Would You Like to Have a Drink

Chapter 46.1 

Early in the morning, when the sky was just barely lit, Zong Luo woke up.

He blinked his eyes, quickly regaining consciousness.

It took several hours to undo the acupoint tapping. Yesterday, just to be on the safe side, Zong Luo tapped himself twice, and he only saw the light again when waking up today.

He was laying on his back on the bed, was not in a hurry to get up, and instead leisurely looked around.

This was a very simple but elegant bedroom, there were not many displays inside, but everything was extremely refined.

For example, carved screens, hanging bamboo curtains, gilded brazier, and the flickering candle lights sinking in the small incense towers. Through the faint light of the sun outside, daybreak was coming. It was not very luxurious, but it was full of home-like warmth.

Zong Luo had not been back to his prince’s mansion for three or four years. However, every part of this bedroom was deeply engraved in his mind, and now, it was making the memory of the past more vivid and dyeing it with the proper colors.

He put on his clothes, tied up the white silk, and picked up the Qixing Longyuan that was on the side. Just as he was about to go out gently, to his surprise, as he opened the door, the old steward who had been waiting by the side early on called out with a kind expression all over his face, “Your Highness, good morning.”

Standing behind Steward Liao were two young children and the imperial physician, one was holding a steaming witchcraft medicine in his hand, while the other was holding a small plate of candied fruit.

“Your Highness is going to be practicing swordsmanship, right? Just in time, drink the medicine before practicing swordsmanship.”

Zong Luo: “……..”

He picked up the medicine silently, the swaying smell swept over his face, making his facial features distorted immediately.

“Your Highness, this witchcraft medicine is taken three times a day. It has the effect of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, dredging the meridians, and has the efficiency of clearing the heart and improving eyesight. The specific treatment still also depends on the acupuncture needle treatment plan given by the Imperial Medical Courtyard.”

Fortunately, at least, it only plays a role of consolidating the foundation and cultivating the essence.

(t/n “Consolidating the body and cultivating the essence” promotes the smooth flow of qi and blood in the body, eliminates metabolites, restores and maintains normal physiological functions of viscera, qi and blood, and maintains dynamic stability. It is a very effective anti-aging method;) 

Zong Luo sighed in his heart.

He really didn’t expect for Emperor Yuan to be so determined to treat his eyes.

After returning to the mansion last night, he asked the imperial physician about the overall treatment steps.

He had no idea what Emperor Yuan said, but it was said that the entire Imperial Medical Courtyard was in combat readiness. Another imperial physician from a foreign country also bluntly said: if the eye meridians are stagnant for too long, the only way to see the light is to change the eyes, that is, to replace the blind person’s eyes with a pair of intact living eyes.

Zong Luo broke into a cold sweat when he heard this, and immediately confessed to the old imperial physician of the Medical Courtyard, saying that he was treated by a medical sage when he was in the Confucian Hanlu, and had also worked out a feasible plan.

That medical sage and the confucian head, his martial uncle, were close friends and agreed to hide it for him.

Although this may be a bit dishonest, it was still better than really catching a living person for a change of eyes.

Now, with the medicine placed in front of him, Zong Luo had to drink it.

He believed that as long as he dared not to cooperate with the treatment, Emperor Yuan would dare to seize him and change his eyes forcibly.

The imperial physician respectfully said, “Hearing from Steward Liao that His Highness doesn’t like to drink medicine, therefore, this subject specially made some sweet candied fruit along with the witchcraft  medicine. After taking the medicine, His Highness can eat one to relieve the bitterness. There’s no need to worry about affecting the medicine’s effectiveness.”

Steward Liao also said with a smile, “Yes, Your Highness, most of the good medicines are bitter, but they are good for curing diseases.”

Assumed to be the stewards words, but in fact it was all His Majesty’s instructions.

Yesterday Yuan Jia repeatedly advised him and said that the Third Prince didn’t like to drink medicine, therefore His Majesty specially emphasized that everyone in the mansion should watch the Third Prince drink the medicine, then give a candied fruit afterwards, but if he wouldn’t drink it, then make a small report.

Zong Luo knew nothing about this. He picked up the medicine expressionlessly, held his breath, and suffocatingly swallowed it in one gulp.

Four pairs of eyes stared at him stupefied. He drank the medicine in the bowl until there was no drop left, making them leave with a peace of mind.

Next, when Zong Luo was practicing his swordsmanship under the plum blossom tree, he would always sense the lingering smell of medicine on his body, even in his throat as well, and wrinkled his brows at a single puff of anger. 

Even the candied fruit was not able to cover it.

It was his habit to practice his swordsmanship every morning.

For martial arts practitioners, no matter what level they had reached, it was easy to become inept if they didn’t practice for a day.

When he was in the Ghost Valley before, in order to struggle with his fate as cannon fodder, Zong Luo would start practicing at the first crow of the rooster, getting up before dawn. Unlike Yu Beizhou, who was lazy everyday, and sometimes only showed up yawning when the sun was already three poles high.

Perhaps it was because Yu Beizhou got enough sleep that Zong Luo was now shorter than him by an insole, which made him feel out of sorts.

After Zong Luo practiced his swordsmanship, he couldn’t help but take a shower again.

When he came back, Gongsun You had been waiting at the door of the study for a long time.

The prince in white changed from the Confucian school uniform he had before, and instead, returned to the outfit he used most often in the Great Yuan Imperial City. A suit of white clothes, the inside was a light gold lining that had been stitched and rusted by the Weaving Mansion, and the corners of the clothes were adorned with inconspicuous dark patterns.

Such an extravagant color would easily look vulgar when worn on other people’s bodies, but on Zong Luo’s body, it was like a clear and light layer of snow on the top of a mountain, making it precious and flawless.

“Congratulations, my Lord, for being successful in the end despite having encountered obstacles.”

“You’re here.” Seeing Gongsun You, Zong Luo was not surprised either.

Talking to clever people was good and there’s no need to speak in riddles. Seeing Zong Luo and Pei Qianxue leaving that time, and seeing the personal attendants beside Emperor Yuan, if Yu Beizhou could guess it, Gongsun You could naturally guess it too.

It was even more normal for Gongsun You to come to his doorstep. Logically speaking, he was now his own Menke, and there had never been a case of a master personally going to the other party’s house.

It’s just that Zong Luo hadn’t figured out how to use Gongsun You yet.

Not to mention the lack of trust, there was also no place for Gongsun You in his original plan.

However, Gongsun You had that  loyal and devoted appearance again.

Zong Luo stood in the study, listening to Gongsun You starting to spit everything he wanted to say in one go with a slight headache.

After he was called over by Emperor Yuan earlier, Gongsun You, who stayed on his spot, not only watched the entire confrontation between Zong Hongjiu and the other princes, but also made a special analysis report.

It had to be said that he was also a person of talent, thus he simply stood nearby and combined the previous information he got from the Yin Yang School. He actually analyzed the current situation with that bit of detail, and gradually analyzed the same thing as Zong Luo.

Starting with the other princes, and then shifting back to the current situation.

“Your Highness, your appearance has undoubtedly broken the original balance between the Fifth and Sixth princes’ seizing the throne. This subject believes that, now we should bid our time and watch the development of things. Of course, you may also have already made a decision in mind, therefore this subject won’t say much.”