Chapter 491: Her medical pouch
To the Han Estate?
Chu Xifeng almost cried at her words! He wanted to coax her otherwise, but he didn’t have a clue how. He debated going back to tell His Highness Duke of Qin, but hesitated.
Currently, there was a crowd of people outside the brothel, from civilians to soldiers. Countless pairs of eyes were watching them. If he agitated esteemed wangfei and failed to persuade her home, then she just might lose her temper right here and become a laughingstock for the crowd. But if he went back to report the news, His Highness Duke of Qin’s current mental state might just snap. If he lost control and ran out to force esteemed wangfei home and then Gu Qishao decided to meddle, then it wouldn’t just be a laughing matter, but a full blown rumor of a love triangle instead!
Although Gu Qishao had been severely injured and covered in bandages, he still hadn’t been wearing a shirt. Of course, esteemed wangfei had done it because of an emergency. That didn’t matter in the large scheme of things, especially since the patient only exposed his upper body. But this was none other than a brothel! It was a very sensitive location!
Gu Qishao had followed Han Yunxi out of the brothel, making many people curious as to how he’d saved esteemed wangfei, how long they’d been together, when the assassins had fled, and why esteemed wangfei hadn’t called for any sort of help. Once they started probing into those questions, they’d probably make all sorts of guesses, which would then grow into slanders of their own. Chu Xifeng knew that the best decision now was to make esteemed wangfei and Gu Qishao disappear from the crowd as quickly as possible. It would be better to divert their attention to the assassins instead, since the main culprits were still missing in action!
He was about to act when a movement came from within the crowd.
“Qi gege! Qi gege, what happened to you?”
“Qi gege, who hurt you? Qi gege!”
Mu Linger squeezed her way to the front until the guards blocked her way. She had heard about Han Yunxi’s troubles that morning over at the inn, so she ran over here to help search. After all, Han Yunxi had saved her life once, so she should pay her back. But instead, she met her beloved Qi gege instead, and he was heavily injured at that!
Other people might not be able to tell, but as a genius of the medical community, she realized at a glance that Qi gege’s wounds were frighteningly severe. Both his back and front had to have been hurt; otherwise, he wouldn’t be bandaged up all over. Gu Qishao and Han Yunxi were both surprised to see Mu Linger suddenly appear. Chu Xifeng was even more stunned, even as he cursed in his heart, Shoot, we’re screwed!
With Mu Linger around, there’s sure to be a commotion!
When Mu Linger noticed Gu Qishao looking at her, she grew even more anxious. Tears fell from her face as she thrust aside the guards holding her back to leap towards him. One of the officials lost his temper and wanted to capture her again, but was silenced with a single glare from Han Yunxi. Mu Linger saw the wounds on Gu Qishao’s back as soon as she drew near. Because the wounds had been aggravated, they now seemed to be bleeding nonstop. She circled around him in panic, at a loss for what to do. She had waited so long and so bitterly for him, searching for him all over the place, only to finally find him and see him seriously hurt.
Gu Qishao more or less ignored her. He was going to remind Han Yunxi to leave quickly when Mu Linger suddenly exclaimed angrily, “Han Yunxi, it’s your fault again!”
The crowd grew silent at her words.
Han Yunxi was already feeling dejected, so she had no energy to deal with Mu Linger’s accusation. She lowered her voice and told Gu Qishao, “Hurry and go find Imperial Physician Gu to take care of the wounds. I owe you this time.”
“Your shoulder wound?” Gu Qishao asked with concern.
Han Yunxi grinned and copied his attitude. “This old girl won’t die!”
She was about to leave when Mu Linger actually barred her way, furious. “Han Yunxi, just what happened here, give me an explanation! How could my Qi gege get so seriously hurt?!”
Mu Linger’s first words had sent the crowd into silence, but a hubbub of whispers broke out at her second exclamation. Chu Xifeng was so angry he wished he could gag the stinkin’ girl’s mouth shut. But the impulsive, impetuous Mu Linger had never considered so much before she spoke. She was simply too angry now. Last time at the Skypit, she assumed that Qi gege only went to get the poison beast out of amusement, but it was all for the sake of Han Yunxi’s bet with the third elder from the medical academy. He was searching for Han Yunxi’s sake. Qi gege had incurred quite a bit of injuries from the poison snake den back then!
And this time, he’d gotten hurt again because of Han Yunxi. When she recalled how Han Yunxi had claimed she wasn’t close to Qi gege at all so didn’t know where he was, Mu Linger had lost all her sense of reason!
Whenever a person’s heart grew weary, it was likely they believed whatever they felt was true.
Han Yunxi remained silent and circled around Mu Linger to leave. When Mu Linger moved to stop her again, Gu Qishao suddenly pulled her into his arms and laughed out loud. “Lass, esteemed wangfei’s rewarded me with 30,000 taels. How about I split half with you?”
Urk…where did he make up a tune like this?
Aside from the crowd, Mu Linger was stunned as well. Qi gege, did the pain turn your brains funny? What are you talking about?
“Your Qi gege went to fool around at the brothel and ran into a black-robed assassin after esteemed wangfei’s life. Esteemed wangfei said she’d pay me 30,000 taels as long as I saved her.” As Gu Qishao grinned, he looked towards Han Yunxi. “Esteemed wangfei, you might have helped me by applying medicine, but you can’t skimp on those 30,000 taels.”
Han Yunxi stared at Gu Qishao’s simple, rascally smile and suddenly felt like crying. She knew that the man was defending her reputation in front of these people. Although he often teased and provoked her by saying all sorts of nonsense, he also belittled himself.
