The Cold King Demands Love and Pleasure

“Feng Yuhan said you were looking for me!” Xia Tongsheng tried her best to explain, hoping that Min Youan wouldn’t think she was bowing down to him.

"Hmm!" His voice remained calm, and even seemed somewhat low, revealing his displeasure.

The atmosphere was extremely awkward, and Xia Tongsheng couldn't stand it any longer, so she turned to leave.

Seeing that she was about to leave, Min Youan's anger flared up instantly. "Stop!"

The sound was so loud that Xia Tongsheng shuddered and involuntarily stopped in her tracks.

It wasn't because she was afraid of Min Youan, but because his voice was too loud. She composed herself and asked, "Your Highness, is there something you need?"

"Xia Tongsheng, what exactly are you being so stubborn about?"

Xia Tongsheng lifted her skirt, stepped onto the pavilion steps, and sat opposite Min Youan. "Your Highness, it's not that I don't want to say some things, but once I say them, there's no going back!"

"If it concerns a woman, I do not believe I have done anything wrong!"

Xia Tongsheng shook her head, "Your Highness, what I care about is not the woman, not Ying Shu, and not those ministers. What I care about is Your Highness's attitude!"

Hearing her words, Min Youan asked curiously, "What do you mean?"

Xia Tongsheng glanced at the pond under the pavilion. "They say water is tasteless, colorless, and formless, but why is the water here round?"

"Because the pond is round!"

"Your Highness is exceptionally intelligent; you must already understand what I mean! The pond determines the shape of the water. If we compare the pond to a person's attitude and the water to a person's character, then attitude can determine character. You are far too dismissive of human life!"

"I despise human life?!" Min Youan seemed unable to believe Xia Tongsheng's words. As a general, no one in the world cared more about human life than him.

He thought she understood him, but he never expected that she still didn't understand him!

Xia Tongsheng looked up, but dared not look him in the eye. Her gaze, unsure of where to go, fell on his Adam's apple. "Your Highness, I fear that one day I too will become a wronged soul under your blade!"

She spoke each word carefully, and the words "wronged soul" were like nails, firmly driven into Min Youan's heart. Although they weren't deep, they were unexpectedly painful!

"When did I ever say you would die by my hand?"

"At present, I only have two paths before me: to stay away from Your Highness or to die at Your Highness's hands. We are destined to be different people. Rather than fight each other, it is better to forget each other in the world!"

"What a fine 'let's forget each other in the rivers and lakes' idea! Do you think that will protect you?" He stared intently into her eyes, his hawk-like gaze filled with rage.

Xia Tongsheng lowered her head, her left hand gripping the fingers of her right hand tightly. "At least, I can survive for two more years!"

Min Youan sneered, "Fine, I'll grant your wish. From now on, you'd better behave yourself, or I'll make sure you die a horrible death!"

Xia Tongsheng stared at his eyes in horror, noticing the fierce look between his brows. She knew she shouldn't have said those words, but she still blurted them out.

Before she could even make amends, Min Youan had already led Cang Jue away.

Xia Tongsheng was filled with regret, fearing that he would really start targeting her. However, thinking about her father's connections, she felt that even if Min Youan was angry, he wouldn't do anything to her!

Ever since she returned from seeing Min Youan last time, Xia Tongsheng has been feeling increasingly short of breath and tightness in her chest. "Yingling, don't let the kitchen cook lunch, I can't eat!"

Looking at her pale face, Yingling said with some heartache, "Miss, look at you, you're clearly worried about the Prince, and now you're not even eating!"

Xia Tongsheng shook her head, her eyes empty and cloudy, "It has nothing to do with the Prince!"

"Stop lying to me. I know you're stubborn, but it's just admitting a mistake, why do you have to argue with the prince!" Yingling advised her. She could tell that Xia Tongsheng hadn't been having a good time these days either.

"I have too many problems with the prince, and besides, what have I done wrong!"

"The prince chased you all the way to your courtyard. It wasn't your fault, but the prince came out in such a rage. And he tolerated your unreasonable behavior in the street, didn't he?"

"Am I being unreasonable? You don't understand!"

Xia Tongsheng comes from the modern era. Although she values ​​human life, she wouldn't get angry over someone who is completely unrelated to her. What angers her is his attitude: anyone who hinders his ambition to achieve hegemony will be killed.

What angered her, or rather, what frightened her, was this: she feared that one day she too would become a ghost under his command, because she knew too much.

The steward then came to report, "Your Highness, General Lin has come to visit!"

Xia Tongsheng hadn't expected Lin Jiuyang to come at this time, and said to the butler, "Please let him in!"

The butler nodded, turned and left.

Yingling immediately stopped the butler and said to Xia Tongsheng, "Miss, isn't this inappropriate?"

"It's alright, Jiuyang is one of us!" Xia Tongsheng said, indicating that she didn't mind.

