Chapter 188 : Her Inner Demons
Steward Lin had just asked for a prescription from Xia Qing, and was instructing his servants to get the medicine when he saw the Jinying w.a.n.gfu’s carriage returning in haste- he wondered why they were returning this early. Then, the curtain was lifted from inside, and Lian Qiao and Bai Zhi half-supported and half-carried a person out. When he went over to take a closer look, he was shocked to see that it was none other than Jiang Ruan.
Even though Steward Lin was a little less than half a century old, his eyes were still sharp. At a glance, he noticed the blood on the corner of Jiang Ruan’s lips, and his heart skipped a beat. Furthermore, he realized that Xiao Shao had not returned with her. So he immediately hurried over, while asking, “What’s going on? What’s wrong with Young Furen?”
“Young Furen has pa.s.sed out.” Bai Zhi replied anxiously, “Steward Lin, please ask someone to help Young Furen to her room and call a physician.”
Steward Lin became anxious when he heard this. Wasn’t this the first day after their wedding, how did this incident happen? Thinking that there was a Divine Physician in the adjacent mansion, he immediately sent someone to invite Xia Qing to come and check her. After helping Jiang Ruan into the room to lie down, Steward Lin pelted Lian Qiao with questions, “What happened to Young Furen? Why did she faint? How do you take care of Young Furen?”
Lu Zhu and Tian Zhu rushed over after they heard about Jiang Ruan. Jiang Ruan didn’t have any other wounds on her body and it didn’t look like she was injured. Lian Qiao blamed herself. “Miss met Fourth Miss in the palace, and had a short conversation with her. However, upon returning to the carriage, she was not herself; it was as if she was possessed because she sat in a daze for a while, and then suddenly vomited blood and pa.s.sed out.”
“What did Fourth Miss say to w.a.n.gfei?” Tian Zhu demanded.
“They just generally talked about fates and favorable circ.u.mstances in life. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.” Lian Qiao frowned. As she was talking with Tian Zhu, she saw Xia Qing and Qi Feng hurrying in. Just a few minutes ago they had been discussing when to leave the capital, but encountered the servants of the Jinying w.a.n.gfu. The servants told them something had happened to Jiang Ruan and relayed the urgent request to have Xia Qing check on Jiang Ruan.
At first, Xia Qing thought that everyone in the Jinying w.a.n.gfu was exaggerating, and making a mountain out of a molehill. As a result, when he came in and saw Jiang Ruan lying on the bed with her eyes tightly closed, he was stunned for a moment. Qi Feng’s face also changed, and he asked, “How did Third Sister-in-law become like this?”
“Oh, Young Master Xia,” Steward Lin hurriedly pulled Xia Qing towards the bedside and said, “Please hurry and take a look. I fear that Young Furen has been vexed by someone, causing her to vomit blood, which is absolutely terrible. It would be horrible if she has harmed her body at such a young age.” From Lian Qiao’s words, Jiang Ruan did not suffer any kind of knife wound, but was angered by Jiang Dan’s few words. Although he didn’t understand why she was so angry, it clearly explained how she had fallen into such a state
Xia Qing frowned, walked to the edge of the bed and sat down, then reached out to check Jiang Ruan’s pulse. Everyone observed him nervously. After a while, Xia Qing let go of her wrist and Qi Feng asked nervously, “Fifth Brother Xia, what’s the matter?”
“Third Sister-in-law is agitated. She has a long-standing illness and was incited by someone today, which has caused her to suffer a deep emotional trauma thus making her spit out a mouthful of bad blood. There is a blood clot stuck in her chest preventing her from waking up right now.” Xia Qing hesitated to speak and finally shook his head and said, “I’ll prescribe the medicine first. Steward Lin, find someone to concoct it and then have Third Sister-in-law drink it immediately.” Although he spoke lightly, there was no sign of relaxation between his brows and he seemed a little grave, which was not a usual thing for Xia Qing, who was known as Jinling Divine Physician. The few words spoken by Lian Qiao, along with Xia Qing’s worried looks, made Qi Feng anxious.
Steward Lin didn’t dare to delay, so he immediately sent someone to brew the medicine. Sitting in the room, Xia Qing looked at Jiang Ruan with a tense expression, wondering what she was thinking. Qi Feng stood by the window, looking up from time to time to glance at Jiang Ruan. Several maids were bustling about, but Jiang Ruan didn’t show any signs of waking up.
