CH 54

October 19, 2022Merchie

The maid cleared away all the bloody scraps of fabric on the floor, before quietly retreating.

The small man’s eyes were still closed; there was no sign of him waking up anytime soon.

Pei Zheng sat at the edge of the bed and pulled Qi Changyi into his arms, before leaning down and planting a soft kiss on those pale, dry lips.

Pure, fragile, beautiful, and completely lifeless…

Was his body too weak, or was it just that he didn’t even want to wake up?

Why wasn’t Cheng Feng back with the Imperial Physician yet?!

Pei Zheng held that small pair of soft hands. They felt terribly hot as he laced his fingers tightly with the small man’s.

He touched Qi Changyi’s hair, and whispered with a coaxing tone, “My darling, why aren’t you waking up? Did I hurt you last night?”

“But you clearly liked it.”

“I don’t know where you got your attitude from, even His Majesty follows my advice for everything. But you, how did you become so rebellious?”

“Didn’t you always want to go back to the city to play again? The moment you wake up, I’ll take you there. Are you sure you don’t want to open your eyes now?”

“You love me, don’t you? Does that love outweigh your hatred? You don’t even know what price I paid in order for His Majesty to give you to me. So, I won’t let you go. How could I?”

“I won’t even let myself go.”

When Jiang Yubai entered the little pavilion, he found Pei Zheng sitting beside the unconscious man on the bed.

It had been a few days since Jiang Yubai had seen him; he thought it meant that the relationship between Pei Zheng and the little prince had improved. He never expected that Cheng Feng would suddenly appear at the Imperial Hospital and forcibly drag him away.

Jiang Yubai had no clue what had happened; he bowed to Pei Zheng and walked to the bed to examine the small figure.

His body was boiling hot, his cheeks were flushed; even his breathing was light and shallow.

Perhaps he had caught a cold. It had been a bit chilly during the past few days.

He lifted the little prince’s skinny, pale wrist, and placed two fingers on it to check his pulse.

Jiang Yubai’s face slowly turned a sick shade of green; the pulse was weak yet chaotic, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.

There was a small red mark hidden on the inside of that white, lotus-root arm. It was a hickey; the skin appeared to have been sucked rather forcefully.

Upon rolling up the small man’s sleeves, even more bluish-purple bruises and hickeys were revealed.

Jiang Yubai took a deep breath, and gently pulled open the little prince’s collar. His once smooth and unsullied body was now covered in erotic marks, all mottled and discolored. They stretched from his neck to the rest of his body, but Jiang Yubai’s eyes were drawn to the area by his collarbone. The wound had already scabbed over; it was a perfect set of teeth marks.

He closed the small man’s collar and pulled the quilt back over him. Jiang Yubai then stood up and walked straight to Pei Zheng.

A crisp “pa!” echoed in the room. Pei Zheng’s head had been slapped sideways. But he didn’t seem angry at all; in fact, the corners of his lips curled upwards.

“Pei Zheng! You know what kind of beastly things you’ve done. His Highness is still young, and doesn’t understand romantic relationships, how can he continue to withstand your abuse?! The fever His Highness is suffering from now was brought on by you!”

Jiang Yubai was trembling with rage. After the little prince lost the protection of the Noble Consort, he never had another day of peace. He thought protecting Qi Changyi would be a piece of cake for Pei Zheng; little did he know that in the near future, the one who would hurt His Highness the most would be Pei Zheng himself.

“Imperial Physician Jiang, there’s no need to get angry. You can save people who are on the brink of death; a trivial matter like this wouldn’t even be worth mentioning to you.”

Pei Zheng touched the corner of his mouth and flashed a carefree smile.

Jiang Yubai stared at the man; Pei Zheng really didn’t care about the little prince’s life at all. He gritted his teeth and slapped him again.

Pei Zheng merely stared back and didn’t move, so Cheng Feng, who was standing beside him, flashed over and took the slap for him.

Pei Zheng brushed him off, “Stay out of this.”

