With his teeth clenched tightly, Hǎo Sān ultimately didn’t let slip any inappropriate words. Even though the current environment didn’t warrant fear, he still managed to hold it in.

He held it in, but his face turned red, and the veins on his forehead bulged.

Xú Sì frowned, his expression equally hard to bear as he suppressed his emotions.

Looking back at Liǔ Qī, he noticed that Liǔ Qī didn’t show any extreme expressions, but his head had drooped down.

Cén Yàn let out a breath, “I’m sorry to trouble you.”

Hǎo Sān turned his head, quickly wiping his eyes.

Xú Sì also lowered his head, not wanting to lose his composure.

Liǔ Qī simply closed his eyes.

After a moment, Liǔ Qī spoke in a deep voice, “As long as the master is safe, everything else is not a big deal.”

The Wang residence had been tough during this time.

Being overlooked, without the tiger talisman, they couldn’t even mobilize their own people. Even the recent baseless accusations had made everyone anxious.

But none of that was the most important thing.

The most important thing was that during this time, Cén Yàn had been completely out of contact, with no news of life or death, which was what truly tore the hearts of everyone in the Wang residence.

Hǎo Sān choked up, “Liǔ Qī is right. The old king entrusted the master to us, and it’s our failure to protect him that has led to the master being in this predicament. I am incompetent!”

Xú Sì said, “As long as the master is fine, then everything is good.”

Liǔ Qī was still worried about Cén Yàn’s health in his heart. Even though he had already asked those two guards at the door, it was just a few brief words. He still needed to confirm it himself: “The snake venom on you…”

His words awakened Hǎo Sān and Xú Sì, and in an instant, three pairs of worried eyes were all looking at Cén Yàn.

Cén Yàn replied, “I’m tough, I’m fine now.”

Liǔ Qī let out a long sigh, and the tense shoulders that had been stiff all the way finally relaxed.

For a moment, the master and his servants began to discuss their recent situations in detail.

Meanwhile, inside the room, Zhuāng Dōngqīng had woken up.

Completely awake.

It was hard to say whether it was a natural awakening or a fright that woke him.

Just as he sat up, feeling a lack of something beside him, he reached out to touch, only to find a sheet. Zhuāng Dōngqīng couldn’t remember, so he didn’t think much of it and called for Liù Fú.

Once he sat up, Zhuāng Dōngqīng saw two pillows on his bed and was stunned.

After a brief moment of confusion, his mind cleared up again.

In the middle of the night, tossing and turning, feeling hot…

Himself, Cén Yàn, kissing… deep kissing… tongue kissing…

Being held… by those long fingers…

Ah ah ah ah ah, what is all this!

Zhuāng Dōngqīng would rather not remember!

He was going crazy!

This must be a dream, right? This must be a dream…

“Young Master, you’re awake~”

“Eh, how… is this the prince’s pillow on the bed?”

Liù Fú entered, grabbing the other pillow.

Zhuāng Dōngqīng felt that what Liù Fú was holding wasn’t a pillow, but a world-destroying device.

In that moment, boom, his world exploded!

“It’s the prince’s.” Liù Fú clarified, as he had been taking care of their daily lives recently, and he recognized every little thing in this room.

Liù Fú naturally patted the pillow and placed it back on Cén Yàn’s bed.

Placed, back, on, Cén, Yàn’s, bed…

Zhuāng Dōngqīng exploded a second time.

Liù Fú turned around and looked at Zhuāng Dōngqīng, stunned.

“Young Master, you… you…”

After just a few words, he didn’t dare to say more.

There was no other reason; just turning around, Zhuāng Dōngqīng’s face was a bit red, and by the time he had said those few words, Zhuāng Dōngqīng’s face was visibly flushed, as if it had been cooked.

Liù Fú felt anxious, not knowing which of his words had gone wrong.

“Young Master…”

Zhuāng Dōngqīng spoke at the same time: “You…”

“Mm mm.” Liù Fú nodded, signaling Zhuāng Dōngqīng to continue.

“Can you, go out for a while?”

Liù Fú: “Then when you call for me, I’ll…”

Before he could finish, Zhuāng Dōngqīng’s face turned even redder. Liù Fú didn’t understand why, but he really didn’t dare to say more, quickly changing his words, “I’ll go out first, Young Master, you can call for me later.”

He spoke quickly and left quickly.

