Three days later, when Feng Zhi Wei finally opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the bright blooming chrysanthemum flower pattern on the window curtain. She can also hear the sounds of a flute playing. The sound was choppy when she was still waking out of her daze but the moment she opened her eyes the sound suddenly turned bright and smooth. (Meaning Gu Nan Yi knew exactly when she woke up. Really good fighters also have very sharp hearing so that’s probably how he could tell she had woken up.)  The courtyard full of birds begins to chirp and sing. 

Moving around her dried out eyes a bit, Zhi Wei is surprised to discover that her room is crammed full of people. Ning Cheng is hanging on the roof beam, his saliva dripping like rain. In the middle of the rain shower lies Helian who is sleeping in a rather strange position with his arms wrapped around his head, seemingly afraid that his snore would wake up someone. Yan Huai Shi is passed out, comfortably using his bride’s leg as a pillow. Yao Yang Yu too is using Yu Liang’s stomach to sleep. (I can’t remember who Yu Liang is but I think he is another one of the academy students.) 

People sleeping all over the place, the whole room steeped in medicinal smell mixed with some strange yet familiar scent. 

Across from her bed sits Ning Yi who seems to be adjusting his internal energy with his eyes closed. Sensing the moment she opened her eyes, he too opened his eyes and smiled at her. 

Zhi Wei returned the smile but in the next instant, her eyes suddenly reddened. 

Is this person, Ning Yi? 

Who starved and abused him? How did the famously handsome and suave playboy Prince Chu turn into this man who looks like he has just been through three years of hellish exile labor camp? 

And the rest of the lot, with their long beard and disheveled appearance, don’t they know to clean up some? Plus they are all sleeping in her bedroom? (The Chinese wording of her bedroom used here refers to a girl’s bedroom where only her family and servants would be allowed in so it emphasized that Zhi Wei is still aware that she is a girl and the oddity of having all these people sleeping in her room.) 

Her eyes carefully looking over each of the tired faces, a smile appeared on her face again.  

Her body feels exhausted as if she has been beaten for a hundred days but her heart is warm like it has been immersed in a hot spring sending the warmth throughout her body. 

Turning his ear to the side to listen to her breathing, a slight smile appears on Ning Yi’s face as he promptly stands up to kick and/or drag everyone out of the door. (So the first smile from Ning Yi was when he realized she had finally opened her eyes, the second smile came when after listening to her breathing he could tell that she is not only awake but had enough energy to stay awake instead of falling right back into unconsciousness.) 

The pregnant lady does not need his help but got up by herself and dragged her still groggy husband out with her. She even remembers to close the door while declaring “We are clearing out, please do not disturb!” 

Ning Yi smiles thankfully and says from behind the closed door “Madam Yan is wise, smart and brave, perhaps you would consider using your talents to serve the government?” 

“That could certainly be a possibility.” Hua Qing laughs heartily accompanied by the sound of her retreating footsteps.

As Ning Yi turns to walk towards the bed, Zhi Wei smiles and asks with a tired and hoarse voice “Aren’t you very tired?”

Before she could finish her sentence she was suddenly pulled into a warm embrace. 

That person holds her tightly, his body trembling slightly, his breath right next to her ear, each word out of him is like it has been forced out of him, “Zhi Wei….Zhi Wei…” 

He won’t say anything else but calls her name again and again. Pulling her tighter into his embrace, seemingly afraid if he lets go she will fly away, never to be found again. 

Those trembling calls are like a vibrating string, strumming the string of her heart at the same time. Unconsciously she too begins to tremble as something deep in her heart seems to be loosening, to connect but it also feels as if something is breaking. She instinctively shrank back but the instant she touched his shoulder bone and felt how hard and boney it was, her eyes immediately reddened again. 

