CH 24

Chapter 24: Sickness

Recently, Yinyou seldom saw the fourth brother. Yinzhen didn’t even show up to Wuyizhai. He guessed that the fourth brother might have learned to do errands, so he didn’t care much about it, but sometimes when he got something good he still asked the servants below to go to the fourth brother’s yard and give him a copy.

“Master, the seventh prince sent someone to bring over two fox fur collars,” Xiao Luzi was holding a collar made of dark brown and white fox fur in front of Yinzhen.

Yinzhen’s eyes fell on the collar, and it took him a while to look away, “Put it away well.” He reached out to pick up the warm teacup, but he didn’t feel any comforting warmth.

“Yes,” Xiao Luzi saw his Master’s unsightly face, and hurriedly retreated, thinking with some headache, has the seventh brother made his Master unhappy recently? Why hasn’t the Master asked about the seventh brother these days? He didn’t know whether he should mention that recently the seventh brother was coughing. 

Just as Xiao Luzi left, Li Dequan, who delivered the imperial decree, arrived. Yinzhen knelt on the ground as he listened, without any visible joy on his face, to the imperial decree boasting about a strange woman who was virtuous, virtuous, intelligent, and quick-witted and was about to be his wife. 

“The Emperor so says”, Li Dequan closed the imperial decree, looked at the expressionless fourth brother, and thought to himself that this fourth brother was really calm, even if the emperor married him to Feiyanggu’s daughter, he would not show a half-bad expression on his face. 

“Erchen…” Yinzhen put his head on the cold ground to cover the emotions in his eyes. He took a deep breath and gritted his teeth, “Thanks Huang Ama. Long live, long live, long live ten thousand years [1].” 

If Huang Ama ever finds out his thoughts, then maybe soon there will be no seventh brother in the palace, or both the fourth brother and seventh elder brother will be gone. His only path was to thank Huan Ama, be grateful for his future Fu Jin having noble status, and that this marriage will be beneficial and harmless to him.

When he got up, there was a mask of joy on his face. Yinzhen stuffed a high-quality jade into Li Dequan’s hand, "Thank you, Li Grandpa." 

Li Dequan didn’t refuse what the fourth brother gave him, but just said, “Congratulations, fourth brother. This old slave is just delivering the emperor’s order.” After speaking, he bowed to Yinzhen and left with a group of young eunuchs behind him.

Holding the bright yellow imperial decree in his hand, Yinzhen stared blankly at the door, his eyes lacking any enthusiasm, and the palms of his hands were only getting colder and colder.

“Slave congratulates Master," a group of slaves came forward to congratulate him. 

Yinzhen withdrew his breath, looked at the court ladies and eunuchs kneeling outside the door, and uttered one word with a sullen face, “Reward!”

“Thank you, Master,” the servants thoughtfully retreated, and after another batch of servants stepped forward to congratulate him, it was finally silent.

“Master, it’s snowing outside, do you want to go to the House of Internal Affairs to get charcoal fire?” Xiao Luzi asked softly with his head down, at some point he’d gotten to the doorway.

“No need,” Yinzhen rolled up the imperial decree, held it in his hand, and spoke calmly, “The Ministry of Internal Affairs will arrange these things independently. Your Master is not a person who can’t bear the slightest bit of hardship.” At this moment, his expression had returned to normal, as if the absent-mindedness from before did not exist.

“Slave made a mistake,” Xiao Luzi said.

“Go down,” Yinzhen waved his hand, turned, and went to the inner room.

Xiao Luzi felt a little puzzled, the emperor gave Feiyanggu’s daughter to his Master, wasn’t this very good? Why did the Master look a little unhappy, could it be that the Master had taken a fancy to another woman? Immediately, Xiao Luzi stretched out his hand and slapped himself. He didn’t dare to speculate any further and turned around to do other things.

On the practice field, there were only the fifth, seventh, and eighth brothers left. The fifth brother had always been reserved, the seventh elder brother was easy to get along with, and the eighth brother was gentle. The eunuchs who serve them are much more relaxed.

But because the snow was getting heavier, the three brothers stopped practicing and went to study to avoid the snow. Soon a eunuch brought an umbrella and a hand warmer, and the three elder brothers left Wuyizhai leisurely.