At the moment the door closed, Zhuāng Dōngqīng felt like he had been reborn… just kidding!

Ah ah ah ah ah, with no one around, his heart exploded even more, full of holes!

What was all this? He wouldn’t admit it, boo hoo hoo!

With no one by his side, Zhuāng Dōngqīng finally completed his silent but surging breakdown, diving into the blanket and wrapping himself up completely.

It’s over, it’s over, how can he continue living after this?

He didn’t want to live anymore.

Boo.

One cup of tea… two cups of tea…

By the time the third cup of tea passed, Zhuāng Dōngqīng finally called for Liù Fú to come back in.

His face was still red, but his eyes had lost their sparkle.

He was numb, completely numb.

Such a handsome guy, he managed to hold it in while brushing past him, but when the poison struck, he didn’t…

Last time he had snuck a little something in his belly, what would it be this time?

Zhuāng Dōngqīng thought, but couldn’t come up with anything.

Liù Fú helped him change clothes, and he obediently acted like a puppet.

While tying the strings, Liù Fú exclaimed, then reached out to wipe something on the side of Zhuāng Dōngqīng’s neck, but it wouldn’t come off. Liù Fú wondered, “Did you bump into something?”

Zhuāng Dōngqīng lowered his head and found that he wasn’t dead yet; he could still die again.

It was a deep purple mark, with unclear bite marks, on the side of his neck that could be covered by clothes,

a hickey.

How considerate, biting in a place that could be covered by clothes… just kidding ah ah ah!

Bite him now, immediately, right now!

Zhuāng Dōngqīng’s heart exploded again…

The way he expressed it was similar to the first time, but slightly different.

This time he didn’t even need a blanket; he directly shut down on the spot!

His face was rapidly heating up, turning completely red.

…

Boo, don’t ask, just don’t want to live anymore, wants to die.

• After helping Zhuāng Dōngqīng get dressed and washed up, Liù Fú found his young master’s behavior too strange. He thought for a while and decided not to let Zháo Yé come in to check his pulse, but instead turned to find Cén Yàn.

Well, it had been like this lately; for matters of eating and living, he would ask Zhuāng Dōngqīng, and for anything uncertain, he would ask Cén Yàn.

Currently, Zhuāng Dōngqīng was acting strange, so naturally, he had to find the prince.

Cén Yàn was still talking with Hǎo Sān, Xú Sì, and Liǔ Qī, but he kept an eye on the movements in the main room. When he caught sight of Liù Fú approaching, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Liù Fú glanced at the main room and stammered, “The young master, he’s a bit off…”

With several pairs of eyes watching, and knowing to leave some face for Zhuāng Dōngqīng, he didn’t say anything specific.

Cén Yàn replied, “Got it, I’ll go check on him in a bit. You let him have breakfast first.”

Liù Fú agreed.

Cén Yàn finished discussing matters and Zhuāng Dōngqīng, feeling numb, finished his breakfast in the room.

His face turned red and white, white and red again; he couldn’t bear to eat like this in front of others.

Liù Fú cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks just as Cén Yàn pushed the door open.

“Prince.” Liù Fú called out, and Zhuāng Dōngqīng’s back stiffened.

“Mm, you can go out.” Cén Yàn said.

Liù Fú left.

Only Zhuāng Dōngqīng and Cén Yàn were left in the room.

Zhuāng Dōngqīng looked at Cén Yàn. If it weren’t for his flushed cheeks, perhaps the righteous indignation in his eyes would have been expressed more clearly.

With a bright red face, Cén Yàn couldn’t help but want to laugh.

Of course, he held it in.

Being stared at so intently by Zhuāng Dōngqīng, Cén Yàn raised an eyebrow.

Zhuāng Dōngqīng said word by word, “You left the pillow on my bed…”

“Mm.”

Zhuāng Dōngqīng continued to accuse, “And you left a mark on me!”

Such a big purple bruise, how excessive!

Cén Yàn replied, “Isn’t it covered by clothes?”

“…”

Boo, saying that made it even worse!

Zhuāng Dōngqīng’s cheeks puffed up in anger, and Cén Yàn’s hands itched to poke him.

Zhuāng Dōngqīng stubbornly stared at Cén Yàn, finally making him laugh.

Zhuāng Dōngqīng: “…”

Thank you, even more withdrawn now.

After laughing, Cén Yàn said slowly, “I served you all night; how can I say there’s no merit, at least there’s hard work, right? I haven’t even held it against you, and you’re already getting angry?”

