Chapter 76 Longevity

Sui Yan followed Sui Xun into the mansion in a trance. As soon as he sat down in the room, he seemed to think of something and said, "Brother, I heard that an assassin broke into the mansion last night?"

Sui Xun frowned and asked, "Who told you?"

"Jiang Enhe."

Sui Xun realized that he couldn't keep it a secret, so he told the truth, but he concealed the detail that the assassin confessed that it was Duan Mingchong who ordered the assassination.

Sui Yan asked, "Coming towards me?"

Sui Xun nodded.

Sui Yan said again: "Your Highness the Crown Prince also knew about this a long time ago, so he suddenly came to the Marquis' Mansion to take me to Xiangguo Temple to avoid the limelight?"

Sui Xun hesitated for a moment. He had no idea what Duan Mingchong was thinking, and it was not easy to guess. He could only say vaguely, "Probably."

Sui Yan rubbed his brows, stood up after sitting for a while and prepared to go back.

Sui Xun saw that he seemed a little bit abnormal, so he quickly grabbed him and said, "What's wrong with you? The prince won't really bully you, will he?"

Sui Yan was exhausted. He forced a smile and said, "No, it's my own fault. I'm too tired today. I'm going back to sleep first. Good night, brother."

Sui Xun looked at the sky which had just darkened, frowned and said, "Then do you still want dinner?"

Sui Yan didn't even turn his head: "No."

Having said that, he pushed the door open and walked out.

Haitang was packing things for him in the side yard. When she saw him coming back, she hurried to greet him.

Sui Yan glanced casually: "Where's Jun Jingxing?"

Haitang said, "Doctor Jun said he has something to do at home and will come back tomorrow."

Sui Yan took off the cape from his shoulders and handed it to Hai Tang. Just as he was about to walk into the room, he suddenly stopped and tilted his head and said, "Is there still half a bottle of wine that Jun Jingxing brewed last time? Bring it to me."

Haitang was startled: "Master, don't you not drink?"

Sui Yan felt a little depressed, but not to the point of having a seizure. He didn't want to joke with others, so he couldn't even force out a smile.

He said softly, "It's okay, go get it, dear."

Haitang had never seen her young master like this before, so she didn't dare to persuade him any more and ran out to get some wine.

After a while, Haitang came back with the wine. Sui Yan didn't let him in. He took the wine and slammed the door.

Haitang was locked outside the door. She knocked on the door in confusion and said, "Master, you are weak. You can't drink alcohol now."

Sui Yan's voice came muffled: "I know what's going on. Go ahead and don't bother me."

Haitang wanted to say something, but there was no sound inside.

Haitang stood outside the door trembling with fear for a long time, but there was still no response from inside. He was afraid that something had happened to Sui Yan, so he hurried to look for Sui Xun.

After hearing the news, Sui Xun came to the side courtyard with a frown on his face.

He knocked on the door: "Forgot to come back?"

The room was quiet for a while, and Sui Yan's muffled voice came: "Brother, what's the matter?"

Sui Xun frowned and asked, "What are you doing in there?"

Sui Yan said: "Sleeping."

Sui Xun could vaguely smell alcohol. He knocked on the door heavily and said in a cold voice, "Nonsense, are you drinking alone in there? Open the door for me quickly, don't force me to knock it down!"

Suddenly there was a sound of broken porcelain in the room. Sui Yan hissed softly and said after a long while: "It's really nothing. I have already taken off my clothes and gone to bed. Brother, you should also go to bed early."

Sui Xun still didn't believe it and was about to force the locked door open when Sui Yan said quietly, "I asked for a peace amulet for Jiang Ning from Xiangguo Temple. I wanted to give it to you as a favor. If you knock on my door, I will burn the amulet."

Sui Xun: “…”

Sui Xun hesitated for a while, and finally made a decision: "Are you really okay?"

Sui Yan said: "Really, if something really happened to me, it would only make others feel uncomfortable, and I would never let myself feel aggrieved at all."

Sui Xun: “…”

Sui Xun thought about it carefully and it seemed to be the case, so he casually said a few words and walked away under Haitang's stunned gaze.

These two are truly brothers.

Since Sui Xun didn't care anymore, Hai Tang didn't know what she could do, so she had to leave with her head down.

Sui Yan locked himself in his room for the entire night and half a day without coming out. Haitang was afraid that he would faint in there.

It was not until the afternoon of Little New Year that Jun Jingxing braved the snow and walked into the side yard. Just as he was putting away his umbrella, Haitang came up to him with tears in her eyes.

"Doctor Jun, you are finally back!"

Jun Jingxing didn't know when he had become so important. He asked in surprise, "What happened? Did something happen to the Marquis again?"

Haitang told Jun Jingxing about Sui Yan's situation yesterday and said worriedly, "The young master locked the door and didn't let anyone in. He didn't open the door even when the second young master came, and he hasn't eaten anything all day."

The more Jun Jingxing listened, the more strange it seemed to him. He frowned and quickly walked to the door and knocked: "Mr. Hou?"

There was no sound inside, and the lingering aroma of wine seemed to have not yet dissipated.

