He didn’t eat, and Yin Wuzhi didn’t force him either. Instead, he pressed his hand against his chest and sat back by the fire, looking extremely weak.
Jiang Wu couldn’t tell if he was truly weak or just pretending.
Yesterday, he thought Yin Wuzhi had fainted, completely unable to move. Yet, when it came to getting his revenge, the other man showed no mercy, tossing him back and forth like a dead fish. Each strike was lethal, but somehow, he still stopped short of killing him, repeatedly dragging him back and forth to the brink of death.
To be honest, the feeling wasn’t pleasant.
It’s still not pleasant now.
The stone bed made his already uncomfortable body feel even worse. Jiang Wu wanted to turn over, but his body felt as if it was filled with lead, so he gave up with a sense of resignation.
Yin Wuzhi’s gaze fell on him.
Jiang Wu squeezed his dry eyes shut.
Yin Wuzhi gave a muffled cough, his voice low. “Does Your Majesty have any orders?”
“.” Jiang Wu didn’t dare to give any orders.
“The rain is still falling,” Yin Wuzhi said. “The cliff walls are slippery, so we’ll have to stay here for a while.”
Jiang Wu: “…”
“I made rabbit soup. There’s not much seasoning. Do you want some?”
Jiang Wu wasn’t hungry. He was just feeling awful.
The cave fell silent for a while, with only the sound of rain hitting the mountain.
Yin Wuzhi walked toward him again, and Jiang Wu instinctively opened his eyes to look at him.
Yin Wuzhi told him, “I’d like to lie down for a while too.”
Jiang Wu recalled what he said earlier: “I’d like to soak for a while too.”
“.”
“Don’t want me to?” Yin Wuzhi sat down on the stone bed, breathing heavily. “Why not?”
Jiang Wu didn’t move. His whole body exuded a calm and harmless demeanor, as if completely at the mercy of others. But there was a faint hint of resistance in his eyes—a resistance so weak it could be easily ignored, understood only if one chose to.
Yin Wuzhi sat cross-legged on the stone bed, moving closer until he was lying next to him.
Breathing sounds echoed in his ears.
Jiang Wu: “…” “…” “…”
Yin Wuzhi briefly closed his eyes, saying, “Don’t be tense. I don’t plan to do anything.”
Jiang Wu tried to move, but his leaden body silently shifted outward. Suddenly, Yin Wuzhi’s bandaged hand fell lightly, gripping his fingers.
That bandaged hand was rough. Jiang Wu’s fingers were soft, and he could clearly feel the raised texture of the bandage. He couldn’t help but think of the sensation of that bandaged hand rubbing against his skin, the mix of pain and tingling, the red marks and broken skin.
Jiang Wu: “…” “…” “…”
Yin Wuzhi lifted his hand, placing it on his own chest. “I’m going to sleep for a while. Don’t run off.”
Jiang Wu’s heart resisted, but his body didn’t show even one percent of that reluctance.
Yin Wuzhi soon fell into a deep sleep.
Jiang Wu laid in despair for a while before falling into a deep sleep as well.
The dry firewood crackled in the flames. When Jiang Wu woke again, it was because he sensed the person beside him moving closer.
Yin Wuzhi’s breathing still had a raspy quality to it, a sign that his injuries were quite severe.
But the first thing he did upon waking was to lean closer to Jiang Wu’s ear. Jiang Wu immediately opened his eyes, his gaze turning toward him.
“So alert,” Yin Wuzhi, pale-faced, gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Jiang Wu: “…”
“The rain has stopped,” Yin Wuzhi said. “I’ll go outside to see if I can gather some mushrooms and make soup for you.”
Jiang Wu remained expressionless.
He wouldn’t drink the soup Yin Wuzhi made.
Yin Wuzhi’s bandaged hand reached up to cup his face, gently turning it toward him. “Your Majesty, you’ll wait here obediently, won’t you?”
Jiang Wu blinked.
Yin Wuzhi gazed at him for a while longer, then leaned in to softly kiss his lips.
