Chapter 164: Don’t Worry
Compared to the palace room where Chai Wan’er was, there were far fewer people where Miss Yang was.
Miss Yang’s family did not come; only her cousin Yang Hui was there.
But Yang Hui refused to come take care of her.
So only the maidservant was there.
The Libationer and Ling Yu soon arrived as well.
Although there were two more people, it was still very quiet on Miss Yang’s side.
The three Imperial Physicians performed diagnosis and treatment, bandaging… actually, there was nothing to diagnose or bandage.
Miss Yang only looked terrifying. After changing out of her bloodstained clothes and washing her hair and face, she immediately looked clean and pristine, without even a bruise from bumping on her body or hands.
“It’s good that Senior Brother protected me.” Miss Yang said, tears streaming down like rain. “Senior Brother is going to die. Is Senior Brother going to die?”
She struggled to get up as she spoke.
“Senior Brother, Senior Brother.”
“Senior Brother, don’t die.”
“If Senior Brother dies, I will die too.”
“I’m going to die, I’m going to die, save me—”
The young lady became terrified. The maidservant hurriedly comforted her and started crying too. The three Imperial Physicians immediately became flustered… Although there were no external injuries, terror was also a trauma, an internal mental trauma.
The Imperial Physicians administered acupuncture, took out sweet calming pills, and prescribed a medicine to nourish qi and blood.
“Miss Yang, rest well first. Take the medicine and we’ll observe the effects afterward,” they said.
Wang Zaitian nodded from the side: “You’ve worked hard.”
The Imperial Physicians withdrew.
Wang Zaitian looked at Miss Yang, who seemed to have quieted down lying on the bed.
“It’s good that you’re alright,” he sighed.
Ling Yu spoke up dissatisfied from the side: “How is it alright? She’s so frightened that her mind is in chaos.”
She even regarded Wei Jiao as her benefactor.
She even called Wei Jiao Senior Brother.
What kind of Senior Brother was Wei Jiao.
Besides, Wei Jiao didn’t save her; he only did it to stop the startled horse.
Wang Zaitian glanced at Ling Yu but said nothing. Mo Zheng sat up.
“Senior Brother Ling, I’m fine,” she said. “With Teacher and Senior Brother here, I wasn’t afraid at all. My earlier behavior was to deceive the Imperial Physicians. After all, Miss Chai was injured, the startled horse alarmed His Majesty, so pretending to be injured would be better to avoid punishment.”
She gave the two a solemn bow.
“I’m truly sorry for making Teacher and Senior Brother Ling worry.”
Ling Yu didn’t care about the words “pretend to be injured.” If it weren’t absolutely necessary, who would pretend to be injured, act crazy, and play dumb!
He frowned and shook his head: “What are you sorry for? It’s Teacher and I who are willing to worry for you; it has nothing to do with you.”
Wang Zaitian was amused beside them and looked at Ling Yu: “Having a disciple like you is quite rare.” Then he looked at Mo Zheng. Well, which of his disciples wasn’t peculiar.
And there was also Wei Jiao.
“This is all Wei Jiao’s fault,” he said bluntly. “It was he who wanted you to come, so blame him.”
He smiled as he said this.
“Now he’s injured too. This is his cause, and he got his own result.”
Ling Yu beside him was somewhat surprised.
Originally, he had said to take advantage of the festival with no classes, decline all social engagements, and not step out of the library half a step, but the Teacher suddenly said he wanted to attend the Martial Arts Banquet.
And to bring along the disciples in the capital city.
At that time, he had nearly rushed home immediately, but calculated that the reading time delayed on the road would be even more.
So it turned out Wei Jiao had made him come.
“That’s right.” He nodded. “That kind of person doesn’t have good intentions.”
Mo Zheng smiled at him: “I came of my own free will too. Please don’t worry, Teacher and Senior Brother Ling.”
Wang Zaitian looked at her and slowly said: “As long as you know what you’re doing, that’s fine.”
Mo Zheng knew what Wang Zaitian meant. After all, he knew her true identity—a remnant of the previous dynasty, a princess bearing the title of prince—who had suddenly rushed before the current Emperor…
It was truly frightening.
Mo Zheng said solemnly: “Please rest assured, Mister. The student knows; the student won’t do anything foolish.”
Wang Zaitian gave her a deep look.
“Good, rest now,” he said, then stroked his beard and slowly smiled. “After all, you’ve had such a great fright.”
Mo Zheng gave another solemn bow.
