Legend of Fu Yao

Faintly, Meng Fuyao mumbled, “Actually, I didn’t really want to save the Mongolian doctor. That person is terrible, poison-mouthed, captious, and even a clean freak. The entire world is filthy, only he is pristine. I swear he is so immaculate to the point that he would wash the air more than three times if he could! Whoever’s beside him would definitely feel like a pig that has rolled in a puddle of mud. I’m no masochist, why would I drag such a person around to torture myself?”

The beautiful assassin glanced at her, those glassy eyes observed her closely. “But your actions show that you seem to be looking for torture.”

Meng Fuyao ground her teeth in anger. “You two are polar opposites, but of all the things, you have to have that poisonous mouth of his; filled with thorns and venom.”

The beautiful assassin remained silent and decided to change the subject after a while. “Under Xuanyuan Cheng’s watch, saving Zong Yue is hard, but so is everything else.”

Meng Fuyao stayed quiet. She knew that Xuanyuan Cheng was most probably a lot harder to deal with than that suspicious, talentless Zhan Nancheng. He was probably better than King De, who similarly got their family name bestowed to them. Above King De was Zhangsun Wuji, known as the world’s most scheming man, who had always kept him in control. But she had never heard of any great deeds by Xuanyuan Min, whose authority was above Xuanyuan Cheng.

Xuanyuan Cheng had personally directed the change of emperor during the coup d’état, ordering the death of the Crown Prince Wen Yi and appointed the eighth brother of Wen Yi as the next emperor. But he probably felt that the eighth prince was too old to control and within two years, the eighth prince had suddenly dropped dead. He then picked a weak and sickly child to ascend the throne and ever since then, the Regent King’s power had been solidified in the country—technically an emperor.

If these were still the usual methods of an official greedy for power, then Zong Yue, with his identity and the power and influence he had both as a doctor and in the underground, showed that he had never once given up on snatching the throne back. And till today, he had yet to succeed and even gotten himself kidnapped. Meng Fuyao was clear of Zong Yue’s ability, which definitely made him a difficult target. From another perspective, that was to say that Xuanyuan Cheng was not an easy opponent.

Tonight, when he had attacked, he almost took her life. Even though she was careless, the ruthlessness of his actions was plain as day.

“No matter how hard it is!” Meng Fuyao’s personality was one to dive head into challenges. “If he dares to even touch a strand of hair on Zong Yue’s head, I’ll finish him!” she swore.

The beautiful assassin cast a glance at her. Before he could show any emotions, he heard her shamelessly adding, “If Zong Yue were to die, where can I eat precious medicine for free? If he were to die, who would help me fix my fake tooth if it dropped?”

Lord Yuan Bao, squatting in one corner, held onto its forehead…’That poor Mongolian doctor… He is at most a box of herbs and a dentist…’

The beautiful assassin remained quiet and flipped over to sleep, back facing this shameless fellow. Meng Fuyao lay down to rest too, far away from the beautiful assassin. But in the darkness, she could clearly hear the beautiful assassin’s rough and ragged breathing and could not help but climb up and touch his forehead. She thought that it could be the burns being infected and went to check his wounds, but the medication was really effective, forming a fine layer of foam protecting his wounds. However, his face was still slightly red, and with his uneven breaths, it was likely that he was running a fever.

People who had burns were weak as the internal heat and poison affected their body. Thirsty, running a fever, frustrated, mumbling unconsciously were all possible actions.

Meng Fuyao glanced at the cold, wet floor, stumped. It was barely the start of winter, and this part of the palace seldom saw the sunlight, resulting in it being overly cold. To let a severely injured person sleep on such a floor was absolute blasphemous as it would be terrible if his wounds were infected. After much consideration, she climbed up and started to break the close stools apart. She tossed away the seats, picking only the flat wooden boards and quietly went to the well to scrub the boards clean. Then, she pieced the boards together, joining them by using the iron to pierce through the boards then linking it up with the hooks from the close stool. After almost two hours of busying about, the “close stool bed” finally appeared. Then, she took off her outer robe, placed it over the “bed” and carefully moved the beautiful assassin onto the “bed”.

The moment she touched him, the beautiful assassin woke up. He grabbed her wrist and questioned, “… What are you busy with?”

Meng Fuyao wiped off her sweat and smiled. “Making a bed for you.”

The beautiful assassin watched her flushed cheeks from hustling about. His gaze was now more gentle than before as he pulled Meng Fuyao over. “… You rest too.”

‘Close stool bed… I don’t want to sleep on it!’ Meng Fuyao groaned yet dared not struggle free from the barely conscious beautiful assassin. The wounds on his hands were already rotting if she accidentally tore a piece of skin off while trying to shake him off… Meng Fuyao shivered at the thought. She could only obediently reply with an ‘okay’, rigidly climb onto the bed and lie down beside him, stiffly.

But the beautiful assassin tugged her closer and asked, “You took a robe off… are you not cold?”

Meng Fuyao hugged her shoulders and declared resolutely, “I am a strong and sturdy person.”

Just as she barely finished her sentence, there was another piece of cloth on her, well, technically half a piece. The beautiful assassin had covered her shoulders with half his top that covered his front. In all honesty, that cloth was not the least bit warm, but somehow, as she held onto the silky, smooth top, warmth spread into her blood. The cloth was cool, yet her heart was warm as it thumped gently, filling her with tranquility and serenity.