Jun Jingxing retracted his hand and said in a deep voice, "Knock the door open."

Haitang: "Ah?"

Jun Jingxing said: "If you push it open, it's my fault if anything goes wrong."

Haitang never had any opinion of her own, but when she saw Jun Jingxing was so determined, she quickly asked someone to knock on the door.

Sui Yan's residence was exquisite in every way; even the door was meticulously carved by the artists in the palace. However, although the carvings were exquisite, they were not very strong. Haitang led people to knock on the door two or three times, and the door was broken with a clang.

Jun Jingxing stood aside with his arms folded, watching, and said, "Okay, everyone go down."

He was now filled with rage, but he also knew Sui Yan's identity and did not want to scold him in front of the servants.

After sending the man away, Jun Jingxing reached his hand through the gap with a cold face, pushed the bolt, and the door opened.

There were no windows in the room, nor any charcoal basins, and the cold air was tinged with the aroma of wine.

Jun Jingxing suppressed his anger and said, "Sui Yan."

He took two steps towards the inner room and stepped on a piece of broken porcelain. Jun Jingxing looked down and saw that it seemed to be a fragment of a wine altar.

At this moment, a faint sound came from the inner room.

Jun Jingxing was startled and quickly pulled aside the pearl curtain and rushed in.

"Sui Yan!"

But when he saw the scene in the room clearly, his face immediately turned pale.

—— Sui Yan was curled up in the innermost part of the bed sleeping with his quilt rolled up in his arms. Perhaps because it was quite cold, his entire body was curled up in the quilt, with only half of his furry head exposed. At this moment, he was rubbing his pillow with sleepy eyes.

On the small table beside the bed, there was a strangely shaped lamp, and the smell of alcohol in the room came from the lamp oil groove.

Jun Jingxing took a deep breath, walked forward and looked at Sui Yan first. When he found that he was sleeping soundly and nothing was wrong, he turned to look at the weird light.

The lamp might be a modification made by Sui Yan himself from the silver lamp in the room. The bottom was still the original shape, but the upper part was forcibly concave into a winding appearance. He poured wine into the place where the lamp oil was stored, dipped the cotton wick into the wine, and a faint blue candle flame was burning.

Jun Jingxing pressed his brows in pain.

Sui Yan slept for more than half an hour before he finally woke up. He yawned and just opened his eyes, he saw Jun Jingxing sitting beside his bed like a ghost.

Sui Yan: “Ah——”

Sui Yan screamed out miserably, and was frightened to death. He hid in a corner, hugging the quilt with a horrified face.

Jun Jingxing sat for a long time until he finally woke up, and asked expressionlessly: "What on earth irritated you yesterday? You took the wine and locked yourself in the room without opening the door all day. How old are you? Why are you imitating a child like this?"

Sui Yan's chest was still pounding. He pressed his chest and finally came to his senses. He said angrily, "You are the one who got upset. You sat by someone's bed like a ghost so early in the morning. If it were someone timid, they would have been scared to death by you. And you are the first to complain and question me!"

Jun Jingxing still had a dark face and said, "You are wrong."

Sui Yan was almost frightened to death, and now he was almost angry to death. He angrily said, "Are you crazy? What's wrong with me? I'm staying in my room. How did I bother you?"

Jun Jingxing said coldly: "Do you know what's wrong with your body now? How dare you destroy it so wantonly? Do you think you're not dying fast enough?"

Sui Yan stared at him in disbelief with his eyes wide open. Just as he was about to roar, he was suddenly choked by his saliva and started coughing violently, covering his chest.

He coughed as if he had tuberculosis. Even if Jun Jingxing was angry, he couldn't get angry at him.

Sui Yan: “Ahem…you…get out!”

Jun Jingxing frowned and patted him on the back, saying, "Stop talking and focus on coughing."

Sui Yan: “…”

Sui Yan almost coughed up all his brains, and after a long while he leaned back on the pillow with a weak breath, but he still stared at Jun Jingxing with fierceness and dissatisfaction in his eyes.

Jun Jingxing asked someone to bring him a few more charcoal braziers, and soon the whole room became warm.

He ignored Sui Yan's struggle, grabbed Sui Yan's thin wrist, and took his pulse with a cold face.

Sui Yan coughed so hard that his throat tasted bloody. He didn't want to talk anymore. He closed his eyes dejectedly and didn't want to care about Jun Jingxing anymore.

After Jun Jingxing took the patient's pulse, he called Haitang over and asked him to boil the medicine.

Haitang just ran back from the front yard, panting and pleading, "But the Second Young Master said he wants to go to the palace to attend the palace banquet, and he is urging the Young Master to come."

Jun Jingxing said, "Go and tell General Sui that the Marquis is ill and will not go today."

Sui Yan heard it all, opened his eyes and was about to speak, but seemed to have thought of something, swallowed his words back, and continued to lie on the bed.

Haitang was still hesitating, but when she saw Sui Yan didn't refuse, she ran away quickly.

Jun Jingxing prepared the medicine himself and brought it over. He watched Sui Yan drink it in small sips before he stuffed a piece of candy into his mouth with an expressionless face.

