Before the entire city was locked in a strict search, Xie Lian and company traveled all night and
came to another city.
He still settled the king and queen in a secluded place before he himself and Feng Xin went out
to earn money. However, they who couldn’t earn much money in the other city wouldn’t
magically be luckier in a new one.
The two still worked a full day’s labour only to earn meagre pay like always, but since the group
of three who never left each other’s sides was suddenly missing one member, the other two
were both having a hard time getting used to it. For example, in the past it had always been Mu
Qing who was responsible in keeping the money pouch, constantly keeping count, and now that
Mu Qing left, Feng Xin straight up said he might lose the money pouch by accident, so Xie Lian
had no choice but to keep it on his person. Every time he counted that sad bit of amount, he
really couldn’t believe it was all he earned after a hard day’s labour. It must be known that in the
past, the amount of money he granted beggars weren’t even this little.
With Mu Qing gone, the one who brought food for the king and queen was also gone, so Xie
Lian had no choice but to take Feng Xin with him and personally deliver all sorts of daily
necessities to the king and queen’s hiding place. That she could see her son so frequently, the
queen was very happy, and when she got happy, she entered the kitchen. That day, she once
again made Xie Lian and Feng Xin try her newly stewed soup, dragging them to the table, “You
both need to fatten up, look how thin you’ve become.”
Feng Xin was streaming cold sweat, and the moment his butt touched the bench he bounced
up, waving his hands, “No no no, Your Majesty, Feng Xin doesn’t dare, I absolutely mustn’t!”
The queen chided pleasantly, “My child, what’s there to be afraid of? Come, sit down.”
How could Feng Xin dare tell her? He really didn’t dare, and after he forced himself to sit down,
the queen delivered the fruits of her labour. Feng Xin inhaled sharply and removed the pot
cover. Xie Lian sat at the head of the table and when the both of them saw what was in the pot,
they both looked ghastly.
Xie Lian said under his breath, “This chicken… died a tragic death.”
“…” Feng Xin’s lips trembled, “Your Highness, you didn’t see right. There’s no chicken in this.”
“??? Then what’s that thing floating like a dead chicken?” Xie Lian wondered.
“I think it’s stew paste… but the shape is a little off?” Feng Xin replied.
The two studied the pot for a good while but still couldn’t figure it out. The queen ladled a full
bowl for Xie Lian and Feng Xin himself rushed to ladle himself a bowl. When the queen went to
the back rooms to find the king, they instantly poured out the soup in their own bowls and
pretended to wipe their mouths looking as if they ate up in one sip and hadn’t had enough, “I’m
full, I’m full.”
Seeing this, the queen was delighted, “Was it good?”
Xie Lian praised hollowly, “It was, it was!”
The queen said happily, “If it’s good then have some more!”
Xie Lian almost spat out a mouthful of that nonexistent soup and raised his handkerchief to
pretend he’s wiping at his lips. Just then, the queen seemed to have hesitated before speaking,
“My son, I want to ask you a question, please don’t think your mom nosy.”
Xie Lian stiffened and placed the handkerchief down, “What is it? Please ask.”
The queen sat down next to him and asked, “Where’s that child Mu Qing? How come he hasn’t
come the past few days?”
He knew it.
Xie Lian’s heart squeezed tighter with her mention of Mu Qing, “Oh, I gave him a mission, so
he’s gone off elsewhere.”
The queen seemed to have breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, then right after, she asked,
“When will he be back?”
“Maybe, he’ll need to be out for a long time… he won’t be back any time soon.” Xie Lian replied.
Hearing this, the queen seemed troubled, and Xie Lian noticed, “Is something the matter?”
The queen instantly replied, “Oh, it’s nothing.”
Feng Xin was the sharper one, and he suddenly spoke up, “Your Majesty, what’s wrong with
your hands?”
Hands?
Xie Lian looked down and was instantly shocked.
His mother’s pair of delicate, exquisitely maintained wealthy hands were at this moment, looking
rather horrifying. The joints were scraped and peeling, and there were faint traces of blood. Xie
Lian stood up abruptly and grabbed her hands, “What’s going on?”
The queen quickly explained, “It’s nothing. I only just washed some clothes and blankets, but
I’m not very good at it.”
Xie Lian blurted, “Why are you doing the washings yourself? You could’ve…”
But he was stumped before he finished his words. Could’ve what? Could’ve had the palace
attendants do the washing? Could’ve had Mu Qing do the washing? All of that was impossible
now.
On the road of escape, it had been Mu Qing who was the acting personal attendant, and his
duties of taking care of all the personal necessities included the care for Xie Lian, the king, and
the queen. With him gone, suddenly all the nitty gritty had no one to take care of.
No one to cook, no one to wash, no one to fold the blankets. The simple days of the past
suddenly became difficult. Xie Lian himself was alright in suffering through it since there were
much too many other things to worry about, but his mother who had lived a comfortable,
luxurious life, when had she ever done such crude labour? But if the queen didn’t do this work
herself, who else could take over?
After some silence, Xie Lian said, “Don’t let this trouble you. I’ll take care of the washing.”
