As such, Zhong Wan truly fell ill.

Zhong Wan was scared that he would garner Yu She’s attention, so at first, he obediently allowed Yu She’s trusted imperial doctor to treat him. He ate whatever medicine the imperial doctor prescribed. When no one was around in the middle of the night, he secretly ate his medicine powder. As this continued on, he became sicker and sicker.

Half a month later, Zhong Wan was a whole circle thinner. He couldn’t even get out of bed.

Because he had something he was determined about, his mind was still clear. He could still chat with Yu She. “Yu She.. you’ve lost money this time. You spent so much money getting me here, but haven’t even been able to do anything. In a few days, you’ll have to lose even more money buying a coffin.”

Yu She sat in the chair next to him, silent.

Zhong Wan had a lot of needs. He started listing them. “For the coffin material.. I want?golden-thread Nanmu wood. I don’t want to hold?pearls?in my mouth. Instead,? I want a?jade cicada. This way, when I reincarnate, there’s an 80% chance I’ll still be a literary talent..”

Slight anger appeared in young Yu She’s eyes.

Zhong Wan’s brain was muddled and his vision was blurry because of his sickness. He didn’t notice this at all and was still seeking death. “Say.. with my identity, where would the appropriate burial grounds be for me? My coffin is so nice, so don’t bury me in the unmarked common graves outside of the city.. My coffin will.. will be stolen by others. But I probably can’t get buried in the Zhong family’s ancestral tombs anymore since I’ve fallen to slave status. I have no face to see my ancestors. Then..”

Zhong Wan stated in exasperation, “Then I can only be buried in your family’s tombs. Can you bury me beside your grave?”

Young Yu She asked lowly, “Why would you want to be buried by my side?”

Zhong Wan openly revealed, “Otherwise I have nowhere to go. In the future, can you bury me with your Princess Consort Yu?”

Yu She was rendered speechless. Then he asked, “You want to be buried with my princess consort? Then where would I go?!”

Zhong Wan had teased the future Princess Consort Yu. He wanted to laugh but didn’t dare to. “I don’t need a lot of space. Worse comes to worst, you can just order a smaller coffin for me. How about this..” He coughed. “Order a tiny coffin for me and bury me in between you and your princess consort. This way, a hundred years later, the three of us can live together happily ever after in the underground palace..”

Yu She’s voice was filled with shards of ice. “Zhong. Gui. Yuan.”

Zhong Wan was extremely terrified. He looked at Yu She with great difficulty and coughed a few times. “What?”

Yu She’s eyes were blood red. He took two steps forward and stopped in front of the bed Zhong Wan was lying on. He squeezed Zhong Wan’s arm tightly and said viciously, “What do you actually want? It’d be best if you told me immediately! All your little plans will be for naught if you truly die.”

Zhong Wan felt his heart drop. He had originally been planning on acting pitiful today and begging Yu She to invite the old imperial doctor in charge of taking care of him over.

But he had never expected for Yu She to have already guessed his intentions.

“Put your clever ploys away. I don’t know how you made yourself sick, nor do I know what you ultimately want.” Yu She’s voice was ice cold. “But if you keep playing yourself like this, I can guarantee that I will definitely find a grave that has the best?fengshui?in my family’s tomb for you!”

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“It’d be best that you become instantly better after seeing the one you want to see.”

Yu She glanced at Zhong Wan coldly before leaving.

Afterwards, he never visited Zhong Wan again.

Meanwhile, because of Yu She’s deliberate tolerance, Zhong Wan successfully managed to pass along his message to Old Imperial Preceptor Shi.

Thus, Zhong Wan relaxed. As soon as he did so, the effect of the poison that had been building up in his body for several days erupted like a raging tempest. That day, he passed out because of his fever.

By that time, Yu She had already found Lin Si and brought him over. Little Lin Si was so agitated that he became ill too. He spent day and night caring for Zhong Wan, but Zhong Wan simply could not be awakened. His condition didn’t seem to be getting better either.

