Chapter 109 - The Fox Is Injured

Chu Yun woke up with a scream lodged in his throat.

His eyes snapped open with the fire consuming his lower body. He looked down at his legs expecting to find them gone. Instead they were propped up from the ceiling by the ankle in a sort of cloth harness. His robes had been tied above his knees in the same way fishermen did when they needed to wade into water. His knees were covered in a thick dark salve, hiding the skin beneath.

Chu Yun tried to move, and free his legs from the contraption, but bending his legs sent a soaring pain through his spine.

"If I was you I wouldn't do that," said a wizened voice from behind him.

He tried to crane his neck to get a look at the speaker but she did him the favour of moving into his line of sight. 

The Queen Dowager was wearing her usual fine brocade robes, but her golden crown and gold hairpins with all their trains were nowhere to be seen. Most shocking was the realisation that her full head of sleek black hair was a wig.

Chu Yun suspected it was painted to resemble the vibrant black of youth, but he never expected it to be entirely fake.

In reality, the Queen Dowager's own hair was cropped close to the scalp, soft and thin, and a muted grey colour.

"What happened?" Chu Yun asked, digging at his memory to try and recall how he'd ended up in what looked to be the Queen Dowager's private quarters.

"I'd say it all started when you were very foolish." She laughed at him. "Oh, don't look like that. Being foolish is the prerogative of youth. When you get to my age, you won't have the privilege of being foolish anymore."

"I remember hearing the ministers climbing the stairs for morning court." He closed his eyes, but there was nothing but darkness after that, he couldn't recall what happened afterwards.

The Queen Dowager chuckled. "They did, just in time to see you collapse on the snow."

Not his most dignified moment, but in his defence it had been really fucking cold.

She smiled at Chu Yun's grimace and pulled up a high backed chair from beneath a desk to sit as his bedside. Despite her small stature and many years the Queen Dowager was clearly a healthy person. She had a slight limp that seemed to be related to injury, but other than that she was surprisingly spry.

"I hope you got what you wanted because you have frost burns on your knees now," she said pointing at the salve on his skin. "That's going to hurt for a time. Frost burns are worse than fire burns in many ways."

It remained to be seen if Chu Yun's night in the cold would pay off in the way he hoped. His most pressing concern was getting Xiao Zai out of jail. Who knew what they were doing to him there. If the King wouldn't see him, perhaps the Queen Dowager would intervene in  her grandson's favour.

"Miaoyan is glad that her royal highness has helped him."  Chu Yun was working up to asking her for help with Xiao Zai when she interrupted him with a dry, raspy laugh.

"You should be tanking Bailiu."

That's right, he sent out Hua Nanyi to tell Gu Wei about everything, but since he didn't see either of them until morning he just assumed she wasn't successful.

The Queen Dowager smirked. "He and that maidservant of yours begged me on their knees to do something, and get you out of the snow." She tutted. "I sent out that servant girl to try and persuade you, and if persuasion didn't work, at leas to shield you from the elements."

One corner of her lips ticked up. "Something you were too proud to accept."

Chu Yun kept quiet. The least he said the better.

"After all these years I think I have a good understanding of Bailiu, and what he cares about. Or rather who." She paused, looking down into Chu Yun's eyes. "So, why, seeing as his precious son was detained, would he come beg me for his son-in-law instead?"

The old croon was sharp as a blade, but Chu Yun wasn't going to give her the information she wanted that easily. He didn't expect Gu Wei to go ask her for help, instead of trying to release Xiao Zai, but he knew why he'd done it.

"Father-in-law is very attentive and kind, we have a very close relationship."

The Queen Dowager slapped her thigh and let out another loud, croaky laugh. "Bailiu is only close to my grandson, If you feel otherwise I'm sorry to disabuse you of the notion." 

Chu Yun didn't say anything, instead he looked up at the ceiling of the Queen Dowager's room. It was painted with vivid scenes of frolicking wolves and other nature landscape. The entire room despite large, felt cramped with the amount of furniture, trinkets, flower arrangements, and wall-hangings covering every able inch of space. 

It was as if the woman tried to fit everything important for her into this one single room. Chu Yun couldn't get a clear read on her. She was a lot like Gu Wei in that respect.

"I know why he was so scared now," she said all of a sudden, her eyes narrowed in mirth.

Chu Yun went very still, playing at nonchalance with a curious hum.

"When I called a physician to examine you and your condition he made a fascinating discovery," her eyes widened theatrically when she said the word 'fascinating'. "He said that you are pregnant."

"Oh? That's the first I'm hearing of it," Chu Yun said doing his best to inject real shock into his voice.

He must have failed, because the Queen Dowager broke into a fit of wheezing laughter. "You're either really smart, or really stupid. Luckily for you, you amuse me.. And apparently, you're also carrying my first great grandchild."