The scene was in chaos for a moment.
Qin Yuanxi’s nosebleed startled him; he had never bled so much before. Pressing a handkerchief to his nose, he looked panicked. “I-I’m bleeding.”
Oh my goodness, could it be some terminal illness? Leukemia? What other diseases cause bleeding? Can this medical system even save me?
A myriad of thoughts raced through his mind in an instant, his face turning pale, as he clung to Lu Bohuan’s sleeve, feeling utterly helpless.
“Summon the imperial physician and Yan Shaoning, quick!” Lu Bohuan was also flustered, holding Qin Yuanxi in his arms, wiping the blood from his face, and trying to reassure him. “It’s alright, don’t be afraid. The physician will be here soon, they’ll come immediately.”
His voice quivered, and Qin Yuanxi felt significantly weaker leaning against Lu Bohuan.
“If I really have some terminal illness, you must become the emperor. I entrust the realm to you. I trust you.” Qin Yuanxi grasped Lu Bohuan’s hand. “And Xiao Bao, he’s still so young, don’t be too strict with him, he’s a good kid.”
“And you, you must not forget about me.” Qin Yuanxi’s voice choked up. “I know I’m stubborn, you can find someone else, but don’t forget me. No matter when, you must have a place for me in your heart. If you dare to forget me, even if I become a ghost, I won’t let you off.”
“What nonsense are you talking?” Lu Bohuan scolded sternly. “You’re always thinking about all sorts of nonsense. The physician will be here soon, don’t speak!”
His tone was harsh, but there was a shiver in his voice.
“But…” Qin Yuanxi hadn’t finished speaking when the physicians entered one after another, so he quieted down and shrunk into Lu Bohuan’s embrace.
There were quite a few people who came, at least a dozen at a glance. It seemed like the entire medical facility was mobilized. The situation was daunting, and Qin Yuanxi felt even more flustered.
“Hurry up, what are you dawdling for!”
Before Qin Yuanxi could respond, Lu Bohuan grabbed his wrist and handed it to the physician who had been pushed forward.
He could feel the hand holding his wrist trembling slightly.
At this moment, Qin Yuanxi suddenly felt neither worried nor scared. With one hand free, he helped Lu Bohuan tidy his hair. “Don’t be nervous, I was just teasing you. Everything will be fine, don’t be afraid, don’t be nervous.”
Lu Bohuan held his breath, not speaking or acknowledging Qin Yuanxi, his gaze fixed on the physician. “What’s the situation, Your Majesty?”
“Let me check the pulse on your left hand again.”
Qin Yuanxi obediently extended his left hand. “How is it? Has the physician made a diagnosis?”
“May I ask if Your Majesty has any discomfort?”
In this situation, Qin Yuanxi couldn’t afford to pretend anymore and immediately confessed, “I’m actually feeling quite well, didn’t feel uncomfortable anywhere until I suddenly had a nosebleed when I was drinking medicine just now.”
“No problem, no problem.” The physician finally breathed a sigh of relief, stroking his beard and smiling as he explained, “Your Majesty is perfectly fine, in excellent health. It’s just excessive internal heat due to overconsumption of tonics. I’ve prescribed two doses of cooling medicine to balance it out.”
“It was just a false alarm, Your Majesty and the Empress need not worry.” The physicians behind him also breathed a sigh of relief.
“Your Majesty is in excellent health, just be mindful of having light meals for the next few days.”
After hearing the physician’s words, Qin Yuanxi also sighed in relief and leaned against Lu Bohuan, speaking in a relaxed tone. “Oh well, I was just scaring myself, haha, nothing to worry about.”
Lu Bohuan glanced at him and then asked the physician, “Is His Majesty truly in good health?”
“He’s in excellent health.”
The physician’s response was firm and resolute.
Qin Yuanxi instantly shrunk back, quietly shifting to the side, wanting to distance himself from Lu Bohuan a bit, fearing that Lu Bohuan might explode later, causing blood to splatter everywhere.
“Other than the internal heat, are there any other issues?”
“No other issues.”
“So, the nosebleed was entirely due to excessive consumption of tonics?”
“Indeed.”
“Is it?” Lu Bohuan’s chilly gaze fell on Qin Yuanxi, and he brought over the half-bowl of medicine that Qin Yuanxi hadn’t finished, tasted it, and looked at Qin Yuanxi with a hint of meaning. “Bitter? Unpalatable? Why does the taste I perceive differ from what you said?”
