Chapter 78 Aren’t You Afraid?
Not until Su Muge returned to Peachblossom Courtyard did she take out the two invitations to the hunting party and put them on the table.
At first glance, there was no difference between the two invitations, but a closer look revealed that the flowers inlaid in the lower right corner of the invitations were different.
The invitation Madam Lin gave her was with a golden peony flower, but the invitation given to her by the little maid in the Palace was with a lunar white orchid.
“Miss, these are invitations to the hunting party?”
Yueru entered the room with tea and said in surprise at the sight of the invitation on the table.
“You can recognize?”
Yueru nodded. “I saw Yu’er of the second Miss show it off a few days ago, thus getting to know about it. Miss, I’ve heard from Yu’er that this hunting party invitation is extremely rare. Those who could attend are mostly nobles and official families of the capital.”
Su Muge poured herself a cup of tea without much interest. “Is this hunting party aimed at hunting?”
“Not exactly, some madams and ladies who don’t like running around will gather together to enjoy the scenery and chat.”
To put it bluntly, it was an obscure blind date.
“Miss, by that time, you and Madam must be dressed up to impress them!”
Seeing Yueru almost snorted to express her indignation, Su Muge felt quite amused.
The hunting party was to be held at the beginning of next month, which was ten days later. Her mother could decide by herself whether to attend or not. As for her, she would think about it later.
After taking a medicated bath for three days, Xia Hourui hadn’t been detoxified, but he was much more spirited and energetic.
Su Muge took out the silver needle bag from her medical kit and turned to look at Xia Hourui. For three days, Deputy Director Chen was still unwell, so the following treatment would have to be carried out by Su Muge alone.
“Your Majesty, please take off your coat so that I can give you an acupuncture treatment.”
Hearing this, Eunuch Yi stepped forward to help Xia Hourui take off his coat.
“It will be a little bit sore when the needle is inserted, Your Majesty. Please relax and don’t be nervous.”
Xia Hourui was amused to hear her coaxing tone. “Well, I won’t be nervous.”
“I give you an acupuncture treatment in order to expel the toxin in your body to your feet. So, your feet would be a little uncomfortable before detoxification, but it would completely disappear after that.” While speaking, Su Muge had inserted the silver needle into the Emperor’s body.
Xia Hourui only felt a slight pain in his neck followed by a tingling, making his muscles suddenly tightened.
“Your Majesty, please relax. The discomfort will disappear soon.” Her voice was soft but powerful. Xia Hourui slowly relaxed his breath and felt much more comfortable.
The Emperor, who was lying on the bed with his back to Su Muge, couldn’t see her technique, but Eunuch Yi, who was standing beside, clearly saw Su Muge’s accurate and skilled operation of needles. In the entire Imperial Palace of the Chu, few doctors could be so proficient in acupuncture. He had heard of Su Muge’s skilled technique of acupuncture before, but he couldn’t believe it until he saw it himself now.
In a while, Xia Hourui’s back was covered with silver needles.
Su Muge reached out to wipe off the fine sweat beads on her forehead.
“Well…”
As soon as Su Muge turned around, Xia Hourui hummed in pain with his muscles gradually tightened.
“Your Majesty, what’s wrong with you?” Seeing this, Eunuch Yi urgently stepped forward and asked, “Miss Su, is, is there any problem with the needles?”
Su Muge frowned. “Eunuch Yi, rest assured. It’s the first time for the Emperor to expel the toxin out of his blood and bones with needles, so discomfort is inevitable.”
“Uh!”
Xia Hourui abruptly bent his back, making some silver needles fall off from his back and some even insert deeper into his flesh and become bent!
“Your Majesty! What shall I do?”
Su Muge stepped forward and pulled out the silver needles on Xia Hourui’s body. Without enough tolerance, as long as he became tense during an acupuncture treatment, his muscles would easily be tightened and his whole body stiffened. It would not only lose therapeutic effect but may also lead to disorder and disharmony of Qi and blood!
The silver needles were all pulled out. However, due to his struggle just now, Xia Hourui’s back had been pricked with several bleeding wounds, which looked scary.
“Your Majesty, don’t scare me!” Eunuch Yi was so anxious that his eyes turned red and he looked at Su Muge angrily.
“Miss Su, what on earth is going on?”
Su Muge rubbed Xiahourui’s Dazhui point with a frown. After a while, Xia Hourui gradually recovered his consciousness.
Eunuch Yi hurriedly helped him lean on the soft pillow.
Xia Hourui struggled with his sharp eyes falling on Su Muge.
Feeling his sharp sight, Su Muge closed her lips tightly and knelt down in front of his bed.
“Su Muge, how dare you murder me?!”
“I dare not, Your Majesty.”
“You dare not?! What are you doing just now?! Come on …”
“Your Majesty, the King of Jin asks to see you.”
Before Xia Hourui could finish his speech, he was interrupted by the voice of the guarding eunuch outside the door.
Xia Hourui squinted at Su Muge coldly. “Let him in.”
“Yes.”
Xia Houmo had heard Xia Hourui’s roar outside the door just now. He entered the room, glanced at Su Muge who was kneeling on the ground and saluted the Emperor.
