Chapter 1124: What I Want, You Cannot Give!

What did she mean, she wanted to go kneel too? She was exactly the one they were guarding against!

With her temperament, if they really let her through, Heaven knew what outrageous things she might say or what trouble she might cause.

Naturally, the cultivators blocking the way refused. No matter how much Hao Qingqing shouted, they would not let her pass. Hao Qingqing would not give up either. Before, the emperor's decree had left her helpless. Now that she had seen a possible way to save her brother, she became desperate to get through.

"Seize her and take her away!" the leading cultivator ordered with a wave of his hand.

And so Hao Qingqing was arrested on the spot and hauled off.

The people she had brought could only stand there staring. First, there was the emperor's decree. Second, the three great sects themselves had stepped in to arrest her. Who would dare interfere?

"Huyan Wei, help me! Huyan Wei, hurry and help me!" Hao Qingqing could only scream toward her husband as she was dragged away.

Huyan Wei hunched his neck, pretended not to hear her, and waved to his men. "Come on. We're going back!"

With matters already like this, there was no chance he would obey Hao Qingqing and defy an imperial decree.

"Huyan Wei, you bastard! Are you even a man? Huyan Wei, do you still want me to bear you a son?"

Leading his men away with his tail between his legs, Huyan Wei did not even look back. He muttered under his breath, "Bear one or don't. There are women everywhere under Heaven. Plenty of women would bear children for me. If you won't, even better. I can't let the family line end with me, can I? When the time comes, I'll take a concubine to continue the line, and even His Majesty won't have much to say about it. Huh..."

The more he muttered, the more suddenly energized he became. He had talked himself into seeing the matter from a completely different angle.

Right! If things went that way, he would no longer have to spend his whole life guarding this one shrew. He would have a perfectly good reason to seek out all those beautiful women outside. If this shrew refused to bear his children, that might actually be a good thing!

Once that thought clicked into place, he seemed to have been injected with chicken blood. His eyes practically began to shine. No longer did he slink away with his neck tucked in while pretending he had heard nothing. He straightened his back, lifted his chin, and swept a broad hand forward. "Move out!"

Full of martial vigor, he led his men away at a gallop, whips cracking as their horses surged forward.

As far as Huyan Wei was concerned, Hao Qingqing's beauty could be ignored. Marrying a woman like her had practically been the disaster of his life. She was spoiled, domineering, and even dared hit her own husband. How could she compare with the wildflowers outside? Yet because she was a princess, he had never dared go out seeking women, and his life had been unbearably miserable.

Worse, she was the Grand Princess the emperor doted on. He did not dare do anything to her either. The military cane waiting at home would never allow it.

"Huyan Wei, try leaving and see what happens! I swear I'll never let you off! Huyan Wei, you bastard..." Hao Qingqing was almost beside herself with fury and cursed him at the top of her lungs.

Meanwhile, Shao Liuer, who had entered the Ghost Doctor's disciple's residence, moved with great caution. Before she had even met Mr. Wuxin, she was already weighing every word in her mind, afraid of saying anything that might offend him.

The residence was simple and elegant, with medicinal fragrance lingering constantly in the air. One step inside was enough to know that a physician lived here.

She crossed the front courtyard and entered the rear courtyard. There she saw a slender man in green robes standing quietly with his back to her. Beside him stood a beautiful woman dressed simply and plainly, looking at Shao Liuer with what seemed to be curiosity.

Because the man had his back turned, Shao Liuer could not see his face. She instinctively looked toward Guo Man, who had led the way and kept glancing back at her, her eyes asking a silent question.

Guo Man smiled and nodded, confirming that Shao Liuer had guessed correctly. The man was Mr. Wuxin.

When Shao Liuer drew near, she stopped at a respectful distance and bowed. "This humble woman, Shao Liuer, greets Mr. Wuxin."

She humbled herself completely, putting aside the exalted status of a Princess Consort.

She waited, but no polite "No need for ceremony" came. Shao Liuer lifted her head slightly and saw only the man's motionless back.

Yan Baoru and Guo Man glanced at each other.

Shao Liuer could not see Wuxin's face, but the two women standing to either side of him could. His eyes were closed, his cheeks taut. The fingers of both hands, clasped before his abdomen, were squeezed so tightly that the knuckles had turned white. He seemed to be using all his strength to keep his emotions under control.

"This humble woman, Shao Liuer, greets Mr. Wuxin." Shao Liuer bowed again.

Wuxin drew a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. Then he slowly moved his hands behind his back and just as slowly turned around.

As Shao Liuer, still bowed, raised her eyes for another furtive glance, she happened to see the face turning toward her.

One look was enough to make her eyes fly wide.

Disbelief covered her face. She stood frozen as though struck by lightning, almost convinced she was dreaming.

Yan Baoru and Guo Man exchanged a swift glance. Both had suspected that their master might have some connection with this Princess Consort. Now, after seeing Shao Liuer's reaction, they were certain of it. She had definitely known him before.

Which only made matters stranger.

If she knew their master, why had she needed to go through all that trouble outside?

For his part, Wuxin had thought he would be overwhelmed with emotion. He had spent all this time struggling to keep himself under control. Yet the moment his eyes actually fell on her face, a strange calm came over him instead. His gaze turned dark and cold as he stared at her.

The Shao Liuer of today had long since shed the air of an unmarried young woman. Her figure had filled out considerably, and an unmistakable air of prosperous, dignified refinement surrounded her. Her bearing was better than before, her skin even fairer. One glance was enough to know she was a married woman from a wealthy and powerful household.

She merely looked somewhat disheveled at the moment. After all the kneeling and kowtowing outside, her hair and ornaments were slightly askew, her clothes no longer perfectly neat, and the bloody line left by the sword was still visible on her neck.