Sui Yan held the candy in his mouth, and his anger subsided by half. He snorted, "You know what's best for me. I won't argue with you."

Jun Jingxing asked, "Did the prince say anything to you again?"

Sui Yan was almost choked again. He held the candy in his mouth, and one side of his face bulged out a little, looking like a golden bear eating, very cute.

Jun Jingxing looked at him coldly and mercilessly, but he reached out his hand against his will and gently poked Sui Yan's face.

Sui Yan was poked by him and almost spit out the candy. He glared at him and said, "Show some respect! How do you know what the prince said to me again?"

Jun Jingxing took his hand back and felt a little better. He said calmly, "When you have a seizure, it must be related to the Crown Prince. Do you still want me to guess?"

Sui Yan: “…”

Sui Yan looked at him dimly and snorted without denying it, which was considered as an admission.

Jun Jingxing asked: "Did he reject you?"

Sui Yan said: "What? I didn't tell him."

Jun Jingxing: "So what made you sick yesterday?"

Sui Yan wanted to say something but stopped.

Jun Jingxing said, "Hurry up and speak, don't hesitate. It's because you always make others guess about everything that the prince has never noticed your feelings."

Sui Yan rubbed his brows, and after a long while he told Jun Jingxing what he had said to Duan Mingchong yesterday. At the end he said gloomily: "So I thought maybe I wasn't good enough to him, so I thought about giving him a longevity lamp as a reward, but Xiangguo Temple is too far and I don't want to go, so I have to do it myself."

Jun Jingxing looked at the strange looking lamp on the small table in disbelief: "Is this... a longevity lamp?"

Sui Yan humphed at him awkwardly: "Yeah."

Jun Jingxing clasped his fists and admitted defeat: "This lamp doesn't look like a long-life lamp, but rather a ghost lamp that hastens death. The color of the candle flame is very similar to a ghost fire. It seems that you have turned your love into hatred and are actually going to curse the crown prince."

Sui Yan: “…”

Outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Duan Mingchong stood on the stone steps and looked towards the palace gate, as if he was waiting for someone.

After a while, the carriage of the marquis's mansion finally arrived. A smile immediately appeared on his face. He walked down the steps quickly, and without even opening an umbrella, he stood in the cold wind and falling snow waiting for the carriage to arrive.

Soon, the carriage stopped, Sui Xun opened the curtain and got out of the carriage, bowing to Duan Mingchong: "Greetings, Your Highness."

Duan Mingchong asked him to stand up, and his eyes unconsciously looked towards the carriage, but to his surprise, Li Zhao actually drove the carriage away.

Duan Mingchong was stunned for a moment. He asked Sui Xun tentatively, "General Sui, didn't A-Yan come today?"

Sui Xun said: "Wang Gui is not feeling well today, I'm afraid he can't come."

Duan Mingchong hurriedly asked, "Is he sick?"

Sui Xun looked at Duan Mingchong's nervous expression, wondering why he suddenly looked a little strange, but couldn't put his finger on what was wrong for a while, so he just frowned and said, "It's nothing serious, just a minor cold, it will be fine soon."

Duan Mingchong finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the joy on his face slowly faded. He nodded somewhat disappointedly: "Then I will go see him tomorrow."

Sui Xun's brows furrowed more and more tightly. When she heard Duan Mingchong say this, she instinctively wanted to refuse: "No need."

Duan Mingchong raised his head and looked at him in confusion.

Sui Xun then realized that he had lost his composure. He coughed dryly and said, "Wang Gui might pass on his illness to Your Highness. Your Highness is so precious, so you should not go to visit him. When Wang Gui gets better, I will let him come to the East Palace to tell Your Highness."

Duan Mingchong seemed to want to say something, but finally he shut up and nodded dejectedly.

The two men walked side by side into the Hall of Supreme Harmony. At this time, there were already many royal relatives in the hall. Sui Xun looked cold and his heart was even colder. Other ministers often didn't like him very much. When they saw him coming, they hurriedly went to the corner to whisper.

Sui Xun didn't care about other people. He sat down with a blank expression. Duan Mingchong and Jiang Enhe happened to be sitting next to him.

Jiang Enhe was still a little scared of Sui Xun, but he was much better than before. He saluted, "General Sui."

Sui Xun glared at him immediately.

Jiang Enhe immediately changed his words: "Second brother."

Sui Xun was satisfied.

Jiang Enhe retreated to the side in fear, but before he could move a few steps, Sui Xun placed his hand on the table in front of him and looked at him indifferently with cold eyes.

Jiang Enhe began to tremble: "Second brother, what's wrong?"

Sui Xun frowned as if thinking about something. After a long while, he finally made up his mind and said, "I want to arrange a marriage for Wang Gui, but I have been away from the capital for a long time and I don't know much about the princes and ministers in the capital. You go back to An Ning and ask her which of the young ladies in the capital is a good match for the marquis' mansion. I will see if we can settle the matter before the New Year."

Jiang Enhe: "Ah?"

Duan Mingchong, who was holding the wine glass at the side, looked pale, and his slender fingers trembled, and half of the glass of wine spilled onto the hem of his clothes.

The author has something to say: Sui Xun: Getting married should be quick.