After the Corrupt Official Was Coveted by the New Emperor - Chapter 16

A dreamless night passed.

The next day, Ji Rong was awakened by the heat. His waist was tightly confined by a pair of arms, and warmth transferred continuously from the person beside him to his own body.

The sound of rain no longer lingered in his ears. Ji Rong was not yet fully awake, his eyes half-open. Through his blurred vision, he could vaguely see that the fire in front of them had died out.

Strange, why is it still so hot?

Ji Rong pressed his brow, and his thoughts suddenly cleared. He scrambled up to check on Qi Zhaoxuan’s condition. Although the fever had broken yesterday, it had flared up again this morning. Ji Rong checked the wound on Qi Zhaoxuan’s arm. It was somewhat inflamed. No wonder the fever had returned.

Fan Qing was already awake. When Ji Rong looked over, he met Fan Qing’s complicated, indescribable expression. Ji Rong paused, realizing he had just broken free from Qi Zhaoxuan’s embrace.

However, Ji Rong had no time for such trivial matters. He lowered his head and instructed, “The rain has stopped outside. Go out and see if you can find the path or the guards. A day’s time should be enough for them to find their way to the bottom of the valley.”

Fan Qing looked as if he wanted to say something, but he swallowed his words and obediently stood up to head out.

Inside the cave, Ji Rong patted Qi Zhaoxuan’s face a few times and called his name, but he received no response. The wound was deep and poisoned. Although he had taken an antidote pill and treated it simply with herbs, it only addressed the symptoms. While the bleeding had stopped, the inflammation had set in.

The temperature of Qi Zhaoxuan’s forehead felt higher than yesterday. Ji Rong felt a surge of panic. He crushed the remaining herbs from yesterday and applied them to the wound on Qi Zhaoxuan’s arm. He worried whether Fan Qing’s intellect was sufficient to find help, but he was also reluctant to leave the feverish, unconscious Qi Zhaoxuan alone.

After an unknown amount of time, the quiet surroundings were gradually replaced by the noisy sound of footsteps and voices. Hurried steps echoed through the cave, creating ripples of sound. The Marquis of Ning’an led the charge, followed closely by Fan Qing and the guards.

The newcomers all shared looks of anxiety, yet there were differences among them. Fan Qing lunged forward with a clear target. He snatched a veiled hat and, with quick hands, placed it on Ji Rong’s head before anyone else could react.

The Marquis of Ning’an fell to his knees on the hard stone floor with a thud, looking helplessly at the unconscious Emperor. Seeing that the imperial physicians and guards were about to arrive, Ji Rong spoke quickly and simply. “The arrow wound on his arm is poisoned. He has taken an antidote, but the wound is inflamed, causing a fever and loss of consciousness.”

This voice?

A question mark slowly formed over the Marquis of Ning’an’s head. His attention was instantly diverted to the “Noble Consort” standing nearby. Before he could react, a large group of people swarmed forward. The veiled Consort yielded the space and stood at the edge of the crowd, where his own unfortunate son was currently speaking to her.

The Marquis of Ning’an: “?”

An auditory hallucination?

Impossible, the Marquis thought dazedly. It could not be a hallucination. That was absolutely the voice of a man. Furthermore, it was exceptionally familiar. It sounded like that person.

That person.

The Marquis felt his entire world tilting. His gaze drifted, and his pupils dilated as if he had received a monumental blow. He dazedly repeated Ji Rong’s words to the imperial physician.

The physician frowned. “How strange. Why does His Majesty have so many wounds?”

Standing to the side, Ji Rong heard this even through the noisy crowd. He opened his palm and stared at it blankly for a long while before blinking hesitantly. Memories of the moments before he fell into the valley and lost consciousness flickered in his mind.

The crowd arrived in an uproar and departed from the cave in an uproar. Li Youde trailed behind, carefully leaning toward Ji Rong and Fan Qing. He slapped his thigh and cried out, “Oh, Young Master! Thank heavens you and His Majesty are safe. When I woke up and found everyone gone, I nearly died of fright.”

Ji Rong glanced at Li Youde. “You did not die.”

Li Youde said sheepishly, “I fainted from fright.”

Fan Qing let out a sneer from the side. After Li Youde was awkwardly sent away, Fan Qing continued to smirk until Ji Rong told him to leave as well.

Fan Qing asked, “Why?!”

Ji Rong said helplessly, “In broad daylight, are you going to walk alongside an imperial consort?”

“Oh,” Fan Qing replied dryly. “By the way, I think my father knows. I was kind enough to help you put on the veil, but you did not even bother to disguise yourself and spoke in your original voice. Look at my father; he still looks like his soul has left his body.”

At that moment, the Marquis of Ning’an turned his head back once more, looking utterly lost. Ji Rong pulled his veiled hat down lower and shoved Fan Qing forward from behind.

Forced back to his father’s side, Fan Qing looked at the Marquis’s conflicted expression and felt a strange sense of satisfaction. Let him not believe me; facts have proven me right.

In his happiness, Fan Qing grew overconfident. He began humming a small tune, only to be smacked by the Marquis of Ning’an shortly after.

