Chapter 189: Sustaining Injuries

Shen Miao lit a lamp in the night as she wanted to tidy up the books that Shen Qiu had sent over during the day. Shen Qiu always felt that she likes reading and thinking that she would be marrying off, he had instructed people to search for single publications. Some of these single publications recorded the big events of the previous dynasty but some were also romance novels. Shen Miao had planned to gift these novels to Luo Tan and Feng An Ning and keep those books on previous dynasties, as they would perhaps come to use in the future.

Just as she was tidying up, she heard some movement outside her window. She was not accustomed to be waited upon at night so normally Jing Zhe and Gu Yu would retire early and would not be appearing at this time. She looked towards the window but there was no one. After thinking for a bit, Shen Miao open the doors and walked to the courtyard to take a look.

She was not afraid that there were bad people as there was still Cong Yang in this courtyard. If it was someone bad, Cong Yang would have long taken action. Who knew when she walked into the courtyard, she saw someone standing under the tree. She was startled and took two steps forward with the lantern and found that it was Xie Jing Xing.

Xie Jing Xing did not wear his purple long robe and instead changed into an entire body of black clothes. When he was wearing his purple robes, he was a noble gentleman but when wearing black, there was some air of a cold blooded austere around him. A lazy smile was hanging on his face as always and watched as Shen Miao walked up.

Shen Miao felt that something was wrong with Xie Jing Xing but she was unable to say what was wrong. She stood by Xie Jing Xing and asked, "Why stand here?"

If it was in the past, one feared that Xie Jing Xing would have long self invite and entered her room to drink tea.

Xie Jing Xing's lips was raised and before Shen Miao could talk, Xie Jing Xing suddenly fell towards her.

Shen Miao unconsciously supported him but felt a large area of wetness behind him. Using the weak light from the lantern to look, it was shocking to see a large patch of blood. Because winter was too cold, one's sense of smell was not sensitive and one could only smell the strong stench of blood when Xie Jing Xing fell onto her.

She called out softly, "Cong Yang."

No one around answered. Cong Yang seemed to be absent.

Shen Miao was somewhat anxious. Currently in this kind of moment of anxiety, this Cong Yang disappeared at such a time. She dared not alarm others as she did not know where did Xie Jing Xing came from with a body of wounds. She half supported and half hugged Xie Jing Xing to her room and let Xie Jing Xing lie on her bed before wanted to invite a doctor over.

Just as she was about to leave, Xie Jing Xing seemed to wake up for a moment and said, "Don't call anyone."

Shen Miao was stunned and squatted down beside him to ask, "What about your injury?"

Xie Jing Xing struggled to take a bottle of medicine from his clothes and before Shen Miao could ask, he fainted away.

Shen Miao made a decision in that short moment. There was still some hot water in the room that she used to was her hands at night. She poured the hot water out and found a clean handkerchief to wet it and after some hesitation, she slowly untied Xie Jing Xing clothes.

Under the light, the young man's bother was well-proportioned and slender, seemingly containing strength. Shen Miao unfathomably felt her face was somewhat hot and she did her best to move quickly.

Xie Jing Xing's clothes were mostly stained with large patches of blood. Some of the blood had already dried and stuck onto the flesh that with the cold wind blowing, it had seemed to be integrated with him. Every time Shen Miao touches it, Xie Jing Xing would slightly frown, as if he felt uncomfortable unconscious.

For the lack of a better option, she could only look for a silver scissor and heat it up with the fire before carefully cut his clothes apart.

It was not that Shen Miao had never seen a man's body before. Taking Fu Ming for example, she had seen it many times but it was different from facing Xie Jing Xing's. Currently in order to protect Xie Jing Xing, she did not call Jing Zhe or Gu Yu at all and it was somewhat awkward to hold onto Xie Jing Xing's clothes by herself.

But quickly the awkwardness on her face dissipated and what replaced was serious expression.

