Chapter 284: National Mourning, a Contest of Indifference
Last night, Emperor Wu Su’s wounds had reopened, and he’d coughed up blood again. ’I hope nothing terrible has happened.’
She hurried forward anxiously, but an arm clad in coarse linen blocked her path.
Le Xi spoke in an unhurried tone. "Don’t be so anxious, lass. If it were time for national mourning, the entire realm would know. Since no such news has spread, it means the Emperor is still hanging on by a thread."
It would have been better if he hadn’t said anything. Now that he had...
’National mourning...’
The moment Ji Qingwu thought of it, her vision swam and her knees went weak.
*
No sunlight penetrated Zhaoyang Hall. The windows were all covered with heavy drapes, perhaps to prevent outsiders from discovering the Emperor’s true condition.
The room was dimly lit.
Emperor Wu Su had already read through four or five Buddhist sutras meant to calm the mind, but they were utterly useless.
He had reached the point where the mere sight of anything made him furious, so he had soaked in an ice bath for another hour.
Zhao Mingyan emerged from an ice-filled tub in the side chamber. He wore a sleeping robe of cocoon silk, white with a silver-gray dragon pattern, its sash tied loosely at his waist.
The crossover collar was wide open, revealing a full, firm chest still beaded with water. The droplets trickled down one by one, disappearing below his waistline.
Li Yuzong placed a cup of snow lotus tea on the long sandalwood table.
"Holy Emperor, please have a taste. It will help quell the heat."
Zhao Mingyan sat before the imperial desk, tilted his head back, and drained the cup in one go. Li Yuzong hurriedly refilled it.
He frowned and demanded, "Why isn’t he here yet?"
Li Yuzong forced a pained smile. "Holy Emperor, as you know, Doctor Le is not a man who abides by common sense. Perhaps he got delayed on the way."
’It’s not that Le Xi is unpredictable; he’s an old, untamed mustang that’s broken its reins.’
’If two dogs were fighting on the road, he’d have to stop and watch for a while. In the good doctor’s own words, he’s ’experiencing the prime of his life.’’
After all these years, Zhao Mingyan knew Le Xi’s temperament. "If you can’t invite him," he said coldly, "then bind him and drag him here."
Li Yuzong tried to persuade him patiently.
"Doctor Le is a man of advanced years. If we were to use force and something were to happen to him, Your Majesty would not feel good about it either."
"And you think I feel good now?!"
The Emperor’s voice was as biting as a blizzard.
In just half a day, Li Yuzong had worried so much he felt he’d aged a decade. He was out of ideas.
Zhao Mingyan closed his eyes, clearly at the end of his rope. He hurled the cup he was clenching in his hand.
But the expected sound of shattering porcelain never came.
Someone had caught the cup.
Ji Qingwu hadn’t expected that the moment she stepped into Zhaoyang Hall, a blue-and-white porcelain cup would come flying at her.
She instinctively twisted and lunged, extending both hands. To her own surprise, she actually caught it.
Master and servant alike stared in a daze at the exquisitely beautiful woman who had suddenly appeared in the hall, cradling the porcelain cup in her hands.
This time, it was Li Yuzong who recovered first.
His old, wrinkled face broke into a smile as he shuffled forward, stammering, "Miss Ji! Oh, Miss Ji!"
Li Yuzong circled Ji Qingwu several times, nearly making her dizzy. "It really is you, Miss Ji! You’re a godsend! The heavens have answered our prayers!"
From his expression, it looked as if he was about to fall to his knees and kowtow to her.
A sudden light flared in the depths of Zhao Mingyan’s eyes as he stared at her.
Her fingers clutching the rim of the cup, Ji Qingwu had long since felt a pair of sharp, gleaming eyes fixed upon her.
She felt as if his gaze was intense enough to burn the hair right off the top of her head.
She hardly dared to look up at him. She had sent him away last night, yet here she was today, appearing before him of her own volition.