About half an hour later, the door of the room was suddenly pushed open, and a gust of cold winter air was brought in from outside. Xiao Shao strode in, his body still covered with unmelted snow. He walked to the bed, looked at Jiang Ruan’s tightly closed eyes and was startled. Immediately, he then turned his head towards Lian Qiao and Bai Zhi, and asked coldly, “What happened?”
Lian Qiao and Bai Zhi looked at each other but Bai Zhi had no choice but to repeat the explanation she had already given to everyone else. “Just after Guye and Miss separated, Miss met Fourth Miss in the palace, and spoke briefly with Fourth Miss. After she returned to the carriage, she sat for a while in a daze, then vomited the blood and suddenly fainted. Diving Physician Xia said that it happened because of Miss’ old illness.” After a pause, Bai Zhi said again, “But when did Miss have any old illness?”
Xiao Shao was startled, and looked at Xia Qing who stood to the side. He remained silent, then asked Lian Qiao, “What did Jiang Dan say to her, tell me everything without leaving out a single sentence.”
His tone was cold, his eyes were dark and filled with deep anger. Lian Qiao’s heart trembled, and she repeated every word spoken between Jiang Dan and Jiang Ruan. After that, she said, “That’s all. However, if this servant dares to say something, I can’t think of anything strange about their words, but once she was in the carriage, Miss seemed to have remembered something disturbing and seemed very afraid. This servant has been with Miss for many years, and since we returned to the capital a few years ago, I have never seen Miss so scared of anything.”
Hearing this, Qi Feng looked at Lian Qiao inquisitively. But Xiao Shao tightened his hands, as if he stood there thinking for a moment, then turned around and was about to leave when Qi Feng grabbed him. “Third Brother Xiao, what do you want to do?”
“To untie the bell, we need the person who tied it. This matter has something to do with Jiang Dan, so we should naturally look for her,” Xiao Shao said.
“What can you do now? With a few words, she can’t be convicted of any crime.” Qi Feng glanced at Jiang Ruan. “Are you going to kill her now? This will only bring trouble to Third Sister-in-law.” Qi Feng’s words revealed the anxiousness in his heart as he thought of Jiang Ruan and tried to put himself in her shoes, but Xiao Shao’s eyes froze when he heard those words. He looked at him and said coldly, “This is my wife. There’s no need for you to worry for her.”
Qi Feng’s throat stung, but he couldn’t speak, and his expression was a bit awkward. But Xia Qing also stood up, with a seriousness that didn’t match his age written all over his baby face. “Stop arguing. Third Brother Xiao, Third Sister-in-law is not angry because of other people’s words, although that might have happened out of coincidence, but what caused her to look like this is because she has been poisoned.”
Qi Feng loosened his grip on Xiao Shao’s hand and asked incredulously, “Poisoned?”
“Impossible,” Xiao Shao said, “No one can do anything in the w.a.n.gfu.” Everything here was handled by Steward Lin himself, and it was impossible for the guards in the Jinying w.a.n.gfu to betray them either. Poisoning Jiang Ruan was more difficult than killing her directly.
“She wasn’t poisoned in the w.a.n.gfu.” Xia Qing shook his head, “This poison has been in her body for more than ten years; it seems that she might have even been affected by this poison in the womb. However, for some reason it has remained dormant for several years so the poison has remained undetected. Consequently, it has acc.u.mulated in the body. Now someone has used something to trigger this poison. As for the incident that took place in the palace, this made Third Sister-in-law so agitated that it made the poison acc.u.mulated in her body flow faster.” He hesitated for a moment and said, “It seems that there are other intentions behind this move, but at the moment I can’t think of one.”
“Fifth Brother Xia!” Qi Feng didn’t care about confronting Xiao Shao, and said anxiously, “Will the medicine you prescribed be effective? Can you undo the effects of this poison on Third Sister-in-law?”
It’s not that he didn’t have confidence in Xia Qing, but after being fellow sect brothers for so many years, Qi Feng had already understood every expression of Xia Qing. As a Divine Physician, Xia Qing had a sense of achievement filled with excitement and crazed pa.s.sion when treating patients, and his eyes were always full of confidence. It was the first time he had seen him show such an anxious and nervous expression, which really made Qi Feng feel uneasy.
Xiao Shao also stared closely at Xia Qing, not to mention Bai Zhi and Lian Qiao, as if they would cry out as soon as he said that there was no cure. Xia Qing swallowed hard, and said, “Actually, I have never seen this kind of poison before. Right now, it is made according to other detoxification prescriptions. I have to observe it for a few more days before I can diagnose it. “
“How long will it take?” Xiao Shao asked. “Her life is not a trifling matter.”
