Chapter 437 Princess Anle (a Prince Free from Worry)
Long Tianyu did not expect Zuo Qiuchen to treat him with such great courtesy and kindness. With a cold eye, Long Tianyu became wary of him.
Even if Mrs. Lin was the eldest princess of the Lintian, after all, many years had gone by without any news.
Not only that, why would the emperor of the Nation of Lintian be so friendly towards his cousin, whom he had never met before now?
A moment ago, he just witnessed how Zuo Qiuchen seemed unbothered about his own brother’s condition.
It appeared that Zuo Qiuchen had directed all his effort to win Long Tianyu’s heart.
“Don’t be nervous, my cousin-in-law. Although my little cousin sister has been out and about, she has always been on my mind, I being her cousin. Our family is not lacking in retainers, but the majority are males. If it is made known to my other brothers that there exists such a beautiful cousin sister, they’ll all come forward to dance their attendance on her. Given my current advantageous position, I have an edge over them all.”
Zuo Qiuchen explained while wearing a genial expression on his face. At the same time, he even patted Long Tianyu’s shoulder as he spoke.
With the radiant smile on Zuo Qiuchen’s face, if he were to get out of his royal yellow robe embroidered with a golden dragon, he would look nothing like a king.
Long Tianyu could only believe a third of what Zuo Qiuchen said. However, at this moment, he was still unsure about Lin Mengya’s condition, so he could neither afford time or effort to think over Zuo Qiuchen’s true intention.
Very soon, some of the imperial physicians exited from the room to make a report. Lin Mengya’s wound was too shocking for them. They had rarely come across such injuries.
Each physician gave it his all to seek the limelight before the emperor.
“Your Majesty, although the lady’s wound is very deep, it has not hurt her bone. If we apply the best trauma medication and she takes some time to recuperate, she will get well without a doubt. The only worry is that we don’t know what kind of medicine the lady has taken which made her remain unconscious until now. I’ve tried all I could, but the lady remained unresponsive, like a wooden puppet.
She was the emperor’s cousin. Although all the court officials had not seen her before, they could see how highly the emperor esteemed his cousin sister from the way he personally visited the prince’s mansion this late at night.
“Do you have any idea how to solve this problem?”
As Zuo Qiuchen inquired of the group of imperial physicians desperately, they exchanged looks and replied that they were helpless. All they could do was wait for Lin Mengya to wake up on her own.
“I’ll go in and take a look at her.”
A chill went through Long Tianyu’s heart. Little did he expect that while the injury on Lin Mengya’s shoulder had now stabilized, the bigger problem had risen from the knockout drops she took to ease her pain.
Just when he was about to enter her room to check on her, he was stopped by Zuo Qiuchen.
“My dear cousin-in-law, I suggest you go get changed into a clean set of clothes first.”
Long Tianyu looked down and realized that he was looking extremely disheveled because of all that they had been through in the last few days. He was covered with dust and bloodstains and looked even more slovenly than a beggar.
“That’s right. My Lord, please wash up and change. You might contaminate your wife with the filth on your body and it would have an adverse effect on her condition,” added the imperial physicians.
The words of advice from the imperial physicians were indeed very effective on Long Tianyu.
Since all this filth on him was no good for Lin Mengya, Long Tianyu would definitely not enter the room in this state.
Zuo Qiuchen immediately instructed his men to bring Long Tianyu to take a bath and get changed.
However, the friendly smile on his face disappeared and his face fell the moment Long Tianyu was out of sight.
“How is that useless Yu? Is he awake now?”
An imperial physician responded respectfully, saying, “Prince Shen had been badly hurt too. His fever hasn’t subsided. Your servant is thinking hard for a solution to quickly make Prince Shen well again.”
Zuo Qiuchen nodded, and then hesitated for a while before finally entering Lin Mengya’s room.
The medication used for her injury had been changed to the best prescription. Even the number of maidservants attending to her had been increased to five to six, and they were all well-trained.
All the imperial physicians surrounded Lin Mengya’s bed and started to discuss how they should go about treating her.
Nevertheless, the moment their emperor entered the room, they fell on their knees one by one as they made way for him.
As Zuo Qiuchen walked through these people, he finally glimpsed the girl lying on the bed.
Despite looking very pale, her features, which he had seen many times over on the painting, still amazed him.
There was such great resemblance!
The features of his little cousin sister were exactly the same as his aunt’s. Over the years, it was true that they had also found girls who resembled his aunt.
However, there had never been any among the girls who were like Lin Mengya, who was an exact replica of his aunt.
As she laid silently on the bed, Zuo Qiuchen could tell with one glance that she was indeed his aunt’s daughter.
There was no mistaking that genetic inheritance.
While sitting beside the bed, he could smell her scent mixed with the smell of blood and medicine.
What he told Long Tianyu a moment ago was all true.
His little cousin sister was indeed the national treasure of the entire Nation of Lintian.
He would never forgive the person who had the audacity to harm her!
“Listen carefully, she is Princess Anle of the Nation of Lintian. I don’t care what method you’re using, but if you’re able to save her, I will reward you with one thousand taels of gold and bestow you with n.o.bility. You may then enter the Pavilion of Herbs and become the understudy elder there. However, if you fail to save the Princess, you will be buried with her.”
“Bah!”
The imperial physicians were well aware of the fact that their emperor who practiced what he preached.
They knew they would be beheaded if they failed to save the princess’s life, but if any of them was able to become the trainer elder in the Pavilion of Herbs, it would be an advantageous opportunity for him.
