"Achoo—" Yun Qing sneezed.
Ke An and Qi Xiao felt a sudden jolt, remembering that she had seen plague patients today, could it be...?
"Master, are you alright? I'll go and call Physician Zhao to take a look."
"No need." Yun Qing gently patted Ke An's hand, stopping him. "I know my own body. I probably caught a chill last night. There's no need to make a fuss."
However, noticing Qi Xiao's worried expression, she suddenly had an idea.
"Cough cough—, cough cough cough—"
"No, we really need to see the imperial physician. What if something happens to you? How can I live?"
Ignoring Yun Qing's attempts to stop her, Ke An anxiously ran out.
Yun Qing smiled wryly and looked at Qi Xiao: "That's just how he is. He makes a big fuss over the smallest things."
"It concerns physical health, so how can it be a trivial matter?"
Qi Xiao was in a state of utter confusion. Although he had not been involved in the plague in Lin'an County, he knew a little about the inside story.
He couldn't be sure whether those people had actually harmed Yun Qing. What if she was really poisoned?
No, he had to find the antidote. He had finally met someone he could entrust his life to, and even for the sake of his own happiness for the rest of his life, he couldn't let anything happen to her.
"Qi Xiao, what's wrong? Why is your face suddenly so pale?"
"I'm fine." Qi Xiao shook his head. "Ziyun, I suddenly remembered something, so I'll have to go now."
The next day, the guards reported to Yunqing.
"Your Highness, Young Master Qi went out alone yesterday."
Where did you go?
"At Butcher Zhang's house on the east side of the county town."
"Keep an eye on it."
"yes."
Around noon, Yun Qing was handling business in the study of the county government office when Qi Xiao suddenly knocked on the door and came in.
"Ziyun, are you hungry? This is bird's nest that I personally stewed. Try it."
"Let's leave it for now. I'll use it after I've read this document."
"Okay, then you must finish it." Qi Xiao looked at her with concern. "This is my heartfelt gift, you mustn't waste it."
"Don't worry," Yun Qing smiled.
"Then I won't bother you any longer."
"Wait a moment."
Just as Qi Xiao was about to step out of the room, Yun Qing suddenly called out to him.
"What's wrong?"
Qi Xiao turned around with a smile, thinking that Yun Qing was moved by his virtuousness and wanted to be intimate with him.
Unexpectedly, her next words were: "I heard from Ke'an that you went out alone this morning. What did you go out to do?"
"Nothing much, just wandering around." Qi Xiao's smile froze on her face. "Why did you suddenly ask that?"
"Just a little curious." Yun Qing casually withdrew his gaze. "The situation in Lin'an County is not optimistic. As a man who can't even kill a chicken, you'd better stay in the county office and not go out easily."
"What do you mean? Are you blaming me for not being well-behaved?" Qi Xiao felt wronged. He had risked contracting the plague to find an antidote for her health, so how was that being well-behaved? He had really misunderstood her good intentions.
"I didn't mean that, don't misinterpret it." Yun Qing was utterly exasperated with Qi Xiao. How could someone be so self-righteous? Her original intention was to test him, so how was she supposed to continue?
"I'm just misinterpreting things?" Qi Xiao became even more agitated. "That's exactly what you meant. I knew women were unreliable. Back in Qihong Pavilion, you said you'd give me money so I could support myself. Now that you've tricked me, you think I should be like those men in your harem, never leaving the house, just waiting for your pity, right?"
"Heaven and earth bear witness, I really didn't mean that." Seeing that Qi Xiao was getting more and more excited and had escalated the matter to this level, Yun Qing quickly threw down the official documents in her hand, ran to him in a few steps, and hugged him tightly.
"It was my fault. I shouldn't have kept you in check. Young Master Qi, please forgive me this once."
As she spoke, she held up three fingers: "I promise I will never make this mistake again."
There was no other way; Yun Qing didn't want to spoil Qi Xiao too much. However, firstly, he was still useful, and secondly, the way he got angry was just too much like that other person, which inevitably made her more tolerant.
After coaxing her for a while, Qi Xiao finally smiled and went back satisfied.
As soon as he left, Yunqing immediately handed the bird's nest to Physician Zhao.
"Go and check what special ingredients are in this bird's nest, and whether it can cure water poisoning."
"Yes." When Physician Zhao heard that the bird's nest was related to the plague, he was alarmed. Without asking where she got it, he carefully took it and immediately went back to have it examined.
The following evening, after Yun Qing had dinner with Ke An and Qi Xiao, the results of Doctor Zhao's test came out.
"Your Highness, may I ask where you obtained the bird's nest? It does contain a medicinal ingredient that can counteract the adverse effects of toxins in well water. We have used it on several patients, and their symptoms have been significantly reduced."
"You don't need to worry about where the bird's nest comes from. As long as it can treat patients, that's fine. What are the medicinal ingredients inside? Are they easy to find?"
"Your Highness, this medicinal herb is called Cold Food Grass. It grows mostly in high mountains. There are quite a few of them on White Snow Peak, which marks the border between Qingshui County and the neighboring country."
"Qingshui County? The one nearby?"
"Exactly."
"In that case, let the guards ride at full speed and bring them back as soon as possible."
"Your Highness is wise."
With hope finally emerging in the fight against the plague, Yun Qing's heavy heart finally lifted. These past few days, she had to visit patients during the day and verify the use of disaster relief funds, and when she returned at night, she had to take turns comforting Ke An and Qi Xiao.
Because the two of them didn't want to sleep together, she had to let one of them sleep in her room. They could have slept peacefully, but Qi Xiao was unhappy about it, feeling that she was being unfair and demanding a fair division of the room. In the end, they each had to sleep one night.
It sounds like she's enjoying the best of both worlds, but in reality, the two of them can't stand each other during the day and argue whenever they meet. Whoever sleeps with her at night will come to her to complain, and she can't really bring it up. She can only grunt and let it go in one ear and out the other.
All these things, big and small, combined tormented her to no end.
Now that she has seen a glimmer of hope, and the day of her triumphant return seems to be just around the corner, how could she not be overjoyed?
At night, lying on the golden nanmu bed, Qi Xiao carefully traced Yun Qing's eyebrows and eyes.
"Ziyun, what happened? Why do you look so cheerful?"
Yun Qing leaned closer to him with a slight push from her back, her glassy eyes darting around, and then planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth.
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