Lin Si didn’t actually know how to take care of others. He was clumsy and slow. Simply switching wet handkerchiefs for Zhong Wan could result in spilling a bunch of water over Zhong Wan’s face. When he fed Zhong Wan medicine, the medicine could end up on the other’s neck. Yu She had been holding back his anger while in the middle of a cold war with Zhong Wan, but upon seeing the situation these two were in, he couldn’t tolerate things anymore and sent Lin Si back to the stables. He rolled up his own sleeves and personally started taking care of Zhong Wan.

Zhong Wan could remember that the next time he opened his eyes, he was lying in young Yu She’s arms.

Yu She had taken care of Zhong Wan for several consecutive days. He was extremely tired too. With a handkerchief in his hand, he had fallen asleep while leaning against the head of the bed. Consequently, Zhong Wan, who wasn’t shy in his dreams, had used the other as a pillow.

At this time, Zhong Wan had just recovered from a great illness. He didn’t have the energy to think about anything else. But now, he couldn’t help the blush that crept up his ears.

Zhong Wan very clearly remembered that when he had woken up, his body had been clean. The clothes that Lin Si had spilled medicine on had disappeared. Instead, he was wearing new undergarments; the blankets he was lying on were dry and soft too. It was easy to tell that they had been freshly changed.

So.. who changed these things for him?

Zhong Wan stared at Xuan Rui who didn’t even look human anymore because of how ill he was. His scalp felt numb as he thought,?had I also looked like this back then?

Yu She had taken care of him while he had looked like this for seven to eight days.. How had he done it?

Zhong Wan’s expression was too tragic to look at. He didn’t dare to dwell on this too much.

After learning that Zhong Wan had once taken this medicine for over ten days, Yan Pingshan finally relaxed. He didn’t hesitate to feed Xuan Rui the medicine at all. Three days later, Xuan Rui’s condition still wasn’t getting better. The imperial physicians immediately pleaded guilty in front of Emperor Chongan. Under Xuan Yu’s name, Zhong Wan chose an opportune time to hand a request in to Emperor Chongan. He used the excuse of winter being too cold in the capital and thus unsuitable for recovering from illness to ask the Emperor for permission to allow them to return to Qian An. This way, they could slowly nurse Xuan Rui back to health.

Emperor Chongan didn’t agree, but neither did he refuse. He only said that he couldn’t bear for Xuan Rui to travel such long distances while sick. That day, he sent a few more imperial doctors over and granted the estate more nutritional supplements.

Zhong Wan understood Emperor Chongan’s thoughts. If he directly let them leave, it would make him seem like a cold uncle who didn’t care about his nephew’s health at all. It was necessary that he make a show of how much he cared before sending this troublesome lot away.

Zhong Wan relaxed and started preparing Yan Pingshan for the return to Qian An.

Side courtyard of Prince Yu’s estate.

Yu She played with the string of beads in his hand. He lowly asked, “They’re already preparing to leave?”

The spy knelt on the ground and nodded. “Prince Qian An has been sick in bed for several days. As soon as he inhales any cold air, he begins coughing non stop. The imperial doctors have not been able to find anything wrong with him, only saying that he’s unused to the new environment. In addition to the fact that he can’t handle the climate of the north, they’re.. persuading Prince Qian An to return to the south so he can slowly recover.”

The emotion in Yu She’s eyes wasn’t joy or sadness. He calmly stated, “I know now. You may leave.”

After his spy left, Yu She silently sat there.

Two hours later, when Steward Feng returned to seek Yu She, he was still in the same position. He hadn’t moved at all.

Steward Feng was most scared of seeing Yu She in this type of daze, when his eyes appeared dead. He thought to himself,?oh no, before hurriedly scooting close with a smile on his face. He switched out Yu She’s tea for a new pot of hot tea before softly saying, “I heard just now that Prince Qian An is returning to his territory?”

“Strange, unpredictable things are brewing in the capital.” Yu She seemed to be muttering to himself. “He doesn’t want Prince Ning’s children to be caught up in the mess, so plans to leave again.”