“Fine, 30,000 taels and not one less. Come to the Duke of Qin’s estate to claim them,” Han Yunxi replied loudly.
Mu Linger wasn’t an idiot and knew that Qi gege was simply making things up, but she wasn’t smart enough to gauge the situation or understand the consequences of her words in such a public setting. She was about to speak up when Gu Qishao glanced at her with a heated look. “Shut up!” he muttered under his breath.
Mu Linger immediately shut up. Although her crush was embracing her right now, she only felt like he was a stranger, distant enough to make her afraid. After Gu Qishao gave his explanation and hugged Mu Linger, both the soldiers and civilians had nothing else to say. You couldn’t get any rumors out of this. Chu Xifeng never once thought things would improve so easily. He rejoiced and quickly called out, “Xu Donglin, escort esteemed wangfei back to the estate. The rest of you, go on with your business. His Highness Duke of Qin said that he wouldn’t spare a single assassin!”
Han Yunxi quietly mounted the carriage and had hardly sat down when she realized that she forgot her medical pouch. But instead of going back to get it, she simply glanced towards the upstairs level of the brothel before murmuring, “Let’s go.”
Chu Xifeng didn’t know whether she was heading to the Duke of Qin’s estate or the Han Estate, but he hoped that Xu Donglin would take her to the former. Afraid to waste any more time, he doubled back to the inside of the brothel, still worried for his injured master.
Once Han Yunxi had left, Gu Qishao and Mu Linger dispersed as well. Everyone’s focus shifted to capturing the assassins since His Highness Duke of Qin was still in the building. Currently, Long Feiye, Long Tianmo, Mu Qingwu and the rest were all assembled in a single room. Just then, a bunch of people had asked Qin Wangfei for details regarding the assassins, but she’d left without a word, leaving many of them dissatisfied. Still, nobody dared to voice their objections out loud because His Highness Duke of Qin’s expression was truly horrific.
At this moment, Long Feiye was sitting on the disordered bed, organizing Han Yunxi’s medical pouch. A mess of gauze, cotton swabs, and the like were all scattered over the bed, but he organized them all neatly before placing them in the pouch. His movements were very, very slow, his entire form silent as if he’d been utterly abandoned. While everyone else was impatient to chase after the assassins, none of them dared to even move a muscle.
Finally, Long Feiye cleaned up everything into the pouch and stood up. He said simply, “Gu Qi Sha lured the assassins away. Judging by the hour the gates were shut, those archers must still be inside the city…” At this point, his voice turned absolutely frigid.
“Search through every single house for your lordship!”
“This soldier obeys!” Mu Qingwu was the first to accept the orders and leave. The crown prince followed quickly in his wake, with the rest leaving in hasty succession, all afraid that the others would catch the culprits first. His Highness Duke of Qin’s words were right. Soon after the incident at the Gu Estate, Mu Qingwu had sent orders to lock down all the gates. Straight afterwards, there was another incident in the red-lantern district, which meant that the archers were still within the city when the lockdown came into effect! As long as they were sure the culprits were still around, it wouldn’t be long before they smoked them all out!
Once everyone was gone, Long Feiye told his guards, “Take care of the items on the bed.”
The guards looked doubtful. Aside from the covers and sheets, what else was there on the bed? But once they moved forward for closer scrutiny, they discovered a large black cloak hidden within the covers, as well as a set of lifelike gloves. The giant cloak was completely soaked in blood, a terrifying sight. Without a doubt, Gu Qishao had left this behind.
Long Feiye had just come out the room when Chu Xifeng arrived.
“Where is she?” Long Feiye asked.
“This subordinate had Xu Donglin escort her back,” Chu Xifeng replied. He really didn’t want to finish the sentence with ‘to the Han Estate!’
“Let’s go back first,” Long Feiye murmured. He was walking very slowly, one hand holding the medical pouch while the other rested against his scabbard. Chu Xifeng was frightened by the sight, but didn’t dare to voice his feelings out loud. He could only follow close behind.
After Long Feiye got into the carriage, his energy finally gave out, leaving him to lean listlessly against the seat with closed eyes. When the carriage was gone, two of the young officials from the justice courts were just emerging from the brothel.
“Looks like it’ll be up to us to man the search!”
“Heheh, the Duke of Qin’s anxious to go home and comfort his woman, how could he go off to catch assassins?”
“Don’t you think there was something strange about the Duke of Qin today?”
“Even if there was, it’s none of our business. Hurry and keep looking. This case will definitely fall into the hands of the justice courts, so we better crack it if we want easy days ahead!”
—
When they were almost at the Duke of Qin’s estate, Chu Xifeng finally peeked into the carriage, only to see the Duke of Qin clutching the medical pouch while seemingly asleep. Unwilling to wake him up, he could only continue to lead them forward. He had no idea who was still left at the brothel, but he knew that nobody could know the extent of the Duke of Qin’s current injuries. Leaving aside the obvious risk from the assassins, there was also Emperor Tianhui, who would undoubtedly come to find trouble. Right now the city was in a lockdown, so those archers had no choice but to hide without an escape route. They could leave the searching to Emperor Tianhui for now.
His Highness needs to treat his injury first!
Chu Xifeng was also more worried over whether esteemed wangfei had gone back to their estate. His trip back was full of perturbed thoughts, but his heart settled in his chest at the sight of Xu Donglin and the carriage by the Duke of Qin’s gates. Unfortunately, Xu Donglin ran over as soon as he saw him to report, “Leader, esteemed wangfei went to the Han Estate. I couldn’t stop her, what do we do?”
Meanwhile, inside the carriage, Long Feiye’s eyes suddenly flew open!
