Chapter 75 Return to the Original Place
Zhao Ji was having a great time in the capital, but was suddenly dragged by his own father to join the winter hunt of Southern Qi. In addition, it was cold in the mountains, and the heating in the hunting palace was not as good as that in the other brothels in the city. He caught a cold the first night and shivered in bed wrapped in a quilt: "Father, why are you running to the mountains in such a cold weather? What is there to hunt? If you want to eat game, just send your men to hunt. Why bother mobilizing so many people?"
Zhao Jiang loved his only son very much. While sending someone to invite the imperial physician, he touched his head worriedly and said, "Father usually thinks you are quite smart. Why do you talk nonsense when you are sick?"
"It's too cold." Zhao Ji's teeth chattered. "Anyone with a discerning eye knows that the Emperor is taking advantage of the winter hunt while the princes from all over the country are in the capital to warn everyone."
"You're not confused." Zhao Jiang tucked his son's quilt with a smile, and said earnestly: "You, don't spend your life drinking and partying outside, or who will your father's huge family business be handed over to? Your father still wants to see you get married and have children."
Zhao Ji: "Did my father agree to my proposal yesterday?"
On the way to the Hunting Palace yesterday, the father and son were sitting in the carriage and chatting. Zhao Ji suggested that "if Southern Qi and Nanyue form an alliance, my son will marry the emperor's most beloved ninth princess," and he also listed the reasons for marrying the ninth princess.
"I have seen the little princess. She is innocent and easy to coax. I have found out everything. Her mother is the emperor's favorite imperial concubine, and her brother is also favored by the emperor. We haven't even entered the gate of the East Palace in the past few days. I heard that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is ill in bed. Father, would you like to consider it carefully?"
Unexpectedly, after just one night, this boy started to urge her. Zhao Jiang had never seen him want to marry a woman, so he teased him, "So you're interested in the Ninth Princess of Southern Qi?"
Unexpectedly, this boy told the truth: "My son has set his eyes on the Ninth Princess's motherland and her brother."
Soon the imperial physician came over and prescribed some medicine, and then a palace maid went to boil the medicine.
Seeing that his son was not seriously injured, Zhao Jiang went to accompany the king after breakfast.
Zhao Ji felt hot and cold at times, and was lying there in a daze when he heard footsteps coming into the hall. His close attendant Ruan Li was talking in a low voice with the visitor, and it turned out that two palace maids were carrying a boiled medicine soup .
The middle-aged palace servant who led the way asked softly, "It's time to take the medicine, is the prince awake?" When he heard Ruan Li say that he was asleep, he leaned over to look inside the bed.
Zhao Ji, who was lying on the bed, was drowsy and felt a cool, soft hand covering his forehead. He was suffering from a fever at the moment, and he wanted to bury his whole face in this cool hand because of the comfort.
"Or... let's wake up the prince to take the medicine?" The person withdrew her hand and spoke softly, only to find that Zhao Ji had opened his eyes blankly and was staring at her.
Her heart beat violently when she was stared at by those eyes. Her whole body froze and she dared not move. She just looked into his eyes and did not dare to breathe.
Zhao Ji's brain was solidified due to the fever, and the face in front of him remained only in his eyes, but after a moment he closed his eyes drowsily.
The middle-aged palace maid was Yao Niang in disguise. Since entering the hunting palace, she had always sent people to keep an eye on the movements of the King of Nanyue and his entourage. She came here only after she heard that the Crown Prince Zhao was ill. She waited until Zhao Ji fell asleep again, then she gave the medicine to Ruan Li and came out with her men disguised as young palace maids.
Zhao Ji was helped up by Ruan Li and drank a bowl of medicine. He slept for another hour before finally waking up.
After he woke up, he was in a daze, thinking that he had forgotten something. After a long while, he asked the person serving him, "Ali, did anyone come over when I was asleep?"
"No." Ruan Li had been guarding the room the whole time: "Except for the palace servant who came to deliver the medicine."
"The palace maid who delivered the medicine?" A vague and unreal face emerged in Zhao Ji's mind. He suspected that he was confused due to the fever. Now that the face was in his mind, he felt as if he had seen it somewhere.
"Is he... is he a palace maid of some age?"
Ruan Li: "Your Highness, do you still remember?" He smiled and said, "I heard that the winter hunt in Southern Qi is very large. You can hear the sound of drums coming from the direction of the hunting grounds outside. I heard that the flags are waving. I wonder how lively it is. Your Highness, you must get better soon so that you can participate in the winter hunt in Southern Qi."
