showdown
When Pei Wenjin arrived at Huaizhou City, it was just before dawn. In the dim sunlight, he rode his horse, covered in dust, having driven countless horses to their deaths along the way, as he was on a journey of urgent speed.
The guards, seeing him alone, assumed he was a traveler looking to enter the city and impatiently told him, "There's an epidemic in the city; no one is allowed to enter or leave freely..."
Pei Wenjin held up his waist token, brushed aside the strands of hair that were covering his face, revealing sharp eyebrows and eyes. He didn't say much. The guards who were guarding the city had experienced his high pressure before, and they knelt down immediately when they saw his nightmarish face.
Pei Wenjin tightened the reins and spoke rapidly: "Open the city gates, I want to see the prefect."
The guards hurriedly agreed, opened the heavy city gate, and let Pei Wenjin pass.
He came here for Xiao Diting. He talked nonsense in front of His Majesty, and the old emperor knew that Huaizhou had just suffered a natural disaster and was still in the recovery period. So he allowed him to lead people to Huaizhou to alleviate the epidemic.
The imperial physicians who came were all old, and he thought their journey was too slow, so he asked for the best horse and traveled a thousand miles a day, just to see the troublemaker as soon as possible.
Pei Wenjin's arrivals were always ill-timed. After kicking open Liu Cheng's door and finding out where she was, he rushed to look for her without even having a cup of tea.
He had already decided on the way here that, regardless of whether Xiao Diting was willing or not, he planned to knock him unconscious, tie him up, and take him back to the capital.
What case are you investigating?
They know perfectly well what's going on, but they insist on bringing it out into the open, deliberately causing trouble and making themselves miserable.
That's what Pei Wenjin thought, and that's what he thought when he proudly and arrogantly lifted the shed lid.
But when he actually saw Xiao Diting fall face-first to the ground, he was momentarily stunned. Between "pretending to be a hero" and "standing idly by," he chose to rush forward in a particularly disheveled manner and scoop the man up.
All the anger and other pent-up emotions vanished the moment they touched the "little fireman" in his arms.
Xiao Diting's body was burning hot at the moment; to put it bluntly, he could be carried out and used as a human heater.
Pei Wenjin felt a mix of emotions. He really wanted to beg Xiao Mingzhao to stop making trouble, but he found that even if he begged, he would have to wait in line.
After all, this Third Prince is obsessed with life-or-death situations and completely disregards his own safety.
The strong smell of medicine hit him as Pei Wenjin carried him back to the inn where he was resting. He was furious when he saw that there were only a few scattered guards.
"Where are the others?" Pei Wenjin sat by her bedside, tucking her in, his expression somber, leaving one unsure how to respond.
The group was taken aback by Pei Wenjin's arrival. After a moment of stunned silence, they looked at each other, not daring to respond to his words.
Pei Wenjin swallowed his anger and waved his hands repeatedly: "Forget it, go do what you need to do... Oh right, find some women to guard it."
The guards dared not say anything more, and seeing that he had relented, they hurriedly scurried away.
The main force from the capital arrived three days later. During this time, Xiao Diting had a persistent high fever, and Pei Wenjin ordered people to keep a close watch on him. Despite giving him a lot of medicine, his condition did not improve.
The charcoal fire inside the room flickered, and the smell of medicine was so strong it was pungent.
Xiao Diting lay on the bed, his face as white as paper, his forehead damp with cold sweat, and his lips an unnatural bluish-purple.
The imperial physician personally examined her, pressing her wrist pulse, his brows furrowing into a knot, his expression growing increasingly grave.
"How is it?" Pei Wenjin asked in a softer voice.
The imperial physician hurriedly rose and bowed: "Your Highness, His Highness is suffering from overwork and has also contracted the plague. His pulse is very weak and feeble... I have already prescribed a remedy, but..."
"Just what?"
"We don't have enough medicinal herbs." The imperial physician wiped his sweat. "The pharmacies in the city have long been out of stock of the main medicines for preventing and treating the epidemic."