It ought to be known to all that the elder in the Pavilion of Herbs would only be rotated every fifty years. Any regular imperial physician might only become a candidate when he contributed greatly to the Nation of Lintian.
All the so-called miracle-working or highly skilled physicians would be dwarfed when they came before the Pavilion of Herbs.
“Regardless of the price to pay, you have to heal the princess. Guixi, from now onwards until the princess is fully recovered, all you imperial physician will have unlimited access to the best and rarest herbs and medicine in the palace.”
The little eunuch who was always by Zuo Qiuchen’s side immediately responded to the emperor’s instruction and proceeded to carry it out.
Once again, the imperial physicians reconfirmed that the exceptional status of Princess Anle.
She could be said to be the one person in the Nation of Lintian whom the emperor esteemed highly since he ascended the throne.
Having taken a bath and changed into a clean set of clothes, Long Tianyu did not delay further by grooming himself but immediately returned to Lin Mengya’s side.
Her condition had improved a great deal. Those competent maids had wiped Lin Mengya clean and helped change her clothes. By this time, Lin Mengya looked more like she had merely fallen asleep.
She appeared so fragile that she looked nothing like her usual shrewd and sophisticated self.
Long Tianyu sat by her bed and ignoring all the maids, he kept his gaze fixed on Lin Mengya.
Both his eyes and heart had been fully occupied by this woman.
“My Lord, it’s time for the princess to take her medicine.”
A bowl of black color medicine was brought before Long Tianyu.
With practiced movement, Long Tianyu lifted the bowl of medicine, sipped some from the bowl, and then fed it to Lin Mengya.
Soft exclamations arose from the mouths of the surrounding people. Apparently, that medicine was very bitter. They were surprised that this man seemed not to be bothered.
Given that he had been feeding Lin Mengya in this way for a few days, he had learned something from it.
Perhaps it was because he had been very diligent in feeding the medicine to Lin Mengya, she seemed to have regained her strength little by little.
She was able to finish half of that huge bowl of medicine.
Long Tianyu, seeing that she had ingested a considerable amount of medicine, finally felt more a.s.sured.
“Do you have any porridge or chicken soup?”
Once Long Tianyu put down the bowl of medicine, he immediately started to feed Lin Mengya food.
This time, he tested the temperature of the food on a spoon, and then attempted to feed a little bit of the food to Lin Mengya. Thank goodness she was doing much better than before.
Despite her great improvement, Long Tianyu would not hand over the job of feeding Lin Mengya to other people. He felt more a.s.sured to be the person doing it.
By the time Lin Mengya finished the medicine and the porridge, it was almost midnight.
The imperial physician claimed that Lin Mengya’s condition had finally stabilized. Apart from recuperating quietly, the task at hand was to think of a way to let Lin Mengya regain her consciousness.
However, since her life was no longer in danger, Long Tianyu’s mental state, which was on the verge of breaking down, had gradually but tremendously improved and stabilized.
The moment he relaxed, he felt a hunger pang which made him faint.
However, he was aware that this was someone else’s house and he was not one to feel comfortable quickly in an unfamiliar environment. The maidservants, however, had sharp eyes and were quick to pick up the handsome man’s embarra.s.sment and awkward expression.
“Please go to have some food, My Lord, His Majesty had been waiting for you for a long time,” said the maidservants respectfully.
What? Zuo Qiuchen again? Although Long Tianyu had a rather good impression on the new emperor of Lintian, for some unknown reason, he had an instinctive feeling of wariness towards him.
“Alright, please lead the way.”
After pondering for a moment, Long Tianyu finally followed the maidservants to the backyard of the prince’s mansion.
A few home-cooked dishes, simple but tasty, were laid out on the table.
Long Tianyu had just stepped through the door when he spotted Zuo Qiuchen drinking alone.
“Here you are. Please have a seat.”
Zuo Qiuchen looked up and gave Long Tianyu a warm welcoming smile, then he offered him a cup of sake.
“Thank you very much.”
Long Tianyu did not argue with him. He sat down but did not pick up the chopsticks, neither did he drink the sake. He simply gazed at Zuo Qiuchen silently.
“You’re really an interesting person. I heard that the Prince Yu of Dajin is a cool and unfeeling person, but I’m surprised to see that you treat my little cousin sister with such great love.”
Long Tianyu did not have the impression that Zuo Qiuchen was giving him a compliment.
On the other hand, he felt an aversion toward the way Zuo Qiuchen intimately addressed Lin Mengya as his little cousin sister.
“She is my wife and a citizen of Dajin. It’s only natural and necessary that I treat her this way.”
Zuo Qiuchen could hear the dissatisfaction in Long Tianyu’s voice, but he was not bothered. He proceeded to use his chopsticks to pick up a piece of the stir-fried smoked bean curd and put it into his mouth.
“Let’s just eat first.”
As Zuo Qiuchen changed the topic, Long Tianyu wondered what Zuo Qiuchen’s intention was.
However, Long Tianyu was so famished at this moment that any further delay meant that he was harming his own body.
The two men, who had not had their dinner, began to eat in silence.
There was total silence within the four walls of the room, not even the sounds of chopsticks could be heard.
The two men apparently were exceptionally self-possessed and cultured.
Despite being famished, they were smooth and graceful in all their movements. Their years of cultivation were clearly and richly manifested at this moment.
Guixi, the young eunuch waiting on them, was amazed and stupefied.
Such refined table manners, while the two men made a clean sweep of the food, was a wonder which he rarely witnessed in his entire life.