Chapter 244: Chapter 244: There’s too much lack of love in this world

“So the empress dowager wouldn’t have expected an ‘assassin’ to appear today, either?” Ning Xiaoyao caught a hint of Lou Zigui’s thinking before mentally lighting a candle in Empress Dowager Xie’s name. Looks like she’s due for abuse again.

“Wait here for me,” Lou Zigui turned to leave.

“I can fetch my own water to bathe,” Ning Xiaoyao called after him. “Supreme Commander, you should do what you have to do. Go pick on the empress dowager, bully her good.”

“I want to do something for your sake,” Lou Zigui patted Ning Xiaoyao’s head as he strode out the door.

“.......” said Ning Xiaoyao. Then you might as well bring me back a bag of sugar beans instead, ah!

Imperial Physician Gao saw a bloodstained Lou Zigui emerge from the inner rooms and quickly stepped to greet him in an urgent tone. “How is His Majesty?”

“You should go take a look,” Lou Zigui tossed back before circling around him and heading out.

Imperial Physician Gao all but ran into the room. His Majesty might have superb medical skills, but by principle, doctors weren’t supposed to treat themselves!

As soon as Ning Xiaoyao saw Imperial Physician Gao rush in, she waved a hand at him from her perch on the bed. “Little Gao, so you’ve come, ah.”

Imperial Physician Gao dashed right to the bed and almost wanted to yell at her. Is now the time to wave hello?! But he only looked doubtfully at her face and asked, “Is Your Majesty alright now?”

“I’m fine, ah,” Ning Xiaoyao laughed. “Did I scare you?”

Imperial Physician Gao drew a blank before he cried, “This is impossible!”

Ning Xiaoyao stopped laughing and asked, “Did you want me to be seriously injured?”

Imperial Physician Gao quickly shook his head. How could I ever think that?

“Then what do you mean by that?” Ning Xiaoyao asked.

Imperial Physician Gao pointed at the blood all over her body.

“Oh,” Ning Xiaoyao took out a blood bag from inside her robes and tossed it on the bed. “See that? A blood bag. The blood on my body’s all fake.”

The blood bag was made of some thin, unknown animal skin that would burst with the slightest force. It wasn’t transparent like modern blood bags, so Imperial Physician Gao couldn’t even tell if the contents held actual human blood. But as he looked at the intact bag, his gaze drifted back to Ning Xiaoyao again. This bag isn’t even broken, yet you’re saying that your blood is fake? Do you take me for an idiot?

“I had two blood bags with me, ah,” Ning Xiaoyao explained.

Imperial Physician Gao’s face was wooden. “Your Majesty, the stab wound on your neck is still there.” It hasn’t even healed completely yet. Does Your Majesty think I’m blind?

“Oh, that,” Ning Xiaoyao said. “The empress was too moved when she saw me, so she hugged me and bit me on my neck. Heheh, her kisses were a little too strong.”

(#‵′)凸 , went Imperial Physician Gao. Do you even trust what you’re saying right now?!

“It’s fine, relax,” Ning Xiaoyao couldn’t reach out to pat Imperial Physician Gao’s shoulder from the bed, so she ended up patting his chest. “Supreme Commander should have told you everything already, right?”

Imperial Physician Gao nodded. “Yes, Supreme Commander told me, but he never mentioned you’d be covered in blood, Your Majesty.”

“That’s true, ah,” Ning Xiaoyao sighed with feeling. Who knew the empress could be so callous?

“Your Majesty, can this subject take your pulse?” Imperial Physician Gao asked. He was still uneasy at the sight of so much blood.

“Sure,” Ning Xiaoyao offered her arm.

Imperial Physician Gao half knelt by the bed as he held his breath and took Ning Xiaoyao’s pulse. Ning Xiaoyao said, “Little Gao, whatever happens after this, just do as Supreme Commander says.”

“Yes, this subject obeys the decree,” Imperial Physician Gao replied.

“And to outsiders, Little Gao,” Ning Xiaoyao continued, “Just cry if they ask you how I’m doing.”

Imperial Physician Gao gave a start. “Your Majesty, does this subject need to cry every single time?”

“Hm? You can’t do that? Then just show a pained expression,” Ning Xiaoyao replied.

