After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine Chapter 112
Early the next morning, Jiang Suizhou complained about being ill and wanting to return to the capital in advance.
Perhaps due to the turbulence last night, the Hou Zhu was out of sorts and in a foul mood. He was entirely disinterested, so when he heard someone reporting that His Royal Highness Jingwang was ill, he readily permitted his return with a wave of his hand.
Jiang Suizhou was indeed ill.
After he went to bed that night, he secretly planned to be so. They had to return home the next day, so since he wanted to leave in advance, he had to find an excuse.
The best excuse, of course, was his health.
With this in mind, Jiang Suizhou did not hesitate much, nor did he discuss with Huo Wujiu. He secretly opened the window in the night, removed his quilt, and just laid there all night.
He didn’t fall asleep until late at night because of the cold.
He stayed awake for most of the night. His head was clear, and he began to muse about matters all over the state. He mulled over Pang Shao’s affairs over and over again, and considered his plans in the future. Then his thoughts drifted to Huo Wujiu.
For some reason, when he thought about Huo Wujiu, he felt as if his cheeks and his ears were a bit feverish.
He lifted his hand and gently patted his face with the back of his hand.
He could still picture how Huo Wujiu hugged him today.
He was truly a gutless coward. At the sight of blood, he shed tears for no reason. He desperately tried to bear it, but failed miserably. When he was embarrassed, he was pressed into his arms by Huo Wujiu. Just as he was feeling overwhelmed, Huo Wujiu pressed him into his arms.
It could be said Huo Wujiu hugged him, but it didn’t seem to be. Nonetheless, Huo Wujiu did envelop his entire body. There was no mistaking the stench of blood, but Jiang Suizhou also felt his tight muscles and powerful heartbeat. It drummed against his chest and spread toward Jiang Suizhou.
Recalling all these, Jiang Suizhou closed his eyes and felt an inexplicable bashfulness.
It wasn’t the kind of bashfulness he was disgusted with. On the contrary, it was something that made his heart race.
Jiang Suizhou couldn’t tell exactly why. He just felt quite flustered deep inside, with a sprinkle of sweet bewilderment and nervousness.
He had never felt this way before.
These feelings made him toss and turn restlessly even more. Even with the cold breeze at night in the mountains, the heat on his face never abated until the second half of the night.
This time, he passed out in his sleep. When he was shaken awake by Meng Qianshan, he already had a high fever.
When he opened his eyes in a daze, he noticed Meng Qianshan nervously lying on the edge of the bed.
Jiang Suizhou opened his mouth and was about to speak when broke into a series of hoarse coughs.
Meng Qianshan hurriedly helped him sit up and said in a panic, “Please forgive me, Your Highness! I don’t know why I forgot to close the window for Your Highness last night. Now, you got sick from the cold! The imperial doctor will be here soon…”
But then Jiang Suizhou sat up and waved his hand.
“This Prince opened the window,” he was short of breath and spoke with panting. He first raised his hand and touched his forehead.
Wonderful. He was dizzy; his throat was itchy; his palms and forehead were hot; he must be suffering from a fever.
Indeed, his body wasn’t capable of anything else. Pretending to be ill was accurate.
A smile surfaced on Jiang Suizhou’s face.
When Meng Qianshan heard his response, along with his smile, he got all flustered. He exclaimed, “Your Highness…”
Jiang Suizhou raised his hand to interrupt him and said, “It’s nothing, this Prince has his own plans. Send someone to tell the Emperor that this Prince has a high fever and needs to return home to recuperate.”
Meng Qianshan agreed readily. Jiang Suizhou waved his hand and ordered, “Go quickly.”
He knew that they still had a long way to travel for their return to Lin’an from the mountains. If they delayed any longer, it would probably be midnight when they arrive.
Jiang Suizhou had no idea whether he could withstand the fatigue given his illness and disorientation.
Meng Qianshan hurriedly responded and sped away.
After sending Meng Qianshan away, Jiang Suizhou clutched the bed and coughed uncontrollably.
Then he saw a cup of steaming water handed to him.
