Long Feiye stood there until the mantle of night fell upon the skies. When the entire world turned dark, Gu Qishao had still yet to move.
Instead of a dying man, he simply looked like someone who was already dead.
At last, Long Feiye walked over, but Gu Qishao hadn’t reacted even when he was standing right in front of him. Despite being so close, Long Feiye couldn’t see the man’s face when it was still bowed to the ground. Instead, it was Gu Beiyue who sensed his presence inside and came out, unsurprised.
He knew that Long Feiye would drop by eventually.
“What’s wrong with him?” Long Feiye asked.
Gu Beiyue looked at Gu Qishao with eyes filled with tenderness, as if he was seeing a small child. “He should be sleeping, I think? For the past month, he’s been sleeping for one to two days at a time.”
Long Feiye immediately knitted his eyebrows while Gu Beiyue smiled helplessly. “It can’t be helped. Maybe he’ll keep sleeping one day and never wake up. To him, that would count as an end to this torture.”
“Gu Qishao, wake up!” Long Feiye suddenly snarled.
But Gu Qishao didn’t budge. Gu Beiyue silently returned to the rooms to keep making medicine. He knew Gu Qishao could disappear at any instant and turn into a tree, but he still hadn’t given up. Long Feiye followed him in and saw the room was full of medicinal ingredients and Gu Beiyue’s handwritten notes.
Long Feiye pinched his eyebrows and found a place to sit down. “No progress from Mu Linger’s side either?” He knew the girl had headed to Medical City, but Han Yunxi and Gu Qishao were both clueless.
“I don’t think there’s any hope. Linger left Medical City to look for medicine a few days ago. I haven’t heard from her in over 10 days.” Gu Beiyue appeared calm, but he was anything but. He knew that everything he was doing now was useless, but he didn’t stop working day and night. Like a child, he was desperately hoping for a miracle.
Long Feiye fell silent. Gu Beiyue lost himself to his work as well.
After a long time had passed, Long Feiye then said, “Four days later, Rui’er will be one month old. I’m planning to bring Yunxi and him here.”
Gu Beiyue’s hand trembled minutely before he whirled around. “Your Highness, will they make it?”
Long Feiye wanted to ask the same thing!
Would they make it…
“Your Highness, since we’ve hidden it for so long, let’s not sadden the princess. The little master’s one-month anniversary should be a joyous occasion. We can’t let him down,” Gu Beiyue said.
Long Feiye threw his head back to lean against the wall. “If she can’t make it…Han Yunxi will be uneasy for the rest of her life.”
Gu Beiyue had no words to retort. He subconsciously stopped working and went to sit down. The two men passed the time in a silence more still than the snoozing Gu Qishao outside.
Meanwhile, Han Yunxi remained oblivious to everything in the Rear Camp. Ning Jing had been with her the entire day. Rui’er had just been carried off for the night, leaving the two of them alone in the tent.
Ning Jing took this time to speak up. “Princess, I want to bring Tang Li back to the Tang Clan.”
Han Yunxi’s gaze flickered with complex expressions. Looks like Ning Jing was planning on doing that all alone. She only dropped by to see us here on the way. Nodding, she didn’t probe.
Ning Jing smiled and added, “I miss my daughter. If I don’t go back any sooner, she won’t even recognize her father and mother.”
“Tang Li is the Tang Clan’s sole heir and its clan head. I can’t be a bully and keep him from the Tang Clan just because he’s gone insane,” Ning Jing added.
“I understand,” Han Yunxi intoned. “Tang Zijin and the rest of the Tang Clan are busy with plans for the palace and capital city, so they’re all in Tianan. If you’re going back to the Tang Clan, this is the time.”
Ning Jing fell silent for a while before she said seriously, “Princess, I’m only telling you this, but–no matter what happens after this, how bitter or hard it’ll be, I’ll be looking after Tang Li until he gets well.”
And what about after he recovers?
Ning Jing didn’t finish. Han Yunxi waited until Ning Jing almost told her, but she switched to a smile and said, “Alright, I’m going to start packing. We’ll leave tomorrow morning.”
Han Yunxi had a million things she wanted to say, but silently mused, Ning Jing, don’t you worry. With me here, I’ll make sure the Tang Clan doesn’t bully you!
Ning Jing had already risen to her feet when Han Yunxi said casually, “When you two go back, that girl Linger should be coming over here.” She was sure Mu Linger would be asking her about Gu Qishao’s whereabouts.
Ning Jing stopped and fixed her with a doubtful look. “Linger left the Tang Clan ages ago. Gu Beiyue invited her to help him in Medical City.”
The somewhat exhausted Han Yunxi suddenly felt alarmed. “Medical City? Gu Beiyue?”
“It should be a month already, I think? She sent me a letter when she left the Tang Clan saying she was going to help Doctor Gu make medicine,” Ning Jing explained.
Han Yunxi grabbed Ning Jing’s hand anxiously. “What medicine? Who needs it?”
Gu Beiyue’s been helping Gu Qishao with medicine all this time! And Xu Donglin’s letters never mentioned Mu Linger at all. Han Yunxi could already feel that this matter was more complicated than it seemed. It had to be related to Gu Qishao somehow.
Why does Gu Beiyue need Mu Linger’s help? Hasn’t his work with Gu Qishao been going very smoothly?
