Chapter 5 Suffer a Relapse

At the front residence of Youzhu Garden.

The yard was full of people with a broadsword on their waists. They all wore purple suits and black hats. They were guards in the Eastern Depot. Just now, it was boisterous. But the inner residence was far away. Thus, Gu Yunxi didn't hear the noise of the team entering the courtyard.

Leng Qingtang, dressed in a robe with embroidered blue flowers and silver threads, was seated on the carved red sandalwood chair in the center of the high platform of the main hall. Cheng Wanli, one leader of the Eastern Depot, and Nanny Gu stood behind him respectively.

Leng Qingtang looked down and took a sip of his tea. He was so calm. He did not turn back and said,

"Nanny Gu, someone ran away from your place and a whole squad in the Eastern Depot is demanded to look for them. Both you and the girl that you have coached are so capable."

His voice was very light, but the tone was so cold that the listener would instantly feel frozen.

"Oh…Oh, my Lord, excuse me. I'm so… so careless..."

Behind him, Nanny Gu was constantly shaking and kept wiping sweat with her handkerchief. She was scared to death by his nonchalant questioning.

Then, she put on a smile, moved forward and pleased him humbly,

"We all know the garden relied on you, my Master. I have carefully examined that girl, who is still a virgin. I am bound to take up the reins of her and beat her severely later. This way, she will not escape anymore!"

Leng Qingtang gave a little smile and leisurely handed out the cup. Immediately a servant took the cup.

"Well, old as you, you know nothing but beating. Girls are different from boys. Could you afford it if any problem arises?"

"Yes! Yes! I'm such a fool…"

...

"Sister! Sister Yunyao!"

Gu Yunxi, carrying the big hemlines of her floral pleated skirt, called all the way from the courtyard to the front yard.

Separating the guards, she squeezed into the enclosure. Immediately she saw Gu Yunyao kneeling in the middle of the yard with her whole body tied up.

At this moment, the hair bun of Gu Yunyao was messy, leaving only the grass-like hair hanging randomly on the shoulders. Her face was dusty, and she looked thinner. She must endure a lot during the tour.

"Yunxi? ... Yunxi!"

Seeing Gu Yunxi, Gu Yunyao burst into tears. She moved her knees on the hard blue stone-ground two steps forward, approaching her sister.

A man laid prone by Gu Yunyao's side. His face could not be seen clearly, and his hair was also messy. He suffered thirty big rods just now, and was injured so heavily that he fainted.

The white midday sun shined on his bloodstained body, and it became more and more dazzling.

Gu Yunxi just cast one glimpse of the color and her stomach suddenly turned to be stuffy. She bit her lower lip and managed not to vomit. Blunt sound burst in her brain, like heavy thunder.

"Sister Yunxi, you run too fast..."

Xiao Xiaoshen squeezed into the clouds to find her and immediately saw her pale face. He knew she would faint at the sight of blood. He immediately stood in front of her so that she could not see the bloody body on the ground.

Gu Yunxi fell to the ground.

"Yunxi!"

Gu Yunyao knew her sister's physique and exclaimed to her. But Yunxi took the opportunity to turn around, supporting herself and climbing towards Leng Qingtang.

"My Master, Nanny Gu, please forgive my sister this time!"

"... Yunxi?"

When Leng Qingtang saw Gu Yunxi at first sight, subtle surprise appeared on his indifferent face. He did not believe that Yunxi was so weak.

Last time, when he heard that she was ill, he was called to the palace by the Imperial Noble Concubine before he was allowed to visit her. But he well remembered that when he met her more than half a year ago, she was never so prostrate.

Nanny Gu moved two steps forward. She had already acutely noticed Leng Qingtang’s astonishment. She explained with a dry smile,

"This girl… has been ill for a long time without fully recovered…"

"Yunxi, this place is not for you. Come back to your room and I will talk to you later."

To Gu Yunxi, Leng Qingtang’s tone was much softer.

"My Master! My Lord! Please forgive my sister this time, please! I promise that she will never do it again!”

Gu Yunxi did not leave. She knelt and kowtowed. Her tears dropped like rain.

"Please! For the sake of my sister, who has lived with us in this yard for all these years, spare her this time! Please!"

Yunxi kowtowed for dozens of times. The sound was as clear as drums. When Yunxi raised her head again, a large blood stain appeared on her forehead.

"Yunxi…"

Leng Qingtang’s eyes widened slightly. His right hand grabbed the armrest of the chair like he didn’t expect that. Now, the coldness in his eyes eased.

Xiao Xiaoshen was more than perspicacious. He grabbed her without waiting for the Master’s command:

"Yunxi, let's go! Let's go!"

Gu Yunxi struggled a little, enduring the discomfort. Her expression was still quite stubborn.

The scene in front of her was swirling, and everyone's figure became more and more blurred. Gu Yunxi’s body was like a crumbling dead leaf blown by the wind.

Leng Qingtang sat opposite to Gu Yunxi. He had already detected her strange state. He got up slowly from the chair and stared at the girl below.

She suddenly opened her mouth with a spit of blood on the ground.

There were waves of disorder in the crowd.

"Oh! There is a relapse again! Come and grab her!"

Nanny Gu ran down the stairs. With her hands outstretched, she called people to come and help. She had been prone to fainting in the past. However, this was the first time she had ever vomited blood.

At this time, Leng Qingtang had rushed to Gu Yunxi, with several quick steps and embraced her.

She was as light as a fallen leaf. Her waist was not full of a grip.

