Another full day had passed when Ji SongLi and Zhen BuFeng finally arrived at the gates of Liu YangHuan's residence. 

The day before; not long after Zhen BuFeng left, Second Prince Zhang JunLi had asked some of the Imperial Guards to send Princess Zhang XiuYa back to the palace, despite the protests of the latter. Himself, the Crown Prince, and the Third Prince decided to stay in the estate.

The two old scholars had also left to Wu DanShao's residence, allowing extra rooms at Liu YangHuan's estate to be allocated to the Royal Princes. Chao HuiBo and Chao MeiHua, of course had also returned to their house, having no further excuse to stay longer.

The servants were shocked out of their wits as three bloodied figures stumbled inside the gates towards the inner residence. The figure in the middle, despite the largest of the three, was clearly unconscious as his weight was being supported by the two young men each to his side. 

These servants belonged to Liu YangHuan. Ever since their real master gave reign to the Ji clan to use his estate, they had grown accustomed to seeing the two young men, Ji SongLi and Zhen BuFeng. But they had definitely never seen Ji ChanFang before, let alone a bloody one.

The ruckus caused He Shan, Sun Chen, Bai YuLan, Ji LanBai, and the two Madames to also go to the living room.

The Crown Prince, having seen Ji ChanFang's clearly gray skin, relayed his order to one of his Imperial Guards, "Go to the palace and ask Imperial Father to send an imperial physician to Liu YangHuan's residence."

He added, "Tell him the matter concerns General Ji's life or death. He won't refuse and will naturally send the best."

It was no secret to him that his Imperial Father, Emperor Zhang, and General Ji were sworn brothers.

Wu JianRui's face turned white as she stood stoned at her place, looking at her immobile husband. If Hai FenChu did not stand by her side, her swaying figure would have already fallen to the floor.

The Imperial Guards aided to carry Ji ChanFang into a clean empty room in the inner part of the residence. The two Madames, Meng-momo, and Ji LanBai followed. YuLan asked Xiao Lin, Xiao Han, and Xiao Su - the three girls from the orphanage - to follow after Ji LanBai as well. Their help would definitely be needed by the Madames. Xiao Hui was still attending to Jing Mo, and Xiao He was already busy in the kitchen.

Ji SongLi and Zhen BuFeng plopped their bodies tiredly in the seats in the living room. YuLan handed two cups of water, one each to the two young men. She then instructed some servants to prepare some clean water for the two men to freshen up.

Looking at Ji SongLi and Zhen BuFeng, she finally could rest her worries a little. Despite fatigued, the two did not look to be hurt.

Ji SongLi accepted the cup of water and quickly gulped it down his throat. He set the empty cup aside, and looked up towards her. Her expression was still tranquil, but more than anything, he was elated to see the faint concern in her eyes.

As wretched as it might sound, he was delighted to be the source of her concern. Because that meant, his presence meant something to her. 

He stood up, and now YuLan could clearly see his robe smeared with dry blood. Zhen BuFeng was also smeared with blood, but it looked more grotesque on Ji SongLi's attire. After all, Zhen BuFeng wore an armor. YuLan cautiously lifted her hand, wanting to touch the sleeve of the young man's robe that was marked with red. Ji SongLi caught her hand and smiled assuringly,

"These are not my blood."

YuLan gazed up at the young man's gentle eyes. As she nodded, Ji SongLi stepped forward and suddenly wrapped his arms around her smaller figure. Her still outstretched hand was pinned between his chest and hers, gripped inside his own palm.

 

 

Her mind blanked out.

But as she wanted to pull away, she felt her forehead warmed. There was a few trickles of liquid she felt, dropping onto her forehead, thick and hot. Then as she glanced at her still pinned hand on Ji SongLi's chest, the same liquid started to drop on her skin, staining it.

Red.

Her body was suddenly pushed away by Ji SongLi as he quickly maintained his distance from her and brought his hand to his lips.

Despite his effort to contain the metallic taste rising from the back of his throat, fresh blood spurted from between his fingers.

 

 

Red, tainted with specks of black.

His eyes widened, but quickly his pupils dilated into whites. His eyelashes fluttered as his figure stumbled backwards; even in his gradual state of haze, he did not want to fall towards her.

Behind him, Zhen BuFeng caught his falling figure and barked towards the servants,

"Prepare a room!!"

YuLan stared at Ji SongLi's blood still staining her hand, her mind in turmoil. 

Her heart... she could not feel her heartbeat.

*** *** ***

As soon as the lead Imperial Physician arrived and observed the situation, he had to send for more help from the palace to come.

What happened that day? Not only one, but two people were poisoned. Both were father and son of the Ji clan. What bad stars had befallen the tiger family?

As soon as he performed some acupuncture on Ji ChanFang to streamline his blood flow, rendering the general into a human porcupine, he quickly checked Ji SongLi's pulse.

On the collarbone area of the young man, a black dot was apparent, now surrounded by graying skin. It was the tiny wound caused by the throwing dart he had missed, when he tried to interject the darts aimed at Zhen BuFeng.

