BBTTD Chapter 3.2

He stammered, wanting to reach out and rub her nose for her, then thought the gesture was too forward, and looked at Su Jiao with a slight nervousness.

The expression actually made Su Jiao laugh. The tyrant of her previous life had been so mercurial and unpredictable that she had forgotten — the Xie Yan of three years ago, in the Cold Palace, had been a prince with a cold face and a warm heart, guileless and simple.

Her laugh finally put Xie Yan at ease, and knowing she wasn’t angry, he drew a neatly folded handkerchief from his robes and held it out to her.

“It’s clean.”

Su Jiao took it and gave her face a casual wipe, then looked back at the empty porcelain vial.

One application of this medicine was nowhere near enough, but going to the Imperial Medical Court would be useless — those people wouldn’t give her any medicine.

She remembered that in the northwest corner of the palace there was a medicinal garden — the place where the old Head Physician cultivated his herbs. Su Jiao stood at once and headed behind the folding screen.

“What are you doing?”

Xie Yan had just followed after her when he caught sight of a slender silhouette behind the screen. Su Jiao peeled off her outer robe and tossed it aside.

She lifted the lid of Xie Yan’s clothing chest and rummaged through it until she pulled out a black outer robe.

It was a little large on her when she put it on, but she had business to attend to right now, so she paid it no mind.

She stepped out from behind the screen, fastening the buttons as she walked. Xie Yan took one look and immediately spoke up.

“You… why are you wearing my clothes?”

His voice was cold, but Su Jiao instantly noticed the faint redness at the tips of his ears and the lack of force in his tone.

The tyrant before he turned dark was far more amusing.

She mused to herself, her steps never slowing as she headed for the door.

“I’m going out to find medicine. Make the bed while I’m gone, and wait for me to come back.”

She had been exhausted through the entire night — when she returned, she needed a proper sleep.

She wouldn’t have dared to order around the tyrant of the past, but ordering around Xie Yan — that she had well in hand.

In her previous life, this tyrant had implicated her in her death. In this new life, he had already taken a snakebite in her place. Once she found medicine and made sure he wouldn’t die and drag her down with him, returning a favor would make talking about separation go far more smoothly.

Xie Yan stood dazed for a moment before he followed her to the doorway.

“You’re going to find medicine?”

So she wasn’t talking about separation anymore?

The question never made it out. Su Jiao’s figure had already vanished through the door.

****

By the time the sky was growing light, Xie Yan had waited inside the palace for a full two hours with no sign of anyone.

His tall figure stood at the doorway. When the bell for the hour of Mao morning court rang out, the anxiety in his eyes could no longer be suppressed. He grabbed an umbrella from nearby and was about to stride out into the curtain of rain.

“Your Highness, the Prince.”

He had barely stepped over the threshold when Eunuch Xu arrived at Yongning Hall, his voice high and thin.

“Though His Majesty has not yet returned from Shanglin Garden, the imperial edict commands that you kneel at Changming Buddhist Hall for two full hours each day. Yesterday, Her Majesty the Empress showed consideration for your joyous occasion, but an imperial command cannot be defied. Today cannot be delayed any further — this servant has come especially to escort you.”

Xie Yan froze for a moment, then immediately frowned.

A few days prior, during the ancestral rites, he had gotten into another dispute with the Emperor over his elder brother’s matter. In his fury, Emperor Jia had commanded him to kneel at the Buddhist Hall for two full hours every day. Today was the fourth day.

“I will go after the hour of Chen has passed.”

Worried about Su Jiao, he intended to find her first before going to the Buddhist Hall. But Eunuch Xu did not budge.

“His Majesty said the hour of Mao means the hour of Mao. Your Highness, please do not make things difficult for this servant.”

His gaze fell on Xie Yan’s visibly impaired leg, his expression ill-intentioned.

“I—”

Just as Xie Yan was about to push past him and leave, Eunuch Xu’s gaze drifted casually inside, and at once he frowned.

“Your Highness, where is My Lady the Prince’s Consort?”

In an instant, Xie Yan’s steps halted.