Releasing her, Ning Yi says with a smile: “You just woke up, we have to be careful not to tire you out.” Sitting across from her, Ning Yi has a soft smile on his face. Despite not being blind, his eyes seem as if he couldn’t drink in the sight of her enough. (Ning Yi is not quite as blind as our heroine believes. There is an explanation about Ning Yi’s eyes in the epilogue where he remembers back to this period of time when he saw Zhi Wei’s mysterious book.) 

A sound comes from above and a hole appears on the roof. Gu Nan Yi floats down from the hole. Zhi Wei’s eyes widen once again as she takes in the sight of Master Gu, inhales sharply then mutters: “I am determined to never get sick again…” 

Gu Nan Yi stares at her unblinkingly, his clothes that haven’t been changed for many days plastered on him. After a bit, Gu Nan Yi slowly walks over. Zhi Wei waited for him to stop three steps away from her but Gu Nan Yi didn’t stop. Stunned, Zhi Wei watched until he finally stopped a step away from her. 

His small walnut pouch that perpetually hangs on his waist falls right in front of Zhi Wei’s eyesight. Zhi Wei took the pouch, slowly counted the walnuts that had been soaked by water and ask with a soft voice: “Have you not been eating walnuts lately?”

Gu Nan Yi nods but continues to stare at her without saying a word.

He is thin, a bit messy, a bit dirty, no walnuts and has not changed his clothes.

“I won’t die.” Zhi Wei says after a moment of silence then continues on after swallowing the sudden lump in her throat, “If I died, then who will come find you when  you get lost?” 

Keeping his eyes on her, Gu Nan Yi pulls out a walnut and slowly munches on it. 

“Those are moldy.” Ning Yi suddenly says, “Ning Cheng, go with Master Gu to change his clothes and get some new walnuts.”

Ning Cheng pops out and grins as he goes to pull on Gu Nan Yi.

“Brother Gu, take His Highness to go get a change of clothes and some food.” Zhi Wei says at the same time.

Not taking no for an answer, all were chased out but by night time both men have rushed back. One is still on the rooftop and one is still by her bedside, neither would be shooed out by Zhi Wei. Still weak, Zhi Wei could only let Ning Yi sit on her little bed as he slowly tells her everything that has happened in South Sea. His tone was mild but Zhi Wei could tell how dangerous it was. After a bit, Zhi Wei chuckles “Who would’ve thought by taking a nap I would miss so much drama.” 

“Your nap almost made me…” Ning Yi blurts out those words then suddenly stops. Zhi Wei didn’t press him but stayed silent as both of them lay side by side on the bed staring wide eyed at the ceiling, a strange mood permeated between them. 

After a while, Zhi Wei changed the subject and asked “That plague was deadly, most people couldn’t even make it past the night so how did I survive it?”

“The problem was also the solution,” Ning Yi replies “You got sick from passing through the village but it was also someone from the village that saved you.”

“That child?” Zhi Wei promptly caught on.

“Yes, the village leader (in charge of all the villages in the surrounding area) heard that we are looking for physicians and guess that those who passed through that particular village that day had caught the plague. He knew there was something strange about his nephew so he brought the child to come to see me. However, the guards at the door wouldn’t believe him and refused to let him in. Hua Qing happened to see him and made the bold decision to let him in. But then once we saw the child we weren’t sure what to do with him, it’s not like he is a herb we can just throw into the medicine pot. Luckily, the physician Brother Gu had asked to come from the capital made it here in time. The physician took the child’s blood to use as part of your medicine and managed to pull you back from hell’s gate.”

“Where is the child? And the physician?”

“The physician is with Brother Gu, that child is recovering from losing too much blood.” Ning Yi grins, “One wack from that Helian almost killed the poor kid.”

“Outrageous…” A tired Zhi Wei mutters “Tomorrow I will give him an earful…” 

 “Sleep now.” Ning Yi smiles and tugs the blankets around her. A thought crosses Zhi Wei’s mind but she doesn’t have any energy to open her eyes and falls asleep in the next instant.


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