Chapter 165: Wei Jiao’s Arrowhead
That arrow was a crossbow bolt, sudden, fast, and fierce.
It was indeed hard to dodge.
But it was she who found it hard to dodge, not Wei Jiao.
She was in front, Wei Jiao was behind, and Wei Jiao’s skills were no less than hers, so that crossbow bolt couldn’t possibly hit him.
But at the moment the crossbow bolt approached, Wei Jiao blocked her behind him.
Mo Zheng flipped over again.
This description of blocking might not be right.
Wei Jiao wanted to throw her off the horse, which happened to let her dodge it, while Wei Jiao took the arrow directly.
Mo Zheng exhaled, yes, it should be like that.
But the next moment she sat up and smiled.
Things are what they are; she couldn’t deny or refuse to believe them just because they were unexpected, and make wild guesses.
Wei Jiao was better skilled than her, Wei Jiao was behind her, Wei Jiao was a madman, but not a fool.
So the fact was that Wei Jiao had blocked an arrow for her.
Mo Zheng lifted the curtain and got out of bed.
“A Sheng, A Sheng—”
“Someone, someone—”
With Miss Yang’s voice, the originally quiet palace room became noisy.
Soon this noise spread to another palace room.
This side had more imperial physicians, but it wasn’t as noisy as where Miss Chai was, nor as quiet as where Miss Yang was.
Here the blood smell was strong, and the imperial physicians looked nervous.
Hearing the noise outside, they were somewhat displeased.
“What’s going on? We’re about to extract the arrow, why the noise outside?”
“It’s that Miss Yang from Duke Ding’an’s Mansion, worried about Captain Wei, insisting on coming over.”
“Don’t let her in, at this critical moment, no mistakes can be tolerated.”
“She’s been stopped, Miss Yang said she’ll wait outside and won’t disturb the rescue and treatment.”
“Then let’s prepare.”
Several imperial physicians rolled up their sleeves and stood in the brightest spot indoors, where a wooden board bed was placed, and Wei Jiao lay there shirtless with his eyes closed.
The bleeding had stopped, the wound on his shoulder was hideous, and the arrowhead with flesh and blood was terrifying.
Although accustomed to all kinds of wounds, seeing this scene, the imperial physician in charge of arrow extraction still took a deep breath, but just as he was about to wrap a thin cloth strip around the arrowhead, Wei Jiao opened his eyes.
The imperial physicians were startled.
“How did he wake up?”
“Has the anesthetic worn off?”
“Get more anesthetic.”
Wei Jiao frowned at them: “What are you talking about?”
The imperial physicians hurriedly said: “Captain, we’re going to extract the arrow for you, please endure a bit longer…”
“No, there was another sentence before that.” Wei Jiao interrupted, “Who came?”
One imperial physician came to his senses: “Miss Yang, Miss Yang from Duke Ding’an’s Mansion.”
Sure enough, Wei Jiao thought, he hadn’t misheard; he vaguely heard that name mentioned.
What was this dog thing doing here?
Instead of hurrying to make a scene in front of the emperor while injured, why come watch his spectacle?
The person stopped outside seemed to hear the movement inside.
“Senior Brother, Senior Brother, are you okay?”
“Senior Brother, don’t die, Senior Brother—”
The female voice burst into loud crying.
Bah, though he couldn’t see, he could imagine that dog thing putting on an act; Wei Jiao wanted to spit, but unfortunately he had no strength.
Give up, don’t come watch the spectacle; this one arrow wouldn’t take his life.
“Captain, come, inhale this…”
One imperial physician held a brocade handkerchief soaked in anesthetic and came over to cover Wei Jiao’s mouth and nose.
Wei Jiao spat at the brocade handkerchief, blood foam splattering on it.
“Am I afraid of pain? What I’m afraid of is not feeling pain!” He smiled brightly, looking at the needle knife in front of him, his gaze dark.
The imperial physicians saw Wei Jiao’s gaze and immediately felt a chill in their hearts.
This was bad.
……
……
These imperial physicians were familiar with weapons wounds and also very familiar with Wei Jiao.
After all, since Wei Jiao entered the capital, they had been diagnosing and treating him.
As soon as they saw Wei Jiao’s gaze, they knew Wei Jiao was having an episode.
The reason they hadn’t extracted the arrow earlier was first because the arrow wound was severe, and second because Wei Jiao would go mad due to his hidden illness.
Once he went mad, it was impossible to get close to him, let alone extract the arrow and treat the wound; Wei Jiao could even cut off his own arm—
They had finally covered his mouth and nose with anesthetic while he was unconscious, but it was useless; he had indeed woken up.
Wei Jiao smiled brightly as he spoke, then suddenly reached for the curved knife beside him.
