Chapter 39: Incense Addiction

Doctor Meng Yu said: "Let's not talk about the remaining toxicity in his body..."

Duan Mingchong frowned and said, "Let's talk about the poison first."

Doctor Meng Yu: “…”

"Has he really been poisoned?"

Doctor Meng Yu nodded and said, "The miracle doctor in the young marquis's house is really skilled in medicine. He was able to remove most of the powerful poison. If we were to ask the Imperial Hospital to come, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to save the young marquis' life with 100% certainty."

Duan Mingchong asked: "What kind of poison is it?"

Doctor Meng Yu looked around and uttered two words in a low voice.

Duan Mingchong's expression changed instantly.

Sui Yan followed the palace maid all the way into Duan Xichen's bedroom. After drawing aside the curtain, he discovered that Duan Xichen had fallen asleep again without him noticing.

Since being poisoned, Duan Xichen has lost a lot of weight, his face has taken on an unnatural yellowish hue, and he looks very weak.

Sui Yan glanced at his face, and his heart trembled suddenly. The fear that rose up uncontrollably was suppressed by him.

He took a deep breath and nodded slightly as a greeting. The palace attendant beside him reminded him awkwardly, "Young Marquis, it is not proper to nod in front of a patient's bed. Just take a look."

Sui Yan was surprised and asked, "Etiquette cannot be abandoned. Do you want me to kneel down and pay my respects to him?"

The palace maid became even more embarrassed and reminded him in a low voice that this was a courtesy only for the dead.

Sui Yan said "Oh", bowed his head and saluted again.

I wish you a speedy return.

Palace maid: “…”

The palace maid looked pale and looked at Sui Yan in silence. For a moment, she didn't know whether to chase him away or not.

Duan Xichen didn't wake up, and Sui Yan didn't want to wake him up to add insult to injury. He sighed, turned around and left.

Just as he left, Duan Xichen, who had fallen into a deep sleep, seemed to be awakened by something. He trembled slightly and suddenly opened his eyes.

Originally his body was unable to move due to the domineering poison, but at this moment, for some unknown reason, veins on his arms bulged and he managed to lift his hands, but they dropped down in an instant.

When Sui Yan left, Duan Mingchong was sitting nearby, talking to Doctor Meng Yu with a gloomy look on his face. When he saw Sui Yan coming out, he forced a smile and said, "Have you finished?"

Sui Yan nodded and asked curiously, "What are you talking about? Is the Fifth Prince sick? Can I listen?"

Doctor Meng Yu smiled dryly, bowed and left.

Duan Mingchong took a deep breath and looked at Sui Yan with a complicated expression.

Sui Yan blinked: "What's wrong?"

Duan Mingchong shook his head: "Nothing, it's getting late, I'll have someone escort you out of the palace."

Sui Yan was about to nod, but suddenly he seemed to think of something, and smiled with his eyes tilted: "I finally came to the palace, Your Highness won't you treat me to a cup of tea?"

Duan Mingchong did not see through his evil ambitions and took him to the East Palace.

Sui Yan followed happily.

The tea of ​​the East Palace is the first new tea to be offered as tribute every year. After Duan Mingchong asked someone to brew a pot of tea, he asked someone to make some sweet soup.

Sui Yan didn't come here for tea, but when he saw Duan Mingchong asking people to prepare sweet soup and desserts, his eyes narrowed even more, and he wished he could stick to him and not leave.

After Duan Mingchong had tea and snacks brought up, a palace maid suddenly came in and bowed to him.

Duan Mingchong took a look and his eyes turned slightly cold.

"Your Highness, His Majesty wants you to go."

Duan Mingchong nodded somewhat coldly: "I understand."

He took a deep breath, suppressed the coldness on his face, and said to Sui Yan somewhat unnaturally: "I'm going to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, you..."

Sui Yan was eating osmanthus cake and was very considerate: "Okay, okay, I'll wait for you here and definitely not run around and cause trouble."

Duan Mingchong looked at him helplessly, gave him some more instructions before leaving.