Thank you, Mister, for believing in her.
……
……
Wang Zaitian and Ling Yu left. The room returned to quiet, filled with the scent of medicine.
Yang Luo sat by the bed, gently stirring the boiled medicine.
“I boiled the medicine myself,” she said softly. “It’s just some to calm the mind and nourish qi and blood. Do you want to take it?”
Mo Zheng leaned against the bed and took the medicine bowl: “I’ll take some. Having some medicine scent on me would be more appropriate.”
Yang Luo watched her drink the medicine in big gulps, hurriedly brought preserved fruit, and fed it to her after she finished.
“I just went to the Libationer to inquire,” she said in a low voice. “There are soldiers guarding here. To visit, they need Miss Yang’s permission to enter.”
After speaking, she looked at Mo Zheng, her voice even lower.
“This is His Majesty’s order, right? To guard against the Empress or others harming Miss Yang?”
Mo Zheng nodded: “Yes.” She smiled as she spoke. “His Majesty is no fool. Yet both Chai Wan’er and I had startled horses, the Empress repeatedly obstructed, and even mobilized crossbowmen…”
She paused here.
“How is Wei Jiao now?”
“I asked about that too,” Yang Luo said in a low voice.
As a maidservant, she could move about freely and inquire about news. She had asked about all three people involved in this startled horse incident.
“Chai Wan’er is in the Empress’s Palace; all superficial wounds. Wei Jiao has only one injury, but the crossbow bolt pierced through his shoulder. When I asked, the arrow extraction hadn’t been done yet…”
The arrow extraction hadn’t been done yet.
Mo Zheng said softly: “This is a martial arts hunting event; the accompanying Imperial Physicians should all be skilled in weapons injuries. But the arrow still hasn’t been extracted, so the arrow wound must be very tricky.”
Yang Luo nodded: “Yes, after all, it’s the bowmen guarding the Emperor. That arrow was originally meant for you; it was meant to kill Miss Yang.”
She felt despondent as she said this.
If Mo Zheng hadn’t taken her place as Miss Yang.
She would already be dead this time.
She lifted her head to look at Mo Zheng and smiled.
“The Emperor went hunting.”
Risking death to fall before him, he took one look and left.
He didn’t look again, didn’t say another word, didn’t come back to check on the injury condition. The incident happened, but it was as if it hadn’t. The Emperor continued with his Martial Arts Banquet.
“Meeting him was useless after all.”
Mo Zheng gently patted her arm and said softly: “You can’t say it was useless. If we hadn’t done this, how would we know it was useless?”
She smiled faintly as she spoke.
“Now that we know this approach is useless, we can think of other ways.”
No matter when or what result they encountered, A Sheng was always so calm, neither sad nor joyful nor angry. Yang Luo felt somewhat ashamed. The one suffering hardship, torment, and injury was A Sheng; she was just watching, and even knowing the outcome, she was still emotionally affected and saddened by it—truly ridiculous.
“Good.” She nodded and smiled too. “We’ll think of other ways.”
With that, she stood up.
“Although you weren’t injured, this ordeal has tired you out. Rest well first; I’ll handle the other matters.”
Mo Zheng didn’t refuse again; she couldn’t manage everything alone.
Watching her lie down, Yang Luo lowered the bed curtains and walked out with the medicine bowl.
Mo Zheng heard her softly asking the Imperial Guard outside.
“Are the Imperial Physicians here?”
“What’s wrong with Miss Yang?”
“No, I want to ask about my young lady’s condition… My young lady looks very bad.”
“Don’t cry, miss. The Imperial Physicians are waiting in the hall next door. I’ll take you there.”
The sobbing outside the door faded with the footsteps, and both inside and outside returned to quiet.
Mo Zheng turned over in bed but didn’t sleep.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the environment.
The Emperor had already made arrangements; there wouldn’t be any problems for the time being.
She also stopped thinking about the Emperor’s reaction.
Having met him, and the Emperor having no reaction to “Miss Yang,” was actually within expectations.
What she did was actually to draw out others’ reactions and display them before the Emperor.
The Emperor should have seen it already and even given some reaction, like isolating those around Miss Yang.
As for whether there would be other reactions afterward…
She would have to wait and see.
Mo Zheng temporarily set aside these matters.
She turned over again, lowered her eyes to look at her shoulder, and gently touched it with her hand…
Right now, she only wanted to think about one thing.
Why did Wei Jiao block that arrow for her.
