Twenty thousand taels of gold.
Xiao Zhen looked at her smiling face and couldn’t help but laugh along, squeezing her fingers as he said, “Xie Yushu, even the most ruthless merchant in the world would feel ashamed in front of you.”
Xie Yushu shook her fingers in defiance.
“You’re wrong. I’m neither a merchant nor doing business with you. This is the payment a professional actress deserves.”
“Actress?”
Xiao Zhen couldn’t understand her strange words.
It seemed Xiao Zhen wasn’t planning to hand over twenty thousand taels of gold after all.
Xie Yushu, unwilling to explain to someone who wouldn’t pay, forcefully pulled her hand back and said, “Fourth Prince, you’d better quickly figure out how you’ll deal with Prime Minister Song tonight. If you’re not going to use me as cover, I’m going to attend to other matters.”
Was she urging him to pay?
The fragrance still lingered in the palm of Xiao Zhen’s hand.
Smiling, he asked, “Going to accompany Song Jie?”
Though clearly sarcastic, for some reason in the dim carriage, his words sounded jealous.
He didn’t want Xie Yushu to misunderstand his intentions toward this married woman and instinctively tried to add something.
Xie Yushu didn’t care at all.
“None of your business.”
She lifted the curtain to leave, as if unwilling to waste another second with him.
Suddenly, Xiao Zhen felt a surge of annoyance and called out to his attendant, “Ping An, give Madam Xie five thousand taels of silver.”
At the mention of payment, she actually stopped and turned back with a smile.
Xiao Zhen laughed angrily.
That sly Xie Yushu—tonight alone she’d netted ten thousand taels of gold and five thousand taels of silver from him.
That could buy an entire Yongyi Marquis Residence.
Had Xiao Zhen not returned to the palace?
Song Jie soon received a reply from the Imperial Palace.
Since leaving the Duke of England’s Residence, Xiao Zhen hadn’t returned.
Coincidentally, Xie Yushu was also absent from Pei Mansion.
It was hard not to speculate that perhaps Xiao Zhen’s men had taken Xie Yushu away.
From the moment of today’s banquet at the Duke of England’s Residence, Xiao Zhen had acted strangely.
Now, at the second watch of the night, the palace gates were closed.
It seemed Xiao Zhen intended to stay out overnight.
Another stove had been added to the room.
But his body was growing colder by the minute, each breath feeling like shards of ice cutting through his lungs. Every word he uttered intensified his coughing.
“Find out where Xiao Zhen is…”
He forced the words out, collapsing over the edge of the bed in a violent coughing fit.
Dark blood dripped from his lips onto the floor, pooling and splattering, undoing all the medicine he’d taken.
The icy pain burned to his bones.
His fingers clenched the edge of the bed until they nearly broke.
He wanted to stop and instruct Cang Shu—if he found Xie Yushu and Xiao Zhen together, he would kill them both…
He would never allow her to treat Xiao Zhen as she treated him.
He would never allow her to play the part of Jia Ning and grow close to Xiao Zhen.
But he only managed to say “Xie” before coughing up a large pool of crimson blood and collapsing against the bed, unable to continue.
“Master!”
Cang Shu rushed forward and caught him, feeling the man’s body grow stiff, his fingers turning purple, lips darkening.
The Prime Minister’s poison was flaring again.
Today was the worst day of the relapse—it was the last day before he would enter a death-like state after expelling the toxic blood, enduring bone-piercing cold.
If his body didn’t warm up quickly, he might never wake.
Cang Shu had no time to hesitate.
He lifted the Prime Minister and placed him into a bathtub filled with warm water, commanding servants to keep adding hot water, then hurried out of the room.
Someone.
He needed to find Madam Xie quickly to help the Prime Minister through his last day.
The “Xie” he had called out before losing consciousness must have been for Madam Xie.
Where to find Madam Xie?
Yong’an Marquis Residence?
Or was she truly with the Fourth Prince?
Maybe she had already returned to Pei Mansion?