 

 

For Ji ChanFang, although he had been poisoned longer, the entry points of the poison were not close to his veins. However, the poison had now spread to his blood streams, trying to rot his arteries from the inside. Fortunately, Ji SongLi had blocked his main acupoints not long after he found his father, so the poison had become slow-acting.

Ji ChanFang was still unconscious, and Wu JianRui would not leave his side for even a second.

Ironically, she had become stronger in the moment of her husband's crisis. Although her figure was becoming more frail as the days changed into nights into days, her orders towards the servants were precise, her care was meticulous. She personally supervised all herbs prescriptions that were prescribed by the Imperial Physician, even personally boiled them most of the time.

She soaked bandages in those herbs; with Meng-momo and Ji LanBai's help, she personally changed and wrapped the bandages onto Ji ChanFang's body. 

The warmth and the herbal attributes of those herbs would theoretically draw the toxins and poisons from Ji ChanFang's body. But as for the poisons that had entered his bloodstreams, only Ji ChanFang could help himself.

Although Ji ChanFang might not be able to fully recover in a long time, if at all, at least his life was now not in any immediate danger.

But for Ji SongLi, the dart had hit practically very close to his veins just above his collarbone. It quickly spread to his neck arteries as he continued to exert himself fighting and riding his horse without rest.

Even though it was only one tiny wound, it was almost fatal.

His breath was currently as weak as a flutter of a dying butterfly's wings.

No herbal mixtures could draw out the poison inside him.

More imperial physicians arrived, and after some moments of discussions, they bowed towards the Second Madame and the three Princes. Zhen BuFeng was also inside the room, sitting closely by Ji SongLi's bed, with YuLan to his side. He had already taken off his armor, but his inner robes were still the same as the one he had worn since two days ago. 

All of them were anxiously waiting in the room Ji SongLi was in. Hai FenChu's eyes were bleary and red; never in her wildest imagination, she might lose both her husband and her son all at once. 

"To report to Madame and Royal Highnesses," the lead physician bowed, "This one could only suggest to try to transmit some external energy towards Young Master Ji's main acupoints."

"What does Master Su mean?" The Crown Prince asked the lead physician.

"It is already impossible to draw the poisons from the outside." The lead physician, the one named Master Su, shook his head slowly, 

"But this one thinks it is worth a try to give some energy to Young Master Ji. If his inner strength is willing and capable enough, with external help, he can gradually expel his poison."

Despite saying that, Physician Su and his peers could not help but to have cold sweat trickling down their backs. The theory was just that: theory.

Transfer of energies to assist the recipient to elevate some relief from mild sickness symptoms were common. But this was deadly poison, and the intended recipient was already laying unconscious, his one foot on death's door. How could this Young Master Ji regulate the external energy he received to aid himself?

Zhen BuFeng's lips were drawn into a tight line as he stared at Ji SongLi's pale face. He stood and quickly straightened up the latter's body into a sitting position, while he himself put his two palms on the younger man's back. From his palms against Ji SongLi's back, a gradual wave of warmth surged out of his fingertips. 

"YuLan." He glanced towards her, "Please keep Ji SongLi's body steady from the front so he won't fall."

YuLan also quickly climbed up the bed and pushed towards his shoulders, counterbalancing Zhen BuFeng's own push to maintain SongLi's straight position.

She might be imagining it, but Ji SongLi's eyelashes trembled slightly.

Zhen BuFeng seemed to notice the wave of the contradicting energy and pushed his inner force further. Soon he widened his eyes as he felt a recoil of energy, "YuLan! Get out of the way!"

YuLan quickly shifted her body aside. 

From Ji SongLi's lips, a burst of black blood spurted out.

Then his body dropped again, his head falling onto her lap.

Lead physician Su's eyes widened in disbelief, "This... may actually work... ."

Zhen BuFeng removed himself from the bed, but soon his body swayed in dizziness. Second Prince Zhang JunLi quickly stepped forward to support him. Zhen BuFeng shook his head,

"It is alright. I just expended too much energy."

"We can take turns," Zhang GuoFu chimed in. He saw YuLan was now attentively attending to Ji SongLi, cleaning traces of blood around his lips with her own sleeves. He grabbed a clean cloth from the water basin inside the room, and handed it to her.

With Zhang GuoFu's assistance, YuLan set Ji SongLi's body into sleeping position again. 

One of the physicians took his pulse,

"It's very faint, but I think his pulse is getting just slightly stronger."

"BuFeng, you take a rest." Crown Prince KongJing tapped the  Zhen Bufeng's shoulder, "My inner energy may not be as good as yours, but we will not let SongLi die."

As he also observed YuLan still cleaning the unconscious young man's face, his brain turned empty for a moment. There were sudden muted whispers inside his brain,

"Let him die. Let him die. Let him die."

He shook his head and kneaded his own temples with his fingers. Lately, the headache was getting stronger. It usually happened when he was paying attention to YuLan or thinking about her. It might be his imagination as well, but he could actually hear voices. The bizarre thing was, it was his own voices, echoing inside him. 

As though there was another person inside him, wanting to take over, wanting to consume...

... consume this young woman in front of him.