Reign of the Phoenix

Chapter 6 – Nanny Leaves Behind a Qin Sheet – “Stranded Jiaolong”
When Murong Zhining finally regained consciousness, it was two days later. She had finally exited that long dream.

Thinking of nanny, Murong Zhining quietly sobbed. She missed nanny so much. She used to think that she was called Little Ling’er, but in fact, nanny called her Little Ning’er.

Seeing that she woke up, Cai Sang was delighted and helped her wiped the tears at the corners of her eyes. Murong Zhining was greatly weakened; she couldn’t feel any strength in her body. Cai Sang fed her some warm porridge, but perhaps because she hadn’t eaten for several days, Murong Zhining choked violently and vomited it back up at first.

Cai Sang patiently fed her spoon by spoon. Slowly, her body finally regained some warmth and strength.

Murong Zhining slowly observed her surroundings, a clean and bright room. There was a short but broad couch in front of the bed. There was also a round marble table and several stools of the same stone around it. Four carved wooden screens painted with pictures of landscape was placed at the door, blocking the sight of outside eyes from the bed. A vertical row of cabinets was placed against the wall on her right. On top of the cabinets were all sorts of flower vases as well as antique. To the right, several calligraphy paintings hung on the wall. Over at the opposite wall was two wooden chairs with a tea table between them. While the room couldn’t be regarded as luxurious, yet it wasn’t something out of a commoner’s house either.

Murong Zhining was full of doubt. “Shouldn’t we be in prison?”

Cai Sang gently replied, “You’ve been sick for quite some days and nearly died. If it wasn’t that His Majesty had called Imperial Physician Gao to cure you, you are probably in the land of the dead right now.”

“Didn’t he resent me for calling him a fatuous ruler? How did such a petty man like him suddenly discover his conscience?”

Cai Sang covered her mouth and teased her, “Maybe His Majesty thinks highly of you and wants you to become his woman?”

Murong Zhining shot her a glare, “Such a good fortune is too much for me. I don’t want to die so soon.”

Murong Zhining stroked her clothes. These weren’t the clothes that she had worn back in prison. She urgently inquired, “Who changed my clothes? Where is my old outfit? There’s something that my nanny left for me in them.”

Cai Sang said, “Rest assured. Aside from me, no one else has seen your body. I also kept your old clothes safe. You can recuperate without worry. When you recover and give birth to a big fat baby, maybe His Majesty’s anger will have eased up by then and he will pardon your crime. Then, we can leave together, find a new place, settle down and raise the baby.”

Murong Zhining slightly poked Cai Sang on her forehead. “What big fat baby? Are you obsessed with babies or something? Go give birth to one yourself.”

Cai Sang rolled her eyes and cradled Murong Zhining’s pale little face. “You foolish, foolish woman! How can you not know when you’re pregnant? Alright now, you must be mentally prepared. Your stomach is bulging up and can’t be hidden anymore. If it wasn’t for the fact that I wiped your body myself, I wouldn’t believe that you are pregnant either!”

Murong Zhining lapsed into silence. After a while, she seemed to suddenly recall something and sobbed out, “That damn fool! I never thought that I’d get pregnant just because he kissed me on the cheek. What am I supposed to do now?”

Murong Zhining had recalled that, when she was locked up together with Zhuang Cheng’s foolish son, the fool kissed her on the right cheek when she didn’t notice.

Cai Sang was actually more knowledgeable about that matter between a woman and a man. Before she was forced upon by Zhuang Cheng, she hadn’t understood anything either. “Being kissed on the cheek won’t get you pregnant. Think again, did anything else happen?”

Murong Zhining shook her head, unsure. “Aside from being kissed by the fool, I don’t remember anything else happening.”

Cai Sang was a bit confused. “How can that be? You grew up in the Myriad Blooms House. How can you have no knowledge about the affairs between a man and a woman?”

