Nan Gui shook her head.
No news was the best news. Ji Cheng closed her eyes and lay back down on the bed. Her body was extremely fatigued, yet she couldn’t fall asleep.
Shen Che’s silhouette kept appearing before her eyes. She couldn’t see his face, only feeling that his back view was so lonely it made her eyes sting.
He had talked about facing risks together, but in the end, he was the one bearing everything alone. The number of guards around Ji Cheng had doubled; this time, even if Huo De came again, he wouldn’t fare much better.
Ji Cheng drifted off into a hazy sleep. She dreamed of a hillside, with a cold, temperatureless setting sun hanging in the sky. A person lay on the hill with a sword piercing his chest. It was unclear how long he had been dead. Vultures swooped down from the sky, pecking at the corpse.
In her dream, Ji Cheng was both anxious and frightened. Tears fell silently, yet she couldn’t cry out or move her legs.
“Young Madam, Young Madam.” Nan Gui shook Ji Cheng, seeing her body trembling uncontrollably, her forehead covered in sweat, her expression filled with unbearable pain. She quickly tried to wake her.
Ji Cheng finally escaped from the nightmare. She had been so close to seeing who that bloodied person was; everything had seemed so familiar.
It took two full cups of water for Ji Cheng to steady herself, but she didn’t dare sleep again. She held the teacup in her hands, almost afraid to imagine what life would be like without Shen Che.
She shouldn’t have felt like the sky was falling. Ji Cheng had never been one to rely on others, but for some reason, she couldn’t let go when it came to Shen Che. Everything seemed to be covered in a gray hue, looking lifeless.
Was this what they meant by “if you marry a rooster, you follow the rooster; if you marry a dog, you follow the dog”? Even though she had once hated Shen Che so much, she now couldn’t help but worry for him, and feel sad for him. Ji Cheng couldn’t describe the feeling. She was unwilling to admit that she had developed feelings for him, as if doing so would mean losing, betraying her past self.
But in this world, if emotions could be controlled, there wouldn’t be so many beautiful yet sad legends.
Ji Cheng couldn’t help but think of Ling Ziyun, wondering how he was doing now. She felt guilty towards him. When she had been forced to marry Shen Che, her heart had at least belonged to Ling Ziyun. But now, she couldn’t even control her own heart, making her guilt towards her childhood friend, Brother Ziyun, even more unbearable.
Being abandoned time and again, persisting in waiting time and again, gave Ji Cheng a pain she could hardly bear.
The nightmares kept recurring, and she couldn’t sleep for more than a few hours. Five days later, good news finally arrived. The silver Ji Cheng had scattered about had shown results.
Nan Gui’s hands trembled as she held the letter. “I’ll arrange for someone to find Doctor Ma right away.”
Ji Cheng shook her head. “Don’t rush. If I’m not mistaken, we should receive more news in the next couple of days.”
Nan Gui was confused. Ji Cheng had been the most anxious these past few days, rushing about for days and nights, tirelessly scattering silver. Now that news had arrived, she seemed as calm as if she were fishing from a secure position.
Ji Cheng said, “We don’t know if this information is true or false, and we don’t have enough manpower. We can’t go to a place every time we receive a piece of news. We won’t make it in time that way.”
Sure enough, just as Ji Cheng had predicted, over the next two days, news came in from various places. Surprisingly, Doctor Ma seemed to have appeared in nearly twenty different locations simultaneously.
“What does Young Madam think?” Nan Gui placed all the letters in front of Ji Cheng.
Ji Cheng remained silent, simply stroking her chin as she quietly looked at the letters.
“Young Madam, three of the messages say Doctor Ma is in Zhangye. Should we send people there first?” Nan Gui asked.
“How many groups of people do you have available?” Ji Cheng asked Nan Gui.
Nan Gui lowered her head and said, “Che Li has been very active recently. All of our available manpower has been sent out. We only have one group left to use now.”
Ji Cheng said, “Send out all the people around me.”
Nan Gui immediately rejected the idea. “No, that’s not possible. Before the Young Master left, he repeatedly instructed that protecting you was the top priority. They are not allowed to leave your side.”
Ji Cheng sighed, “Che Li and his people have already achieved their goal. My husband cares for both the country and his family, and he has done so much for me already. I’m deeply grateful. Huo De can no longer use me to threaten my husband, so I’m not in much danger now. The most crucial thing now is to find Doctor Ma to cure my husband’s poison. Otherwise, the consequences will be unthinkable.”
Nan Gui couldn’t argue with Ji Cheng. “But even if we send them all out, we still won’t have enough people.”
Ji Cheng selected a few letters from the pile. “The information in these letters seems about fifty percent credible. Arrange for our people to go to these places first.”
“Yes.” Nan Gui had unknowingly begun to obey Ji Cheng’s every word. Later when she recalled this experience, she often thought that it was probably because, in such circumstances, Ji Cheng not only didn’t break down but remained calmer than her, commanding with ease, making you unconditionally trust that she could lead you out of the predicament. She had a quality similar to Shen Che.
Out of the twenty or so addresses, they could now search eight or nine places, but it was still only a fifty-fifty chance. Ji Cheng flicked the letters she had selected, her brows constantly furrowed.
