Chapter 43: The Cry of Crane and Flower

Good for the kidneys? Boosting the libido?

Although Chu Yu was mentally prepared, hearing the answer almost drove her crazy.

Which part of this person looked like he had a low libido?

Which idiot made such congee for him?

Rong Zhi said knowingly, “I guess the people from the Imperial medicine affairs department made this.” He blinked and his eyes were brighter now. “They must have thought I’m not good enough for you to receive such a punishment, Princess. That’s why they made this to improve my performance. I’ll talk to them later.”

Chu Yu looked at him while her eyes twinkled. She only understood what he meant after a while. ‘The people from some department called the Imperial medicine affairs department thought Rong Zhi was lousy in intercourse, so I ordered Yue Jiefei to beat him up?!’

To an outsider who had no context, the situation back then was indeed misleading. Chu Yu and Rong Zhi had walked into the Apricot Forest while Yue Jiefei guarded outside. Yue Jiefei soon raced into the forest and Rong Zhi walked out of it wounded. Chu Yu then walked out of the forest in annoyance while her clothes were a mess. There had been obvious signs that she had been rolling on the ground.

The situation went through distorted rumors and resulted in such a horrifying story in the end.

Rong Zhi was courteous to everyone in the Imperial Palace and won the hearts of many. The Imperial medicine affairs department was an exclusive section in the Princess’s Imperial Residence. The medical practitioner was close to Rong Zhi, so he wanted to help him. He got the kitchen to make congee with such features and told the maidservant to send it to Rong Zhi. It was the congee that Chu Yu had served him earlier.

At that moment, Chu Yu felt like the tray that she was holding spelled trouble. It was hard for her to carry it. However, there was no way that she could throw it away. She recalled something a while later and asked, “Why did you drink it since you knew that?”

Rong Zhi gazed at her and said gently, “Because it’s you who brought it to me, Princess. I’d never reject you, Princess.”

His voice was so soothing. Chu Yu looked into his eyes for a moment and finally came to face a problem that she was unwilling to face in the past. Could Rong Zhi perhaps really have his heart on Princess Shanyin? Perhaps to her, it was impossible for a man to be willing to serve a lady who also had other men. However, what was not possible in such insane times?

Chu Yu did not want to think about that in the past. It was possible, but she was unwilling to think about that because if Rong Zhi was really fond of Princess Shanyin, then her arrival would have meant that she robbed his lover’s body.

What reaction would he have if he found out that the body was replaced with another soul?

However, what could she do? Even she had no idea how she made it there. She had no idea where Princess Shanyin’s soul had gone. Where could she go to bring back the real Princess Shanyin for him?

If he found out about the truth, would he be sad or even enraged?

No matter what, there was no way that Chu Yu could tell the truth. She thought to herself secretly that if her speculation was proven in the future, she would try her best to make it up to him even though she was unwilling to believe that her speculation about his feelings for Princess Shanyin had a slim 1% possibility of being true.

Chu Yu looked down and only spoke after seemingly a long silence, “What if I said I wanted to kill you?”

Just as she was done speaking, Hua Cuo looked at her with his guard up. He gripped his longsword tightly in anticipation to attack her as soon as she did something that could harm Rong Zhi.

Rong Zhi waved at Hua Cuo while his eyes were locked on Chu Yu’s face. “I’ll allow you to do it as long as that’s what you want.”

Chu Yu finally could not maintain a calm face, so she turned and left.

After a long walk, she soon calmed down. She took a deep breath in an attempt to forget about Rong Zhi. She asked Yue Jiefei who was beside her as she walked, “What do you know about Hua Cuo? Tell me how much you know about him in detail.”

Yue Jiefei said while following Chu Yu’s pace, “Yes, Princess.”

Hua Cuo had been a vagabond in the world in the past. His ruthless Flower Folding Sword had been popular even back then. He traveled around with a young man who was a similar age and went by the family name of He. Both of them were experts in swordsmanship, and people called them ‘The Cry of Crane and Flower’. They were invincible.

However, they fell out around four to five years ago although nobody knew why. They parted ways and Hua Cuo disappeared in the world. Two to three years later, Hua Cuo was found and attacked by his rival. Although he killed all of them, he was severely wounded. He came to the Princess’s Imperial Residence looking for Rong Zhi who brought him in as a male companion and saved his life with herbs and medicines all those years.

Yue Jiefei also told her about some of the fights Hua Cuo had back then. It was rather technical, so she could not understand it completely. They arrived at the Imperial medicine affairs department as they chatted. Chu Yu handed the troublesome tray to the first maidservant that she saw while they were on their way there.

She had passed by the place when she was walking around the Imperial Residence earlier. Although she did not walk in, she remembered the route. She picked up the strong smell of herbs as soon as she walked into the courtyard of the Imperial medicine affairs department. A few of the medicine apprentices were scooping the medicinal powder into separate packages in the courtyard. They were so engrossed that they did not even notice the people coming in.

Chu Yu walked into the house to see two people in there. One was over 50 years old while the other was over 30. The duo wore formal clothing and should be the medical practitioners of the Imperial Residence. They were reading when Chu Yu’s soft cough shocked them. She asked the duo that was bowing to her, “Did the both of you look at Rong Zhi’s condition?”

The older one responded while holding his head down, “Princess, Young Master Rong’s in a better condition now. He’ll be healed after resting for more than ten days.”

After nodding, Chu Yu had no idea what else could she say. Since she was here, it would be odd for her to ask only one question. However, she really had no idea how should she bring up the congee that was meant to boost Rong Zhi’s libido. She pretended everything was going well and walked around the house. Her eyes scanned the bookshelves on the wall and eventually landed on the table before the duo. There were some books and medical records on the bookshelves and table. Besides that, there were also records of the usage of medicine in the Princess’s Imperial Residence.

Judging by that, the duo was sorting out the past documents.

Chu Yu picked up a few records randomly, frowning as she went through them.

She was just randomly flipping initially, but she soon found out that something was off. Around three and a half years to four years ago, the medical records were empty as if they had vanished into thin air. However, the records for the usage of medicine were still there. They happened to be displayed on the table. She took the records and began to read them attentively with her head down.

The usage of medicine was insane throughout that period of time. Chu Yu compared the records with other periods and found out that the usage of medicine was three to four folds more than usual three and a half years ago.

Recalling what Yue Jiefei said earlier, Chu Yu frowned and thought of asking the two medical practitioners about it. She swallowed what she was going to say as soon as she was about to speak. If something major really did happen in the past, the Princess would have definitely known about it. The medical records that had disappeared might have been destroyed intentionally.

She changed what she was going to ask as she thought about it. “How long have the two of you been here?”