Ahao nodded and said, "You're too kind, Eunuch Yuan. It's all I should do. Tomorrow I'll ask Aunt Ling for two more doses of medicine. After taking the medicine, His Majesty will recover faster. At that time, we'll just say that I injured myself by accident and won't reveal anything about His Majesty."
Zhang Yu had issued a strict order forbidding any disclosure of the news, and the mere fact that a royal physician had been summoned always attracted attention. These matters were indeed handled differently by A-Hao. Lü Yuan thanked her and told her to go and rest early, assuring her that he would keep watch outside and that she could rest assured.
After agreeing with Lü Yuan, A-Hao nodded again, said goodbye, and went back to her room to sleep. Perhaps because she felt at peace, A-Hao quickly fell asleep.
·
When Prince Ning visited Ling Xiao at the Imperial Hospital for the second time, Ling Xiao was engrossed in eating a bowl of walnut paste she had made herself, while gazing at two unidentified pale purple wildflowers. Prince Ning bent down slightly and glanced at the contents of her bowl.
A shadow fell, and even as she ate with complete focus, Ling Xiao noticed Prince Ning's presence. She silently pulled her bowl closer to her chest, stood up, tilted her head slightly to look at Prince Ning, and feigned ignorance, "Your Highness Prince Ning has brought me walnuts again? How embarrassing!"
A little bit of paste accidentally got on the corner of her mouth. Prince Ning looked at it with disdain, but reached out to wipe it off with his finger, almost getting bitten by Ling Xiao. His finger was already uncomfortable with the stickiness, and to make matters worse, his good intentions were met with ingratitude. So he simply grabbed the handkerchief that Ling Xiao always carried with him and used it to wipe his hand.
Ling Xiao gave a soft snort, picked up her bowl, and turned to go inside. Prince Ning, clutching a handkerchief, followed her in and sat down beside Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao continued eating, head down, when Prince Ning nudged her, "Quietly get me some good medicine for my injuries..."
"Who's injured and needs Prince Ning to beg for medicine like this?" Ling Xiao finished the last two bites of walnut milk in a few bites, pushed the bowl aside, and asked slowly.
"Me," Prince Ning answered Ling Xiao directly, adding, "Don't spread this around."
When Ling Xiao heard him say that he was injured, he looked Zhang Ye up and down, thought for a moment, but couldn't find anything wrong with him. The only thing he felt might be... Ling Xiao thought, reached out and patted Ning Wang's arm, heard the other party subconsciously hiss, but instead laughed.
"Oh dear, Your Highness, what happened?" If he hadn't angered the person before him, his life would have been incredibly difficult, and perhaps the man had been injured while handling official business. Ling Xiao really wanted to laugh at him; serves him right for always doing sneaky things! He was lucky he hadn't had his legs broken!
“I can’t say,” Prince Ning said. “If you have the medicine, take it out. If not, that’s fine. Don’t waste your breath. I’ll give you the money to buy it. I won’t let you waste your effort.” Prince Ning noticed the teasing in Ling Xiao’s expression as she spoke and urged her with slight displeasure.
"No fool would turn down an opportunity to extort money that's been handed to them!" Ling Xiao immediately dropped his teasing and put on a fawning expression, asking Prince Ning with concern, "Does Your Highness prefer a medicine with mild effects, few side effects, but slower onset, or one with obvious effects, slightly more side effects, but faster onset?"
Prince Ning glanced at her, then said seriously, "Naturally, it has to be the best."
"Let me take a look at Your Highness's wound first..."
Based on the medical ethics that a female physician should have, Ling Xiao finally decided to provide Ning Wang with better service, so as to further expand her room for extortion! So she got up to close the door, and then came back to check on Ning Wang's arm injury.
Ling Xiao initially thought it was just a minor injury, but when Prince Ning personally peeled off half of his clothes, exposing his entire arm, he discovered that the wound stretched from his elbow to his arm, almost half the length of his arm. The wound, with its exposed flesh, was quite deep; if he hadn't avoided it in time, the bone might have been visible.