After the fifth elder brother parted ways, only Yinyou and the eighth brother were left, followed by two servants, and it was very quiet for a while, except for the occasional sound of Yinyou coughing.

On the way, they got the news that the emperor had bestowed Feiyanggu’s daughter to the fourth brother. Yinyou thought to himself that it really was the same as what was recorded in history, the fourth brother’s Fu Jin was Feiyanggu’s daughter, a woman from the Nara family.

Seeing Yinyou’s lowered head, the eighth brother asked, “Seventh brother, what are you thinking?”

Yinyou stretched out his hands to catch a few snowflakes, and tilted his head to smile at Yinsi, only to realize that the umbrella blocked his expression, so he smiled and blew the snowflakes off his hands, “I was thinking that we should add more clothes.”

“Is the seventh brother worried about me catching a cold?” Yinsi’s voice was soft and mellow, sounding very comfortable.

Now that the other party had spoken about it, Yinyou naturally followed along, “Well, yes.”

“The seventh brother is so worried about me, but why don’t you know how to take care of your body? If you’re not good, you shouldn’t have come.” Yinsi sounded a bit concerned, “Seventh brother, you should take a leave tomorrow. Remember to call the imperial doctor when you go back.” 

“It’s just a cough, it’s not that serious.” 

Whether it’s the previous life or the present life, Yinyou had never taken a small cold to heart, basically, he could put it off for days.

Yinsi smiled helplessly. He turned his head to look at him only to see Yinyou’s white and slender hands holding the hand warmer, the delicate knuckles set off against the dark copper heater looking indescribably beautiful, and with an unspeakable taste, people couldn’t help but take a second look.

“Seventh brother should pay more attention.” The eighth brother also knew that Yinyou would not listen to his persuasion, and when he parted ways with Yinyou, he thought about asking the servants to bring some medicine to the seventh brother.

Not long after Yinyou returned to his yard, a servant of the eighth brother sent some medicine. After he thanked him, he went to bed early because of the cold weather.

He didn’t know if it was because the weather had changed too much, but on the morning of the second day, Yinyou felt that he was weak, his head was heavy and his limbs were soft. He sent a batch of people to ask for a doctor, another to report to the emperor, and another to concubine Cheng. 

Later, Yinyou, lying on the bed, wanted to tell the servants that rubbing his body with wine to reduce his fever was much more useful than just running around.

Thinking about these messy things, Yinyou fell asleep in a daze.

When Kangxi arrived, the imperial physician had already arrived, and he was not afraid of offending the imperial physician. After entering the room, he ignored the imperial physician’s courtesy and asked directly, “How is the seventh brother?”

The imperial doctor took the pulse and got up and replied, “Back to the Emperor, the seventh brother has been a little weak these days, and he may have suffered from the cold last night, so today his condition is serious. Please don’t worry, Emperor, the seventh brother will be fine "

Kangxi looked at the servants in the room with dark eyes, “How do you serve your Master, you don’t even know that the Master has been sick for several days!”.

“Asking the emperor for mercy,” a room full of servants knelt down one after another, kowtowing non-stop.

“Get out of here, Zhen will punish you after the seventh brother recovers from his illness!” Kangxi suppressed his anger and looked at Yinyou’s sweaty head and flushed face, “Doctor Wang, you have to take a good look at the seventh brother’s body these days. When he is well, Zhen will reward you.” 

“This minister will definitely do my best,” Doctor Wang trembled, and understood that if something happened to the seventh brother, his old life was probably gone.

After Kangxi left, Concubine Cheng also came to see him. Seeing that Yinyou was still sleeping, she left uneasy. When Yinyou woke up, it was already late afternoon, and Yunzhu next to him saw that he was awake, so she hurriedly got up to carry the medicine for Yinyou to drink.

(Bambi: Yunzhu is his personal maid).

“Do Huang Ama and E-Niang know?” Yinyou let Yunzhu wipe the corners of his mouth for him, leaning against the head of the bed feeling his whole body sore and when he asked, his voice was a little hoarse.

“Answering back to Master, the emperor, and concubine Cheng have both visited you today, but because Master was sleeping, they left first.” Yunzhu put the empty bowl aside, and added with lingering fear, “Master, you really scared the slaves this time.” 

