Chapter 280: Medicinal Bath
The rain pattered.
The atmosphere in the room was as heavy as waterlogged cotton wadding.
Li Zhao’s furious roar, laced with the might of thunder, sliced through the stagnant, viscous air of the guest hall like an ice-tempered blade.
“Your Highness… you can let go now.” Xue Sui was weak.
Her voice carried the frailty of a spent arrow, cold sweat beading on her forehead.
“The blood is flowing again, be careful not to stain Your Highness’s hands.”
“Stain?”
Li Zhao had fought on battlefields and seen countless wounds, countless blood.
Fresh wounds bled crimson, but the wound before him oozed an ominous dark red.
That color was all too similar to the foul blood coughed up by soldiers at Black Wind Pass who had contracted some unknown plague and eventually died spitting blood…
“Xue Ping’an, this wound is very unusual.”
“Just a minor graze from a hidden weapon… Your Highness worries too much.”
Xue Sui closed her eyes, trying to gather her dissipating consciousness.
“This nun… will not die.”
“How long will you remain stubborn? Will you only relent when I am preparing your funeral rites?”
“Your Highness…” She gasped, her voice broken and hoarse, yet with a strange calmness, “If this nun truly dies… wouldn’t that be to Your Highness’s liking? It would save… you the trouble of seeing me…”
She managed a weak, almost provocative smile.
“One end to all, wouldn’t that be cleaner?”
“You—” Li Zhao felt a pang of pain from her words.
He truly wanted to strangle this foolish woman who courted death.
“You truly know how to make me furious…”
Li Zhao’s body tensed, and he reached out to grip her, almost throwing her onto the seat—
“Your Highness, old minister Zhang Huaicheng requests an audience…”
A deep voice, with a hint of barely perceptible urgency, came from outside the door.
Li Zhao’s tensed knuckles suddenly loosened. “Enter.”
Zhang Huaicheng strode in, carrying his medicine box. He paused for a moment upon seeing the scene, then lowered his head.
The Crown Prince’s tall figure almost entirely enveloped the woman in shadow, one hand still gripping her wrist, the other supporting her shoulder, her clothes stained with specks of glaring blood.
“This minister pays his respects to the Crown Prince.”
“No need!”
“Your Highness, allow this minister to examine the wound first.” Zhang Huaicheng bowed and requested.
“Mm.” Li Zhao stepped aside, his gaze never leaving Xue Sui’s pale face.
Zhang Huaicheng responded and stepped forward, placing down his medicine box with swift, steady movements.
He first carefully washed his hands before gently lifting Xue Sui’s injured left arm.
As his cold fingertips touched the wound, Xue Sui instinctively pursed her lips, and a fresh layer of cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
Li Zhao watched her reaction, his jaw tightening further, his hands clasped tightly behind his back.
“How is it?”
Zhang Huaicheng withdrew his hand, bowed deeply to Li Zhao, his expression grave.
“Reporting to Your Highness, Master Miaozhen’s wound… is very peculiar…”
“Is it poisoned?” Li Zhao’s voice was taut like a drawn bowstring, each word laced with anxiety.
Zhang Huaicheng shook his head, then nodded.
“It’s like poison but not, not the harm of ordinary snakes, insects, or plants. It seems, it seems… to have been concocted with filth from plague corpses, and mixed with ingredients like Bone Rotting Grass to delay healing and intensify pain… This way, it’s like Cold Poison invading the body, obstructing the blood flow…”
He paused, his tone growing heavier.
“This poison acts slowly, but it’s like a leech, if not removed promptly, the Cold Poison will penetrate the internal organs. Mildly, it will damage the meridians; severely… it may be life-threatening! And the longer it’s delayed, the harder it will be to cure…”
Li Zhao’s expression shifted slightly.
“Is there a way?” he asked, his voice terrifyingly low.
Zhang Huaicheng looked troubled. “We need to quickly scrape away the bruised flesh and necrotic poison with a silver knife to slow the spread of the Cold Poison…”
He glanced at Xue Sui’s paper-white face, hesitating slightly.
“The process of scraping out the poison is extremely painful, like being burned by fire or pierced by ice needles, something beyond ordinary endurance! Moreover, Master Miaozhen had previously suffered from a severe illness of Snow Withering, which damaged her Vital Energy. I fear… I fear she may not be able to endure it…”
Li Zhao’s gaze was sharp as he looked at Xue Sui, whose lips were pale and tinged with blue.