He looked upward and saw Huo Wujiu’s frosty front.
The smug look on Jiang Suizhou’s face froze, and he even felt guilty inexplicably.
Before he could speak, Huo Wujiu leaned over and brought the water to Jiang Suizhou’s lips along with his breath. He waited for him to drink without saying a word.
How could he let Huo Wujiu serve him?
But at this juncture, Jiang Suizhou was too weak to resist. He could only comply with Huo Wujiu’s actions and drank a couple mouthfuls of water.
…It burned his mouth.
After a couple of sips, Jiang Suizhou declined to drink any more. Huo Wujiu’s hand froze in place without any compromise.
Jiang Suizhou could only whisper, “It’s hot.”
He was sick, so his voice rang softer than usual. In addition, his lack of breath gave him a hint of petulance, which sounded rather squeamish.
Huo Wujiu paused, took back the teacup and put it on the table next to him.
“Is this the method you said will let us go home?” Huo Wujiu asked in a deep voice.
Huo Wujiu’s tone was calm, but Jiang Suizhou noted his critiquing tone.
He fell silent for a moment and whispered sheepishly, “…Yeah.”
Then, he hurriedly clarified, “After all, this method is more direct! Your injury needs bandaging and medication, and cannot be delayed any longer. I’m always sick too, so this isn’t a big deal…”
Before he could finish his speech, a racking cough interrupted him.
His cough made him dizzy. All that filled Jiang Suizhou’s ears was his hoarse cough, but he somehow vaguely heard a sigh.
The next thing he knew, a palm landed on his back like a compromise and slowly patted him.
However, other than that, he didn’t hear Huo Wujiu say another word.
He sat next to him in silence, watching as the imperial doctor attended to him and waited for the men sent by Meng Qianshan to return with the imperial decree and pack up their luggage and carriage.
Jiang Suizhou was helped to change into his robes and got into the carriage; Huo Wujiu sat beside him the entire time. However, he never heard him speak again.
Jiang Suizhou was always a bit apprehensive.
Meng Qianshan brought a fur blanket to cover him. Jiang Suizhou huddled on the carriage seat and leaned sickly in the corner.
The mountain road was bumpy and the carriage was rocky, so when leaning against the carriage, he rocked and bumped along the way. Despite this, his eyes always drifted back to Huo Wujiu. He couldn’t help wondering, Is he angry?
Meng Qianshan stood on his side, skillfully filling a pot with fresh, hot tea. He placed it beside him and asked carefully, “Where is Your Highness staying tonight?”
With Madam Huo’s appearance today, he definitely could not serve His Highness in bed. Moreover, he had a fever, and His Highness was weak. What if he passed his illness to His Highness?
Jiang Suizhou watched Doctor Zhou and did not speak for a while.
Meng Qianshan sensed that His Highness wasn’t in the mood to speak, so he also quietly waited at his side and asked no further.
A moment later, Doctor Zhou turned around and knelt in front of Jiang Suizhou.
“Your Highness, Madam Huo is suffering from a high fever due to wound inflammation…” He added hurriedly, “Madam Huo endured it, but he has been burning up for some time. His injuries are quite serious, so if this continues, I’m afraid it will endanger his life!”
Jiang Suizhou frowned, “It’s that serious?”
Doctor Zhoufu nodded, “I’ll immediately boil some medicine and change his bandages later. As long as his fever subsides in time, it won’t be a big problem.”
Jiang Suizhou nodded. “Tell Meng Qianshan to boil the medicine, while you change the bandages for him now.”
Doctor Zhou agreed promptly.
Jiang Suizhou propped one hand on his cheek, turned his head sideways and looked at Huo Wujiu, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
Although Huo Wujiu was sitting upright, he was already dizzy from the fever. His eyes that were glaring at everyone just now were also shut heavily.
Doctor Zhou carefully unwrapped his bandages to clean his wounds. Blood had soaked the gauze, making it stuck to the flesh. Even when he carefully unwrapped the gauze, the wounds were still inevitably torn.
