Chapter 422: Taking Care of He Sanlang (1)

Although Mo Chenggui wasn’t happy to be the subject of the old physician’s nagging, he understood that He Changdi’s condition had taken a turn for the better thanks to Chu Lian.
He hastily lowered his head in apology.
Chu Lian pressed her palm to her forehead, clearly fatigued. She shot a signal at Manager Qin with her eyes. Manager Qin caught on to her intentions and quickly helped the old physician to a room nearby for some tea and snacks.
The old physician was skilled at his craft, but he seemed to enjoy prattling on a little too much, perhaps due to his age.
Chu Lian still had questions for Mo Chenggui, so she couldn’t just let the old physician ramble on like that.
Once the old physician was out of sight, Chu Lian called Mo Chenggui to the study for a chat.
He Changdi had suffered severe injuries. Despite the fact that his condition had been stabilised, it wasn’t good to move him at this point. There was no way for him to return to the northern border army for now, so they would have to send a messenger to notify them.
Some time later, He Changdi was moved off into a side room. Chu Lian took on the task of feeding him herself and used a teapot with a narrow spout to pour the medicine straight into his mouth. After she fed him a total of three bowls’ worth of medicine, she touched his forehead and sighed in relief. He Sanlang’s high fever had finally broken.
When Chu Lian set the special teapot aside, her gaze was attracted by a long box that had been placed on the side table. She sat on the stool beside the bed, picked up the box, and carefully opened it. Two pure white flowers with layers upon layers of petals were laid out on a velvety red fabric. They were only about the size of her thumb. Although their shape somewhat resembled cherry blossoms, these were much prettier.
According to Great Doctor Miao, the Snow Mountain Mists flower supposedly grew bright red on its tree, and it only turned a pure white two days after it was picked if it had reached full bloom. It was a very magical existence.
When He Changdi had led his men up Mount Ah-Ming, the arduous journey had taken most of their strength and energy. Right at the moment when they were picking the flowers, they had been ambushed. It was clear that the enemy had been lying in wait for some time. Most of the attackers had been Tuhuns, but there had also been several masked people from the Great Wu. They were most likely trained assassins.
Although He Changdi had brought elite fighters with him too, they had already used up most of their stamina on the journey there. To make things worse, they were on a mountain peak where the air was thin. They struggled against the enemies for as long as they could, but the odds were stacked against them.
The enemies were ruthless and fearless. In the end, there were only four people left on He Changdi’s side.
As powerful as He Sanlang was, it was impossible for him to contend against so many enemies alone, so they had no choice but to flee.
As they were fending off the Tuhun assassins, He Changdi’s thigh had been pierced by a sword. He Changdi then ordered Mo Chenggui to bring the Snow Mountain Mists flowers back while he stayed to hold off their pursuers.
Mo Chenggui had been left with no choice but to take the Snow Mountain Mists and escape first.
The enemy seemed to have come just for He Changdi, as none of them chased after Mo Chenggui.
Once he got away from them, it took Mo Chenggui half a day to find He Changdi by the tracks he left behind. Eventually, Mo Chenggui found his young master in a pile of snow.
Somehow, He Changdi had actually managed to survive the whole ordeal by hiding in this thick pile of snow. By his side were two frozen Tuhun corpses.
When Mo Chenggui finally found the bloodsoaked He Sanlang, his eyes had filled with tears.
Later on, it was Mo Chenggui and two other old soldiers who transported He Changdi back.
Chu Lian shut the lid of the wooden box and carefully put away the lifesaving medicinal herbs. A glint of light passed through her limpid, almond-shaped eyes. Her usual smile was gone, replaced with a grave expression.
Assassins had ambushed He Changdi on Mount Ah-Ming!
And there had been a group of Tuhuns with them!
There were very few people who knew that they had come out to the northern border to look for the Snow Mountain Mists flower, and most of them were within their circle of trust. Even Prince Jin’s subordinate, Tang Yan, didn’t know about their mission.
The only ones in the army who were in the know were Captain Guo, Zhang Mai, and Xiao Hongyu.
They had only mentioned it to Great General Qian in private when He Changdi had departed.
None of them had any motive to attack He Changdi. Furthermore, those Tuhuns had already been lying in wait near the Snow Mountain Mists flowers, so it was clear that they had been prepared beforehand.
When she thought back to the people who had kidnapped her, Chu Lian’s eyes were filled with a dangerous aura.
Xiao Bojian!
As far as she knew, the only one who would use such despicable methods to achieve their goals was him!
But how had he known that He Sanlang would be going up Mount Ah-Ming to pick the Snow Mountain Mists?
It was impossible for anyone here in the north to leak that information, so it had to be someone back in the capital!
With that, the list of suspects was narrowed down greatly; it had to be someone in the Jing’an Estate.
While Chu Lian was immersed in her thoughts, Wenlan entered the room carrying some clean clothes with her. She called out softly to Chu Lian, who blinked and returned to the present. She turned to Wenlan.
“Third Young Madam, Laiyue has already set off for the army camp to inform them about Third Young Master’s situation. These are some of Third Young Master’s clean clothes. Do you want to change them now?”
Chu Lian nodded and handed over the box of Snow Mountain Mists flowers to Wenlan, ordering her to keep them hidden well.
“Put down the clothes and bring some hot water over.”
The walls of this side room were heated, so it wasn’t cold in here at all. Chu Lian brought a pair of scissors over to the bedside before pulling the blanket off He Changdi’s body.
The old physician had left behind plenty of salves and had told Chu Lian to apply them to He Changdi’s smaller wounds, which were littered all over. In order to access them, He Changdi would need to be stripped.
Fortunately, there was a convenient way to do this. When Chu Lian had been tending to the injury on his thigh earlier, she hadn’t had the time to change him out of his torn, dirty, bloodstained clothes. Thus, It would be easier to simply cut them off and throw them away than to carefully strip him of them.