Chapter 016 – His Majesty goes visit a patient

The gate of Prince He’s mansion was closed. Gu Yuanbai, after being helped out of the carriage, ordered someone to go up and knock on the door.

There were two stone lions in front of the palace gates. The mansion had been bestowed by Gu Yuanbai himself, and the lot was so big that it could be considered one in a million, surrounded by clan kinsmen and patriarchs. Gu Yuanbai kept the members of his clan on a very short leash, because he didn’t want to be embarrassed by any relatives that would be ripped apart by ‘Bao Zheng’s’ literature.1

And in this quiet and orderly street of powerful people, Price He’s status was the most distinguished.

One of the guards knocked on the door, and, after a while, a concierge’s voice could be heard from the other side. “The prince is ill, and he’s not in a position to receive guests these days. Please come back at a different time.”

Gu Yuanbai said slowly: “Force it open.”

The guards behind him rushed over. Gu Yuanbai looked up and read the plaque that said ‘Prince He Mansion’ above the gates. These three words were written in a flowery and flamboyant script, as if they were about to burst out of the plaque. The concierge on the other side cried out, and Gu Yuanbai came back to his senses. The gate was pushed open, and the concierge ran away.

Gu Yuanbai raised his hand, preventing people from continuing to walk in. He reserved the last bit of dignity for Prince He, and stood with his men waiting in front of the gate of the residence. Tian Fusheng brought him a chair.

Soon, a group of people came hurriedly, led by the exhausted-looking Princess Consort He. They were shocked when they saw Gu Yuanbai and hurried over to kneel down and salute him. The only one still standing, Princess Consort He, saluted the Emperor and then said cautiously: “Your Majesty, rest assured, the Prince has been very ill as of late. This servant decided on my own to take charge and close the house to visits.

Prince He hadn’t allowed the Imperial doctors to take his pulse. They had guessed that Prince He was suffering from a disease of the heart. Gu Yuanbai only partly believed it. Now hearing the Princess Consort say this, he sighed, without changing his expression at all, and said: “We sent the Imperial doctors to treat Prince He, but he rejected their medical expertise. Now Prince He has been very sick for several days, and We are very concerned. Where is he now? We will go see him.”

Princess Consort He seemed to want to say something but she stopped herself, turned around and led the Emperor towards the mansion. She fell some steps behind a steward, who was leading the way, and said: “Your Majesty, the Prince has a cold. If anyone were to get too close, they could get sick.”

Gu Yuanbai smiled. “That is possible.”

Tian Fusheng politely led Princess Consort He away. After the sole master left in Prince He’s mansion went away, the remaining servants were visibly trembling. Gu Yuanbai looked at the steward’s tense appearance and frowned. “Lead the way.”

When Prince He returned home in the middle of a storm the other day, his entire household was shaken by it.

That day, the rain had been so strong that it’d hurt people’s faces. Prince He appeared in a shameful state, his hair was a mess, and the most frightening thing was that the hem of his clothes was stained with some spots of blood.

Princess Consort He was so frightened that she almost fainted. Eventually, she was relieved to learn that Prince He hadn’t been injured, but later she found out that her relief had been premature.

After his return, Prince He had become irritable and moody, and he’d be provoked by the household’s servants in unpredictable ways. His temper was harder to read than ever before, and his face looked gloomy, like that of the king of hell.2

The Princess Consort could not comfort him, nor did she dare approach him to attempt to do so.

Some days after Prince He got back, he seemed to behave normally again. However, he then ran into two young male servants speaking intimately and engrossed with each other, and he flew into a rage.

Prince He’s residence had been shrouded in a depressing atmosphere for over ten days.

Before the main bedroom’s door, a servant who had run to report in advance whispered through a crack of the door, his voice shaking: “Master, the Emperor is almost here.”

A low voice could be heard from inside the room in response. Abruptly, the door opened, and an elegant scholar stepped out.

The scholar was one of Prince He’s retainers.

The scholar, surnamed Wang, was a guest in the palace. He said: “I will prepare to respectfully welcome His Majesty.”

Walking past the people kneeling down, Tian Fusheng stepped forward and opened the door. As soon as it opened, a strong smell of medicine wafted out of it. Gu Yuanbai was already very familiar with these medicines. As soon as he smelled them, he knew that they were medicines to treat colds.

Gu Yuanbai shouted towards the door: “Prince He?”

There was no light in the dark bedroom, and the heavy and pale light only illuminated an empty spot on the floor. Gu Yuanbai called out again, and after a while, he heard a hoarse voice: “Your Majesty, please don’t come close.”

Just from listening to this voice, Gu Yuanbai could feel that Prince He was very sick.

Gu Yuanbai lectured him. “You have been ill for more than ten days, and you have not even gone to morning court. We sent Imperial doctors to treat you, but you didn’t even let them in.”

Prince He was silent for a while. “His Majesty cares about this official?”

But as soon as the words fell out of his mouth, Prince He continued: “Forget it, this official does not want to know.”

Gu Yuanbai: “…”

What was wrong with this Prince He?

Gu Yuanbai raised his long eyebrows. He was about to step into the room, already moving his feet, so Prince He, probably hearing his footsteps from inside the room, spoke again: “This official has caught a cold. His Majesty should take care of his health, stay away from me, and not come in.”

“We’ve heard.” Gu Yuanbai stopped and, using this chance, he added: “We brought the Imperial doctors with me. Prince He, you’re a minister of the Great Heng, and you’ve been bed-bound for over ten days with a cold. You’re not well after all. Let the doctors come in and treat you, Prince He, so that We can stop worrying.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the doctor walked into the bedroom after him. Gu Yuanbai walked slowly to the end of the room. Tian Fusheng hesitated, attempting to say something. He wanted to persuade the Emperor to not go in, but he dared not stop him.

