Chapter 61: Decocting Medicine

  "Snow, are you in pain? The Ghost Doctor said we can only wait until dawn! It's all my fault, I was too trusting of that half-baked Taoist Xue Qiufeng. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be suffering like this." Xuan Yuan Mu clenched his fists tightly, his golden eyes fixed on me as he suppressed the anger in his heart.

  I shook my head slightly "I'm fine, I can bear it!" The wound didn't hurt last night, but after a whole day, it started to hurt, the skin felt like it was being torn apart.

  Xuanyuan wanted to hug me, but withdrew his hand. He stretched out a finger and touched mine, his eyes full of reluctance.

  He accompanied me through a sleepless night and didn't leave even at dawn. Finally, when the sun rose in the east, everything was ready in the courtyard.

  An Mingzhu has dismissed all the palace maids and eunuchs, personally taking care of me by decocting medicine and preparing a bath.

  The bathtub was placed in the yard, needing to be exposed to the sun's rays, and also using glutinous rice as a medicine guide, so when I was carried into the bathtub by Xuan Yuan Mu, I felt like a vegetable in a big pot, with all kinds of seasonings around me.

  Last night, Xuan Yuan Mu had already told me the reason for his departure from the palace. It turned out that the eldest prince, Xuan Yuan Xu, had arrived at Qi Wan City and sent someone to deliver a message asking to see the crown prince. Xuan Yuan Mu rushed over only to find out that Xuan Yuan Xu wanted to form an alliance with him.

  As for why Xuan Yuan Xu wanted to form an alliance with the Crown Prince, he didn't give a reason. He had military power in his hands with 300,000 troops, which was a good thing for Xuan Yuan Mu.

  But vaguely, we all feel that something is wrong, but can't quite put our finger on what it is. Xuan Yuan Mu once asked him for a reason, and he only said he had no interest in imperial power. When asked about other things, he wouldn't say anything else.

  An Mingzhu was busy running around, I was soaking in the medicine jar with a complicated mood, Xuan Yuanmu took a look at me and took over the medicinal herbs from An Mingzhu's hand.

  "Let me do it instead, you go rest, and by the way, help me close the gate of the courtyard!"

  "You......" An Mingzhu looked at Xuan Yuan Mu in surprise.

  "What's wrong?"

  "No big deal! I thought you were just high and mighty..." An Mingzhu's eyes sparkled as she looked at Xuan Yuanmu.

  "I'm just an ordinary person, it's just..." He looked at me and then said to An Mingzhu: "Get out, you're making her uncomfortable!"

  Sometimes, Xuan Yuan seems to understand what I'm thinking with just one glance. I lower my head in embarrassment, not daring to look at An Mingzhu, after all, she's helping me like this, and I still have reservations about her.

  "Alright, I understand. Then I'll have to trouble Your Highness. I'll leave first!" An Mingzhu was very clever and turned around to leave the yard, closing the gate and instructing the guards outside to keep a close watch, not allowing anyone to enter.

  This time, only I and Xuan Yuan Mu were left in the yard. Looking at him busy, I apologized: "Sorry, you are a prince, but still have to make medicine for me!"

  "I am your husband!" Xuan Yuan Mu continuously added fire to these 'medicine' jars and poured the cooked 'medicine' into my bathtub.

  "But you've never been tempered by 'medicine' since childhood..."

  "I learned it a long time ago, last time you were sick, I learned it." Xuan Yuan Mu leaned in close to the bathtub, looking at my flushed face and couldn't help but reach out to touch my cheek "You must get better!"

  "I'll just be a trouble for you!" Now that I think about it, I was the one who was holding him back and wasting his time.

  "What nonsense are you talking about? It's because of you that I've suffered so much." A hint of guilt flashed across Xuan Yuan Mu's face.

  "Crown Prince, Crown Prince!" At this time, Xue Qiufeng rushed in: "It's so hot today, why are you still decocting medicine? The medicinal materials need sunlight, but you don't!" As Xue Qiufeng spoke, he rushed over and snatched the towel from Xuan Yuan Mu's hand.

  Xuanyuan furrowed his brow: "Are you so blind? Lingxue is taking a bath, what are you doing coming in here?"

  "Me?" Xue Qiufeng only then realized the issue, so he turned around, with his back to me, and continued saying: "I'm just worried about your body, under such a big sun..."

  "Shut up, get out...!" Xuan Yuan Mu snatched the 'towel' back from his hand and pointed at the 'door', shouting loudly: "Whoever dares to let someone in again, this king will take their dog life!"

  The subtle change in his eyes between the two of them made me see it, Xuan Yuan's body has always been my concern, did he have a physical problem?

  "Shall we go to the corridor of the house to avoid the sun?" It's so hot today, but I haven't sweated at all. The water is so hot, and yet my wound feels cool when I soak in it.

  "I'll make you better!" Xuan Yuan said stubbornly, continuously adding firewood under the medicine pot in the scorching sun. "The Ghost Doctor said that these medicines must be decocted under sunlight to remove the yin energy from your body."

  "Can't you just avoid the sun? Others can do this work too!" His body had no strength, and even speaking felt very laborious.

  "I don't want me to get better and you to fall ill!" Seeing Xuan Yuan's silence, I spoke again.

  Xuanyuan got up, poured the well-cooked "medicine" into the bathtub. "If I can't even cook medicine for you, I'm not worthy of being your husband. If my body has problems, it's fine to spend a night in the coffin in the small building, but what about you? I won't let you..."

  Looking at Xuan Yuan's 'desire' to speak but stopping himself, I reached out and grasped his hand "I know, nothing will happen to me."

  Xuanyuan nodded, and after soaking in the 'medicine' grass under the scorching sun for three days, my body finally recovered normally, and those wounds bitten by the ghost infant also disappeared.

  He decocted the medicinal herbs for three days, and he also accompanied me for three days. He insisted on personally decocting the medicine for me, I don't know what he is insisting on? My body is important to him, so his body isn't important to me?

  Returning to the small building in the middle of the Ghost Bamboo Forest, I only then realized what had happened to his body. Those hidden under his clothes had actually developed corpse spots.

  In common sense, a corpse that has developed livor mortis generally decomposes faster. The appearance of livor mortis proves that the person is truly dead in the real sense.

  "What's going on? How did it end up like this?" I reluctantly touched his body, Xuan Yuan Muo. If he were alive, he would be the most noble and handsome prince in the capital city, but now, he couldn't see his own handsomeness, nor did he care about his own body.

  "It's probably just a natural phenomenon!" Xuan Yuan said with a wry smile: "I'll go try in the stone coffin, maybe it'll be fine by tomorrow!"

  "Xuanyuan!" I looked at him with a pang in my heart. He was my only relative and I didn't want anything to happen to him.

  Xuanyuan turned his head back, but didn't make a sound. After a long while, he finally lifted his head: "Don't worry, I'm fine."

  "You can't get too much sun, you just won't listen, do you want to leave me behind?"

  "Snow!" Xuan Yuan saw tears streaming down my face and pulled me into his arms, lowering his head to kiss me.

  "Why is it like this? Is someone poisoning you, the tea water..." I said in terror.

  Xuanyuan shook his head: "I've sent people to investigate, nothing's wrong."