Once the first shock passed, Shao Liuer grew visibly flustered. Her face was full of words she wanted to say but could not bring herself to voice.

Against Wuxin's dark stillness, the contrast between the two made the difference in their composure seem almost like a difference in standing.

"You... you..." Shao Liuer finally spoke, but the words came out in a stammer and she could not complete the sentence.

Wuxin, by contrast, was calm. "You are Prince Ying Hao Zhen's Princess Consort?"

For some reason Shao Liuer felt extraordinarily guilty. Her eyes darted uncertainly. "Yes... yes... I am."

Memories from long ago surged up.

She could still remember the cold of the river. Even now, in dreams, she would sometimes find herself trapped again inside that pig cage beneath the icy water, struggling in panic alongside a man trapped in the same cage. The nightmare would jolt her awake.

She had suffered that dream often in the early years. Now, with her state of mind gradually settled and a husband and son beside her in life, her heart had grown more at ease, and the nightmare rarely came anymore.

But the man before her brought that old nightmare rushing back.

He looked exactly like the man who had struggled beside her in that pig cage beneath the freezing water.

Of course, only the appearance was the same. Their temperaments were entirely different. Looking back with the mature eyes she possessed now, the man from the pig cage had been nothing more than a pedantic, ignorant, naive scholar. The man before her possessed a restrained force, steady and self-contained, an air that disregarded everything around him and did not even place someone of her noble status in his eyes. The scholar from back then could never have possessed such a presence.

She clearly remembered that, to keep her from dying with him, the scholar had agreed to separate from her.

She clearly remembered the three-year agreement the scholar had made with her elder brother, Shao Pingbo. No matter what trade or profession the scholar entered, if within three years he could achieve even a little success, her brother would fulfill their wishes and permit her to marry him.

She clearly remembered how the scholar, believing himself useless, had staggered away sobbing. Time had blurred the image of that heartbroken back somewhat, but she knew she would never completely forget it.

Living the life she did now, Shao Liuer herself had begun to lose certainty over whether what her elder brother had done back then was right or wrong. After being exposed to more of reality, she no longer knew whether her younger self had simply been an ignorant girl.

At least from where she stood now, looking back with the understanding she had gained from reality, her thoughts and actions back then truly had been somewhat naive about the world.

She was already a mother. If she placed herself in her elder brother's old position—if her own daughter wanted to be with a man like that scholar—would she, a Princess Consort immersed in the storms of the Qi capital, agree?

The reason she felt so guilty when she saw this man was because of that three-year promise.

The scholar had roused himself and told her to wait three years for him.

Yet before those three years had passed, she had married another man.

There had been other reasons, of course. She had been told that the scholar was already dead. But whatever the circumstances, she had not kept the promise.

Wuxin said calmly, "Why does the Princess Consort look so unsettled? Did I frighten you?"

"No, no." Shao Liuer hurriedly waved her hands. "It's only that your face resembles someone I once knew. I lost my composure for a moment. Please forgive me, sir."

Guo Man and Yan Baoru exchanged another look.

"Oh?" Wuxin said. "If even the Princess Consort could mistake me for him, he must truly look very much like me. If there's a chance, bring him here and let me meet him."

Shao Liuer forced an awkward smile. "You make things difficult for me, sir. That old acquaintance passed away long ago..." Her voice paused. Then, very cautiously, she tried asking, "I have long heard of your great reputation, sir. Your medical skill is profound. You must have studied medicine for many years?"

Wuxin gave a soft acknowledgment. "I've studied medicine beside my master since childhood."

"Oh." Shao Liuer visibly relaxed.

That made sense. The time between this Wuxin's appearance and the scholar's disappearance had not been very long. How could anyone acquire such profound medical skill in so short a span? Such ability had to be the result of many years of study, whereas the scholar from back then had known absolutely nothing of medicine.

So the two men merely happened to look alike. They could not possibly be the same person.

Even so, she had to admit the resemblance was astonishing.

Wuxin then asked, "Did the Princess Consort come here to investigate my history of studying medicine?"

"No, no!" Shao Liuer immediately denied it. "This humble woman came to beg you to show mercy. My husband has been struck by a deadly poison—"

The moment she mentioned her husband, Wuxin cut her off impatiently. "Bu Xun already came to see me. He told me everything that needed to be said. I know what happened. There is no need to ramble."

Shao Liuer immediately cupped her hands and pleaded, "I beg you, sir, show mercy!"

Wuxin stared at her expressionlessly for a while. Then he said, each word distinct, "You want me to save your husband?"

Whether the speaker meant nothing by it or the listener heard too much in it, Shao Liuer could not help carefully studying his face again. She did not know whether it was her imagination, but his words seemed weighted with meaning.

His eyes seemed colder than before.

The situation was too urgent for Shao Liuer to indulge such thoughts. She gathered up her skirts and dropped to her knees again. "Sir, this humble woman begs you!"

Wuxin asked, "Why should I save your husband?"

Shao Liuer immediately replied, "Sir, what do you want? Whatever Prince Ying's residence is capable of providing, we will do everything in our power to satisfy you." Then she began kowtowing repeatedly, this time striking her forehead audibly against the ground.

Wuxin looked down at her. Pain flickered through his eyes, his cheeks taut. "It seems your feelings for your husband run very deep."

The words made Shao Liuer freeze again in the middle of a kowtow.

Wuxin said, "What I want, you cannot give me. I don't want anything."

Thinking he had refused to save Hao Zhen, Shao Liuer jerked her head up in panic. "Sir, whatever your condition is, please name it!"

Wuxin said, "I'm not setting conditions with you. Since I've already agreed to see you, go. Bring your husband here. As for whether I can cure him, I make no promises!"

[End of Chapter 1124]