Chapter 20: Doubts In The Heart

This summer morning was not refreshing at all. Instead there was a heavy, stifling heat.

Fang Rui followed behind Shen Yu and had only reached the place where the guards were doing their morning drills when he suddenly sensed hostility from behind. As he turned, a hand shot past him from behind.

It failed to grab anyone, so the hand swung back around.

“Huyan Suoyun, stop!” Shen Yu, who had seen Huyan Suoyun suddenly attack Fang Rui from the side, shouted angrily.

Huyan Suoyun not only didn’t stop, but his attacks only grew fiercer, striking repeatedly at Fang Rui’s left chest, each move seeming intent on tearing open Fang Rui’s clothing.

Shen Yu was taken aback. Surely Huyan Suoyun wasn’t suspecting that the person who fought him yesterday was Jia Ming, was he?!

Fang Rui stepped back a few paces. The arm that had tried to block Huyan Suoyun’s hand seemed to intentionally slip aside, and Huyan Suoyun’s hand grabbed Fang Rui’s lapel. One pull and a tug, and a large tear appeared in Fang Rui’s clothing.

Seeing that there were no marks on his chest, surprise flashed across Shen Yu’s eyes. Where had the bruises gone?!

Huyan Suoyun, seeing the completely clean chest, also showed confusion, but he immediately released Fang Rui’s lapel, clasped his hands and apologized, “Earlier I suspected Your Excellency of being last night’s thief, sorry for offending you, please forgive me.”

Before Fang Rui could speak, Shen Yu stepped in front of him. Though two heads shorter than Huyan Suoyun, her presence was no weaker as she looked at Huyan Suoyun with a cold glare.

“Since you have already offended someone, don’t put on airs asking to be forgiven!”

Probably someone had reported Fang Rui and Huyan Suoyun’s earlier skirmish to Cui Hao, so Cui Hao hurried over, and upon hearing Shen Yu he rushed forward apologetically, “Lord Shen, prison warden Huyan only had doubts in his heart and ended up offending you. Please, for my sake, forgive prison warden Huyan this once.”

Shen Yu heard this, turned to look at Cui Hao and gave a cold smile. “Doubts in his heart? He suspected that the person, the thief who broke in, stole your official seal and tore down your plaque is my subordinate?!”

She angrily waved her sleeve and pointed at Huyan Suoyun. “Tell me then, since when did our Great Qi add a law that lets someone assault another person on mere suspicion?! If I forgive someone for doing that, who will forgive me if I do that to someone else?!”

A smile touched Fang Rui’s lips and he suppressed the urge to clap for Shen Yu. Where had Shen Yu gotten such confidence from?

This Shen Yu was so domineering.

Huyan Suoyun cupped his hands again with apology. “I, your servant, admit my mistake. Let Lord Shen punish me as he sees fit.”

Shen Yu took a deep breath, lowered her hand, looked at Cui Hao and said, “I’m someone who treats favors and grievances plainly. If someone does me a kindness, I repay it; if someone wrongs me, I return the favor exactly so.”

She continued expressionlessly, “Thirty strokes with the rod. Make sure you count them right.”

Having said that, she flicked his sleeve and marched off, while Fang Rui cheerfully followed behind Shen Yu.

Those thirty strokes were, in a way, avenging the punch he took yesterday.

After the Huyan Suoyun incident, Shen Yu did not pursue Cui Hao further and went straight back to his study to work.

The Shen Yu who had been walking with swagger seemed to lose some of his force once inside the study. She turned to Fang Rui and asked in astonishment, “What happened to your wounds? How could they vanish without a trace in one night?”

Fang Rui chuckled softly, “Just some folk remedies from the martial world.” Fortunately he had been prepared.

Fang Rui’s clothes had been torn, so even though he had smoothed them a bit they didn’t cover him perfectly. The exposed skin began to slowly change color under Shen Yu’s gaze.

Shen Yu’s eyes widened. She leaned in to look and exclaimed, “What on earth is this?!”

Fang Rui adjusted his clothing to cover the wound, lifted his head to Shen Yu and said lightly, “I said it was a folk remedy, not some miraculous elixir that can bring the dead back to life.”

“You mean what we saw earlier was only a fleeting recovery?” Shen Yu had thought Fang Rui’s chest was completely uninjured when he first saw it.

At the word “fleeting recovery” from Shen Yu’s mouth, Fang Rui raised his head and looked at her with suspicion.

“Why does that sound like you’re hoping I’d die sooner?”

Shen Yu’s gaze flicked away, a bit guilty, as if deliberately avoiding the topic of life or death. “So you had Huyan Suoyun deliberately tear open your clothes just now? Otherwise how could his few moves have ripped them so quickly?”

Fang Rui spread his hands, a little pleased. “Otherwise how could I have gotten back thirty strokes from Huyan Suoyun?”

Shen Yu muttered, “Truly a resentful man…” then suddenly thought of something else and asked puzzledly, “You switched the prisoners last night, so how did you find time to steal Cui Hao’s official seal and take down the plaque?”

Because a black veil blocked her view, Shen Yu didn’t see Fang Rui’s eyes flicker. Fang Rui chuckled, but because his chest still hurt, he coughed a few times, but still laughed, “When did I ever say I acted alone? You never specified it had to be only me to pull off that little job.”

