She didn't even bother to bow, and hurriedly stepped aside to make way.
Xin Jiuwei's heart clenched! Liu Ya's miserable state silently confirmed the perilous situation. Without the slightest hesitation, she stepped over the high threshold, Xin Kui following closely behind.
The door closed silently behind her, shutting out the wind, snow, and sunlight. A strong, suffocating smell of medicine mixed with an old, damp, and musty odor rushed out, instantly enveloping Xin Jiuwei. The courtyard was unusually dimly lit, with winding corridors and deep courtyards. Only a few scattered, dilapidated lanterns under the eaves emitted a weak, yellowish light, barely illuminating the small space beneath her feet. The air seemed to freeze, carrying a heavy, oppressive feeling that tightened her heart. Occasionally, maids dressed in dark clothes would hurry by, their steps as light as cats, all with their heads bowed and breathless, their faces showing undisguised fear and solemnity, as if afraid of disturbing something.
Liu Ya walked quickly, but her injuries made her stagger. She led Xin Jiuwei through one moon gate after another, each draped with heavy cotton curtains. The further they went, the more pungent the medicinal smell became, mixed with a faint, chilling stench of blood!
Finally, they stopped in front of the most secluded courtyard. The gate was tightly closed, and two black-clad guards, as still as stone statues and exuding a restrained and solemn aura, stood solemnly at the entrance. Their sharp eyes swept over Liu Ya and Xin Jiuwei, lingering on Xin Jiuwei for a moment before they nodded slightly and silently stepped aside.
Liu Ya pushed open the courtyard gate, and a stronger, more bitter smell of medicine and blood mixed with the warmth of the stove rushed out, almost tangible! Xin Jiuwei's heart suddenly raced!
There was only one main house in the courtyard, its doors and windows tightly shut, thick cotton curtains hanging down, isolating the inside from the outside. The flickering, dim candlelight inside the house was reflected on the window paper. Faint, extremely suppressed coughs came intermittently from inside the house, each cough seeming to use all its strength, carrying a tearing pain that made one's heart tremble.
“His Highness is inside…” Liu Ya’s voice choked with sobs as she pointed to the tightly closed door. Her eyes were filled with deep pain and pleading. “The imperial physicians…the imperial physicians are all inside…it has been…it has been a day and a night…” Her body swayed slightly, as if she could not hold on any longer. She leaned against a pillar in the porch, panting heavily. The bandage on her shoulder seemed to have swelled up in a small patch of dark red.
Xin Jiuwei stood in front of the tightly closed door. The strong smell of medicine and blood, and the heart-wrenching coughs, were like invisible hammers, slamming hard on her taut nerves! The blood-stained handkerchief in her sleeve felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, burning her arm.
She took a deep breath, the stench of medicine, blood, and despair filling her lungs and almost suffocating her. She raised her hand, her fingertips icy cold, to push open the door that seemed to separate life and death.
"Miss Xin, please wait!" an old and weary voice rang out.
The door was pulled open a crack from the inside, and an elderly imperial physician with white hair and a sorrowful face peeked out. He wore a dark imperial physician's robe, and his clothes reeked of medicine. His face showed obvious fatigue and gravity. He glanced at Xin Jiuwei outside the door, his eyes filled with complex emotions, scrutiny, and a hint of…pity?
"His Highness's breath is extremely weak at this moment, and signs of his heart meridian being exhausted are already evident. He is only being kept alive by a few strong medicines and cannot withstand the slightest disturbance." The old imperial physician's voice was extremely low, carrying a heavy sense of helplessness. "If the young lady goes in now, the interaction of their breaths and the agitation of their mind may... may disturb His Highness's last bit of life!"
Xin Jiuwei's outstretched hand froze in mid-air. Looking at the heavy "fact" in the old doctor's eyes, and listening to the faint, suppressed breathing and coughing coming from inside the room, a tremendous sense of powerlessness and icy despair instantly gripped her!
So close, yet it feels like the ends of the earth!
He's inside, his life hanging by a thread, and she can't even give him a second glance?!
"Imperial Physician...is there really...no way?" Xin Jiuwei's voice was dry and hoarse, trembling with a pleading tone she herself didn't even realize. "You said before...we're connected by blood...perhaps..."
The old physician sighed heavily, his gaze falling on Xin Jiuwei's pale face. His expression held a doctor's understanding of the desperation that sometimes leads to desperate measures, yet it was also tinged with deep helplessness: "Young lady, in my decades of medical practice, I've only ever seen records of such a bizarre poison in fragments of ancient texts. The so-called 'blood connection, sensing the root' is merely a slim theoretical hope… The lingering poison in His Highness's body is entrenched deep within his heart meridians, unpredictable and beyond the reach of medicine. Young lady… although you and His Highness have shared this ordeal,… alas, the chances of survival are slim…" He shook his head, his wrinkled face etched with the weariness of utter despair. "Right now, we can only do our best and leave the rest to fate… Young lady, please… accept my condolences, and go to your room to rest. If… if anything happens… I will immediately inform you." With that, he said no more, turning and gently closing the door, once again shutting out the heartbreaking faint sounds and the heavy aura of death.
Liu Ya leaned against the pillar, closed her eyes in anguish, and tears silently streamed down her face.
Xin Jiuwei stood frozen outside the tightly closed door, like a lonely soul abandoned in a frozen wasteland. The strong smell of medicine and blood enveloped her, and the faint, intermittent breaths from inside, seemingly about to cease at any moment, cut like the dullest knife repeatedly into her heart. The blood-stained handkerchief in her sleeve was now icy cold.
She slowly withdrew her hand, which had been frozen in mid-air, and clenched it into a fist, her nails digging deep into her palm, yet she felt no pain. Only a cold, boundless panic and guilt, like the dark night of the capital, pressed down heavily, almost swallowing her whole.
Three days. A full three days.
Xin Jiuwei was trapped in a side room next to the secluded courtyard of the Prince's mansion, as if she had been thrown into a silent cage. Every day, the nauseating smell of medicine and the faint yet persistent stench of blood, like the thickest spider web, seeped in through the cracks of the tightly closed doors and windows of the main house, binding her tightly. Occasionally, the suppressed, heart-wrenching coughs, as if trying to expel her internal organs, would penetrate the thick walls and doors, like a dull knife, repeatedly sawing at her taut nerves.
With each cough, Xin Jiuwei's hands, resting on her lap, would unconsciously clench, her knuckles turning white from the force. She forced herself to sit on the couch by the window, a book open before her, but her gaze was blankly fixed on a few snow-covered, withered branches in the courtyard outside. She couldn't concentrate on a single word of the book. Her mind was churning only the blood-stained handkerchief, Liu Ya's blood-soaked secret report, the imperial physician's heavy sigh, and the faint, almost extinguished breath in the main room.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
