Chapter 18 Suffering

When Sui Yan woke up again, it was already past noon.

Today was a rare day of good weather. Jun Jingxing was sitting by the half-open window reading a book. He turned his head when he heard some noise.

Sui Yan had just woken up, and before he even opened his eyes, he reached out to the box of preserved fruits on the small table in a daze.

Jun Jingxing was immediately amused. He put the book down and said, "Don't eat yet. Eat after you finish taking the medicine."

Sui Yan then opened his eyes and retracted his hand. He looked at the half-open window and said, "It's cold. The wind is coming in."

Jun Jingxing brought the medicine that was warmed on the stove over to him and said, "Don't be hypocritical. There are five or six charcoal basins in the room. Anyone who is standing next to them would have died of the heat. Open the window to let in some fresh air and dissipate the pathogenic qi. If you feel cold, I'll close it for you later."

Sui Yan nodded dejectedly, holding the medicine bowl and drinking it in small sips.

Jun Jingxing looked at his slightly drooping eyelashes and suddenly said, "During the time you were asleep, the Third Prince came to see you."

Sui Yan's hand trembled and he almost spilled the medicine.

Jun Jingxing stretched out his hand, pressed on Sui Yan's wrist and held it tightly, saying calmly: "Why does he throw things around so early? I boiled this medicine for a long time, and he broke the bowl after drinking it."

Sui Yan was stunned for a moment. He was still unable to think clearly, so he drank the medicine obediently and then threw the medicine bowl away.

The sound of breaking something suddenly echoed throughout the room.

Sui Yan said: "Next time he comes, you should kick him out."

Jun Jingxing looked at him leisurely, and the more he looked, the more amusing he found it.

Before he came to the Marquis' Mansion, he had always thought that the young Marquis was a playboy who was blinded by beauty, and he was extremely jealous and contemptuous of him. However, after spending a few days with him, he unconsciously changed his opinion.

How can he be called a playboy? He is clearly a child who has not grown up.

A child of this age who only thinks about playing and eating candies all day may not even know what prostitution is.

Sui Yan waited a long time without receiving a response after giving the order. He looked up and was shocked to find that Jun Jingxing looked at him in a very strange way. It was not the usual look of disdain, but rather a kind and gentle one, as if he was tolerating a naughty child who was misbehaving.

He had seen this kind of look in his father's eyes when he was young.

Sui Yan shuddered and asked cautiously, "You...what are you thinking about?"

Jun Jingxing shook his head: "No, I was thinking about you."

As he spoke, he casually stuffed another candy into Sui Yan's mouth.

Sui Yan looked at him with even more fear. In the previous life, Yue Jian and he were busy being troublemakers in the capital and had no time for love. He just vaguely noticed that Yue Jian always had a strange look in her eyes when she saw him.

Even when he was under house arrest in the palace in his last year, Yue Jian came to see him every day without fail.

Sui Yan pulled the quilt to cover himself without leaving any trace, and said faintly: "I... I remember I told you on the first day you came, I really have no interest in men."

Jun Jingxing: “…”

Jun Jingxing glared at him with gritted teeth, wondering if he was blind just now how could he think that he was harmless?

Sui Yan lowered his eyes and looked at his wrist which he could circle with two fingers. He sighed silently and said, "Thank you for saving me."

In his previous life, Sui Yan had only a few years to live after drinking the Stigma. Three years later, he met Yue Jian by chance at the Fifth Prince's residence, and he had been taking care of his body ever since. However, the poison had already penetrated into his bones by then, and despite Yue Jian's great medical skills, Sui Yan only managed to live for another four years.

Jun Jingxing was not used to Sui Yan's sincere thanks. He cursed himself for being a jerk and pretended to be calm, "It's nothing. My father has been a doctor for many years and worked in the government medicine department for a while. Although he can't completely detoxify you, he can guarantee that you will live for another ten or eight years."

Sui Yan nodded, without saying anything hypocritical. He stretched out his hand under the bed and said, "Come, bring the rabbit up."

Jun Jingxing couldn't get used to Sui Yan's love of sweets and soft things. He frowned and threw the rabbit that was warming itself by the charcoal basin to Sui Yan by its ears, saying, "Why do you like this? As far as I know, only little girls like sweets and small animals like this... Hey! Don't let him get into the quilt. Aren't you afraid that he'll get dirty? What if he gets bugs?"

Sui Yan fiddled with the rabbit's ears and suggested, "Give it a name."

Jun Jingxing Qi knot: "Listen to me!"

Sui Yan said: "Just call her Yue Jian, since you don't need this name anymore."

Jun Jingxing: “…”

As soon as Sui Yan finished speaking, he called out, "Yue Jian, come Yue Jian, come into my arms."

Jun Jingxing: “…”

Jun Jingxing was so angry that he almost took the rabbit out to roast it.

At night, Sui Xun finally had time to come and see him.

Sui Yan half-leaned on the couch listlessly, looked at Sui Xun with a bit of grievance, and said, "Brother."

