The bottle of medicine was always in Su Wanwan's hands, locked in a box inside the bed. The key was with Su Wanwan, and no one else could get it.
Lu Xingjian felt a chill run through him.
His gaze fell on Su Wanwan's pale face.
He understood instantly.
Wanwan lied to him.
To quell the rumors and persuade Empress Dowager Wang to grant her an honorific title, she must have given a few pills to those bastards in the Wang family.
But they never mentioned this point at all.
She even secretly added a few fake pills so he wouldn't notice.
From beginning to end, all she suggested was that Marquis Anyuan be appointed as the commander-in-chief of Guangdong and Guangxi.
In Wanwan's eyes, everything is something that can be exchanged.
Even if it's life.
The medicine was her lifeline, so they gave it to her without hesitation.
Lu Xingjian's shoulders slumped.
This woman is insane.
She's the one with the least moral bottom line!
When Su Wanwan woke up, she saw Lu Xingjian sitting on the edge of the bed with a full beard, his eyes bloodshot, glaring at her fiercely.
He didn't say anything.
"You're back," she greeted weakly. "Why didn't you reply to my letter?"
She remembered that they hadn't won the battle yet.
He's willing to come back.
Lu Xingjian touched his face, and said angrily:
"Nobody wants to see you!"
Su Wanwan was still very weak at the moment, her mind was a mess, and she didn't have the strength to argue with him.
He just closed his eyes and didn't speak.
Lu Xingjian said coldly, "Su Wanwan, listen to me carefully. If you die before me, I won't shed a single tear."
"You'll find a bunch of beauties to have fun with every day and have a bunch of sons. I'll make you furious."
Su Wanwan wanted to laugh.
"I'm already dead, how can I be angered to death again?"
Perhaps one day, his wish will come true.
"I'm serious!" Lu Xingjian gritted his teeth.
Su Wanwan said, "Whatever you want, you can even dance at my grave."
Lu Xingjian was so angry he was about to explode. He wanted to kick the stomp car far away, but he managed to hold back.
"Su Wanwan, you have no heart at all!"
Su Wanwan closed her eyes, utterly exhausted: "I want to drink porridge."
The man's overflowing violence suddenly vanished upon hearing those words.
His voice became hoarse: "I'll go call them."
After simmering the glutinous rice porridge for a long time, Su Wanwan lost her appetite after only a few spoonfuls.
“You eat less than a sparrow.” The man held a bowl in one hand, supported his knee with the other, and covered his eyes with his palm.
His voice is not very clear.
His shoulders trembled slightly.
It's all his fault.
Careless.
He was single-mindedly focused on making a name for himself.
They didn't consider that she was a sickly and delicate girl who could collapse at any moment.
Seeing this, Su Wanwan struggled to sit up.
"I'm not dead yet," the voice murmured.
The man felt like she was driving him crazy.
Quickly support her and carefully help her lie down.
Su Wanwan closed her eyes: "Ugly."
The man froze, then reached up and touched his face.
"Your ugliness is yours too, just bear with it."
That being said, he still managed to get his face shaved while Su Wanwan was asleep.
When Su Wanwan woke up again, the man had already cleaned himself up neatly. "You don't look ugly anymore, do you?"
Su Wanwan: "..."
"My father..."
"The imperial physicians are doing their best to save her." Lu Xingjian touched her face. "Don't worry."
...
Bandits rose up everywhere, and the situation grew increasingly serious.
Many of them were former followers of Liu Jin who rose up in rebellion.
Some even took advantage of the chaos to fabricate strange phenomena, claiming to be the true Son of Heaven, with a dragon-shaped birthmark on their feet, or even the character "王" (king).
Lu Xingjian sent Zhang Yong to handle the matter personally and also arranged a secret mission—to persuade Liu Qi to surrender.
Since Liu Qi can master the correct medicine, he should be able to find a divine doctor to cure Wanwan's illness.
However.
Under the vigorous pursuit of Ma Zhongci and others, Liu Liu, Liu Qi and others fled from Shandong to Shanxi.
Yang Hu and Zhao Sui also fled from Huai'an and other places to Shanxi.
After all, Shanxi has many mountains and narrow roads, and natural defenses to protect it.
Gradually, they became dissatisfied with only a few hundred people roaming around, and began to coerce local people to join them, with those who refused to comply being beheaded.
Lu Xingjian finally attended the morning court session.
The officials were arguing fiercely.
"Your subject reports that Li Hua and others, bandits from Shanxi, are actually henchmen of Liu Jin. Their followers number up to a thousand, all dressed in red. They joined forces with Liu Liu and others to plunder Huguan County."
"Your subject reports that the bandits Yang Hu and others entered Shanxi, captured Qinshui County, and then marched from Yicheng to Hongdong. They subsequently captured Zhaocheng, Qitaigu, and three other counties!"
"Your Majesty, I have reported that the bandit troops have fled to the mountains of Linxian County and then plundered Weihui and Huaiqing. They also send dozens or hundreds of cavalry to harass the three prefectures of Zhangde, Weihui, and Huaiqing, preventing our army from resting. We must have the government troops from Shanxi and Henan provinces cooperate in a pincer attack!"
"Following their defeat at Jiangjin, the Sichuan bandit Fang Si fled to Qijiang. Only four hundred of his men remained. They then fled to Guizhou, where they gathered two thousand fugitives, claiming to number ten thousand. When local soldiers were dispatched to suppress them, these soldiers plundered the people even more ruthlessly than the bandits themselves. The bandits once mocked the people, saying, 'We bandits are like combs, and the imperial army is like fine-toothed combs!'"
Lu Xingjian was so angry that he trembled all over.
"Good, very good!"
The discipline of the imperial army is so poor that they rob the people even more ruthlessly than bandits!
"My esteemed ministers, since spring and summer, bandits have been rampant in various provinces. The court has repeatedly dispatched generals to quell the rebellion, but to no avail. Even minor gains have not been enough to offset the losses. What is the reason for this?"
Everyone looked at each other without saying a word.
Li Dongqian remained calm and composed, not uttering a single word.
However, another Grand Secretary, Liang Chu, who usually kept a low profile, spoke up:
"If thieves have the merit of settling accounts, then local prefectures and counties are eager to open their doors to thieves. What's so strange about that?"
These words caused an uproar throughout the court.
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