Huo Wujiu’s eyes were closed, but his brow was furrowed. He pursed his lips and still restrained himself from gasping even in his muddled state. Only the trembling of his brow as his bandages were ripped open revealed that he was in pain.
Jiang Suizhou suddenly remembered something.
When he was a child and still living in his father’s house, his brother, born from a younger woman he didn’t know, once pushed him down the stairs and caused him to twist his ankle. His mother was in a bad mood those days and always crying, so he did not dare to let her know. He limped back to his room and endured the pain all night.
The feeling of enduring the pain alone was so torturous that no amount of reading could distract him from it.
But for Huo Wujiu, it seemed to have become a habit engraved in his bones.
Jiang Suzhou couldn’t resist staring at Huo Wujiu’s body, unable to extricate his eyes for a second.
It was covered in crisscross injuries, fresh, bloody, and very deep.
…It must hurt like hell.
He sat there quietly, watching Doctor Zhou clean Huo Wujiu’s wounds, rewrap them in gauze, and help him lie down.
Doctor Zhou then reported to Jiang Suizhou. He knelt once more, and said, “Your Highness, his bandages have been changed. Later on, just give Madam the medicine and sponge him with cold towels to cool him down. Once his fever subsides, there’ll be no serious problem.”
Jiang Suizhou nodded and raised his hand, signaling him to go and do it himself.
Doctor Zhou went to prepare a handkerchief and placed it on Huo Wujiu’s forehead.
Not long after, Meng Qianshan came back with the medicine.
He handed the medicine to the doctor and returned to Jiang Suizhou’s side, bowing down and asking, “Your Highness, it’s getting late. Why don’t you go back to Anyin Hall and rest for now?”
Seeing that Jiang Suizhou was staring at Huo Wujiu, he did not forget to add, “If you are not at ease, I will leave some more people here to keep watch.”
He naturally knew that Huo Wujiu would not burn to death, and that there was nothing to worry about.
However, he could not help but think of the original Huo Wujiu.
Back then, there must have been no one to bandage him or change his dressing. To survive such a high fever like this one, it was a wonder how many days and nights he burned up. He had forcibly dragged his life back from Yama’s hands.
Having experienced what it was like to exercise patience in pain alone, Jiang Suizhou suddenly felt reluctant to leave.
A few moments later, he ordered lightly, “Go find a book for me.”
Meng Qianshan was stunned. He forged ahead and replied without thought, “Is Your Highness not going to leave…?”
Jiang Suizhou raised his eyes and looked at him, forcing the second half of Meng Qianshan’s words back into his mouth.
Meng Qianshan could only nod repeatedly and go find him a book.
When Huo Wujiu woke up, it was already late at night.
He opened his eyes in the dark, feeling something on his forehead. He raised his hand and pulled it off, and saw that it was a damp, cool handkerchief.
He frowned.
It seemed that he has been feverish since the afternoon today. This was nothing unusual. He was wounded so many times on the battlefield and occasionally suffered fevers. A good night’s sleep was all it took.
In the evening, King Jing seemed to have visited, and before he figured what the latter was going to do, Huo Wujiu had fainted from the fever.
Huo Wujiu lifted his hand and touched his forehead.
A cool patch.
He was fully sober at this point, but an extremely surreal feeling arose deep within him.
He was a prisoner of war captured by the enemy, a tool sent to King Jing’s residence to humiliate him. However, he was now lying peacefully on a bed. His wounds were treated and now clean and fresh; his forehead was covered with a cool handkerchief; and the air was filled with a faint smell of medicine.
It was distinctly bitter, yet calming and soothing.
He was born at the border where life was gruelling. He was extremely resistant to any fall, and had never been so cared for in his life.
He turned his head sideways and saw a man sitting in the dim light.
The man was asleep, holding a book in one hand on his lap while supporting the side of his head with the other. His eyelashes were long, covering a pair of eyes that were always cold and arrogant.
The light shone on his side profile, coating him with a soft glow.
Huo Wujiu realized that he was guarding him.
His breathing hitched uncontrollably.
