Chapter 46

The shell of Prince Ningxuan is really, really lousy.

A disease that had entered the vitals, one foot in the grave, a difficult-to-cure chronic illness……. Practically all the words that can be used to describe terminally ill patients who are near death can be applied to him.

During the Spring Festival, when Rong Tang had just transmigrated to Dayu, he flipped over in pain and spewed out a mouthful of blood the instant he opened his eyes.

For a moment, he thought he was re-experiencing death.

After regaining his senses, Rong Tang lay on the bed and carefully enduring the feeling that this shell presented.

How does one describe it?

It was like walking on the road; a heavy-duty truck roars, speeding through the traffic lights. It passed swiftly, crushing both legs from the knees down, before you can even react to the pain. The truck driver realised he’s on the wrong path and slowly backs up, steering gently, inch by inch, rolling over and crushing various parts of your body.

Feet, legs, waist and abdomen, fingers, and arms, until it reaches the head and spirit.

There is no place that doesn’t hurt, no place that isn’t torn apart.

The chilly pain emanates from the bones, passes through the lungs, and then penetrates into the pores of the skin, wrenching on the nerves bit by bit, aiming to rip body and soul asunder.

The pain is at its worst when the weather is cold, and it improves somewhat when it gets warmer. There was a time when Rong Tang found the pain utterly unbearable. He joked with the system that if he returned to the modern era with this body, the Meteorological Bureau would want to worship him.

You would be able to tell whether or not the weather will be good depending on how much pain he experiences.

But this kind of pain is not completely intolerable. At least, after existing day and night for the past seven years with this shell, Rong Tang can ignore the physical pain most of the time.

And this time he was reborn; he himself couldn’t tell whether it was because he was far from the male protagonist and toiled less or because the palace doctor’s medical skills had improved without him knowing it. Not only does he rarely faint, but the sensation of pain tearing through his bones and muscles is seldom perceived.

So much so that he overlooked the fact that he can’t withstand any wind, can’t tolerate any cold, and can’t bear any hunger……

Not to mention staying up with your eyes open and fretting all night.

Rong Tang grabbed Su Huaijing, and in that instant, his sense of grievance expanded infinitely. The sky and earth before his eyes seemed to be spinning, and he only managed to murmur to Su Huaijing about suffering. He only saw the sudden panic and loss of control on his face as the exhaustion that had been pressing on him all night rushed into his brain at once.

Rong Tang’s eyes closed, and he fainted dead-away.

The morning light was just right, and the birds were chirping. He collapsed into Su Huaijing’s arms, his fingers clenching tightly onto his sleeve, like a drowning man grabbing a life-saving straw.

–

By the time he regained consciousness, what he saw was an unfamiliar-looking large bed. The size was much larger than that of Song Garden and even a few inches larger than his bed in Duke Ningxuan’s Palace. Rong Tang raised his hand and discovered that he couldn’t muster any strength to lift it.

He opened his mouth to call someone, but the voice came out so mute that it was even barely audible to himself.

He was in a daze. Before he could call out the system to ask about the specific situation of his shell, there was a soft “squeak” from the door, and the light from outside streamed in. It was then that Rong Tang realised it was daytime.

Shuang Fu came in holding a tray with a bowl of medicine on it. He walked with soft footsteps around the screen and paused when he saw that Rong Tang had opened his eyes. Straightaway, big, fat tears rolled down his eyes.

He literally choked with sobs: “Young Master……”

Rong Tang struggled to get his fingers out of the quilt, lifted them up, and said in a hoarse voice: “Don’t cry, I’m not dead.”

“Pooh, pooh, pooh!” Shuang Fu’s tears rolled down his cheeks, but his eyes bulged. He was so bold that he dared to stare at his master, “How can the Young Master speak this way?!”

Rong Tang was inexplicably happy to see him like this.

He still remembered that when he first came back to this life, this child was kneeling in front of his bed and almost tumbled over when he stood up.

Rong Tang smiled, regained some strength in his body, and, realising the situation, said, “I misspoke.”

Shuang Fu’s bout of anger subsided, and he walked to the bed, placing the tray on a small table beside it. Then, with the utmost care, he helped Rong Tang up as if he were handling a fragile porcelain figurine. He then placed two soft pillows behind his waist and started to feed him the medicine.