Sui Xun was angry and distressed when she saw that he had lost a lot of weight. She scolded him, "It was so cold, and you went out without even a coat. What on earth were you thinking? Do you feel better after being so sick?"

Sui Yan stretched out his hand to him and said aggrievedly: "Second brother, can you hug me for a while?"

Sui Xun: “…”

Sui Xun began to doubt his own ears.

Ever since he came back before the New Year, the usually naughty Sui Yan seemed to have suddenly changed his temperament and became extremely obedient. Now he even dared to act coquettishly towards him so blatantly.

Is this person... still a child?

Sui Xun looked at him warily and asked, "Have you done anything wrong again?"

Sui Yan took a deep breath and tried to keep smiling and act coquettishly: "No, just hug me, just for a while."

Sui Xun was still worried: "Or did you do something wrong today to offend the Third Prince?"

Sui Yan: "No, do you want to hug me or not?"

Sui Xun said: "Wait a minute... or are you saying that you dropped the gift given by the Emperor..."

Sui Yan: “…”

Sui Yan looked at him expressionlessly and said, "Brother, I'm tired. You should go back first."

Sui Xun: “…”

Sui Xun then believed that Sui Yan really just wanted to act coquettishly. He thought about it and said awkwardly: "You are not a child anymore, don't act coquettishly all the time. Well... considering that you are still sick, then... then just hug me."

Sui Yan said: "I don't want to hug you anymore, goodbye brother."

Having said this, he turned over expressionlessly, wrapped himself in the quilt, and stopped talking.

Sui Xun: “…”

Sui Xun left with a gloomy face.

Jun Jingxing walked into the room, patted the quilt, and said, "Everyone is gone, hurry up and get up and take the medicine."

Sui Yan opened the quilt, his eyes were red.

Jun Jingxing asked: "What's wrong?"

Sui Yan shook his head, took the medicine and took a sip. He had been forced to drink extremely bitter medicine these days, and he gradually got used to the taste of the medicine. Although he still hated it, at least he could drink it.

After he finished a bowl of medicine, his brows were furrowed with bitterness. Just as he was about to reach for the preserved candied fruit, an idea suddenly occurred to him. As if he had remembered something, his hand trembled and the spoon fell into the bowl.

Jun Jingxing looked at him in confusion and stuffed a candied fruit into his mouth.

Sui Yan looked at Jun Jingxing with wide eyes and said with difficulty: "What did you tell me this morning?"

Jun Jingxing was confused: "This morning? What did I say?"

Sui Yan murmured, "You said that ginseng soup...will bring out the toxicity of stigma..."

Jun Jingxing: "Yes, if the poison is strong, it can kill people in just a moment."

Sui Yan's eyes trembled slightly, and he seemed to have figured something out in a trance.

In his previous life, Duan Mingchong sat far away, and no one knew what he ate that night. It seemed that Duan Mingchong died of poison within two quarters of an hour after Duan Ruwang toasted him.

The reason turned out to be that the bowl of ginseng soup caused the toxicity of the stigma to break out prematurely.

The more Sui Yan thought about it, the more frightened he became. He pressed his chest and took a few breaths. He felt as if a needle was piercing his lungs, and the pain was so severe that he felt dizzy.

Endurance...

Duan Zhisu probably didn't know what kind of medicine was in the wine, otherwise he wouldn't have prepared ginseng soup for Duan Mingchong. It would not benefit him at all if the prince died at his banquet.

But even if Duan Zhisu didn't know that the wine contained the stigma, he couldn't escape the connection with the drugging.

"To plot against a tiger..." Sui Yan gritted his teeth and said, "You don't even know how you died?"

Jun Jingxing frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"

Sui Yan took a deep breath to avoid fainting from the pain, and said with a faint breath: "You...you go to the servants in the other courtyard and call someone over for me."

Jun Jingxing was used to observing people's expressions, so he didn't ask any questions and went outside to call the person in. Knowing that Sui Yan had something important to tell him, he left the inner room and waited in the outer hall.

Sui Yan held the edge of the bed and whispered, "Go check where Duan Zhisu got the medicine from, and also check how many outsiders he had contact with during this period. Find out everything within three days."

The attendant was stunned for a moment, and didn't quite react: "Check... the Third Prince?"

He remembered that Sui Yan seemed to have a very good relationship with the Third Prince, so why did he suddenly secretly investigate such a private matter?

Sui Yan pounded the edge of the bed and gritted his teeth, "Check!"

The attendant did not dare to ask any more questions and left.

Only after the attendants left did Jun Jingxing roll up his sleeves and go into the inner room.

Sui Yan looked up at him and said nothing.

Jun Jingxing threw some tranquilizing powder into the small incense burner. The two of them were silent, and only the sound of sparks exploding in the charcoal basin echoed in the room.

After a while, the servant came to change the charcoal. Sui Yan felt much better and breathed a sigh of relief without leaving a trace.

Jun Jingxing stood up and closed the window. Sui Yan kept staring at him until he sat back down, then he said, "I heard that you were exiled to the frontier after Lord Yin convicted you. How did you escape in the end?"

