Chapter 46

The doctor in the hospital has never seen such a situation. The eldest son of Duke Dingguo and Prime Minister Zhao’s Di grandchild cleared the way, followed by a group of noble children. Surrounded by the crowd were two 16 or 17-year-old boys, one of them was sweating profusely and the other was walking with difficulty. He looked as if he was in great pain, seeming to be suffering from something serious.

He had been here for a long time and had dealt with many people, so his ability to observe and make judgements were quite good, thus he suddenly became nervous. Both the scion of the Xue clan and Zhao gongzi were His Highness the Ninth Prince’s study companions, and among these people were a few eunuchs. Could it be that it was His Highness the Ninth Prince who was injured?

My mother! How could he be so unlucky today? Looking at how His Royal Highness the Ninth Prince seemed to be in extreme pain and barely able to walk, it must be extremely serious and he must have only come here to him because he didn’t have time to rush back to the palace for treatment. If he can't cure him, then he’ll surely get beheaded! The doctor could only feel frightened at the thought. He shuddered as he stood up, wishing he could kneel and kowtow, and beg this honorable bodhisattva to go to another place.

Just as he was about to open his mouth, the boy who was supporting the Ninth Prince pointed to the lower hem of the Ninth Prince’s pants and said, "Doctor, take a look at him, he was scalded here." While speaking, he licked the candied haws, his attitude was very lackadaisical.

The doctor immediately let out a sigh of relief when he heard what You Shu said. A burn? So it was just a burn? Then, why did His Royal Highness the Ninth Prince look as if his leg was broken? Even when he sat down, his whole body went limp and he had to grip the young man's shoulder tightly, as if he could only suppress the pain by doing this.

He didn't believe the young man's words at all, but he didn't have the courage to chase the Ninth Prince out of the door. He promptly kneeled down to fold up the Ninth Prince’s pants, wanting to have a look at the injury.

What the Ninth Prince hated the most was other people coming too close to his body, so he kicked him away with one foot and pointed at You Shu, "You. Come and help Benwang."

You Shu thought he was done with the matter after bringing the Ninth Prince here. He pointed to himself with widened eyes, looking very confused, all the while licking his candied haws.

"His Highness has called you, so what are you standing around for? Hurry up and help the Ninth Prince!" The nearby servant quickly stepped forward and pushed the boy forward. Everyone else was dying of anxiety, so how could this person still think about eating? If it weren't for His Highness the Ninth Prince's stubborn temperament and not liking the touch of strangers to the point that even they, his personal eunuchs, would have to keep a distance of more than three feet, he would have already rushed over!

Previously, His Royal Highness only had a fever for three days, but half the servants in the Eastern Palace were flogged to death. If today’s burn was serious, no one could escape death.

You Shu staggered from the push and almost fell into the arms of the Ninth Prince. Fortunately, he grabbed the back of the chair in time to avoid falling directly on his wound. Their cheeks were very close to the point that they were practically able to smell each other's breath. One had the familiar smell of ambergris while the other held a familiar maltose smell; it was sweet, warm and intoxicating. The Ninth Prince was obsessed with it and almost couldn't help himself. The slightly horrified eyes of the young man were just enough to help him regain his senses. He pressed him onto the seat beside him, and kicked the servant, “You are just a servant, but you dared to do such a thing to a noble. Who gave you the courage?" He completely forgot that he was pretending to be injured at the moment, and his actions were hundreds of times more agile than before.

Wasn’t it Your Highness the Ninth Prince who gave him the courage? Everyone criticised him in their hearts, but they didn't dare speak out. Everyone in the Capital knew that the Ninth Prince was very arrogant and that the servants around him also regarded themselves as superior. It was normal to berate Imperial Concubines at will and they even dared to antagonise first-class officials. Shoving some unknown pampered noble son was something they could easily do. Even if you had your teeth knocked out and you spat blood, and you felt angry and resentful, there was nothing you could do as they have the Ninth Prince’s support.

But right now, it was obvious who was favored and who was estranged, who was regarded as an insider and an outsider, and who was his weakness. It wasn’t the trusted eunuch who waited on him since he was young, but the young man who he had only met less than an hour ago.

Xue Wangjing and others were shocked, and looked at the teenager with admiration, but Zhao Yusong secretly gritted his teeth.

The close attendant was kicked far away, lying on the ground and groaning intermittently, as if he was seriously injured. The Ninth Prince felt fed up looking at it, and waved his hand, "After going back, let him pack up and kick him out of the Eastern Palace. Benwang doesn’t want to see this incompetent thing that lacks foresight."

The accompanying guard cupped his hand upon receiving the order and gave the boy a deep look when he carried the eunuch out. What magical power did this person have to be treated so differently by His Highness? The so-called ‘lack of foresight’ was probably because he was disrespectful to the young man, right? His Royal Highness was covertly telling them that he had already placed this little Young Master Zhao under his wing and that he cannot be touched by anyone except himself.