Jiang Yubai withdrew his hand and took a few deep breaths, “If I had known that you would be like this, I would have never saved you. I should have left you to rot in a filthy mass grave; it would have been better than letting you become such a ruthless, power-hungry scoundrel1!”

Pei Zheng stood up, “If it wasn’t for you saving my life, do you think I would tolerate your existence up until now?”

Jiang Yubai’s fists clenched.

“Pei Zheng! Are you even human anymore?! Do you even have a heart?! As long as you give him even the slightest bit of kindness, he will stick to your side no matter what, and obey your every command. Even though he has some mental deficiencies, he’s still a precious prince of Qi. What else are you dissatisfied with? What else do you want?! Right now, his pulse is extremely unstable; he must have been stimulated by something. He must be in unbearable pain, but he’s still unwilling to wake up. Sooner or later, he will grow to hate you for everything you’ve done2. We’ll see if you can continue to be so cold-hearted!”

Pei Zheng glanced at the small man on the bed, who was ghostly pale and barely breathing; it looked as though he would disappear in an instant. Pei Zheng turned and walked to the door, and spoke without turning his head.

“Then cure him for me.”

With those words, he left.

Jiang Yubai’s fingers finally uncurled.

Cheng Feng summoned a maid and gave her the herbs prescribed by Jiang Yubai so she could decoct them.

Jiang Yubai sat down beside the bed, clutching the scar-healing ointment in his hand. He really had no clue where to begin.

The small man underneath the blanket was unconscious and unable to resist, but it was far too inappropriate for Jiang Yubai to apply the medicine to certain unspeakable places.

He thought about it for a while; the most suitable person for this job was actually Pei Zheng.

The maid brought up the decocted medicine. Jiang Yubai helped the little prince sit up, and placed the bowl against his lips.

He couldn’t swallow it; the black medicinal soup flowed down his chin and dripped onto his robe.

Jiang Yubai was getting slightly anxious, “Your Highness, how can you get better if you don’t drink the medicine, drink up now.”

The small man’s Adam’s apple still didn’t bob. If it wasn’t for the sound of his weak breaths, he would have been mistaken as a corpse.

All of the soup had spilled without being imbibed, so Jiang Yubai had to order someone to decoct the medicine again.

Bowl after bowl of medicine was delivered, but the little prince had only swallowed a few droplets, which wouldn’t have any effect at all.

Night had fallen. Qi Changyi’s body was still burning hot. His face was still bright red; the flush had also spread down to his neck and upper body.

Jiang Yubai had stayed at his bedside this entire time and had exhausted every method. He just couldn’t get the medicine down the little prince’s throat. If he continued to burn up like this, there was a chance that he would never wake up.

Fortunately, when it got dark, Pei Zheng finally returned to the little pavilion.

When he saw that the figure on the bed was still unconscious, Pei Zheng’s expression turned ugly.

“Imperial Physician Jiang’s medical skills have really regressed. If you can’t even take care of such a trivial matter, you won’t need to stay in the Imperial Hospital any longer.”

Jiang Yubai instantly became annoyed, and fired back, “You’re really good at oversimplifying things, you know that? In just a few words, you’ve managed to blame it all on me. I think we both know who the real culprit is!”

At this time, the maid had returned once again with another bowl of medicinal soup and stood beside the bed.

Jiang Yubai grabbed the bowl and stuffed it into Pei Zheng’s hands.

“Find a way to feed this medicine to His Highness. You can’t waste a single drop. Hurry up, I’m not sure how much longer His Highness can hold on.”

Pei Zheng stared down at the bowl of black soup in his hands.

Feed him medicine?

He walked up to the bed and sat down, before lifting the blanket and pulling the small man into his chest. The front of his white robe was already covered in black stains.

Pei Zheng lifted the bowl to his mouth and drank a large mouthful. He pinched the little prince’s cheeks and pressed his lips to the other’s.