Rong Tang wanted to drink it by himself, but Shuang Fu gave him a roll of his eyes and said angrily, “Young Master, do you have the strength in your hands?”

Rong Tang: “……”

So fierce.

Why does his expression resemble Su Huaijing’s?

He shut his mouth resentfully and drank the medicine while Shuang Fu babbled on beside him: “Your sudden collapse that day frightened us all. Even the Second Prince came to the courtyard specifically to inquire about your condition. The Third Prince originally suggested that you should recuperate in Song Garden, but Sir disagreed, immediately ordering us to pack up and return to the capital.”

Only then did Rong Tang have the opportunity to ask, “Where is this?”

Little did he know that after he finished speaking, Shuang Fu’s gaze on him became even more indescribable, revealing a deep sense of reproach: “Young Master, you really…… please don’t say these words in front of Sir.”

Rong Tang: “?”

“The house you gifted him, the place that you said you wanted to laze off in—in the end, you’re asking me where this is?” Shuang Fu took advantage of his lack of energy and said blandly, “When I hear it, I feel sorry for Sir.”

Rong Tang: “?”

He stared blankly, blinked, and wondered from the bottom of his heart, “Who’s side are you on?”

Shuang Fu: “I’m on the side of whomever is reasonable. Anyway, Young Master, this time you’re not reasonable at all.”

Rong Tang almost laughed in exasperation at him: “What’s wrong with me that I’ve become unreasonable?”

The bowl of soup quickly ran out. This time, it wasn’t too bitter. Rong Tang increasingly felt that Su Huaijing had remembered the prescription incorrectly, so he listened as Shuang Fu asked, “On the last night in Song Garden, did you not sleep for the entire night?”

The smile abruptly froze on the young prince’s face: “……” Ah, this.

Shuang Fu: “Were you incredibly hungry in the middle of the night, but didn’t think to fill your stomach and just let it growl on?”

Rong Tang: “……” Ah, this.

Shuang Fu noticed his guilty expression and released a soft snort: “Did you also have a lot on your mind but didn’t say anything and spent the whole night overthinking by yourself?”

Rong Tang fell completely silent. He lifted his gaze, looked Shuang Fu up and down several times, and asked with difficulty, “Instead of sleeping, you ran over to my room in the middle of the night to spy on me?”

Shuang Fu was even more flabbergasted: “Young Master, you yourself are a patient. Don’t you know that the doctor can detect everything when he takes your pulse?”

He held back, then held back again. He basically remembered his status and didn’t dare to speak too harshly, but he couldn’t suppress it and asked sincerely, “What gave you the guts?”

What gave you the guts?

At home and in the courtyard, from the Wang Fei and Sir to the servant boys and nannies, hasn’t everyone been meticulously taking care of their Eldest Young Master? Why doesn’t he have any awareness of being a patient? Does he feel that his lifespan is endless?

After the doctor finished the consultation and went out, Shuang Fu entered the room and saw Su Huaijing with a dark expression. Standing nearby felt like being in an icy lake, so much so that it sent chills down his spine.

When Shuang Fu recalled that time, and shuddered physiologically.

Rong Tang asked, “How long have I been unconscious?”

Shuang Fu: “Seven days.”

“……” Rong Tang went silent and then asked, “Where is Su Huaijing?”

Shuang Fu: “Sir took care of you for seven days without proper sleep. He told me in the morning that you would probably wake up today and told me to boil some medicine at this hour in preparation to feed you, and then went to take a bath and rest.”

When Rong Tang heard the first half of the sentence, he couldn’t help but feel a burst of distress and guilt in his heart. He lifted the quilt and was about to get out of bed when he heard the second half of the sentence and became stunned: “Went to rest?”

Shuang Fu: “Ng.”

Rong Tang sorted out his logic: “He took care of me for seven days, then told you that I would probably wake up today and went to rest on his own?”

Shuang Fu’s eyes were filled with compassion. “Exactly.”

Rong Tang: “……”

He was a little hesitant, and the hand that was lifting the quilt stopped midair. He was silent for a moment and then asked in a low voice, “Is he…… angry?”

Shuang Fu sported an only-now-did-you-realise expression and nodded: “Extremely angry. No one in the house dares to make a sound these days. Occasionally, I see Sir coming out to boil medicine for you or bring water to wipe your body. We all stayed far, far away.”

