Chapter 77: Another Wave Rises; The History of Prince Yong Being Tamed Once Again~
The elder recognized them.
His absolute rationality caused him to tense his body, and he gripped Ying Dang’s short blade even tighter in his sleeve.
Killing was not a first for him.
Was the other party friend or foe?
Ying Xi’s heart was drumming fiercely.
The elder led the way, with the two following behind.
The elder walked to the candle stand and used his withered fingers to light a candle. The candle flame emitted a weak light, barely illuminating the entire pharmacy.
On the three walls of the pharmacy, small drawers held medicinal ingredients.
Ying Xi tried his best to recognize his surroundings in the darkness, feeling like he had been here before, yet also feeling like all pharmacies looked the same.
“There’s a bed in the room. Put him on it.”
It turned out there was a small room inside the pharmacy.
But it was too dark inside, so Ying Xi didn’t dare enter.
Ying Xi stopped outside the room.
“May I ask how to address you, Elder? If you can save my brother’s life, Zhen is willing to grant you a title and gold, to be passed down through generations.”
Ying Xi was the first to offer conditions to the elder.
As long as they could escape, he could do far more than Jia Ruzhen.
But hearing these words, the old man showed no joy at all.
Instead, he let out a cold snort:
“Prefect Jia has issued a strict order in the city. Anyone who dares to harbor you two will have their entire family executed.”
“I might not have my life to enjoy such wealth.”
A fierce shiver ran through Ying Xi.
The Emperor made no outward sign, observing the pharmacy once more for fear that someone would surge out, but in reality, there was no one.
Ying Xi said: “Then why did the Elder take Zhen in?”
The old man did not answer.
“Let him lie down. Reveal the wound.”
Ying Xi did as he was told.
This made Ying Xi feel puzzled, even a bit unaccustomed.
Whether he was the Heir Apparent of the Yongning Prince Mansion or the Emperor, there were few who would treat him as if he were nobody.
Ying Xi looked at the old man but still couldn’t tell his origins.
He was just an ordinary doctor. Because he had passed his craft to his son, he no longer saw patients. And because there was a war outside, the elder was hiding here.
Had he treated Zhen before?
Was he an acquaintance of Father?
He…
“Bring the candle stand over,” the old man said hoarsely.
Ying Xi went to bring the candle stand. A person who had never been ordered around by anyone to do anything was not arrogant; he was adaptable.
Ying Xi kept observing the old man’s movements, not daring to relax.
The old man turned Ying Dang over.
The candle stand was in Ying Xi’s hand, the light source close and flickering. By the time Ying Xi came over, Dang’er’s upper clothing had been removed, and his back was already covered in medicinal powder.
The two wounds on his arm were both external, so Ying Xi wasn’t too worried.
“Doctor, that sword wound on his back…”
“Stabbed by the Prefect?”
It seemed the Yuchang Sword had become Jia Ruzhen’s signature; he knew it was him just from the sword wound.
Ying Xi nodded: “Yes.”
The elder said coldly: “That man actually still has the strength to use a sword?”
Ying Xi answered truthfully: “Dang’er and I climbed over a wall to escape. He also climbed the wall but fell. Zhen suspects he has internal injuries.”
The elder nodded slightly, but his face was like dead ashes. The lamplight reflected the twitching of the muscles in the old man’s cheeks.
“I’ll go brew the medicine,” the old man said.
Ying Xi no longer cared about the difference in status. He cupped his hands and said: “Many thanks, Elder.”
The old man’s silhouette vanished under the light of the fading lamp.
Movement came continuously from the main room; the elder was searching the medicine drawers.
Ying Xi lessened his guard slightly. He had taken this step and was willing to trust someone. The elder hadn’t harmed the two brothers.
Ying Xi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He put the blade in his sleeve under Ying Dang’s pillow. Smelling the scent of the fire being lit to brew medicine, bitterness mixed with a sour feeling in Ying Xi’s nose.
“Even though this old man is eccentric, Zhen must repay him,” Ying Xi thought.
He wiped the sweat from Prince Yong’s brow.
He sat by Prince Yong’s bed. Outside, the sound of the siege could still be heard. Ying Xi dozed for about half a tea’s time, his heart fluttering with exhaustion.
Then he was startled awake by the sound of the ram hitting the gate. He jerked and opened his eyes.
“Protect the sovereign!” Ying Xi said naturally.