Qin Yuanxi shrank further, looking remorseful, completely unwilling to respond to Lu Bohuan’s words at this moment.
“Have the physician take a look at what’s in this bowl!”
The physician was also unclear about the situation, but since the Empress asked him to check, he could only take the bowl, sniff it, taste it, list out the ingredients, and finally conclude, “It’s a tonic herbal soup. Drinking too much of it indeed tends to cause internal heat.”
“Huh, you’re really pampering yourself.”
No wonder he had a nosebleed. First, he had two large bowls of ginseng chicken soup, then he drank half a bowl of tonic herbal soup. With his small frame, overindulgence in tonics was bound to cause a nosebleed.
“It’s none of your business, you can leave now.”
The physicians filed out, leaving Qin Yuanxi looking at the empty inner hall, huddling into the furthest corner with his blanket.
Looking at Lu Bohuan, he timidly pleaded, “Don’t come over, I can explain, let me explain first, okay?”
“Explain.”
Lu Bohuan indeed didn’t approach, stopping in front of the bed, maintaining his distance from Qin Yuanxi.
It wasn’t that he was concerned about Qin Yuanxi, Lu Bohuan was just afraid that if he got any closer, he wouldn’t be able to control himself. He felt increasingly lawless; Qin Yuanxi dared to deceive him about such matters, nearly scaring him to death just now. Now that he had calmed down, his anger began to rise.
“Um…” When it came time for Qin Yuanxi to explain, he didn’t even know how to explain himself.
The fact that he pretended to be ill was undeniable. Pretending to be ill to skip morning court was incredibly foolish. Lu Bohuan definitely wouldn’t let him off lightly. And then there was the misunderstanding just now. Qin Yuanxi could truly feel Lu Bohuan’s fear because of his lie. Because of this scene caused by his lie, Qin Yuanxi deeply regretted it and felt guilty.
Lu Bohuan cared for him, cherished him, and couldn’t bear to see him suffer even a little bit. All of this was because he didn’t think things through properly and intentionally pretended to be ill to deceive Lu Bohuan. However, no matter how he looked at it, Qin Yuanxi felt extremely sorry for Lu Bohuan. With this realization, his guilt intensified.
“Ah Tuo, I was wrong. I won’t pretend to be ill to deceive you again, really.” Qin Yuanxi stammered as he explained, “I truly didn’t know about the nosebleed just now. I was startled. I just pretended to have a cold and hadn’t fully recovered yet. There really isn’t anything else wrong. Can you not look at me like that? It’s scary.”
“Why pretend to be ill?” Lu Bohuan’s tone sounded very calm.
But the calmer Lu Bohuan was, the more uncertain Qin Yuanxi felt.
Especially when facing such a question, why he pretended to be ill, Lu Bohuan obviously knew the answer, yet he still asked. How could Qin Yuanxi possibly say it out loud? Say that he pretended to be ill just to skip morning court?
This kind of excuse might work in modern society; falsely reporting illness to take a couple of days off work is not uncommon, and the worst that could happen is losing the year-end bonus.
But now his status was different. Although Qin Yuanxi told himself that being an emperor was similar to being a CEO, there were still many differences. As an emperor, he shouldn’t pretend to be ill to slack off. Fundamentally, this matter was wrong!
“I was wrong, truly wrong.”
He knew he was wrong, and he admitted it. But having to explain the reasons for his wrongdoing himself felt extremely shameful. Qin Yuanxi couldn’t say it, especially not in front of Lu Bohuan.
“You know you were wrong?!” Lu Bohuan finally couldn’t contain his anger after holding it in for so long. “Do you even know what your identity is? You pretended to be ill just to skip morning court. As the Emperor of Great Qin, you bear the responsibility of the people. Yet here you are, avoiding your responsibilities and being lazy. Do you think anyone in the court actually wants to attend morning court? You feel wronged? You have to get up before dawn, have you ever considered the ministers, when they wake up and enter the palace? How long it takes for them to walk from here to the Golden Luang Hall? How long it takes for them to enter the palace from outside or even from outside the city? You feel wronged? Among all the courtiers, you are the last one to attend court, everyone waits for you alone. Do you still feel wronged?”
