Chapter 7 - Care

Care

Mu Mingtang never thought she would meet Marquis Wu’an[1] again under such circumstances.

The young man rescued her from Jieren and told her that as long as she could walk, she should move forward. It is not easy to live, and it is too easy to die. Later, that sentence became Mu Mingtang’s spiritual pillar.

Mu Mingtang later learned from other refugees that the young man who rescued Xiangyang was the Marquis of Wu’an. At that time, the Marquis of Wu’an was ordered by Emperor Guo Rong to control rebellions outside the capital. After finishing his duty, he returned back to the capital. On the way, he found that Xiangyang had been captured by the Jieran people.

The Marquis of Wu’an and his army defeated Jieran and rushed back to the capital as soon as possible because at that time Emperor Guo Rong was seriously ill and the Xie family wanted to replace him.

So Mu Mingtang didn’t even know that the Marquis of Wu’an was Xie Xuanchen.

Marquis of Wu’an was the title given to Xie Xuanchen by Emperor Guo Rong. Later, the Xie family replaced him, and Xie Xuanchen became the King of Qiyang. Later, when Xie Yi died and Xie Rui ascended the throne, no one even knew the past of King Qiyang, not to mention the title of a former dynasty, Marquis of Wu’an.

Mu Mingtang went all the way to Chen Liu, and she and granny Zhou decided to settle down in Chen Liu. She always remembered her savior, the Marquis of Wu’an. But as a commoner how could she be able to learn about high-ranking nobles? Later, she was adopted by the Jiang family by accident, and she entered the circle of officials in the capital. The Jiang family didn’t raise her as a daughter from the beginning. She was locked up by Mrs. Jiang, and she was trained every day on food, clothing, housing, walking and talking. No one taught her about interpersonal relationships in the capital, and no one allowed her to contact the social circle. The only thing she knew about the capital was all she heard from maids and old ladies.

In Mu Mingtang’s heart, King Qiyang and Marquis Wu’an were always two people. She wanted to inquire about the whereabouts of Marquis Wu’an. But maids in the Jiang family were not friendly, so she didn’t dare to ask. She could only pray for the safety of her benefactor in her heart.

Ordinary civilians believe in heroes in troubled times. It has nothing to do with love but is a spiritual pillar. She thought more than once that her savior was young, good-looking, and powerful. He didn’t look a few years older than her, but he had already become a marquis. He would become a great person throughout history.

She never thought that he would become like this.

Mu Mingtang cried bitterly for some time. Who thought I would face such a situation? This is not somebody, but my benefactor. My father said that ‘you can owe anything in your life, but you can’t owe kindness alone’. It was him. Since it is his words, then he is in a coma now, and I should be a benefactor and serve my whole life.

Mu Mingtang was no longer afraid, this was her savior, the heroic boy in her mind, what kind of lunatic murderer could be. Mu Mingtang wiped away her tears, looked around, and thought about what to do next.

The sleeping chamber had not been taken care of for a long time. Many places were covered with dust. The whole hall had a gloomy atmosphere. Mu Mingtang stepped forward, rolled up all the curtains, and tied them to the pillars, which made it look much brighter. After that, she looked at Xie Xuanchen. Then she went outside to fetch some water. Xie Xuanchen was in a coma for a long time, and three meals a day and health care were all in charge of specialized soldiers. How can these rough men be expected to take care of people? There was no problem with Xie Xuanchen’s basic hygiene, but there were bloodstains condensed on his cheeks and body.

Mu Mingtang ordered guards to prepare hot water to clean Xie Xuanchen. After a while, the guards brought a bucket of hot water and placed it at the entrance of Yulin Hall.

Mu Mingtang had to bring the water in by herself. Hmm…no one is going to help me. Ok. I can do this.

When she was in Chen Liu, she did everything to make money, and it was not a problem to carry a bucket of water. She brought the washbasin and mixed hot water with cold water to make it to the right temperature. After that, Mu Mingtang took out her handkerchief, soaked it in the water, knelt on the edge of the bed, and carefully cleaned Xie Xuanchen’s face.

She first wiped Xie Xuanchen’s face as a whole, then rubbed the handkerchief again, wrung it dry, and wiped the blood on his face little by little. Those bloodstains looked a little old, they had all turned black and hardened. Mu Mingtang really didn’t dare to think, whose blood is this?

Mu Mingtang got the chance to look at Xie Xuanchen from a close distance while cleaning his face. She realized that Xie Xuanchen was good-looking, perhaps because he had not been exposed to the sun, he was surprisingly white. Moreover, the bones on the side of the face were smooth, the eyebrows were high and straight, the eyelashes were long, the bridge of the nose was high and straight, and the lips were very thin.