Fan Qing’s eyes widened. “What was that for!”

The Marquis was too angry to speak to his rebellious son and slapped him again. “Stop that singing!”

Fan Qing was amazed by his father’s talent for being unreasonable. However, realizing his father had just learned world shattering news, he found it understandable. He grumbled unhappily but stopped provoking his father.

After returning to the temporary palace, Ji Rong stayed alone in the side hall. The outside world was noisy at first, but it soon fell silent. Ji Rong adjusted his veiled hat and pushed the door open.

The midday sun was fierce, stinging his eyes even through the veil. Ji Rong walked to Qi Zhaoxuan’s bedchamber. The bitter, pungent scent of medicinal soup bubbled outside the window. The physician had ordered rest, and only Li Youde remained on guard inside.

Seeing Ji Rong arrive, Li Youde bowed and tactfully departed, leaving the two of them alone. Ji Rong stood by the bed, looking down at Qi Zhaoxuan.

After the chaos of the past few days, his heart had finally settled. The matters he had forcibly pushed to the back of his mind could no longer be covered up with self-deception. Now that everything was stable, the questions and facts lay in the open, forcing him to face them.

Ji Rong looked at Qi Zhaoxuan silently, feeling a sense of helplessness. Why had he followed without hesitation the moment Qi Zhaoxuan fell off the cliff? Why had he stayed when the opportunity to escape was right in front of him?

Qi Zhaoxuan had essentially imprisoned him in the palace and allowed rumors of his death to spread through the streets. He was forced to become a dead man. He should hate Qi Zhaoxuan. He should have ignored him at the bottom of the valley. He should have let Qi Zhaoxuan die there. What the Yu Dynasty would become after the Emperor’s death had nothing to do with him; he was an “evil” man anyway.

He should hate Qi Zhaoxuan.

Ji Rong felt a bit dazed. Some truths were already coming to light, making them impossible to ignore, but his heart was in too much turmoil. After a while, he adjusted his veiled hat and turned to leave. He could not figure this out alone; he needed a bystander.

Ji Rong avoided the crowds and took a path less traveled. Just as he stepped over a threshold, he happened to run into the Marquis of Ning’an, who was about to leave. The Marquis’s eye twitched violently, a look of strained endurance appearing on his face.

Behind the Marquis, Fan Qing noticed Ji Rong’s arrival. He rushed over to block his father’s line of sight. Just as he was about to push his father out, the Marquis suddenly covered his eyes, wailing, “Oh! My! What is wrong with my eyes? Why can I suddenly see nothing?” He then bypassed Ji Rong and walked out quickly.

Fan Qing watched as his father retreated with such clumsy acting.

“Why did you come here?” Fan Qing prattled as he led Ji Rong inside. “You have no idea how much you scared my father. Since we were in the valley, he has had an expression like he is half dead. He looks like he wants to ask me something but is too afraid the answer will kill him. It is hilarious.”

Ji Rong interrupted his nonsense. “Fan Qing.”

“Mhm?”

“I want to ask you something.” Ji Rong’s expression was solemn, his lips pressed into a tight line.

Seeing that it was no small matter, Fan Qing sent the servants away and sat up straight, ready to listen. The ice in the basins continuously emitted cold air, and a cross breeze blew through, dispelling most of the summer heat.

Ji Rong looked Fan Qing in the eye. Fan Qing listened attentively while Ji Rong lowered his head to think. Ji Rong looked up and down, up and down. A cup of tea’s time passed, yet he had not uttered a single word.

Fan Qing lost his patience. He pondered a few possibilities and asked tentatively, “Is it… about His Majesty?”

Ji Rong looked up again, his eyes full of hesitation and internal conflict.

Fan Qing: “?”

“Speak up.”

Ji Rong slowly squeezed out a few sentences. “Do you think… I taught Qi Zhaoxuan for a year or two when he was in his teens, so it could be said there is a bit of a teacher student bond?”

The direction Ji Rong was taking was getting stranger. Fan Qing did not understand.

“So, if I jumped down to save him, could it be interpreted that I did so out of that teacher student bond?”

A question mark appeared over Fan Qing’s head. The tense atmosphere vanished instantly. Fan Qing looked deadpan. He now knew what Ji Rong was trying to get at with all this rambling.

Fan Qing stood up to kick him out.

Ji Rong grabbed him and looked at him unhappily.

“What?” Fan Qing said crossly. “When I said you liked him before, you reacted violently and refuted me. Now, you want to say you saved him out of teacher student sentiment? Fine. I think that is very reasonable.”

By the end, his tone was purely sarcastic.

“Be serious,” Ji Rong said.

Fan Qing was speechless. “How much more serious or formal do I need to be? The one who needs to be serious is you, not me. You came to me because you could not figure it out yourself, or perhaps you have figured it out but are afraid to face reality. At the very least, you cannot avoid the truth.”

At this, Fan Qing repeated sarcastically, “Teacher student bond.”

Ji Rong was silent.

After the irony, Fan Qing spoke seriously. “What are you thinking?”

Ji Rong spoke the truth. “I do not know.”

Fan Qing said bluntly, “What is there not to know? Is it that hard to admit your own feelings?”