CHAPTER 15, GARDEN OF CURE
"Concentrate," Li Zhang Ke advised as he guided the crown princess, watching from afar. His voice was low and gentle, trying to help her focus.
"This should do right?" She exchanged glances with the general and the target, breaking the calm atmosphere. The general shook his head, denying.
He placed his left grip on her left hand, holding the boy as he was guiding her to the right-hand posture. His back was covering hers. His head was a few inches ahead of hers.
"Concentrate on the target," he whispered
"You're breathing on my neck. Stinky, how am I supposed to concentrate, General?" She pushed the general with her right elbow, punching through his punctured chest.
"Ah," he fell to the ground easily, holding his chest. His face was painted with pain. Furrowing eyebrows, clenching teeth, and super squinted eyes justified his unbearable condition.
"General, what's wrong?" she asked, falling to her knee to take a further look at him. "Your old scar,"
She stared at his chest as it started bleeding through his layers of cloth. Remembering Jing Nu's advice, she pressed onto the wound.
"General, you're bleeding. Jing Nu said we have to press it so you won't die out of blood deficiency,"
The general moaned in pain, furrowing his eyebrow. The facial nerves appeared along with his neck. He shook his head, refusing. He uncovered the cloth covering his chest, revealing three scars on it. His body shivered, cold
"Three? Where get you got another one?" She panicked.
So far, Wei An Ge only knew that the general only had marks on his chest. One from the arrow she shot and another from Li Zhi Jian's stab.
''Wang Xuan," He replied with such a guttural tone of voice. The puncturing pain causes him to roll his body a few steps away on the ground of dirt.
Wei An Ge was left there for a hot second, zoning out as she tried to connect the pieces of the puzzle.
"Why would she? Don't you guys like each other?" She instantly chased Li Zhang Ke, stopping him from rolling any further. The General moaned harder, in pain. "I'll take you to His Majesty's room first, okay?"
Li Zhang Ke didn't bother replying.
She carried the general on her back as they walked to the King's room just a few more meters away. However, due to Li Zhang Ke's weight, their journey was slow. In all of a sudden, the general started biting his right shoulder refusing to shout hence releasing the pain on his shoulder.
"No no" She stopped as soon as she noticed his action. She threw the general to the ground again and removed the glove from her left hand. "Bite this, not your shoulder"
She stuffed the glove into his mouth as he continued biting it madly.
"Are you in that much of a pain?" she inquired,
The general fainted as a response. "Finally, silence"
She continued their journey. Once they entered the room, she threw the general on the bed and ran to a corner of the shelf just to see Li Hua Rong there. Analyzing the shelf.
"HUA RONG!" Wei An Ge jumped, panicked as she was pointing at the general. "Your brother, look at him!"
Li Hua Rong's eyes enlarged in shock but it was not because of her brother but because she finally was able to see Wei An Ge's hand gloveless. There was nothing to cover the floral pattern growing along with her left hand anymore. Her attention was on the crown princess's hand for a while before realizing it was her broth eating in the bed. She then rushed to her brother. "What's wrong, brother?"
She scanned his body, moving and scanning each side of his skinny body.
"He said Wang Xuan stabbed him. Look, he has another scar on his chest." Wei An Ge pointed, trying to offer a hand. "Wait, what are you doing here?"
Hua Rong froze. The same old dagger was pointed at her neck by Wei An Ge, furrowing her eyebrows.
"I knew Wang Xuan and brother fought last night. He has the same addiction as you. He once had the Hogweed poison." Hua Rong explained, defending herself.
"I don't have an addiction. So that is why you enter the Garden of Cure?" Wei An Ge realized, putting away the dagger.
"You also know about it, crown princess?"
"Let's be real, we all know only the King doesn't know that we all know"
Hua Rong nodded, agreed.
"What poison does he need?" Wei An Ge rushed to the shelf to find the painting.
"Hogweed. But the cure is lotus seed."
Wei An Ge froze for hot seconds, rethinking the situation. She then rushed out of the room and went to the Imperial Garden where there was a huge green lake.
The green lake was covered with lotus and of course, its seed. She planned to jump into the lake but a figure appeared in the lake stopping her.
"Wang Xuan?"
"Save him," Wang Xuan appeared with all of her maid outfit wet and dirty. Her feet were still inside the cold lake. Her hand was full of lotus head, offering it to Wei An Ge.
"Are you okay? You don't look good, Wang Xuan."
Wang Xuan smiled, shaking her head in denial. "I'm alright"
"You liars let's go" The crown princess took her wrist, pulling her away from the cold water of the lake. "They said there's a water dragon in the lake. You could have been caught,"
"You also believe in those rumors?" Wang Xuan giggled.
"Why not?" She tried, laughing it off.
---
"Was that a necessary move, Li Zhang Ke?" Wang Xuan cried at his side. "Risking your life and even your sister's?!"
The next day, Li Zhang Ke found himself in his bed again with Wang Xuan by his side, deathly staring at him.
"You shouldn't have ruined it." Li Zhang Ke turned his back, annoyed. "I have my own plan"
"You stabbed yourself with the Hogweed poison and wanted to put the blame on me just to make Wei An Ge hates me. Do you think she loves you? You're her teacher, not less not more than that" Wang Xuan nagged in anger.