He had fed medicine to Qi Changyi with this method before, but the other had been unwilling to swallow it because of the bitterness. But if Pei Zheng shot him a glance, he didn’t dare struggle, and would obediently drink the concoction.

But it was obviously a completely different matter once he was unconscious. Though the medicine had entered his mouth, his throat wouldn’t open, no matter how many times Pei Zheng stabbed his tongue into it. The black soup only flowed back out of Qi Changyi’s mouth and onto both of their lips.

Jiang Yubai coughed lightly and looked away in embarrassment, only to realize that the maid standing beside him was completely stone-faced as if she couldn’t even see the two people kissing on the bed.

This little maid and her cautious attitude were far more clever than most of the palace’s servants.

Pei Zheng parted his lips slightly, and channeled his qi, before resuming the kiss.

The spiritual energy combined with the medicinal soup slammed through the small man’s closed throat and poured straight into his stomach.

Pei Zheng managed to feed him the entire bowl of medicine, save for the few drops that spilled out in the beginning.

The moment Qi Changyi had swallowed the rest of the black soup, he coughed weakly, his brows wrinkling.

Jiang Yubai hurriedly brushed past Pei Zheng and checked the small man’s pulse.

There was still a droplet of soup on Pei Zheng’s chin, and it was about to roll down his neck. He reached up and wiped it with the back of his hand. The concoction was disgustingly bitter; his entire mouth was filled with its taste.

Jiang Yubai heaved a sigh of relief. The method of sending spiritual energy down his throat was indeed effective. Qi Changyi’s body temperature was slowly cooling, and his pulse gradually stabilized.

“You, take this ointment.” Jiang Yubai handed Pei Zheng a small box.

“I made it with the best herbs from the foreign tribes. Although His Highness’s skin doesn’t scar easily, this will expedite the healing of his wounds. Remember to apply it to every wound. I mean it. Every single one.”

Pei Zheng held the box and raised his eyes, “In that place as well?”

“Of course! How many times do I have to say it for you to understand? It’s bleeding, do you know painful it is when that place is torn?!”

Jiang Yubai was furious. He picked up his medicine case and was about to head out the door, but his heart was suddenly overcome with uneasiness, and he halted in his footsteps.

“Pei Zheng, I regret saving you. But I am a doctor with morals, so if something happens to you in the future, I will save you again. I don’t expect you to be grateful for it. It’s just that I am indebted to Noble Consort Ning. I’m not like you. I will return a drop of water with a fountain3, even more so for her life-saving grace. I have done everything that I can for His Highness. I just want you to, to treat him a little better. At the very least, don’t push him into a dead end4, all right?”

Jiang Yubai stood at the door for a long time, but there was no response from Pei Zheng. He closed his eyes for a moment before walking away.

The little pavilion suddenly fell quiet. White moonlight shone against the dark trees, and a cold draft blew inside, lowering the temperature of the room by several degrees.

The door had been slammed shut by the wind. Pei Zheng leaned over the bed and stripped the small man of his clothes. He dipped his fingers into the cool ointment and smeared it all over Qi Changyi’s bruised body, even in all of the unmentionable, warm parts.

His thoughts were a jumbled mess in his mind, and he could hardly breathe.

For the rest of the night, he sat at Qi Changyi’s bedside.

The next day, Pei Zheng walked out of the garden with bloodshot eyes, changed into his official robes, and prepared to head to the morning court session.

Cheng Feng followed behind him, and asked worriedly, “Master, you didn’t rest well last night, did you? Don’t worry. Imperial Physician Jiang said, His Highness’s body is just a little weak right now, he’ll wake up very soon…”

A hand stretched out and grabbed Cheng Feng’s throat. Pei Zheng leaned forward and stared at him; the blood-red veins in his eyes were truly terrifying.

“You’re so chatty today. When have I ever worried about anything? Everything in the world is under my control, what would I need to worry about?”

Cheng Feng lowered his eyes, “Of course.”

Pei Zheng let go of him before he turned around and climbed into a sedan chair.