Why would I wear a pained expression out of the blue for no reason? Imperial Physician Gao wondered privately.

Ning Xiaoyao pondered before asking, “That needs acting skills too. Little Gao, do you know how?”

Imperial Physician Gao shook his head. He was only a doctor, so how would he know how to act?

“I’ll teach you,” Ning Xiaoyao said with a burst of enthusiasm. “When you’re acting, just think about this: my wife’s been snatched away and doesn’t love me anyone, but that other bastard!”

“........” said Imperial Physician Gao.

“If that doesn’t work, you can think of this too,” Ning Xiaoyao continued. “I worked so hard to raise my daughter, such a cute and adorable girl, such a gentle and soft girl, but now she’s running away with that bastard!”

Imperial Physician Gao could finally speak up. “Your Majesty, this subject has no daughters.”

“Urk,” Ning Xiaoyao’s expression grew grave. “Then make it your son that’s run off with someone else?”

Imperial Physician Gao was mute.

“Other things like patricide and clan extermination feels too cruel to me,” Ning Xiaoyao said as she thought of more possibilities.

As if the first three aren’t cruel enough?! Imperial Physician Gao said, “Your Majesty, can you let this subject take your pulse in peace?” Can you shut up and let me see where you’re ill?!

Ning Xiaoyao creased her brows. “You still haven’t finished yet?”

Imperial Physician Gao decided that it’d be better if he didn’t talk. Speaking with His Majesty was torture!

“Your Majesty?” Shadowrain’s voice called from outside the room.

“Speak on my behalf and let Third Rain in,” Ning Xiaoyao whispered quickly.

“Your Majesty can’t speak?” Imperial Physician Gao asked.

“I’m playing dead, ah. What if a spy overhears me talking? Can you guarantee that Supreme Splendor Hall doesn’t have any agents, Little Gao?” Ning Xiaoyao looked at Imperial Physician Gao as if he was a fool.

Imperial Physician Gao simply pretended not to notice before he turned towards the door. “Come in.”

Shadowrain heard Imperial Physician Gao’s voice instead of His Majesty and felt greatly alarmed. He pushed open the door and sprinted inside. There, Ning Xiaoyao was sitting on the bed and waving at him. In the span of a few seconds, Shadowrain had dropped to Hell and climbed to Heaven all over again.

“Third Rain, ah,” Ning Xiaoyao said in a low voice.

Shadowrain ran to the bed and stared at the blood on her clothes before he shrank back and trilled, “Your Majesty?”

“Fake, it’s all fake,” Ning Xiaoyao said hastily. “The injury and blood’s both fake. Don’t cry, Third Rain.”

Shadowrain’s eyes were turning red, but he rubbed them in response to her words.

“Come, sit and talk.” Ning Xiaoyao said.

Shadowrain was too distraught to think straight, so he did exactly as he was told. The differences between master and servant didn’t matter now as he settled on the bed and asked, “Your Majesty, you’re really alright?”

“I’m fine,” Ning Xiaoyao said. “If I was really in trouble, Supreme Commander wouldn’t leave me and busy himself about.”

Shadowrain started at the stab wound on Ning Xiaoyao’s neck. She sighed in response. Because she’d saved the empress’s baby first, then detoxified both the poison from the soup and dagger, then stopped her bleeding and mended up her tissues, she’d used too much powers at once and lost her energy. Otherwise, she’d be perfectly scar-free by now!

“You’re really okay?” Shadowrain asked.

“It’s a minor injury. See? The skin’s almost grown back already,” Ning Xiaoyao stuck out her neck so Shadowrain could CHECK for himself.

Imperial Physician Gao stared at Ning Xiaoyao. That’s not what you told me just then.

The healing injury did nothing to alleviate Shadowrain’s fears. He still looked at Ning Xiaoyao with red eyes, his heart filled with distress as he grit his teeth. If possible, he’d go to the empress’s palace right now and murder that woman.

“Don’t be like that,” Ning Xiaoyao coaxed him. “Come on, give Your Majesty a smile.”

Imperial Physician Gao looked up to stare at Shadowrain. It’d be absurd for anyone to smile under these circumstances, right?

