Chapter 106

Chapter 106: Not happy? Then come hit me

Yu Zhi Yi smiled a little and explained: “Healing and divination are not the same. Divination also takes effort and spiritual energy, but for me that little cost is nothing.”

She looked at the bed and said: “Prince, you are now fully paralyzed. The wound at your waist was kept from getting worse only for a while by the imperial physicians of the Imperial Medical Bureau. They should have told you this: if the injury keeps worsening, then in as little as three to five days, or as many as ten to fifteen days, your life will be in danger.”

She added, calm and clear: “If we cannot stop the decline completely, you will surely die within one month.”

Prince Xiao Yao fell silent.

The imperial physicians had said the same thing. That was why they were desperate and tried everything, not only searching for famous doctors but also hoping the mystic arts could heal him.

The Empress Dowager spoke at once, rushed and excited: “As long as you can keep Prince Xiao Yao alive and restore his health, I will give you 20,000 taels. The rewards promised by the Emperor will not be less either.”

Yu Zhi Yi grew serious: “Your Highness, I am not a greedy person. The money I ask for is what I deserve. The 10,000 taels is the cost of depletion.”

Then she turned to Prince Xiao Yao: “The remaining 1,500 taels is for mental distress and one transfer talisman. The prince needs to reimburse that.”

Prince Xiao Yao had known You Bing Yue long enough to understand what a mental distress fee was. He did not know what a transfer talisman was, but he understood this woman was using the chance to get back at him for sending assassins.

He ground his teeth and, before the Empress Dowager or the Emperor could question it, he forced out a reply: “Fine!”

Yu Zhi Yi’s smile widened, bright and sunny: “The prince is generous.”

Prince Xiao Yao stared: he did not want that compliment.

When he had sent men to assassinate Yu Zhi Yi, he had not used his own people so he could deny it. He hired trusted experts from the martial world. It cost him 1,000 taels. And now Yu Zhi Yi was asking for 1,500 more. For the first time in almost thirty years, Prince Xiao Yao deeply understood what a true loss felt like: [a double loss, like losing both the bride and the soldiers].

Yu Zhi Yi folded her hands and said evenly: “Your Majesty and Your Highness, please wait outside. The treatment will take time. I promise that the moment the door opens will be the moment Prince Xiao Yao can get out of bed.”

The Emperor and the Empress Dowager shared a look.

The Emperor thought for a moment, then reminded her: “Official Yu, Prince Xiao Yao is my own brother, so please take good care.”

He knew all about the grudge between Prince Xiao Yao and Yu Zhi Yi. After the palace banquet, he had found out why his foolish brother went mad that day. Learning that his brother used his rank to bring a woman, who was already tangled up with someone else, into the banquet, and then tried to stand up for her by using such a low trick of drugging people, he had almost died of anger. If the drug had worked the way it should, he could have praised his brother as at least useful. But in the end, his brother drank it himself and made a fool of himself. The instant he learned the truth, the Emperor almost threw this brother away. As for the rest of it, he could only choose to be selectively blind.

He said that final line as a reminder to Yu Zhi Yi: small private grudges were none of his business, but when it came to a human life, she must not be careless.

Yu Zhi Yi understood. [Being born lucky really is nice.] With an Emperor as a brother and an Empress Dowager as a mother, Prince Xiao Yao could do foolish things and still have someone cover for him.

She had not planned to take revenge in front of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor anyway. People of the Heavenly Secret Sect were brave, not stupid.

The door creaked shut. Only Yu Zhi Yi and Prince Xiao Yao were left inside.

When the room grew quiet, the always carefree Prince Xiao Yao could not stay carefree. Instead, he felt a chill of fear and asked, stiff and nervous: “What are you going to do?”

It was not cowardice without cause. He could not move, and the person he had trapped and framed again and again was standing right there. With only the two of them here, if she wanted to go down with him, no one could save him. Even if she was punished after, what of it?

He suddenly realized that, compared to watching someone he disliked suffer, he cared more about staying alive.

Yu Zhi Yi watched his fast-changing face and the cowardice in his eyes, then snorted: “I thought the prince had three heads and six arms, but you can be timid too.”

Prince Xiao Yao burst out, shocked, angry, and ashamed: “How dare you! Yu Zhi Yi, do you know who you are talking to!”

Yu Zhi Yi laughed: “I am talking to you, Prince Xiao Yao. If you do not like my words, then come hit me.”

Prince Xiao Yao froze: [Is that even human talk?]

He tried to threaten her: “Yu Zhi Yi, how dare you insult this prince! When this prince recovers…”

Yu Zhi Yi’s look turned mocking as she asked, slow and sharp: “And after you recover, what do you plan to do?”

Prince Xiao Yao fell silent.

Talking tough when you cannot even lift a chicken is the dumbest thing. He forced his anger down. He knew he should speak softly, but the words would not come. The only woman he would coax with soft words was Yue’er. He shut his eyes hard and decided not to speak at all. Anyway, she had promised the imperial elder brother and the Empress Mother. If she dared break her word, he would not need to act. The imperial elder brother and the Empress Dowager would handle her.

Yu Zhi Yi pulled a chair over and sat. She took her time tasting the tea on the table.

She had to admit, things in the palace were good. The tea was ordinary in name, but it finished sweet, warmed the stomach, and carried a smell that was hard to describe. The pastries on the table were clearly crafted by palace chefs. They were even better than the most popular treats at Qi Ji Pastry Shop: sweet but not cloying, melting at once on the tongue, and without the dry choke of common pastries.

Prince Xiao Yao waited and waited. Instead of hearing healing sounds, he heard sipping and chewing.

He lifted his eyelids to peek and almost exploded.

That woman! That woman!

She had said she would heal him, but she was drinking his tea and eating his pastries. What did she think this place was? Her own home? Was she here on vacation?

He snapped, unable to stand it: “Can you do it or not! If not, get out!”

Yu Zhi Yi lifted her eyelids and said coolly: “I am not a man. There is no need to provoke me like that, Prince.”

Then she ignored him and kept eating and drinking.

Prince Xiao Yao seethed: he was furious, but had no way to act.

This bedchamber was large, and in the Imperial Palace the materials were the best. His own hall used some sound-dampening materials. Add his severe injuries and weakness: he could speak, but he could not shout. If he could call for people, he would have already brought the Emperor and the Empress Dowager in to see what kind of person they had invited.

Prince Xiao Yao was angry.

Prince Xiao Yao was at his wits’ end.

But anger and despair were useless. He could only watch as Yu Zhi Yi, after eating her fill, sat with eyes closed to rest, showing no sign of healing him at all.