There were many knife wounds on Xie Jing Xing's body and these wounds were not too deep but there were numerous cross cuts. Even though they were not fatal, but Shen Miao let that with these many wounds, just by bleeding, one's blood would be drain off. She dared not be careless and immediately used her handkerchief that was wet with hot water to clean the blood traces around before sprinkling the medicine powder onto the wound. After unable to find clean cloth, Shen Miao could only use a chest binding cloth that she newly made to wrap his wounds. Shen Miao had never bandage others before but had seen Shen Qiu's soldiers doing it like this so she followed suit. Even thought it was a bit ugly, the bleeding was stopped.

She then took out a few pills from the cupboard for supplementing vital energy. That was bought by Luo Tan for her, saying that when a female's period comes, her vital energy would make one not look good and by eating this, one's vital energy would be better. Even though Xie Jing Xing did not have a period but he had bleed a lot so this should be supplemented. Shen Miao smashed the pill up and used hot water to dissolve it before feeding it to Xie Jing Xing.

After finishing everything up, the night was so deep that domesticated animals were not making any noises. Xie Jing Xing was lying on the bed with three layers of binding cloth wrapped around him, making it look weird no matter how one look.

Shen Miao pursed her lips and planned to turn Xie Jing Xing over and also check if there are any other wounds on his body.

Xie Jing Xing's top was wet but his pants were dry so Shen Miao only suspected that his waist, abdomen and back was injured. When she flipped Xie Jing Xing, she accidentally touched Xie Jing Xing's tight and Shen Miao seemed to be burned by fire. Just as she was about to retract her hand, she suddenly felt that something was not right.

The skin under her hand was hard and not like the skin that was not injured before but felt like it was a thick layer of scaring. Her heart moved and she untied Xie Jing Xing trousers but saw that there was a terrible scar deep in Xie Jing Xing's belly.

Compared to those crisscross wounds from earlier, this was very different. Even though there was many wounds today, they were not deep and thus was not fatal. The scar in front was winding and twisted and very dark in colour as it was an old injury. But even after so long, the scaring was so deep, it was enough to show that when he was injured, the wound was so deep that one could see the bone. It was shocking at sight.

When Xie Jing Xing was in Ming Qi, one did not heard that he had suffered any injuries. Could it be that he sustained these injuries in Great Liang? Shen Miao was suspicious but she discovered that there were other wounds and all the big and small wounds were so deep that the bone could be seen. Even though the wounds were healed, it made other's heart uncomfortable. How did Xie Jing Xing live with so many life and death situations?

She did not realise that she had touched Xie Jing Xing's legs and still wanted to continue feeling. The person on the bed groaned and grabbed her wrist. Shen Miao's face started burning up till it was red as she thought that Xie Jing Xing was awake and misunderstood that she was taking advantage of him. She unconsciously looked at Xie Jing Xing but saw that Xie Jing Xing's lips were closed tightly and his brows were clenched but his eyes were not opened, seemingly not awake.

Shen Miao breathed a sigh of relief. Even though she had many question on those scars, she dared not carry on feeling. Xie Jing Xing's clothes were all torn by her and Shen Miao could only use a larger piece of cloak for Xie Jing Xing to wear and wrapped him tightly. Fearing that Xie Jing Xing would have a fever before his wounds were healed at night, she moved a stood over and sat in front of the bed.

One did not know when she fell asleep like that.

The morning light was slightly dim and the rooster begin to cry. When Shen Miao woke up, she had discovered that she was sleeping on the bed and was covered in a thick blanket. She clearly remembered that she was sitting in front of the bed watching over Xie Jing Xing but did not expect to fall asleep halfway. Most likely she was too tired that she was not even aware of being moved by others.

Her next unconscious move was to turn around and get up. Seeing that the room was empty and there was no sight of Xie Jing Xing, she was in a daze before hearing a laughter behind her, "Looking for me?"

Xie Jing Xing wore a large middle coat over. One did not know where did he found a middle clothes and he just finish washing up as there was a bead of water that flow down from his chin to his clothes. Shen Miao was looking at him in astonishment. Xie Jing Xing was so injured that he was almost unconscious but now it seemed to be full of energy that one was unable to see the critical situation he was in yesterday night.

She asked, "Is your body alright?"

Xie Jing Xing smiled, "Of course."