“You think you can slack off and pretend to be ill and skip morning court? What if all the officials follow your lead and pretend to be ill, refusing to attend morning court? Who will handle the affairs of the state? Will anyone care about the lives of the common people? Do you not understand leading by example? Instead, you rely on your status to indulge in pleasure. If you skip morning court today, will you indulge in all sorts of extravagances and debauchery tomorrow?”
Lu Bohuan was very angry, showing no mercy in his words as he scolded Qin Yuanxi thoroughly, making Qin Yuanxi curl up like a quail, wishing he could find a place to hide and never come out.
Feeling a bit wronged towards the end, Qin Yuanxi wanted to defend himself a bit. “I’m just… I’m not indulging in extravagance and debauchery. I just wanted to take a break. I know I was wrong. Why are you still scolding me?”
“Scold you? If I don’t scold you, do you think you’ll learn your lesson? Do you even take it to heart?” Lu Bohuan looked at Qin Yuanxi, who was curled up, feeling both angry and a bit sorry for him. “Indulging in comfort will only erode your intellect. Do you think those foolish kings, those who only seek pleasure, started out being wasteful? They were slowly eroded away. Once their beliefs are shaken, they’re not far from falling. When that time comes, will scolding you still be effective?”
So, this scolding was actually to prevent future problems.
Qin Yuanxi pouted. “Then what should I do? I’ve admitted my mistake. Should I copy books?”
“Copy ‘Nong Sang’ ten times!” Lu Bohuan picked up a large fur cloak, giving Qin Yuanxi a meaningful look. “Feng Xiao Hall. You can come back only when you’ve finished copying.”
He added, “Attend morning court on time!”
Not giving Qin Yuanxi any chance to slack off.
Qin Yuanxi dragged his feet to find his shoes, muttering under his breath, “Why do I have to copy ‘Nong Sang’? I’m not going to farm, and besides, even if I copy it, it’s useless.”
“How is it useless?” Lu Bohuan interjected. “There are many agricultural-related contents in it. Take a good look. There are plenty of people in the world who sleep later than you, wake up earlier than you, do harder work than you, and suffer more than you. They work every day without a single day off, and there’s no phenomenon of pretending to be ill to avoid work. See how they work hard for a mouthful of food and learn a thing or two from it.”
“Oh.” Qin Yuanxi dragged his feet behind Lu Bohuan towards Feng Xiao Hall.
Feng Xiao Hall remained the same old place, with Qin Yuanxi’s previous seat unchanged. It was often cleaned, giving the impression that he had been here copying just yesterday. The feeling was both familiar and unfamiliar.
Lu Bohuan escorted him and settled him in before intending to leave. However, Qin Yuanxi stopped him. “Ah Tuo, don’t be angry. I’ll copy diligently.”
Lu Bohuan didn’t turn back. Qin Yuanxi continued, “I truly know I was wrong. You’re right. Deep down, everyone desires a comfortable life. It was completely absurd of me to feign illness to avoid morning court just to slack off. Your scolding was justified, and I’ll make sure to correct myself. I won’t make the same mistake again.”
“Don’t be angry with me, okay?” Qin Yuanxi’s voice was soft, with a hint of sadness. “If you’re really angry, you can scold me some more. I promise not to talk back. You can scold me however you want.”
Lu Bohuan: …
Who asks for more scolding? Seriously, forget it. He turned his head and glanced at Qin Yuanxi, instructing him, “You better copy diligently. I’ll check when you’re done. If you dare to slack off again, it won’t be as simple as copying books, got it?”
“I got it, I got it.” Qin Yuanxi nodded obediently. “Ah Tuo, you’re not mad at me anymore?”
“When have I ever been mad at you?” Lu Bohuan’s tone sounded somewhat helpless, tinged with a hint of indulgence. “It’s just about this matter, and I was genuinely scared by the nosebleed just now. No more of this in the future, understand?”
“I understand, I understand.” Qin Yuanxi ran over cheerfully and hugged Lu Bohuan. “Then I’ll copy the books diligently. You go on with your tasks.”
“Oh, and you absolutely mustn’t tell Xiao Bao that I’m being punished here.”
Qin Yuanxi repeatedly emphasized. He still needed to maintain his dignified father image in front of his son. How could he let Xiao Bao know that he was caught slacking off and then punished to copy books? That would be too embarrassing, absolutely not!
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