“This is the Prince’s residence. Aren’t you afraid people will gossip if you let General Lin into the inner quarters?” Yingling said.

"I've done nothing wrong, why should I be afraid of others?" Xia Tongsheng knew exactly what Yingling meant. She also knew she should avoid suspicion, but she was just feeling very upset lately and wanted to find someone to cheer her up.

Seeing this, Yingling stopped trying to stop her.

Not long after, Lin Jiuyang came in and saw Xia Tongsheng looking listless. "Hey, are you alright?"

Xia Tongsheng shook her head, "Nothing, did you come to see me for something?"

"It's nothing serious, here you go!"

"What?" Xia Tongsheng looked at the white cloth bag in his hand.

Lin Jiuyang opened the cloth bag. "These are some good things we got last time. Don't you like these kinds of things?"

Xia Tongsheng looked at the milky-white jade bracelet in his hand and chuckled, "I didn't expect you to still remember!"

When she was a child, Xia Tongsheng always felt that she could travel back to the modern era, so she often collected jade stones, thinking that she could take some back with her, resell them, and become rich in no time!

Lin Jiuyang noticed all of this and assumed she liked it.

Looking back now, I realize how naive I was back then!

Lin Jiuyang placed the jade bracelet on the table and asked, "What happened between you and the Prince?"

"We're fine, what could possibly happen to us!"

"Stop lying to me, I'm not stupid. Last time I brought you back, you two were acting strangely. When I saw him this time, he looked like he wanted to eat me alive!"

Xia Tongsheng was already used to Min Youan's coldness. "Isn't he like this every day?"

"Don't be so forceful. I'm your only friend in the capital. If you need anything, just come to me!" Lin Jiuyang patted his chest vigorously to prove how loyal he was!

"Alright! But," Xia Tongsheng looked at Lin Jiuyang, "Jiuyang, aren't you afraid of the Prince!"

"I'm scared, but I can't be disloyal and abandon you. Besides, I don't have any improper thoughts about you. Your Highness shouldn't do anything to me, right?"

Xia Tongsheng complained, "Hey, am I really that unlikable?"

Lin Jiuyang patted her shoulder, "You're great as a brother, but as a wife, you're a bit too much of a troublemaker!"

"Am I a troublemaker?" he said, raising his hand to hit Lin Jiuyang.

Just as Lin Jiuyang blocked the attack and was about to boast about his prowess, Xia Tongsheng suddenly fainted!

Lin Jiuyang looked down at Xia Tongsheng lying on the ground and said, "Hey, stop pretending. Those old tricks don't work on me anymore!"

Seeing that Xia Tongsheng still didn't react, Lin Jiuyang said to Yingling beside him, "Look at your young lady! She's putting on quite a good act! She didn't even burst out laughing."

Yingling was startled when she remembered that her young mistress hadn't been feeling well lately. She quickly stepped forward, hugged her, and shook her, but Xia Tongsheng didn't respond at all. "General Lin, the young mistress has really fainted!"

"What!" Lin Jiuyang knelt on the ground and checked her breathing. He then touched her neck and found that she had indeed fainted. Without thinking too much, he immediately picked her up and ran outside.

Lin Jiuyang was a martial artist, and he used his lightness skill to fly out of the palace. Poor Yingling couldn't catch up with them and could only anxiously pace around the palace.

Lin Jiuyang carried Xia Tongsheng as they ran, his heart pounding with panic. What if something really happened? How could he explain it to everyone?

"Why are you so easily agitated?" he complained to the unconscious Xia Tongsheng.

Min Youan soon learned that Lin Jiuyang had left the palace with Xia Tongsheng, and angrily threw the book on the ground, saying, "They really don't take me seriously."

Just before they arrived at the clinic, Xia Tongsheng woke up. Lin Jiuyang looked at her excitedly, "You're awake?"

Xia Tongsheng glared at him, "Nonsense, even if I didn't want to wake up, you would have shaken me awake!" Although it was a joke, her voice was still a little weak.

She looked around at her surroundings. How come everything had changed after only a short time of being dizzy? "Where am I?"

Lin Jiuyang pointed to the sign above his head, "Medical Clinic!"

To be honest, Xia Tongsheng was quite afraid of drinking Chinese medicine because it was too bitter. But in ancient times, people took Chinese medicine for minor illnesses, major illnesses, and even to replenish their bodies when they weren't sick.

In short, once you see a doctor, you're not far from taking Chinese medicine.

Remembering the bitter taste of traditional Chinese medicine, Xia Tongsheng quickly tried to escape, "Never mind, I'm fine now, let's go back!"

Lin Jiuyang grabbed Xia Tongsheng by the collar. "Since you're already here, take a look. Otherwise, I won't feel at ease!"