After cleaning the face, Mu Mingtang thought whether to clean the rest of the body or not. As for undressing, she didn’t have the guts yet. After thinking for a while, she climbed back onto the bed and lifted the quilt only to find that Xie Xuanchen had chains on his arms.

W…what…. is this. Mu Mingtang was very surprised, and immediately pulled all the quilts away, and found that not only his hands, but also his feet were chained. Those chains were pitch black, rough and cold, and looked very heavy.

He is so weak, with only a thin wrist, they even put an iron chain on him?  Mu Mingtang couldn’t hold back the tears: “Why do they treat you like this! You are the hero who saved Xiangyang, and now you are still seriously ill in bed. Why do they treat you like a prisoner?”

There were shocking wounds on Xie Xuanchen’s wrist. Mu Mingtang could understand what might have happened. He seemed to have struggled with this humiliating brand more than once, but he was weak and had no keys, so he could only struggle with brute force, leaving bloodstains on his wrist. Layers of black blood, and blood scabs formed in some places, sticking to the bedding.

Mu Mingtang felt pain when she looked at it. She wanted to tear the fabric from his wound, but she was afraid of hurting him, so she had to moisten the blood scab with a handkerchief and gently loosen the fluff and fabric. When she was doing that his hand suddenly moved. Mu Mingtang was startled, hurriedly backed away, and fell to the ground with a thud: “Don’t kill me!”

She didn’t get any response. Seeing that Mau Mingtang slowly went to Xie Xuanchen back:  “I’m… er, the new princess, I’m here to take care of you. I swear, I won’t hurt you no matter what.”

Mu Mingtang was really embarrassed to say that she was his wife in front of Xie Xuanchen, so she had to change his words. Fortunately, there was no movement after Xie Xuanchen, Mu Mingtang took her heart to clean his wounds, and Xie Xuanchen always fell asleep peacefully.

A basin of clean water quickly became dirty. Mu Mingtang ran out and poured it out, and refilled it with warm water. The cleaning process took more time than she thought because she had to deal with those heavy iron chains. So when it was finished, Mu Mingtang was tired to death.

Mu Mingtang held her waist and couldn’t help but look at the iron ring. What kind of iron is this made of, so it’s so heavy?

Mu Mingtang looked at it for a while, and then looked at Xie Xuanchen’s scarred hand. Such a heavy brand, no wonder he was injured so badly.

She felt a sour and astringent feeling in her heart. The high-spirited young general was now being treated like this.

She sat on a chair and took a break for a few minutes, then looked around to find medicine to apply Xie Xuanchen’s wounds. Fortunately, Xie Xuanchen was in a coma, and all kinds of medicines were in the hall.

Mu Mingtang dug out the medicine from the box and carefully sprinkled it on his wrist: “The wound is so deep, it was so painful at the beginning. They are really, you have suffered such a serious injury on your hand, and no one will give it to you. Your hands are precious, you must not be injured.”

By the time all the wounds on his hands and feet had been sprayed with medicine, Mu Mingtang was so tired that she was about to collapse. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled: “After being a daughter of a noble family for a few days, even my body has become delicate. It’s such a big deal, I’m actually sweating from exhaustion.”

Today was her big wedding. She didn’t sleep well last night. She got up early this morning and was tossed by various wedding ceremonies for a day. At night, she was still busy all alone, doing so much physical work that Mu Mingtang couldn’t take it any longer. At this moment, she really wanted to, but she looked at the messy water stains on the ground, the messy dirty cloth, and finally got up, threw all the dirty cloth out, and found a dry cloth to dry the ground.

After everything was cleaned up, Mu Mingtang brought a brand new red quilt and covered Xie Xuanchen lightly.

“Today’s our wedding day, although you don’t know, I don’t think you agree. But after all, it’s a good day. The newlyweds must cover the red quilt before they can be prosperous. Be healthy.”  she said to Xie Xuanchen. Then she blew out the candles in the bedroom one by one, and went outside.

Mu Mingtangdid didn’t plan to share the same bed with Xie Xuanchen. She was a shy young girl after all. She became more shy after she learned that  Xie Xuanchen was the one who saved her back then.

After Mu Mingtang left, the room returned to silence. Xie Xuanchen’s fingers flicked slightly at that time.

End of chapter 7

Translator Notes:

1. Marquis Wu’an was the title given to Xie Xuanchen by Emperor Guo Rong. ↵