Despite suffering such severe injuries, he still seems to be able to walk around the palace with impunity, so it's probably not something he's doing secretly or shamefully. After examining the wounds, Ling Xiao finally caught a glimpse of Prince Ning's well-defined, muscular chest and the faint outline of his eight-pack abs…
"It's actually...quite...tempting..." Ling Xiao murmured to herself, glancing at it, then glancing at it again, then glancing at it again... Finally, she looked away, secretly swallowing hard. She pretended to ponder for a moment, then, feigning seriousness, said in a drawn-out tone, "Your Highness's injury, it's not that there's no way to treat it, it's just..." She shook her head and sighed.
Prince Ning, who had taken in Ling Xiao's changing expression, didn't mind her looking around inappropriately or her little schemes. He simply said, "Your medicine is effective, money is not a problem."
“Words alone don’t count…” Ling Xiao suddenly remembered the lesson she learned last time, quickly found paper and pen in the room and handed them to Prince Ning. She grinned and said, “If you write a document, I’ll feel more confident.”
Prince Ning chuckled. Ling Xiao felt guilty, but seeing him take the pen and start writing, he breathed a sigh of relief and inwardly praised his own cleverness. After Prince Ning finished writing and affixed his personal seal, Ling Xiao checked that there were no problems and carefully put the item into his pocket.
Silver! Money! When Ling Xiao looked at Prince Ning again, she felt like she was looking at a walking money exchange! She had done her best to treat Prince Ning's wounds, get him the best medicine, and even prescribed medicine to help him recover. She did all of this without complaint.
"Just take the medicine according to this prescription. Is it convenient for you? If not, I can brew the medicine for you. You can remember to come and drink it every day, but it will be a bit of a hassle. Since His Highness Prince Ning doesn't want to make a fuss, to better conceal his intentions, I thought that His Highness would bring me some nice things every time, so outsiders would think that His Highness is... hehehe! That way, naturally no one would think anything else. I don't care about reputation or anything like that! Everything is for His Highness's good!"
"You mean, I should come to see you every day. To avoid suspicion, it would be best to pretend that I'm interested in you and pursuing you, and each time I'd bring along something valuable, so that no one will suspect anything... Is that right?"
"Yes, yes, yes." Ling Xiao nodded repeatedly, greatly pleased that Prince Ning had grasped the hidden meaning in her words so quickly, and feeling that the walnuts she had been eating lately were particularly useful! She looked at Zhang Ye ingratiatingly and asked, "What do you think of my idea?"
"I can consider it."
Hehehe! Ling Xiao secretly chuckled, mentally equating "can be considered" with "let's do it this way." She never imagined that Prince Ning would one day become her scapegoat. A windfall had truly fallen from the sky, and it hadn't killed her! Thank goodness!
Suddenly, Song Shuhao's voice rang out from outside the door. Ling Xiao glanced at Prince Ning, who was still half-naked, winked at him, and mouthed that he should hurry up and get dressed. Then she went out to see Ahao. Song Shuhao saw that Ling Xiao had taken a while to come out of the room and assumed she was busy, but then she noticed that she couldn't stop smiling, which didn't seem like the case.
Before she could say two words, Prince Ning emerged from the room, his clothes slightly disheveled. Song Shuhao froze, and when Ling Xiao turned to see Prince Ning's appearance, he was not only stunned but also utterly shocked. He stiffly turned to look at Song Shuhao, only to see a fleeting, complex expression on her face. Ling Xiao felt like crying.
Song Shuhao quickly realized that Prince Ning was most likely injured in the line of duty with the Emperor, and didn't really think anything of it. She smiled, curtsied to Prince Ning, and greeted him calmly. However, in Ling Xiao's eyes, this undoubtedly appeared as a forced composure.
Ling Xiao's face turned green instantly.
Chapter 68 Update
Having obtained the prescription from Ling Xiao, Ahao not only had to change Zhang Yu's dressings every day but also brew the medicine for him so that he could recover faster. Although Prince Anping was dead, his remnants remained, and there were many things to deal with afterward, but overall, things were moving in a positive direction.
