Things would have been fine if Zhong Wan hadn’t said anything. As soon as he finished speaking, Yan Pingshan’s gaze became filled with reluctance and pity as he looked over.

Zhong Wan placed a hand over his liver that hurt because of how angry he was. He was so angry that his tone changed. “The two of us only chatted a bit. We didn’t do anything. I won’t blame you for the red chicken eggs.. Consider this my plea to you. Don’t bring any hot water in. I don’t want to cry while bathing. Go do what you need to do.”

Yan Pingshan looked at Zhong Wan, still concerned. As he left, he kept looking back every few steps.

Zhong Wan rubbed the spot between his eyebrows and closed the door. He walked over to the washbasin. In a daze, he slowly washed his wrists.

Zhong Wan had pale skin. There were marks on his wrist from Yu She’s grip.

Zhong Wan exhaled deeply.

The?virgin kungfu?he had so diligently practiced for twenty four years was now for naught..

And because of an unclear reason.

Zhong Wan thought of how he had become aroused earlier and wished he could stuff his head into the washbasin and drown himself. How could he see Yu She again after this?

And he was going to stay in the capital. Every meeting after would be another bout of embarrassment. With enough meetings.. the little bit of dignity he had left with Yu She would be completely lost!

Zhong Wan wiped his hands and forced himself to stop thinking about Yu She. He walked out and headed towards the back yard.

Xuan Rui’s cheeks were a burning red. His lips were white and his breaths ragged. His chest heaved up and down as his legs occasionally spasmed. He couldn’t have appeared more tragic.

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The imperial doctor was also very confused. “When I checked yesterday, I thought that Prince had only caught a cold that resulted in a sudden fever. But today.. that doesn’t seem quite right.”

With an outside male present, Xuan Congxin sat behind the screen. Upon hearing this, she said, “It originally was only a cold. Eldest brother didn’t think anything of it either. But for some reason, his temperature suddenly started rising and we couldn’t wake him up anymore. He drank a few bowls of medicine, but appears to be getting worse and worse. Right now, he throws up everything he consumes. If this continues..”

Zhong Wan subtly pressured the imperial physician, “He used to be able to at least have a few bites of congee, but we can’t feed him anything now.. If this continues, I fear that his small illness may become something much more serious.”

The imperial doctor was agitated too. He hurriedly said, “Of course, of course. Allow me to discuss with the two other imperial physicians to come up with a new prescription.”

Zhong Wan nodded. “Sorry to be a bother.”

The imperial doctor left, quite worried. Yan Pingshan lowered his voice and said nervously, “Are they going to continue finding a cure? Then when can we request permission to leave from the emperor?”

“The emperor sent them here. They don’t dare to not try their best,” Zhong Wan responded softly. “No worries. Xuan Rui’s sickness is getting worse and worse. The imperial doctors don’t want to get blamed in the future. When they get back, they’ll definitely make the situation seem worse than it really is when they report to the emperor. The emperor may not believe us, but he’ll believe the imperial doctors.

“The imperial physicians are fearful that they won’t be able to cure Xuan Rui. The emperor is also scared that something will happen to us while we’re in the capital. If so, he won’t be able to explain himself clearly,” Zhong Wan stated lightly. “By then, when we request permission to leave, the emperor will be willing to get rid of us, the troublesome lot.”

Yan Pingshan thought about it and nodded. “You’re right. It would be impossible for the emperor to allow us to leave without expressing concern. Regardless of whether it’s out of genuine compassion or just for appearance’s sake, he’ll definitely try to cure Prince first. Only.. this way, His Highness will have to suffer.”

Yan Pingshan removed the wet cloth from Xuan Rui’s forehead and replaced it with a new one. He hesitantly said, “Continuously eating that medicine.. is okay, right? He’s already consumed it two days in a row!”

Zhong Wan answered without much care, “It’s fine.”

Yan Pingshan furrowed his brows and looked at Xuan Rui. He still couldn’t stop worrying. He turned his gaze to Zhong Wan and lowered his voice to ask again, “How many days did you continuously take it for back then?”

Zhong Wan calmly stated, “Seventeen.”

Yan Pingshan’s breath caught. A hint of embarrassment flashed through his eyes. He turned around and stopped speaking.

Zhong Wan smiled. He didn’t think too much of it.

As they spoke, Xuan Rui’s shoulders shook a few times. He suddenly flipped over and vomited into the spittoon on the ground by the bed.

Xuan Congxin covered her nose and mouth with a handkerchief. From behind it, she said, “I’ll return to my own room first. Have someone call me if you need anything.”

After, she left.

Zhong Wan gazed at Xuan Rui’s form and suddenly wondered,?did I also look like this when I had eaten this medicine in my youth?

At the time.. it had been Yu She taking care of him.

Zhong Wan struggled to remember. Had he also thrown up back then? Had it also appeared so.. filthy?

Yu She actually hadn’t tossed him out of the estate?

As expected, his temperament had been too kind in youth.

Zhong Wan really couldn’t recall if he had thrown up back then or not. He could only confirm that at the time, he hadn’t appeared any better than Xuan Rui now.

Zhong Wan had been in a rush to send a message to Old Imperial Preceptor Shi. He naturally couldn’t use the people in Prince Yu’s estate. As soon as the message he needed to send was intercepted by anyone else, Old Imperial Preceptor Shi would become implicated in the mess.

Aside from the servants in the estate, the only person Zhong Wan could see was Yu She. But Zhong Wan didn’t trust Yu She. He could only come up with another plan.

There was an old imperial doctor in the imperial academy of medicine who had been responsible for taking care of Zhong Wan’s health since young. Zhong Wan wanted to use him to get in contact with Old Imperial Preceptor Shi. Thus, he spent a few days pretending to be ill first.

Zhong Wan fell ill. Yu She naturally invited an imperial doctor. But not the one Zhong Wan wanted.

Zhong Wan was on his guard against Yu She; Yu She was also on his guard against Zhong Wan.

Yu She couldn’t cause trouble for his father and also didn’t want Zhong Wan to get caught up in the mess.

Zhong Wan faked being sick for two days. Yu She’s trusted imperial physician fed him useless medicine used to?chase away fire?for the same amount of time. He was so angry his stomach hurt. With no other options, he could only come up with another solution.

Using the fact that he had been sick, Zhong Wan snuck into the medicine room of the side courtyard and stole several different medicines. He couldn’t boil them without garnering others’ attention, so could only grind all the herbs into powder and separate them into little pouches. He hid these pouches under his bed and swallowed one every day.