He couldn’t explain why, but when they were at Duke Ningxuan’s Palace and Song Garden, and saw Su Huaijing, they felt that this husband was truly kind and amiable. Some of the servants and maids would gossip in private, even saying that the Young Master was lucky to have married such a good male wife. He neither put on airs nor was he delicate. Between him and the Young Master, they were simply the easiest people to serve in the entire palace.

But when Rong Tang fell ill and didn’t open his eyes for seven days straight, those who came to serve at Yong’an Lane observed that Su Huaijing’s demeanour became colder by the day, and his appearance grew more terrifying at the same time.

He still doesn’t put on airs or act delicate, and he doesn’t even want to be served.

He would personally boil the medicine for Rong Tang to drink. Each sunset, he would bring a basin of warm water and a towel into the room, wipe Rong Tang’s body, and change his clothes before coming out. He would stay by his bedside at night and practically not leave the room for the whole day.

But everyone just thinks that he is super scary.

The reason is inexplicable.

Shuang Fu even thought that the reason why Su Huaijing didn’t keep watch until Rong Tang awoke was because he knew that he looked extremely scary now, so he went to take a nap to avoid frightening the prince.

He is a domestic servant of the Eldest Princess’s Palace and has grown up alongside Rong Tang since childhood. He should be on his master’s side in everything, but this time, Shuang Fu thought he would rather let Sir scare Young Master a little. How dare he be so uncaring about his own body?

He sighed heavily, unable to hold back his bias for Rong Tang, and reminded him: “Right now, you should think about how to coax Sir. He is really tremendously angry this time.”

Shuang Fu retrieved the medicine bowl and went out. Rong Tang sat on the bed and stalled for a long time. After realising it, he raised his hands and covered his face. “It’s over……”

He took a deep breath and called the system, but for some reason, it didn’t show up despite calling out for a long time. Rong Tang frowned, thinking it had gone dormant again. When he regained his strength, he got up and changed clothes.

There was no sticky feeling on his body at all. It didn’t seem like he’d been lying in bed for seven days, but more like he’d just taken a nap. When he woke up, aside from his body feeling a little achy, his energy was exceptionally good.

If he wasn’t certain that he’d passed out from vomiting, Rong Tang would have even assumed that Shuang Fu’s words just now were all lies to him.

The clothes were hanging on the clothes rack. Rong Tang took them off one by one. When he was about to put on his undergarments, he glanced out of the corner of his eye and was startled.

He raised his arm to look at it in the light and saw a few tiny red dots next to the blood vessels, resembling needle holes.

His gaze followed it. There are some on the back of the hand, densely packed, one on top of the other.

Was acupuncture administered this time?

Dr. Chen has always been bad at acupuncture. Did Su Huaijing seek a doctor from outside?

When the main villain’s name came to mind, Rong Tang felt somewhat panicked. He sighed, put down his arms, changed his clothes, and went out. The sun wasn’t yet above his head.

Shuang Fu said that the doctor had reminded him to eat liquid food for the first meal after waking up. Therefore, Rong Tang sat at the corridor in front of Su Huaijing’s door with a small bowl in his hands, taking little sips of the porridge while staring eagerly at the room door.

After finishing the porridge, he switched to holding a storybook. When it was more than half past the Shen period* and the sun was setting in the west, Shuang Fu brought him another bowl of medicine and advised him to go back to his room and wait. Rong Tang shook his head and decisively refused.

(*TN: 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.)

Su Huaijing had been watching over him for seven days. The least he could do was let himself be the first thing Boyboy sees when he gets up and opens the door, right?

Rong Tang stubbornly sat and waited on the railing of the corridor. When he felt numb from sitting, he would get up and walk. When he was tired from walking, he would sit again for a while.

The lights and shadows in the small courtyard shifted little by little, and the shadows cast by the trees gradually merged into an expanse that ultimately melted into the night.

Occasionally, someone would pass by, causing Rong Tang to look up. The anticipation in his bright gaze was very obvious. He would look for two seconds, and when he noticed that the door hadn’t moved at all, he would sullenly lower his head and continue to wait for the next sound.

Xingfeng watched from a concealed spot, inexplicably remembering a little kitten his master had raised in Sichuan.