Nan Gui peeked over and saw that the information provided said Doctor Ma was near Qu Man Mountain, which was in Western Turkic territory—Che Li’s domain.
“This is trying to lure us into a trap. Young Madam, please don’t believe it. Once we enter Western Turkic territory and are discovered by Che Li’s people, it will be disastrous. Besides, with the grasslands in such chaos, Doctor Ma wouldn’t go to Western Turkic territory,” Nan Gui said.
Ji Cheng shared Nan Gui’s concerns, but the people she had entrusted were all shrewd. Such an obvious trap-like letter shouldn’t have come from them.
“I want to try our luck at this place,” Ji Cheng stood up and said.
Nan Gui naturally disagreed and hurriedly objected, “Young Madam, I can’t let you take such a risk.”
Ji Cheng said, “Don’t be hasty, listen to me. I’ve dealt with Huang Yue a few times before. He has quite deep feelings for the Great Qin’s ancestral lands. He’s more credible.”
“But Young Madam, you also said that you haven’t been in contact for three or four years. People change,” Nan Gui said.
Ji Cheng smiled, “But you’ve also said that Doctor Ma and your Young Master are close friends, and he left the capital heading north. Couldn’t we infer that if he cares about your Young Master, he might have had the opportunity to come to the grasslands? And I’ve heard the manager of Changchun Hall mention that Qu Man Mountain is a medicinal herb-producing area in Western Turkic territory. It makes sense for Doctor Ma, being a physician, to appear in Qu Man Mountain.”
Nan Gui was somewhat convinced by Ji Cheng.
“Let’s go. You have no one else to use now. If you go to Qu Man Mountain alone, would you be at ease leaving me by myself?” Ji Cheng asked.
Nan Gui had to admit that Ji Cheng was right.
When going to Qu Man Mountain, Ji Cheng disguised herself as a large Turkic man, wearing a thick padded jacket to appear bulky. This wasn’t her first time doing such a thing. Then she had Nan Gui find an old, smelly Turkic man’s outfit reeking of fox musk and milk. She wore a fur hat, making it impossible to recognize her unless one looked closely.
Nan Gui was similarly dressed, and the two rode horses towards Qu Man Mountain. The journey was thrilling but without real danger, except that the inside of Ji Cheng’s thighs were raw and bloody. She endured it without saying a word. The wounds from her previous rushed journey hadn’t even healed before being damaged again.
Qu Man Mountain was not a small place. Searching for someone was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Nan Gui adamantly refused to leave Ji Cheng’s side for even a moment, so Ji Cheng had to compromise, leading Nan Gui from the southern foot of the mountain towards the north to try their luck.
At a fork in the road, Nan Gui didn’t know which way to choose and instinctively turned to look at Ji Cheng. As the mistress, Ji Cheng couldn’t shirk the responsibility, so she closed her eyes and blindly pointed to a path. After all, it was all about luck.
However, at every fork, Ji Cheng would always clasp her hands together on horseback and pray to the heavens, hoping that the Bodhisattva would guide them to the right path. When faced with things beyond one’s control, one can only seek help from the intangible.
Ji Cheng and Nan Gui spent a day on Qu Man Mountain. By evening, the wind on the mountain made people shiver with cold, and even the horses refused to go on. They had to stop to make a fire for warmth.
Ji Cheng wasn’t cold; she was wearing too much. At the mountain pass, she looked around and saw a faint flicker of firelight not far away on the mountainside. She turned and called to Nan Gui, who was tidying up the firewood, “There are people over there. Let’s go take a look. It might be Doctor Ma.”
Nan Gui wasn’t as optimistic as Ji Cheng, but she didn’t have the heart to discourage her or refuse. So she stomped out the fire she had just managed to start.
In this world, there’s probably nothing better than “luck.” No matter how much you calculate and rack your brains, sometimes it’s not as good as simple “luck.”
What they say about “finding what you seek after wearing out iron shoes” – today, Nan Gui finally experienced it firsthand.
Near the fire that Ji Cheng had pointed out at the mountain pass, Ji Cheng and Nan Gui found Doctor Ma.
He was a very small man, said to be Shen Che’s junior fellow apprentice, but he had grown a small beard. Since ancient times, doctors have loved to appear old, and even the divine doctor was no exception.
“I’ve had terrible luck. I broke my leg while gathering herbs. Fortunately, I met Jin Zhu.” Jin Zhu stood to the side, shyly looking at Ma Yuantong. Her dark skin couldn’t show a blush, so Ji Cheng could only guess she was blushing.
Ma Yuantong’s left leg was splinted with a wooden board. It was fortunate that he had broken his leg; otherwise, Ji Cheng and Nan Gui might not have found him, and who knows where he would be now.
Ji Cheng couldn’t understand much of the Shu dialect, so she explained Shen Che’s situation to Ma Yuantong in the simplest terms.
Ma Yuantong looked at Ji Cheng suspiciously, examining her for a good while before saying, “Didn’t my senior apprentice-brother, that turtle egg, say his wife was the most beautiful woman in the world? How come I don’t think you look like it?”
