Seeing Li Jiancheng’s face filled with worry, he said: “Don’t worry, as long as your father still has the Li Family in his heart, he will definitely choose that path.” After a pause, he asked: “Still haven’t found the assassin?”
Mentioning this matter, Li Jiancheng’s gaze turned cold as he said: “The assassin is very cunning, constantly playing cat and mouse with us, so we haven’t found them yet. However, since they’ve entered the trap, don’t expect them to escape.”
Xia Houduan nodded and said: “This person has been in the mansion for many days, who knows how many secrets they’ve discovered. We absolutely cannot let them live.”
While they were discussing, Yunyi and Shen Moping were hiding in the ice cellar. Any official household would dig an ice cellar in their mansion to store winter ice, so that when the weather turned hot, they could take it out to cool down and dispel heat. Now that summer had passed and new ice blocks hadn’t been delivered yet, only a small portion of ice blocks remained, but even so, it was still cold enough to make people shiver continuously.
Shen Moping carefully closed the door and rubbed his hands vigorously, saying: “Now it’s late autumn and early winter, no one will need to use ice, so we should be very safe here.” After waiting a while without hearing Yunyi speak, he turned back to look, only to see Yunyi huddled in the corner, trembling non-stop. He quickly draped all the clothes they had brought over Yunyi, saying: “Master, please endure for now. Once the storm passes, this servant will immediately take you away.”
Yunyi reluctantly shook her head: “I’m fine, I just feel… somewhat cold!”
“Cold?” Shen Moping looked around. All the clothes they had brought were already draped over Yunyi, and there were no other coverings here. He gritted his teeth and took off his outer garment, draping it over Yunyi as well. When his fingers accidentally brushed across Yunyi’s face, he unexpectedly discovered that her cheeks were alarmingly hot. He quickly reached out to touch her forehead and found it equally burning hot, crying out in panic: “Oh no, Master, you have a fever.”
Speaking thus, he hurriedly went to untie the cloth bound around Yunyi’s shoulder, discovering that although the bleeding had stopped, the wound’s condition was very poor. The fever should be caused by wound infection.
“This… what should we do? There’s no doctor or medicine here, what can we do?” Shen Moping paced anxiously in circles. He knew that on the battlefield, many soldiers died from fevers caused by wound infections, so after Yunyi was injured, what he worried about most was fever, yet it had still inevitably occurred.
Yunyi weakly waved her hand, comforting: “I already said I’m fine, why are you… so nervous? I’ll be better after resting a while.”
Shen Moping blurted out: “This servant is afraid resting won’t make it better!” As soon as the words left his mouth, he quickly spat “pah pah” on the ground, clasped his hands together, and knelt down in panic, kowtowing several times, saying nervously: “I was talking nonsense just now. Buddha and Bodhisattva, please don’t take it seriously. You must bless Master to recover quickly. From now on, I will definitely eat only vegetarian food and make offerings to you.”
Hearing his words, Yunyi struggled to curve her lips, saying: “You’re deceiving the Bodhisattva again. You feel uncomfortable all over if you don’t eat meat for a day, how could you possibly eat only vegetarian food? I still remember, many years ago you worked for a whole day but didn’t get to eat meat, so…” Having said so much in one breath, she was somewhat out of breath. Shen Moping quickly stood up to support her and continued the story: “So this servant secretly ran to the imperial kitchen to steal meat, but was so unlucky to be caught red-handed by Steward Zhao, who wanted to beat this servant to death. Fortunately, Master found out and pleaded for this servant, so I was able to save my life. At that time, Master also took several lashes from the steward. From that moment on, this servant vowed that from then on, this life belongs to Master. Even if Master wanted this servant to die, this servant would never frown.”
Yunyi showed a bitter smile, “How could Steward Zhao take me, a fallen princess, seriously? In the end, it was Mother Empress who arrived in time and saved you.”
“This servant will remember Master’s and Empress Mother’s life-saving grace for this entire lifetime. Before this servant has repaid this debt, Master, you absolutely… absolutely cannot have any mishaps!” By the end of his words, Shen Moping was already choking with emotion.
Yunyi shook her head, “Your willingness to accompany me on this journey has already repaid all debts. Moping… do you think I can still see Mother Empress?”
Shen Moping wiped away the tears seeping from the corners of his eyes and nodded vigorously: “Yes, definitely yes. Even if this servant has to risk his life, I will definitely bring Master back to Luoyang to see Empress Mother!”
“I hope… it really can be!” After saying this, Yunyi finally couldn’t hold on any longer and fainted. Shen Moping was extremely anxious, wishing he could immediately take Yunyi out to find a doctor, but helplessly, they were currently being hunted everywhere. If they left the ice cellar, they would probably be caught immediately. He could only forcibly suppress the unease in his heart, using the dagger he carried to chisel off a piece of ice, wrapping it in cloth and placing it on Yunyi’s forehead, hoping to bring down the temperature, while constantly murmuring: “It will be fine, it will definitely be fine!”
Things often go against one’s wishes. Yunyi’s temperature not only didn’t decrease but kept rising higher, and she kept shivering continuously. The situation was truly not optimistic.
After chiseling another piece of ice to apply to the feverish Yunyi’s head, Shen Moping said to himself: “No, this won’t work. If this continues, Master will die. I must go out and get some medicine.” Although he had never gone out before, he could imagine that at this moment, the governor’s mansion was surely heavily guarded and searching everywhere for the two of them. Going out now would be tantamount to courting death, but for Yunyi’s sake, he had to do this.
Having made up his mind, Shen Moping no longer hesitated. He placed Yunyi on the ground and said in a low voice: “Master, please wait. This servant will definitely find medicine to save you.”
After saying this, he quietly pushed open the iron door of the ice cellar and walked out. By this time, the sky had already darkened, but patrolling guards could still be seen passing by from time to time.
He carefully avoided the guards and walked toward the back courtyard. He knew there was a medicine room there. Usually when people in the governor’s mansion needed medicine, they would go there to get it. The medicinal materials were quite complete.
When he was in the palace before, he had seen imperial physicians write prescriptions for treating persistent high fever. Although he didn’t dare say he remembered it perfectly, he still had about seventy to eighty percent of it. He knew that increasing or decreasing medicinal ingredients would affect the medicine’s properties, but at this time, he could only try anything, even if it seemed hopeless.
Shen Moping walked while hiding, taking a full half hour to approach the back courtyard, but unexpectedly there were also guards standing watch there. Trying to sneak in quietly was simply impossible!
Just as Shen Moping was hiding in the shadows, troubled by this difficulty, two guards walked over. The guard responsible for watching the back courtyard saw them and said with relief: “Finally, it’s time for the shift change. I can go back and get some sleep.”
The tall, thin guard beside him yawned and said: “But I can only sleep for two hours, then I have to go patrolling immediately. These past two days have really worn us out.”
The guard walking toward them picked up the conversation: “Exactly! An assassin appeared out of nowhere. Fortunately, the governor and Third Young Master are fine, otherwise the situation would definitely be even worse than it is now.”