“En.” Yinyou forced a smile, “Send someone to report to Huang Ama and E-Niang that I’m awake.”

“Master, don't worry, Fu Duo has already sent someone, take a good rest, and don’t waste your brains too much.” Seeing Yinyou’s pale face, Yunzhu didn’t dare to make Yinyou talk more, and carefully pulled the quilt over Yinyou’s body, “Why don’t you sleep a little longer, Master?” 

“No… I slept too much and now all my body hurts," Yinyou leaned against the head of the bed, enduring the feeling of dizziness in his head, he just closed his eyes to rest his mind.

A eunuch who entered the room thought that Yinyou was still asleep, so he walked up to Yunzhu quietly and said, “Yunzhu gugu [2], the fifth elder brother and the eighth brother are here.”

Yinyou opened his eyes and said, “Let the two elder brothers come in.”

“Aye,” the little eunuch saw that Yinyou was awake, saluted and retreated.

After the fifth elder brother and the eighth brother entered the door, they saw Yinyou who was sitting on the bed as pale as paper. The eighth brother couldn’t help but say, “Seventh elder brother, how are you?” 

“It’s okay, just a small cold.” Yinyou pulled out a smile, “Fifth brother, eighth brother, don’t get too close, lest I spread the disease too.” 

The fifth elder brother heard the words and walked to the bed, “What are you talking about? Just a sick person’s nonsense,” he stretched out his hand to straighten the corner of the quilt, “Seventh brother, you just get yourself nursed back and don’t worry about the rest. The fifth brother will help you write down what the Teacher said and will tell you when you are better.”

“Thank you, fifth brother,” Yinyou wanted to sit up straight and bow to Yinqi, but was held down by him, “Seventh brother, there is no need for so much politeness between you and me.”

The eighth brother also got close to the bed, and standing beside the fifth brother, he looked at Yinyou’s bloodless face, “Seventh brother, you have to remember to take your medicine and pay attention to your body, younger brother hopes that you will recover soon.”

Hearing this, Yinyou smiled, “I understand, eighth brother.”

The eighth brother couldn't help reaching out to touch Yinyou’s forehead only to feel his hands terribly hot. He frowned slightly, and looked at Yunzhu beside him, “Did your Master already use the medicine?” 

“Back to the eighth brother, it has already been used,” Yunzhu replied with a bow, “When Master woke up, he drank the medicine.”

The eighth brother reluctantly relaxed and looked at Yinyou worriedly.

Yinyou was still ill, the fifth elder brother and eighth brother should not stay too long, so as not to disturb his rest, so after saying a few words of comfort, the two left together. But before leaving, the eighth brother looked back at Yinyou on the bed, the worry in his eyes did not seem to be fake.

After that, the eldest brother, the Crown Prince, the third brother, and even the ninth brother, the tenth brother, the twelfth brother, the thirteenth brother, the concubine De, and some concubines sent medicine to nourish his body.

At night, Xiao Luzi waited for the fourth brother to change clothes. When he saw that the fourth brother looked normal, he hesitated before speaking, “Today, the seventh brother’s yard was lively, even the Emperor went to see him.”

Yinzhen’s expression changed slightly, “What happened?”

Xiao Luzi saw the worried expression on the fourth brother’s face, so he calmed down and said, “The slave heard that the seventh brother woke up ill, and called the imperial doctor, and just recently he woke up after sleeping for several hours.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Yinzhen asked while buckling his belt, “What did the doctor say?”

Xiao Luzi replied, “It’s this slave’s mistake. The doctor said that he was suffering from wind chills.”

When he finished speaking, Yinzhen had already straightened his clothes and walked to the door. “Let's go and have a look,” Yinzhen strode out in such a hurry that he didn’t even care about the snow falling outside.

Seeing that it was too late to get an umbrella, Xiao Luzi had no choice but to carry a lantern and follow him.

______________

▲ Footnotes 

[1] 萬歲，萬歲，萬萬歲 - wànsuì，wànsuì，wànwànsuì. Long live, long live, long live ten thousand years.

[2] 姑姑 gugu. A maid who is not in her teens, already a bit older. (I can’t remember if the gugus are supposed to be married women or not).