Hearing Fang Rui, Shen Yu immediately turned serious. “You told others our plan?”

Our? He realized he quite liked that word.

“I still have some ethics. Only you and I know about this, as well as heaven and earth.”

With Fang Rui’s promise, Shen Yu finally exhaled, yet still tried to be conscientious. “It’s absolutely impossible to find a doctor for you here at the Court of Judicial Review. Even if your suspicions are cleared, Huyan Suoyun won’t easily let down his guard. Why don’t you rest for two days first?”

From the moment Huyan Suoyun saw this man, Shen Yu could tell their auras clashed.

“I don’t care whether he eases his guard toward me or not, but I do need a quiet place to rest right now.” He had returned nearly at dawn, and with the searing pain in his chest he couldn’t sleep at all. He sat down, holding his chest, and told Shen Yu, “Don’t let anyone in if possible, or you really won’t be able to explain it.”

Shen Yu gave a small nod.

As Shen Yu continued his official duties, she could still hear the very faint, steady sound of breathing.

At the noonday bell, a guard outside asked: “Lord Shen, will you be dining?”

Shen Yu heard this, glanced at Fang Rui who was slumped over the table, and replied, “Wait for a moment before bringing it in.”

“Yes, Lord Shen.”

Shen Yu stood up, walked to Fang Rui’s side and lowered her voice, “Hey, you should get up.”

She called once with no response, and continued, “If you don’t wake up soon, others will start getting suspicious.”

This call provoked a sound, but the man on the table only let out a painful groan. Shen Yu was startled and looked at his neck. Aside from his hands, only his neck was exposed, and the skin there was an unnaturally deep red.

Shen Yu reached out her hand and hovered it above the neck, hesitated a long moment, then placed the back of her hand on the skin.

The moment his hand touched the burning, scalding skin, Shen Yu instantly pulled it back.

After a long silence, Fang Rui seemed to regain consciousness and opened his eyes. Seeing Shen Yu standing beside him in silence, he teased, “Have you already been thinking about how to make my body disappear?”

Relieved that he was awake, Shen Yu sighed helplessly. “I can’t move you.”

Fang Rui pushed himself up on the table. Though feverish, his words were as rakish as ever, “Then you’d better pray I don’t die. When I die, it’ll probably be on your bed.”

Shen Yu nearly flew into a rage. This wasn’t a fever, it was sheer lechery!

Indeed, not a shred of pity could be shown to him! Leaving this man alive was a disaster in itself!

She said expressionlessly, “Then go to my sleeping quarters and lie on my bed.”

Fang Rui was momentarily stunned, then asked curiously: “You want me to lie on your bed to recuperate?” Since when did his Shen Yu become so agreeable?”

“No. I’ll have someone buy you a dagger so you can lie on my bed and end your own life.”

Shen Yu already knew how to clap back at him. Nice progress.

With his pretensions as emperor cast off, Fang Rui in front of Shen Yu was not just rakish but decadent. Teasingly he said, “I don’t just want to die on your bed, I want to die on your body… Gosh, are you really trying to murder your husband?!”

Before Fang Rui could finish his filthy talk, Shen Yu’s fist landed on his chest.

Although it genuinely hurt a bit, it didn’t stop Fang Rui from wanting to laugh.

Fang Rui snorted with a muffled laugh, “Are you trying to kill me with your tiny fists?”

Enraged, Shen Yu let out a heavy breath, turned around and had no desire to continue the conversation.

Just as Shen Yu was about to leave, Fang Rui suddenly said, “Given my current condition, I’ll have to be away for about two days. During those two days I’ll have others protect you.”

Hearing this, Shen Yu turned back, frowning. “Why protect me?” Then, as if realizing something, she narrowed his eyes, “Are you trying to spy on me?”

When it came to Shen Yu’s safety, Fang Rui grew serious. “Once I overheard at a teahouse that…someone wanted to take your life.”

Shen Yu blinked and looked puzzled. “Even if someone wants to kill me, you don’t need to protect me.”

Fang Rui suddenly lowered his head and leaned close to Shen Yu, with only a fist’s distance between their faces. His warm breath brushed Shen Yu’s face. Shen Yu’s eyes widened and she dared not move.

Fang Rui’s voice grew deeper, “You can only marry me in this life. Since you’re marrying me, you’re family. My family. How could I allow anyone to harm you even a bit?”

Shen Yu had expected something else, but it was the same sort of talk again. She rolled her eyes at him, turned and walked out, saying at the same time, “We’ll talk about that when you’ve lived to see that time.”

Watching Shen Yu’s departing figure, Fang Rui smiled to himself. He hadn’t lived to see that moment in his previous life, so in this life he’ll survive however long it took to at least get through the wedding night first.

His head was a bit dizzy. Lingering too long at the Court of Judicial Review would become a burden to Shen Yu. He’d return to the palace to recuperate for two days, make a brief appearance to dispel others’ suspicions, and have Rong Tai start finding someone to prepare an antidote. That was the right course of action.

The chronic poison in his body was not an ordinary chronic poison. Though slow, it was extremely difficult to cure. Otherwise he wouldn’t have had his organs eroded by it in his previous life and die of a sudden poison outbreak. To cure it, 49 rare herbs had to be found. In his last life he only located all 49 by the time he died, but it was too late.

In this life, it’s not too late.