“Two days,” Xia Qing hurriedly said. “It only takes two days. After two days, if her poison is not under control, I don’t think I can do anything- it’ll be out of my hands.”
Xiao Shao stared fixedly at Xia Qing for a long while, until Xia Qing felt a little uneasy, then nodded. “You only have two days.”
Xia Qing wiped off his sweat. He knew that his third senior brother had a cold personality, but he didn’t expect it to be so scary when he really became angry. It really made people feel pressured. He simply found a reason to go out and study the prescription. After Xia Qing and Qi Feng left, Steward Lin came in and said, “Yesterday, Young Furen ordered people to check on her food and everything. There is nothing wrong with our w.a.n.gfu.”
When Lian Qiao and Bai Zhi heard this, Lian Qiao said anxiously, “I was afraid that Miss would be hungry so this servant found some cakes from Bao Yue Zhai for Miss, but there should be no problem with the cakes.” Bai Zhi also nodded repeatedly. “The cakes were taken out from a big bag, we set aside a few cakes for Miss and the rest were distributed to the maids in the courtyard. Everyone was fine after eating them, so there is no way the cakes were poisonous.”
It was really like looking for a needle in a haystack to investigate this matter seriously. Xiao Shao waved his hand, Ye Feng understood what he meant, and immediately said, “This subordinate is going to Bao Yue Zhai now.”
Such an accident happened on the very first day after their wedding, which was really not a good sign. Xiao Shao looked at Jiang Ruan’s slightly pale face, with an indecipherable expression. Lian Qiao nudged Bai Zhi, and the two went out together. Xiao Shao walked up to Jiang Ruan and sat down, and slowly stretched out his hand to push aside the stray hair from her ears, a trace of guilt flashing in his eyes.
Right now, the most urgent task was to cure Jiang Ruan’s poison. Xia Qing’s words reminded him of that moment a few years ago when he had checked Jiang Ruan’s pulse and discovered that it was abnormal. It seemed like there had been something wrong with her body at the time, but his medical skills were inferior to Xia Qing’s. He thought that now that the poison was gradually receding, as long as she took a little care in boosting and regulating her body, it would not be a problem. Who would have thought that this poison was actually like a venomous snake lying dormant in Jiang Ruan’s body, and now someone had found a chance to trigger it. Although Qi Feng and Xia Qing said that Jiang Ruan’s poisoning had nothing to do with Jiang Dan, after Jiang Dan talked to Jiang Ruan, Jiang Ruan’s abnormal reaction of fear must have something to do with Jiang Dan. He frowned slightly. Besides, according to what Xia Qing said, the poison had acc.u.mulated in Jiang Ruan’s body for many years. That is to say, Jiang Ruan must have been poisoned when she was still a child and to have actually harmed a child! Who could have poisoned her?
He had also heard that Jiang Ruan’s life in the Jiang fu was not good in the early years, but he never thought that someone was planning to kill her when she was still a child. Thinking of this, Xiao Shao’s eyes were layered with a chilly gust of iciness. He stroked Jiang Ruan’s hair, stood up and walked out of the room. Jin Yi and the others were waiting outside with serious expressions. Xiao Shao lowered his eyes and said lightly, “I want to know everything in detail that happened in the Jiang fu after w.a.n.gfei was born. “
Jin Yi’s expression froze, and he said seriously, “Yes.” He took the order and left.
* * *
In the blink of an eye, the day turned to night as Xiao Shao sat in the room and browsed through batches of official doc.u.ments, but his expression did not show any tiredness at all. Steward Lin came several times to persuade him to rest early, but Xiao Shao only said that there was still work to do, and anyone with a discerning eye could see that it was just an excuse to guard Jiang Ruan. It’s just that the master’s mind could not be changed by the subordinates, and after a few fruitless attempts, they left him alone.
Lu Zhu opened the door and came in, holding a medicine bowl in her hand. Seeing Xiao Shao was still there, she said, “Guye, the medicine that Divine Physician Xia prescribed for Miss is ready. This medicine was boiled by this servant and Tian Zhu together. No one else has touched it.” Since Jiang Ruan had been poisoned, the w.a.n.gfu was being exceptionally conscious about meals and medicines, as if afraid of being caught in other’s traps once more. With each day that the culprit remained uncaught, everywhere around Jiang Ruan would always be precarious.
Xiao Shao looked up and said, “You can leave, I’ll feed her.”
Lu Zhu did not dare to say a word, turning around to put the medicine bowl on the desk, and then leaving the room. After her departure, Xiao Shao picked up the medicine bowl and walked to the bedside, propped Jiang Ruan up to lean against him, blew on the dark brown medicine in the bowl, and slowly fed it into Jiang Ruan’s mouth.
