Chapter 70 When will I wake up?
Upon seeing the torches burning at the roadblock in the distance, Baili Xunzhou felt a sudden surge of unease. The flickering flames in the abyss-like darkness resembled the eyes of several wild beasts, exuding a dangerous and ominous aura.
"drive!"
He spurred the horse's flanks, and the steed shot off like an arrow, its hooves leaving almost a trail of afterimages as it galloped straight toward the firelight under the moonlight.
Upon approaching, Baili Xunzhou reined in his horse and abruptly stopped. He leaped into the air, dismounted, and glanced at the crowd counting supplies, but did not spot Feng Mian.
Feng Mian doesn't come every time, but this time Baili Xunzhou's heart was pounding wildly, and the thought of seeing her was racing through his mind, almost impossible to suppress.
No, she's been so busy and tired these past few days, let her rest. Baili Xunzhou told himself this in his heart, forcibly suppressing the thoughts swirling in his mind, and asked the guard with apparent calmness, "How has the princess been these past few days?"
The guard's gaze shifted nervously for a moment, then he stammered, "It's...it's all good. The princess goes to bed early every day, eats three meals a day on time, and is drinking her preventative medicine..."
Baili Xunzhou narrowed his eyes, his gaze sharp as a blade. "Say it again, Princess, how about that?"
“Princess…” The guard’s heart trembled. As a soldier of the Swift Feather Camp, having to lie to His Highness the Crown Prince was a tremendous test for him. But when His Highness assigned them to the Princess, he said that they must obey the Princess’s orders in everything. He dared not disobey the Princess, so he could only bite the bullet and say guiltily, “…It’s fine.”
"Get out of the way."
The two cold, resounding words startled the guard, making his back stiffen. "What?"
"Get out of the way, I need to go in." Baili Xunzhou had interrogated countless people; how could he not see through this clumsy attempt at concealment?
The guards were lying, which meant that something must have happened to Feng Mian, yet he ordered everyone to keep it from him. It was highly likely that... Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, and a spasm of pain shot through his chest. He had heard that patients with more serious illnesses could "die in the evening if they develop symptoms in the morning, and die in the morning if they develop symptoms in the evening." Feng Mian's body was so weak...
if……
No, no. Good people are always protected by heaven; she'll be alright. At this moment, Baili Xunzhou desperately hoped that the absurd fortune-telling was true. He was her "lucky star," he wasn't dead yet, how could anything happen to her?!
The two guards panicked and stood in front of the wooden barrier, shouting, "No, Her Highness the Princess said that no one is allowed to pass!"
He didn't know if she was safe or not, so how could he continue to stay here peacefully?
Baili Xunzhou was too lazy to talk to them, so he took out his token and tossed it to Shanyi behind him, saying, "Take this token and give it to Yao Zhiyuan."
If anything happens to him, all matters in the Jiyu Camp will temporarily be subject to Yao Zhiyuan's orders.
Shan Yi cried out in alarm, "Your Highness! You can't go in!"
"This matter must not be known to Mother."
Bai Lixun gave a final word of advice, then mounted his horse and gently pulled on the reins, taking a few steps back.
Just when the guards thought he had given up, the warhorse suddenly neighed, reared up, and with a whistle, took two running steps and leaped over the wooden barrier, landing steadily on the inside. Then, it galloped away without stopping for a moment.
The dust kicked up covered the guards' faces.
The crowd stared blankly at each other, wondering if they could possibly stop the Crown Prince. The prince didn't even need to invoke military orders; he simply barged in.
Just then, the sound of hooves rang out again. Cheng Lixu, who had been lagging behind by more than ten feet, finally caught up, exhausted. When he dismounted, his legs were so weak that he almost fell. He managed to stand by holding onto the reins. He looked around and asked weakly, "Where is His Highness the Crown Prince? Where is His Highness the Princess?"
The guard pointed in the direction where Baili Xun's boat had disappeared.
Cheng Lixu's breath hitched. He hadn't been told when he came that he was going deep into Tiger's Den to see the princess!
He awkwardly took two steps, unsure whether to follow, "Then I..."
The guards immediately perked up. If they couldn't stop the prince, surely they could stop the man in front of them?
"The princess has ordered that no one is allowed to pass!"
Cheng Lixu was overjoyed and obediently said, "Okay, I won't go in. I... I'll go back to the post station first."
The post station in Yunzhong County must be safer than the place where he was standing!
"Strategist, save me—" Shan Yi stumbled and ran to Yao Zhiyuan, holding the burning token, almost falling to his knees.
Yao Zhiyuan casually helped him up, still in the mood to joke: "The New Year is not yet here, there is no need for such a grand ceremony."
Shan Yi looked up with teary eyes, "Will I live to see the New Year?"
Yao Zhiyuan then noticed that the man was holding Baili Xunzhou's token and almost jumped up. "What has Your Highness done now?"
Why did they suddenly adopt this air of entrusting their child to someone? They've even removed the tokens!
Shanyi recounted the story, her face contorted with grief, "If the Prince and Princess find out about something this serious, am I doomed?"
"It's alright. Even if there were ten more of you, you couldn't keep an eye on one of the princes. The prince and princess will understand you." Yao Zhiyuan patted Shan Yi's shoulder and sighed. "What you should be praying for now is for the princess to be safe and sound."
Otherwise, the one at home will go mad, and the one in the palace might go mad too. Then, a real storm will break out in the northern frontier.
*
At first, I felt cold, but then I felt so hot that I wanted to kick off all the coverings on my body. However, I was too weak to do anything but curl up and groan in discomfort.
