The steward of the Prince's mansion had already led people over to take Hailing to the residence of Prince Ruan Xiyin.
The courtyard where Prince Ruan Xiyin lived was close to the main hall in front, making it convenient for receiving guests. It was also one of the better courtyards in the Prince's mansion.
However, Hai Ling was not in the mood to appreciate any of this and followed the butler into the room where War King Ruan Xiyin was staying.
The room reeked of a strong, pungent medicinal smell. A man lay on the large bed. At first glance, this man truly startled Hai Ling. He had appeared as a majestic and powerful figure at the previous coronation ceremony, but now he looked like a withered old man. He had lost a lot of weight, and his face was as white as a sheet. His thick black hair was now mixed with strands of white. He lay quietly on the bed, his breathing barely audible, almost nonexistent.
Hai Ling was momentarily speechless. She was a doctor, not the kind of cold-blooded person who was heartless. When she saw a patient, she would instinctively feel pity.
Butler Wang had already gone over and whispered in the ear of the person on the bed, "Your Highness, Your Highness, the Empress of Beilu has come to see you. She has come to see you."
The person who had been sleeping peacefully suddenly opened their eyes, a glint of light appearing in them. They slowly moved their eyes, looked at Hai Ling, their lips moved a few times, and finally struggled to speak: "If Xi Liang is not dead, do not tell her about my situation. If she is really dead, please tell her I'm sorry for me."
As soon as Prince Ruan Xiyin finished speaking, the servants in the room burst into tears. Their prince had always been proud and had never said such a thing before. Now, because the princess had committed suicide, he was being tortured beyond recognition.
Before Hai Ling saw Ruan Xiyin, she had been thinking of making fun of him, but now that she saw his state, she couldn't bring herself to say it. However, she wasn't kind enough to tell Ruan Xiyin that Xi Liang wasn't dead or anything like that. Things had come to this point, and perhaps there was no way to turn back.
"Alright, I will apologize to Xi Liang on your behalf at her grave."
As Hai Ling finished speaking, Ruan Xiyin's eyes slowly lost their color, and finally, everything went black as he fainted again.
Steward Wang burst into loud sobs. Hai Ling glanced at him and asked coldly, "What did the imperial physician say about your prince?"
"Actually, the prince was just too depressed. He would have been fine if he had just rested, but the night before the emperor ascended the throne, he suddenly thought of a way to deal with the crown prince, so he had the imperial physician give him a kind of medicine that was very harmful to the body. In addition, he was determined to die, so he became so seriously ill."
"What did the imperial physician say?"
"If he doesn't survive these seven days, he will surely die."
Hai Ling glanced at Ruan Xiyin on the bed and thought of Xi Liang's character. Even if Xi Liang were standing here today, he probably wouldn't be able to watch Ruan Xiyin die. Even if they didn't end up together after falling in love, he wouldn't be so ruthless.
Thinking of this, Hailing ordered Shimei: "Check with the Prince of Zhan to see if there is really no way to save him."
Shi Mei's medical skills are now far superior to those of ordinary imperial physicians. She learned medicine from her and often discussed it with the divine physician Shen Ruoxuan, so her medical skills are extremely high.
Shi Mei responded and stepped forward to take Ruan Xiyin's pulse, then quickly stood up.
"Your Majesty, it is indeed due to excessive melancholy; your pulse is weak and feeble."
“There’s no cure,” Hai Ling said, looking at Shi Mei. Shi Mei thought for a moment and then nodded. “I’ll prescribe some medicine for him to try. Maybe it will save his life.”
“Okay,” Shi Mei nodded. When Steward Wang of the War Prince’s Mansion heard that Shi Mei could save their prince’s life, he excitedly ran out to fetch pen, ink and paper. Shi Mei went to the side to write the prescription. Hai Ling carefully looked at War Prince Ruan Xiyin. To be honest, if he had treated Xi Liang well, things would be different today. But after what happened, the two of them could never go back to the way they were before. Since that was the case, why torture herself? There are plenty of fish in the sea.
Shi Mei came over and whispered, "Your Highness, let's go."
“Let’s go,” Hai Ling said as she walked out. Shi Zhu, Ji Shaocheng, and the others were waiting outside the door. They followed Hai Ling out of the War King’s Mansion, boarded a carriage outside the mansion, and, escorted by ministers of the Southern Ling Kingdom, left the capital city of Luo City.
As their carriage drove further and further away, the two officials from Nanling Kingdom finally breathed a sigh of relief. They wiped the sweat from their hands, feeling a sense of relief. They had finally sent these plague gods away; otherwise, Nanling Kingdom would never have peace.