Sui Yan finished his cakes and sweet soup, then sat in the front hall waiting for half an hour. It was already dark outside, but Duan Mingchong had not returned yet.

Perhaps the palace maids of the East Palace had received instructions from Duan Mingchong, so they were very respectful to him. Sui Yan had been waiting for a long time and became a little impatient. He stood up and planned to run to the study. They did not dare to stop him, but just followed him closely.

There was an entire wall of books in Duan Mingchong's study. Sui Yan flipped through a few of them and found that they were all about governing a country and cultivating oneself, with many comments densely marked in cinnabar.

Sui Yan muttered, "Reading this kind of books all day, no wonder he was raised like that."

He flipped through a few more books at random and accidentally came across two new books on the wooden shelf. Driven by curiosity, he tiptoed down, opened a page at random, and was instantly amazed.

These are actually two play scripts that I found from somewhere!

It was obvious at first glance that the script was made up. There weren't many stories in it, but there were a bunch of messy folk customs, written in a very logical way.

Sui Yan was amazed as he flipped through the book, thinking that he never thought Duan Mingchong could read such a book, it was really beyond his comprehension.

He sighed as he hastily flipped through the book. When he was turning to the second book, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a line of comments - about appreciating lanterns during the Lantern Festival.

Sui Yan blinked for a long time before he finally couldn't help laughing out loud.

He finally understood why Duan Mingchong asked that question on the Lantern Festival. It turned out that he learned it from this.

Sui Yan made up his own story about how Duan Mingchong was seriously reading the sinful script page by page, laughing so hard that he almost fell down.

Sui Yan sat on a chair and read those two books carefully for half a day. In the end, he couldn't hold on any longer and fell asleep on the desk.

It was not until three quarters after midnight that Duan Mingchong hurried in from outside. Before he even took off his cloak, he asked, "Where is the young marquis?"

The palace maid pointed cautiously to the study.

Duan Mingchong's face was a little pale, and he seemed to be staggering slightly when he walked. He didn't stop and went straight into the study.

Sui Yan had already fallen asleep on the desk. The palace maids did not dare to disturb him, so they brought a charcoal brazier and placed it aside. They also carefully covered him with a blanket to prevent him from freezing.

Duan Mingchong was a little annoyed. He walked forward and gently pushed Sui Yan, saying softly, "Ayan?"

Sui Yan was woken up in a daze. He looked at him in confusion and took a long time to recognize him: "Your Highness, you are back."

Duan Mingchong's face was originally full of coldness, but when he saw Sui Yan's soft and tender look, he suddenly felt better for some reason.

He leaned over and touched Sui Yan's forehead, saying, "Are you sleepy? I'll take you home."

Sui Yan couldn't even open his eyes, and he tilted his head and bumped into Duan Mingchong's arms, and said incoherently: "I don't want to move, I want to sleep."

Duan Mingchong's legs were unsteady and he was almost knocked down by him, so he had no choice but to say, "Okay, then I'll take you to the side hall to sleep. You'll catch a cold if you sleep here."

Sui Yan nodded in confusion, and was helped to stand up obediently by Duan Mingchong.

Sui Yan was originally half asleep, but when he came out of the study and was blown by the cold wind, he quickly woke up.

He was about to go up and tease him when he noticed that Duan Mingchong seemed to be walking a little abnormally.

The two of them soon arrived at the side hall of the East Palace. Duan Mingchong said, "Did you not have dinner yet? I'll have someone prepare some food for you. Eat some before you go to sleep."

Sui Yan looked at his legs calmly and said, "Why has Your Highness stayed in the Hall of Supreme Harmony for so long? Is there something important going on in the court?"

Duan Mingchong's face froze, and he forced a smile: "It's nothing important, there are just too many trivial matters that delayed me. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for too long, I..."

He was about to turn around and ask someone to urge dinner, when Sui Yan saw something and suddenly asked, "Your Majesty suspects that you were responsible for Duan Xichen's injury and poisoning?"

