Still waiting for Zhaoyang

Chapter 26 Smoke and dust in the deep east (4)
"Did father think it has something to do with the emperor?"

"In this world, you, Xiaoxiang, should be the one who understands his thoughts best. Why do you ask me?"

Wang Xiaoxiang's expression froze, and he remained silent.

"At the beginning of this marriage, no matter how reluctant you were, now that these years have passed and everyone is dead, you should change your mind and go to the Kangning Palace more. You only have one son. But if you have no grace and no heirs in the future, how will you continue to gain a foothold in the palace?"

In the past six months, Shang Rui has always come to Jinde Palace to spend the night on time every time as usual. In fact, he has never slept with Wang Xiaoxiang once, and everything is just a show for outsiders.The entire Jinde Palace is airtight, but these things are unknown to others, but Wang Ji is well aware of them.

Wang Xiaoxiang turned around stubbornly and said, "My daughter already has Ran Jun."

Wang Ji was slightly annoyed: "If I tell you something for my father, you will point to the west. A child of a court girl, and he doesn't have the blood of our royal family. You really expect to make him your son."

"My daughter sincerely treats Ran Jun as her own son, and she doesn't want to have another one. She also persuades her father to stop thinking about it."

"Bastard!" Wang Ji said angrily, "Why did the Wang family raise such an unfilial daughter like you."

Wang Xiaoxiang retorted: "Yes, my daughter is not filial. If she didn't think about her father, mother, elder brother and younger brothers, how could she be flattering to people in this palace? It's better to be with you more than ten years ago. His Royal Highness is happy to die!"

She spoke excitedly, and after blurting out the words "His Royal Highness", not only herself, but also Wang Ji was taken aback.

After a heated argument, both of them fell into silence.

It is rare for father and daughter to get together, and finally they broke up unhappy.

After Wang Ji left, Wang Xiaoxiang felt regretful again, so he called his servant to ask, "Just now, did Wang Xiang go to the imperial hospital to find Li Ji for a prescription?"

"It seems to be a relapse of an old illness, and I coughed badly at night."

"What did Li Ji say?" She asked with concern.

"Master Li is not here these days, Prime Minister Wang has gone to look for him twice."

"Oh?" Wang Xiaoxiang was surprised. This was the first time that Li Ji had been on duty in the palace for more than ten years. "What's wrong with him?"

"My servant heard from the people in the imperial hospital that Mr. Li sued for personal leave."

"What's the matter?"

"The slave does not know."

"Ask someone to inquire if it's urgent. If you still have time, then I will ask the emperor for an order, and ask Li Ji to go to the prime minister's mansion to see his father."

"Yes."

六

In the blink of an eye, it was New Year's Eve, and because of the front-line war, life in the palace was extremely simple.

After the new year, the imperial capital has become much warmer, and the snow has melted. Everyone said that this year is a rare warm winter.

Some people say that God bless David's army, without the obstacles of the wind and snow, taking down the rebels is just around the corner.

Early in the morning, Li Ji brought an ox-horn tube with a small hole drilled into the tip of the ox-horn tube. No one had ever seen such a utensil.

After Li Ji applied the needle, the pus and blood were immediately sucked away by the ox horn tube at the place where the needle broke the skin, and then some gray powder was sprinkled on the place where the pus was sucked.

Yaotong asked curiously: "My lord, is this the angle method mentioned in the ancient book?"

Li Ji nodded, without saying anything, and continued with his hands.

He did every step very carefully, but he did it very quickly at the moment of sucking the pus, because if the pus touches other places, new sores will grow tomorrow, and all previous efforts will be wasted.

After half an hour, he put down his things and breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Ji asked the drug boy next to him: "Have you found Master Yao's blood magpie yet?"

"No." The medicine boy replied.

He Xiang, who was on the side, heard it and asked eagerly: "Didn't Master Li say a few days ago that he would use the blood of this bird as medicine to attract people to take it? Why haven't we? Our uncle owns a medicine shop, and probably any medicine can be used." Think of something, I can ask."

