Chapter 42: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

  Qin Lei wandered aimlessly along the cobblestone path, Shen Qing quietly followed behind.

  A green grasshopper jumped out from the grass and drew a beautiful arc in front of Qin Lei before disappearing.

  Qin Lei remembered that several months ago, on a clear morning, he was also strolling along the stone path. At that time, he was accompanied by Tie Ying, and the location was also in the Qi State's Upper Capital, in the residence of the hostage prince. At that time, he had just arrived at this noble place, his eyes were still blurry, and there was only Tie Ying by his side.

  The people around him had become Shen Qing, and the location had also changed to the Daqin Taizi Mansion. But there was one thing that was very similar - he knew almost nothing about the situation in Qin Guo.

  Through a patch of emerald green bamboo forest, he saw that three-story building with flying eaves and painted corners again. The golden glazed tiles shone brightly under the newly born morning sun. Feeling a stinging sensation in his eyes, Qin Lei involuntarily turned his body sideways, not looking at the Book Fragrance Pavilion.

  Shen Qing saw Qin Lei like this, and he didn't know that he was afraid to see the girl in the house. But he didn't point it out, thought for a moment, and found a topic: "I don't know how they are doing either."

  This topic has been brought up countless times in recent days, but it never gets old. As expected, Qin Lei closed his eyes and meditated after hearing the words, and only opened them after a long time to say: "According to the itinerary, Uncle and Mr. Guantao have already passed through the vast grasslands and are now near the Hetao region."

  "Isn't it said that we're almost arriving at our Great Qin's territory?"

  Qin Lei nodded and smiled: "If there's nothing unexpected, it should be like this."

  The two of them continued their conversation, but the topic always skirted around that small building.

  Shen Qing obviously felt Qin Lei's distraction and finally couldn't help but say: "Your Highness, don't forget what we need to do."

  Qin Lei heard this and was slightly taken aback: "What's going on? It sounds like you're trying to pick a fight?"

  Shen Qing's face hesitated for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth: "I don't read many books, I can't talk about those grand theories. But I also know the reason why young people should abstain from lust. Your Highness has only been back for one night, but you're already indulging in women, without any self-control. It's definitely not good."

  Qin Lei saw Shen Qing's painful expression and knew he had misunderstood. His face slightly red, he said: "Nonsense, nothing happened." Then he turned around and ignored him, going to the front yard to look for the prince.

  At this time, the sky was bright, and the prince had already presided over the morning court and returned to the East Palace to prepare for breakfast. Seeing Qin Lei, he was very happy: "I heard that you were tired all night and were hesitant to call you to come and have breakfast together. You came just in time, sit down quickly."

  Qin Lei's expression suddenly turned sorrowful, and he listlessly sat down to the right of the crown prince, watching as a palace maid served him a bowl of silver ear yam soup. He weakly said: "Second brother, I really haven't done anything. I'm innocent."

  The prince smiled and said, "No need to be embarrassed, Second Brother has also been through this before. Young people are full of vigor and it's hard to avoid being a bit indulgent." He then spoke with deep concern, "As the sage said, there are three taboos for humans: in youth, one must guard against lust. Fifth Brother, you absolutely must not learn from your Fourth Brother's licentiousness and lack of restraint, which has emptied his body and bewildered his mind."

  Qin Lei listened with a worried and bitter expression as the prince with great husbandly demeanor nagged on, feeling sympathetic towards San and Si in her heart.

  The crown prince finally said enough, stretched out his chopsticks to indicate that he could start eating, and began to eat a bowl of fine food. Qin Lei wanted to explain the situation at the time, but seeing the crown prince's expressionless face, he could only smile wryly and continue eating silently.

  Just as they were halfway through their meal, a commotion broke out in the backyard. Shen Qing rushed into the dining hall in a flurry, and the guards at the door naturally tried to stop him. As they jostled each other, Qin Lei heard Shen Qing shout: "Something's wrong with the prince! That palace maid has hanged herself!"

  Qin Lei 'slammed' down his bowl and chopsticks, and hastily told the prince: "I'll go take a look." Without waiting for the prince's response, he rushed out of the dining hall in a flurry.

  The prince in the hall smiled and shook his head, continuing to savor his silver ear soup carefully.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~

  Qin Lei walked on the road with a cold and stern expression. It wasn't that he had fallen in love with the girl, but thinking that if such a beautiful life were to disappear, he would never be at peace for the rest of his life.

  When he returned to the Fragrant Pavilion, as soon as he entered the outer room, he saw that poor girl lying motionless on the bed, and the dark green bruise on her slender white swan-like neck was particularly eye-catching.

  There were several doctors-like figures shaking their heads and sighing beside the bed, while several palace maidens dressed in mourning attire had sorrowful faces.

  Qin Lei felt a thunderbolt exploding in his mind, and he pushed aside the doctors standing by to rush to the girl's bedside. The two doctors said to Qin Lei: "Your Highness, this girl has no pulse at all, she is beyond medical help."

  Qin Lei glared at them angrily, and the two doctors were still chattering away. Qin Lei said in a low voice, "Shen Qing, clear the scene!"

  Following Shen Qing's entry, he put his index finger to his lips and blew a whistle. Several black-clad guards rushed in, dragging and pushing the palace maids and eunuchs out of the door.

  As the room gradually quieted down, Qin Lei's heart also calmed down. He used his tiger mouth to touch the girl's neck and found no bleeding or fracture of the throat bone in the soft tissue of her neck. From the scars on the girl's neck, he judged that she had not been hanging herself for more than ten minutes. Although he couldn't feel a pulse, he was slightly relieved.

  Qin Lei pressed one hand on the girl's forehead, and with the other hand gently lifted the girl's chin, making her head tilt back. Then he gently pinched her small nose, blowing two breaths into the girl's mouth. After blowing, he released his hand, letting the air come out of her nostrils, repeating this several times.

  Then kneel down at the bedside with knees apart and shoulder-width apart, shoulders directly above the girl's chest, elbows straightened, and hands pressed vertically on the girl's sternum. Then stretch out the right hand, index and middle fingers pointing to the girl's xiphoid process where the ribs meet the sternum, and place them on the upper part of the sternum near the xiphoid process, with the other palm root close to the index finger, placed on the midline of the sternum.

  Qin Lei moved his two fingers away, then overlapped his right hand on top of the other palm. The ten fingers of both hands were interlocked and raised, only using the base of the palms to press down on the girl's sternum. With a fixed rhythm, neither fast nor slow, Qin Lei performed compressions for the girl. After completing each set, Qin Lei would blow air into the girl's small mouth for a while. Then he would perform compressions again, and then blow air again.

  In the quiet room, all that could be heard was Qin Lei's occasional pressing sounds and intermittent heavy breathing.

  Shen Qing stood quietly behind him, watching as the Emperor repeated meaningless actions with a steady hand. She wanted to advise him to stop, but she remembered the terrifying gaze he had given her when he entered the room, and she hesitated several times before speaking up.

  It was unknown how much time had passed. Shen Qing finally couldn't help but speak up. As a result, the word "hall" hadn't even been spoken yet, and he swallowed it back down again.

  Because he saw Qin Lei's body tense up, like a leopard pouncing in front of the girl, first trembling with his fingers on the girl's neck for a long time, then leaning against the girl's chest to listen for a while. Finally, he jumped up with excitement.

  He found that His Highness had created another miracle.