Ji Qingwu could feel her own face burning.
On her way into the palace just now, she had been so worried that something terrible had happened to Emperor Wu Su that she had rushed ahead, leaving Le Xi behind. Now, she was the only one here.
Ji Qingwu glanced anxiously toward the entrance, but she couldn’t even see the silhouette of Little Dongzi, who had been sent to greet them.
’Being too quick on your feet isn’t always a good thing.’
Li Yuzong said with heartfelt emotion, "Miss Ji, your presence is more effective than any divine doctor."
At this moment, it didn’t even matter if Doctor Le was here or not.
Ji Qingwu explained, "I truly did come with Doctor Le. He’s a slow walker, so he’s still behind us."
’She wondered if Emperor Wu Su would believe her.’
Ji Qingwu lowered her gaze and pressed her lips together, her toes curling inside her embroidered slippers.
Li Yuzong moved to Ji Qingwu’s side and said, "Please, go to him. The Holy Emperor is... in a very bad state right now."
Ji Qingwu glanced up for a second before hastily lowering her head again.
Zhao Mingyan’s gaze was so intense it was as if he wanted to skin her alive and devour her whole. His eyes burned even hotter than they had last night.
Yet his tone was ice-cold.
"Whether I am well or not is none of your concern."
At his words, Ji Qingwu’s eyelashes fluttered.
Zhao Mingyan said, "Li Yuzong, escort her out of the palace. Send her back to..." He couldn’t bring himself to say where.
He said no more, only watched her with a heavy gaze that made Ji Qingwu feel as if a mountain were pressing down on her shoulders.
’His words told her to leave, but his eyes begged her to stay.’
Ji Qingwu should have left.
But the more the Emperor tried to push her away, the more she believed Little Dongzi hadn’t been exaggerating. Even seeing him sitting there on the Dragon Chair, all bold and imposing, she could tell he was just putting on a brave front.
The very color of his skin looked unnatural.
Having soaked in the ice water for too long, Emperor Wu Su’s skin was red and irritated from the cold, still glistening with droplets of water.
And yet, his face remained pale—especially his lips, which were completely drained of color.
Ji Qingwu walked forward. Zhao Mingyan’s gaze followed her every move, watching as she placed the cup on the table. His eyes lingered on her fingertips—luminous, translucent, and tipped with a delicate pink.
She did her best to treat him like any other patient. "Your Majesty," she asked, "what exactly is wrong?"
"Why haven’t you left?" Zhao Mingyan asked coolly.
Ji Qingwu’s voice was even colder than his. "Doctor Le said he was going to see a patient. I didn’t know it was Your Majesty. But Doctor Le has helped me before, so I am simply here to lend him a hand."
Her bright eyes were devoid of emotion, showing no ripple of feeling.
"Your Majesty needn’t rush me. Once the examination is over, I will leave of my own accord."
Ji Qingwu reached for the hand resting on his lap to take his pulse, but he lifted it away, dodging her touch.
Her hand landed on his thigh instead.
Even through the fabric of his sleeping robe, she could feel the unnatural temperature beneath her palm. It was ice-cold.
Ji Qingwu’s brow furrowed instantly. Without a moment’s hesitation, she reached directly into the opening of his crossover robe to check.
Her warm palm pressed against his firm, well-built pectoral muscle, and the chill of his skin seeped into hers.
Seeing this, Li Yuzong averted his gaze and tiptoed out of the hall.
Just as he reached the entrance of the hall, he saw Le Xi in the distance. Hands clasped behind his back and a blade of some unknown grass dangling from his mouth, he was ambling over at a leisurely pace, not a hint of urgency about him. Trailing behind was Little Dongzi, looking as though he’d lost the will to live.
When the two drew near, Little Dongzi said, "Doctor Le had a sudden whim to go see the flowers in the Imperial Garden. This servant truly could not stop him."
Le Xi spat out the blade of grass and asked casually, "Little Zongzi, how’s your Emperor doing?"