He rushed out of the manor, mounted his horse, when suddenly a brand-new carriage sped through the darkness.
It was Madam Xie’s carriage!
Cang Shu quickly dismounted and hurried to meet it.
“Cang Shu?”
As the carriage stopped, Madam Xie lifted the curtain and frowned.
“Has Prime Minister Song relapsed again?”
For some reason, at that moment, Cang Shu felt Madam Xie was a heavenly savior.
“Yes.”
Without formalities, Cang Shu reached into the carriage and helped her down.
“Master has fainted. He needs you.”
“I heard from the servants that you and Song Xiang came to Pei Mansion to find me. I guessed it was another relapse.”
Xie Yushu supported Cang Shu’s arm as they stepped down, her expression full of worry.
A faint scent of floral dew filled Cang Shu’s senses.
Only when he stood close did he notice Madam Xie’s bare face, her hair loosely pinned up.
Beneath her dark purple cloak was a broad robe, as if she had removed her makeup and was preparing to rest but rushed out in the middle of the night.
She didn’t mention money, only quickly ordered the coachman to stop at the back gate.
Jin Ye accompanied her into the manor, supporting Cang Shu’s arm as they hurried toward the Prime Minister’s Mansion.
Even Panpan didn’t bark at her, as if already knowing she was here to save Song Jie.
Instead, the dog whimpered and wagged its tail at her.
When Xie Yushu entered the room, even having seen Song Jie’s previous relapses, her heart jumped in shock.
He lay like he was soaked in blood, his tightly shut eyes and mouth all bleeding.
His face was as rigid as a corpse’s.
Buckets of warm water were poured in, but his body showed no sign of warmth.
Had he already died?
The relapse in the original story wasn’t this terrifying.
Xie Yushu nervously checked his breath and immediately looked at Cang Shu.
“No breath…”
“It’s a death-like state. Don’t be afraid, Madam.”
Cang Shu hurried to reassure her.
“Prime Minister’s blood and body are frozen by the Ice Cold Poison. We must restore his body temperature quickly to wake him, or else…”
The leek will truly be dead.
Standing by the tub, Xie Yushu looked at the zombie-like Song Jie and suddenly asked the system, “Why am I able to warm Song Jie? I’m curious why only my body temperature can dispel his Ice Cold Poison?”
She had wondered before—it seemed her body temperature was always slightly higher than others’.
“Yes, host. Your body temperature is higher than most.”
The system immediately responded.
“This is because of your Life Value. The higher your Life Value, the stronger your Heart Fire. According to the world’s rules, Song Jie’s Ice Cold Poison can only be dispelled by Heart Fire. This is why the heroine, Xie Jianing, can save Song Jie—because she is the center of fate and the character with the strongest Heart Fire in this world.”
So there really was a logical explanation.
Xie Yushu was surprised; she thought it was just a contrived plot device.
Without hesitation, she exchanged all twelve points of her Green Hat Value for Life Value.
Her original Life Value of 140 days rose to 260.
Her body felt no different except lighter, with a sense of blood vitality filling her.
“Madam, you must help Prime Minister.”
Cang Shu saw her stunned by the tub and quickly said, “Any amount of silver will do.”
“Ten thousand taels,” Xie Yushu said simply.
“In gold.”
Cang Shu thought he’d misheard.
He assumed Madam Xie was genuinely here to save the Prime Minister but didn’t expect she had already set a price for him…
Yet Madam Xie didn’t wait for his response.
She removed her cloak and decisively ordered him and Jin Ye, “Cang Shu, bring hot water to behind the screen. Jin Ye, add water and bring some towels. Everyone else leave the room.”
Cang Shu immediately obeyed, waving away the other servants and going out to fetch hot water.
The kitchen had been sending hot water in repeatedly.
Carrying a bucket outside the courtyard gate, Cang Shu hurried back, instinctively circling around the screen to the bathtub.
Then he suddenly turned away in a panic.