Duan Mingchong paused, waved his hand and asked the palace maid to leave. When no one was in the room, he said calmly, "On the day of the Lantern Festival, I was the only one who went out of the palace, contrary to normal, and even showed up at the Lantern Festival. Father's suspicion is not unreasonable."

Sui Yan asked, "You don't have any excuse?"

Duan Mingchong smiled.

Sui Yan realized after he finished speaking that he had asked a stupid question. Given Duan Mingchong's personality, how could he allow himself to be charged with murdering his brother for no reason? He did make an excuse, but whether the emperor would listen or believe it was another matter.

Sui Yan looked at the dirt on his knees and had a rough idea in his mind.

He was... punished.

Otherwise, Sui Yan was obviously waiting for him in the palace, and he wouldn't have delayed for so long even if he had something important to do.

Duan Mingchong pulled him to sit down and said softly, "You don't have to worry about this. I can handle it."

Sui Yan absentmindedly pinched the sachet on his waist, said "hmm", and obediently did not ask any more questions.

Soon, the food was served. Duan Mingchong looked at it carefully and found that there was nothing that Sui Yan could not eat, so he watched him eat some.

After dinner, Duan Mingchong said, "Go to sleep first. I will take you back home after I come back from the morning court tomorrow."

Sui Yan was drinking soup nearby, and asked in confusion: "What are you going to do?"

Duan Mingchong said: "Father... let me copy a few copies of the wise and virtuous countermeasures and bring them over tomorrow."

Sui Yan paused, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared.

Punished to kneel and copy books.

However, Sui Yan was not sure what the emperor meant. If he really suspected Duan Mingchong of plotting to harm his brother, why did he punish him so lightly?

In other words, he did not doubt Duan Mingchong at all, but just wanted to warn him about something.

Sui Yan put the bowl down and nodded after a while: "Okay."

Duan Mingchong gave several detailed instructions before hurriedly going to the study.

Sui Yan took off his coat and got into bed. A palace maid beside him lit the charcoal basin for him. He lowered his head and dared not look at the bed.

Sui Yan felt more and more aggrieved the more he thought about it, and suddenly asked, "What on earth did Your Highness go to the Hall of Supreme Harmony for today?"

Duan Mingchong asked his personal attendant to take care of Sui Yan, and Sui Yan remembered very clearly that this person was the servant who followed Duan Mingchong to the Hall of Supreme Harmony today.

The palace maid was startled and knelt down and said, "Young Marquis..."

Sui Yan did not get tired of asking again, but the palace maid probably received instructions from Duan Mingchong and refused to tell him no matter what.

Sui Yan became even more certain that Duan Mingchong was punished. He thought to himself that the emperor's family was really scumbags, as they punished the crown prince without any reason just because their favored son was injured.

He was furious, but there was nothing he could do for Duan Mingchong for the time being, so he had to shrink into the quilt with a sullen face and let the man leave.

The palace maids ran away in a hurry.

In the study, Duan Mingchong was copying a thick stack of books. Hearing this, he frowned slightly: "Why is he asking this?"

The palace servant said cautiously, "I dare not speak rashly, but the young marquis seems to have seen something and keeps asking questions."

Duan Mingchong paused and frowned: "Is he asleep?"

"Maybe he was tired and went to bed early."

Duan Mingchong continued to copy the book expressionlessly, his wrists trembling a little: "Okay, I got it. I'll serve you well."

The palace maid bowed and left.

Duan Mingchong stayed in the study until the late hour, and just finished copying the book. He had just put down his pen when a palace maid hurried in from outside. Without even having time to greet him, she said, "Your Highness, something has happened to the young marquis."

Duan Mingchong was startled and hurried to the side hall.

There was a charcoal basin burning in the side hall, and it was warm.

As soon as Duan Mingchong walked in, he saw Sui Yan, who was wearing only a single piece of clothing and had disheveled hair, sitting with his knees hugged beside the burnt-out incense burner, looking dazed, still mumbling something.

Duan Mingchong hurried over and asked softly, "Ayan?"

Sui Yan looked up at him in confusion, his pupils dilated, not sure if he could still recognize him.