YA Ch110: Save Him

The guards outside quickly rushed in, two large blades resting on Li Lin’s neck as they twisted his arms behind his back and forced him to the ground.

The doctor, who had already gone to bed, was dragged over in his underclothes. Seeing Shen Ying vomiting blood uncontrollably, his beard quivered in shock. Trembling, he checked Shen Ying’s pulse and hurriedly examined the leftover soup from earlier.

There was hardly any soup left, making it difficult to discern what had been added, but it was clear it wasn’t a normal ginseng soup. After a quick analysis, the doctor hastily inserted two acupuncture needles into Shen Ying, trying to get him to vomit out what he had ingested.

Shen Ying coughed up two mouthfuls of blood, but nothing more came out.

The doctor, worried that Shen Ying might vomit out all his blood, quickly removed the needles.

Shen Ying, barely able to breathe, weakly pushed against Hua Wenyuan, who was holding him. “Your Highness, step aside. Don’t soil your clothes.”

Hua Wenyuan stood firm, supporting him without budging. “Now’s not the time for you to be talking!”

The doctor demanded of Li Lin, “What poison did you use?”

Li Lin’s face was ashen. Even though the guards nearly twisted his arm out of its socket, he didn’t resist, simply shaking his head. “I don’t know.”

The doctor, frustrated, stomped his foot and ordered the guards to retrieve the medicine dregs. After searching Li Lin, they found half a packet of powder that hadn’t yet been discarded. The doctor pinched a small amount, smelled it, and carefully tasted it. He immediately spat it out and rinsed his mouth, exclaiming, “Thunder God Vine!”

Upon identifying the poison, the doctor panicked. He warned Hua Wenyuan to avoid touching Shen Ying’s blood and urged him to leave the room immediately, leaving the matter to them. He then quickly found an appropriate antidote in his medicine box and ran out to prepare it.

Hua Wenyuan paid no attention to the doctor’s warnings, gritting his teeth as he asked, “Thunder God Vine only grows in the southwestern region. How did you get it?”

Li Lin did not hide the truth, admitting directly, “It was given to me by Luo Dahu’s men.” After speaking, he raised himself up and smashed his head into the ground.

The guards thought he was trying to kill himself and immediately pressed his face against the floor, preventing him from moving. Li Lin didn’t care. Straining to look at Shen Ying, he rasped, “Teacher, I’ve wronged you. I kept half of the poison for myself. I’ll accompany you to the afterlife.”

“You’re nothing. Who wants you to come along!” Hua Wenyuan, enraged, grabbed the wooden box containing the pearls and hurled it at Li Lin’s head, leaving him with a bleeding forehead.

Li Lin seemed to feel no pain, muttering through his bloodied face, “I had no choice. Luo Dahu thought I was clever and captured my mother and sister, forcing me to infiltrate your ranks and wait for an opportunity. I never expected you to treat me so well, taking me as your student. That’s when they ordered me to poison you…”

Shen Ying smiled bitterly, “So that’s how it is.”

Hua Wenyuan was furious. “What nonsense! If they wanted to poison anyone, it should be me. Why poison the advisor?”

To strike someone, you target their support. But everyone knows to kill generals, not strategists.

After receiving a couple of kicks from the guards, Li Lin gasped in pain, “Luo Dahu believed that since Your Highness was able to conquer Xiangnan so easily, you must have been advised by Shen Ying. He assumed that killing Shen Ying would leave you like a headless fly, making you easy to crush.”

In fact, there was some truth to this assumption. Shen Ying was very familiar with the Xiangnan region, and many of the strategies tailored to local conditions were his ideas.

Luo Dahu’s exact words were, “Kill that Shen Ying, and Hua Wenyuan will be like a headless fly. I can crush him with a single finger.” The beating Hua Wenyuan had given him was so severe that it had left a deeper mark on him than the other rebel leaders combined, and he swore he’d catch Hua Wenyuan and use him as a footstool.

Shen Ying, weakly chuckling, said, “It seems I’ve become quite the thorn in their side… *cough cough*…”

The doctor hurried back in with the antidote, quickly stirring it to cool it down before administering it to Shen Ying.

As the medicine went down, the excruciating pain that had been burning through Shen Ying’s organs began to lessen. His face looked a little better, but the effect was still minimal, as blood continued to trickle from the corners of his mouth.

The doctor checked his pulse for a long while, then, with a mournful expression, said, “Thunder God Vine is a vicious poison, directly attacking the heart. If a person with a strong heart were to take the antidote, they might still have a chance. But… but Master Shen, his heart is already weak, and in recent years, his body has deteriorated from overwork. With a bowl of boiled vine powder like this, his life is at its end.”