Pei Wenjin paused as he lifted the bed curtain, his gaze falling on Xiao Diting's furrowed brows.
Even in her sleep, she was restless, her eyelashes trembling like the wings of a startled butterfly, her hands gripping the sheets beneath her tightly, in agony.
"When will the medicinal herbs sent from Jiangzhou arrive?" he asked his personal guard.
"Your Excellency, we were supposed to arrive this morning, but there was a landslide on the way, so we had to change our route. This has delayed us, and we probably won't be able to enter the city until evening."
Pei Wenjin hummed in agreement and turned to walk out.
Liu Cheng was still kneeling outside the inn. When he saw him come out, he hurriedly crawled a few steps on his knees: "Sir, I have already sent someone to the neighboring county to purchase the medicinal herbs, but..."
"What do you also want to 'only'?" Pei Wenjin's cold gaze swept over him. He had been suppressing his temper, but now that he saw Liu Cheng, this unlucky guy, he was even more furious.
That morning, Pei Wenjin kicked down Liu Cheng's door early in the morning. His servants couldn't stop him, and he was grabbed by the collar and had his head shaken. After finding out where the Jinyiwei guard surnamed Xiao was, he left in a hurry.
Liu Cheng dared not be negligent, nor did he dare to offend him, so he timidly chased after him.
Who is Pei Wenjin? To make the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard so anxious is something you could hardly find anywhere else in the world.
Liu Cheng watched as Pei Wenjin, without even taking a sip of water, rolled up his cloak, completely covered him, and brought him back to the inn. After lying in the room for three days, Liu Cheng was still shocked when he finally understood what was going on.
Looking across the entire Dajing, whose status and position deserve this treatment?
He risked his life to come and confirm, and Pei Wenjin chuckled, amused by the cheap alias she had made up, and kindly pointed out: "'Xiao Xiao' is just the character 'Xiao'."
Oh, it should be "Xiao".
Liu Cheng was about to give a proper welcome when he suddenly found his knees buckled and he knelt down on the ground in front of the inn.
When the servants he brought saw their master kneeling, they also knelt down in the courtyard in a dark mass, making the whole place look particularly grand.
"Let's chat?" Pei Wenjin pulled up a long bench, sat down with a flourish, and tossed his sword aside. "It's been a long time. Lord Liu has truly accomplished nothing."
Liu Cheng was drenched in cold sweat, and his voice began to tremble: "Lord Pei, this humble official is..."
"With the epidemic getting to this point, you should pack your bags and resign. I'm not here to protect you, but for the sake of that person inside."
Liu Cheng kowtowed repeatedly: "The epidemic struck suddenly, and I deserve to die. I beg Lord Pei to save me."
At first, he didn't take the epidemic seriously, thinking that it was normal for migrants to have fever and cough after a long and arduous journey. But who knew that it would escalate to this point in such a short time.
"What's with the mourning?" Pei Wenjin interrupted him, tearing open the waist token and tossing it to Liu Cheng. "Take this token to the granary to collect rice, and then bring in fifty laborers to brew the medicine. Half an hour later, I want to see hot porridge and medicinal soup in every shed."
Liu Cheng's hands trembled as he held the token, repeatedly saying "Yes, sir." After he and his servants hurriedly left, Pei Wenjin turned to his personal guards and said, "Go and seal off the medicinal herb warehouse under the Yang family's name. Bring all the medicinal herbs here."
"Sir, that Yang family..."
“Just say it’s my order. Anyone who disobeys will be executed on the spot.” Pei Wenjin’s voice was flat as he turned and walked into a nearby thatched hut.
The Yang family owes him a huge favor, and he still has leverage over them—whether it's medicinal herbs or their heads, the Yang family surely knows the difference.
Many more thatched huts were erected to house the people, and they were crowded with coughing children, the youngest of whom was still in swaddling clothes and being held tightly by a thin, bony woman.