Jun Jingxing trembled, then raised his head and smiled at him, saying, "Why do you ask this?"

Sui Yan said: "I'm curious."

In the previous life, no matter how Sui Yan asked, Yue Jian never told her.

Jun Jingxing smiled and said more swiftly: "It's simple. I committed suicide."

Sui Yan: "..." How can it be simple? !

Criminals who were sent to prison for their crimes were often bound hand and foot and unable to move, not to mention those who were exiled to the frontier. The only possible way for them to commit suicide was to bite their tongue, but seeing how eloquent Jun Jingxing was at this moment, he did not look like a man who had bitten his tongue.

Sui Yan became more and more curious.

Jun Jingxing fiddled with the ashes in the small incense burner while saying calmly, "In the back street of the City God Temple in Beijing... Oh, a noble like you naturally wouldn't know about this. There is a slum there, full of desperate criminals who would do anything for money, including children, adults, women and the elderly."

Sui Yan asked: "So?"

Jun Jingxing said: "When I knew that the Yin family was doomed, I went to hire people and asked them to kill them before the soldiers escorted me out of the city..."

As he spoke, he actually laughed softly: "...killed me."

Sui Yan was shocked: "Did you know you would be exiled? What if the emperor was furious and wanted to exile you as well?"

Jun Jingxing smiled as if he was talking about someone else's business, curling his lips and pretending that nothing had happened: "If my father is guilty, I am the only male in the mansion. The emperor knows that my father is innocent, so he will naturally not kill me all. But letting me stay in the capital would be a nuisance, so naturally he wants me to get out as far away as possible."

Sui Yan was secretly surprised, thinking that if a man like this was not born in a powerless mansion like the Yin family, but was born in any royal family, he would definitely be a troublemaker.

Jun Jingxing lifted his hair that fell on his shoulders and said nonchalantly, "I hired a few children to pretend to be beggars before leaving the city and blend into the crowd. In the chaos, they stabbed me in the heart with a dagger."

Sui Yan was shocked when he heard this. Although he knew that nothing would happen to him afterwards, he still secretly worried about him.

Seeing the pale face of Sui Yan, Jun Jingxing smiled softly and said, "I have been following my father's medical practice since I was a child, so I naturally know how to avoid fatal areas. It's fine as long as I don't die."

Sui Yan asked, "You just escaped like this?"

Jun Jingxing laughed at his wild imagination: "How can it be so easy? I took a drug that made me fake my death before I left. Although the dagger avoided my vital parts, it still pierced my body firmly."

Jun Jingxing was seriously injured, with blood gushing out all over his body. The officers and soldiers escorting him glanced at him casually without paying any attention. They simply picked him up and threw him on the cart transporting grain and fodder, and then they left the city with blood dripping all the way.

Countless people who committed serious crimes and were exiled died on the way, and the officers and soldiers escorting them were already accustomed to it.

After an hour of this, a timid soldier on the car carefully checked Jun Jingxing's breath and was startled. He shouted, "Sir! Sir, this man is dead!"

The officer driving the car in front casually said: "This is your first time escorting a criminal, don't be so surprised. Even though we are escorting dozens of people now, how many of them can actually survive to the frontier? Just get used to it. If he is dead, just throw him down. Don't waste space... Tsk, he is quite heavy."

The young soldier was so frightened that his face turned pale. Looking at Jun Jingxing's lifeless face, he put his hands together and silently chanted "Namo Amitabha" before he pushed Jun Jingxing down with shaking hands.

The car was still moving when the seriously injured Jun Jingxing was thrown straight down. His body rolled on the ground for several times before slowly coming to a stop.

It was because of this that the suffocation caused by the fake death drug was instantly broken, allowing him to come back to life.

Even so, he still lost too much blood and almost died.

Sui Yan was horrified when he heard this. He sat on the couch, hugged the quilt, and stared at him with wide eyes.

Jun Jingxing shrugged: "That's it, it's very simple anyway."

Sui Yan: “…” So how can it be simple?

Sui Yan suddenly remembered something and said, "You were saved only after you left the city. What about the tattoo? You didn't suffer it?"

Jun Jingxing was stunned for a moment, and his eyes drooped slightly.

Sui Yan felt that he had said something wrong and said, "I think I asked too many questions."

Jun Jingxing smiled and said, "Nothing."

He rolled up his sleeves and hung them over the hot charcoal brazier for a while. After the cloth became hot, he gently wiped his left cheek with it.

Jun Jingxing's face was originally pale, but as he moved, the paleness became more and more strange. When he put down his sleeves, an inky mark on his face was revealed - it was a mark tattooed on the face of an exile in prison.

There seemed to be several scratches on the mark, and it was impossible to see what the words were.

Jun Jingxing shook off the rouge on his sleeves and smiled, "Look, I can also disguise myself."

He smiled so gently, as if he was not the one who had experienced these tragic sufferings.

The author has something to say:

Jun Jingxing: I killed myself.