She had her eyes closed, her fingertips resting steadily on her knee, her breathing light. Her brow wasn’t even furrowed, showing no sign of the severe damage to her Vital Energy or the unbearable pain Zhang Huaicheng had described.
Truly capable of enduring what others could not.
His brow furrowed. “Then what are you waiting for? Scrape!”
Hearing his harsh words, Xue Sui glanced at her exposed forearm and said calmly.
“It’s nothing. Imperial Physician Zhang can proceed; it won’t be a problem.”
“Nothing?” Li Zhao straightened abruptly, his chest heaving, and glared at Xue Sui. His gaze was as complex as the sea before a storm, harboring turbulent waves.
“At the brink of life and death, you still dare to be strong. Do you find life too long?”
Xue Sui coughed lightly.
Li Zhao was like a lit firecracker at this moment; anyone who touched him would explode…
She wouldn’t provoke him.
“Thank you, Imperial Physician.”
Zhang Huaicheng lowered his head, not daring to look at the Crown Prince, nor daring to delay. He took a thin silver knife from his medicine box, heated it with fire, sprayed it with strong liquor, and took out white powder from a porcelain vase.
“Master Miaozhen, please bear with it. It will be a bit stinging when the necrotic flesh and foul blood are scraped away.”
Xue Sui nodded.
Taking a deep breath, she lowered her eyelids…
As the dagger was about to touch the wound, Li Zhao suddenly reached out and snatched the thin, small knife from Zhang Huaicheng’s hand.
“I will do it.” His voice was deep and unquestionable.
Xue Sui was startled and looked up at him.
In the candlelight, the lines of his jaw were taut, his eyes focused on her gruesome wound. His long lashes cast dense shadows beneath his eyelids, and he exuded an unusual seriousness.
“Your Highness is of noble birth; such a dirty task…” Xue Sui attempted to refuse.
“Less nonsense.” Li Zhao interrupted her, his tone harsh.
“I’ve handled more corpses with my bare hands than you’ve seen dead people.”
He bent down, his tall figure once again enveloping her.
Xue Sui simply closed her eyes.
Fine, he was like an enraged beast right now, needing an outlet.
Carving bone to heal, the pain of flesh and skin, inflicted by his own hands, could be considered a form of revenge. Her pain would surely bring him immense satisfaction…
Let him.
Xue Sui turned her face slightly, prepared to endure intense pain.
Unexpectedly, Li Zhao picked up the dagger and carefully scraped away the poisonous blood around the wound. His movements were so steady and precise, even gentler than the experienced Zhang Huaicheng.
Xue Sui’s eyelashes fluttered.
The scent of agarwood mixed with the smell of rain, warm breath brushed against her arm.
It brought a tingling, itchy sensation.
“If it hurts, speak up.” Li Zhao’s tone was gruff.
Xue Sui lowered her gaze. “This nun cultivates asceticism; this little pain is nothing.”
Li Zhao’s movements paused, and he looked up at her profile.
The candlelight outlined her slender features, her eyelashes trembling slightly, clearly enduring it with great effort.
A strange tightness gripped his heart. He increased the pressure with his fingertips, and the detoxifying powder seeped into the wound. Xue Sui gasped sharply, cold sweat beading on her forehead, yet she uttered no sound.
“Stubborn as a mule.”
Li Zhao cursed softly, but his movements didn’t stop.
When he was halfway through, he couldn’t bear to see the cold sweat soaking her brow. He paused, and almost instinctively, raised his left hand, the one not holding the knife—the soft silk fabric gently wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
This subtle action caused both of them to freeze for a moment.
“Back then, under the rockery at Pu Ji Temple, you looked just like this.”
Li Zhao’s voice suddenly deepened, carrying a hint of imperceptible bitterness, as if lost in some distant memory.
“You’d rather freeze to death than ask me for help.”
Xue Sui’s body stiffened abruptly.
A corner of her frozen memory was pried open, the biting cold and the fox fur coat that young Li Zhao had fiercely thrown at her, still warm with his body heat, seemed to reappear instantly.
That same stubborn yet kind-hearted, awkward and obstinate youth was right before her eyes…
Her throat felt tight.
At that time, the young man…
Had warmed her frozen body with his own heat.
The one who was stubborn but kind-hearted had always been him.
“Your Highness…” Her voice grew hoarse, carrying a complex emotion she herself hadn’t noticed. “You are a kind person.”
