Chapter 52 The Little Mermaid Chooses to Stay
Lu'e swallowed back the question she was about to ask when she saw the fear on Rong Yin's face. She had never seen such an expression on Rong Yin's face before.
Like a bird with broken wings, the moment it falls from the sky, it has foreseen its impending death.
Fear, helplessness and sadness.
Influenced by Rong Yin, Lu'e also started to panic. She did not tell anyone else to do this, but turned around and ran towards Yu's study as fast as she could.
Why, why did it have to be today, why did it have to be now, even if it happened when Your Majesty was with the master?
Because Zong Zheng Xiao always bullies Rong Yin, Lu'e doesn't like him very much, but Lu'e knows that Rong Yin cares about Zong Zheng Xiao more than anyone else.
So she couldn't let Rong Yin down. If Rong Yin wanted to see Zong Zheng Xiao, then she would bring Zong Zheng Xiao back to see Rong Yin.
Lu'e held up her skirt and ran forward desperately, as if she was completely tireless.
When the palace servants on the road saw her, they could only see her back before they could even greet her.
"What's wrong with Aunt Lu'e?" the palace maid asked the person next to her in confusion.
There are many rules in the palace, one of which is that you cannot travel fast unless something big happens.
Thinking of this, the palace servants looked at each other, and felt something was not right.
Lu'e was a palace maid in the Silver Mermaid Garden. The only person in the Silver Mermaid Garden who was worthy of her losing her composure like this was probably the mermaid who was the apple of everyone's eye.
The moment she saw Si Xi guarding the door, Lu'e's heart almost jumped out of her throat. She climbed up the stairs with a flushed face. If Si Xi hadn't stepped forward to support her in time, she would have almost fallen down at the door.
"Go and tell His Majesty that something has happened to the master!" After shouting this, Lu'e was so tired that she knelt on the ground and began to breathe heavily.
The last time Rong Yin fell ill, when the eunuch came to inform him, his level of anxiety was not even one-tenth of what he is now.
So Si Xi reacted immediately and thought that this time it might be more than just an illness.
He no longer cared about Lu'e and quickly ran to the study. At this time, Zong Zhengxiao had just sent away a few ministers who came to discuss matters and was preparing to pack up and return to Yinjiao Garden.
I don't know why today, but Zong Zheng Xiao always feels uneasy, as if something bad is going to happen next.
This made him miss Rong Yin very much and he wanted to see him immediately.
But just as he was about to go out, Si Xi came in.
Si Xi didn't bother to greet him this time. He started shouting as soon as he entered the door: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Go to the Silver Shark Garden quickly! Something big has happened!"
When Zong Zheng Xiao heard this, he felt as if his heart was pierced by needles several times, and the pain was so severe that he could not help but frown.
He walked towards Si Xiying and grabbed his shoulders: "What happened?"
Si Xi: "No, I don't know. Lu'e came in person and it looks like the situation is not good."
Zong Zhengxiao said no more and ran out quickly. After seeing Lu'e kneeling at the door, he did not stop and went straight to Yinjiao Garden.
Si Xi came out and found that he could not catch up with Zong Zheng Xiao, so he looked at the sweaty Lu E and asked anxiously, "What happened to the young master?"
Lu'e's voice was choked with sobs: "It seems that the master is dying..."
Si Xi was shocked: "Impossible! Wasn't he fine when we left this morning?"
"I don't know, I don't know..." Lu'e shook her head. She seemed to have sensed something and tears kept falling.
Si Xi wanted to ask for more details, but looking at Lu'e's expression, he was afraid that he would not be able to explain it clearly.
"Hey, this, this, oops!"
Si Xi had no choice but to help Lu'e up and hurriedly catch up with Zong Zheng Xiao.
There was some chaos in the Silver Shark Garden. Lu'e was not the only one who heard Rong Yin's words. The other palace servants looked at Rong Yin with a dazed look on his face and were so panicked that they didn't know what to do. They could only stay by Rong Yin's side foolishly.