On the carriage, Hailing recounted the situation at the Prince Zhan's mansion, and sighed for a while at the end.
"If he had realized his own feelings earlier, he would have been a good son-in-law. But why do people only wake up when they've lost something?"
Holding his son in one arm and Hailing in the other, Ye Lingfeng spoke gently, "Regardless of others, I will always be good to Ling'er."
"Mm," Hai Ling nodded with a smile, and reached out to take the kitten from Ye Lingfeng's arms and started playing with it. The kitten had recently stopped rejecting its father, which made Hai Ling very happy.
The carriage traveled north, leaving the Southern Ling Kingdom and heading towards Northern Lu.
Three days later, the group stayed overnight in a small town in the Southern Ling Kingdom. The town was not large, but it was very lively that night because it was the Wishing Festival, and everyone in the town went to the west of the town to release river lanterns and make wishes.
After dinner, Hailin dragged Ye Lingfeng out for a stroll, released river lanterns, and made wishes.
Her son, Xiao Mao'er, was asleep, so Hai Ling left Shi Mei, Ji Shaocheng, and others to take care of Xiao Mao'er.
The small inn was quiet and not many people were around. In the lobby on the first floor, Ji Shaocheng was drinking with several of his men, chatting and laughing happily. He seemed completely at ease with the people upstairs.
Shi Mei was in the room watching over the kitten as it dozed off. All around was quiet, without the slightest sound.
Suddenly the door creaked open and was quickly pushed open. Shi Mei was jolted awake and shouted towards the door, "Who goes there?"
The person pushed open the door, then carefully walked in and apologized: "Sir, I am the proprietress of the inn. Would you like some water or something?"
Shi Mei stood up and walked to the man, narrowing her eyes and staring coldly at him. Then, she crossed her arms and commanded in a somber tone, "Raise your head."
The speaker looked up quickly, and instantly his face changed. His body trembled, and he tried to back away and run away, but his feet seemed to be nailed to the ground, and he couldn't move an inch. His lips moved several times, but he couldn't utter a single word, as if someone was choking him.
Shi Mei was taken aback for a moment, then revealed a mocking smile: "Isn't this Consort Rou from the palace? How have you been, Your Highness?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she swiftly closed the door, then smiled sinisterly as she stared at Shu Wanxing.
Tonight, the Emperor and Empress went out to stroll and release river lanterns only to lure Ruan Jingyue into their trap. Unexpectedly, it was not Ruan Jingyue who took the bait, but Shu Wanxing. Could this woman be Ruan Jingyue's lackey? Thinking this, Shi Mei didn't stand on ceremony with Shu Wanxing and directly drew the sword from her waist, pointing it at Shu Wanxing's neck.
"I never expected that after so much time, you would still be so incorrigible and even try to scheme against the Empress. You're courting death. I will never let you go today."
Upon hearing this, Shu Wanxing was so frightened that she knelt down with a thud, completely losing the arrogance she had displayed in the Empress Dowager's palace that day. Naturally, news of the matter concerning the former Empress Dowager Xi Xiu of Bei Lu Kingdom had reached Shu Wanxing's ears. Moreover, as soon as she saw A Lang captured, she left Bei Lu immediately and later traveled to Nan Ling Kingdom, where she married the young innkeeper of a small inn in town. These days, she had been living a peaceful and secure life. Who knew that tonight she would be bewitched and actually agree to that man's request for two hundred taels of silver to come and see how many people were in this room.
“Miss Shimei, this has nothing to do with me. I did nothing. A man gave me two hundred taels of silver and asked me to come and find out how many people are in the room.”
Shi Mei's expression was initially cold, but the sharpness gradually faded. She drew a graceful arc in the air with her sword and deftly sheathed it. Although her tone was still icy, it was much better.
Are you the landlady of this inn?
Shu Wanxing nodded cautiously, quite frightened, unsure of what Shi Mei meant by those words.
Could it be that she wanted to? Upon thinking of this, Shu Wanxing pleaded in fear, "Miss Shimei, please let me go. I didn't mean to target the Empress before. It was the Empress Dowager who sent people to fetch me, saying that the Emperor should take me as a concubine. I refused at first, but the Empress Dowager said that she would take care of it and that I should just be a concubine. Ever since the incident with the fake Emperor in the palace, I secretly left the palace and wandered to this small town to live a life of secrecy. Miss Shimei, please spare my life."
Shu Wanxing kowtowed, and Shi Mei snorted coldly: "Get up. Now do me a favor, and I'll pretend I don't know you, and we'll wipe the slate clean."