Ever since he had come to Yongning Hall, the Emperor had issued a decree forbidding anyone in the palace from going out freely. Su Jiao, having married into Yongning Hall, naturally had to abide by this rule as well. Though today the guards at the entrance had all been reassigned because of the Empress’s assassins, if this eunuch were to find out that his new wife had gone out…

Xie Yan stopped in his tracks and forced down the worry for Su Jiao in his heart.

“Let us go — we’ll leave now.”

Eunuch Xu was effortlessly redirected, and the two set off together toward Changning Buddhist Hall.

The moment they entered, the biting cold made Xie Yan’s brow furrow.

Eunuch Xu seemed not to notice the blocks of ice set to one side and gave his horsetail whisk a flick.

“Your Highness, if you please.”

Xie Yan lifted his hem and knelt. In an instant, the wound on his leg — barely bandaged — throbbed with such pain that cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he couldn’t help but let out a muffled groan.

Eunuch Xu’s eyes swept around the room, and the palace attendants threw open every window in the Buddhist Hall.

Clack — The main hall door shut. But the cold wind poured through without mercy, sweeping past his thin robes and ravaging the wounds on his body.

The kneeling position tore open the snakebite wound on his leg again, and the smell of blood spread all around. Xie Yan’s face was ashen; he pressed his lips together and said nothing.

With the windows open, fragments of voices drifted in from outside the door.

“The Third Prince’s Consort… is not… in…”

“I’ll go take a look. You keep watch.”

The faintly malicious voice of Eunuch Xu outside the door grew distant. Xie Yan’s heart lurched, and worry surfaced on his pale face.

They knew Su Jiao was no longer in Yongning Hall?

Xie Yan waited anxiously inside the Buddhist Hall for another incense stick’s worth of time. No one came to the door outside, and no news came either.

After another incense stick, he suddenly rose and shoved the door open with the back of his hand, staggering out, the anxiety in his eyes growing ever more evident.

He couldn’t leave it like this. She had offended the Empress today right here in Yongning Hall, and if she were caught making a mistake now, she would not be let off lightly. She was alone — she likely couldn’t handle it on her own.

“Third Prince, the time is not yet up — how can you leave early—”

The guard at the door had not even had time to stop him before Xie Yan shoved him aside with one hand.

“Get out of the way.”

Cold had soaked through his entire body; his complexion was frighteningly pale, and his steps were hurried and uneven as he limped his way out.

The sky had brightened. Outside, the heavy rain had only just ceased. Xie Yan managed at last to return to Yongning Hall, but seeing no sign of Su Jiao, he immediately turned and went back out.

He dragged his lame leg through the aftermath of the rain, searching and searching without finding anyone, the anxiety on his face growing more acute by the moment.

From the hours of kneeling, the torn wound was now flaring with pain again — worse this time than it had ever been before. Xie Yan suddenly came to a halt. His long fingers gripped the palace wall, fingertips draining white, his body slowly curling inward. The last shreds of reason in his mind drove him to stagger forward.

He could not die. He still had to find his new wife…

It was as though two forces were tearing at each other inside his head, pulling and struggling, making the ache in his head and his chest grow more and more unbearable. He lurched forward a few more steps — then Xie Yan’s body went rigid all at once, and he collapsed into the rain.

****

Su Jiao sat beside the bed with a blank expression.

She had only passed by Fengyi Palace, and on a whim decided to repay the Empress in kind by tossing a snake into her bedchamber — which had taken a little longer than expected. How had she come back to find no one there?

Not finding him was one thing, but when she finally did find him, he was collapsed unconscious in the rain, and she had nearly been frightened to death.

If the Empress ever found out about this, given how she had offended her today, she herself would not live to see tomorrow.

It had taken everything she had — catching a moment when no one was around and hastily calling Changlin to drag him back by whatever means necessary. Su Jiao herself had been soaked through in the process.

“Achoo—“

She sneezed while grinding away at the medicinal herbs in her hands. But it had been a good hour since she had brought Xie Yan back, and after giving him medicine, he should not have remained unconscious for this long.

Su Jiao muttered to herself and leaned closer — only to find that his breathing had grown so shallow it was nearly imperceptible.

Had he actually died?

Su Jiao’s heart clenched. Trembling slightly, she raised her hand toward his nose.

A shadow fell. In the moment she leaned down, Xie Yan suddenly opened his eyes.

A pair of eyes, deep and dark and sharp, looked straight at her.