Chapter 158

Wei Luo had been watching the doctor’s expression this entire time. Seeing the change in his expression, her heart clenched and she nervously asked, “What’s wrong?”

Doctor Sun’s expression was grim and he asked Wei Luo a few common questions. For example, did her lower abdomen hurt the most when her period came? Did her hands and feet feel very chilly during winter? He continued asking other similar questions. Wei Luo nodded yes to all of his questions.

After Doctor Sun finished asking these questions, he had a solution in mind. He said to Wei Luo and Zhao Jie, “To respond to the prince and princess consort, the princess consort has the condition known as “cold uterus”. Her qi and blood is lacking. If she wants to conceive a child, I’m afraid it’ll be more difficult compared to other women.”

Wei Luo couldn’t resist tightly gripping the cotton-padded cushion beneath her body. She instinctively looked at Zhao Jie.

Zhao Jie was slightly calmer than her. He asked, “Is there a way to fix this? Will the method be bad for her health?”

Doctor Sun was after all a doctor that specialized in treating problems that afflicted women. This type of illness was easy for him to treat. As he put away the silk cloth, he said, “There’s naturally a way to fix this and it won’t have any adverse effect on the princess consort’s body. Enriching the blood will only make the princess consort healthier.”

Doctor Sun had made the situation seem serious enough. Seeing Wei Luo’s nervous expression, he finally smiled and said, “First of all, the princess consort should pay special attention to keeping warm. Don’t let yourself be too cold. Second, soak your feet in hot water every day for half an hour. Furthermore, if two acupuncture points, qi hai xue and guan yuan xue are warmed by a moxa every day, then the treatment will be significantly more effective.”

(Note: Qi hai xue and guan yuan xue are acupuncture points that’s an inch and a half and three inches, respectively, below the bellybutton.)

Wei Luo earnestly recorded his words in her mind.

Doctor Sun stood up and leaned over a small, vermillion-lacquered table with curved edges to write down a prescription. “Your Highness, please also use this lu tai ointment along with the other treatment methods. This ointment shouldn’t be used more or less frequently than twice a day.”

(Note: Lu tai ointment is made from deer fetus and antler and over thirty Chinese herbal medicine.)

Wei Luo had Jin Lu take the prescription. She couldn’t help asking, “Will I be able to conceive a child if I follow your instructions?”

Doctor Sun smiled, “It’s possible. Your Highness, you’re still young.”

Wei Luo asked another question, “How long will it take?”

Doctor Sun said, “This varies from person to person. This old doctor can’t say for sure. If Your Highness’s body becomes healthier, you should be able to have a little heir soon.”

Wei Luo wouldn’t feel safe trusting someone else with this task, so she ordered Bai Lan to follow the Doctor Sun with getting the medicinal ingredients and paid the doctor separately for his diagnose.

After Doctor Sun was sent off, Wei Luo kept thinking about Doctor Sun’s words. She immediately ordered Jin Lu to boil water. She wanted to soak her feet and try the moxibustion. The prince’s residence didn’t have a doctor that was an expert in moxibustion, so they had to find a doctor first. Wei Luo impatiently looked at Zhao Jie. Zhao Jie felt her gaze and walked to the doorway to call Zhu Geng and Yang Hao over.

“Your Highness.” The two of them said in unison.

Zhao Jie said, “I’ll give you one day. Bring over all of the capital’s doctors that are experts in moxibustion here.”

The two of them froze for a moment. It would be difficult to just walk through the entire capital in one day, much less look for all of the moxibustion doctors. However, when they raised their heads and saw Zhao Jie’s solemn expression that didn’t show the slightest hint that he was joking, they lowered the heads and said, “Understood. This subordinate will leave right now.”

When Zhao Jie walked back to the room, Wei Luo was already sitting on the couch and soaking her feet. Seeing that he had return, she asked, “Did you send people to look?”

Zhao Jie nodded and sat down by Wei Luo’s side. “Can you stop worrying now?”

Wei Luo curved her eyes and nodded. But, she quickly became depressed again. Her small face twisted as she asked Zhao Jie, “What if my health doesn’t improve? What if I can’t ever have a child?”

