All the way until he reached the carriage outside the palace, Huo Liuxing was drenched in cold sweat down his back and collapsed limply against the carriage wall.
Jingmo drove the carriage while Kongqing waited inside. Following the techniques Luo Mi had taught him, he hurriedly changed Huo Liuxing’s medicine.
Huo Liuxing blinked hard to maintain consciousness, gripping his wrist and asking with effort: “…What’s her situation?”
He guessed that Shen Lingzhen, seeing his delayed return, had employed a stratagem to help him leave earlier. But to execute this flawlessly was actually not easy.
To make the Emperor voluntarily let him leave, the transmitted message had to grasp two key points: First, it had to indicate an acute condition with an undetermined cause. Second, it had to show that Duke Yingguo and the Grand Princess had already rushed to the Huo residence ahead of time.
This way, if the Emperor knew but didn’t relay the information, it would certainly cause the Duke Yingguo household to develop extreme dissatisfaction with the imperial family’s indifference. Considering this consequence, the Emperor would have to put on a performance no matter what, demonstrating his regard for Shen Lingzhen on the spot and having Huo Liuxing, as head of the household, hurry back to the residence.
And to make the Emperor release him without arousing suspicion required two more key points: First, this news couldn’t be transmitted directly to the Emperor but had to go through the Imperial Medical Academy in a roundabout way, seemingly unintentionally reaching Chuigong Hall. Second, the imperial physician requested to the Huo residence absolutely had to diagnose a concrete problem from Shen Lingzhen.
What Huo Liuxing was currently worried about was this last point—Shen Lingzhen had considered things so thoroughly that she must have known pretending to faint wouldn’t work, and had actually made herself faint.
Kongqing shook his head: “The young madam, to be safe, didn’t send word to this humble one’s side. This humble one currently doesn’t know the situation at the residence either. I only know the imperial physician departed before you, my lord, and should have almost reached home by now.”
Huo Liuxing furrowed his brow and let out a heavy breath. After half an hour’s carriage ride, he returned to the Huo residence.
Taking advantage of the journey to recover somewhat, he was temporarily no longer in serious trouble. Upon entering, he saw Jianjia with a face full of lingering fear escorting the imperial physician out from the inner courtyard. He immediately wheeled forward with a perfectly anxious demeanor, inquiring about Shen Lingzhen’s condition.
The imperial physician let out a breath: “General Huo, don’t be anxious. This official has determined the cause of your wife’s illness. The root of the problem was actually a stinging hornet in your residence’s flower garden. This official just extracted the poison stinger from your wife. She will wake soon.”
Huo Liuxing’s heart jumped. Feigning anger, he looked at Jianjia: “How were you caring for the young madam? You didn’t even know she was stung by a hornet?”
Jianjia hurriedly knelt, reciting the script Shen Lingzhen had instructed beforehand with perfect fluency and abundant emotion: “Master, please calm your anger! The matter… was like this. At the time, you weren’t present, and the young madam went to the flower garden to trim flowers and plants out of boredom. This servant only left for a moment to fetch a water ladle. When I returned, I found her fainted on the ground. Because the young madam was stung on the back of her neck, this servant didn’t notice at first and thought it was caused by her existing cold constitution condition, which is why I misled the physician.”
Huo Liuxing pointed at her with a finger: “Fortunately this time it didn’t result in disaster. If the toxin had spread and the treatment opportunity was delayed, I’d see how many heads you all have to lose!”
Jianjia buried her head lower, not daring to make another sound.
Seeing that the family was about to discipline their servants, the imperial physician found it inconvenient to keep standing there watching the show. He immediately took his leave, instructing before departing: “Autumn is precisely when hornets are most active. General Huo’s residence has an exceptional abundance of flowers, grass, and trees. In the future, please absolutely don’t let your wife go to the flower garden again.”
General Huo nodded his thanks. Once the person left, he wheeled into Shen Lingzhen’s bedroom with furrowed brows.
As soon as he entered, he heard her voice arguing: “Father doesn’t praise my cleverness, that’s fine, but why scold me too?”
This was the appearance of having just awakened.
“You deserve scolding,” Huo Liuxing circled around the screen, nodding in acknowledgment to Shen Xuerong and Zhao Meilan by the bedside, then looked at the little girl sitting on the bed with a face full of grievance. “So reckless—hornets are such dangerous things, yet you dared put on such a life-threatening performance?”
As soon as Shen Lingzhen saw him, she moved to throw off the covers and get down: “Is my lord’s injury all right?”
Shen Xuerong blocked her with one hand, jerked his chin with a stern face, signaling her to lie back down, then personally stepped forward to support Huo Liuxing: “You lad, rushing into trouble in the middle of the night like a fierce tiger descending the mountain—you’re two of a kind. You have no qualification to lecture our Yinyin. Come lie down and rest together with her!”
Huo Liuxing choked, forcibly pressed down onto the bed, lying side by side with Shen Lingzhen under the covers.
Shen Lingzhen only rested half her head on the high pillow, carefully avoiding the wound on the back of her neck. She sniffled, looking at him then at her parents, saying unconvinced: “My lord and I are not the same. I value my life greatly. I consulted Divine Physician Luo beforehand and drank a bowl of toxin-relieving medicine early. The hornet’s poison stinger was also inserted by him. It didn’t hurt at all and wasn’t dangerous either.”