Murong Zhining tilted her head and asked naively, “What else can there be between a man and a woman except for kissing? Back in the Myriad Blooms House, I only saw those men hold the girls and kissed them. The fool only kissed my cheek, too.”

Cai Sang let out a deliberate cough and instructed step by step, “Those people who kissed the girls, did they lead the girls to a room? Did something after they entered the room? Cough cough…”

Murong Zhining dejectedly pouted, “They closed the doors and didn’t let others watch. How would I know what they did? Wouldn’t they just continue kissing?”

“Pfff!” Cai Sang blurted out a laugh. She finally believed that Murong Zhining truly knew nothing about it. Cai Sang inwardly exclaimed: Murong Zhining’s heart was as pure and beautiful as a white sheet of paper. But, more’s the pity…

Cai Sang suspected that there were high chances Murong Zhining had been drugged, and she didn’t know what happened after she had been drugged unconscious. Thinking of this, Cai Sang secretly felt worried for her.

When Imperial Physician Gao heard that Murong Zhining had woken, he hurriedly came over to check on her. As he took her pulse, his face gradually relaxed.

Cai Sang instantly knew from his expression that Murong Zhining’s condition had gotten better. Delighted, she couldn’t help but ask, “Imperial Physician Gao, would Ning’er’s illness affect the little baby in her tummy?”

Imperial Physician Gao was dumbfounded. “What little baby? She’s not pregnant, ah!”

Cai Sang stroke the nape of her neck. “If she’s not pregnant, why is her stomach bulging up?”

Imperial Physician Gao laughed. “Because she ate bad food in prison, her liver was inflamed and the evil fluid invaded. She’ll be fine after she uses the medicine I prescribe. Don’t you worry.”

Cai Sang’s eyes went wide, “What is ‘the evil fluid invaded’?”

Imperial Physician Gao answered, “Ahaha, you’re one curious lass, aren’t you? Wanting to get to the bottom of everything. Well, that? In other words, when you eat bad food, it will produce toxins in your body that damages your liver. When the liver is hurt, your body will produce a large amount of mucus that accumulates in the stomach. This case isn’t rare at all. We doctors call it Water Drum Disease. I have cured a lot of people diagnosed with this illness. However, it’s possible that hers had accumulated since even before.”

Cai Sang repeatedly nodded. “I knew it! She actually thought she got pregnant because the fool kissed her cheek.”

Murong Zhining blushed so hard that it looked like she had used rogue powder. The girl hastily covered her face with both hands.

Cai Sang truly felt happy for Murong Zhining. Such a pure girl like her should never have to experience such pain.

Imperial Physician Gao gave a new prescription, then told Cai Sang of the things to be noticed. After all was said and done, he hurried to Imperial Study to give Yan Feng his acupuncture treatment.

The imperial court had seen too many troublesome matters lately. Yan Feng had been working extremely hard going through reports night and day. Sometimes, his head would ached beyond his level of endurance that required Imperial Physician Gao’s acupuncture to make it ease up.

Imperial Physician Gao stuck several needles of various lengths at the acupuncture point on Yan Feng’s head. While he prepared the needles, the doctor chatted with Yan Feng. He knew that the emperor had been working hard on national matters and his mood was a bit down. Therefore, the doctor tried to find some happy things to relax his mood, because that would help with the therapy.

Imperial Physician Gao recalled his talk with Cai Sang today. He found it very funny, so he told Yan Feng about it.

炎

Yan Feng was reading a book in his leisure. He had no worries of Imperial Physician Gao’s expertise. The doctor laughed heartily as he narrated what had happened, “Hahaha, Miss Murong is so naïve. Zhuang Cheng’s foolish son only kissed her cheek, and she thought she was pregnant. Hahahaha, that was actually Water Drum Disease… ahaha, hahaha…”

Yan Feng was so taken aback that the book nearly fell from his hands. He didn’t find this funny at all! He actually found it infuriating. He had always thought Murong Zhining was a pregnant woman. He felt that Imperial Physician Gao was only using this chance to ridicule him!