He moved very gently, for fear of hurting Jiang Ruan unintentionally. If Xiao Shao, who had always been indifferent to others, were seen by others to be so gentle and considerate, then their eyes would fall out of shock.
Helplessly, as Jiang Ruan remained in a coma, the medicine flowed out from the corner of her mouth, wetting Xiao Shao’s chest and splashing onto the bed. He didn’t realize it either, and just stretched out his hand to gently wipe off the medicine stains around Jiang Ruan’s mouth. Feeding medicine like this was not working. Xiao Shao lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then picked up the medicine bowl and took a sip, pinched Jiang Ruan’s chin and lifted it slightly, before leaning down and pressing his lips to hers. He slowly fed her mouth to mouth.
Jiang Ruan’s face was stunning, and while there was always a subtle indifference under her gentle appearance, at this moment her lips were soft, with the bitter aroma of medicinal potion. If it was any other time, he would probably have had some thoughts about the wind, flower, snow and moon (i.e. romance). But now Xiao Shao had no such distracting ideas because looking at Jiang Ruan only made him feel distressed.
He slowly repeated the process of feeding the medicine. Finally, Xiao Shao put down the empty bowl in his hand, and when he was about to help her to lie down, he suddenly felt someone grab the front of his robe. Startled, he lowered his head to look down; staring right back at him was Jiang Ruan giving him a wide eyed look.
“You…” There was a moment of embarra.s.sment, followed by joyful surprise. Xiao Shao clasped Jiang Ruan’s shoulder and said, “Are you awake?”
Though Jiang Ruan did not answer his words, her eyes were wide open, but they were not calm- instead carrying helplessness and panic. Xiao Shao was startled. Such a gaze from her seemed alien. And she did not seem to realize that Xiao Shao was in front of her because she tightly held onto Xiao Shao’s robe as she muttered something to herself.
Xiao Shao frowned, and as he leaned his ears closer to her lips, Jiang Ruan’s words clearly reached his ears. What she was muttering was: “Help me.”
Xiao Shao was astounded because Jiang Ruan had tightened herself into a ball. And yet, she did not let go of him, as if holding on to the last straw, and repeated over and over again in a low voice, “Help me, help me!”
“Ah Ruan,” Xiao Shao said softly, and patted her on the back lightly. “Don’t be afraid, I’m Xiao Shao.”
Jiang Ruan stared at him with wide eyes, but seemed to be looking at someone else through him. Xiao Shao’s outstretched hand stopped, and Jiang Ruan leaned back frantically. Her eyes were desperate and desolate, as if she saw something extremely terrifying, and she asked angrily, “Xuan Li, how dare you treat me like this!”
Xiao Shao stared closely at her eyes, feeling at a loss for the first time. He suddenly shouted, “Ye Feng!”
Ye Feng suddenly pushed the door open and came in. “Master, what’s the matter?” When he saw Jiang Ruan’s appearance, Ye Feng was also quite shocked. When had Jiang Ruan ever cut such a sorry figure; it seemed as though she was not facing Xiao Shao, but an old enemy with a blood feud. Before he could recover from the shock in front of him, he heard Xiao Shao’s indifferent voice, “Tell Xia Qing to get himself over here!”
Xia Qing rushed over quickly. In order to take care of Jiang Ruan’s condition, he simply lived in the Jinying w.a.n.gfu. Being called upon in the middle of the night, Xia Qing had a vague premonition. When he entered the room, he saw Jiang Ruan’s abnormal appearance and behavior, and was shocked. Xiao Shao’s face was so heavy as he asked, “Why did she become like this?”
Xia Qing did not dare to be careless, and immediately stepped forward to feel Jiang Ruan’s pulse. After doing so, he was stunned, as if he could not believe it, and then checked carefully again. Then he looked at Xiao Shao and stated, “Third Brother Xiao, Third Sister-in-law’s body is fine. But this behavior seems to be abnormal. I’m afraid she has some demons in her heart, and now she has been provoked by accident.” Xia Qing was little embarra.s.sed, as if he had unknowingly disclosed Jiang Ruan’s secret, and with Third Sister-in-law’s petty nature, he did not know how she would treat him after waking up. But even though he had some reservations about this, in the end she was still his sister-in-law. Xia Qing continued, “This is Third Sister-in-law’s inner demon. I can only give a prescription to calm her down, but I really don’t know if it will work or not. Third Brother, I am a doctor who treats physical discomfort, but I can’t treat people’s inner heart disease, so don’t make things difficult for me.”