Li Zhao’s hand holding the knife suddenly paused. He felt as if he’d been burned by the word “good person.” His Adam’s apple bobbed violently, and he looked up at her.
They met each other’s gaze in silence for a moment.
He lowered his head and continued to treat the wound.
His movements, however, seemed gentler.
The candlelight flickered between them, entwining their mingled breaths…
Even the silence was tinged with the thickness of the night.
As he pressed down, Li Zhao’s fingertip accidentally brushed against an old scar on the inner side of her arm. His eyes suddenly darkened, and the fingers holding the knife tightened, the pressure unconsciously increasing for a moment.
“Ugh…” Xue Sui, caught off guard, let out a muffled groan of pain, her body trembling uncontrollably.
“Hmph! Saying the harshest words, enduring the most painful suffering.” Li Zhao looked up at her, his gaze filled with disappointment that she wouldn’t yield, his tone almost defeated.
“Xue Ping’an, do you never know how to yield? Or are you certain that I… can’t do anything to you?”
Xue Sui met his gaze, pursed her lips, and did not answer.
Agarwood smoke curled, the scent of their entwined breaths.
The rain outside had lessened, and the sound of water droplets falling from the eaves was exceptionally clear in the silence…
Until the wound was completely cleaned.
Seeing Li Zhao breathing heavily and motionless, she coughed lightly.
“Your Highness, it’s done.”
As she spoke, she tried to pull her torn clothes together, but it pulled at the wound, causing her to gasp in pain and her arm to fall limply.
“Don’t move!” Li Zhao instinctively grabbed her wrist as she tried to adjust her clothes.
“Am I going to eat you? Are you so afraid of me touching you?”
Their eyes met, their breaths audible.
The air was filled with the smell of medicine and a faint scent of blood.
Xue Sui couldn’t bear his burning gaze and tried to turn her head away, but he pressed the back of her neck with his other hand, pulling her closer…
His palm was calloused, and the warm touch transmitted through her skin made her heart race.
“Your Highness, Imperial Physician Zhang…”
She tried to remind him that someone else was present.
“Leave.” Li Zhao said without turning his head, his voice cold and hard.
With that, he lowered his head, embraced her, and gently pulled her shoulders, forcing her to look up at him…
As if Zhang Huaicheng were invisible.
Of course, Zhang Huaicheng wished he were dead at this moment, or perhaps deaf and blind…
But he couldn’t die yet…
Zhang Huaicheng was in a dilemma, his knees weak as he bowed and reported.
“Your Highness, please forgive me! This minister has an important matter to report… Scraping the poison was only the first step. Although the poison’s spread has been temporarily halted, it has already infiltrated the tissues. Subsequently, it needs to be bathed in medicinal soup to draw out the poison and steam the medicinal properties to expel the deep-seated poison from the body…”
Li Zhao narrowed his eyes. “Bathed to draw out poison?”
Zhang Huaicheng coughed lightly, cold sweat soaking his inner lining.
Under Li Zhao’s unfathomable gaze, he gritted his teeth and spoke.
“During this process… the outer garments must be removed, leaving only the undergarments, to allow the medicinal properties to penetrate…”
He paused, his voice dropping lower, filled with extreme awkwardness and caution.
“And someone must be present to watch over her at all times, never leaving her side, to prevent her from collapsing from exhaustion and sinking into the medicinal bath…”
Remove outer garments?
Leave only undergarments? Constant supervision?
Li Zhao turned around abruptly, his gaze fixed directly on Zhang Huaicheng.
Was he serious?
Zhang Huaicheng’s scalp tingled under the Crown Prince’s stare. He wiped away the cold sweat and lowered his head.
“Regarding the medicinal bath and the oral medicine, this minister will personally prepare them…”
Without waiting for Li Zhao’s reply, he bowed as if granted a great pardon and almost ran out, nearly tripping on the threshold.
“Imperial Physician Zhang…” Xue Sui called out to him. “Imperial Physician Zhang can just write down the prescription; this nun will recuperate on her own when she returns…”
“You’re injured like this, where are you going back to?” Li Zhao turned back sharply. “Stay!”
“Your Highness is joking.” Xue Sui frowned slightly. “This nun is an outsider; how can I stay in the Crown Prince’s villa for long… If word gets out, it will harm Your Highness’s reputation.”
“Since when is my reputation something for you to worry about?” Li Zhao leaned down, his nose almost brushing her forehead.