Shen Miao nodded her head, "Indeed the pill to supplement vital energy is effective. Older Biao Sister did not deceive me."

"Pill to supplement vital energy." Xie Jing Xing frowned, "What is that?"

"It is to supplement vital energy and blood for females." Shen Miao said without any change of expression, "During a female's period, one pill is taken and one's body would not feel that weak. Yesterday night I saw that you had shed a lot of blood and thought that there would be a lack of blood and fed you three pills." She smiled gently and looked at Xie Jing Xing, "For you to recover this quickly, it seems that it is all credited to it."

The smile on Xie Jing Xing's lips froze.

When Shen Miao saw him in shock, her heart could not help but laughed. However she was unable to s smile because Xie Jing Xing had seisurely said, "Oh? In that case then consider touching me last night as reciprocation."

Seeing Shen Miao startled, Xie Jing Xing smiled had become ambiguous, "Yesterday night someone was touching till somewhere."

Shen Miao's expression changed from green to white and back from white to green as she said angrily, "You were awake?"

"Unable to speak but one is still conscious." Xie Jing Xing walked to the front of the table and sat down. After grooming, he felt that it was more like his residence and even poured a cup of hot tea for himself before looking at Shen Miao with a smiled.

Shen Miao hesitated for a bit before asking as she stood still, "What is with the injuries? What exactly happened yesterday?

"Doing some things for you." Xie Jing Xing said it casually, "It is better not to go to the residence of Prince Ding the next time." He stretched lazily, "Fu Xiu Yi really has a lot of different patterns that even I cannot swallow it down."

"You went to the residence of Prince Dong?" Shen Miao's eyes widen, "You went to the underground prison of the residence of Prince Ding?"

Xie Jing Xing's gaze flashed, "Your knowledge of the residence of Prince Ding is not at all little and even know that there is an underground prison." He said, "Correct. I went there for a walk yesterday night and resue your Pei Lang out in passing."

Shen Miao looked at him stunned.

He did not expect that Xie jing Xing would personally rescue as Xie Jing Xing's identity was sensitive and Fu Xiu Yi was not one who could be fooled easily. Once Fu Xiu Yi discover any clues, Xie Jing Xing would inevitable have a lot of troubles. Shen Miao requested Xie Jing Xing's help as she knew that there were many talented people around Xie Jing Xing but did not think that Xie Jing Xing would put himself in danger.

Shen Miao could not tell the feeling in her heart but if it was the residence of Prince Ding then Xie Jing Xing's entire body of injuries would be justified.

Fu Xiu Yi was a very cautious and paranoid person and because he also had many enemies, Prince Ding would put on an appearance, that it was impervious to criticism. As for the underground prison of the residence of Prince Ding, those who were locked there were all important criminals that were deemed so by Fu XIu Yi. Most of the spies from his enemies would be send here and as the prison was hidden, that place held a lot of secrets of the residence of Prince Din. It could be said that Fu Xiu Yi had spent a lot of effort to protect he underground prison which exceeds that of the residence of Prince Ding.

Under such circumstances, Xie Jing Xing went to infiltrate the underground prison himself and even rescued someone. It was already difficult to stay alive.

Seeing Shen Miao in a daze, Xie Jing Xing turned his head to the side and looked at him suspiciously before asking, "Why you did not ask if your Gentleman Pei is alive or dead?"

Shen Miao recovered to his senses, "Is he still alive?"

"Alive and kicking." Xie Jing Xing's eyebrow rose, "Not even a spark has landed on him."

Shen Miao caught the keyword in his words, "Fire?"

"I set a fire to the underground prison of the residence of Prince Ding." Xie Jing Xing said, "Roots are eliminated when weeds are destroyed."

Shen Miao suck in a mouthful of cold air. If the underground prison of the residence of Prince Ding was burned down then Fu Xiu Yi would definiately chase and kill the arsonist. The people who were locked in the underground prison had secrets that Fu Xiu Yi wanted to know but the fire that Xie Jing Xing set off will hid those secrets from Fu Xiu Yi forever. How would Fu Xiu Yi let Xie Jing Xing off easily when his loss was this great?