Sure enough, there were no lights in the bedroom.

Prince He was lying on the bed, covered with a thick quilt from head to toe. He only stuck out one hand from under the quilt to let the imperial doctors take his pulse.

The three Imperial doctors checked his pulse one by one, then they came over to Gu Yuanbai and said: “Your Majesty, Prince He is suffering from a disease caused by the wind and the cold.”

Gu Yuanbai squinted.

He felt wrong all over, from the inside out.

The Emperor didn’t speak, and the doctor didn’t dare to look up. Prince He, inside the quilt, seemed to feel something was off. The quilt moved around a bit. Gu Yuanbai strode forward, grabbing the quilt and lifting it up sharply, completely exposing the person inside.

The skin around Prince He’s eyes was dark and blue, his lips were cracked, and they were faintly colored with spots of dried blood. He was caught off guard when the quilt was lifted, and his eyes, full of surprise, were looking up at Gu Yuanbai.

Gu Yuanbai loosened his grip, and the heavy quilt fell over Prince He again. He didn’t change his expression, but after seeing Prince He’s face, he frowned and said: “Why do you have your nose and your mouth covered, Prince He? It will not help your condition.”

“…” Prince He avoided his eyes and said solemnly: “This official was afraid of getting Your Majesty sick.”

Gu Yuanbai was silent for a while, and asked Tian Fusheng to move a chair to the side of the bed. He sat there and sighed. “Prince He, you have to take care of your body.”

Prince He’s hand, after his pulse was taken, was set down beside him. Gu Yuanbai patted it twice, and Prince He trembled and closed it into a fist.

Tian Fusheng boldly persuaded Gu Yuanbai in a low voice: “Your Majesty, Prince He should rest more. Come out quickly and be careful of getting sick.”

The guard captain next to him advised him the same, so Gu Yuanbai finally stood up and covered Prince He securely with the quilt with his own two hands.

As he leaned down, the blue silk of his garments fell before Prince He’s eyes, and he could smell the scent of the precious palace incense. Prince He’s gaze was profound.

Filthy, profound and secretive.

Like mud, it was impossible to cleanly shake it off.

Prince He tilted his head to the side, in low spirits, and closed his eyes to rest.

The Emperor straightened up and, seeing him like that, he walked out quietly without a word.

After a while, the voices from beyond the door quieted down. The door was closed, and his sins dispersed in the drowsy bedroom.3 Suddenly, the room of the bedroom was opened slightly, and Scholar Wang walked in and, saluting with his hands together, he said: “Master, His Highness has left the mansion.”

Prince He replied: “May he travel safely.”

“His Majesty cares about you very much,” Scholar Wang said softly. “Why would you hurt yourself, Prince, running to pour cold water over yourself in the middle of the night?”

Prince He snorted, amused. He shook his head and sat up from the bed. “What would you know?”

Gu Yuanbai cared about him.

On the carriage on the way back to the palace, Gu Yuanbai closed his eyes and leaned back to rest. An Imperial doctor took his pulse for him and checked his complexion. His expression relaxed slightly. “Your Majesty’s health is still good.”

“Hm.” Gu Yuanbay replied, asking in a seemingly casual manner: “How many days could Prince He have been ill?”

The doctor shook his head, ashamed.

Gu Yuanbai did not embarrass him any more, and propped his head onto his hand to ponder about things quietly.

In the past, the Emperor had stipulated that horses couldn’t be ridden loosely in busy streets and cause harm, and horse carriages had speed limits as well. Therefore, people would drive extremely slowly. The horses’ hooves would advance step by step, the bumps on the road would be absorbed by the layers of padding and blankets, and the carriage felt as steady as standing on the ground.

After a while, Gu Yuanbai opened his eyes suddenly. He raised the curtains and looked out of the window, and he spotted a group of people punching and kicking something, deep inside an alley.

“…weird tricks and things…”

“Stupid carpentry playthings…”

“…you think you’re some sort of scholar…”

Broken sentences reached Gu Yuanbai’s ear intermittently. Looking around, Gu Yuanbai’s gaze landed on some wooden fragments. Seeing it up close, it seemed to be a homemade crossbow.

Gu Yuanbai immediately said: “Stop the horses. Zhang Xu, bring Us that person over there.”

Xu Ning felt as if he were dying.

He covered his head and hands tightly, curled up in a ball, while getting beaten up humiliatingly in a corner. The crossbow he had made before had been stomped into pieces by the same people. He thought he could use his carpentry skills to change their minds, but he didn’t expect that even his favorite object would not save him.

Scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants.

Xu Ning already had a reputation as a talented scholar, and he shouldn’t have found himself in such a shameful situation.

But he liked strange nicknacks, he liked woodworking, he enjoyed dismantling wooden objects to study how they worked, and the more he studied them, the more he loved it.

However, other people felt that a talented scholar like him doing those sorts of things was disgraceful and that he was going down the wrong path. The people that were looking down on him didn’t just despise him: they were also jealous of him because he had passed the country level examinations. And so, they wanted to ruin him.

The things he enjoyed the most brought him such an unbearable pressure that he had a love-hate relationship with artisanal work, and even felt a bit of resentment towards it.

Yet, his heart wasn’t set on stopping.

With his face covered in tears, Xu Ning held his breath as he got kicked again.

Just when he was completely desperate, suddenly, behind him he heard a few voices yelling. Xu Ning raised his head and saw several big and tall men approaching him, one of which said in a deep voice: “Come here.”

Xu Ning staggered to his feet, looking at the imposing carriage at the mouth of the alley with a terrified expression. “You- who are you?!”

The captain of the guard was in a hurry to return to the Emperor’s side, so he said succinctly: “A person of eminence.”