After a long while, there was finally some movement inside the little pavilion. The comatose little prince had woken up. Upon regaining consciousness, he was overwhelmed with terrible grief and pain; he could only hug his knees to his chest and curl into a tight ball.

Qi Changyi had dreamed of his mother. She asked him, “Why don’t you leave Pei Zheng? Why don’t you leave Pei Zheng, why are you still with him, how have you not died from heartbreak?”

He was dying from heartbreak. He didn’t want to wake up, but there was an external force grabbing at his limbs, pushing and pulling him, forcing him to quickly open his eyes to the harsh reality.

Qi Changyi swayed slightly as he sat up. The pain in his nether regions was unbearable. Confused, jumbled memories overwhelmed his mind, and tears immediately began to flow.

I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Mother. I didn’t mean to, please forgive me…

Qi Changyi’s legs were sore and weak. He hadn’t walked far before he collapsed onto the table beside him. A teacup fell to the floor and shattered, and the shards pierced his bare feet.

He laid on the cold ground for a long time, but couldn’t catch his breath. He shifted his body slightly, stood up with great effort, and began to walk towards the door, leaving bloody footprints in his wake.

The entire garden was empty; without Pei Zheng’s orders, no one was to take half a step into it.

Qi Changyi walked out by himself. His footsteps were light as he exited the back gate.

A servant who was sweeping the floor saw the pale little prince walk over with bare feet, as well as the bloody trail of footprints behind him. He was so frightened that he couldn’t breathe.

The maid whose feet were chopped off was still imprisoned in the manor’s dungeon, no one knew if she was still alive or not.

The sweeper quickly found the manor’s old housekeeper, who then hurriedly ordered someone to get the prince’s shoes. Several other servants fell to their knees in terror.

“Your Highness, Your Highness, please stop, put on your shoes first, we’re begging you, please spare our lives!”

“Your Highness, you’re still too weak, the ground is cold, you’re only hurting yourself more. When our Lord comes back, all of us will lose our heads!”

“Your Highness, Your Highness…”

Qi Changyi didn’t seem to hear them. He continued to walk towards the manor’s main gate. When he got tired, he would simply stop and take a breath, before resuming his footsteps once more.

There seemed to be a slight obsession at the depths of his heart; he had to walk out of the manor himself. Only then would he be at ease. The obviously frail little figure who looked as though he was about to fall over managed to step over the high threshold of the manor’s gate.

A small group of servants tailed him, their heads lowered and their waists bent. They didn’t dare to pull the little prince back, or even touch him, for fear of being punished even more severely.

Qi Changy stood outside the gate. His clothes were thin and his face was bloodless; the soles of his feet were smeared with blood and gravel. His body shook in the cold wind, but his expression was filled with relief.

He didn’t understand many things. Once he grasped the concept of something, it would be etched into his mind, and he would stick to his beliefs until the very end. In the past, he trusted his feelings for Pei Zheng and held the other man in the deepest part of his warm heart. But now, that warm heart was slowly turning cold; there was nothing left for him to believe in.

A sedan chair suddenly appeared on a path in the distance, slowly marching towards the manor.

Qi Changyi was still standing at the gate; his body had begun to shiver violently from the cold.

The servants behind him, however, were suddenly coated head to toe in a layer of sweat.

The Lord of the manor had returned from court.

Notes

oh god, run away Changyi ahhhhhhhhhhhh

Sorry this chapter is out so late today hnngh, you see

Thanks for reading~~

1. 草菅人命 cǎo jiān rén mìng: Today is a fun idiom lesson day, this one refers to someone who regards human lives as weeds.

2. 挫骨揚灰 cuò gǔ yáng huī: to crush bones and scatter ashes, usually refers to a deep hatred.

3. 滴水之恩，涌泉相报 dī shuǐ zhī ēn, dāng yǒng quán xiāng bào: to return a little kindness tenfold.

4. 逼上绝路 bī shàng jué lù: to force someone into a corner/dead end, in this case, to drive someone to suicide.