Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

69. Zhou Zaiyue’s Plan

Translator: Flying Lines

When Su Jie returned to Prince Rui’s residence, the first thing he saw was… Da Hua.

The moment the tiger saw Su Jie enter the courtyard, he energetically propelled himself forwards.

Su Jie dodged out of reflex, causing Da Hua to meet empty air.

“Da Hua, don’t be rude.” Zhou Zaiyue said to the tiger he raised in a no-nonsense tone.

Da Hua let out an unwilling howl, circled Su Jie twice, and then lied down at Su Jie’s feet.

“This tiger is really strange. Why does it like to be so intimate with me?” Su Jie chuckled as he knelt down, stroking Da Hua. Yet, Da Hua showed no trace of rejecting his touch, causing Su Jie to say in surprise, “He is not savage. He doesn’t feel like a tiger, but rather a dog.”

Almost as if he saw the disdain in Su Jie’s eyes, Da Hua suddenly became restless with anxiety. He stood up, howled angrily, and rushed towards the only tree in the courtyard. The curvature of Da Hua’s body was fluid and perfect, his aura was fierce and majestic. The sturdy trunk of the tree shook violently yet, it returned to its former straight position stubbornly.

Da Hua was not satisfied with this result. He looked here and there to aim his next strike, trying to show off his strength in front of Su Jie.

Su Jie was completely lost as to what he should say. His face full of fright, he said, “Does this tiger… understand what I’m saying?”

“He doesn’t understand, but he is preceptive of your mood-swings. Don’t underestimate Da Hua. He is Mount Mengqi’s strongest and most vigorous tiger.” Zhou Zaiyue said as he laughed and then walked up to stop Da Hua’s attempts of destroying the rockwork.

Da Hua dispiritedly lied down beside Su Jie once again.

“I have decided to go out on a journey.” Zhou Zaiyue said to Su Jie as he removed his gaze from Da Hua’s body.

“Where to?” During this period of them, Su Jie had gotten used to having Zhou Zaiyue at his side. He felt gratefulness from the very depths of his heart towards this old man.

“To find some of the medicinal herbs that make up the poison’s antidote. It may be more than a month until I can come back.” Zhou Zaiyue replied as he estimated the time he might need.

“I’ll go with you.” How could Su Jie not worry if he let Zhou Zaiyue, a seventy-something-year-old, go out alone to find medicinal herbs? Not to mention, he had nearly three months’ worth of antidote in his possession, so he could leave the capital at a moment’s notice.

“You don’t need to follow me. I have already asked two martial arts masters to stay by my side. You’ve even seen one of them.” Zhou Zaiyue said smilingly.

“I’ve seen them before?” Su Jie had no recollection of this.

Suddenly, he had a lightbulb moment, remembering the time when they appreciated peonies in City Yang.

“Is it the youth who clashed with Elder Zhou?” Su Jie was quite keen to hear about these kinds of news. He immediately thought of the youth’s appearance on that day. At that time, the youth even made fun of Su Jie but Su Jie didn’t let this bother him.

“Yes. He is called Shang Liu. The other is called Xuan Wu. It was these two people who saved Sun Shu. They have already left Sun Shu with the escorts who are going to accompany Sun Shu back to Yanling. They are going to leave the capital soon and their martial arts are good. They are suitable to accompany me.” Zhou Zaiyue nodded.

“Will it be dangerous?” Su Jie asked.

Feeling the concern in the youth’s words, Zhou Zaiyue gave a smile that was so big, wrinkles appeared all over his face. He said, “You don’t need to miss me. All you need to do is protect yourself – that will be the biggest kindness to me and to Yanling. My journey to collect herbs does not pose much danger, but on the other hand, you will be alone in Prince Rui’s residence. Don’t get into or involved in accidents. Even if Shengnian is here, I can’t help but worry about you…”

Su Jie let a smile light up upon his face. “Don’t worry, Elder Zhou. As a man of sacrifice, my martial arts are impressive.”

Fresh blood stained the Sharp Sword’s hands but he never showed this side of himself to Zhou Zaiyue. Even though, normally, he looked quite harmless but, actually, Su Jie’s assassination techniques could cause people to tremble in fear. As the best man of sacrifice there was, he was definitely not a pushover.

“Even if this is so, I’m still used to seeing you as someone who needs protection.” Zhou Zaiyue thought for a little, then said, “Ju Liandao has many good martial generals under his command. You could choose two of them to become your secret guards in the future.”

“Well, I’m not used to having people protect me.” Su Jie said jokingly, not taking this seriously.

Zhou Zaiyue, on the other hand, was much more serious about this. He said obstinately, “Even if you’re not used to it, you have to be used to it in the future. Wherever you go, there will always be secret guards. This is non-negotiable, you must have people protecting you.”

Su Jie smiled helplessly. “It sounds like a big hassle but, to me, we still have a long time left before we reach that point. After all, I am still poisoned.”

Zhou Zaiyue’s forehead wrinkled as he frowned. Ultimately, Su Jie was too important to State Yanling. Yet, the poison was a ticking timebomb. As long as the poisonous insect had not been extracted from Su Jie, Zhou Zaiyue would have trouble eating and sleeping. These days, he had already confirmed what kind of poisonous insect the Guqin Master used through his research on Su Jie’s blood. He was going to collect the medicinal herbs that he normally wouldn’t be able to acquire from medicine shops so that he could apply the appropriate remedy to the poison.

“During the time that I’m not here, I have already instructed Shengnian to decoct your medication. After you have consumed the medicine for a month, you will be able to say ‘farewell’ to Hu Qin’s medical pills you are taking to control the poison’s effects. But because Hu Qin is controlling the poisonous insect, I’m afraid you will have to continue putting up with following Hu Qin’s orders until the insect is completely removed from your body.” Zhou Zaiyue rambled on as he instructed.

Su Jie’s eyes had already formed pleasant-looking crescents. He promised happily with a hum of agreement. “Hm.”

“You should stay here in residence quietly in these coming days. Don’t go out, even you have many ways to protect yourself, I still can’t stop worrying.” This was the first time Zhou Zaiyue had talked so much. After he finished talking, he thought of something else and fished out a few bottles of medicine from the inside of his robes. “These are all for you. As for what these medicines do, it says on the bottle. You should carry them around with you.”

“Sure.” Su Jie nodded. The care that Zhou Zaiyue showed towards him made him feel very warm and Su Jie enjoyed feeling like this. This allowed him to know that he was not just a tool for completing missions, but also a living, breathing person.