drink tonics?
He stared at the memorial in a trance and didn't even hear Duan Jiu whispering "Prince" a few times.
It was not until Duan Jiu stepped forward to rescue the memorial he was writing that he came to his senses. The memorial was already stained with many ink stains and was obviously unusable.
Pei Jing simply put down his pen, stood up and walked out.
Duan Jiu quickly followed and asked doubtfully, "Is the prince going back to rest?"
Pei Jing didn't respond and went straight to the kitchen.
The servants in the kitchen were busy cleaning up. When they saw Pei Jing coming in, they were so scared that they fell to their knees.
Pei Jing glanced at the kitchen. "Where are the medicine residues?"
No one dared to take the initiative to answer.
He frowned and asked in a deep voice, "Where are the medicine residues?"
Then a young cook trembled and moved forward, pointing to a clay pot in the corner of the wall: "Your Highness, the medicine residue is here."
…
The imperial physician was hastily summoned in the middle of the night. Upon seeing Pei Jing, he knelt down and kowtowed, "Your Highness."
Pei Jing raised his hand and pointed at the table, "Take a look."
The medicine residue has been spread out on the table.
The imperial physician did not dare to delay and hurried forward to examine carefully. He picked up a few herbs with his fingers and identified them repeatedly. The more he looked, the more cold sweat seeped out of his forehead and his face turned pale.
"Your Highness, this contains salvia miltiorrhiza, red peony root, musk, and zedoaria..."
"Just tell me what medicine it is." Pei Jing became impatient and interrupted him.
The imperial physician froze, and quickly knelt down and said, "It's...it's the contraceptive soup."
Pei Jing didn't say anything. The study was so quiet that he could hear the sound of candlelight sparking.
He was silent for a long time, so long that the doctor's back was soaked with cold sweat, and then he slowly waved his hand: "Go down."
The imperial physician felt as if he had been pardoned and quickly stood up and left.
Pei Jing sat alone at the table, his eyes fixed on the pile of medicine residue, and sat there for the entire night.
The sky outside the window gradually changed from inky black to pale, and then was tinged with the morning light, but he never moved.
Until a maid came in quietly and said timidly, "Your Highness, the young lady asked you to go back for breakfast."
The atmosphere at the dinner table this morning was extremely depressing.
Seeing Pei Jing's grim expression and his absence from the previous night, Jiang Fei thought he had encountered some difficult situation and asked quietly, "What's wrong?"
Pei Jing raised his eyes to look at her, with an indescribable emotion in his eyes, "Xiao Cui, do you want to marry me?"
Jiang Fei was stunned for a moment, then smiled and nodded: "Of course I do, why are you asking this?"
"Danshen, red peony root, musk, zedoary turmeric." His voice grew colder with each herb he mentioned. "This is a recipe for avoiding pregnancy."
The room suddenly became eerily quiet.
Pei Jing's eyes pierced her face like a knife. "Don't you want to give birth to a child for me?"
Jiang Fei shook her head, "No."
"Are you afraid of giving birth to a bastard as crazy as me?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Jiang Fei looked up suddenly.
“Why is that?!”
"It's because..." Jiang Fei suddenly fell silent.
How could I tell him that I might have to leave him one day? How could I promise to stay with him forever?
Jiang Fei's eyes turned red.
Even at such a moment, those eyes could still soften Pei Jing's heart.
He turned his face away and whispered, "If you're willing to make up a lie, I'll believe it."
He threw the porcelain bowl to the ground. "You're too lazy to even think of a reason!"
Jiang Fei looked at the broken porcelain pieces on the ground. They had been so sweet together for so long, but they had never had such a fierce quarrel.
She knew the pain Pei Jing was feeling at the moment, which was caused by the person closest to him holding his heart tightly and twisting it hard, but she just couldn't tell the truth.
The impending separation is like a sword hanging over their heads. Speaking it out loud will only make the two of them sink into despair.
Pei Jing's hands were clenched tightly at his sides, and the veins on the back of his hands were throbbing.
He just stood there, his eyes fixed on Jiang Fei's face, as if waiting for an answer that could overturn everything, waiting for an explanation, even if it was perfunctory, so that he could find a way out, even if it was self-deception.
But Jiang Fei just lowered her eyes, her eyelashes trembled violently, and her lips were pressed into a pale line.
Finally, the faint light in Pei Jing's eyes completely disappeared.
He didn't say anything else, just turned around and strode out without looking back.
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