Chapter 44: What does success have to do with him? He only cares about He Jiyue. ...
There is little snow in the southeast. Even after a day and a night of snow, the snow is only barely up to the edge of the boots. Unlike the frontier, the snow is up to the knees in a few hours. Children of three or two years old are buried in the snow and disappear completely.
Walking outside with Chen Jin, He Jiuyue breathed a sigh of relief.
"You said this matter is related to Xiyue?"
"Indeed, it's a rare occasion for the princess to be reunited with her family, and I shouldn't have disturbed her. However, this happened suddenly, and I couldn't do anything about it," Chen Jin apologized, then lowered his brows. "News has come from the capital that an envoy from Western Yue is visiting."
After all, He Jiuyue had been fighting with Xiyue for many years, so he knew Xiyue very well. The emperor of Xiyue was old, but he had no heirs, and there was no suitable person to adopt.
Four months ago, she personally signed a peace treaty with the Emperor of Western Yue, but knowing that there would be no one to succeed him, she did not bother to think about it any further.
But the two countries were living in peace, so why did the Western Yue Emperor Situ Yun send envoys to the Central Plains?
"What is the envoy here for?" He Jiuyue asked.
"They said they were here to maintain good relations and pay their annual tribute."
...paying tribute? Back then, she and Situ Yun had signed a contract that was unrelated but equal in status, so there was no need for her, Situ Yun, to send envoys to pay tribute.
If someone comes uninvited, there must be an ulterior motive.
"If they want to come, then come." He Jiyue pressed her temples, which were swollen and painful after days of travel and lack of sleep. She realized later that she was a human, not an immortal, and she also needed time to rest. "Why did you rush to call me out?"
Speaking of this, Chen Jin's cheerful words became slow: "His Majesty summons you back to the capital."
Emperor Jingming asked her to return to the capital?
He Jiuyue frowned.
But she had already received her father and younger brother, and before leaving the capital, she had a conflict with Emperor Jingming. Shouldn't Emperor Jingming want her to stay in the southeast, as if imprisoning her on the border with Xiyue, so that she would never return to the capital in her life?
Summon her back to Beijing now...
Could it be that she was worried that Xiyue would play some tricks? Since she was not in the capital, Emperor Jingming, with most of the civil officials, could only debate with scholars but could not lead an army to attack, and would be unable to deal with the envoys?
This time, accompanying Emperor Jingming in receiving the envoys from Western Yue would be of great benefit to her.
It seemed as if someone had deliberately paved the way for her.
But she only had a few spies in Xiyue who did odd jobs. They were of humble status and could not even see Situ Yun. How could she possibly convince Situ Yun to send envoys to the Central Plains?
If she had an insider in the royal family of Western Yue who could speak with such weight, would they still have to fight with Western Yue for many years?
It couldn't be that one of Situ Yun's favored male servants accidentally saw her portrait, fell in love with her at first sight, and was willing to personally intervene just to seek her well-being, right?
"Did you receive a reply to the letter I sent to Wu Yang?"
He Jiuyue pressed her forehead.
"Not yet." Chen Jin replied.
He Jiuyue waved her hand and said, "Then send her another letter now so that she doesn't have to travel all the way to Pingyang County."
Chen Jin was startled: "What about the Lord's illness?"
Relying on her childhood memories, He Jiuyue returned to the house where she had stayed when she was in Pingyang County. She pushed the door open with a creak and did not see any dust on the floor.
The house was fully furnished, as if she had never left.
Father and younger brother have always missed her, but in her princess's mansion, they only made room for Wen Zheliu and didn't make room for them.
"I'll take him to the capital to treat him... Send a letter to the Princess's Mansion, asking the servants to clean up two clean rooms."
"Yes." Chen Jin agreed to the second half of the sentence first, and then carefully asked her about her doubts about the first half of He Jiuyue's sentence.
"But His Majesty has always been wary of you. Would His Majesty allow you to take the Lord and the Young Master out of Pingyang County? Most of the people in Pingyang County are His Majesty's men. Taking the Lord and the Young Master with you would be a difficult task.
"Besides, the capital is not a place for recuperation. Your Majesty is not in good health, and going to the capital..."
"I understand what you said."
Due to lack of sleep, even the usually calm He Jiuyue couldn't help but lose some patience and interrupted Chen Jin before he could finish listening to her words.
"How could Emperor Jingming refuse? Wen Zheliu is still in her hands. If she wants to get my father and younger brother back, she'll have to exchange him for Wen Zheliu. Taking one into consideration means losing the other. It was she who begged me to return to the capital, not me begging her. Whether I can bring anyone with me is up to me.
"As for Father's illness, it's not just physical, it seems like he has a lot of trouble in his heart. He's thinking about Mother, and Mother is buried in the suburbs of Beijing. He'll get better if he goes to the capital."
He Jiuyue was busy catching up on sleep so that she could set off tomorrow. Without waiting for Chen Jin to launch another long speech, she waved her hand.
"Okay, you don't have to stay here with me. Go to the main hall to accompany my father and younger brother. Tell them to rest. Then tell the servants in the mansion to pack up and set off tomorrow."
Changle Palace.
"Sir, I have received news from His Majesty."
Xiaobai carefully lifted the curtain and cast his eyes on the beautiful woman's face, who was sweating while sleeping, with a large wet spot on her forehead, her black hair clumped together and stuck to her temples, and her brows slightly frowned.
"Young Master?" He thought Wen Zheliu was still asleep, so he bent down and called him softly again.
Wen Zheliu opened his eyes hazily, and the first thing he felt was a faint pain in his lower abdomen.
I don’t know if it’s because I’m hungry or something else.
He placed the base of his palm on his abdomen, rubbing it slowly, and hummed softly, indicating that Xiaobai had woken up on his own.