Hua Wenyuan clenched his jaw tightly. “End of his life?! Send someone to the city to get medicine, find another doctor!”

He then ordered a messenger to go down the mountain and fetch General Xu. Pointing to one of his guards, he commanded, “Go find the chief of the Deer Hunters. If they have any secret antidotes, I’ll agree to any terms.”

After everything was arranged, Hua Wenyuan looked at Li Lin, who was pinned to the ground like a heap of mud. His voice was as cold as the wind howling from the abyss, yet as calm as the dark currents of a hidden, black pond. He said, “Pry open his mouth. Within one hour, I want to know his contact, the code, the next meeting place, and the antidote for the poison. If he can’t reveal the antidote, skin him alive.”

Li Lin was dragged away, still crying, “Sir, I have failed you, sir…”

A guard kicked him hard, and another soldier, wearing a fur hat that covered his face, kicked him too, holding back tears as they dragged him out.

“Li Lin,” Hua Wenyuan suddenly spoke again. The guards at the door stopped. He looked at the man like he was already dead. “Don’t think only Luo Dahuo can kill your mother and sister. I, Hua Wenyuan, have no rule against killing women and children.”

Li Lin’s eyes widened in horror as he was dragged away, wailing.

Shen Ying weakly patted Hua Wenyuan’s arm. “Your Highness, please put me down.”

Hua Wenyuan didn’t stop. “If you lie down, you’ll cough up blood again, and you might choke. It’s fine, I’ll hold you.” He said “hold,” but in fact, he was cradling him. In this room, there was only the fur mat in the center to lie on, with no high pillow or support, so this was the only way.

Shen Ying said nothing more and dozed off for a moment, only to wake up in a seizure a few breaths later.

The chief of the Deer Hunters came over with some rare herbs, but none of them were effective antidotes. The thunder vine that poisoned him grew in the southwest, and its antidote was naturally there as well. But here, in the snow-covered northern land, there was nothing.

Shen Ying took a handkerchief and wiped the corner of his mouth. “Your Highness, don’t worry about it. This is my fate. I already showed signs of my life fading, which is why I begged Your Highness to bring me here to witness the sight of reclaiming our lands. Now, my wish has been fulfilled.”

The Tartars had been driven out to the farthest borders of the Great Zhou, and beyond lay the opportunity to expand the territory.

Hua Wenyuan hoarsely said, “Don’t speak nonsense. The southwest, the northwest, they haven’t been reclaimed yet.”

Shen Ying chuckled lightly. “Those rebels are nothing to worry about. Your Highness can handle them just fine. I have nothing left to offer you. Only one thing: Your Highness, remember, do not fully trust those you knew in your previous life.”

This was a realization he had just come to.

People’s hearts change, especially when the circumstances of two lifetimes are different. A righteous man in a past life might become a spy in this one. A loyal subordinate from before might develop selfish motives when things go smoothly now.

“I don’t regret my death. It’s all my own fault for being too naïve. The only regret is that I never became Prime Minister. If I could do it over again, I wouldn’t recommend myself. Your Highness, remember to visit my humble home three times to ask me to serve you…”

His naturally peach-blossom-shaped eyes curved as he slowly closed them. His blood-stained jade-like scholar’s hand fell to the wooden floor with a thud, never to rise again. The pearl he had been holding rolled away with a clatter.

Hua Wenyuan, in disbelief, cupped Shen Ying’s face with one hand, gently shaking him. “Sir? Shen Ying! Shen Zixia!”

Hearing this, the doctor outside rushed in to check his pulse, then collapsed to the floor. “Your Highness, Sir Shen… is gone.”

With no expression on his face, Hua Wenyuan said, “Impossible. Find medicine. Keep looking.” How could he live even shorter than in his past life? Could he really be worse than that recently deceased foolish emperor?

After the doctor ran out, only those close to him remained in the room. Hua Wenyuan, eyes bloodshot, looked at Lu Yu. “Second Uncle, save him.”

Lu Yu froze, not understanding why this kid was grasping at straws and turning to him, waving his hands. “I don’t know medicine. Even those strength pills of mine were bought from some wandering doctor, they won’t work.”

Hua Wenyuan seemed not to hear, staring intently at him, and said, “Save him. I know you have a way.”

Lu Yu sighed helplessly. “Xiao Yuan, Shen Ying is already dead.”

It was as if Hua Wenyuan finally ran out of patience or was backed into a corner. His voice suddenly rose, and he stared fiercely at Lu Yu. “Your instrument, doesn’t it have the power to modify the plot?”