At such a time, Shen Miao could not help but admire Xie Jing Xing. She had thought that her guts were great but that was due to the memories she had of the previous lifetime that made her dare to do such things but Xie Jing Xing always did whatever he wanted. Even if he penetrated into Heavens, he would also find that the Heavens was not secure.

Shen Miao was silent for a while before asking, "He is now in the residence of Prince Rui?"

Xie Jing Xing said, "Gao Yang is treating him."

She felt somewhat strange upon hearing it. Gao Yang was treating Pei Lang so why did Xie Jing Xing not let Gao Yang treat him and instead came to her courtyard with injuries? Could it be that Xie Jing Xing though that her medical skills were higher than that of Gao Yang?

However she had questions on hand that she wanted to clarify. She looked at Xie Jing Xing for a while and Xie Jing Xing smiled, "What are you looking at me for? I am not this kind if it was not for you…"

"How did the injuries come out? Shen Miao interrupted his words.

"There are a lot of guards at the residence of Prince Ding and Fu Xiu Yi has a number of suicide soldiers." It was rare that Xie Jing Xing would explain it to her, "It is not convenient to have too many people and only one person can enter."

"Not this." After Shen Miao was silent for a moment, she asked, "Your old wounds looked very deep. Are those injuries sustained in Great Liang?"

Xie Jing Xing was startled and did not speak.

"One did not hear any information in Ming Qi that your life is in danger." Shen Miao said, "It looked like it was an injury that was sustained last year. How did it came about?"

"Care about me?" Xie Jing Xing looked at him with a smile but not a smile, "Small matters, not worth mentioning."

"I want to know." Shen Miao's eyes hang down, "Be it preparation for Great Liang. You cannot just let me go there unprepared and face a completely strange place and people."

This reason was very reasonable and high-sounding but Shen Miao knew that the reason of why she wanted to know where these wounds were sustained had no relation to that.

Other than the hatred she had in her past life, Xie Jing Xing deeply understood her but at Shen Miao's end, there were a lot of areas where she did not understand Xie Jing Xing. In the past she feared to know because the more secrets she knew about a dangerous person like Xie Jing Xing, the more dangerous it would be for her. Now she took the initiative to know more about Xie Jing Xing.

Xie Jing Xing looked at the tea in front of him and smiled, "Injuries sustained from Northern Jiang."

Shen Miao suddenly looked up.

Xie Jing Xing said blandly, "There are Imperial family's people in the Xie family army. In the beginning to Northern Jiang, because of changes to the plan, I had to restore my Great Liang identity in advance. However it is also true that there was an ambush in the Xie family army."

"The people of Northern Jiang and the Imperial family had coordinate outside and inside offensive and set up a conspiracy and it was originally targeted at Xie Ding. However because I had requested commander, it was changed to me. That day I had some precaution up but did not expect that the trusted confidant of Marquis Xie were the Emperor's people and he schemed against me. Even though Great Liang's Mo Yan Army came to rescue secretly, I was seriously injured. Imperial Older Brother used the ruse with another. Actually I was taken back to Great Liang for recovery and could only get out of bed after half a year of rehabilitation." He looked at Shen Miao and smiled disapprovingly, "Accurately speaking, it was sustained in Ming Qi."

A wave washed over Shen Miao's heart but in a flash she woke up to reality.

She was thinking of how could Xie Jing Xing be wounded? So it was like that.

Many things had changed from the previous lifetime and now and the Xie family's father and son was one of it. In the previous lifetime it was Xie Ding that went for the expedition first and the army was defeated and he was dead. Afterwards the residence of the Marquis of Lin An declined and Xie Jing Xing took the Imperial decree and set off for another expedition but had an ending of having a thousand arrows pierce through his heart. Not mentioning that Xie Jing Xing did fake his death, the one key point that certain was that it was the Fu family that planned early on for the residence of the Marquis of Lin An to have the father and son to die in the battlefield.

