As soon as this sentence came to mind, it was like a divine pillar crashing down in his brain, opening up the chaotic world, and all scattered and fragmented consciousness condensed around this point of survival. Through his tightly closed eyelids, he felt the daylight from the outside world for the first time.
Fu Shen’s fingers, curled in Yan Xiaohan’s palm, twitched slightly, and this almost imperceptible movement successfully froze a living person in place.
“Du… cough,” Yan Xiaohan’s voice cracked, still trembling at the end, “Dr. Du, he seems to have just moved…”
“Is that so?” Du Leng doubted he was oversensitive and walked over, “Let me take a look.”
Yan Xiaohan stood up from the bedside, intending to make room for him, his hand about to let go when he suddenly felt his fingertips tighten, gripped firmly.
“Don’t go…”
Those tightly closed eyes opened.
Yan Xiaohan’s eye sockets instantly turned red, stiffening from fingertips to arm like a wooden club, he almost squeezed out a voice from his throat, disbelieving and incredibly softly asking: “Jing Yuan…?”
“Come here,” Fu Shen repeated, his voice barely above a whisper. Yan Xiaohan hesitated at first, but the urgency in Fu Shen’s tone compelled him to step closer.
Once beside the bed, Fu Shen reached for Yan Xiaohan’s hand and squeezed it gently. “I’m okay,” he reassured, his eyes earnest. “You don’t need to worry so much.”
Yan Xiaohan, still visibly shaken, nodded but said nothing. He couldn’t shake the fear that gripped him when he thought of what could have happened if Fu Shen hadn’t woken up.
After a moment of silence, Fu Shen continued, “You stayed by my side, didn’t you? I… I can’t thank you enough for that.”
A faint blush crept onto Yan Xiaohan’s cheeks. “Of course. I… I just couldn’t leave.”
The air was thick with unspoken words, but they communicated through their shared gaze. It was a moment of connection that transcended the situation, and for a brief second, everything felt right again.
“I’ll get better, I promise,” Fu Shen smiled softly, trying to lift the weight of worry off Yan Xiaohan’s shoulders.
Yan Xiaohan felt a weight lift from his heart as he finally allowed himself to smile back. “I know.”
“Yan Xiaohan suddenly snapped out of his previous state of shock, quickly realizing his own loss of composure, hurrying over and leaning down to ask: ‘What’s wrong?’
Fu Shen grabbed one of his hands, pulling it to his lips and gently rubbing it.
‘Nothing,’ he said, ‘Just wanted to kiss you, stop crying.’
Yan Xiaohan inhaled a long, extremely controlled breath, looking like he’d been acupunctured, completely stiff, forgetting even how to blink, a large droplet falling directly onto Fu Shen’s hand.
‘Scared you, huh?’ Fu Shen curved his mouth, laughing very softly, ‘It’s okay, I’m awake now.’
Yan Xiaohan slowly bent down, not daring to use force, but still trying to hold him tightly, burying his face in Fu Shen’s neck.
He had a thousand words, but couldn’t say a single one, only trembling as he called: ‘Jing Yuan.’
‘Mm, don’t be afraid,’ Fu Shen said, ‘I told you, leaving you alone in this world, I couldn’t close my eyes even if I died.’
That was not a casual promise.
‘What dying and living, such loose talk,’ Yan Xiaohan raised his head, showing no trace of having cried, and carefully kissed Fu Shen’s lip corner, ‘Sit up, have some water, okay?’
Fu Shen nodded, his eyes curved, watching him with an indescribable gentle affection.
Yan Xiaohan piled up thick cushions and bedding for him, then got up to pour water.”
Fu Shen tiredly half-closed his eyes, leaning against the headboard, but his mind was clear.
He knew he had scared Yan Xiaohan. Being able to dream meant that his subconscious had already recovered its perception of the outside world, but he hadn’t fully awakened yet, so he kept feeling raindrops on his hand, which shouldn’t be an illusion.
“My deputy…”
Fu Shen had just started speaking when Yan Xiaohan immediately cut him off: “You don’t need to worry about any of this. Leave it to me. You just focus on recovering from your injury, and I’ll take care of everything else.”
Fu Shen was weak and soon grew tired. Yan Xiaohan personally fed him his medicine and carefully tucked him into bed. After Fu Shen fell into a deep sleep, he washed his hands and went out to meet Duan Guihong and Du Leng.
Today was July 7th, and two days had passed since Fu Shen’s poisoning. The imperial army was in chaos, and rumors of Fu Shen’s death were spreading wildly. The two armies faced each other, tension thick in the air.
That day, the incident happened suddenly. Fu Shen had suddenly vomited blood and collapsed.
Duan Guihong was startled and hadn’t even had time to react when the deputy who had entered the tent with Fu Shen drew his sword, shouting, “Ambush! We’ve been tricked!”
This cry immediately brought the guards rushing in. The southwestern troops, unsure of the situation, couldn’t let Duan Guihong be surrounded and also burst into the tent. The two sides became entangled in a fierce battle. Duan Guihong was momentarily stunned but quickly realized they had been set up. However, the scene was too chaotic for him to catch the deputy, so he ordered men to carry Fu Shen away, return to the main camp, and call for a military doctor who confirmed poisoning symptoms but couldn’t identify the specific poison.
Duan Leng, more reliable than the camp’s military doctors, identified the poison as a scorpion venom. These scorpions were common in the deep mountains of Guangnan. The venom was transparent and colorless, with a sweet wine-like fragrance, hence locals called it the “Drunk Scorpion”. Soaking live scorpions in alcohol to extract the venom created a poison called “Tomorrow’s Drunk”.
The poison’s most distinctive feature was that it wouldn’t take effect immediately but would activate at noon the next day. Since the poison was indistinguishable from water or alcohol and had a delayed effect, victims rarely noticed it, making rescue impossible, and death was certain once the poison took hold.
The southwestern region had been damp and rainy recently. Fu Shen sometimes experienced leg pain, and Du Leng had suggested drinking a little alcohol nightly to dispel dampness. It was this detail that gave Xue Sheng’s people an opportunity.
Fortunately, Fu Shen had been brought back to the southwestern camp by Duan Guihong rather than captured by the imperial army. Duan Guihong might lack many things, but he had autumn white grass, which had once saved Fu Ting Xin’s life in the northern grasslands and now saved Fu Shen’s.
The incident of being publicly berated before the troops seemed to have deeply embarrassed Yan Xiaohan, and upon returning to the military, he strictly ordered all troops not to leak this matter. However, Fu Shen’s death was already shrouded in suspicion, and the stricter the military order, the more people believed what Duan Guihong said, causing rumors to spread even wider. Some even claimed that the Emperor of Changzhi was wary of Fu Shen’s excessive military power and had secretly dispatched his confidants to assassinate Fu Shen, then framing Duan Guihong afterward.
The obituary and street rumors spread to the capital, shocking the entire court. The Northern Frontier garrison was on the brink of mutiny, with four generals submitting multiple petitions requesting a thorough investigation from the court.
Facing overwhelming public opinion, the Emperor of Changzhi was forced to reconvene the Yanying Hall to discuss posthumous honors for Fu Shen and how to fill the vacant position.
