Chapter 238: Chapter 238: Warm Inside the Door, Cold Outside

When the Military Doctor arrived, the Sixth Prince was wrapped in the fox fur robe previously given by Xiang Ying, sitting on the bed, shivering uncontrollably.

The trusted guard walked in and was stunned upon seeing this.

The Sixth Prince bellowed, “I asked you to add more charcoal to the fire earlier, why is it still so cold? Keep adding more!”

The guard looked at the three fire braziers blazing loudly in the room.

He hesitantly saluted, “Your Highness, there are already three fire braziers.”

“Then why am I still cold? I feel chills in my body… It seems I do not have the plague, definitely not.” His teeth slightly chattered as he quickly closed his mouth.

In the Sixth Prince’s memory, Jie Chen had high fevers, a symptom different from his.

So, he definitely did not have the plague, definitely not!

The Military Doctor approached, checked his pulse, and immediately furrowed his brows.

He pondered for a moment, his expression much more solemn, and was about to speak. However, upon looking up, he saw the Sixth Prince’s murderous gaze.

It was as if, should the Military Doctor dare to reveal he had the plague, the Prince would immediately have him beheaded.

“Your Highness… Your illness is not the plague, but it is quite serious, requiring special herbal medicine, please allow your humble servant to search for it.”

“Go find it!” the Sixth Prince roared, “If I am not better within three days, none of you will escape.”

The Military Doctor saluted and rushed out of the room.

The Sixth Prince called his trusted guard, “Keep tight security, if anyone dares to leak out news of my illness, I will not let them off lightly.”

“Yes!”

At this time.

Xiang Qianqian was already leading people, through the cold frost, to the granary.

Standing in the deep snowy night, the granary’s walls were wrapped in a thin layer of frost.

Xiang Qianqian knew without thinking that it must be very cold inside the granary.

Without food and firewood from Xiang Ying and their families, they definitely wouldn’t last three days; if not starve, they would freeze!

Xiang Qianqian walked to the door, her voice raised, full of glee.

“Big sister, I’ve come to see you, I have one good news and one bad news, which one do you want to hear?”

Inside the granary.

The silver charcoal in the fire brazier burned faintly, the invisible smoke drifting out through a hole in the back wall.

This was something Xiang Ying and Jie Chen hastily created, just fist-sized, only to ventilate and prevent carbon dioxide poisoning.

At this moment, the charcoal fire flickered occasionally, revealing faint lights, casting a hazy shadow over the entire room.

The hanging curtains were very quiet until Xiang Qianqian’s voice kept ringing out, calling ‘big sister’ repeatedly.

Finally, the curtain shifted slightly, and a pale white hand picked it open.

Xiang Ying, holding the blanket, poked her head out groggily and glanced outside; the pale collarbone revealed, adorned with bright red blossoms like blooming plum blossoms.

She was about to speak towards the direction of the door, then, a large hand reached from behind, hooked around her neck, and pulled her back.

The curtain fell again, and from inside came Xiang Ying’s muffled voice, “Are you fully recovered? How come you are getting livelier!”

Jie Chen didn’t say anything, but responded to her with actions.

The muffled complaints of Xiang Ying gradually shifted in tone.

Outside, Xiang Qianqian stood in the cold wind shivering, but her face could not hide the triumphant joy.

“Big sister, big sister why aren’t you talking, have you fainted from hunger?”

Xiang Qianqian walked to the window, trying to peek inside.

Alas, the window previously had been sealed with mud by the Sixth Prince, making it impossible to see anything now.

There was not a single sound inside.

Xiang Qianqian scoffed, regardless of whether Xiang Ying could hear her or not.

She said: “Even if you don’t want to listen, I’ll still speak. The good news is that I have been made a concubine by the Sixth Prince, and my status is now much higher than yours, elder sister. You can no longer demand anything from me based on our legitimate or illegitimate birth.”

“Imagine, if Father knew I could become a concubine to the Sixth Prince, he would be proud of me; as for the bad news, it’s that Aren has run away.”

“You provided for this little boy, fed and gave him drink, but the moment you fell into hardship, he immediately ran away. It’s freezing cold outside; in my opinion, if he freezes to death, he deserves it.”

“Elder sister, you gave him so many good things, and he didn’t cherish them. Do you regret it? If those things had been given to me at the beginning, I wouldn’t have left you to die. At least, I would have pleaded with the Sixth Prince to leave you and Jie Chen a whole corpse!”

Inside the granary, the golden threads on the bed canopy fluttered as if swept by a fierce wind, becoming gentle when the wind slowed.

Xiang Qianqian pressed her ear against the door, always feeling like there were sounds inside, but upon careful listening, it seemed more like the sound of the snowstorm outside.

Her brows furrowed deeply, and her tone was fiercely bitter: “Most likely already frozen to death, right? Serves you right. Let’s go.”

She couldn’t stand the freezing cold; just standing for a moment made her feel like her feet were already stiff. Xiang Ying, suffering from the cold and hunger inside the granary, surely wasn’t faring any better.

As she walked away, inside the granary, Xiang Ying and Jie Chen were still “bickering.”

He lay down, his distinctly jointed fingers pushing aside the strands of hair sticking to Xiang Ying’s temples.

He bent down to kiss her cheek, and Xiang Ying, with her lustrous beautiful eyes, fiercely glared at him.

“Weren’t you the one who said to stay still?”

“It was you I told to stay still,” Jie Chen chuckled lightly.

Xiang Ying tried to hit him, but instead, he caught her wrist, and they both tumbled into the bed, soft as clouds.

Xiang Qianqian swayed her hips gracefully as she returned to the camp stationed at the Martial Arts Arena. She intended to enter the house but noticed that several guards stood outside the Sixth Prince’s room.

As she approached, a guard stopped her with his hand.

“His Highness said that the concubine does not need to serve tonight.”

Xiang Qianqian was stunned.

“Not needed to serve… But I still need to go in, where will I sleep otherwise?”

The guard’s tone was ice-cold: “His Highness didn’t mention that. He only instructed that no one should disturb him while he is resting.”

Xiang Qianqian was completely dumbfounded.

It was freezing cold, and every room was filled with people; even the stables housed people in tents, cold as frozen stones.

Sleeping outside was arduously difficult, a fact of which Xiang Qianqian was well aware. Since following the Sixth Prince, she had never again experienced the hardship of sleeping in the open.

Now suddenly being made to stay outside felt like being cast from the Heavenly Court back to the mortal realm; how could she bear it?

“Your Highness, Your Highness!” Xiang Qianqian called out twice, weakly sobbing, trying to awaken the Sixth Prince’s conscience, “It’s freezing outside, where would Qianqian find shelter?”

“I promise, once inside, I won’t disturb Your Highness, is that alright?”

No sound came from inside the room. The guard, fiercely drawing his sword, startled Xiang Qianqian, turning her pale.

“His Highness has no further instructions; please do not trouble us guards, otherwise…” The gleam of his sword flashed, implying an unspoken threat.

Xiang Qianqian had no choice but to stagger away, tearfully making rounds at every room’s door.

However, her previously arrogant demeanor had been clearly seen by those prisoners, who, as soon as they saw her, promptly shut their doors.

Even the soldiers brought by Jie Chen treated her like a flood or wild beast, explicitly avoiding her.

With nowhere to turn for help, Xiang Qianqian went to the stables, found the carriage she and the Sixth Prince had once ridden, and climbed up.

Fortunately, a blanket was left inside the carriage. She wrapped herself tightly and lay inside the carriage, shivering.

While crying, she also had to comfort herself: “The Sixth Prince hasn’t abandoned me, he isn’t so heartless towards me…”