Rong Yin seemed not to notice their reaction at all. He didn't move after Lu'e left.
Not sure if it was because he was scared by himself or for some other reason, Rong Yin just felt his whole body go limp and he couldn't exert any strength at all.
His eyes were wide open, and a feeling of panic spread throughout his body.
Facing death again, he was able to remain calm last time when he was swept away by the flood, but he couldn't do it this time because he had someone he cared about, and he knew that person cared about him too.
Rong Yin wondered, if he died now, what would Zong Zheng Xiao do?
I haven't even had time to finish writing my farewell letter...
Just as Rong Yin was feeling regretful, he heard hurried footsteps. He raised his head and a familiar figure appeared in his sight.
The two men stared at each other from a distance. Rong Yin suddenly gathered all his strength and propped himself up. He wanted to call Zong Zheng Xiao's name, but he couldn't utter a word.
He saw Zong Zheng Xiao coming towards him, so he also stretched out his hand.
But things did not go as planned. At the moment when their hands were about to touch, Rong Yin's consciousness was pulled out of his body and he fell forward uncontrollably.
Rong Yin was unwilling to give in. It was just one step away, clearly just one step away.
Before being swallowed by the darkness, Rong Yin saw Zong Zheng Xiao hugging him.
"Rong Yin!"
"Ayin!"
Zong Zheng Xiao was calling his name. Rong Yin wanted to respond, but he was powerless. He could only let his eyelids close little by little until he could no longer see Zong Zheng Xiao's desperate expression.
…
In the Yinjiao Garden, all the imperial physicians who could be called by name were kneeling in the courtyard, trembling, their faces ashen.
In such a large garden, there was no movement at all. It seemed that even the insects in the garden were frightened by the heavy atmosphere and dared not make a single sound.
The last imperial physician who was to take the patient's pulse came out. Under the expectant gazes of the other imperial physicians, he staggered to the side and knelt down with a thud.
Upon seeing this, the light in the eyes of the imperial doctors dimmed.
This is already the fifth day. Five days ago, they were all summoned here by an urgent order from the emperor. One by one, they took turns to treat the mermaid who had fainted from the emperor's illness. The emperor wanted to know why the mermaid was in a coma and how to wake him up.
Mermaids are different from humans. Before, only an old doctor had treated mermaids, but she used the same methods she used for humans.
Everyone followed suit and started to imitate the old doctor.
But after looking at it for a while, it seemed that there was nothing wrong with this mermaid. She just fell asleep. As for why she didn't wake up, they didn't know. There had never been such a precedent before.
After discussion, the imperial doctors adopted some gentle and harmless methods to wake her up, but to no avail. The mermaid kept her eyes closed with a serene expression and showed no intention of waking up at all.
If the mermaid had not still had a pulse and breathing, they would have suspected that the emperor was holding a corpse.
The mermaid didn't wake up, but the emperor didn't get angry. He just asked the imperial doctors to come to Silver Mermaid Garden every day and take turns to treat the patient.
Of course, they were not kneeling because Zong Zheng Xiao asked them to, because Zong Zheng Xiao had no time to pay attention to them, his attention was all on the merman.
The imperial doctors knelt down voluntarily. On the one hand, they were ashamed of their poor medical skills. It could be said that the Imperial Hospital, which gathered the best doctors in the world, could not even find out the reason why the mermaid was comatose.
On the other hand, they were also afraid. Even though Zong Zheng Xiao didn't want to punish them now, if the merman couldn't wake up or died accidentally, then they, the useless doctors, would be obvious targets.
Losing your job is a small matter, but if you lose your life because of it, it would be irreparable.
Therefore, if they punished themselves before the emperor got angry, the emperor might spare their lives because of their self-awareness.
As night fell, Eunuch Sixi walked out of the house and said expressionlessly to the imperial doctors kneeling on the ground, "His Majesty has ordered that all the imperial doctors go back to rest and come back tomorrow. If any imperial doctor gets sick from kneeling and delays treating the young master, don't blame His Majesty for being rude."