Because of some changes in this lifetime, one did not know why did Xie Jing Xing changed his mind and went on the expedition in advance. The Emperor initially wanted to deal with the Marquis of Lin An so one took the situation and changed it to Xie Jing Xing. When Xie Jing Xing died, one did not expect that the Marquis of Lin An would be ruined at a stroke that the Imperial family need not have to take further action.

Like this, it would be aligned to the sentence 'there is no nurturing but only expungement from Ming Qi to me' that Xie Jing Xing said to Su Ming Feng.

Ming Qi indeed expunge Xie Jing Xing. The Marquis of Lin An after all had made great contributions to Ming Qi but the bow was cast aside when the birds were gone. Once an official had performed great meritorious services, the Emperor could not wait to suppress them. Even though Shen Miao had long knew about it, the Imperial family was definitely related to the decline of the residence of the Marquis of Lin An in the past lifetime but it was different to hear it personally from Xie Jing Xing.

If even Xie Ding's confidant was a spy of the Imperial family, then each move in the residence of Lin An would be seen by Emperor Wen Hui. As Xie Jing Xing was not close to Xie Ding when young, perhaps at the beginning he knew that the Imperial family people never left the residence of the Marquis of Lin An even though he was unable to confirm who the spy was.

Perhaps there were people of Emperor Wen Hui that was managing Madam Fang, Xie Chang Chao but currently Xie Chang Chao and Xie Chang Wu were both dead, making Madam Fang almost collapse and since there were no successor to the residence of Marquis of Lin An, Emperor Wen Hui would no longer have any thoughts of touching the residence of Marquis of Lin An.

Shen Miao looked at Xie Jing Xing again but her heart was congratulating the new lease of life.

The life Xie Jing Xing had in Ming Qi was indeed not as great as Su Ming Feng had imagine. Perhaps at the beginning when Great Liang sent Xie Jing Xing over, they valued the residence of the Marquis of Lin An's status and thinking of Princess Yu Qing's sudden death, the Marquis of Lin An would dote on this son even more. However one did not think that there were hidden dangers in this seemingly splendid Marquis residence. Xie Jing Xing, living in the residence of the Marquis of Lin An, might not be happier than living in an ordinary family. On the contrary, one feared that from his youth, he had already been forced to accept a life that many adults could hardly adapt to.

Fighting, scheming, mutual deception, hypocritical show of affection from the Imperial family and the murderous intention hidden in the bliss.

If in the Northern Jiang's battlefield, Great Liang did not come to rescue or if there were delay in timing, the current Xie Jing Xing would really become a cup of Earth.

Xie Jing Xing saw Shen Miao's expression and even though she tried to keep calm, there were some waves in her breathing. His lips hooked to a smile and his hand reached across the table and stroked her head, "What are you scared of? Upon reaching Great Liang, with me around who would dare to touch you?"

"There is also an Imperial family in Great Liang." Shen Miao had felt that things were not that simple.

Xie Jing Xing disapproved, "I am also the Imperial family." He retrieved his hand back and said unperturbed, "Other than Imperial Older Brother, you do not need to fear anyone. Even if you see Imperial Older Brother and angered him, just tell me and I will be able to ensure your safety."

"Great Liang is my territory, whoever dared to bully you is going against with everything under Heavens." Xie Jing Xing said, "In the future, the tough straits in Ming Qi will not be mentioned else it would hurt one's self-esteem."

He laughed teasingly but Shen Miao felt a little sour in her heart.

How could it hurt one's self-esteem? It was just that the past was not considered happy and not worth mentioning. After suffering for many bitter years, the Imperial descendant that should have enjoyed no worries and filled with innocence but was indeed living a life of an ant under the pressure of another country.

After speaking some more words, the skies brighten and seeing that it was almost time for Jing Zhe and Gu Yu to wake Shen Miao up, Xie Jing Xing then left.

After Xie Jing Xing left, one did not know where Cong Yang pop up from. Shen Miao glared and him before asking, "Why are you not present last night?"

Last night Xie Jing Xing was injured and in such a critical situation, Cong Yang disappeared and now that he appeared, he had already left.

