Chapter 158: Chu Lanwu
What reliance did Lan Wu have?
Her greatest reliance was herself—she was betting that Chu Mingheng could not bear to see her die. Not just death; he dared not even hear news of her falling ill or getting injured.
So when Lan Wu used this self-damaging method to oppose him, he was first stunned, then quickly reacted.
Chu Mingheng hurriedly stood up and followed Lan Wu, not daring to block her path or take her hand, but his words kept flowing.
“I will sleep, I want to sleep. A-Wu, quickly spit out that mouthful of tea.”
“If A-Wu wants me to sleep, just say so. Why say such things to scare me?”
Unable to hold back, Chu Mingheng stood in front of her, frowning and speaking in a low voice, “Spit out the tea now.”
Once swallowed, how could it be spat out so easily? It was only half a cup of tea, and its effect on Lan Wu wasn’t that strong anyway. After all, last time she drank three full cups and still felt drowsy under the calming incense.
Lan Wu kept a stern face and glared at him. “Then you will sleep, right?”
“…” How could Chu Mingheng dare not agree? He could only nod.
However, this night was not so easy to sleep through. Both preoccupied with thoughts and affected by the half cup of tea, Lan Wu lay awake for a long time.
She turned to look at Chu Mingheng, using the faint light from the single candle still lit in the hall to see his face clearly.
It was hard to tell whether Chu Mingheng was truly asleep, as he was exceptionally skilled at pretending.
In the deep of night, she eventually drifted into a hazy sleep for an unknown number of hours. When she woke again, the sky was already bright.
Chu Mingheng was long gone from the bedside.
That meant he had slept last night; otherwise, he wouldn’t have left her side.
But where had he gone?
Lan Wu sat up, pressing lightly on her slightly dizzy and weary head. She pulled aside the curtain but still saw no one. In a moment of distraction, she remembered something and frowned strangely—could Chu Mingheng still be avoiding her?
One who wished to keep her under his watchful eye all day, unwilling to part even a step, and the other who worried she would bring up the matter of going to Changyong Mountain, simply hiding to avoid her.
Did Chu Mingheng think hiding would solve everything?
“Your Majesty, perhaps we should still summon the Imperial Physician for a look?” Chen Kangan offered a freshly brewed cup of hot tea and, seeing Chu Mingheng still sitting with closed eyes, gently massaging his temples, spoke with concern.
Chu Mingheng, seated in the chair, suddenly opened his eyes, his cold gaze sweeping over.
Chen Kangan immediately understood his meaning and hurriedly replied, “Your Majesty, rest assured, this servant has ordered the palace attendants below to keep quiet. They will certainly not spread word of Your Majesty’s condition.”
But if one is ill, one should summon the Imperial Physician for treatment…
Chen Kangan inwardly lamented, yet His Majesty stubbornly refused to allow anyone to call for the physician. How many times had this happened now?
His Majesty’s health had always been robust—how had it suddenly come to this?
Chu Mingheng casually shifted his gaze away and asked him, “Has Guifei woken?”
Chen Kangan had long anticipated that His Majesty would inquire about Guifei’s condition, so he had already sent someone to check on the news from Yilan Hall. Hearing the question, he promptly replied, “Your Majesty, Guifei has already woken earlier. However, she seems rather listless and did not partake in the morning meal.”
Chu Mingheng frowned slightly. “Didn’t eat breakfast? What did the people in her palace say?”
“This, they say the Guifei felt dizzy upon waking and had no appetite, so she had the morning meal cleared away.”
Dizzy and no appetite?
Chu Mingheng pondered these words: “Has an Imperial Physician been summoned?”
Chen Kangan shook his head: “No, Yilan Hall did not call for one.”
Feeling unwell and not calling a physician?
The words Lan Wu had spoken to the other him last night surfaced in his mind, making him somewhat cautious.
Chu Mingheng sighed helplessly: “Go to the Imperial Medical Academy and summon a physician there.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The Imperial Physician and the Emperor’s Imperial Carriage arrived at Yilan Hall almost simultaneously. Even the palace servants of Yilan Hall were taken aback—His Majesty had left only an hour ago, yet here he was again.
Even more unexpected was that Lan Wu refused to see the physician and would not allow her pulse to be taken.
The hall doors were closed, but the voices of the two masters arguing inside could still be heard.
“Chu Lanwu! Come here at once!” It was the first time Chu Mingheng had called her by her new full name, and he did so with such force that it made anyone who heard it tremble with fear.
But Lan Wu was not afraid in the slightest.
“You said no one would call me by my full name! So granting me the imperial surname was just to make it easier for you to lose your temper with me—” Lan Wu stood behind the brocade screen, hiding from Chu Mingheng, and shouted, “I won’t come over!”
Chu Mingheng was so angry he almost laughed. He had chased her around the room twice, but Lan Wu was harder to catch than a cat. Unable to lay a hand on her and hearing her words, his head began to ache with fury.
“You’re sick, yet you won’t see a physician, you hide, and you refuse to eat. What are you trying to do?” Chu Mingheng stood still, speaking to her through the translucent screen.
Lan Wu’s voice followed immediately: “Why can you do things that I can’t? You also refuse treatment and hide from me!”
“I’ve figured it out. Since you won’t get treated, let’s just not treat anything at all. Life is short, so let’s enjoy it while we can. Let’s all just stop living—”
Listening to her utterly unreasonable nonsense, Chu Mingheng grew so angry that he stepped forward, forcefully pushed the screen aside, and grabbed Lan Wu before she could run away.
“Ah—!” Caught off guard, Lan Wu panicked and tried to flee again.
Chu Mingheng restrained her: “A’wu!”
Lan Wu stopped moving, glanced up at him briefly, and said to herself, “I think everything I said is right.”
Since Chu Mingheng insisted on being so reckless, then let no one have it easy.
After all, this life of hers had come about because of Chu Mingheng. Now, she could consider it revenge. If Chu Mingheng wanted to die, she wouldn’t stop him. At worst, they could die together.
At this thought, a different idea suddenly crossed Lan Wu’s mind.
Before Chu Mingheng could say anything, she suddenly looked at him seriously, scrutinizing him from head to toe. Adopting a posture as if to negotiate with him, she cleared her throat and spoke in what she thought was a solemn tone:
“Or there’s another way.”
“If Your Majesty truly insists on being stubborn, when Your Majesty reaches the point of no return, I will naturally weep and grieve for you.”
“However, as Your Majesty knows, I have died once before. I have grown indifferent to life and death.”
She shifted her tone: “Though indifferent, I still wish to live.”
“When Your Majesty is gone, I will escape from the palace, find an honest and handsome young man to marry, and become someone else’s proper wife.” Having said this, Lan Wu seemed quite pleased with her own idea. Staring into Chu Mingheng’s eyes, she continued, “Since you won’t listen to me, I’ll have three or five children with someone else and infuriate you to death!”
“Chu Lanwu—” Chu Mingheng seemed never to have imagined she could entertain such a thought. He was visibly stunned at first, then quickly grasped the meaning behind her words. As expected, it infuriated him to the point of gritting his teeth, and he called out her full name again.
Lan Wu touched her ear, nodded, and hummed in acknowledgment, saying she heard him.