Steward Feng knew who this “he” was even without needing Yu She to elaborate. Steward Feng was very agitated. He had had a long chat with Zhong Wan last time, but Zhong Wan hadn’t promised anything regarding whether or not he was going to stay.

He put himself in the other’s shoes and thought about it. Naturally, not staying was the better option.

How carefree would it be to go to Qian An and be the local emperor!

Steward Feng looked up at Yu She and complained quietly in his heart,?but what about this one?

Steward Feng’s heart trembled as he remembered how Yu She had looked a few days ago while smiling and joking about jumping into the ice hole. He toughened up and swore that he would be a?cow or horse?for Zhong Wan in his next life before lowly saying, “Prince Qian An is leaving.. but Young Master Zhong might not.”

Yu She looked toward Steward Feng.

Steward Feng pushed the new pot of tea closer to Yu She’s hands. “After Prince Qian An leaves this time, it’s likely that he may never return to the capital again. Young Master Zhong has already done enough for Prince Ning. So.. doesn’t that mean that he might not necessarily leave with them?”

Yu She’s expression was dark but blank. He didn’t speak.

Steward Feng added, “I seem to remember.. that Young Master Zhong’s self-selling contract is still in your hands?”

Yu She lightly said, “Yes.”

“Then that’s it.” Steward Feng smiled. “Of course, bringing up the self-selling contract will negatively affect your relationship. We can simply not bring it up. Besides, Young Master Zhong has stayed at our estate before. Back then.. we also treated him quite well.”

Yu She’s tone was calm. “Quite well? He stayed here for only half a year, but fell ill several times.”

“Ah.. that’s true,” Steward Feng said in embarrassment. He switched topics, saying, “Let’s not talk about that. Doesn’t Heir want Young Master Zhong to stay?”

Yu She listened silently. He didn’t speak.

Steward Feng lowly coaxed, “Heir, think about it. How nice is Young Master Zhong. He looks good and also has a good temper. If you could keep him in the estate..”

Yu She couldn’t help but reminisce how Zhong Wan had looked resting in his arms a few days ago. His throat suddenly felt itchy. He picked up his tea cup and took a sip.

Steward Feng felt that this was an opportunity, so continued, “If you were to keep Young Master Zhong, you would be in the right. Prince Qian An’s estate definitely wouldn’t dare to fight you for him.”

Yu She’s pupils slightly trembled.

Steward Feng muttered by himself, “If you have such a desire, this old slave will give the orders ahead of time.?Un.. should we also prepare some?sleeping drugs?”

Sleeping drugs..

Yu She couldn’t help remembering something that had happened during Zhong Wan’s illness many years ago.

At the time, young Zhong Wan had a fever. He spent his days drifting in and out of sleep. Yu She spent a great amount of effort feeding him his medicine every day. He couldn’t relax after feeding him either. Zhong Wan’s temperature would fluctuate between being cold and hot during his fever, so he would occasionally kick his blankets off. Yu She would spend his entire day sitting beside Zhong Wan and reading. When he saw the other kick his blankets off, he would put his book down and place the blanket over Zhong Wan again. This was all okay. The most terrible instances occurred when Zhong Wang felt cold.

Young Zhong Wan was very needy when asleep. If he felt cold, he would scoot closer to Yu She who was sitting beside him and tug on Yu She’s clothes. Then, he would burrow his way into the other’s arms. Yu She’s face would turn red. He couldn’t push the other away and was also scared that he would fall off the bed, so could only hold him up.

This person also wasn’t a peaceful sleeper. In his fever-induced daze, he would randomly feel around. One time, he actually stuck his hand inside Yu She’s underclothes, completely tugging open the collar of Yu She’s shirt. This pissed Yu She off so much that he felt the desire to leave him to survive on his own.

Naturally, he didn’t truly do so in the end.

If he were to give Zhong Wan a bowl of sleeping drugs now, would he also act like he did in his youth and..

Yu She closed his eyes and aggressively drank his cup of tea.