Zhuāng Dōngqīng was speechless.

He glanced in another direction.

Feeling guilty.

Cén Yàn said, “Oh right, I was still injured while serving you…”

Images from last night flashed through Zhuāng Dōngqīng’s mind, and he scratched his hands.

Didn’t he press down on Cén Yàn’s wound yesterday?

Help!

Cén Yàn nodded, his brows relaxing: “Mm, left the pillow on your bed, and left a mark on you. The young master is unhappy, I understand. Is there anything else to be angry about? Come, let’s talk about it together?”

Zhuāng Dōngqīng: “…”

Zhuāng Dōngqīng: “… nothing else.”

“Just these two.”

His confidence had already dwindled.

Cén Yàn replied, “I did it on purpose.”

Zhuāng Dōngqīng: “?” His eyes widened.

Cén Yàn’s fingers moved, wanting to pinch the cheeks of the person in front of him.

Recalling last night’s scene, he maintained a serious demeanor and said, “If I didn’t leave anything behind, I was afraid you’d wake up and think it was all a dream.”

“…”

Cén Yàn added, “I don’t want to hear any nonsense about ‘only dreamers can match such grace’ again.”

Zhuāng Dōngqīng fell silent.

If there were no pillow and no hickey…

His gaze drifted even more, not daring to look at Cén Yàn.

Damn it, that’s so reasonable!

Cén Yàn asked, “Or do you not want to admit it?”

Zhuāng Dōngqīng’s ears turned red from the question, and he lowered his head, speaking very softly, “… I don’t.”

“Alright, that’s good.”

With a confirmed answer, without waiting for Zhuāng Dōngqīng to react, Cén Yàn said seriously, “We can talk about all this later. Zháo Yé is here; let him take a look at you first.”

“This poison is a bit strange; it’s better to be cautious.”

Zhuāng Dōngqīng looked up in a daze, seeing the worry in Cén Yàn’s eyes.

Oh right, he still had residual toxins in his body.

Thinking this way, the shameful and shy emotions dissipated by a large part; his health was more important, and Zhuāng Dōngqīng nodded.

• Zháo Yé entered the room alone, and during the examination, only Cén Yàn accompanied him.

“Hmm—”

“What’s this…”

Zháo Yé switched from his left hand to his right hand to take the pulse, frowning, then switched back to his left hand.

Zhuāng Dōngqīng felt anxious.

Cén Yàn remained calm, “Is there a problem?”

Zháo Yé took the pulse for a while longer before speaking, “The pulse is different.”

“Did the poison act up?”

Cén Yàn replied, “It acted up once the night before, and it was more severe last night.”

Seeing that Zhuāng Dōngqīng didn’t seem to have any issues, Zháo Yé asked, “How did you handle it?”

“On the night before, I let the wind blow to cool down, and last night I helped him relieve it.”

In a question-and-answer format, Cén Yàn spoke without changing his expression, while Zhuāng Dōngqīng felt embarrassed, his toes digging into the ground as he listened. He raised his eyes to look at Zháo Yé, and seeing that Zháo Yé’s expression was normal, he gradually felt relieved.

He treated himself like a piece of pork in front of the doctor, unable to hide his illness!

Although the pulse had changed, Zhuāng Dōngqīng’s body was not in any serious trouble, and the child was doing well. Zháo Yé only said to observe.

After that, they would set off back to the Wang residence, which was a reasonable arrangement. Cén Yàn nodded, “That’s fine.”

After checking on Cén Yàn, Zháo Yé left the room with him. In front of Liǔ Qī and the others, Zháo Yé took Cén Yàn’s pulse again, checked the snake bite location, and said with relief, “Master, you’re blessed; this snake didn’t secrete venom.”

Cén Yàn thought of something and lowered his gaze, “It just so happened that I ran into Zhuāng Dōngqīng and the others.”

“As for the injuries…”

Cén Yàn replied, “The knife wounds are fine, but the arrow wounds are a bit torn; we’ll check them again when we return to the residence.”

Seeing the conditions here were simple, Zháo Yé didn’t insist and nodded in agreement.

When Liǔ Qī, Hǎo Sān, and Xú Sì began checking the carriage, helping to tidy up the items here and going to thank the host, Zháo Yé took the opportunity to speak to Cén Yàn, “I see the young master is tender; I still have some questions to ask the master.”