After the death of Prince Anping, Zhao Jian fled to his fiefdom under the protection of his followers. Zhang Yu sent Nie Zhiyuan with men to pursue him. In the imperial court, Prime Minister Shen listed more than a dozen crimes committed by Prince Anping, ranging from those committed several years ago to those committed a few months earlier, including inciting refugees to cause trouble on Zhuque Street and massacring innocent civilians.
As a result of the events of last night, some of the important ministers who supported Prince Anping were either arrested or abandoned their families to flee with Zhao Jian. The rest were just small fry who could be dealt with slowly.
After Prime Minister Shen rebuked Prince Anping, Zhang Yu seized the opportunity to order the arrest of Zhao Jian, and the ministers who had fled with him were undoubtedly among those pursued and suppressed. Thus, a portion of the military power previously controlled by Prince Anping returned to Zhang Yu's hands.
Now that Prince Anping and Zhao Jian had arrived in Lin'an, he had no intention of letting them leave easily. His efforts over the past six months had not been in vain. There was much more to be done, but resolving the internal troubles was crucial to quelling external threats, and nothing was more satisfying than personally killing Zhao Liang.
After the morning court session, Zhang Yu rode in the imperial carriage back to the Xuanzhi Hall. Recalling the various plans he had made over the past six months, he suddenly remembered how Song Shuhao had waited for him anxiously yesterday, her eyes brimming with tears. Unconsciously, a warmth spread through his heart. The feeling of being cared for and remembered was perhaps even better than he had imagined.
Back at Xuanzhi Palace, breakfast and medicine were already prepared. To make it easier to decoct the medicine, and considering Zhang Yu's injuries and the need to avoid certain foods, Song Shuhao simply cooked a special meal for Zhang Yu herself in the Xuanzhi Palace kitchen. Today's breakfast was all prepared by herself, though it wasn't as lavish as the breakfasts usually sent from the imperial kitchen.
Zhang Yu, however, found it excellent. Whether it looked or tasted, or simply because it was prepared by her, he didn't find anything wrong with it. He enjoyed the breakfast, which was lighter than usual. After drinking the herbal medicine, even though he didn't like sweets, he still swallowed the candied fruit that Song Shuhao fed him.
When Song Shuhao was changing Zhang Yu's dressing, he didn't cause any trouble. He just deliberately asked Ahao, "Why did you run away by yourself last night?" Ahao kept her head down and didn't look at him. She replied, "Your Majesty slept soundly, so this servant withdrew."
He slept soundly, a rare sound sleep, Zhang Yu thought to himself. He reached out and hooked his arm around Song Shuhao's waist, smiling as he watched a slight blush creep onto her cheeks. He didn't pull his arm away; instead, he slightly adjusted his position and asked with a hidden agenda, "Do you know what day the thirteenth of next month is?"
How could Song Shuhao, who had always served Empress Dowager Feng, not know His Majesty's birthday? Ahao hesitated slightly before nodding, then blinked lightly and said, "I know." She added, "His Majesty's birthday is approaching." This answer pleased Zhang Yu, but as if going with the flow, he asked again, "And then?"
"This servant has nothing to give Your Majesty," A-Hao said, tilting her head slightly as she finished changing Zhang Yu's wound dressing and putting everything into a small box beside her. She then gently removed his hand from her waist and carried the small box to the cabinet.
Zhang Yu got off the small couch and immediately followed. A-Hao turned around and almost bumped into him. But Zhang Yu hadn't even finished dressing yet, so he just left his clothes half open and reached out to pull Song Shuhao, who hadn't bumped into him, into his arms.
The two stood in front of the cabinet. Zhang Yu gently rested his chin on A Hao's head, inhaling her sweet scent. The excuse of giving nothing if there was nothing to give didn't work for Zhang Yu. He hinted, "I quite liked the sword tassel from last time."
Song Shuhao was shorter than Zhang Yu, and his chest was just a hair's breadth away from Song Shuhao's cheek. Ahao didn't dare move, and upon hearing his words, she looked up at Zhang Yu and asked them to separate for the time being.
After exchanging a glance with Zhang Yu, A-Hao didn't speak. Instead, she lowered her head again to straighten his clothes before saying, "Your Majesty appreciates the little trinkets I can make, but how can Your Majesty accept such trinkets as a birthday gift?"