Shadowrain rubbed at his eyes again before he spoke. “Big bro and the rest sent me here to check on Your Majesty. Supreme Commander said Your Majesty was alright, but n-none---none of us could stop worrying.”

“Then you’ve seen me now,” Ning Xiaoyao said with hasty nods. “See? I’m really alright.”

“Yes,” Shadowrain replied. “I’ll tell big bro and the others.”

“What’s the situation outside now?” Ning Xiaoyao asked.

Shadowrain reported, “Supreme Commander’s leading the imperial guards to search the palace. He had Fourth Lightning surround the empress’s palace on all sides.”

Ning Xiaoyao’s eyes widened. “He surrounded the empress’s palace first?”

Shadowrain said, “The empress was shouting how Your Majesty had been attacked by an assassin on her way back to her own palace.”

“And then?” Ning Xiaoyao asked.

“Mute Nanny couldn’t stop her, so she knocked the empress unconscious,” Shadowrain said, but only felt a flash of hatred at the thought. Mute Nanny was too soft on her!

“My God,” Ning Xiaoyao fretted, “The empress is still pregnant.”

“Your Majesty, don’t worry,” Shadowrain said. “The little prince is unharmed. We, we’ll definitely ensure that nothing ill befalls him.” No matter how much the empress deserves to die, her baby is still an imperial son of the first wife!

Alright. Ning Xiaoyao habitually scratched her palms. The Dragon Guards have no idea that the baby belong to that Xu fellow. “Suppose it’s a daughter instead?” she managed to ask.

“Whether it’s a prince or a princess, it’s still Your Majesty’s first child,” Shadowrain said seriously. “Even if I die, I’ll protect the little master.”

Ning Xiaoyao didn’t know how to continue the conversation anymore. She didn’t dare to imagine Shadowrain’s reaction once he found out the truth.

“How long are you planning to hold onto His Majesty’s hand?” Shadowrain barked at Imperial Physician Gao next. “Are you capable or not? If not, just speak up instead of pretending!”

“........” said Imperial Physician Gao. Just who did I tick off today?

“Don’t,” Ning Xiaoyao consoled him. “Third Rain, don’t vent your anger on Little Gao, he’s innocent. Tell me, what else did Supreme Commander do?”

“Supreme Commander brought big bro and the others to the empress dowager’s palace,” Shadowrain finally stopped glaring at Imperial Physician Gao. “Big bro said that the assassin is over there.”

“Oh,” Ning Xiaoyao sighed. It’s good that Supreme Commander didn’t kill his way to the empress’s palace instead.

Imperial Physician Gao couldn’t help but ask, “Supreme Commander went to the empress dowager’s palace? To meet with the empress dowager? But he’s not one of the inner ministers.”

Shadowrain glared at him again. “Which is more important, a rogue assassin or the empress dowager?”

“No,” Ning Xiaoyao said, “Third Rain, you should ask him this way: which is more important, my life or the empress dowager’s reputation?”

“.......” said Imperial Physician Gao. Of course Your Majesty’s life is important, but the empress dowager would much rather choose death if she loses her reputation, right? All of a sudden, Imperial Physician Gao felt that he’d understood something. Was this all part of a plan to ally with the empress and ruin the empress dowager’s good name so as to force her to death? (Author: Is your emperor really that vicious? o(╯□╰)o)

“I want to eat sugar beans,” Ning Xiaoyao said next.

Shadowrain hurriedly ran off to get some. Forget about sugar beans, he’d be willing to hunt down a dragon if His Majesty wanted dragon meat right now!

Imperial Physician Gao raised his eyes to look at Ning Xiaoyao. Is eating sugar beans all you can think about at a time like this?

“How’s my pulse?” Ning Xiaoyao asked. If he keeps staring at me like that, I’ll want to beat him up. What does he mean by looking at me like I’m some villain?

Imperial Physician Gao ducked his head. “Your Majesty is fine.”

“Mm, your medical skills aren’t bad,” Ning Xiaoyao praised him.

“Is Your Majesty going to kill Esteemed Empress Dowager?” Imperial Physician Gao asked.

Ning Xiaoyao felt stifled. She’d just praised him, but here he was ruining her mood. There’s too much lack of love in this world!