"Girl! Girl—"

Leng Qingtang whispered. His body fell to the ground along with Gu Yunxi. He fell on one knee, straightened her face and looked over.

Gu Yunxi completely fainted. Her face was like a piece of white paper. There were strands of blood oozing out from the corner of her mouth, eyes and ears.

This scene really made Leng Qingtang feel horrified. Even if he had been in and out of the Eastern Depot and witnessed too much battered face, it seemed that there wasn't such a shock as now.

Xiao Xiaoshen was also deeply scared. He kneeled at the Master's side softly.

"The Master, I am so useless! I deserve to die!"

Leng Qingtang, with a long face, cast Xiao Xiaoshen a vile glance. Then he immediately rolled up Gu Yunxi’s cuffs and put his plain white fingers on her veins.

I knew…

He propped up her body again. He quickly pointed her two acupoints Fengmen and Pohu with his two fingers.

Looking at Yunxi's face again, Leng Qingtang felt relaxed. Holding her up, he walked into the inner residence, neglecting other people in the yard.

In the bedroom, Gu Yunjin was leaning on the table and eating snacks. She was always alert and would never go to the front residence to get involved in Gu Yunyao's trouble.

The door of the room was kicked open suddenly. Gu Yunjin shivered with fear. The Osmanthus sticky rice ball just swallowed was stuck in her throat, which made her very uncomfortable.

"Get out!"

Leng Qingtang stared at Gu Yunjin with a wicked tone, and commanded her with a bleak voice.

"…"

Hurriedly, Gu Yunjin took two sips of water and ran out with a red face.

Leng Qingtang put Gu Yunxi flat on the bed, and ordered Xiao Xiaoshen who followed him,

"Close the door!"

Xiao Xiaoshen obeyed the order, and then stood upright in front of the door. He quietly watched Leng Qingtang take off his boots and go to bed.

Gu Yunxi was dizzy at the moment, not knowing where she was. It seemed like a huge stone had been pressed on her chest and she could not speak nor breathe.

In a trance, she was gently lifted up and sat cross-legged. Then a pair of soft palms was attached to her back.

There were waves of strange air getting straight into her body from the back, like the warm air surrounding her whole body. That was a comfortable feeling that no language could describe. Her rigid body seemed to be melted by the continuous flow of air and gradually recovered its flexibility.

After one hour, Leng Qingtang withdrew his internal strength and dipped his forehead with his robe sleeve. Then he turned to get out of bed. Xiao Xiaoshen was very perspicacious. He hurried over to help the Master to wear his boots.

"Master, is sister Yunxi all right?"

"It doesn't matter. She has long suffered blood phobia. Just now, she encountered the tortured Zhao An. She was naturally emotionally overstretched, causing blood flowing back in the body. By the way, why do you let her run out?"

"I am willing to get punished." Xiao Xiaoshen lowered his head and said dumbly.

"All right. Now you go to the front residence and order the maids to cook a bowl of brown sugar water with sweet jujube for her. Make sure it is warm enough."

"What?"

"Now!"

"Yes! Thanks for not punishing me."

Xiao Xiaoshen stood up, smiled funnily and ran out.

Leng Qingtang was one of the best martial arts masters in the palace. He was naturally elegant. In addition, he was endowed with civil and martial virtues. He also knew a little about medical science.

Just now, he saw Gu Yunxi was bleeding severely. He knew that she was in the periods after feeling her pulse. Worsened by blood phobia, the disease caused the blood to flow reversely.

Fortunately, he handled it in time by sealing her two key acupuncture points and sending his true spirit into her body. This way, the retrograde blood flow was brought back to the right track.

While Gu Yunxi was not fully awake, Leng Qingtang turned his arms back and shuffled around in the three girls' boudoirs.

The house contained an inner room and an outer room.

The inner room was more spacious and well-lit. On the back, there was an embroidered bed made from sandalwood. There was a velvet pink silk hydrangea curtain hanging on it, and a golden hook tied with a sachet of the Zodiac tassels made of silk thread with the fragrance of jasmine emitting from it. On the bed, there were exquisite pearl-edged pillows and brand-new bedding made from rose brocades with embroidered golden hibiscus.

On the west side of the embroidered bed, a bright golden basin was placed on the jujube wood washbasin. To the south was the dressing table with the picture of a magpie standing on the plum. Next to the furnishings were a set of jujube tables and chairs and a group of wardrobes made from carved Gold Phoebe.

Leng Qingtang glanced at the extravagant dressing mirror. Needless to say, the owner of this room was Gu Yunjin!

Leng Qingtang didn't say a word and returned to the outer room.

The decoration here was obviously not as luxurious as that of the inner room. On the north and south sides of the house, there was also an embroidery bed, two dressers and two sets of wardrobes. Regardless of the wood, just judging from the simple bamboo pattern, it was inferior to the inner room.

Looking at Yunxi’s bedside again, a blue gown was draped on the head of the rattan pattern bed, with the blue silk threads woven into the butterfly pattern. Although the material of this coat was brocade, the color of it was dull after repeated washing. There was a different kind of edging on the lapel that attracted Leng Qingtang’s attention. When looking closely, Leng Qingtang found it wasn’t an edging at all but a patch of floral cloth.

Leng Qingtang grew angry.

As the Master of the Palace, he knew it clearly that the Garden was the same as the Palace. People were accustomed to bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

Gu Yunxi was weak physically and manifested the warm temperament. Nanny Gu asserted that she could not enter the Palace and could not bring benefits to people in this garden. Thus, she was deliberately harsh on her eating and wearing. So, the maids also followed suit and disrespected Gu Yunxi.