Golden Age Legitimate Fei

With Ye Li"s leave, Secret Guard No . 3 and No . 4 told their partners Secret Guard No . 1 and No . 2 about what happened under the Hidden Could Mountain . Since she didn’t mention whether they could tell His Highness about it, after discussing that she had brought up the matter of professional ethics of being a secret guard, which No . 1, 2, 3 and 4 decided to follow . Everyone of them knew that it was a humiliation for secret guards to be abandoned by their masters, so the moment they became secret guards of Princess Ding, the only one that they were going to work for was the princess instead of His Highness . Ye Li was happy about those secret guards who had high professional ethics since it wasn"t easy to find someone with high martial arts that one can believe in . She didn’t want to waste her time finding new guards herself either .

Ye Li was content that she could go to Hidden Could Mountain about twice each month . Of course, every time she went there, she would dress up in disguise . People who lived in the village at the foot of the mountain and up the mountain called her Mr . Chu, Chu Jun Wei . Sometimes, she took Secret Guard No . 1 and No . 2 with her, sometimes Secret Guard No . 3 and No . 4 . Clearly, all of them were extremely interested in that strange practice ground under construction . They would occasionally fight each other in order to go there with Ye Li . Mo Xiu Yao certainly knew that she went out a lot but he never asked her where she had been . Ye Li was thankful for his understanding and would take some dimsun back for him when she came back from dates with Hua Tian Xiang and the other girls . However, they seemed to drift apart without either of them noticing when she occupied herself with other ch.o.r.es . She would have a guilty conscience when she saw the disapproving looks of Wei mama and Lin mama from time to time but she would leave that behind quickly enough since she was really, really busy .

Not only did she have to take care of the affairs of the manor, but she also needed to manage her dowry . On the surface, those stores that were given to her as a dowry made average profits but secretly, she had taken all the silver from her dowry besides those sent to her by Han Ming Yue and purchased a few extra properties, which included two houses and three stores in other cities bought under the name of Chu Jun Wei and another two stores in the capital with the help of men arranged by Xu Qing Ze himself . Though Xu Qing Ze didn’t know exactly what she was up to, he did as she bade . In less than half a month, land deeds of those houses and stores were sent to her . To the world, she was a perfect Princess Ding, who managed the affairs of the manor orderly and attended parties of n.o.bles in the capital from time to time . What it didn’t know was that she had to gather and sort out all kinds of information, trying to find clues that were useful . So, she kept a cold eye on the jokey for power between the emperor and empress dowager, the conflict of those ministers and gossips about those n.o.bles, which helped her learn more about people and affairs of the capital and situations of the court .

“My Lady! My Lady! His Highness pa.s.sed out . . . ”

Ye Li was staring blankly at the account book in the study when Qing Xia rushed hurriedly inside and shouted .

Her heart skipped a beat . She stood up and asked: “What happened?”

Qing Xia, who used to have a composed demeanor was scared, too . She sounded as if she was going to cry . “A moment ago, His Highness was back in your room . . . and asked where you were . We answered that you were here . Before His Highness opened his mouth again, he spat a lot of blood . . . Then, he pa.s.sed out . ”

Ye Li’s heart fluttered . She threw away the pen in her hand and walked outside while asking: “Have you sent for the doctor?”

Qing Xia said: “Ah Jin . . . both Ah Jin and Qing Luan went to invite the doctor . Qing Yu knows a little medicine so she’s in the room taking care of His Highness with Qing Shuang . . . ”

Before Qing Xia even finished her sentence, Ye Li went so quick that she already disappeared from the corner of the corridor .

When she was back in her yard, she found all the maids in the yard were quite scared who even forgot to greet her when they saw her . Walking into the room, past the screen, she saw Mo Xiu Yao lying in bed all pale, with a few drips of dark blood on his lips .

“My Lady . ” Qing Yu, who was taking his pulses stood up and greeted her in a low voice .

“How is he?”

Qing Yu said a little worried: “His Highness was badly injured before . It seems that he hasn’t taken good care of himself so he’s not in a good condition . He has spat blood because of overwork . But . . . I’m afraid spitting so much blood is very bad for him . . . ”

Following Qing Yu’s eyes, Ye Li saw a crude pool of blood which had not dried up yet close to the bed, the amount of which frightened her . “Is . . . he all right now?”