This was true. Xiao Shao knew that Xia Qing would not be able to come up with any good solutions if he continued to ask, so he said in a deep voice, “Leave.” Xia Qing rubbed his head, and quickly retreated along with everyone else in the room. Only Ye Feng and Xiao Shao were left in the room.
Jiang Ruan huddled in a corner of the bed, her expression showing terror, and her eyes empty. Xiao Shao was stunned again when he saw her gaze. How could anyone in the world have such a gaze? Over the years, the Jinyi Guard’s subordinates had lost a lot of lives, and there were some who struggled and begged for mercy before they died, but they were not as tragic as the girl in front of him. There was no scheming and cunning in those upturned eyes, only the despair engraved in the marrow of the bone; it seemed that after being looked at by those eyes, one would feel that there was no light in the world anymore.
Demons in her heart? Xiao Shao remembered Xia Qing’s words- Jiang Ruan had inner demons? His eyes were cold, looking at the girl in front of him. For a long time, he had felt that Jiang Ruan had a secret that no one knew about. She often came up with some strange schemes, but they were never in vain. She was like a sudden glimmer of light in the Great Jin dynasty, strange and mysterious, but he did not know what her presence foretold. And Xiao Shao couldn’t ignore what she had said just now. Xuan Li… Many of the things she did were somewhat closely related to Xuan Li. He also sent secret guards to investigate the relationship between Jiang Ruan and Xuan Li, but nothing was found. He had initially thought it was just a coincidence, but now it seemed that his guess was right, Jiang Ruan and Xuan Li must have some kind of conflict between them. Furthermore, after looking at it, it would not be a stretch to consider their relationship as a deeply-rooted blood feud! Just what did Xuan Li do to her? For her to question this miserably…
Ye Feng couldn’t help but be terrified as he watched from the side. How Jiang Ruan usually portrayed herself made it seem as though she had no weakness. Even in the face of the most cunning enemy, she could remain calm. But now, after being poisoned, her inner demons were forced out, forcing her to show such an extremely fragile side. What had she been through?
Xiao Shao walked over gently, afraid of disturbing her, Jiang Ruan stared at him coldly. Xiao Shao stretched out his hand, wanting to hold her in his arms to comfort her but when he was about to step closer, Jiang Ruan grabbed his arm and bit down hard.
“Master!” Ye Feng exclaimed, seeing Jiang Ruan’s extremely deep bite and Xiao Shao’s light-colored clothes that he was wearing today immediately stained with blood. However, Xiao Shao just frowned slightly, letting her bite as she wished. He then stretched out his other hand to gently touch her head, with a soft tone, “Don’t be afraid, I’m here.”
He didn’t move, and Jiang Ruan did not let go, making Ye Feng anxious. He did not know how long it took, but when Jiang Ruan seemed to tire, she let go, and Xiao Shao released his hand from her mouth. Yet he was not in a hurry to look at his injury. Instead, he reached out to help her wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth. Jiang Ruan stared at him blankly. Then her eyes turned red suddenly, and hot tears began to roll down the back of Xiao Shao’s hands.
Could she have woken up? Xiao Shao wasn’t sure. Jiang Ruan covered her face suddenly, and it was as if her voice was caught between laughing and crying; Ye Feng didn’t dare to let out a breath because in this silent night, her crying was extremely clear. She took her hands away, and there was a clear expression on her face, which seemed to be a hopeless smile, while at the same time seemed to be frighteningly filled with grief. She asked loudly, “Father, you have sent me to h.e.l.l like this. Alongside them, you lied to me, and used my life to be a stepping stone for Jiang Su Su! And from the beginning, you wanted to use me as a tool for your official career. You are so cruel!”
Wasn’t Jiang Su Su dead? Why did Young Furen suddenly mention her again? Ye Feng inwardly wondered, and what about Jiang Quan’s achievements and official career? Ye Feng could hardly make heads nor tails out of Jiang Ruan’s words. Jiang Ruan shook her head and said, “I am not a demoness who will bring disaster to the country. I did not kill the Emperor!”
“Listen, Ah Ruan, don’t think about it.” Xiao Shao pressed her firmly into his arms. No emotion could be seen in his dark eyes, but his tone was full of gentleness and comfort.
Jiang Ruan grabbed his sleeve and said suddenly, “You save my Dage, you save him, they want to kill him, you have to save my Dage.”
Xiao Shao closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were as cold as ice. He ordered coldly, “Ye Feng, go to the Jiang fu right away and invite Jiang Xin Zhi over here!”