Zhao Jie held her hands in his hands and matter-of-factly said, “Then, you won’t give birth to a child.”

Wei Luo incredulously looked at him, “But you have to have a child. The empress has wanted a grandson for such a long time.”

Zhao Jie tilted his head and looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

Wei Luo took her hands out of his and traced the edge of the couch. After she considered for a long time, she finally decided and said, “You can’t have a concubine or have any other women.” She pursed her pink lips. Her voice was slightly choked with emotion as she said, “If you really need an heir and have to touch another woman, don’t let me know or let me see. Don’t bring her back to this residence until after we’re divorced.”

The room was extremely quiet. There wasn’t any sound for a long time.

Wei Luo didn’t realize that Zhao Jie’s expression had turned gloomy and cold until she finally raised her head. His expression was so ugly that it would terrify other people.

He asked with gritted teeth, “What did you say?”

This was the first time that Zhao Jie showed this type of expression towards her. In the past, he would only direct this type of expression towards other people. His expression always had a hint of a smile when he looked at her. Even if he was in bad mood, he couldn’t bear to say a single harsh word to her. As a result, this expression made Wei Luo want to shrink back. “I…”

Before she could finish speaking, Zhao Jie fiercely interrupted her, “Impossible.”

Zhao Jie’s hands were clenched into first. He was so angry that he almost wanted to squeeze the young girl’s neck, eat her raw flesh, and drink her blood. She didn’t understand his meaning. He didn’t care if she couldn’t give birth to a child. As long as he could have her, it would be enough. But, what had she said? She wanted to divorce him and could accept him marrying another woman. Zhao Jie really wanted to pry open her brain and see what she was thinking in her mind.

Wei Luo regretted her words as soon as she said them. She anxiously stretched her hand out and grabbed Zhao’s hand, “I was just casually saying those words. It wasn’t my true intention. Don’t be angry.”

Zhao Jie didn’t move at all. He didn’t even turn his hand over to hold her hand in his. He only closed his eyes and tiredly said, “I’m going outside to walk around.”

Wei Luo knew that he was angry. If she really allowed him to go out without clearing up their misunderstanding, their grievance would only worsen with time. She hurriedly stood up and grabbed his sleeve. “Don’t! You can’t go out!”

She had forgotten that she was soaking her feet. Both of her feet were inside a wooden basin. She stumbled for a moment before she started to fall forward. Wei Luo closed her eyes and thought this fall was really going to hurt. However, she didn’t feel pain and only felt warmth. When she raised her head, Zhao Jie was directly looking at her with an expressionless face. His thin lips lightly curved up as he said, “Don’t think that I’ll forgive you just because you threw yourself into my arms.”

Wei Luo flattened her lips, then she took advantage of the situation to tightly hug him. “You’re not allowed to go out.”

Zhao Jie looked at her without saying a word. A short while later, he returned her hug and sat down while holding her. He took a towel from a nearby shelf, lifted up her feet, and lowered his eyes as he dried her feet for her.

Wei Luo look at him for a while before she asked, “Are you still mad?”

Zhao Jie stayed silent and only raised his eyes. He was clearly asking her, “What do you think?”

Wei Luo resigned herself to being wrong and silently accepted his anger.

A while after Zhao Jie had finished drying her feet, Jin Lu came into the room and brought a bowl of prepared medicine. This was the medicine that Doctor Sun had prescribed to replenish blood and improve her qi. As Wei Luo drank her medicine, she said to Zhao Jie, “So bitter.”

Zhao Jie was sitting at the bedside and his hand was holding a book with the title “Jin Gui Ji Zhu”. He seemed as if he hadn’t heard Wei Luo’s words.

(Note: This book is part of a collection of medical books.)

Trying to speak to Zhao Jie would only be courting a rebuff. After Wei Luo finished drinking the medicine, applied the lu taiointment, washed her face, and rinsed her mouth, she climbed into bed. When she rolled herself into the inner part of the bed, Zhao Jie didn’t even glance in her direction.

So petty. Wei Luo raised her head to look at him. She stretched her hand and tugged his arm. She looked at him with a genuine expression on her snow-white face, “Don’t be angry anymore.”