You Shu was also shocked and he looked at his Master up and down with round eyes. After reincarnation, his master was completely different from his previous life, and his personality has become so overbearing, somewhat similar to the previous Crown Prince. It stands to reason that he grew up in a very superior environment in this life and he has not suffered any hardship. His parents also loved and protected him, so his personality should be more gentle and kind. Was it because he was spoiled?

You Shu found this amusing and his lips twitched. Even though the master's character changed drastically, he never doubted that the Ninth Prince was not his reincarnation. His master becoming the Ninth Prince wasn’t as much of a surprise compared to him time travelling 600 years and arriving at the Great Xia dynasty, and becoming Zhao You Shu. The important thing was that they could continue living and they could meet despite the constant flow of time and ever growing crowd of people. Wasn’t this great?

The Ninth Prince seemed to have found something incredible and stared at the young man, reluctant to let his eyes blink. After a long time, he finally flushed with excitement and said, "You, you have dimples!" He found that You Shu’s smile was so cute that his heart shivered. He hated that he couldn’t pull him into his arms to poke and lick those dimples. He wanted to see if they were soft like rice cakes and sweet like honey.

You Shu covered his cheek, his expression becoming strange. There were people with dimples everywhere, but why did the master act as if he had never seen them before? Do the people in the palace not have dimples?

The two mutually stared at each other, the atmosphere intimate but also strange. Learning from the mistakes of the eunuch earlier, the others naturally did not dare to bother them. When You Shu turned his head away to conceal his embarrassment and began to lick the candied haws, Xue Wangjing hesitated and said, "Your Royal Highness, has your leg healed?" Even if it hasn’t healed, we should just leave. Seeing that you kicked someone with such energy earlier, it didn't look like you were seriously injured at all.

He didn't dare to say the last part. He turned his head to look at You Shu, and said politely, "Little Young Master Zhao, may I trouble you to take a look at His Highness’s leg injury? If it blisters, it must be dealt with quickly, otherwise it will get infected."

The level of medical treatment in ancient times was very low. Colds and fevers could kill people, not to mention wound infections. You Shu's heart tightened, and he quickly bent over to lift up his master's pants. He also wanted to take off his boots and roll up his trouser leg, but he couldn’t because he was holding the candied haws in his right hand and he didn't know where to put them.

The long stick of candied haws was sticky. He was afraid that they would get dirty if he placed them on the table and there was also nowhere else in the room he could stick it in. If you told him to throw it away, he would anxiously look at you with reddened eyes. Seeing the young boy hurriedly turning around and around flusteredly because of a stick of candied haws, many people laughed secretly, especially Xue Wangjing, who turned away with his shoulders jumping up and down. He was obviously holding back the best he could, but wickedly refused to lend a helping hand.

"If there is no place to put it, throw it away. Could a bunch of candied haws be more important than the injury of His Royal Highness the Ninth Prince?" Zhao Yusong rebuked in a low voice, but he also didn’t help his cousin take the sticks. It was because the maltose had melted and flowed down to the stick onto the fingers of the young boy, he felt disgusted at the sticky and viscous appearance.

At the same time, the Ninth Prince said softly, "Give it to Benwang, Benwang will help you hold it." After speaking, he glanced at Zhao Yusong with a very gloomy look. He didn't think much about it before, but upon looking back, he now realized that the relationship between the two cousins seemed very poor. Otherwise, Zhao Yusong would not have repeatedly slandered You Shu in front of him, causing them to almost miss each other!

If it hadn't been for Xue Wangjing's suggestion to make fun of You Shu, or if he hadn’t been bored lately and wanted to have fun, he definitely would have disdained paying attention to those vile people who kept trying to curry favor. You Shu had just returned to the Capital with his father who came to report on his work. After the evaluation period, he would leave the Capital and might even have gotten married in the next two or three years. Then he would have a group of wives and concubines, and lots of children. When it came to that, what could he do?

Arriving at this thought, cold sweat immediately drenched the Ninth Prince’s head and face, and he internally felt even more worried. In addition to the lingering fear, he momentarily felt extremely grateful to Xue Wangjing, and then soon felt great hatred for Zhao Yusong! He also remembered that he had a very bad impression of You Shu because of Zhao Yusong's slanderous remarks. Before You Shu opened the door and walked in, it seemed- it seemed that he had said some extremely hurtful things?

The Ninth Prince tried very hard to remember, becoming even more nervous and embarrassed. He actually ridiculed You Shu in front of so many people, saying that he tried to please the public with claptrap and that his character was dirty. How could he use the words "dirty" to describe such a graceful youth? Damn it! His heart was blinded by ignorance or he must’ve lost his mind!

Zhao Yusong, what hatred is there between Benwang and you? You want to ruin Benwang like this? His Highness the Ninth Prince, who was 17 years old this year and would soon be titled as the Crown Prince of the Xia dynasty, experienced a setback for the first time in his life. He deeply felt anger to the point of wanting to skin a person while they were alive.

But before that, he must clear up this misunderstanding. Otherwise, what would You Shu think of him? No wonder he was aggrieved when he saw him, he was also very reserved and scared.