Madam Xie had actually stepped into the tub, holding Prime Minister Song in her arms…
“What are you doing? Didn’t I tell you to leave the water behind the screen?”
Jin Ye, annoyed, took the bucket from him and pushed him out from behind the screen.
Cang Shu hurriedly explained, “I—I didn’t see anything.”
He only saw Madam Xie’s robe soaked and slipping off her neck, her black hair pinned up, the nape of her neck damp and tinged pink.
“Host, you gained one point of Wanrenmi Value from Cang Shu.”
The system chimed.
Xie Yushu, sweating in the hot tub, no longer tried to analyze the source of the man’s affection.
She hadn’t even removed her outer robe; her damp, makeup-free face was completely ruined.
Taking a towel from Jin Ye, she wiped Song Jie’s face and neck haphazardly.
This ten thousand taels of gold was what she deserved.
Jin Ye added more hot water to the tub and watched Madam Xie scrub Song Jie’s face like giving him a bath.
She couldn’t help but say, “Madam, let me do it.”
“No need.”
Xie Yushu soaked a towel in the hot water, wrung it out, and covered Song Jie’s face, careful not to suffocate him, leaving his mouth and nose exposed.
It was too hot.
With each bucket of hot water poured in, it felt like a sauna.
She couldn’t help but slip Song Jie’s ice-cold hand into her sleeve, letting him hold her arm to cool down.
He was truly like a block of ice.
Wherever his palm touched, the place cooled quickly.
Xie Yushu pressed her entire body against him, holding him in the steaming water.
His head rested on her shoulder.
She pressed her flushed face against his cheek, mumbling, “So hot. So hot.”
Song Jie’s frozen cheek felt warmth; his ice-cold body felt warmth; even his numb palm slowly thawed and regained sensation.
In his haze, he felt something soft and hot in his grasp—like…human skin.
Who was holding him?
That embrace was warm and steady, like when his mother held him as a child.
That was the first and last time his mother had ever hugged him. Ironically, she held him just after poisoning him, when he collapsed in pain.
Perhaps his pitiful state had stirred a moment of mercy in her, and she cried as she held him…
The Ice Cold Poison and his mother’s embrace happened together, and all he felt then was pain.
But now, this warm embrace held him quietly, letting him rest his head on a shoulder, a warm palm gently stroking his aching back.
He felt unbelievable warmth, peace, and tenderness.
Even someone about to freeze to death could be slowly warmed and melted by such a hold.
He wanted to hug her tighter, to press closer, to melt away together…
Suddenly, the face pressed against his moved.
He heard a familiar voice, hoarse and warm, ask him, “Are you sweating or crying, Song Jie?”
Xie Yushu…
It really was Xie Yushu.
He couldn’t explain the complicated emotions stirring in his heart—like when recalling his mother’s embrace, whether it was hatred or resentment that she never truly loved him.
Like the turmoil he felt toward Xie Yushu right now—he despised her yet kept looking at her.
He disliked her but kept seeking her out.
Tonight, when he couldn’t find her, he truly wanted to kill both her and Xiao Zhen…
But now, his aching body and bones craved Xie Yushu’s embrace, to hold him a little longer.
He was too cold…
“Host, you gained one point of Wanrenmi Value and one point of Green Hat Value.”
The system sounded in the steaming air.
“Both from Song Jie.”
Xie Yushu was almost asleep from the heat, but she opened her eyes to look at Song Jie in her arms.
Was he awake?
Yet his eyes remained tightly shut, showing no sign of waking.
Only his lips regained normal color, and his pale face was covered in a thin sheen of sweat.
She reached out to check his breath and felt it even out—he must have passed the worst of the relapse.
“Song Jie, are you awake?”
She gently patted his face, seeing his brows furrow in pain.
She hurried to call Cang Shu, “Cang Shu—”
Suddenly, the hands holding her arm tightened, pulling her into a warm embrace.
Sliding through her sleeve, they grasped her waist under her robe.
She heard Song Jie whisper painfully and weakly, “Don’t go…I’m so cold…”