It’s already so late. According to Xu Donglin’s letters, Gu Qishao should be almost back with the last ingredient. He and Gu Beiyue should have created the best antidote already!
Ning Jing was ignorant about everything and didn’t expect her casual comments to agitate Han Yunxi so much. Sensing something wrong, she asked, “Princess, is something wrong?”
“Hurry and tell me, what kind of medicine is Mu Linger making for Gu Beiyue? Who’s it for?” Han Yunxi didn’t even realize her hands were shaking. But Ning Jing noticed. She wondered what could be so important that scared Han Yunxi so much before she even started explaining.
“Say something!” Han Yunxi shouted.
If Gu Beiyue was asking Mu Linger for help with Gu Qishao’s matters, that means the letters from Medical City were all fake!
That means Long Feiye, Gu Beiyue, and Gu Qishao have been lying to me since I left Medical City and gave birth to Rui’er!
Why are they lying to me?
If they can’t find the ingredients, so be it. Hasn’t Gu Qishao been fine all along? We were looking for ingredients to prevent something from happening in the future! They don’t need to hide it from me if they fail.
Unless something’s happened to Gu Qishao? What’s serious enough to make all three of them hide the truth?
Han Yunxi’s feelings were in a mess as her thoughts grew jumbled. She didn’t dare think any further as her uneasiness grew. It was almost on the verge of swallowing up all her rationality. A frightened Ning Jing didn’t know what to say. Outside, Zhao mama had already rushed in after hearing the commotion.
“Princess, you two…what’s happened with you two?” Zhao mama asked.
Han Yunxi recovered enough to notice her own instability. But it was impossible for her to calm down. She tugged at Ning Jing’s hand and asked earnestly, “Ning Jing, what did Linger go to do in Medical City? Can you please tell me everything you know?”
Ning Jing nodded. “I don’t know much,” she began, “But Linger said Doctor Gu invited her there to help him make medicine. She had to go as soon as she could because Doctor Gu’s patient was in critical condition…”
Han Yunxi released Ning Jing’s hand and fell back into her seat.
“Linger wanted to wait until I went back before leaving, but Doctor Gu said if they couldn’t come up with the medicine within the next two months, that patient would die.” By the time Ning Jing finished, Han Yunxi’s complexion was completely white. She seemed to be robbed of all energy. Sitting helplessly on the bed, she stared at Ning Jing until…tears brimmed at her eyes.
Sobbing, she cried, “little Qi! It’s Little Qi, it’s him!”
Wasn’t it obvious enough? Long Feiye and the rest were all lying to her! Every single one of them! All of the letters from Medical City had been a sham!
“Liars!”
“They’re all liars!”
Tears fell like rain down Han Yunxi’s face. She didn’t even put on her rooms, but got off the bed in her socks. “Where’s Long Feiye? I want to see Long Feiye! Where is he?!”
She ran out of the tent before Ning Jing and Zhao mama could react. By the time they chased her outside, Han Yunxi was already kneeling in the snow.
“Long Feiye! Come out this instant! Right now!”
“Liars, you’re all liars! All of you lied to me again! Again and again!”
“Why did you lie to me?!”
The shadow guards and servants had all chased after all while Zhao mama and Ning Jing were trying to pull Han Yunxi to her feet. After all, the princess was still in her confinement period. She wasn’t allowed to go out! Besides that, even ordinary people would catch a cold if they knelt in the snow with socks but no shoes. Moreover, it was much colder at night with the fierce north wind.
How could Han Yunxi take it?
Zhao mama had no idea what was going on, but she burst into tears from panic too. She took a thick fox-fur cloak and rested it on the princess’s shoulders before hugging her tight. “Princess, no matter what’s happened, you have to listen to this old servant. Hurry back inside!”
Ning Jing was holding a pair of brocade shoes and crouching in the snow to place them on Han Yunxi’s feet. The various servant girls didn’t bother with being rude and all came over to help, holding down Han Yunxi’s arms and legs in fear of her thrashing or moving about. Han Yunxi didn’t resist them, nor did she have any energy. Her eyes, however, didn’t stop streaming tears.
“I want to see Long Feiye…I want to see Long Feiye…I want to see Little Qi…I want to see him!”
“They can’t do this! I want to see them…they can’t lie to me like this, they can’t!”
“Do they take me for an idiot? …I am an idiot!”
“Ning Jing, I’m an idiot!”
“Sobsob…they’re liars and I’m an idiot…”
“Ning Jing, do you know? Gu Beiyue’s patient is Little Qi… Do you know? If Gu Beiyue hadn’t run out of options, he never would have summoned Mu Linger…he wouldn’t have…”
Han Yunxi sobbed her heart out. Ning Jing only stood frozen in place, never expecting this!
Where’s Mu Linger?
Does she know Gu Beiyue’s patient is her Qi gege?
A bunch of servant girls were circling Han Yunxi when Chu Xifeng returned from outside. When he saw the crowd in front of the tent, he quickly came to ask what was the matter. But none of them could explain anything beyond the fact that the princess wanted to see His Highness and Gu Qishao.
Hearing this, Chu Xifeng lost his mind. He quickly asked the people beside him, “Then where’s His Highness? Where is he?”