The queen smiled, “No need. You just take care of yourself. I’ve never done laundry nor cooked
before, but since my time is free everyday, doing the chores myself is still quite fun. Especially
since you both enjoyed the meal, it’s made me quite happy.”
That pot of soup was stewed by such a pair of hands of his mother’s. Xie Lian and Feng Xin
exchanged a look and felt rather horrid. Just then, the queen added, “Oh yes, there was another
thing. Is there any way you can bring some medicine back tomorrow?”
Xie Lian’s eyes widened slightly, “Medicine? What kind of medicine?”
The queen’s face was troubled, “Sigh, I’m not quite sure either. Why don’t you go to the
pharmacy and inquire, see what kind of medicine should be taken for symptoms like coughing
up blood?”
“Coughing up blood?!” Xie Lian was shocked, “Who’s coughing up blood? You? Father? Why
didn’t you say something sooner?”
His voice was raised and the queen immediately hushed, “Lower your voice!” However, it was
too late, and an outraged voice came from the back of the cottage, “I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY
ANYTHING UNNECESSARY!”
It was the king. Seeing that he had already heard, the queen didn’t worry over hushing anymore
and called towards the back rooms, “But it won’t do if this keeps up!”
Xie Lian walked straight into the rooms and saw the king was huddled in a bed of ragged
blankets. He hadn’t looked closely recently, but now that he saw, the king was looking ill, his
cheeks sunken, appearing even more sickly inside a gloomy room. There wasn’t any aura of the
king at all; he was nothing more than an ashen faced old man.
Xie Lian didn’t need to check his pulse to know that he must’ve been ill for a long time, and
nothing light either. In fact, the entire room permeated with the suffocating, musty air of
sickness. Recalling that the queen had said the symptom was “coughing up blood”, in his
moment of distraught his voice was raised, “WHAT’S GOING ON HERE??”
The king steeled his face, “What’s with that tone?”
Both the queen and Feng Xin entered the room too. Xie Lian admonished, “Who cares what
tone I’m using. If you’re sick why didn’t you say something sooner?”
The king was furious, “Are you lecturing your king? At any given time, what this king can and
cannot say is not for you to say!”
Seeing that he was still acting tough, Xie Lian was in disbelief, “You’re unbelievable! Are you still
throwing the weight of your title around at a time like this?”
The king was outraged, “GET OUT! GET OUT OF HERE!”
The queen and Feng Xin immediately dragged Xie Lian out, “My son! Don’t be like that. He’s
your father, and he’s ill. Take a step back.”
On the run and ill, this was like adding frost to snow. Xie Lian buried his face in his hands,
“Mother! Why didn’t you both say something sooner? If you had, the illness wouldn’t have
dragged out to coughing up blood! Do you know how hard that is to cure?” Or rather, based on
their current situation, it was impossible to cure!
The queen was both dismayed and aggrieved, “We… We didn’t know either, that it’d worsen like
this.”
Feng Xin added, “Yea. Besides, we had been dodging YongAn pursuit this entire way, there was
no time to stop.”
Xie Lian pulled his face from his hands, “I’ll take him to find a doctor in the city right now.”
“NO NEED!” The king cried from within the room.
Xie Lian looked back and was just about to rebuke with “I’m the one who makes the call right
now” but Feng Xin responded first, “Your Highness, if you take His Majesty to the doctors in the
city, you’ll be discovered for sure.”
Hearing this, Xie Lian instantly froze. The queen also spoke up, “That’s what we were afraid of,
which was why we didn’t say anything in the past few days. My son, why don’t you just… think
of a way to bring back some medicine first?”
In the back rooms, the king started coughing violently again, and the queen went in to look after
him. Xie Lian was dazed for a good moment, then he turned and went out. Feng Xin called out,
“Your Highness! What do you plan to do?”
Xie Lian didn’t answer but started rummaging through all the shelves and chests in the cottage.
Feng Xin asked, “What are you looking for?” He didn’t respond, and a brief moment later, he
dug out something from the bottom of a chest.
It was an ancient sacred sword. Feng Xin looked and questioned, “What are you doing taking
HongJing out?”
After some silence, Xie Lian replied, “I’m going to pawn it.”
Feng Xin was shocked and immediately exclaimed, “YOU CAN’T!”
Xie Lian slammed the chest shut heavily, “I’ve already pawned off so many swords, this is just
one more.”
Throughout their journey, in order to make up enough funds for carriages and bribes for
crossing checkpoints, Xie Lian had already pawned off over half of his beloved sacred swords.
And since they couldn’t go to large, bustling pawn shops, sometimes they’d even be
blackmailed by shady merchants who discovered their identities and had to suffer bargained
sales. Feng Xin exclaimed, “It’s not the same! Don’t you really like this sword? Otherwise why
haven’t you pawned it already and instead stuffed it at the bottom of the chest? Besides, this
was a sword the Emperor gifted you, it won’t sound good if this got out!”
Xie Lian said tiredly, “No matter how much I like it it’s still not as important as a life. Let’s go,
let’s go.”