Cén Yàn gestured for him to speak.

Zháo Yé asked, “Did the master have any contact with the young master?”

Cén Yàn replied, “He was out of his mind when the poison struck, unaware of anything. I was the one who helped him relieve it.” He paused and added, “During that time, he kept saying I had a fragrance on me and kissed him while comforting him.”

Zháo Yé nodded, “As expected.”

Cén Yàn was puzzled.

Zháo Yé pondered for a moment and said quietly, “When we return to the residence, let’s first ask the young master’s opinion. See if he still wants to take medicine or get acupuncture. If he agrees, we can try it, but…”

“But what?”

Zháo Yé said, “Previously, we kept giving him acupuncture and medicine, but I feel the young master’s pulse hasn’t changed much. Today, however, the young master’s pulse shows a significant difference, so I’m afraid… acupuncture and medicine may not truly draw out the toxins.”

Zháo Yé had repeatedly mentioned the toxicity of this poison.

Hearing this was useless, Cén Yàn wasn’t surprised.

Zháo Yé said cautiously, “The young master’s situation is special; we can’t use strong medicine to draw out the poison right now. If we can’t suppress it…”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but glance at Cén Yàn. Cén Yàn took over the conversation this time, “Then I’ll go over.”

Zháo Yé felt a surge of joy in his heart but didn’t show it on his face, only saying, “Then we’ll wait to see when we return to the residence.”

“Okay.”

• After tidying up, Liǔ Qī gave the host two ingots of gold as a token of thanks.

Cén Yàn and Zhuāng Dōngqīng changed into clean clothes, and the Wang residence’s carriage set off with a clatter.

Inside the house, he had only been focused on shame and embarrassment, but once outside, seeing Liǔ Qī and the others from the Wang residence, Zhuāng Dōngqīng keenly sensed the change in atmosphere, and his little emotions faded away.

There was no time to ask, but Liù Fú was always good at gathering information.

Before getting on the carriage, Zhuāng Dōngqīng had already learned from Liù Fú about the casualties in the Wang residence and the rumors and slanders currently targeting the Wang residence in the capital.

Zhuāng Dōngqīng began to worry.

He was the kind of person who wore everything on his face.

After walking for a while, Cén Yàn asked him, “What’s wrong? You seem distracted.”

After a moment of hesitation, Zhuāng Dōngqīng asked honestly, “Can we go back to the capital now?”

If he remembered correctly, Cén Yàn had planned to stay in the village for a few more days, so he probably already anticipated the current situation in the capital.

Cén Yàn looked at him for a while and then asked, “Are you worried about me?”

“A bit, yes.”

His body wasn’t fully healed yet, and he didn’t know what kind of storm awaited him when he returned.

Upon hearing this, Cén Yàn revealed a faint smile and replied, “We can go back.”

“Just that it’s better to return a bit later to save energy. If we go back early, we’ll have to come up with countermeasures sooner.”

Cén Yàn didn’t explain it clearly, and as the topic shifted, he added, “Oh right, if we go back early, I’ll have to trouble you to stay in the residence for a few more days and take Liù Fú to the restaurant to eat.”

Zhuāng Dōngqīng didn’t quite understand.

But seeing that Cén Yàn seemed to have a plan, his anxious heart relaxed, and he nodded in partial understanding.

As long as Cén Yàn had it under control, he could trust him.

“Do you want to eat some flower cakes? Liù Fú brought some for you?”

As soon as Cén Yàn finished speaking, Liù Fú hurriedly took out the cakes from the drawer.

The fragrance of roses wafted into the air, and Zhuāng Dōngqīng couldn’t help but sniff, feeling that he shouldn’t eat, but he was a bit tempted.

Thinking about it, he realized that he had nothing to lose in front of Cén Yàn, after last night…

Zhuāng Dōngqīng followed his heart and took a piece, “Alright.”

Later, the Wang residence’s carriage entered the city, with guards closely following on both sides.

Once inside the city, the guards made a grand show of blocking the road, unreasonably moving slowly all the way until they entered the Wang residence.

Afterward, Cén Yàn was found, and the news of their return to the capital spread throughout the capital.

At the same time, another piece of news circulated.

It was said that Cén Yàn had been bitten by a poisonous snake, was out of his mind, and was in a coma, and the Wang residence was doing everything possible to treat him.

As the sun set, these two pieces of news finally flew into the palace walls.