Of course, Lang Xun did not appear. Lang Xun and his squad of guards were far away in Chang’an.
Just now, Ying Xi had clumsily knocked over several medical books on the bedside. Prescriptions were tucked inside the books, along with several bookmarks made from herb specimens; they all scattered across the floor with a crash.
He hurriedly went to pick them up, tucking the prescriptions back into the books on the same pages.
A corner of an herb specimen was broken. He picked up the piece he had knocked off.
The descendant of the Yongning Prince had manners carved into his bones.
Beside the small bed, Ying Xi silently returned them to their original places and sat upright again, his posture elegant and proper.
He didn’t know the old man, who was fanning the fire with a broken palm-leaf fan and raising his sagging eyelids, was watching him. The Heir Apparent who was once famous throughout Guangling was now the matchless and noble Emperor of the North.
Flame flickered in the elder’s eyes. He poured the medicine into a bowl.
The medicinal powder applied earlier had an exceptionally strange effect.
In the room, Ying Dang’s bleeding stopped.
Prince Yong’s consciousness gradually returned: “Brother… Xiongzhang…”
Opening his eyes, Ying Dang revealed his deep gray pupils. His phoenix eyes usually carried endless mockery, but now, on the brink of life and death, Ying Dang had restrained that unpleasant sharpness, leaving only his longing for his brother.
Prince Yong used all his strength to reach out a finger toward Ying Xi: “Why… did that person… know about… the Taihu… stone… cave…”
Prince Yong’s voice was too weak.
The Yuchang Sword had not only severely injured Prince Yong but had also caused his suspicion to reach its peak.
He used his cold hand to draw warmth from Ying Xi’s body, struggling to remember many years ago.
Inside the Fangzhi Hall, there were only the two of them. He had shared his secret with his brother—that was between them. Why would it be leaked to the enemy in Guangling?
Could it be that someone else was present at the time? Was there someone else monitoring his brother???
The more Prince Yong thought, the more his blood surged. Sweat broke out on his forehead!
Prince Yong coughed several times, gasping for breath. Fortunately, he didn’t cough up blood this time.
He wanted his brother to draw closer, to be next to him, to touch him.
He used his eyes to express his pleading, discovering that as long as he didn’t do something his brother considered excessive, his brother really would grant his every request.
A hot, burning sensation traveled from his eyes to his heart.
Prince Yong’s lower lip trembled, his nails sinking deep into Ying Xi’s skin.
—Then why did you ignore me for so many years?
“The medicine has cooled.”
“Many thanks, Elder. Zhen will feed him personally.” Ying Xi took the bowl.
Prince Yong felt a frozen porcelain spoon pressed against his lips. The warm medicinal soup slid into his mouth, leaving Ying Dang with a mouth full of bitterness.
The medicinal soup must have contained ingredients that numbed the body. Prince Yong only felt the wound was no longer as painful, and he became very weary and sleepy.
He didn’t dare sleep. First, because they were in a completely unfamiliar environment, Ying Dang was very worried. Second, he was afraid Ying Xi would leave. The better his brother treated him now, the more ashamed Ying Dang felt. He held on uneasily, his phoenix eyes staring woodenly.
“Brother…”
Ying Xi finished feeding the medicine and covered Ying Dang’s eyes.
Ying Dang’s nose was filled with the cold fragrance his brother carried. His limbs gradually lost sensation, and he struggled with himself.
“The sword wound on His Highness’s back is exactly between the two shoulder blades. It was blocked by the bone and didn’t injure the heart or lungs from behind. It is truly fortunate,” the elder said.
The heart that had been hanging in Ying Xi’s chest was mostly set at ease.
In the small room, the dim candlelight flickered. In the confined environment, it felt like a rare moment of safety.
Ying Xi once again thought of the moment he wore the cloak. With his deep gray, ink-like eyebrows lowered, at the threshold of life and death, the corners of his mouth actually curved up slightly.
He didn’t know this was heart palpitations.
“Does the Elder recognize us? Was it ten years ago when Father brought Zhen here for a consultation? I was sickly as a child; perhaps I have forgotten.”
The elder: “How is the siege progressing?”
Ying Xi was stunned.
He once again studied this old man at the end of his life by the candlelight.
This old man was hiding in a medical hall—why did he care about the war?
Ying Xi couldn’t understand no matter what.
But since the old man asked, the Emperor answered seriously.