“If I tell you to stay, you will stay.”
The two were extremely close, and Xue Sui could smell the wine and medicine on him.
She could also see the undeniable domineeringness in his eyes, like an ox…
She suddenly smiled.
“Does Your Highness intend to keep this nun under house arrest?”
“Think whatever you want.” Li Zhao’s eyes were deep and unreadable.
With that, he lowered his head again, his voice hoarse.
“You planted the Love Silk Gu for me back then. Later, you took it upon yourself to remove it without a word of explanation. Xue Ping’an, here…”
His fingertip slid to her chest and tapped her heart. “For all that has happened, have you ever felt even a shred of emotion?”
Xue Sui closed her eyes, her chest feeling as if it were being fiercely clutched by something.
The agony of ten thousand ants gnawing at her heart during the Gu removal, the price of ten years of her life, she never wanted to tell him.
“Your Highness, please do not blame me. In truth, I should have died ten years ago. My current survival is merely for personal revenge, clinging to life… A person whose life is as insignificant as grass, how could I be moved by the Crown Prince?”
Li Zhao looked at her deliberately distant eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“Very good.”
He slowly stood up, looking out at the rain-streaked window, his chest heaving.
The pain that flashed in his eyes was quickly covered by indifference.
“I will not ask again.”
With that, he sat by the window with his back to her, as if in deep meditation.
Xue Sui looked at his solitary, desolate back, gently stroking her arm, her heart filled with mixed emotions.
What was this? Revenge? Care?
Or… lingering Love Silk?
—
The rain on the eaves pattered, ceaselessly drumming against the windowpanes of You Huang Ju.
The quiet room in the dead of night felt even more oppressive and silent.
When Zhang Huaicheng, accompanied by two servants carrying a wooden tub filled with medicinal soup, entered to report, Jinshu and Xiao Zhao, who had been guarding the door, also pushed it open and entered.
“Young Lady!”
Xiao Zhao’s eyes immediately fell on her young lady’s torn sleeve, revealing a swollen, still-bleeding wound on her forearm, looking even more disheveled than before. Her heart trembled with anger.
“Who the hell did this? This maidservant will tear them to shreds!”
“Cough!” Jinshu glanced at her and bowed gracefully.
“Thank you to the Crown Prince for sending for a physician. However, as a young lady, your body is precious. Perhaps Your Highness and the Imperial Physician could wait in the outer room? This maidservant will help the Young Lady undress?”
Zhang Huaicheng bowed and concisely explained the situation, then nervously said to Li Zhao:
“Your Highness, there is no time to delay. Master Miaozhen must be bathed in medicinal soup immediately to draw out the poison…”
Xue Sui glanced at Li Zhao.
“Please, Your Highness, withdraw.”
Li Zhao’s eyes darkened.
Seeing her struggle to rise from the seat, sweat beading on her forehead and neck, her already disheveled clothes soaked with cold sweat and blood, clinging tightly to her slender frame, outlining her delicate figure…
An indescribable heat, accompanied by deeper panic and a strange emotion called “possessiveness,” surged to the top of his head.
His Adam’s apple rolled violently, his eyes instantly deepened, and turbulent currents he couldn’t decipher churned within his chest and abdomen…
“Everyone out.” His voice was extremely hoarse, carrying an irresistible decisiveness.
Zhang Huaicheng and the servants were all stunned.
“Your Highness?”
Jinshu’s face turned pale. Just as she was about to step forward, Li Zhao’s sharp, knife-like gaze pinned her in place.
“I said, everyone out!” Li Zhao’s gaze swept over everyone like ice, his voice not loud, but carrying undeniable authority.
“Without my command, no one is to enter!”
Jinshu and Xiao Zhao gasped, their fingernails digging deeply into their palms, looking at Xue Sui with worry.
Xue Sui remained silent.
After a moment, she raised her eyes and softly soothed.
“You may go.”
Jinshu responded softly, glanced at her, and quietly withdrew.
Xiao Zhao’s eyes reddened. Wanting to disobey but not daring, she turned back to look at Xue Sui multiple times, gritted her teeth, and closed the door again.
The soft click of the door closing seemed to cut off the last vestiges of external sound.
The two looked at each other in silence.
Only the crackling of the candlelight burning in the room and the renewed, rapid drumming of the rain outside remained…
A two-in-one chapter…
Li Zhao: You should get together!
Xue Sui: …!