"Where is the palace maid who delivered the medicine?" Zhao Ji frowned.
"You went back after delivering the medicine." Ruan Li didn't understand why he was grabbing the palace servant who delivered the medicine and asking him questions. Besides, the prince did like a beautiful woman, but she was a young girl, not a middle-aged woman.
"Is that person staring at me?"
Ruan Li smiled and said, "She touched the prince's forehead, stared at him for a while, put down the medicine and left."
The face in his mind seemed to have been wiped clean of the thick fog, revealing a somewhat familiar face. It was the facial features and eyes he often saw in the mirror. Zhao Ji sat up straight and asked Ruan Li excitedly: "Do you think... that palace servant who delivered the medicine is somewhat similar to me?"
"Do you have?"
Ruan Li also took a casual glance and only remembered that the middle-aged palace servant looked very familiar, but he never thought about the reason. When Zhao Ji asked him about it, he suddenly got the idea and looked at Zhao Ji's eyebrows carefully: "Looking closely, the palace servant who delivered the medicine seems to be a little similar to the prince. It's no wonder that I always felt that the palace servant who delivered the medicine looked familiar. It turns out that he faces the prince's face every day..."
Before he finished speaking, Zhao Ji had already jumped off the bed barefoot, and was about to run out in his single clothes: "Someone, find the palace servant who brought the medicine for me."
Since he was a child, he had to see his mother's portrait several times a day. Even now, he can depict the details of the portrait in his mind, including the eyebrows, eyes and facial features, even with his eyes closed. He was confused because of the fever and couldn't react, but when he woke up and recalled it, he quickly matched the two.
Ruan Li hurriedly chased after him, holding his outer robe and boots: "My Lord! My Lord, wait a minute——"
※※※
In the hunting ground, the Emperor of Southern Qi and his men had already rushed in. The Empress on the stand just clicked the button and went back to rest, leaving the Imperial Concubine with the Ninth Princess and the other concubines and families of important officials to drink tea and chat, waiting for the Emperor and everyone to return from hunting.
It was Rongpin's first time to participate in winter hunting, and it was also Yuanjian's first time in a hunting ground since he was a child. As a mother, she was always worried and felt a little uneasy. She kept stretching her neck to look at the hunting ground, which made Huifei tease her: "The fourth child is not a child. Even if you stretch your neck two miles, you can't see him."
"Your Majesty, please forgive me for making you look so embarrassed." Rongpin said embarrassedly.
Concubine Hui then taught her, "None of our sons are as talented as the Imperial Concubine's Second Prince in both civil and military matters. The winter hunt is just a formality. He is surrounded by guards and shouldn't encounter any danger. You can rest assured." The third prince she gave birth to, Yuan Ying, has been Yuan Lang's follower since he was young, and her position as a concubine was obtained by currying favor with Imperial Concubine Wan, making her the Imperial Concubine's right-hand man in the harem.
Imperial Concubine Wan happily accepted Concubine Hui's compliment and said happily, "You are the only one who is sweet-mouthed and good at talking."
Rongpin could not help but worry. The Fourth Prince Yuan Jian was a good student, but he spent little time on archery and horsemanship. He had no good martial arts teacher to guide him, and had never participated in winter hunting. He drove his horse into the dense forest of the hunting ground with everyone else. Soon all the small groups dispersed, and he was the only one left, so he had to bite the bullet and go in alone.
He felt that he was not very sociable, so he would avoid human voices as soon as he heard them, and walked towards a secluded place. By the time he ran into some wild boars head-on, it was already too late.
Yuan Jian hurriedly drew his bow and shot an arrow, but the arrow was not powerful enough and hit the boar's ear before flying out. This angered the boar and it roared at him angrily, as if calling on its companions to attack him together.
Just when Yuan Jian was trembling with fear, two arrows flew out from the side and hit the leading wild boar. A familiar laugh came into his ears: "Fourth Prince, you are so lucky!" In the distance, Second Brother Zhang was riding a horse towards him with a nimble figure. When the horse was galloping, she shot arrows like meteors, and she actually shot two arrows in succession, and no arrow missed: "Your Highness, please hide quickly, and I will deal with these beasts." She spoke as if she was dealing with a few rabbits.
In a blink of an eye, three wild boars had been shot by her. Their huge bodies fell to the ground while running, making huge roars. Another wild boar slammed its head into a tree in pain, almost breaking the trunk.
For some reason, when he saw Brother Zhang, Yuan Jian's frightened heart suddenly calmed down and he felt at ease instantly.
