Volume 1, Chapter 26: Treating the Wounds (Part 2)

Zhao Yuanzhuo was momentarily stunned, only then realizing his throat felt as if it were smoldering. Yet, he stared coldly at the cup of tea, making no move to take it.

A sudden laugh echoed in his ears, followed by a lazy voice: "What, are you waiting for Me to feed you Myself?"

Zhao Yuanzhuo still did not react.

The friction of his clothes against his wounds caused bone-deep pain; the slightest movement was an unbearable ordeal. His body alternated between chills and fever. But all of this combined was not as vivid as the agony brought on by his dreams. If he could, he would have preferred to die under the cudgel—if only it could have been his father, his mother, or his brother in his place.

The air remained stagnant for a moment. After a while, the hand reached out again. The rim of the teacup touched Zhao Yuanzhuo’s cracked lips. The young man pressed his lips into a thin line.

Finally, he looked up at Shen Ran. "I have accepted Your Majesty’s punishment; the sweetened water is unnecessary." His voice was dry and hoarse, unlike his usual tone.

"Very well, as you wish." Shen Ran watched him for a moment, then set the tea back on the table, his voice indifferent. "You willingly chose this path; it is far too late to complain now."

After a brief silence, Zhao Yuanzhuo said in a low voice, "Thunder and dew are both favors from the heavens; how would I dare to complain? It is only that my lowly body is not worth the trouble of Your Majesty serving me tea."

"One 'Your Majesty' after another, one 'lowly' after another," Shen Ran remarked. "Yet I don’t see you truly believing you are lowly."

"Li Jiuxiao is quite skilled with the heavy staff. The wounds look gruesome, but they are only skin deep and will not damage your foundation. You will simply need to rest for a fortnight." Shen Ran sat down leisurely in a chair. "This beating could have been avoided, of course, but if I were to protect you blindly, it would only make others suspect that the whole affair was a setup, leading them to question the circumstances of Zhao Qinglan’s suicide. It would then be uncertain if she could so easily escape and live out her life under a new identity. Furthermore, Shen Jianheng is notoriously narrow-minded and petty. If you hadn't let him vent his anger today, he would have found a way to take your life tomorrow."

Shen Ran smiled, his tone nonchalant. "When dealing with small-minded people, it is best to finish it in one go—if you can kill them, do so, to ensure they can never seek revenge. If you cannot, then there is no need to offend them; it is too tiresome."

He was like a different person compared to when he had ordered the flogging at the Prince Cheng residence. When he treated you well, it was like a spring breeze; when he wanted your life, he left you restless day and night.

Though the hall was warm as spring, Zhao Yuanzhuo felt a chill in his fingertips. His body ached as if crushed by wheels, and the grief and resentment in his heart surged, forcing him to remember his dream, the blood, and the flashing blades of that day. Yet, he could only desperately suppress the anguish he could not vent.

Shen Ran’s current gentleness actually caused him great pain. People in agony naturally crave warmth, even if it is only a sliver. This tyrant before him seemed to have grasped this point with pinpoint accuracy. Every time he resolved to treat himself as an unfeeling object, the other party would remind him that he was still a human being.

But being human meant feeling aggrieved. It meant feeling anger and resentment! He needed to confide in someone, but the man before him was not the person to whom he could speak. He could only swallow his teeth along with his blood.

The hand hidden in his sleeve clenched and loosened, then clenched again. After repeating this several times, Zhao Yuanzhuo took a deep breath. "Your Majesty is the sovereign; there is no need for you to explain your intentions to me."

"I have only one question for Your Majesty."

Shen Ran tilted his head slightly and said softly, "Speak."

Zhao Yuanzhuo stared into Shen Ran’s eyes. "When Your Majesty went to the Prince Cheng residence for the money, was it truly for the disaster relief in Changzhou?"

Shen Ran laughed. "Rest assured. I may not be a good man, but at least I keep my word."

After a pause, Zhao Yuanzhuo said, "Then I thank Your Majesty on behalf of the people of Changzhou." As he spoke, he attempted to struggle upright to kowtow.

Shen Ran pressed a hand on his shoulder, effortlessly pushing him back onto the pillow. "That is enough. Just lie still. If you keep fussing... by tomorrow, when A-Wu sees you, she will surely blame Me in her heart."

Zhao Yuanzhuo shook his head. "This matter was my own recklessness, and I accepted the punishment willingly. It has nothing to do with Your Majesty. I will explain to the Empress tomorrow; she will certainly not blame Your Majesty."

Shen Ran smiled but remained silent.

At that moment, Yuanbao led the palace servants in to deliver medicine. Since Shen Ran did not permit others to serve him closely when he was idle, they bowed to him, placed the tray with the medicine and candied fruits on the low table by the bed, and retreated respectfully with their heads lowered.

Shen Ran pointed to the bowl on the table. "Whether you drink the tea is up to you, but drink the medicine."

Although his tone was no different from before, it was clear whether he was negotiating or commanding.

Zhao Yuanzhuo tremblingly picked up the medicine bowl. His hands shook so violently that most of the medicine spilled before he could bring it to his lips. Even if his bones were intact, the pain was agonizingly real. He was struggling to endure it.

"There is so little medicine as it is; it is not enough for you to spill." Shen Ran took the bowl from Zhao Yuanzhuo’s hand and held it to his lips again. "Drink." He glanced at the candied fruits on the small plate and added, "I will give you a candied fruit afterward. Stop acting out, hmm?"

His tone was half-lazy, half-perfunctory, as if he were coaxing a child—the kind that knew nothing of the world.

After a moment of silence, Zhao Yuanzhuo finally drank the remaining medicine with Shen Ran’s help. The bitterness spread instantly across his tongue. A candied fruit was immediately offered to his lips. In his childhood, whenever he refused to drink bitter medicine, his parents would coax him with candied fruits.

Before his reason could catch up with his actions, Zhao Yuanzhuo subconsciously opened his mouth and bit into the fruit. Only then did he realize who had offered it.

Zhao Yuanzhuo’s body stiffened. When he looked up, he met a pair of eyes as cool as snow. A lazy voice sounded by his ear, and a long-fingered hand picked up another candied fruit. "Do you want another?"

Zhao Yuanzhuo pressed his lips together. Shen Ran was a man of contradictions; he could shift effortlessly between gentleness and cruelty. Moreover, as an Emperor, he did these things with such natural ease, seemingly without any sense that he was lowering himself. In truth, not to mention the Son of Heaven, even ordinary royals would stand on their dignity and refuse to perform such menial tasks—especially since he, though serving as a guard, was essentially still a man under indictment.