Zhao Jie was finally willing to look at her, but he only looked at her for a moment before looking away and continuing to read his book.

The servant girls had all left the room by now. The lighting in the room was dim. The only light came from a porcelain lamp that was on the square table that was decoratively carved with chrysanthemums and inlayed with ivory and by the bedside.

Wei Luo sat up. She looked at Zhao Jie and seriously said, “I didn’t mean those words. Big brother is so wonderful. How could I be willing to let someone else have you? You can only belong to me. If anyone dares to delusionally think she can have you, I’ll be the first person to not let her off. You can’t have a child with someone else either. Even if the empress pressures you, you still can’t agree. If you dare to agree, even if that woman becomes pregnant, I won’t allow her to give birth to that child.”

Zhao Jie looked at her. The more she spoke, the more her words got off track. How did her normal apology become twisted to that direction?

Wei Luo also realized that she had strayed from the original topic. Disregarding everything, she threw herself into Zhao Jie’s arms. “Anyways, I like you the most. I’m sorry. Don’t be angry anymore.”

No matter how hard Zhao Jie’s heart was, as soon as he heard these words, his heart softened.

Wei Luo seized the book in his hand and brought it in front of her to read. “What’s this? You were looking at this book the entire time. What’s so interesting about this book?”

By lucky coincidence, she saw the page that Zhao Jie had been reading. The topic written on that page was, “Women’s irregular pregnancy pulse illnesses.” She was stunned for a moment, but her heart quickly felt warm. Even when Zhao Jie was having an argument with her, he was still thinking about her. Wei Luo wrapped her arms around his neck and burrowed her head between his neck and shoulder. All sorts of feelings well up in her heart as she said, “Big brother…”

Before she could finish speaking, she felt a sharp pain on her neck.

She whimpered for a moment and instinctively struggled to move away, but Zhao Jie’s arms were firmly wrapped around her waist and she couldn’t move at all. Although Zhao Jie was very angry and had bitten down forcefully, he still couldn’t bear to harm her. He quickly loosened his grip.

With tears in her eyes, Wei Luo rubbed her neck. In her mind, she thought she was really pitiful. Li Song had bitten her last time and now Zhao Jie was biting her. Her neck’s fate was truly full of trouble and misfortune. But, if this would allow Zhao Jie to get rid of his anger, she would accept it.

After Zhao Jie bit her, he stretched his hand towards her to touch his teeth mark. Wei Luo thought he was going to bite her again and moved backward to avoid him. Seeing his narrowed eyes, she slowly moved back to her original position.

Zhao Jie said, “Wei Luo, do you want to try to give me to someone else again?”

Wei Luo knew that she couldn’t adopt a confrontational posture with him at this time. She moved forward and rubbed her cheek against his cheek. “Whom can I give you to? You have such a bad temper. You frequently like to discipline people. Your only good point is your face. Other than me, who can tolerate you? I’m still the best option. I like you the way you are and won’t be disdainful toward you.”

Zhao Jie curved his lips, then he flipped their bodies over so that he was pressing her against the bed. He stared into her eyes and said, “Be good. Say that again.”

Wei Luo smiled and said, “Not angry anymore?”

Zhao Jie brought her into his arms and a long time later, he finally said, “Ah Luo, don’t say those words again.”

Wei Luo obediently stayed in his embrace and listened to his heartbeat as she said, “I was just too worried. I’m scared that I won’t be able to give birth to a child. At that time, the empress will definitely pressure you. Although the empress treats me very well right now, she’ll definitely blame me in the future.”

“This won’t happen.” Zhao Jie comforted her, “Even if there isn’t a child, I can adopt one of ninth brother’s future children. Moreover, didn’t the doctor say that as long as you treat your body with those methods, you’d become pregnant soon? Imperial mother is fair and reasonable person. She won’t have any prejudice against you.”

Wei Luo was slightly comforted. She rubbed her eyes and said, “Let’s go to sleep early. I’m sleepy and I still have to go to Zhao Yang Hall to pay respects to imperial mother.”

Zhao Jie’s hand went inside her moon white sleeping robe and touched her satiny skin. He kissed her and said, “We can’t create a child if we just go to sleep.”