It was a white porcelain bottle.
He glanced at the sleeping Li Ying, then lowered his gaze, opened the bottle, poured out a red medicinal pill, and put it in his mouth.
As soon as the pill entered his mouth, the cold sensation in his chest seemed to ease considerably. The white fox fur coat he wore now felt hot. With a calm expression, he put the white porcelain bottle back in his sleeve, then took off the snow-white fox fur coat and gently covered Li Ying with it. He gazed at her, then leaned against the cherry tree. After a moment, he slowly closed his eyes and fell into an uneasy sleep.
After they woke from their rest, they continued their journey at full speed. By evening, they found an inn to rest.
The innkeeper watched as a youth, beautiful as jade, entered and said, “I need lodging.”
With such appearance, the innkeeper couldn’t help but stare for a few moments. But seeing the white robe he wore, the innkeeper knew he was a commoner and said: “Room number two is still available, would that suit you?”
The youth shook his head: “I don’t want just one room, I want the entire floor.”
The innkeeper was surprised. He looked the youth up and down and saw that he carried himself with uncommon dignity and had the air of a noble family’s son. But the innkeeper then thought that after the Taichang Blood Incident, many noble families had been reduced to commoners. Yet even a thin camel is larger than a horse—these noble sons were still extravagant when they acted, and they often had the arrogant habits of young masters, unwilling to share accommodations with lower classes when staying at inns. Booking an entire floor was nothing; some even booked the entire inn. He had seen many such people over the years, so the innkeeper didn’t ask further but said: “The entire Tian section is vacant. Would that suit the guest?”
The youth nodded: “That will do.”
When they reached room Tian One, Cui Xun dismissed the servant who had shown the way and instructed him not to disturb them during the night, then closed the door.
He had booked the entire Tian floor, so it was very quiet. As he closed the wooden door, Li Ying was already standing in the room, looking around. She said, “This place is quite clean.”
Cui Xun replied: “The Tian rooms are their best accommodations, naturally, they’re clean.”
Li Ying nodded. Looking at Cui Xun wearing only a white robe, she said with concern: “You refused to wear the fox fur while traveling today. Don’t fall ill again.”
Cui Xun said, “In this weather, wearing fox fur would certainly arouse suspicion. It’s better not to wear it.”
“But with the cold in your bones, don’t you feel cold without it?”
Cui Xun shook his head: “With the bowl of ginger and licorice soup you brew for me daily, my cold condition has improved greatly.”
“Really?” Li Ying wasn’t quite convinced. She took Cui Xun’s hand, and though he was accustomed to this, he still stiffened slightly. Li Ying particularly enjoyed playing with his hands, saying they were very beautiful and that she had never seen more beautiful hands. Because of this habit of hers, Cui Xun purified his hands with orchid water every morning, afraid of soiling her. But since leaving Chang’an, there had been no such opportunity.
This morning, he hadn’t purified his hands with orchid water…
Li Ying pretended not to notice Cui Xun’s stiffness. She felt the temperature of his palm, which indeed wasn’t as cold as usual. His body temperature was even slightly higher than hers, a ghost. Li Ying said, “Is the ginger and licorice soup that effective? Before leaving Chang’an, I didn’t see much improvement in your cold condition.”
Cui Xun vaguely replied: “Grains of sand form a tower, bits of fur make a coat. After drinking it for several months, there’s bound to be some effect.”
Li Ying thought about this and felt it made sense. She then noticed an earthenware pot on the wooden table and said: “Tonight’s medicine, you still need to drink it.”
When packing their belongings, Li Ying had specially brought several herbs from the prescription. But perhaps she was a bit annoyed by Cui Xun’s earlier stiffness, so even while preparing the medicine, she didn’t let go of his hand. While playing with his fingers, she occasionally looked up at the bubbling herbal brew in the earthenware pot on the charcoal stove. She said, “For this far journey to Lingnan, I was worried you wouldn’t withstand the travel fatigue, but now it seems you’re doing fine.”
Cui Xun sighed: “You watch me take medicine every day. Besides the ginger and licorice soup, you’ve found all sorts of prescriptions to brew for me. If I were still as before, wouldn’t that be a waste of all the medicine I’ve drunk?”
Li Ying burst into laughter and asked: “Are you complaining that I brew too much medicine for you?”
Cui Xun shook his head: “I wouldn’t dare complain to the Princess.”
Hearing this, Li Ying smiled even more sweetly: “I only search for prescriptions everywhere because I want to be with you for a long, long time.”
She lowered her head to play with his fingers, her tone growing gentler: “Seventeenth Young Master, I used to think that humans and ghosts walk separate paths, but now I feel that with one of us human and one a ghost, we might last longer together. If I became human, it would mean I had been reincarnated. But after reincarnation, would I still be me? A Mingyue Zhu without memories of you would no longer be Mingyue Zhu. And if you became a ghost and went to hell, I could still beg King Qinguang to let me accompany you. But if King Qinguang sentenced you to reincarnation, you would no longer be you. In heaven and earth, where would I find my Seventeenth Young Master? I don’t want that, so I hope you can live longer and be with me longer.”
She spoke with such sincerity that Cui Xun’s eyes grew warm. He quickly lowered his head to calm his emotions, then murmured: “I… also hope to be with you longer…”
Not necessarily together, even not being together would be fine, as long as he could be by her side…
But things rarely went as he wished.
With his head lowered, crystalline tears hung on his crow-like eyelashes. He blinked and smiled bitterly: “Fate is determined by heaven. We can only do our best.”
Before Li Ying could ponder this statement, Cui Xun said: “The medicine is ready.”
He lowered his eyes. Li Ying was still holding his fingers. He said softly, “Like this, I can’t drink the medicine.”
That he would voluntarily take medicine was exactly what Li Ying wanted. She released his hand, and Cui Xun had already lifted the pot lid and ladled out a bowl. The pungent smell of ginger wafted up. In the past, Cui Xun would have preferred to let it cool before reluctantly drinking it, but today he quickly finished it, spoonful by spoonful.
Seeing him finish, Li Ying returned to her room with peace of mind. After she left, Cui Xun sat motionless for a long time. Suddenly, he stood up and walked to the window.
The wooden window was already slightly ajar. Cui Xun pushed it open and saw the bright moon outside.
The moon was like a jade plate hanging in the pitch-black night sky. Its light was as white as water, gently falling upon the earth. Cui Xun’s expression was distant. His fingers reached into his sleeve and took out a jade-colored porcelain bottle. He held the bottle and slowly extended it out the window. If he let go, the bottle would fall and shatter. He gazed at the moon, his fingers gradually loosening, but crimson blood mist and corpses strewn across mountains and plains suddenly appeared before him. He jerked with a start, his fingers tightening again. Finally, he slowly lowered his pale wrist and closed the wooden window once more.
The next day at dawn, Cui Xun and Li Ying set out again. Li Ying glanced at Cui Xun several times and, seeing that his spirits were good with no signs of fatigue, felt relieved.
Cui Xun settled the bill with the innkeeper and asked if there was a shortcut to Gongzhou City. The innkeeper thought for a moment and replied: “There is one. Taking that shortcut would make the journey to Gongzhou City five or six days faster. However, sir, I would advise against taking it.”
“Why?”
“Because that shortcut passes through the Ghost Village.”