Before Si Xi finished his words, the imperial doctors were so frightened that they all crawled up. Some of them knelt for too long and almost fell down.
Si Xi asked the palace maids to send the imperial physician back, and he did not turn around and go back into the house until their backs disappeared at the garden gate.
Inside the room, Zong Zhengxiao was sitting on the bed holding Rong Yin in his arms. He lowered his eyes and stared at Rong Yin's face, his body as stiff as a statue, motionless.
Si Xi lowered his head and walked to the side to wait, quietly wiping away his tears.
By the time he and Lu'e arrived at the Silver Shark Garden that day, everything was already too late.
The palace maids knelt and cried. Rong Yin fell in Zong Zhengxiao's arms, and it was unknown whether she was alive or dead. Zong Zhengxiao kept calling Rong Yin's name with a panicked and desperate look on his face.
Later, everyone found out that Rong Yin was just in a coma and not dead, and they were relieved. However, Zong Zheng Xiao saw what Rong Yin had written on the dwarf paper before he fell into a coma.
Except for Zong Zhengxiao, no one knew what was written on it. But after reading the contents on the paper, the little hope that had just ignited in Zong Zhengxiao's eyes was completely extinguished.
"Why! Why did you hide this from me! Why didn't you tell me before? Why on earth is this happening?!"
Zong Zhengxiao clutched the piece of paper and questioned Rong Yin like a madman, but Rong Yin only responded with silence.
Zong Zhengxiao cried.
That was the first time that Si Xi saw the emperor cry. Zong Zheng Xiao, who used to be either scheming or gloomy and irritable in his eyes, showed his most vulnerable side in front of everyone without any scruples.
"Rong Yin, how can you be so cruel that you didn't even give me a chance to say goodbye? Are you trying to force me to hate you?"
Zong Zhengxiao's tears rolled down and dripped onto Rong Yin's face in his arms, as if Rong Yin was crying too.