Qing Yu shook her head: “I only learned to detoxify . There’s not much I can do for His Highness . But he’s all right for now . ”

Ye Li took a deep breath and nodded: “I see . Go and see if the doctor’s here and invite Chief Steward Mo over . ”

Qing Yu and Qing Shuang answered and left . Ye Li sat by the bed and looked at the man lying in bed silently . She had heard that Prince Ding was crippled and plagued by serious illnesses . But since their first encounter, all Ye Li knew was a Mo Xiu Yao who looked healthy . Even she had caught a cold for a few days when autumn began, but she didn’t hear him cough once . So, Ye Li had thrown that remark about him out of her mind, taking that as a distortion of truth by outsiders . For the past month, she saw him almost every day, but only by now did she realize he had lost some weight and looked more wan and sallow with the dark circles under his eyes apparent .

Ye Li was lost in her thought when she felt the one that was lying unconsciously in bed moved a bit . She hurriedly checked on him and met his eyes which were opening slowly . The two looked at each other in the eye and she didn’t know what to say for the time being .

Mo Xiu Yao smiled slightly . “Ah Li, what’s the matter?”

After a good while, she looked at him and said: “You’ve spat blood just now . ”

He went stiff . Then he smiled and said: “I"ve been a little tired recently . That"s nothing . ”

“Nothing?!” Ye Li only felt her anger rushing up from the bottom of her heart to the top of her head . “Then what else do you care if it"s nothing to spit some blood for you? Do you think you have more to spit?”

It seemed that he enjoyed watching her lose her temper . His eyes lighted up and his gaze became gentler . “It"s really nothing . I’m used to it . It"s common when winter comes . Nothing will go wrong as long as I have good rest . Believe me, Ah Li . ”

I’ll be a fool if I do! Ye Li glanced at him angrily and was shocked by what he said .  He"s used to it? How would anyone ever get used to spitting that much blood? “Have a rest . The doctor is on his way . ”

Shortly afterwards, Ah Jin and Qing Luan escorted a doctor inside, who was also at Moonless Convent last time . Seeing that Mo Xiu Yao already gained consciousness, the old doctor got rid of Ah Jin and Qing Luan and said slowly: “I’ve told you nothing would happen . Young men, you"ve got to learn to be more collected . ”

Ye Li stood up and gave the old doctor the s.p.a.ce to take Mo Xiu Yao’s pulses . He came up and took Mo Xiu Yao’s wrist while stroking his beard with a frown .

Ye Li asked: “Doctor, how is he?”

The old doctor shook his head and said: “His Highness is all right but must be careful . That this time nothing goes wrong doesn’t mean it will be the same next time . ”

Ye Li said with a frown: “If I remember right, you’ve said that His Highness is in good health, doctor . ”

The old doctor raised his brows and said: “I have . Back then, he was in a good condition but not this time, he isn"t . ”

She looked at him speechlessly .  Is there anyone who"s in good health some time of the year and not the rest time of year?

The old doctor continued: “Coldness is bad for His Highness’s health . Be careful when winter begins . But . . . winter hasn’t come yet . How long haven’t you taken the medicine this time . . . Your Highness? How long haven"t you had a good rest?”

Under Ye Li’s gaze, Mo Xiu Yao smiled bitterly: “Your medicine . . . doesn’t seem to work anymore . ” Taking a small bottle of medicine from his sleeve, Mo Xiu Yao said a little detached .

With knitted brows, the old doctor took over the bottle from Mo Xiu Yao and opened it while saying: “That’s not possible . I"ve made this for you less than two months ago . How could it not work?”

Ye Li said: “Doctor, I think His Highness means your medicine doesn"t work on him anymore . ”

The old doctor turned gloomy . He took Mo Xiu Yao"s pulses again but it took him longer this time . After a good while, he put down Mo Xiu Yao"s hand and said with a frown: “I’ll write a prescription for His Highness . He’ll be all right for the time being . I’ll let you know after I work on the medicine . ”

Ye Li knew not to hurry him on that and nodded: “That’d be great . Thank you so much, doctor . ”

The old doctor nodded . Looking at Ye Li, he said: “I will say this once more . With His Highness’s illness, he cannot overwork . Be more careful since winter is coming . If His Highness has left everything behind and taken good care of himself for the past few years, he’d be in a much better condition . ”

She nodded and said seriously: “I see . You can set your mind at ease on that, doctor . ”