Ying Xi pieced together what he had heard with his own analysis: “The Imperial army is concentrating its attack on the South Gate, and the fierce battle continues to this day. Zhen’s general knows I am in the city and is doing everything he can to distract Jia Ruzhen.”
Ying Xi added: “Jia Ruzhen wants to turn the tables through trickery and is trying everything to hunt me down.”
“Does Bixia have a plan to break the deadlock?” the elder asked.
Ying Xi’s expression turned solemn. He increasingly felt this old man was strange. In him was a mixture of despair and mercy. Ying Xi sat even more upright.
The Emperor had, of course, considered this.
He organized his thoughts and said gravely: “Guangling is a large prefecture; the difficulty of a siege is immense. Even if they just throw rocks from inside the city, those below won’t be able to withstand it.”
“But Guangling has more than just a main gate; there are also two side gates to the east and west.”
“The main gate has tied down the enemy’s heavy forces.”
“If we can lure the city’s mobile forces to the East Gate and have our army break through the West Gate nearby, I don’t believe every city gate is as solid as soup.”
This was not a military council.
The elder was also not Ying Xi’s general.
Ying Xi’s eyes reflected the candlelight, his gaze gradually becoming as bright as a torch.
“This is the strategy of: Feint to the East, Attack the West.”
The faint light reflected the three people in the small room, a combination that would normally be impossible.
The elder raised his eyelids.
The elder asked: “If the sovereign is victorious, are the people of Guangling guilty?”
“The people are innocent. Why would they be guilty?” Ying Xi asked, puzzled.
The muscles on both sides of the old man’s face lifted slightly, and then he shook his head with a tragic smile.
Ying Xi felt a sense of dread.
If the elder hadn’t treated them sincerely, then with Ying Xi’s intense suspicious nature, he probably wouldn’t have stayed in Anren Yaotang for even a moment.
Ying Xi said: “Elder?”
The elder suddenly rose!
A dark silhouette immediately elongated on the floor.
Ying Xi felt panic in his heart.
The elder raised the cane in his hand and struck a certain spot on the floor before the bed with force. A floor tile about half a yard square tilted up high.
Beneath the floor tile was a secret compartment!
The compartment wasn’t deep, enough to hold two people at most.
Inside the compartment were water skins and some dry rations. The four walls were not dug smoothly.
Ying Xi peeked inside.
He guessed that this was something the commoners had hurriedly built in their rooms to hide from the war or for fear of being massacred after the city fell, in addition to the four gates being closed.
How difficult it was for the people to seek survival!
But Ying Xi had no time for more lamentations.
Leaning on his cane, the elder said: “Take Prince Yong down immediately, Bixia!”
Ying Xi was slightly stunned. He suddenly heard the sound of planks being torn down all around.
The windows of the originally dim small room revealed the light of blazing torches, one after another.
With such bright torchlight, there must be a large army outside!
Ying Xi nearly lost his breath at that moment, realizing in an instant that they were heavily surrounded by enemy soldiers.
The elder was thin and withered, but his back was as steady as a mountain.
His left hand, the one not holding the cane, swung backward with all its might!
Ying Xi’s eyes were already aching with intense bitterness, and his chest felt as if it were blocked by a heavy boulder.
Ying Xi moved Prince Yong.
Prince Yong opened his eyes.
The brothers both looked deeply at this elderly fellow townsman, whom they might have met by chance but now didn’t recognize at all. Then, they dropped into the pit.
The floor tile pressed down.
The light source gradually dimmed, forming an increasingly narrow slit.
The secret compartment was completely closed!
Ying Xi held Prince Yong tightly, and Ying Dang held his breath.
Inside the dark compartment, the smell of blood echoed and permeated. The bitter scent of medicine nearly choked one’s throat completely.
Someone entered the pharmacy.
A pair of boot soles happened to step on the dark floor tile above their heads. The sound of their footsteps rubbing against it was clearly audible.
The Shadow asked in a cold voice:
“There is blood on the pharmacy door. There is the scent of medicine in the room. The embers of the charcoal fire haven’t gone out. Where is the little Emperor?”
Translator’s Note: Phew! That was a close one. Feint to the East, Attack the West (聲東擊西) is one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems of ancient China. The old doctor’s sacrifice is so moving—he’s protecting his “fellow townsman” who happens to be the Emperor. And Prince Yong is finally starting to realize that his brother has been protecting him all along. The Yuchang Sword is Jia Ruzhen’s signature weapon. Let’s see if they can survive the search!
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