"What news?"
"It's said that the royal family of Xiyue is sending an envoy to visit the Central Plains. Recently, the servants in the harem have been led by the eunuch of etiquette to urgently choreograph songs and dances in preparation for welcoming the envoy!"
He frowned when he heard about the willow being broken.
"It's just some welcoming songs and dances, do you really need your servant to take action?"
"They say it's to show respect for the envoy...but His Majesty didn't call you," Xiaobai added timidly, "probably because he feels sorry for you."
Wen Zheliu ignored all this nonsense.
What did it matter to him whether Emperor Jingming called him to participate in the welcoming song and dance? He only cared about He Jiyue.
"Can He Feng summon Princess Pingyang back to the capital?"
"Yes," Xiaobai nodded. "As you said, His Majesty did indeed issue three consecutive golden orders to urgently recall the princess from the far-flung Southeast County. His Majesty was forced to shorten the journey, which originally took more than half a month, to five days, just as you expected."
Wen Zheliu sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed, his hands occasionally stroking the fur of Xueyu in his arms, like a monk about to enter a state of meditation, with no worldly desires in his eyes.
"If you have nothing to do, go ahead."
"Sir, wait a minute. I have something else to say."
Wen Zheliu has been unable to see clearly these past few days.
But no matter what state he was in, he was not much better.
When he could see, his vision was not clear, but mottled with various lights, and the people and scenery were like spilled ink, splashed into a mess.
When he couldn't see, he didn't know where he was. Fear grew, and he could only pull the quilt to hide in the corner of the bed. He had to lean his back against the hard palace bricks and put his hands on the bed to feel a little better. Helplessly, he had to close his eyes.
"you say."
Wen Zheliu closed his eyes tightly and did not notice Xiaobai's hands twisting the corner of his robe, or his eyes fixed on him.
For many days in a row, when meals were delivered to the house, Wen Zheliu would pull the spittoon and vomit all over the place. Even if Xiaobai was stupid, he vaguely felt that something was wrong, so he asked tentatively.
"You haven't eaten for two days..."
"vomit--"
Wen Zheliu had been sleeping soundly these past few days. Although he had no appetite and couldn't eat, and felt listless, at least he stayed in bed all the time, didn't bump his knees or forehead, and didn't have a cough.
But when he heard the word "food", his stomach, which had been silent for a long time, suddenly sounded the horn of rebellion.
Wen Zheliu could no longer lie down and struggled to get up from the soft pillow. He reached out to grab the spittoon, bent his waist and vomited again and again, with tears even coming out of the corners of his eyes.
It was just a lot of thunder but little rain, and nothing substantial was produced.
He hadn't eaten anything for days, and all he could squeeze out of his stomach was yellow water mixed with blood.
Xiaobai watched from the side and his heart ached.
He knew that Wen Zheliu would react strongly if a handful of food was served, especially steaming hot food, but he really didn't expect that Wen Zheliu would vomit uncontrollably just by mentioning it. If he had known this, he shouldn't have mentioned it.
Glancing at the spittoon in the dim moonlight, he cried out, "You're vomiting blood!"
Xiaobai's shouting was so loud, like a flying monkey that flew into the sky after the fuse was lit, which made Wenzheliu's ears hurt.
After the tinnitus, there was another unbearable dizziness. He was so uncomfortable that he couldn't open his eyes. He had to bite his lips tightly until his tongue tasted blood and the stinging spread to the corners of his lips, so as to prevent embarrassing sounds from coming out of his mouth.
It was evening, the sun was setting, and the room was dark and unclear. Xiaobai remembered that Wen Zheliu had always told him to light a lamp when she fell ill in the middle of the night, so he got up and lit the oil lamp.
But a bright light suddenly lit up in the house, and Wen Zheliu raised his hands to cover his eyes.
"Turn it off."
His Adam's apple rolled as he tried to suppress the bitterness that was rising up: "My head hurts from the shaking."
He had a migraine problem, but it was less frequent than his stomach disease and less severe than his heart disease. As a result, he didn't pay much attention to this disease. That's why it was so unbearable when it came.
"Ugh, ugh!"
The annoying lights had been turned off, but the pain in the temples persisted. Wen Zheliu clenched his five fingers into a fist, pressed it against his stomach, and kept pressing it in, trying to vomit something out.
But the effect was counterproductive.
He hadn't eaten anything for several days, and even if he digested the food slowly, he had already digested it all. He tried so hard to force it, but not only did the bitter and acidic liquid not flow into his throat as he wished, his stomach seemed to have life in it, beating intermittently.
Another spasm.
Wen Zheliu scurried under the covers, trying to use the endless darkness to block out the throbbing pain in his sunburn and stomach. Unfortunately, it was no use.
At this time, it would be better to vomit something out, but he couldn't vomit anything out.
Although every time he encountered him in this state, Wu Yang's suggestion was to let him take medicine to relieve the pain, but Wen Zheliu tried it once while suppressing his nausea, but the bitter medicine just passed through his stomach and then burst through his teeth again.
He questioned Wu Yang in a hoarse voice, but Wu Yang just crossed his arms and said, "Just tell me if you feel better after vomiting it out?"
However, if medicine can achieve this effect, water should be able to do the same.
"Xiao, Xiaobai."
Wen Zheliu struggled to pull off the brocade quilt covering his head and called Xiaobai in a hoarse voice, but his voice was so hoarse that even he was startled.
Xiaobai looked calm, as if the voice of Wen Zheliu he usually heard was like this.
"What are your instructions, sir?"
His throat was really uncomfortable and he felt like coughing whenever he spoke. When he coughed, his chest vibrated, which aggravated his migraine. Wen Zheliu made mouth shapes and gestures.
"Bring me a glass of water, something cooler."
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