All of Imperial Physician Gao’s attention was placed on the needles on the emperor’s head, so he basically couldn’t see Yan Feng’s darkened face. Hearing no laughter nor any words from Yan Feng, the doctor asked curiously, “Don’t you think it’s funny, Your Majesty?”

Yan Feng violently smacked the book on the table, his voice so malicious that it was terrifying, “You think it’s very funny? I always thought that she was pregnant. Even the most experienced palace maid thought that she was pregnant after doing a body check. How would I know if it was real or fake? Are you using this to mortify me?”

Imperial Physician Gao broke into a cold sweat. His intention was to relax Yan Feng and make him laugh. He had never expected this to push the wrong button. As a long-time trusted person by the emperor’s side, the doctor quickly understood Yan Feng’s thoughts. He concluded that Yan Feng must be blaming himself in his heart.

Imperial Physician Gao hastily knelt down. “Your Majesty was only deceived. This subject absolutely has no intention to mortify you at all. Your Majesty didn’t make it hard on Miss Murong. And under such circumstances that you weren’t aware of the truth, you still lent a hand and saved her life. This is enough to offset the wrong. Therefore, Your Majesty has no need to feel bad.”

Yan Feng roared, “Scram!”

Imperial Physician Gao wiped his sweat as he exited the Imperial Study. Yan Feng angrily pulled out the needles on his head and violently threw them on the ground.

Imperial Physician Gao felt very lucky that he was able to react quickly. Otherwise, it’d be hard to keep his head if he really pissed off Yan Feng. The doctor still felt a lingering fear at the thought. However, when imagining that even Yan Feng thought Murong Zhining was pregnant, the doctor couldn’t hold back and burst out into laughter. “Ahahaha… hahaha!” If it weren’t that Yan Feng’s fury had scared him back there, he already would have laughed out loud.

Two months later, Murong Zhining’s health gradually grew better under Cai Sang’s meticulous care. Today, Cai Sang supported her out to the courtyard. Sitting on the stone chair, Murong Zhining looked closely at the paper sheet that nanny left her. Based on her experience, this must be an old qin sheet, but its rules were different from other qin sheets. In addition, there were a bunch of strange symbols on the bottom of the sheet.

Murong Zhining had studied this paper many times over, but still unable to understand all of it. She had “played” the notes in her mind several times. Aside from the incomprehensible footnote, she could determine that this was a lost qin rhyme.

Her master once told her about a lost qin song called “Stranded Jiaolong”. Master got to hear a young man played this song many years ago and could hum out a few parts. The tempo of the melody that her master hummed out was extremely similar to this sheet. However, it was impossible to play this song following the rules written here, unless, the player had six fingers and above.

As Murong Zhining was lost in thought, a palace servant suddenly shouted out loudly, “His Majesty has arrived!”

Murong Zhining and Cai Sang quickly knelt to pay their respects.

Yan Feng cast a glance at the prostrating Murong Zhining, his voice icy as ever, “Feeling better?”

“Thanks to Your Majesty’s good fortune, I have recovered.”

Yan Feng’s stern voice grew farther and farther, “Take good care of yourself. To Minghui Palace.”

It had been over ten sunsets since Yan Feng last saw Imperial Noble Consort ChiYun ping. In the past several days, ChiYun ping always used the excuse that she was feeling unwell to invite Yan Feng to see her. Yan Feng always used the excuse that he was busy with court matters to avoid seeing her.

ChiYun ping was the selfishly oversensitive type. She hated that she couldn’t stick to Yan Feng every day, fearing that he would go to the other concubines’ palaces. Yan Feng was extremely irritated by this, but he was also helpless. Today, ChiYun ping once again sent people to invite the emperor, saying: Her sickness was really serious; if she couldn’t see His Majesty now, she might never have the chance to anymore. Yan Feng knew that this was only her ploy, still, he had no other choice but to go.