Behind Ji Cheng, Nan Gui was blinking furiously at Ma Yuantong. This Doctor Ma had no filter; he could say anything.
Ji Cheng was also stunned, her face feeling a bit hot. Her condition had been extremely poor recently, with wind and sun exposure. Even if she were a celestial beauty, her looks would have diminished by at least thirty percent.
“Doctor Ma, can you cure that kind of poison?” Ji Cheng didn’t mind Ma Yuantong’s words.
“I don’t even know what kind of poison it is. How can I cure it?” Ma Yuantong said. “Besides, isn’t my senior apprentice-brother very capable? How come he can’t even cure a simple poison?” Ma Yuantong still couldn’t get over that hurdle. He had never been able to poison Shen Che in his entire life, yet Shen Che had been poisoned twice. Where was the divine doctor supposed to put his face?
Ji Cheng was stunned by his words. She didn’t know what kind of poison it was either. She turned to look at Nan Gui, who also knew nothing. She only remembered Ji Cheng’s symptoms.
Ma Yuantong stroked his small beard and said, “From what I hear, it sounds like Half-Day Scatter. But there are many formulas for Half-Day Scatter. We must know which herbs were used in the Half-Day Scatter to treat it properly. Normally, it wouldn’t be difficult. If I could see the blood he vomited, I would know which herbs were used.” Ma Yuantong said proudly, “This is my unique skill. Even my senior apprentice-brother can’t do it.”
“But where can we find blood now?” Nan Gui became anxious.
Ji Cheng said, “I’ve been poisoned by Half-Day Scatter before. Maybe there are still slight traces of those toxins in my blood. Divine Doctor, can you tell what herbs Huo De used from my blood?”
Ma Yuantong said, “It’s not impossible, but so many days have passed, and my senior apprentice-brother has already drawn out the poison for you. Even if there are traces left in your blood, they would be negligible.”
“It doesn’t matter. How much blood do you need?”
In the end, Ji Cheng cut a gash on her hand and squeezed out nearly half a bowl of blood before Ma Yuantong said it was enough. By then, her face had turned so pale it was painful to look at.
Ma Yuantong looked at Ji Cheng, who was being supported by Nan Gui and said, “Your body is severely deficient. If you don’t take good care of yourself, your lifespan will be greatly reduced.” He paused and then added, “But I’m just worrying unnecessarily. Once my senior apprentice-brother recovers, he can replenish everything for you.” Ma Yuantong grinned at Ji Cheng, his smile rather lewd.
Ji Cheng didn’t understand Ma Yuantong’s words at all. She just thought he meant that Shen Che also had the skill to prescribe medicines to nourish one’s body.
“Alright, from now on, don’t disturb me. I need to prepare the medicine,” Ma Yuantong waved his hand, shooing Jin Zhu, Ji Cheng, and Nan Gui out.
Nan Gui supported Ji Cheng to lie down in the adjacent stone house. “Young Madam, I’ve always said that the Young Master is blessed by heaven. Even the heavens are helping him. To think that Doctor Ma was actually on the grasslands, we’ll be able to save the Young Master in time. It’s truly miraculous. Qu Man Mountain is so vast, yet we found him on the first day. It’s all thanks to Young Madam’s good sense of direction.”
Ji Cheng clasped her hands together and looked at the moon outside the window. “This is all thanks to heaven’s blessing. I made a wish in my heart. If my husband is saved, when we return to the capital, I will have a golden statue of the Bodhisattva made.”
Early the next morning, Ma Yuantong, with bloodshot eyes, knocked on Ji Cheng and Nan Gui’s door. With a bright smile, he said, “My senior apprentice-brother, that turtle egg, is lucky. The antidote to the most crucial herb Huo De used in the Half-Day Scatter is the very herb that caused me to break my leg. Ah, if I had his luck, the most beautiful woman in the world would be my wife.”
Ji Cheng didn’t say anything; she hadn’t dared to claim the title of the world’s most beautiful woman.
Ma Yuantong handed the bottle containing the antidote to Ji Cheng. “My leg is injured, so I’d only slow you down if I went with you. The antidote is in the bottle, but there’s only one dose. You must protect it well. Otherwise, you’d have to go back to Great Qin to find the herbs, and that would take time.”
Both Ji Cheng and Nangui nodded emphatically.
Watching their departing figures, Ma Yuantong adjusted his small mustache and thought to himself if Shen Che could call such a person the most beautiful woman in the world, he truly wondered if his senior brother’s head had been injured.
She was thin, lacking in both chest and hips, and her only notable feature was her frightfully large eyes. Ma Yuantong clicked his tongue and mused, did Shen Che not mind sleeping next to such a person with so many protruding bones?
Yet, he admired Shen Che’s devotion. Traveling such a long distance to seek the antidote, enduring so much blood loss without a single complaint or even a furrowed brow.
Ma Yuantong pondered for a moment before glancing at Jin Zhu, who had been watching him intently. He thought that if the earlier woman could be considered the most beautiful, Jin Zhu might rank within the top two hundred. Perhaps he could afford to lower his standards a bit for a wife. After all, even a physician had needs.