Cong Yang's apologetic voice sounded, "Young Madam, it was unfortunate that there was a task yesterday and this subordinate thought that one would be back quickly but who knew that there were some delays in the middle. Upon returning, it was already morning of the second day." His expression was of annoyance but sincere as he asked, "Does Young Madam have anything to instruct?"

"Nothing." Shen Miao waved her hands and closed the window before walking away.

Cong Yang jumped back up to the tree, feeling very wrong in his heart. Yesterday night Master had instructed him not to make a noise so Cong Yang could only stay on the tree the entire night and did not even cover himself with a blanket. One did not know what Master and Young Madam did in the room. Thinking about it again, Master only suffered a slight injury but still came all the way to the Shen mansion in a rush and did not even let Gentleman Gao stop the blood and instead let it flow to the entire body just to make Young Madam's heart ache.

The pitiful one was him, being blown by cold wind for the entire night, still being blamed by Young Madam and Master did not give any reward at all. How come no one heart ache for him?

At the other end, Xie Jing Xing was walking on the road towards the residence of Prince Rui.

Gao Yang had already made changes to all the residences between the residence of Prince Rui and the Shen mansion that there were no wall obstructions between the residences and it had almost became a long serious of big courtyards.

The cold wind in deep winter was heavy and his loose fitting middle clothes was only arbitrarily covered with a black cloak. With the contrast of black and white, it made his face look paler.

He did not wear a mask but his expression was not as relax as it usually was. The beautiful and always arched peach blossoms eyes were rather cold and heavy and there was a trace of indifference.

He after all lied to Shen Miao.

Among those vertical and horizontal wounds, other than those from Northern Jiang, there were some from Great Liang.

The wound from Northern Jiang was of course given by Xie Ding's most trusted Vice General in the thousands of Xie family army. That one wound was so deep that one could see the bone and afterwards when he was recuperating in Great Liang for half a year, it was said that he almost unable to pass this hurdle. At the end it was Gao Yang who did his utmost to save him from the hands of the King of the Netherworld. Gao Yang had said that if that wound was just higher by a Li (1 Li = 1 cm) or if he was sent a moment later to Gao Yang, one would not be able to save his life at all.

Other than Gao Yang, Emperor Yong Le and his confidants that knew of his injuries, no one outside knew about it. After appearing in Great Liang, he was still the grandly dress and perfect looking Prince Rui.

It was just that it was not an easy matter to have a Prince of the First Rank suddenly appearing in the Imperial family. Even if Emperor Yong Le used the Imperial might to suppress it, everything in this world was related to interests. The appearance of Prince Rui would cause some people's interest to be impacted. Thus, there were endless of sneak attacks, assassination and conspiracy and the means were extremely difficult to distinguish.

It was not that there was no moments of life and death and that it was so dangerous that one's life was on the line. He had suffered a lot of injuries. The fight in Great Liang was more dangerous than Ming Qi after all his identity was hidden in Ming Qi and the Imperial family was targeting the entire residence of the Marquis of Lin An and not him alone. In Great Liang, all the danger came from the title Prince Rui and all the small and big hidden attacked wanted his life.

And after every time when the dangerous period was over, he would appear in court on the second day and was still that smiling and lazy Prince Rui. After a long time in the hearts of everyone, Prince Rui was one who had deep schemes and scary abilities. They no longer make rash moves and they would show respect and fear to him. In their hearts, they could not wait for Prince Rui to die but had to nod one's head and bow in front of Prince Rui.

That was what Xie Jing Xing wanted at the risk of his life.

He had used two years to seat steadily on the identity of Prince Rui of Great Liang and there was no one who dared to doubt him, challenge him or scheme him. Those assassination attempts during the snowy nights and traps that were set in court were just like the dark clothes he wore yesterday, all being cut up.

Standing under the light was a person who was forever elegant and dirt free.

Shen Miao had said, "Be it preparation for Great Liang. You cannot just let me go there unprepared and face a completely strange place and people."

In this winter morning, Xie Jing Xing walked slowly and as his green boots stepped on the snow, a squeaking sound was made and the ice crystals swayed from the tree, just like gems were hung.

A faint smile floated on his lips.

What was there to prepare?

Anyways he would clear all the troubles before then.