Jiang Wu’s lower lip was pulled by the kiss, then snapped back. Yin Wuzhi asked, “You’ll behave, won’t you?”
“…”
Yin Wuzhi patted him on the head, then got up and left.
As soon as he left, Jiang Wu forced himself to sit up. He lowered his head, stiffly got out of bed like a puppet, and then collapsed with a thud onto the ground.
When will the human body become lighter?
For someone like Jiang Wu, physical injury was a terrifying ordeal.
He didn’t know how long had passed when he heard the sound of hurried footsteps approaching. Black boots stopped in front of him, and he heard Sixteen’s voice: “Your Majesty.”
Sixteen helped him up. “Your Majesty, how are you?”
Jiang Wu’s eyes were vacant, his whole body like a rag doll.
He didn’t speak or make a sound. Sixteen adjusted his head, then quickly carried him out.
A rope had been lowered from the cliff, along with a large woven basket. By the time Jiang Wu was lifted up, Yin Wuzhi was already up there, receiving medical attention. When he saw Jiang Wu coming up, he turned his head to look at him.
Jiang Wu hung his head, surrounded by a group of people. He was dazed, not hearing a single word, and was soon carried back to a small courtyard in the temple.
After sleeping on the stone bed, even the wooden bed with just two layers of bedding in the temple didn’t seem too uncomfortable. After the imperial physician took his pulse, Jiang Wu quickly fell asleep again.
He thought, once he recovered, he would tell everyone about Yao Ji. Whether it was the Great Empress Dowager or Empress Dowager Wen, once they learned that he wasn’t the biological son of the late emperor, they certainly wouldn’t keep him.
He woke once to be given some water, then fell into a high fever.
Empress Dowager Wen and Great Empress Dowager came to see him briefly, and as they left, they whispered to each other: “Yin Shu is truly devoted to the emperor. To fall from such a height and protect him from injury is one thing, but to stay by his side even when he’s not yet healed, that’s something else.”
Empress Dowager Wen nodded, sighing. “His injuries are far worse than Wuer’s.”
“What a fine young man,” the Great Empress Dowager shook her head. “If he were a woman, I’d insist the emperor marry him.”
King Dingnan, standing outside the door: “…”
He wished Jiang Wu had been born a woman too.
Qi Hanmiao quickly brought a blanket for Yin Wuzhi, who was keeping watch over Jiang Wu. “Leave serving His Majesty to the servants. You, Lord Shizi, should focus on healing your own wounds. Why put yourself through this?”
“His mental state has been strange lately.”
Qi Hanmiao was shocked.
“He might start talking nonsense.” Yin Wuzhi, sitting on the floor, glanced at the unconscious emperor, his expression dark. “His Majesty didn’t fall off the cliff by accident. He jumped.”
Qi Hanmiao: “!!!”
He recalled the day the Emperor tried to cut his own throat, and couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine.
Jiang Wu’s fever finally subsided the next day, and because of this, Empress Dowager Wen and all the monks at the temple held another prayer session for him. Jiang Wu was even more despondent than before, not speaking to anyone for several days. His spirit was so low that the Great Empress Dowager didn’t force him to go to the senior monk’s quarters to listen to the scriptures for the time being.
After five or six days, Jiang Wu slowly started to recover.
Yin Wuzhi carried him out of the room and placed him in a wicker chair. With his bandaged hand resting on Jiang Wu’s shoulder, he looked at the budding peach tree in the courtyard and said, “The Great Empress Dowager intends to wait until the peach blossoms at Shengguo Temple have bloomed before returning to the palace.”
By now, he was used to Jiang Wu’s silence. Yin Wuzhi lowered his head and kissed Jiang Wu on the forehead, then sat down beside him and continued, “During the peach blossom season, there’s a festival in the town at the foot of the mountain. Does Your Majesty want to go and see it?”
Jiang Wu rolled his eyes and stared at Yin Wuzhi’s bandaged hand.
He hated that hand. Yin Wuzhi had hardly left his side in recent days and had even used it to help dress him more than once.