His crying lasted for a long time, mixed with complaints and longing for Rong Yin, but more of it was endless regret and reluctance.
In fact, he noticed that Rong Yin's mood was obviously not right some time before the accident, but he did not pursue the matter further and believed Rong Yin's excuse.
他明明擁有能聽見戎音心聲的能力，卻連戎音在想什麽都不知道。
他覺得自己就是個廢物，全天下最大的廢物！
……
不知過去了多久，戎音緩緩睜開眼睛，發現自己置身于一片無盡的純白之中，而他的身體也恢複成了穿書前人類的樣子。
戎音很快就明白過來，自己為什麽會出現在這裏了。
“天道，是你嗎？”
“是我。”熟悉的蒼老聲音出現，像是從四面八方傳來，又像是只在戎音腦中響起。
知道天道在以後，戎音急忙道：“不是還沒到一年時間嗎？我怎麽突然就死了？”
“确實還沒到時間，所以你其實并沒有死去，只是昏睡了而已，我提前喚你過來 ，是有話想對你說。”
只是昏睡嗎？戎音稍微放心了些。
他禮貌地回應：“您請講。”
天道：“我将你送進這個世界，本意只是想讓你安穩活夠一年，但你有自己的機緣，無意中改寫了這本書的結局，也因此改變了你自己的命運。”
戎音有些懵：“我的，命運？”
“是。”天道繼續道：“你和皇帝宗政逍的緣分，使這個國家未來免于戰火紛擾，你所傳播的知識，也改善了這個國家百姓的生活，無論這是否是你的本意，你都擔得上一句功德無量。”
戎音覺得天道的話別有深意，他試探着問：“這些功德有什麽用？”
天道：“按照原本的計劃，你一年後死亡，會重新投胎轉世，成為一戶小康之家的孩子，平平淡淡度過一生。”
“現在呢？”戎音問。
天道：“你所傳播的知識會影響這個世界近千年，積攢下來的功德，足夠你轉世後擁有人人羨慕的家世和個人能力，粗略估計，至少能讓你三世無憂無慮。”
戎音沒想到，原本只是為了成全自己和宗政逍這一段友誼而做的事，居然還會給予自己這麽豐厚的回饋。
說不心動的是假的，誰不希望自己生生世世平安順遂呢。
“是以我現在問你。”在戎音茫然的眼神中，天道給出了兩個選擇，“你是願意一年期滿後立即前去投胎，還是想要留下來？我知道，你與這個世界的人産生了不淺的羁絆，可若是選擇後者，就需要付出代價，得扣掉你三分之一的功德。”
戎音聽得出來，天道想讓他選擇前者。
比起第一次見面，天道似乎多了幾分人類的感情，講話通俗易懂了不說，還更會為他考慮了。
因為出于個人利益，前者的确是最優選。
可想起自己昏過去前宗政逍痛苦的表情、以往兩人相處的畫面，還有對他好的綠娥，總是笑眯眯的四喜，戎音本就沒有搖擺過的心更加的堅定。
“我選擇留下。”戎音毫不猶豫地道。
天道沉默了幾秒，并沒有勸他重新選擇，而是道：“尊重你的意願。”
戎音松了口氣，心裏也豁然開朗。
突然，他想起了什麽，問天道：“既然我的功德可以換我留下，那還可以換其他東西嗎？”
天道像是早就猜到了他的想法，語氣平靜：“你想換什麽？”
“換這個世界的某個人複活，需要多少功德？”
“你剩下的一半功德。”天道善意提醒，“如果用功德換了別人的命，你下一世投胎，各項福利就會大打折扣，只會比原本的小康之家好上一點，且只能維持兩世，你确定還要貢獻出功德嗎？”
“确定！”戎音語氣依舊和前一次選擇一樣堅定，“我願意用剩下的一半功德，換取鲛人原主的性命，讓他能如願返回家鄉。”
戎音繼承了原主的記憶，永遠記得原主死亡時的悲痛和對家鄉的深沉思念。
既然他借用了別人的身體，是該給人家回報才對。
“你是個善良的孩子，鲛人的死亡與你其實并無因果關系。”
戎音笑着道：“我只是想讓大家都好好的。”
“那便如你所願，鲛人複活後，我也會賜予你一具新的身體。”
戎音道：“多謝您。”
“不用道謝，這是你用功德所換。”
說完這句話，天道就消失了，估計是去處理戎音的要求了。
戎音不知道天道具體會怎麽操作，也不好問，只能乖乖地在純白空間裏等着。
……
宗政逍活着，戎音也活着，可他們兩個都像是已經“死”了。
除了跟戎音有關的事情，宗政逍不再開口說話，他眼裏只有戎音，也只容得下戎音。
早朝不上了，政務不處理了，大臣們也一個都不見。
一開始還能用皇上生病的借口瞞過去，可後來不知怎麽走漏了風聲，大臣們就都知道宗政逍是因為鲛人才如此頹廢不作為了。
世家和功臣集團的人都請求過要見皇上，但都被四喜擋回去了。
四喜這麽做不是在替皇上掩飾什麽，反而是為了這些朝臣好，誰也不知道在這個時候觸怒皇上會有什麽下場，四喜害怕宗政逍因一時之氣，造成無法挽回的後果。
