Chapter 189 – Once Poisoned
As Ye Zhen made her way out of the pavilion and with that the emperor’s sight, she felt her heart stifle with tension– she was having trouble swallowing heaps of breath. How so? Well, she did not expect to meet Mo Rongzhan. She thought she would be directly taken to Mo Rongyi.
Not only did she see him, but had to even bear his inexplicable loathing and threats. And every time she saw him, her resolve to remain unaffected by his presence would go down the drain. She hated it and its consequences.
She composed herself and refocused on the crux of the matter: the bet! The root cause! Besides her and Mo Rongyi, no one knew of that conversation. Moreover, she had only just casually mentioned it. And right now, thanks to Mo Rongzhan, it had casually become a mountain threatening to be her undoing. She decided she would ask Mo Rongyi if he had talked behind her back and neatly delivered her right to the emperor’s feet.
Before she knew it, mulling and delving, Ye Zhen had arrived at the Little Prince’s chamber. She walked in amidst the baffled gazes of all the maids around. She didn’t mind one bit.
However, when she saw Mo Rongyi, all the questions turned into shock. She almost did not recognize that the skinny boy before her was the plump and lovely little prince. She felt a tug in her heart.
Mo Rongyi had just finished acupressure. His cheeks had an abnormal flush, he looked drained. But seeing Ye Zhen walk in, he was delighted.
“How did you become like this?” Ye Zhen blurted. She was still reeling in shock. She was so concerned that she even forgot to pay her respect to the Little Prince.
However, Mo Rongyi did not care about her discourtesy, beckoning her to pass. ”Why did you come just now?”
A touch of pity flashed in Ye Zhen’s eyes. Yes, her heart was full of grievance and vengeance. Even so, she did not wish to see Mo Rongyi die so soon. This young child had done nothing wrong. Why should fate treat him so?
“The Little Prince’s illness would not have been recognized if not for Miss Lu’s diagnosis. Otherwise, I would not have known that His Highness is suffering from an abdominal tumor.” Qi Jin whispered.
Only then did Ye Zhen notice Qi Jin nearby. Seeing this middle-aged woman, she was shocked.
“Are you the…?”
“Miss Lu, we meet again.” Qi Jin nodded with a smile.
Ye Zhen’s face became somber as she bowed before her teacher. “This student greets Imperial Physician Qi Jin.”
The last time she met her, she had said her surname was Qi, and there was only one person in the Imperial Palace who had the same surname as the one treating the Little Prince. It was none other than Qi Jin, the chief faculty of the Medical Academy.
It was her!
“The Little Prince has just finished acupuncture and will take his medicine later. You can talk with him now.” Qi Jin did not say anything more as she stepped back from Mo Rongyi’s bed and curtsied before him. Then she walked out of the chamber.
Ye Zhen sat down beside the bed. “Is it painful all over?”
Right then, Mo Rongyi dismissed all the maids in the room. It was not until he was alone with Ye Zhen, that he revealed an expression of affliction.
“It hurts so much, it hurts so much! I do not wish to live any longer.” He screeched in agony.
“How could this happen?”
Ye Zhen felt that with Qi Jin taking the lead in treating Mo Rongyi’s illness, he should be cured soon. And yet, not only had he not recovered, he was deteriorating.
“I feel stabbing pain in my heart when eating…” Mo Rongyi gave a wry smile. “… but I can’t show it in front of the Empress Dowager. She will be very sad.”
Before her transmigration and time regression, Ye Zhen remembered things as if they only happened yesterday. When she was still nothing but a floating entity inside the Imperial Palace, she noticed the Empress Dowager’s frequent absence from the Cining Palace. Having been used to living in isolation before her son’s reign on the dragon throne, the dowager refused to see anyone else, except her son– Mo Rongyi. At that time, the Empress Dowager did not care about anything else but the Little Prince, whom she cherished the most.
However, would Mo Rongyi really perish from this world… she was uncertain. Of one thing she was certain, in those two years, Ye Zhen had not seen any deaths inside the palace. And Mo Rongyi was a person of import. Any news related to him, especially death, would have bound to have talks. But no such thing had reached her ears.
“May I take your pulse, Your Highness?” Ye Zhen felt no anger anymore for whoever saw Mo Rongyi’s condition could not lose their temper.
Mo Rongyi turned supercilious. “Can you cure me?”
“The emperor said that if you die, I will be buried with you. Your Highness, for the sake of my life, can you cooperate?” Ye Zhen said grumpily.
“B–brother. My brother. Did he … really say that?” Mo Rongyi asked in surprise.
Ye Zhen glanced back at him.
“I must ask the Little Prince when have I ever made a bet with you about your health?”
“Ahem!” Mo Rongyi coughed a few times. “I was just too bored. I want to talk to someone. Besides, did you not say you have not treated anyone? This prince now gives you a chance.”
“Thank you so much, Your Highness.”
Mo Rongyi did not feel her sincerity but was still very generous to extend his hand. “You take the pulse.”
Ye Zhen took the Little Prince’s wrist in her hand and felt his pulse. The thumping of his heart was weaker than the last time. The abdominal tumor had not improved. He was not in good condition. She looked at him anxiously.
“Where else do you feel pain?”
“Here!” Mo Rongyi said, clutching his chest.
“Are you suffering from any heart disease?” Ye Zhen asked. She had heard him say more than once that his chest hurt.
Mo Rongyi gazed at her. “Do not waste your energy. Even Qi Jin cannot cure my disease, let alone you.”
Ye Zhen covered him with a quilt. “Even so, I still hope you can get better.”
“I was…” Mo Rongyi’s voice was a little light hiding the bitterness he felt. “When I was very young, I was poisoned.”
“What?” Ye Zhen looked at him in surprise.