“Your Majesty need not worry about my injury.”
Who’s worried about you?
“It’s just a surface wound; it will heal soon.”
Jiang Wu figured his internal injuries were probably nearly healed as well.
“Ahem,” came a voice from behind. It was King Dingnan. Yin Wuzhi’s dark gaze softened as he stood up and said, “Father.”
“Hmm,” King Dingnan responded. “Come here, let me check how your wounds are healing.”
The implication was clear—he wanted to spar with him. Life at the temple had been peaceful, and everyone was getting a bit restless. Yin Wuzhi bent down and gently tucked Jiang Wu’s exposed hand into the blanket, softly saying, “I’ll be back soon.”
Jiang Wu remained unresponsive, but King Dingnan blew out a sharp breath.
This brat, reporting every little thing, even going out with his father already.
Irritated, King Dingnan turned and began to leave when suddenly the Emperor, silent for so long, spoke up: “Yin Zheng.”
Yin Zheng was King Dingnan’s given name. Reflexively, he knelt before Jiang Wu, saying, “Your Majesty, I am at your service.”
Yin Wuzhi quickly added, “The Emperor has no orders.”
King Dingnan shot him a glance but continued addressing Jiang Wu, “Does Your Majesty have any instructions?”
“Tell your son to leave. I have something to say to you.”
Yin Wuzhi’s expression grew tense, but King Dingnan issued a cold command: “Withdraw.”
“Father, don’t listen to His Majesty’s nonsense. He’s delirious. A few days ago, he threw himself off the cliff!”
King Dingnan hadn’t heard about this yet, but even so, he scolded, “What nonsense! Withdraw at once!”
Who speaks like that in front of the Emperor? This child is really taking advantage of his favor.
“I’m not leaving.” Yin Wuzhi looked at Jiang Wu, clenching his teeth. “Think carefully about what you’re going to say.”
Jiang Wu spoke again, confirming that his voice had fully recovered. A few days ago, speaking felt like sandpaper on his throat, causing unbearable pain. “Yin Zheng, you can’t even control your own son?”
King Dingnan instantly rose to his feet and drew his whip, ready to strike Yin Wuzhi: “Get out now—!”
Yin Wuzhi stood unmoving, his eyes fixed on Jiang Wu, tears welling up in his pitch-black eyes.
Feeling humiliated, King Dingnan swung the whip at him, but Yin Wuzhi remained motionless, still staring at Jiang Wu.
He knew exactly what Jiang Wu wanted to tell his father, but he didn’t care about Yao Ji. What he did care about was Jiang Wu. If Yao Ji were to be ruined, how would Jiang Wu deal with the rumors that would inevitably follow?
The whip lashed across Yin Wuzhi’s back, and King Dingnan’s anger flared. “Yin Zhu!”
Still gripping the armrest of Jiang Wu’s chair, Yin Wuzhi stayed silent.
Before a third strike landed, Jiang Wu spoke: “Enough.”
Yin Wuzhi wanted to stay, so he stayed, but he couldn’t keep his mouth shut, saying, “Yin Zheng, I am Zhao…”
Yin Wuzhi covered his mouth.
Jiang Wu: “…”
King Dingnan stepped forward to pull Yin Wuzhi’s hand away, so Yin Wuzhi used his other hand to cover Jiang Wu’s mouth. King Dingnan took his other hand away as well, giving Jiang Wu the opportunity to speak: “I am the son of the Zhao Kingdom’s King Wen, not the biological son of the previous emperor.”
The father and son, who had already started sparring in front of him: “…”
King Dingnan was utterly blank. Yin Wuzhi then asked, “Do you believe him?”
King Dingnan was unsure, but his mind was filled with regret; he shouldn’t have stopped Yin Wuzhi from covering Jiang Wu’s mouth earlier.
“Father,” said Yin Wuzhi, “I just told you, His Majesty is mentally unstable and speaking nonsense.”
“I am not,” Jiang Wu said. “King Dingnan, I order you to take me to see the Great Empress Dowager; I want to confess everything in front of Buddha.”