The two made way to the city with the sword, both looking downtrodden. When they came to the
pawn shop, Xie Lian stopped in his step and looked at the HongJing in his hand. Feng Xin
peered at him, “Why don’t we forget about pawning it? Let’s try… let’s think of another way?”
Xie Lian shook his head, “It’s too late. Besides, we don’t know if there’s any other way that can
make up enough money.”
If they went to steal, to rob, to trick, no mortal would be a match for them, and money would
pour in much faster. However, it was precisely because they must uphold the moral compass
and adhere to the ethical regulation of mortals, earn money honestly, that things would be so
difficult. Having made up his mind, Xie Lian said, “This has to be pawned. Once it’s pawned let’s
go buy medicine.” While he said so, his feet still didn’t move. Feng Xin knew he was reluctant to
let go, that this was the last sacred sword Xie Lian had, so he said, “Let’s look around some
more.”
Right then, on the other end of the street came clamouring noise, shouting and yelling, and
someone cried, “WHO’S CAUSING TROUBLE??” “THE AUDACITY!” “CATCH HIM! CATCH
HIM!”
The two were both startled, and Xie Lian instantly backed up to the side in alarm, “Who?!”
Feng Xin was alarmed too and went over the check, returning after he was assured, “It’s
nothing! Don’t worry! It has nothing to do with us. It’s not anyone looking for us and it’s not the
YongAn soldiers either.”
Only then did Xie Lian’s tension relax, “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure.” Feng Xin said, “Looks to be a fight between some mad servants, want to go
see?”
“Let’s go see.” Xie Lian said, “Hopefully it’s not some thug.”
The two shuffled over to watch, and saw in the centre there were a couple men who were
brawling, and the surrounding audience were cheering. Feng Xin patted a passerby on the side
who was enjoying the show, “Hey buddy, what’s going on here?”
That passerby chuckled, “You don’t know? This is too exciting! The servant is beating the
master!”
Such an affair! Xie Lian was speechless, “How come? And why is it a good thing?”
“Of course it’s a good thing!” That passerby said, “This master really is no good! This servant
followed him since he was young, very loyal, but him! He only knew how to take advantage, not
only did he gave no pay, he even worked him to the bone. The servant couldn’t take it anymore,
so you see, you see! They’re fighting!”
Sure enough, the one doing all the beating was cursing as he threw punches, yelling things like,
“I’ve had it with you for a long time!” “Why don’t you figure for yourself what you’ve given me??”
“My family’s so poor we have nothing to eat, but you still ride over my head all high and mighty!”
“From today onwards, I ain’t your dog no more!” etc. The master who was getting beaten was
hugging his head and screaming while the crowd cheered, but their shouts were making Xie
Lian’s heart lurch in waves, giving him chills for some reason, and he glimpsed at Feng Xin’s
face without thinking. Feng Xin didn’t notice his strange behaviour at all, and when he heard of
all the crummy deeds from the others, he commented offhandedly, “I see, then this master really
is no good, no wonder the servant is rebelling.”
He didn’t mean anything by it, but Xie Lian’s heart cracked, and he gripped HongJing tighter.
After much headaches, HongJing was pawned, and the two finally had money. They
immediately went to inquire after a doctor and purchased over ten different kinds of medicine to
take back.
The medicine to cure symptoms of coughing blood was expensive, and the quantity needed was
immense. It wasn’t just one or two packets of medicine, healed in a couple days, so how things
turn out to be afterwards must be closely observed. That evening, Feng Xin unwrapped a few
bundles of medicine and started stewing outside the cottage, fanning wildly at the flames with a
torn fan. As for Xie Lian, he was once again rummaging through the shelves and chests all over
the house. After a while, he finally fumbled out a shimmering golden soft belt.
Originally, Xie Lian had a number of golden belts, but their end was the same as those sacred
swords, all pawned off. There was only this one left, and Xie Lian had wanted to keep it as a
souvenir at first, but now, he had decided to use it for something.
Coincidentally, Feng Xin looked up at him, “Your Highness, what are you doing holding that
belt? You’re not thinking of pawning it too, are you?”
However, Xie Lian walked over and handed the golden belt to him.
Seeing this, Feng Xin’s eyes bulged, and he was bewildered, “…What are you doing giving this
to me??? Your Highness, when you shut the chest just now you didn’t also shut your brain in
too, did you???”
“…” Only then did Xie Lian remember that in the Upper Court, to gift a golden belt had a special
meaning, and his face instantly darkened, “You think too much, I don’t mean it that way at all.
You just take it like it’s regular gold!” Then he stuffed it to him. Feng Xin glared with that
shimmering golden belt around his neck, “No. You still gotta tell me why are you suddenly
stuffing me with gold?”
“Just take it as compensation that I’ve owed you for so long.” Xie Lian said.
Feng Xin was confused, “No, but. What’s with you all of a sudden? Why are you talking
compensation to me at a time like this? You might just as well pawn this off and buy more
medicine for His Majesty. It’s fine if you don’t pawn it too. Keep it for yourself. This is something
that only heavenly officials can possess.”
———–