In a daze, Feng Mian felt someone gently coaxing her in her ear, while simultaneously tucking the corner of the blanket under her already sweat-soaked shoulders, wrapping her up tightly. She was like a silkworm wrapped in a cocoon, unable to struggle any longer.
How annoying, how annoying this person is! How can they say such sweet things to her while doing such terrible things to her?
Anxiety swelled up inside him, and a mixture of discomfort and grievance caused tears to stream down his face.
Then a cool handkerchief gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and wiped her sweaty forehead.
The voice came to coax her again, its babbling pleasant. A cool sensation gradually spread from her forehead to her cheek, calming the restlessness in her heart and steadying her breathing.
Seeing Feng Mian's furrowed brows slowly relax, Baili Xunzhou finally breathed a sigh of relief. He changed to a handkerchief, soaked it in water, wrung it out, and continued to wipe Feng Mian's cheeks to cool her down. His fingertips felt her breath, which was as hot as charcoal.
Her cheeks were also flushed red, and her long eyelashes were still wet from crying. Her hair was also wet and sticky to her forehead, making her look very pitiful.
When will she wake up? Liu Jixue said that if she could wake up even once, there would be great hope. But since he forced his way in and stayed by her side for two days, she hasn't opened her eyes even once.
The panic in his heart spread endlessly, but Baili Xunzhou was unwilling to show it at all, for fear that Feng Mian, who was delirious from the fever, would sense his feelings and also feel distressed.
My mother always said that sick people are most sensitive to the emotions of others. You shouldn't say discouraging things to sick people, and you shouldn't talk about their illness. Instead, you should talk to them about happy things to help them stay in a good mood so that they can get better quickly.
So he racked his brains to try and make her happy by recalling his childhood memories. When he ran out of things to say, he started praising how blue the sky was, how bright the sun was, and how refreshing the wind was.
“Once you wake up and feel better, I’ll take you to sit in the courtyard to bask in the sun and get rid of the illness. Maybe that will help you recover faster.”
After contracting the disease, Fengmian stayed in Yujia Village. When the villagers heard that the princess had followed them into the ward to put their minds at ease and had also contracted the disease, they immediately prepared an empty thatched hut for her so that she could recuperate peacefully there.
With no one else around, Baili Xunzhou spoke to Feng Mian in the gentlest tone he had ever used. If anyone else had overheard, they would have suspected that he had been replaced.
Thinking of this, Baili Xunzhou suddenly remembered something from his childhood that he could tell Feng Mian as a story. He tried hard to recall the past, which had been worn away by time, and slowly said, "Speaking of which, I was actually kidnapped once when I was a child."
“I got separated from my father at the time. I was trying to rescue people, but I underestimated them and overestimated myself. I got kidnapped along with them.” He recalled, frowning. “I was also locked in a cave where it was pitch black. Later, I used two stones to create sparks, lit some straw, and led everyone out.”
“Those people were so stupid. I took off my coat and hung it on a tree branch, which led them astray. When I reached the foot of the mountain, I ran into my father, who was looking for me. He took all the other children back. How about that? Aren’t I amazing?” He said, smiling as he looked at the cover, then suddenly froze.
A pair of misty eyes gazed at him wearily. Feng Mian opened his lips, his voice dry and hoarse: "Thirsty."
Bai Lixunzhou seemed to wake from a dream, and in his panic, he struggled with his hands and feet before finally pouring her a cup of warm tea from a small teapot that was always kept in the room.
He held a cup of tea in one hand and used the other to support her sweaty back as he sat up, letting her lean against his neck, and slowly fed her the warm tea.
"Are you still thirsty?" he asked.
Feng Mian shook her head gently and said weakly, "It's hot."
She wanted to pull back the covers to get some fresh air.
"No." The arms around her waist tightened a little. "If you sweat and then get a draft, your fever will get even higher."
Feng Mian remained sullen for a while before his feverish, delirious mind slowly came to its senses. He struggled to sit up and move away from Baili Xunzhou.
"I... you go away, don't let the illness spread..." She frowned and used all her strength, but Baili Xunzhou gently pressed her down and she fell back down.
“If I cared about getting sick, I wouldn’t be here.” Baili Xunzhou’s voice was tinged with helplessness as he complained softly, “You said you would take good care of yourself, so I felt at ease leaving you here. Now it seems I shouldn’t have trusted you so much.”
Feng Mian tilted her head slightly and saw that Baili Xunzhou's face was obediently covered with a face mask. His sharp eyebrows and eyes looked like they hadn't slept for two days and had been smoothed out, leaving only a little weariness. When he looked back at her with his eyelashes lowered, there was a hint of relief in his eyes, but also an unyielding worry.
She stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly spoke: "I..."
"Hmm?" Baili Xunzhou thought she had some request to make, so he quickly bowed his head and listened attentively.
But then she said with a hint of embarrassment, "I haven't washed up for days, and I'm all sweaty. Do I smell bad?"
"..."
Baili Xunzhou couldn't help but turn his face away and burst into laughter. Feng Mian could feel the slight vibration from his chest on his cheek.
She leaned forward to look at his smiling eyes and felt much more satisfied. Baili Xunzhou's eyes and brows were more suited to a carefree, exuberant smile; a melancholy expression didn't suit him.
After a while, when the laughter finally subsided, Feng Mian said, "Please call Xue over for me. I have something important to tell her."
"Okay." Baili Xunzhou didn't ask her any more questions about the specifics. He simply tucked the blanket in a little more and helped her sit up against the headboard. He then earnestly instructed her, "Don't get out of bed."
After saying that, he strode out.
Fengmian closed his eyes to calm himself down and sort out his complicated thoughts.
It wasn't all for nothing that she was sick; she successfully dreamt of what she wanted.
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