“Father…” Yin Wuzhi was about to speak again when King Dingnan suddenly slapped him across the face. Looking grim, he said, “This is a matter of such gravity, yet you dared to hide it. Such a crime warrants death.”
After saying that, he respectfully saluted Jiang Wu and said in a deep voice, “I will take Your Majesty to see the Great Empress Dowager.”
Jiang Wu was escorted out of the courtyard and said, “Yin Wuzhi has evidence that my birth mother was a Zhao Kingdom spy.”
King Dingnan shuddered again, shouted angrily without looking back, “You wretch, hurry up and follow.”
As they left the courtyard, Marquis Zuowu glanced at the grave expressions of the father and son. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the emperor say, “Marquis Zuowu.”
“I am here, Your Majesty.”
“I am the son of the Zhao Kingdom’s King Wen, not the biological son of the previous emperor. My birth mother was a Zhao Kingdom spy.”
Marquis Zuowu: “………………………”
He rigidly followed alongside the Yin father and son. Up ahead, Qi Hanmiao cheerfully walked back, and upon seeing the emperor, he said, “Your Majesty, I brought some flower cakes from Lady Taihou, as the young lord said you like them…”
“Qi Hanmiao.”
“I am here, Your Majesty.”
“I am the son of the Zhao Kingdom’s King Wen, not the biological son of the previous emperor. My birth mother was a Zhao Kingdom spy.”
Qi Hanmiao: “…”
The box of flower cakes fell to the ground.
Marquis Zuowu’s legs had gone soft, and he stammered, “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you cannot speak of this matter so casually to others.”
Yin Wuzhi’s face was dark as iron. “The truth of the matter is still not determined.”
King Dingnan was too frightened to push him any further, worried that if they met anyone else, this horrifying secret would spread.
Yin Wuzhi stepped forward and pressed two points on Jiang Wu’s chest.
Jiang Wu opened his mouth again but found he could no longer make a sound.
The group, pale and stiff, finally arrived at the Great Empress Dowager’s courtyard. She was startled, “What’s happened? You all look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Seeing a ghost was not as terrifying as this.
Jiang Wu opened his mouth again, but no sound came out. The Great Empress Dowager rushed over. “Emperor, what has happened now?”
King Dingnan forced himself to speak, “Yin Shu.”
Yin Wuzhi stepped forward, and Marquis Zuowu reminded, “Great Empress Dowager, please dismiss everyone.”
The Great Empress Dowager glanced around, and Qin Chuan immediately led everyone out.
The Great Empress Dowager bent over to check Jiang Wu’s condition and gently touched his head, reassuring him, “Good child, your complexion looks better than before. Now, your royal mother and I can finally be at ease.”
At this point, Yin Wuzhi silently released Jiang Wu’s acupoints.
Jiang Wu spoke to the Great Empress Dowager, “Royal Grandmother.”
“Yes?” she responded warmly.
“I am the son of King Wen of Zhao, not the biological child of the late emperor. My birth mother was a spy from Zhao.”
The warmth drained from her expression, replaced by a cold seriousness. The Great Empress Dowager asked, “Who else knows about this?”
Behind Jiang Wu, a series of thuds could be heard as the others knelt.
The Great Empress Dowager turned around and after a pause, said, “Summon Empress Dowager Yao and Empress Dowager Wen.”
“Qin Chuan, personally escort the two veteran ministers, Chen Qi and Wen Zhi, here. Go quickly and return swiftly.”
Then she turned back, cupping Jiang Wu’s face, inspecting his left and right sides closely.
Yin Wuzhi quickly added, “Your Majesty clearly resembles the late emperor. This must be a trick.”
Jiang Wu countered, “My mother told me this herself. There’s no falsehood.”
The Great Empress Dowager’s tone remained gentle, “Yao Ji said this herself?”
“Indeed.”
The Great Empress Dowager smiled, “I understand, child.”
Jiang Wu’s face relaxed into a calm expression.
Yin Wuzhi, still kneeling nearby, silently glanced at him, his eyes deep as an abyss.