The night breeze knocked on the windows while silence roamed the room. A man and woman rested on the close stool “bed” covered in a robe. A torch and the palace light from far away brought in a glimmer of light, shining on one that sat upright and the other that slept. After a while, the one sitting upright gradually slumped down further and further. The one sleeping gently pulled her down and covered her in half a piece of cloth. He leaned towards her, snuggling closer to share the same piece of cloth and then fell back into a deep slumber.

Meng Fuyao drifted off to sleep for a while.

In her dream, Lord Yuan Bao paced left and right in front of her, playing with the masks using the light from the candle. The flickering lights blinded her eyes as she waved in annoyance, scolding, “Rat, you are damn annoying.”

This scolding woke her up, and to her surprise, the first bit of copper hues had already peaked through the horizon. Meng Fuyao climbed up while the beautiful assassin continued to sleep. Looking at his cracked lips, she got some water to feed him as she knew that fever patients were usually very dehydrated. With much care, she helped the beautiful assassin leaned against her knees. Despite his severe injuries, his lips were still rosy red. The clear water gracefully dripped into his mouth from between his lips like droplets of water dancing between the petals of the roses—a sight to behold. Meng Fuyao stared blankly as she could not help but reach out her fingers to wipe his lips.

This touch did not wipe off the makeup she had anticipated; her fingertips were still clean. Meng Fuyao laughed quietly to herself as she shook her head. Did she think that all men enjoyed putting on makeup like that crossdresser?

Her finger brushed past the corner of his lips and paused there when suddenly a hand latched onto her wrist.

The beautiful assassin woke up once again, quietly looking at her as he rested on her lap. The glassy eyes seemed to hypnotize her as it conquered up beautiful fantasy. Meng Fuyao, with her guilty conscience, tried to pull her hand away but τhe beautiful assassin refused to let her go and held her hand against the light as though he was admiring the elegant contours of her fingers and the pure white skin. He was entranced and then suddenly, he sent her fingertip into his mouth and gently bit down.

Meng Fuyao quickly pulled her hand away and yelled angrily, “What are you randomly biting for?”

The beautiful assassin turned to the side. His gaze was somewhat mystical, like a silver river enshrouded by the morning fog, sparkling under the golden sun rays and glistening under the moon’s silver touches. From Meng Fuyao’s angle, she could clearly see the straight nose bridge and perfectly carved out lips, with a sheen of rose. It was a beauty that belonged to another magical race, like a vibrant piece of art standing out in a white, foggy background—a beauty that quickens one heartbeat.

His words made one’s heart beat faster… out of anger.

“Since you randomly touched me, I’ll randomly bite you,” he replied calmly.

This left her speechless as she flung her hands in the air and strutted towards the door.

With his eyes closed, the person behind enquired, “Where are you going?”

She responded in an exasperated tone, “Since you can bite people, you probably can protect yourself. I’ll go look for some food and salt, I’ll be right back.”

The person behind no longer spoke. Meng Fuyao took a few steps but walked back out of worry to leave Lord Yuan Bao there. She patted its head as she inculcated all the knowledge and actions that a bodyguard should have to him. She also formed a barrier of close stools surrounding the beautiful assassin before she left. As she left, Meng Fuyao secretly cursed at her life that’s to be toiled away. Even when this fellow was so ungrateful, she still remembered to grab items to nourish him and hydrate him. Seriously, she needed to stop being such a pushover.

Pushover Meng carried the map as she started off her journey to look for food. From the map, there was a big kitchen nearby, especially for the eunuchs and maids. She avoided the guards and successfully made her way towards the kitchen. She had smelled something odd when she had passed by a plot of bamboos but dared not stop to see and rushed straight to her goal.

The day barely begun, and there was no one in the kitchen. On the shelves sat some pastries, even though it was by no means exquisite, it could satisfy their hunger.

Meng Fuyao stole one of every kind and stacked it back in its original order to prevent people from finding out. She also grabbed some salt and sugar; salt was to make salt water to keep the beautiful assassin hydrated while the white sugar was for a home remedy she used to use to treat burns. A block of tofu mixed with a handful of sugar would stop the pain once the mixture was applied to the wound. Even though the beautiful assassin did not make a sound, she knew that the pain of burns was excruciatingly unbearable. What if that lad couldn’t hold back and yelled? Wouldn’t that expose her location? Of course, there was no way egoistic Meng would admit that she was just worried…

With all these things in her hands, Meng Fuyao suddenly remembered hearing that apparently, patients with burns were not able to pee properly? The beautiful assassin seemed to not have peed till now? Could he be holding back? This worrywart squatted on the floor and started worrying over a certain someone’s peeing issue. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that something was wrong.

‘Ah, if only I had some rhubarb and borneol, it would clear internal heat and detoxify the body. I wonder if the Imperial Physician Bureau has it?”

After contemplating, she decided to make her way there to search for medication, but then, a jar with ‘tofu’ written on it caught her eye. She was overjoyed! No wonder she couldn’t find it just now turns out the tofu was hiding in here. She tried to move the jar, but to her shock, she could not lift the jar!