正在四喜回憶這些日子發生的事情時，綠娥領着兩位宮人進來了，宮人手裏端着吃食，全都面露恐懼，大概是怕被殃及池魚。
等她們放下東西後綠娥就讓她們走了，兩人克制着感謝和激動，盡力放輕腳步離開了房間。
綠娥對宗政逍行禮，語氣公事公辦：“陛下，該用晚膳了。”
宗政逍沒有任何反應，像是沒聽見一樣。
這幾天，每日早中晚，綠娥都會來一次。
剛開始四喜還怕她惹怒宗政逍，私底下勸了她好幾次，可後來發現宗政逍完全視她為無物，再加上眼看着宗政逍幾日不進滴水，知道再這樣下去會出事，他也就不攔着了。
四喜看過，綠娥端來的都是戎音愛吃的菜色，她大概也清楚宗政逍現在無心進食，所以才用上了這種方法。
可惜什麽辦法都沒用，次次都是等到哪怕餐食都涼了，宗政逍也沒有看他們一眼。
綠娥跪下了，道：“陛下，就當是為了主子考慮，您要是倒下了，主子該怎麽辦？”
對的，其實綠娥并不在意宗政逍本人的死活，她只是害怕宗政逍把自己餓死了，宮裏就會大亂，到時候戎音即便還活着，也不會有人像現在這樣盡心盡力地救治他了。
四喜其實能猜到綠娥的心思，但他沒有怪罪她的想法，不過是各為其主罷了。
他也上前，跟綠娥跪在一起：“陛下，綠娥說得對，小主子還等着您救他呢，您要是再出事，可就沒人管小主子了。”
或許是兩人的話終于打動了宗政逍，只見他緩緩轉過頭來，看看桌上的飯菜，又看看地上的兩人，啞聲問：“你們覺得他還能醒過來嗎？
綠娥立即道：“當然能！主子只是睡着了，他一定會醒來的！”
“是嗎？”宗政逍像是在問他們，又像是在問自己，他眼神發直，仿佛大腦已經無力思考了，愣愣地說：“可是他在信上說……”
信上說了什麽？綠娥和四喜都急切地想知道，可宗政逍卻又沉默了下來。
正在綠娥考慮要不要豁出去一回，開口追問宗政逍時，宗政逍忽然驚訝地喊了一聲：“戎音！”
這一秒，綠娥還以為是戎音醒了，可等她看過去，看見的卻是宗政逍望着眼眸緊閉的戎音，滿臉難以置信。
“呼吸，脈搏都沒有了……”宗政逍在戎音鼻下和脖頸處不停試着，聲音都在發抖，“怎麽回事，剛剛不還好好的嗎？”
四喜和綠娥愣住了，宗政逍的意思是，戎音……沒了？
綠娥再也顧不上什麽尊卑生死，爬起來踉跄着撲了上去，抓着戎音的手就去按他的腕部。
沒有跳動，死寂一片。
綠娥軟倒在地上，四喜則連爬帶滾地跑出去，吩咐宮人們快把太醫都叫回來。
“阿音！阿音！”宗政逍搖晃着戎音，瞪大的雙眸裏布滿血絲，他連聲道：“對不起對不起，我不該提那封信的，你不要生我的氣好不好？你快醒醒，醒醒，算我求你了……”
愧疚侵蝕着宗政逍的內心，為什麽他總是做錯？沒有及時發現戎音的心事也就罷了，現在居然連戎音殘存的魂魄也留不住。
宗政逍看完那封相當于遺書的信後，就默認戎音已經死了，之所以還沒咽氣，只是因為魂魄尚未完全離開。
“都是我的錯，阿音，我不怪你了，我不怪你沒有提前告訴我你會死的事情了，你回來好不好，回來吧，我求你了……”
宗政逍快要瘋魔了，他緊緊地抱着戎音，不停地對着他說話，哪怕他已經感受到戎音的身體越來越冷了。
綠娥難以理解宗政逍話裏的意思，她發現太醫們還沒回來，就軟着腳出去查看，此時她心裏只有救活戎音這一個念頭。
她一走，屋裏就只剩下宗政逍和戎音兩人了。
Tears as big as beans rolled down Zong Zhengxiao's haggard face. He kept feeling Rong Yin's pulse, praying for a miracle to happen. As long as God could grant his request and let Rong Yin come back to life, he was willing to pay any price.
"Ayin, Ayin..." Zong Zhengxiao called Rong Yin's name in a hoarse voice. He wanted to hug Rong Yin tighter to warm up Rong Yin's gradually cooling body, but when he leaned over, he found nothing.
Rong Yin disappeared right under his nose.
Zong Zheng Xiao seemed to have pressed the pause button. He stared blankly at his empty arms, his pupils trembling violently. His heart seemed to be torn into pieces. The pain was so severe that he could not breathe or think anymore.