He crouched down and touched a boy's burning forehead. The boy looked at him with his big, dark eyes, and suddenly reached out his thin, withered hand and grabbed the hem of his robe.
"Hungry..." The child's voice was barely audible. He was dressed in fine clothes and looked like he came from a wealthy family.
The child's mother, alarmed, pulled her child's hand away and repeatedly apologized, "The child doesn't know any manners—"
Pei Wenjin felt a jolt in his heart. He turned to his guards and said, "How much rations do we have left? Give some to the women and children first."
He brought some other things with him when he came.
The pastries wrapped in oiled paper were specially prepared by the imperial chefs before the trip. Now, he was distributing them piece by piece to the young children in the shed, the oiled paper rustling in their rough little hands.
A little girl with pigtails timidly handed him half a piece of osmanthus cake: "Sir, you can have some too."
Pei Wenjin's Adam's apple bobbed. He took a bite of the pastry from the girl's hand. The sweet taste melted on his tongue, but it couldn't suppress the smell of medicine and mold in his nasal cavity.
"Is it tasty?"
The little girl nodded, a dimple appearing on her lips when she smiled, and her clear, childlike voice said, "Delicious."
He was familiar with the taste, so familiar that he was almost sick of it, but for these children, it was a treasure they could only dream of.
His heart softened.
By evening, the medicinal herbs from Jiangzhou had finally arrived.
Pei Wenjin directed the laborers to set up more than a dozen large pots on the open ground, and the bitter smell of medicinal herbs mixed with the aroma of rice porridge filled the air.
He stood by the pot, watching the imperial physicians prepare the medicine according to the prescription, when he suddenly heard a slight cough behind him.
Xiao Diting had woken up at some point and was standing at the entrance of the shed, leaning against a wooden pillar. He was wrapped in the mink coat he had brought with him, his face still pale, but his eyes were bright.
"Why did you get up?" Pei Wenjin walked over quickly and reached out to help her, but she dodged him.
"It's a minor illness, I won't die." She coughed twice, her gaze sweeping over the busy crowd. "It's good that the medicine has arrived. I had someone check; the Yang family's medicine warehouse..."
“It’s already sealed.” Pei Wenjin interrupted her, taking a medicine bowl from beside him. “The imperial physician said you have to take your medicine on time.”
The medicine was dark and steaming, clearly having cooled down a bit in case some noble lady refused to drink it.
Xiao Di frowned at the bitter smell, but still took it and drank it all in one gulp.
The bitter taste burned from her throat to her stomach, and she couldn't help but gag.
"Don't be so stubborn." Pei Wenjin took out a candied fruit from his sleeve and put it to her lips. "Suck it."
The sweetness of the candied fruit diluted the taste of the medicine. With a candy in his mouth, Xiao Diting mumbled, "You like sweets?"
"It was prescribed by the imperial physician, I was afraid you wouldn't take the medicine." Pei Wenjin reluctantly took the bowl and shared a small portion of the candied fruit with her in the open space.
The princess bluntly exposed him: "Still eating? I'm a patient and I can't even get two pieces!"
Pei Wenjin pulled her back, saying, "Only two pieces are yours. Don't stand here; let's go back to the inn and rest."
Xiao Diting dodged him, feeling that her physical condition was still okay: "I haven't finished investigating my case yet!"
“It’s never too late to change things, but I’m in charge here now!” Pei Wenjin disagreed.
"Dream on! Do you think I'll give you time to gather evidence and cover your tracks?"
"obedient!"
After Pei Wenjin finished shouting, he realized what Xiao Di had heard. He released his grip on Xiao Di's arm and stood respectfully to the side.
The atmosphere between the two became somewhat awkward for a moment. Xiao Diting pulled his fur coat tighter around his neck and looked at him coldly, his previous playful and carefree expression disappearing.
Pei Wenjin helplessly raised his hands in surrender: "You should at least recover from your illness first before coming to settle accounts with me."
Xiao Diting refused, saying, "I want to find out right now."
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