Chapter 412 – He Still Hasn’t Woken Up (1)
By the time Ye Zhen woke up, it was already dusk. After simply tidying herself up a bit, she immediately went to the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
In the resting chambers, the empress dowager, sat next to the bed with a heavy expression, watching the slumbering Mo Rongzhan. The pair of aunt and nephew, Qi Jin and Huangfu Chen stood aside, with equally obscure expressions.
“Imperial Mother, is the emperor awake?” Ye Zhen walked over and looked at Mo Rongzhan after bowing.
He seemed a little better, but was still pale, with a layer of white cloth wrapped around his body. The emperor, who had always been tall and domineering, could now only lie still like this. Anyone would feel gloomy at the sight.
Hearing Ye Zhen’s voice, the empress dowager shook her head tiredly. “He still hasn’t woken up.”
Ye Zhen opened her mouth, her heart swelling a bit with pain. “Perhaps it’s because… he lost too much blood, so he’ll sleep a bit longer. Imperial Mother, you have been here all day. I’ll take care of Imperial Brother. You can go back and rest first.”
“I’m not tired.” Her voice sounded a bit hoarse.
“Your Imperial Highness, the court still needs you to oversee the overall situation. What will happen if you are to fall ill? Yaoyao already understands medicine. Just let her stay and take care of the Emperor.” Qi Jin quietly persuaded her from the side.
Ye Zhen nodded. “Yes, Imperial Mother. Go back and rest. If Imperial Brother wakes up, I’ll have someone tell you immediately.”
The empress dowager considered this for a bit, before nodding in agreement. “Fine then. If the emperor wakes up, immediately have someone come and tell me.”
“Imperial Physician Qi, you are also tired. I can handle it here. You should go back and rest too,” Ye Zhen said.
Qi Jin looked at Huangfu Chen. Huangfu Chen lightly smiled and said, “I won’t leave the palace tonight. I’m staying in the Palace of Heavenly Purity. You don’t need to worry about the emperor’s wounds.”
With Huangfu Chen here, both the empress dowager and Qi Jin were able to completely be at ease to return and rest. They were both older women, especially Qi Jin. These days, because of Lu Lingzhi’s Seven Day Pains, she had not been able to get a single night’s rest.
There were only Ye Zhen and Huangfu Chen left in the resting chambers. Eunuch Fu was resting against the door, about to fall asleep.
“Teacher, the emperor… Will he wake up?” Ye Zhen, a little afraid, asked Huangfu Chen. She had fed Mo Rongzhan lingquan, and used it to stop his bleeding. Why was he still not awake?
She hated him, but… She didn’t want him to die from saving her in the slightest! She didn’t want him to weigh on her heart forever!
Huangfu Chen took Mo Rongzhan’s pulse, gently saying, “His pulse is a lot better than it was this morning. Usually, he should have woken up by now. But it seems he is still in deep unconsciousness now.”
Unconsciousness? Ye Zhen paused. She had been so preoccupied she had forgotten to check his pulse. Testing Mo Rongzhan’s pulse, she found that Huangfu Chen was right. “Why is it like this?” she asked with confusion.
“How did you stop his bleeding today?” Huangfu Chen asked. With Mo Rongzhan’s wounds, it wouldn’t be easy to stop the bleeding. But when he got to the palace, his wounds were no longer bleeding. That was the only reason he was still alive.
“I… kept pressure on his pressure points. I saw this in the library. If there are no medical herbs to stop the bleeding, you must press on the pressure points and the blood vessels. This can slow the speed of the bleeding,” she quietly replied.
Huangfu Chen nodded with astonishment. “So it is. I have learned much today.”
“You are too humble, Teacher. I read it from a book,” Ye Zhen said with embarrassment. She had read many methods of stopping bleeding, but none were comparable to the effects of her lingquan.
“What… exactly happened today?” Huangfu Chen looked down at Ye Zhen, who was still a bit pale. He had always felt that though this little girl looked petite and fragile, there had always been an inexhaustible power within her. She was no less tough nor decisive than any man.
Ye Zhen slowly started to recount the happenings of the day. “— Those assassins didn’t follow us. I felt that it was strange, but we didn’t have another path to take. It seemed like they wanted to use this method to force us into the tiger’s mouth, then kill the guards, making it seem like we had met harm through an accident.”
“Did they want to kill Little Prince or you?” Huangfu Chen asked with a furrowed brow.
“I don’t know either….” Ye Zhen laughed bitterly. “If they could plan all of this without a trace, they cannot be someone ordinary. I have arrived at the capital for not even a year, what type of person could I’ve offended?”
Huangfu Chen lightly smiled. “There are some people whose motivation for killing you wouldn’t solely be based on whether or not you have offended them. Perhaps you are in their way.”