Shen Xuerong was huffing and about to scold more when Zhao Meilan cut him off: “Enough. The children have grown up and know how to handle matters comprehensively. Compared to the larger situation, what does this bit of physical suffering matter? Yinyin did very well this time. Say less and let them rest properly.”
A grown daughter couldn’t be kept at home. For the one in her heart, she would even disregard the body received from her parents. Shen Xuerong sighed, angrily flicked his sleeves, and strode out of the bedroom with large steps.
Zhao Meilan followed out a few steps, paused at the doorway, turned back and said: “Liuxing, thank you.”
Shen Lingzhen’s breath caught.
Mother had a proud temperament and usually didn’t speak much. Given her status, she rarely had occasions requiring her to thank others. This “thank you” was sincere gratitude for Huo Liuxing having risked his life for the Shen family that night.
Huo Liuxing blinked. Before he could respond, he heard the door close.
His attention returned to Shen Lingzhen. He wanted to examine the back of her neck but inconveniently couldn’t turn on his side, so he could only have her turn her head to show him.
Shen Lingzhen herself didn’t know what the wound looked like. She propped herself crookedly on one elbow, twisted her neck, lifted her loose hair to show him, and said with feigned ease and a laugh: “Does my lord see it? Does it look good?”
A red, swollen lump with a sesame-sized black dot in the center—how could that look good?
Even with medicinal ointment applied, there wasn’t the slightest sign of the swelling subsiding. With this injury, right now it should be burning and pulling at her scalp painfully.
Huo Liuxing’s face darkened, but his movements were gentle. Supporting her shoulder, he gently blew air on it breath by breath, saying: “Your father and mother-in-law have left. You don’t need to pretend in front of me.”
Having been seen through, Shen Lingzhen also surrendered: “Mm, it does hurt quite a bit. When it stung, tears welled up in my eyes…”
Huo Liuxing said nothing more, concentrating on blowing air on her wound.
Instead, Shen Lingzhen kept chattering: “But thinking of my lord made it much better. My lord endured such a huge wound without crying.”
Huo Liuxing laughed: “Cry? I haven’t done such a thing since I can remember.”
Shen Lingzhen was startled, saying incredulously: “How could that be? When my lord was small and got injured practicing martial arts, you didn’t cry or fuss?”
“What’s there to cry and fuss about?”
“Then in all these years, hasn’t my lord ever had times of sadness and tears?”
Just as Huo Liuxing was about to definitively answer “no,” the words on his lips suddenly paused as he recalled something.
Though it was somewhat embarrassing, since he had promised never to deceive her under any circumstances, he still answered truthfully: “Last year in Qingyang, when I first saw that life-saving benefactor’s handkerchief of yours, I inexplicably shed tears once.”
Shen Lingzhen was startled. She moved the hand he had supporting her shoulder and lay on her side looking at him: “When my lord read those two poems, did you also feel very distressed?”
“Also?”
She nodded: “The first time I got that handkerchief I particularly wanted to cry. At the time I thought it was probably because the poems were too moving. Now hearing my lord say this, I feel that stifling feeling in my chest truly was inexplicable—as if I particularly empathized.”
Huo Liuxing wanted to believe this was coincidence, but he couldn’t convince himself why Jingmo, Kongqing, and Meng Qufei all felt nothing upon seeing those two poems, while only he and Shen Lingzhen were as if under a spell.
“Yinyin… Yinyin…” He turned her intimate name over in his mouth with varying tones, as if searching for a resonance that seemed to exist somewhere in this world. Suddenly he was interrupted by a knock at the door.
Jingmo reported from behind the screen: “My lord, the palace spies sent word that the matter succeeded. His Majesty ultimately heeded His Highness the Crown Prince’s death remonstrance and temporarily doesn’t plan to pursue the twelve officials the Second Prince accused.”
The subtle emotion about to burst forth in their hearts was interrupted by this news. After a moment of surprise, Shen Lingzhen asked: “So it wasn’t my lord but His Highness the Crown Prince who saved Brother A’Jie and the others?”
Huo Liuxing furrowed his brow: “Who said that?”
Zhao Chen did indeed want to save people, but originally might not have made such a firm decision or adopted such an extreme method.
It was Huo Liuxing who reminded him at the Huangyi Gate through the horse-controlling analogy that today’s unreserved death remonstrance was a good opportunity to win over the court officials and create momentum for his son’s future succession struggle.
Zhao Chen’s heartfelt speech was actually not entirely for public good but also had private motives.
“If I hadn’t maneuvered behind the scenes, could he have done it so decisively and smoothly?” Huo Liuxing raised his eyebrows. “I was the one who saved them.”
Jingmo couldn’t bear to listen to him so childishly claiming credit and quietly withdrew.
Shen Lingzhen eyed him: “Fine, fine, let’s say my lord saved them. Then I thank my lord on behalf of the court officials for your great kindness and virtue.”
“Your thanks—what use is it if it’s all talk and no action?” Huo Liuxing turned his head, his gaze lingering on her lips with suggestive meaning.
Shen Lingzhen’s heart skipped a beat under his gaze: “My lord wants me to do that thing with you…”
Why did she say it as if it were some unbearable deed? He said: “You’re unwilling?”
Shen Lingzhen leaned over while lying down, carefully pursing her lips: “All right, then my lord should be gentle today. Don’t make me swell up again.”