It was also similar to this, obediently and sensibly waiting for its master to occasionally spare a moment during the day to play with it. Just that small moment was enough for it to happily entertain itself for the rest of the day.

Xingfeng was a little frightened. He turned around and entered the house through a secret door. He was shocked by the scene in front of him.

Su Huaijing wasn’t sleeping. On the contrary, he was sitting in front of his desk with a long, slender chain of pure gold wrapped around his wrist. His gaze was lowered, and he was pondering something.

The chain extended from Su Huaijing’s fingers and fell all the way along the floor to the bed. All the wooden boards on the bed had been removed and replaced with a five-foot-tall cage.

The cage frame is made of pliable gold, and each main frame is wrapped in decorative patterns made with gold thread. Luxurious, beautiful roses and rose hips are intertwined and coloured with cinnabar.

The cage only framed the entire bed, and the chain extended inward through the cage door. It was unknown where it would be fastened to in the end.

Xingfeng instinctively sensed danger. He didn’t dare to think about it again, and he didn’t dare take another look. He quickly lowered his head and said, “Master.”

Su Huaijing didn’t respond. He just lowered his eyes and eyed the cage pensively. His gaze fell back to the front of the desk, appearing a little dissatisfied. He frowned and suddenly asked, “Too low. What do you think?”

Xingfeng was slightly stunned. “What did Master say?”

Su Huaijing lifted his hand, and the chains made a crisp sound as they collided. He pointed at the cage and said, “The height is too low. If Tangtang gets tired from lying down and tries to stand up, he will get hit on the head.”

Xingfeng’s eyes widened, his heart trembled slightly, and he didn’t dare to respond at all.

Su Huaijing picked up the brush as if nothing had happened, added a few strokes onto the piece of paper on the table, and flung it at Xingfeng: “Let the craftsman change it according to this size and have it sent over.”

He paused and said fussily, “Have the flowers on it repainted; they’re too ugly.”

He stood up, took off the chain, and glanced at the sky outside. He seemed to be talking to himself or to Xingfeng. He frowned slightly, looking a little perplexed. “I really don’t want to go out. I don’t want to see Tangtang.”

Rong Tang, who can move, talk, laugh, and act coquettishly at himself with his bright eyes.

Su Huaijing doesn’t want to see him at all right now.

Evil thoughts surged in his heart. He just wants to capture Rong Tang and lock him up. He doesn’t want him to roam freely in the vast world anymore. He doesn’t want him to noiselessly faint just because he was out of his sight for a moment.

The instant his finger touched the pulse, Su Huaijing almost thought that Rong Tang was returning to heaven to become his little Buddha.

The body that he’d meticulously cared for for two months, eventually couldn’t withstand the onslaught of pent up anger, excessive worry, and sleepless nights……

The irony made Su Huaijing wish he could just stab Rong Tang with acupuncture, force him to wake up and ask him clearly instead of suppressing his temper over and over again as he slowly nursed him back to health.

Su Huaijing thought: It would be better to just lock him up.

There were so many unpredictable variables, and he didn’t like any of them.

He hates anyone who can arouse Rong Tang’s anxiousness, but there are always such people out there.

“I want to lock him up.” Su Huaijing said softly and then quickly contradicted himself: “But he won’t like it.”

It would be better not to meet each other.

After one more night, after I’ve suppressed those thoughts, I’ll go see Rong Tang.

But after he’d made up his mind to rest, Xingfeng reminded him in a low voice, “Master, it’s getting windy outside.”

The night is dark. It has already reached the fifteenth of the fourth month, the moon is shining brightly in the sky, and the people on earth are reuniting.

“Achoo!” Rong Tang suddenly sneezed.

Su Huaijing opened the door and eyed the person sitting in the corridor in front of the door with a heavy gaze.

Rong Tang had just lowered his head to wipe his nose. He lifted his head when he heard the noise. His eyes were more stirring than the moonlight, and his joy couldn’t be hidden. He was simply the most adorable and well-behaved domesticated creature in the world.

“You’re awake!”

The author has something to say:

Huaijing: I want to lock him up and chain him up! I don’t want to see him yet!

Xingfeng: But the wind has picked up, and your wife is being exposed to the wind outside……

Tangtang: Ah—choo!

Huaijing: …… (opens the door) (stares at his wife) (give you one second) (hug me!!!)