The drug boy shook his head, and when he heard He Xiang's words, he muttered: "It's not as simple as you think. The blood magpie has to catch alive, and it only grows in the woods of Dongyuan where the emperor hunts, day and night. The ears are good, and if there is a wind blowing within one foot, it will scare away. How can ordinary people see it. In this winter, the medicine can only be female, and there are even fewer. Master Yao said that he kept watch for four nights and caught them. All three are male, so we can only wait."

"What should we do?" He Xiang asked urgently.

Li Ji cleaned his hands and replied: "The blood magpie used as medicine is only an ancient prescription, which has never been verified. We can find other methods."

In the Kangning Palace, Tian Yuan and He Lanxun were about to leave after reporting, but He Lanxun suddenly remembered Min Xiayue, turned back and said, "Your Majesty."

"Say." Shang Rui stared at the book without looking up.

Tian Yuan glanced at He Lanxun.

He Lan Xun said: "Ms. Min's condition may not be getting better. Although Li Ji has tried his best these days, it has only been delayed for a while. Now it has not improved, and I am afraid it will not last long."

Tian Yuan said: "Didn't Li Ji say that he found a new method?"

"But Yao Chuang hasn't caught the blood magpie yet, so I don't know how many days Miss Min will have to wait. If she makes a mistake, how can she restrain King Yanping?" He Lan patrolled.

"Why does the emperor need a woman to constrain King Yanping, it's just that he realized the situation after reading the emperor's letter and repented." Tian Yuan said again.

He Lanxun continued: "Do you want to ask General Hong to bring some people to try again?"

Shang Rui put down the scroll in his hand, looked around and said, "Do as you say."

After He Lan received the patrol order, she bowed and retreated, but before she had walked a few steps, she heard Shang Rui say, "Come back."

"emperor?"

Shang Rui got up and said: "Speaking of the blood magpie in Dongyuan, they are not familiar with me, so I will go there tonight."

"Your Majesty," Ming said hastily, "it takes more than 200 miles to go back and forth from the imperial capital to Dongyuan. Just riding a horse can make people tired enough. What's more, if you stay all night in winter, the birds won't come out, isn't it? Frozen in vain? You have hardly slept for several nights because of the war in the southern region, what should you do if you suffer from the cold this time and get sick?"

How could Shang Rui listen to persuasion, instead he smiled and said: "What should I do? You know what to say all day long. In the future, I might as well change your name and call you what to do?"

Minglian lowered his face in embarrassment.

"If my Yunzhong doesn't come back, how many heads do you have to pay?"

"But……"

Before Ming Lian could speak, Shang Rui raised his hand to stop him: "Okay, you don't have to go, hold back, I'll find Yao Chuang."

When it was almost dawn, there were finally two long-awaited visitors at Li Ji's mansion, one was Yao Chuang and the other was Shang Rui.

At this time, Li Ji's mansion was brightly lit, because He Lanxun had informed Li Ji in advance, so the mansion had been waiting, even He Lanxun did not leave.

As soon as Shang Rui led Yao Chuang into the door, he nodded slightly to Li Ji and He Lanxun.

The two of them knew it was done.

Yao Chuang handed the cage in his hand to the incoming drug boy: "Take it."

The drug boy picked up the cage and looked inside, and immediately said pleasantly: "It's the blood magpie! Master Yao is so lucky tonight, he really caught it!"

Yao Chuang looked embarrassed, pushed the drug boy and said, "It wasn't me, Mr. Hong caught him."

Shang Rui blinked at the eight or nine-year-old little drug boy: "He is so stupid, how can he do it, I caught him." When he spoke, the corners of his mouth turned up, with a complacent look on his face. childish.

Yaotong didn't know Shang Rui, so he was a little bit skeptical, so he only dared to glance at him, and then hid behind Yao Chuang.

Yao Chuang was a little unconvinced: "How do I know that evil bird? It turns out that the male can distinguish human voices, while the female can smell human scents."

"It's not the smell, it's the heat." Shang Rui corrected.

"Hot air?" Yaotong poked his head out curiously, "Do you want to freeze yourself?"

