Chapter 42: Incomparably anxious, a life for a life (2/2)

When they finally reached the palace, light was already coming in from the east. Princess Changping had grown weary and fallen asleep long after the poison’s flareup receded. Han Yunxi was half-awake as they sent her to Princess Changping’s Peaceful Hall. A court lady eased her onto a bed. Soon after, the empress arrived with Imperial Physician Gu.

“They say she’s caught a chill. She’s very weak and fainted on the way over,” the empress explained the situation.

Gu Beiyue didn’t speak, but sat by the bed and parted the curtains to check Han Yunxi’s pulse. He was quite the genius at his craft and understood Han Yunxi’s state as soon as he had examined her. Her current situation stemmed from starvation rather than any illness. She was feeble because she had no energy, but fortunately she was rescued in time so there weren’t any major complications. Right now she should be recovering and not as delicate as the empress claimed. A spark of delight flashed in Gu Beiyue’s clear eyes as he rose.

“To reply esteemed Empress, this is a severe case of the chills. Esteemed wangfei’s body is extremely weak and needs careful nurturing. If she’s forced awake to treat the princess, then this one fears…”

“What?” the empress asked hurriedly. Now that they were in the palace, she didn’t care a whit about Han Yunxi’s health. As long as she could treat Changping, she’d agree to do anything, even take Han Yunxi’s own blood.

“This humble official fears the esteemed wangfei will not only be unable to treat Princess Changping, but possibly lose her own life as well!” Gu Beiyue was obviously exaggerating. But how would the empress know that much? As soon as she heard the situation, she grew anxious. If this was really the case, she could neither save Changping’s face or pay back Han Yunxi’s life. Had she but known earlier, she would’ve coaxed Changping to stay at the Duke of Qin’s residence instead. So what if she was laughed at? At least it’d be easier than being responsible for Han Yunxi’s life.

The empress took a deep breath. “Then we’ll save her first. How long should it be until she recovers?”

“One or two days. But, I’m afraid Princess Changping will continue to have to suffer in the meantime,” Gu Beiyue replied honestly.

The empress crinkled her eyebrows, filled with feelings she couldn’t express in words. And yet there was no other way except to hand things over to Gu Beiyue. “Use the best medicines and have Qin Wangfei recover as soon as possible, understand?”

“This official understands,” Gu Beiyue nodded. “This official will go write a prescription immediately.” When he left, the empress gave Princess Changping one last look before leaving behind a court lady to watch over her.

Han Yunxi was so pleased that she almost laughed out loud. Heavens knows what kind of nice things Gu Beiyue would ask for her body’s sake? One or two days’ time wasn’t enough to completely recover, but at least it made it safe for her to move around again.

Gu Beiyue was truly a smart and considerate man.

As Han Yunxi had expected, he prepared for her a very famous and precious type of nourishing medicinal soup. Han Yunxi wanted to eat it all up, but people who’d been starved for long periods couldn’t eat or drink too much at once or else they’d die from indigestion. Gu Beiyue’s prescription used the mildest method to nourish her body while also alleviating her intense hunger pains. With the medicine of this protective man and adequate sleep, Han Yunxi was doughty as a dragon and lively as a tiger[2] after two days.

But…Princess Changping was miserable. Over these two days, her poison had flared up three times. The suffering was akin to tearing open her heart or ripping apart her lungs. She even entertained the thought of killing herself by ramming her head somewhere. By the time Han Yunxi got out of her bed, Princess Changping was lying on hers, hands and feet tied up to prevent her from trying self-mutilation. The empress sat by her bed and tried to coax her, but the princess heard none of it, murmuring instead, “Where’s that slut, Han Yunxi? She won’t help me, isn’t that right?

“Muhou[3], bring her here, she has to be faking it! She definitely wants to see me die from poison!

“It’s all her fault! She ruined everything! If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have gone to the prisons…wahhh, muhou, she was the one who hurt me!

“Muhou, let me go…I’m going to go find her!”

……

Han Yunxi followed Gu Beiyue in, listening without saying a word. Princess Changping hadn’t even thought about what she did in the prisons that night, but instead had the audacity to blame Han Yunxi. When Gu Beiyue had been describing her situation these past two days, she felt enough sympathy to treat the princess’s poison today. Now though, she changed her mind. A pitiful person still had a despicable side! Princess Changping wasn’t someone she wanted to save, regardless of all those high morals about a doctor’s benevolence.

“Chenqie pays respects to the esteemed empress.”

“This official pays respects to the esteemed empress and her highness, the princess.”

Han Yunxi and Gu Beiyue made salutations from beyond the bed curtains before the empress hastily had them rise. Kindly she said, “Yunxi, come quickly. Changping’s been waiting for a very long time.”

Princess Changping was no longer making an uproar, but her eyes stared nastily at Han Yunxi, who sat by the bed and said, “It’s too dim, get a light here.”

A court lady hastily shone a lantern over, the bright light forcing Princess Changping to blink; still, she stared fixedly at Han Yunxi. Once again, Han Yunxi spoke lightly. “Changping, why don’t you close your eyes? Let me see if the poison’s spread to the eyelids.”

At these words, Princess Changping immediately closed her eyes in panic, giving Han Yunxi a sense of disdain. What was this girl so fixated on? She could keep staring if that’s what she really wanted. Only now did Han Yunxi carefully examine her face, activating her detox system scanners in the dark to check how much the poison had spread, and whether it’d mutated in the meantime. Afterwards, she inspected the situation around the princess’s legs as well. Princess Changping could be considered extremely lucky that the poison hadn’t spread or changed form.

Seeing Han Yunxi finish her examination, the empress couldn’t help but ask, “How is it, is it poison? What kind of poison? Can we treat it?”

Only then did Princess Changping realize Han Yunxi was done. Her eyes flew open as she demanded, “Han Yunxi, what are you dawdling for? Hurry up and speak!”

-o-

[1] an ant on a scorching pot (??????) – reguo shang de mayi, idiom meaning extremely anxious/agitated.

[2] doughty as a dragon and lively as a tiger (????) – shenglong huohu, to be brimming/bursting with energy, full of vim and vigor.

[3] muhou (??) – imperial mother, the variation on mufei; in this case, the mother is an official consort/empress rather than a concubine.