“Father.”
Xia Hourui snorted coldly. “You’re just in time! Do you know she nearly killed me just now?!” He could still clearly recall the feeling of a sudden dizziness in his brain; the feeling of his life being controlled and his powerlessness made Xia Hourui very irritated!
Su Muge calmly looked up directly at Xia Hourui’s angry eyes.
“I have no intention of murdering you, Your Majesty. You’ve just had an acupuncture syncope, which was due to your poor health.”
“You mean I almost fainted just now because I’m weak!?” Su Muge’s explanation didn’t cool Xia Hourui’s temper.
Xia Houmo glanced at Su Muge and found her rather calm and easy. Didn’t she know what would happen if she irritated the Emperor? Or did she believe he would definitely save her?
Somehow, the latter assumption made Xia Houmo slightly smile.
“Father, Su Muge is telling the truth.”
Hearing Xia Houmo’s words, Xia Hourui looked at him. “I wonder when you start to understand medicine.”
Xia Houmo kept his countenance. “In Shunyang prefecture, I was accidentally injured, and Miss Su also treated me in this way.”
Hearing this, Xia Hourui slightly relieved his harsh countenance.
“Is that true?”
“Yes.”
Su Muge was surprised; when did she treat Xia Houmo in Shunyang prefecture?
On the second thought, she guessed that Xia Houmo was just to excuse her, so she didn’t think about it anymore.
“Su Muge, due to King of Jin, I’ll believe you again. But if … if you dare to be disloyal to me, I won’t let go of the whole Su Mansion!” Xia Hourui’s turbid eyes were filled with coldness.
Su Muge clenched her hands in her sleeves. “Your Majesty, I’m a doctor that practices medicine, not a fairy who casts magic spells. No matter how skilled the doctor is, he can’t cure the disease without the patient’s cooperation.”
“Oh, you are blaming me for not cooperating with you?”
Su Muge lowered her head silently.
“You little girl, you are so courageous!”
In an instant, Su Muge felt that the frozen air in the room had dissipated a lot.
“Your Majesty, if you can’t bear so many needles at a time, I’ll use less next time. But in this way, the treatment process will take longer.”
“Hum.” Xia Hourui agreed in a low tone.
“Get up.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Since you are here today, don’t waste time and start again.”
Xia Houmo walked to the chair beside and sat down. Su Muge got up, opened her medical kit, took out the cotton cloth and dipped it in alcohol to wipe off the blood on Xia Hourui’s back.
“Your Majesty, please relax. Being nervous will only cause acupuncture syncope again.”
“I see.”
Su Muge disinfected the silver needles and inserted them into the acupuncture points on Xia Hourui’s neck.
Perhaps having been mentally prepared this time, Xia Hourui felt it not so uncomfortable as before; and Su Muge only used one-third of the needles.
Looking at Su Muge, Xia Houmo found her serious look a bit interesting.
After the last silver needle was inserted and seeing that Xia Hourui had no adverse reaction, Su Muge secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
After an hour, Su Muge came out of Yangyi Palace. Being able to breathe the air outside, she felt so lucky.
“Why? Are you scared?”
Xia Houmo followed her out of Yangyi Palace and couldn’t help smiling to see her being in a daze.
Su Muge came to her sense and accelerated her pace to get farther away from Yangyi Palace.
“Haven’t you ever been afraid, Your Royal Highness?”
It was widely known that assisting the Emperor was like accompanying a tiger and the Emperor’s mind was the hardest to predict.
“What to be afraid of?”
Su Muge realized that he was a terrifying man himself; how could he have the same feelings as her!
The two walked all the way to the Palace gate. Once again, Su Muge was embarrassed to find that there was no carriage outside the Palace to send her back!
After getting on his horse, Xia Houmo saw Su Muge standing outside the Palace gate with her lips pursed angrily and felt much more joyful.
“Donglin, go to ride my carriage here.”
Donglin looked at Su Muge and hurriedly went away.
As Su Muge was depressed to walk through this avenue, a carriage passed her slowly.
She stepped aside to give way, but the carriage stopped beside her.
Donglin smiled. “His Royal Highness asked me to send you back home. Miss Su, get on the carriage.”
Su Muge looked up and found the carriage completely black with a sign of King of Jin Mansion outside. There was nothing special about it from its appearance.
Considering that the relationship between Xia Houmo and her was just taking advantage of each other, she felt no need to be so polite!
Then Su Muge stepped on the pedal and got into the carriage.
“Thank you for taking the trouble.”
Su Muge lifted the door curtain to get into the carriage; as soon as she entered, she smelled a faint aroma of tea.
There was nothing special about this carriage looking from the outside, but the hidden beauty inside was extraordinarily exceptional.
The wool carpet under her feet was fine white and soft, making her feel like stepping on cotton. There was also a small tea table with a tea set on it; the fragrance of tea should have come from the teapot.
Just as Su Muge took the innermost seat and reached out to pour herself a cup of tea, the door curtain was suddenly lifted, and a tall and slender figure came in.
At the sight of him, Su Muge froze her hand which was holding the teapot.