Yao Chuang explained: "The snow in the grass next to it hasn't cleared yet, just grab a handful and put it in your mouth, and keep your breath down."

"Has the snow melted?"

"It melts and contains again." Yao Chuang replied.

Li Ji and He Lan Xun were startled when they heard the words, and looked up at Shang Rui.

Afterwards, Yao Chuang urged Li Ji to decoct the medicine, and he also went to help, leaving only He Lanxun and Shang Rui.

He Lanxun asked suddenly: "Is the emperor doing it for Yunzhong, or for someone else?"

Shang Rui restrained his face, and smiled coldly: "You are the one who asked me to save people, and you are the one who is questioning me now. He Lanxun, I'm afraid you are too courageous."

"Your Majesty! A sage has a saying. If you don't abandon anything, you can't gain the power of the world; if you don't tolerate something, you can't make the most of the world's benefits."

"That's a saint, what does it have to do with me?"

He Lanxun stubbornly did not move.

The two were silent for a moment.

Afterwards, Shang Rui squinted at him: "You have such leisure time, why not think about Xu Jingye's batch of grain and grass."

He Lanxun sighed slightly.

"You go back first, after all, it's not appropriate for you to stay in Li Ji's mansion with Yushi Zhongcheng."

"Your Majesty..."

Shang Rui frowned: "Are you still messing with me?"

After He Lan walked away, Shang Rui stood there for a while, then walked towards the East Wing where Xia Yue lived.

He walked to the front of the room and was about to open the door when he looked down at his robe.Because he stayed in the woods for most of the night, caught the blood magpie and sent it in a hurry, so he didn't notice that he was dirty at all.

Although he was always informal, he was used to being pampered since he was a child, and subconsciously wanted to call him Minglian, but when he looked back, he remembered that he was not with him.

Shang Rui bowed his head for self-examination, and finally went back to the hall of the front yard, patted the soil on his body, called a servant to fetch him a basin of hot water, wiped his hands and face himself, and then sat down in the hall drink tea.

Li Ji was extremely agile in his work, and he prepared the medicine in half an hour to answer Shang Rui.

Shang Rui glanced at the bowl of hot medicine: "Let her drink it." He said, "However, blood magpies specialize in eating poisonous snakes, and blood is also highly poisonous. Can it really cure black Yin Sha? Don't bother me all night." .”

"Strong medicine can cause serious illness, and now there is only one trial."

Shang Rui nodded, and asked him to deliver the medicine, while he sat quietly in the hall drinking tea.After a while, he saw He Xiang coming in a hurry, walked up to Shang Rui, knelt down on his knees with a "plop", kowtowed heavily, and said with tears in his eyes, "Thank you, Mr. Hong, for your kindness. I am willing to be a cow and a horse to repay you." you."

Shang Rui didn't get up to help her, but still sat, looked at her lightly, and asked, "Are you awake?"

"No, the young lady has been in a coma all this time, and the servant gave her the medicine just now, and now she looks better, but Mr. Li said that it will take another two hours to find out."

After saying this, He Xiang kowtowed again, and then followed the medicine boy to decoct the second medicine.

Seeing that the sky was getting brighter, Shang Rui put down the teacup and went to Xia Yue's room.

The last time he saw her was the day when he sent her to Li's residence, it was more than a month ago.

Xia Yue lay on the bed with her eyes closed, only one face was exposed.The face was so thin that it was no bigger than his palm, and it was as white as plain silk.

He was a little tired, and when he saw a stool beside the bed, he sat down.

The room was furnished very warmly, filled with the smell of medicine, accompanied by her clear and steady breathing, for some reason, his heart was suddenly very peaceful, and none of the family and state affairs came into his mind.He didn't sleep well for several nights, and he drove back and forth from Dongyuan, and now he put the back of his head lightly on the railing in front of the bed, and fell asleep in an instant.

On the way, Li Ji entered the door and saw what was happening, he didn't dare to disturb her, checked Xia Yue's pulse, and then quietly retreated out.

Among the two, Xia Yue woke up first.

(End of this chapter)