Xia Tongsheng struggled a few times but couldn't break free, so she had to change her tactics. "I'm really fine! I just haven't been eating properly lately, and I had some chest tightness and shortness of breath, which is why I accidentally fainted!"

Lin Jiuyang said speechlessly, "You call this nothing? In your eyes, is it only when you're stabbed in the chest, bleeding, or poisoned that you're considered to be in trouble? And maybe you fainted because you were poisoned!"

Xia Tongsheng conceded, "Alright, stop cursing me. I'll go in and see a doctor, okay?"

Inside the clinic, an elderly man, well past sixty, stroked his beard with one hand and took Xia Tongsheng's pulse with the other. He shook his head and ended the pulse diagnosis.

Xia Tongsheng withdrew her hand and said to Lin Jiuyang, "Look, even the doctor shook his head, so I told him I was fine!"

The doctor glared at Xia Tongsheng, his beard puffing up in displeasure. "I'm saying you're beyond saving!"

Xia Tongsheng's eyes widened. "No way, doctor! I'm so young, how could I be beyond saving?"

Good heavens, Xia Tongsheng's first thought was whether there was some safety hazard in the plague village that caused her to have these aftereffects.

The doctor turned and placed his medical kit back on the counter. "This lady has been poisoned by a poison called 'Slow Robe'! If ingested for a long time, it will damage a person's internal organs, eventually leading to rotting and death!"

Xia Tongsheng began to complain to Lin Jiuyang, "You jinx, you really hit the nail on the head!"

Lin Jiuyang said apologetically, "I didn't do it on purpose! How was I supposed to know that if I said I was poisoned, you would be poisoned!"

"Doctor, is there any hope?" Lin Jiuyang asked tremulously, his worry evident in his eyes.

"To be honest, it's all thanks to your good fortune, Madam. I dare say, there's no other doctor in the entire capital who could cure this kind of illness! Luckily, you met me, otherwise, there would have been no hope!" The doctor stroked his beard, looking confident.

Hearing his explanation, Xia Tongsheng felt as if her illness was some kind of intractable disease. "Is it really that mysterious?"

"The poison 'Mansha' originates from the Miao region and is extremely rare. Even the imperial physicians in the court have only heard of it, never seen it, let alone diagnosed it! At most, they would think you have qi stagnation and blood stasis and prescribe a formula to promote qi circulation and blood flow!" The doctor asked curiously, "Have you offended someone? Otherwise, why would someone give you such a vicious poison?"

Xia Tongsheng frowned. According to the doctor, the Slow Robe was an extremely rare poison. Who in the manor, besides the prince, could possibly have obtained it? Moreover, she had indeed offended the prince recently!

Lin Jiuyang, thinking Xia Tongsheng hadn't heard him, repeated the doctor's words, "Hey, who did you offend in the manor? How could someone poison you?"

Although she already had suspicions about the target, she didn't tell Lin Jiuyang her guess. Instead, she dodged the question, saying, "How would I know? I'm not a god!"

Lin Jiuyang snorted and replied, "You, this is your life. If you're not in a hurry, neither am I!"

The doctor watched the two of them arguing and said, "You two young lovers, don't make a scene here. This is a clinic, not a government office!"

"Who's with that young couple? We're just ordinary friends!" Xia Tongsheng explained.

The doctor said awkwardly, "I was being presumptuous!"

Lin Jiuyang said he didn't mind, "It's alright, but you need to treat this poison as soon as possible!"

"Treatment is easy, but a complete cure is a bit difficult! I won't prescribe the antidote for you now. Go back and find the person who poisoned you, make sure no one has ingested the poison again, and then come back to me for the antidote."

"Why?" Xia Tongsheng asked, puzzled.

"Although the Slow-acting poison is a chronic poison, its medicinal properties are potent. The poison and the antidote are mutually antagonistic. Given your current physical condition, you will definitely die from a blood vessel rupture! I will write you a prescription in a moment, and you can go and get the medicine!"

Lin Jiuyang was somewhat skeptical of the old man's words. "Didn't you say that poison and antidote are mutually reinforcing and mutually antagonistic? If that's the case, why prescribe a medicine? Isn't that just harming her?"

The doctor was surprised that someone would question his medical skills, and his face darkened. "I prescribed a formula to protect the heart meridian, not an antidote. The antidote can be obtained after we find the poisoner and cut off the source of the poison!"

Lin Jiuyang sneered, "I think you're just trying to rip us off! Using some slow-acting poison as an excuse to make us take more medicine!"

The doctor snorted coldly, "I've been practicing medicine for many years, I wouldn't stoop to such a shameless act!"

Lin Jiuyang wanted to argue with him again, but Xia Tongsheng stopped him. "Doctor, if we can't find the person who poisoned me, how long can my body hold out at most?"

"It's hard to say; it could take anywhere from a year to three months!"

"Thank you, doctor! I understand!"