“I’ll do it myself, no need for you to act—”
The imperial physicians panicked at once; some held down the knife, some held down Wei Jiao, but even with his arm badly wounded, two imperial physicians couldn’t hold him down…
“Captain, don’t move—”
“Captain, you can’t act rashly, your arm will be ruined.”
“Quick, someone tie him up—”
“How to tie him at this time, his wound can’t be moved—”
The hall was in chaos, and the next moment the door was pushed open, and someone rushed in.
“Miss Yang can’t go in.”
But that young girl was nimble, and the imperial guards and eunuchs couldn’t catch her; the imperial physicians only saw a blur, and the woman stood beside Wei Jiao.
“Senior Brother—you can’t die—”
With a loud shout, the woman knelt by the wooden board bed, pressing down on Wei Jiao’s left arm with one hand, and at the same time, with a bang, Wei Jiao, who had been sitting up grabbing the knife from the imperial physicians, seemed to be knocked back down.
The noisy chaos froze for an instant.
This girl looked slim and small, but her strength was not small; the imperial physicians thought, several of them couldn’t hold him down, but this girl knocked him over with one bump.
“Dog thing—” Wei Jiao, who had been knocked down, focused his gaze in an instant and let out a curse.
He tried to get up, but the woman pressed her head onto his left arm again, while reaching behind his neck and grabbing.
Wei Jiao, who had half risen, was knocked back onto the wooden board bed again.
The woman let out a sobbing cry.
“Senior Brother, it’s all for me, you can’t have anything happen to you—”
“If not for you, this arrow would have hit me—”
Wei Jiao sneered; this dog thing thought he had blocked that arrow for her.
Really funny.
How could he block an arrow for her.
What did her life or death have to do with him?
Well, not entirely unrelated; if she died, how could he continue watching the spectacle?
Things had gotten so lively, finally to the point where they had to face each other, no one could keep dodging; of course she couldn’t die.
Except for him wanting her dead, no one else could!
Well, in that sense, he had indeed blocked the arrow for her, but not for her sake.
Also, this dog thing wasn’t stupid and wouldn’t think it was for her; now coming here to put on an act…
“Junior Sister.” Wei Jiao lay there looking at the woman’s head on his shoulder, which seemed to shrug with sobs, “Don’t worry, if I die, you’ll die too…”
What kind of “don’t worry” was this? The imperial physicians nearby muttered in their hearts, then suddenly saw the woman with her head buried in crying slightly lift her head and give them a look.
The other imperial physicians were slightly stunned, but one imperial physician reacted instantly.
Wei Jiao was pinned down.
Once pinned, Wei Jiao stopped moving.
Wei Jiao was still speaking, his gaze on the woman.
Good opportunity!
That imperial physician grabbed the anesthetic brocade handkerchief and swiftly pressed it over Wei Jiao’s mouth and nose.
Wei Jiao struggled instantly, but didn’t spring up like before; instead, he seemed tightly held down.
“Don’t think this stuff can…” Wei Jiao sneered coldly, but as he spoke, his gaze gradually blurred.
Not the uncontrolled blur, his eyes slowly closed.
Great, the imperial physicians breathed a sigh of relief.
“Quick, quick.”
“Move faster.”
“This young lady…”
One imperial physician reminded this Miss Yang to leave, but as he opened his mouth, the imperial physician who had knocked Wei Jiao out took over.
“Let her stay here, perhaps…” This imperial physician glanced at this Miss Yang, “she can soothe the captain.”
Though they didn’t know what was going on, it was indeed after this young lady came in that Wei Jiao stopped struggling and didn’t fall into a mad state, but even spoke to this young lady.
Which gave him the chance to anesthetize Wei Jiao.
However, due to Wei Jiao’s constitution from too much anesthetic exposure, he might wake up again.
If he woke during arrow extraction, it would be disastrous.
Maybe they’d still need this young lady to soothe him then.
The other imperial physicians also caught on, hesitating for a moment.
“Young lady, extracting the arrowhead will be very bloody, you…” one imperial physician said.
Before he finished, that Miss Yang buried her head tightly on Wei Jiao’s left shoulder.
“I won’t look, if I don’t see it, it’ll be fine.” Her muffled voice came through.
Can’t see, but the blood smell, cutting with knives and needles was still scary.
Fine, no more delay now; the imperial physicians said no more and quickly got busy again.
……
……
It hurts so much.
But he wasn’t afraid of pain.
Wei Jiao tried hard to open his eyes.
They thought they could scare him with knives, blood, or hunting dogs.
He too had blood and flesh, he too had teeth.
See who fears whom.
He gritted his teeth, wanting to bite himself, but just as he lowered his head, a stab of pain came from his neck.
It seemed grabbed, or bitten by teeth.
Wei Jiao froze; who was it, who bit him first!
He couldn’t turn, couldn’t see behind; he lowered his head, looking at his feet.
At his feet was a slender soft shadow, the shadow slowly swaying, enveloping him.
