Chapter 67 Ten Years Ago
Ye Xunjin looked at her younger brother, knowing that further persuasion would be useless. She only told him to rest if he felt unwell, then turned around and went out to handle military affairs, leaving them alone.
Inside the main tent, Ye Xunyang moved a low stool and sat by the bed, still holding Lou Jin's hand, feeling his pulse and breathing gradually stabilize. The huge weight in his heart finally lifted a little.
The exhaustion from days of travel overwhelmed him, and he finally couldn't hold on any longer. He slumped over the edge of the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
After an unknown amount of time, a suppressed cough came from the tent next door where the eldest prince, Lou Yan, was being housed.
Lou Yan felt as if he had been struggling in endless darkness and pain for a long time, with each breath causing a dull, sharp pain in his chest.
He struggled to open his heavy eyelids, and his blurry vision gradually focused. The first thing he saw was the familiar waterproof cowhide on the top of the tent.
He's still alive...
This realization cleared his muddled mind somewhat.
He tried to move his fingers, but the movement aggravated the arrow wound in his shoulder blade, and a tearing pain made him groan.
"If you don't want to get hurt again, don't move around."
A voice so familiar it was etched into one's very bones rang out inside the tent.
Lou Yan turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound.
The candlelight inside the tent wasn't very bright, but in that flickering glow, a pale figure stood quietly by the bed, like snowflakes gathered under the moon, cold and solitary.
That handsome face, almost unreal, seemed untouched by the passage of ten years. Only those eyes, which once reflected starlight and laughter, were now as deep and indifferent as a cold pool.
Yu Beichen.
It really is him.
Lou opened his mouth, his chapped lips moved, but he couldn't make a clear sound, only a hoarse whisper.
Yu Beichen stepped forward, his movements not exactly gentle, but he helped him up and brought a glass of warm water to his lips.
The cool water moistened his parched throat, and Lou Yan finally managed to find his voice, which was terribly hoarse: "...Bei Chen?"
"Hmm." Yu Beichen responded lightly, put down his water glass, and casually placed his fingers on the man's wrist to examine his pulse, lowering his eyes to examine it, no longer looking at him.
An eerie silence fell over the tent.
The only sounds were the soft breathing of the two people and the occasional crackling of the candle flame.
Lou Yan's gaze was fixed on Yu Beichen's face, greedily tracing the features he hadn't seen for ten years.
A thousand words stuck in his throat, but in the end, they all turned into a bitter question: "You... this time, will you leave again?"
Yu Beichen's fingers, which were resting on his wrist, twitched almost imperceptibly for a moment before returning to normal.
He withdrew his hand, his tone still calm and even: "Although your pulse is weak, the injury to your heart meridian has stabilized, and your shoulder injury was treated in time. With proper care and rest for a few months, you should be fine."
He avoided answering.
Lou Yan felt a sharp pain in his heart. The doubts and resentments that had been building up for ten years finally broke through the dam of reason.
He reached out and grabbed Yu Beichen's wrist as he tried to pull it back.
"Why?"
Lou Yan stared at him, her eyes filled with suppressed pain and confusion. "Ten years ago, regarding Mother's matter... I know you did your best, I don't blame you. But three years ago! Three years ago, when I contracted that terrible disease, wasn't it you who saved me?"
Yu Beichen tried to break free, but seeing Lou Yan's flushed cheeks and the faint blood seeping from his shoulder blades due to excitement, he ultimately did not exert any force, but simply turned his head away to avoid his burning gaze.
His silence was tantamount to acquiescence.
"It really was you..." Lou Yan's voice trembled.
"While I was unconscious, I felt it was you. I can't be mistaken. But why? Why did I wake up to find only an empty tent and that jade pendant?"
He raised the warm jade pendant he had been clutching tightly in his other hand and questioned, "This jade pendant was a gift I gave you to congratulate you on your unparalleled medical skills! What do you mean by returning it to me? Are you trying to... sever all ties with me?"
He practically roared out the last four words, a tearful accusation filled with blood and tears.
The intense emotional turmoil caused him to cough violently again, but he still held onto Yu Beichen's hand tightly, as if if he let go, the person in front of him would vanish like smoke again.
Yu Beichen felt a pang of anxiety at his cough and finally couldn't resist. He quickly pulled out a silver needle with his other hand and precisely pierced it into the acupoint on the side of his neck.
Lou Yan's cough gradually subsided, but his eyes remained stubbornly fixed on him.
Looking at his pale, haggard yet still handsome features, and at the undisguised pain and determination in his eyes, Yu Beichen's frozen heart finally cracked open.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Severing all ties?" Yu Beichen repeated these four words, a bitter smile playing on his lips.
"Lou Yan, if you truly wanted to sever all ties, I wouldn't have come three years ago."
His gaze fell into the void, as if he were lost in memories.
"Ten years ago, Her Majesty the Empress was seriously ill, beyond the cure of medicine. I... was powerless. Seeing you kneeling before me... I..."
His voice was slightly hoarse. He paused for a moment before continuing, "I couldn't face your despair, nor could I bear the potential wrath of the royal family. Leaving was my only option at the time."
"As for three years ago..." He slowly shifted his gaze back to Lou Yan's face, "I was traveling in the vicinity of the Northwest when I heard that you had suddenly fallen seriously ill and were on the verge of death. I... I couldn't just ignore it."
His tone remained calm, but Lou Yan detected a hint of a difficult struggle in it.
“I infiltrated the military camp and healed you. But at that time, you were already the eldest prince of Dasheng, guarding the border, with outstanding military achievements and a noble status. As for me, I was just a wandering doctor.”
Yu Beichen's voice lowered, "What happened ten years ago made me realize that I am ultimately not on the same path as you noble families. What good would it do to stay? It would only cause more trouble."
"As for the jade pendant, if you ever face a life-threatening situation in the future, you can always find me."
It turns out that his departure without saying goodbye back then was not out of heartlessness.
Lou Yan stared at him blankly, all the resentment in her heart vanishing in that instant, leaving only endless heartache and sorrow.
He gradually loosened his grip on Yu Beichen's wrist, and began to hold it gently.
Lou Yan's voice was hoarse, "What imperial family, what wandering doctor... In my heart, you have always been Yu Beichen, the most important... friend in my life."
He spoke the last two words with some difficulty, yet with unwavering determination.
"Ten years ago, I never blamed you for what happened to Mother. I know you did your best. As for your status..."
He gave a wry smile. "After ten years of guarding the border in this harsh northwest, I am no longer a pampered prince. Here, there are only brothers who share life and death, not distinctions of rank or status."
He gazed into Yu Beichen's eyes and said, word by word, "Beichen, don't leave again. I need you."
Yu Beichen looked up at him.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he just lowered his eyes.
He did not agree, but he also did not break free from Lou Yan's hand.
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