She poked him on the chest. "you should not let yourself fall deeper to this hunger of power. Let's team up again"
Trying to persuade the general, she placed her face closer to his. Li Zhang Ke's face was painted with red blush. His heartbeat increased upon looking at each other that close for the first time. Wang Xuan smiled, closing her eyelids as she tried to place her lip on his.
The general avoided her lips, sitting. "Wang Xuan, what are you doing?" He furrowed, pushing her away. "What if the crown princess sees us?"
He scanned the door.
"Let her see" Wang Xuan caught his neck, hugging him as she placed her chin on his shoulder.
He held her waist, wanting to push her.
"Li Zhang Ke, as soon as I release this, I will start hunting you to death,"
He froze.
"Our elders instructed us to kill you" She continued.
At the same time before,
"What are you making, crown princess?" Jing Nu inquired as soon as she saw Wei An Ge in front of a large pot, stirring a soup inside the Chang Ge manor's kitchen. Her eyes were staring blankly towards the garlic wreath hung on the kitchen wall, zoning out. "Crown Princess?"
Wei An Ge blinked thrice, arriving back to reality.
"Oh, it's a beef lotus soup for the general. We ate the one we made before." She laughed, adding in the vegetables.
"Jing Nu, Li Hua Rong said that the cure for hogweed poison was lotus seed. But if that was true, why would she be at the Garden of Cure? What was she looking for? I mean, I can still understand how she knows about the garden. Li Zhi Jian, the ex- imperial physician might have shown it to her."
Her eyebrows were knitted together, rethinking the whole situation. Her left hand, a covered-in glove on the other side was still stirring the soup.
"These girls, they're planning something"
"Enough, crown princess. If you kept furrowing your eyebrows like that, you will soon look older than me." Jing Nu pinched her cheeks, persuading. "They might be planning something for your birthday, soon. Who knows?"
The Crown princess instantly had her face painted in joy and excitement. "Oh, Jing Nu. One more question before we go and visit the General"
"Let's hear it,"
"Do I have an addiction towards something, anything?"
Jing Nu froze, she couldn't bear to come out with any word. "It's not an addiction to start off, crown princess." Jing Nu answered, adding the soup into wood wear. "Remember when you got poisoned with the foxglove plant?"
Wei An Ge nodded, innocent.
"It was so painful I had to cut my own forehead" She touched her forehead, remembering.
"You almost cut your own chest and heart as well. But the thing is that you were poisoned by the cure Li Zhi Jian gave, not the poison that the King applied to you before."
"Li Zhi Jian? How can we let him go, should have seen his identity."
"My Crown Princess, you're the one who let him go right?"
"I did." she looked down, regretting.
"Anyway, the King went out of the kingdom and returned with a boy just your age. He brought the foxglove poison so that the cure can be neutralized" Jing Nu explained, smiling. "He's a foodie just like you. We had to serve a whole Hei An Guang desserts to repay him for saving you"
"A whole Hei An Guang desserts, he's a foreigner?"
Jing Nu nodded, agreed.
"No wonder you didn't let me eat desserts for the whole month of recovery. He finished it all" She smiled as they walked out of the door. "Well, the next time I see him I have to teach him to make our desserts"
The Li manor was located not far from the crown princess's. Hence, Jing Nu and Wei An Ge walked to the manor, bringing a wooden tiffin carrier with hot lotus beef soup in it.
"Jing Nu, Li Manor look so dead." She observed. "This manor used to be the prettiest in Hei An Guang. The colorful garden, the unique design. But now, the trees are dead. They don't even have maids?"
"Crown princess, their young mistress is your maid now. How can they have one?" Jing Nu replied, waking up Wei An Ge.
"The King decided to have them as a maid. Who told those betrayers to be a spy? They were my teachers. They should have killed me on the spot-"
They finally reached the room, entering through the entrance door. They witnessed an abnormal scene of Wang Xuan hugging the general as he sit straight. They only had the back view of them, seeing Wang Xuan tangling the general by the neck as closed her eyes. Her face was painted with happiness while the general's face was as hard as a rock.
Seeing the beautiful scene, Wei An Ge smiled, tilting her head to her right. "Jing Nu the king will return back tomorrow right?" She inquired,
Jing Nu nodded, "It's also your sixteenth birthday,"
"Then that's perfect! I'll ask The King to marry those two instantly as my birthday wish. Don't you agree, Jing Nu?" She pushed Jing Nu with her right shoulders, convincing.
Jing Nu rolled her eyes, pulling the tips of her lips backward.
They tip-toed to the corner of the door, putting down the soup they made and they returned successfully without getting caught. She pulled Jing Nu together, running away from the area to the manor's door.
Wang Xuan opened her eyes, planning to let go of his neck. I made your food, would you like some?"
"You'll put poison in it."
"Sure," Wang Xuan dissed, picking up the wood wear she saw as soon as she opened her eyes. She uncovered the lid letting the fragrant smell of the soup linger around the room. "Here you go,"