"Miss, please eat something." Xin Kui brought in a bowl of warm bird's nest porridge, her eyes filled with worry as she looked at Xin Jiuwei's increasingly thin and pale profile. For the past three days, Xin Jiuwei had lost her appetite and couldn't sleep, her body visibly wasting away.
Xin Jiuwei seemed not to hear, her gaze still fixed on the window.
Xin Kui sighed and gently placed the bowl of porridge on the small table. She hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "As for Liu Ya... when I changed her dressing today, I quietly asked her. She said... His Highness coughed for half the night last night and only managed to fall asleep in the latter half... his breathing... was even weaker." She didn't dare look at Xin Jiuwei's instantly tense back.
Just then, there was a gentle knock on the door of the side room. Liu Ya's pale and haggard face appeared in the doorway. Her complexion seemed worse than it had been two days ago. The bandage on her shoulder had been changed, but it still had a faint dark red tinge. Yet, her eyes held a forced glimmer of hope, and her voice, though hoarse, carried a cautious glimmer of expectation:
“Miss Xin… The imperial physician said that His Highness woke up briefly this morning and seemed… seemed to be a little better. He said… if you wish to see him, perhaps… you can peek from afar through the screen? But… but you must not make a sound to disturb him, and you must not get too close, for the breaths of two people touching… might cause serious harm.”
Seen from afar, through a screen?
Xin Jiuwei abruptly stood up from the couch! Her movement was so swift that she knocked over a bowl of porridge on the small table, spilling warm porridge onto the carpet, but she didn't notice. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest! Finally…finally she could see him! Even if it was just a glimpse of his shadow through the screen!
"Take me there!" Her voice was urgent and demanding, with a tremor she herself was unaware of.
A complex emotion flashed in Liu Ya's eyes, but she quickly lowered them and said, "Please come with me, young lady."
Stepping once more into the main courtyard, thick with the stench of medicine and the aura of death, Xin Jiuwei's heart leaped into her throat. The main house door remained tightly shut, and the two black-clad guards, as still as stone statues, stood solemnly at the entrance. Liu Ya gently pushed open the door, and an even stronger, more bitter smell of medicine mixed with the stench of blood rushed towards her. Xin Jiuwei instinctively held her breath.
The room was dimly lit, with only a single, softly glowing glass palace lantern in one corner. In the center of the room, a large, plain-colored screen embroidered with pine trees and cranes symbolizing longevity completely separated the inner chamber. Behind the screen, the outline of a canopy bed could be vaguely seen, its curtains hanging low, indistinct and unclear. Only the suppressed, extremely faint breathing, like a wisp of smoke, intermittently emanated from behind the screen, confirming that a person lay there on the verge of death.
Xin Jiuwei was led by Liu Ya to a spot about ten feet away from the screen. At this distance, she could barely make out the blurry outline of a figure on the bed behind the screen. The figure appeared extremely thin, lying motionless, covered by a thick brocade quilt, with almost no visible movement. Only the faint, almost imperceptible breathing testified to the presence of life.
“Wei…Wei’er…” A hoarse, broken voice, as if it were about to be cut off at any moment, drifted out from behind the screen weakly and intermittently, like the last embers of a candle in the wind.
It was Xiao Xun's voice! Although it was so weak it was almost distorted, Xin Jiuwei would never mistake its unique, deep quality!
This call, like the sharpest needle, instantly pierced Xin Jiuwei's carefully maintained composure! She trembled, instinctively taking half a step forward, her lips moving as if she were about to respond!
"Miss Xin!" A royal physician standing nearby immediately whispered anxiously, "Breath! Please hold your breath and concentrate! You must not disturb His Highness!"
Xin Jiuwei abruptly stopped, swallowing back the call that had risen to her throat. She bit her lower lip hard, tasting a faint metallic flavor of blood. Her nails dug deep into her palms, forcing herself to remain calm through the sharp pain. She could only stand there, separated by that thin, yet insurmountable screen, listening to that faint, heartbreaking sound.
"Is...is that you?" The voice from behind the screen carried an unbelievable fragility and a cautious, almost humble hope, as if confirming a dream she dared not hope for. "I...I think...I heard your voice..."
Xin Jiuwei's heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, the pain so intense it was almost unbearable. She opened her mouth, but her throat felt blocked, and no sound came out. Overwhelming guilt and heartache washed over her like a tidal wave. He was so weak… Could he not even distinguish between her voice and reality?
"It's me..." Finally, she used all her strength to squeeze out two very soft, low, hoarse words from deep in her throat, her voice filled with undisguised bitterness and trembling.
A brief silence fell behind the screen. Only the faint, almost imperceptible breathing proved that he was still listening.
"It's good that you're back..." After a long while, the hoarse, broken voice sounded again, intermittently, each word as if it had exhausted all its strength, "Don't worry... stay here... wait for me... to get better..." The voice grew softer and softer, the last few words almost inaudible, then it was replaced by a suppressed, heart-wrenching cough! The cough was like a broken bellows, with a heart-palpitating muffled sound, as if it was about to tear the entire chest apart!
"Your Highness!" Liu Ya and the imperial physician exclaimed simultaneously, rushing behind the screen. A suppressed commotion and whispers followed.
Xin Jiuwei's heart leaped into her throat! She instinctively wanted to step forward again, but was firmly stopped by another imperial physician beside her, who sternly warned her not to approach.
The coughing behind the screen gradually subsided, leaving only weaker, more intermittent breathing. The imperial physician emerged from behind the screen, his face extremely pale. He shook his head wearily and heavily at Xin Jiuwei, his eyes filled with silent reproach and helplessness, as if to say, "You see, we mustn't disturb her."
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