Meanwhile, Yan Si followed that individual to look around for a moment and soon felt overwhelmed; this Inner Palace Pharmacy was indeed exceptionally large, virtually containing every type of medicine, whether precious and rare or commonly used.
After guiding him back and forth for a while, Liu Yu finally spoke, "The affairs here already have this humble servant looking after them; My Lord may come to visit as well, there is no need to perform any tasks."
Then, in the final analysis, what was the purpose of telling him to come here?
It seemed that Yan Si's official title was merely a matter of formality. In truth, RongCheng did not wish for any individual to cause trouble for him and had given instructions early on; therefore, no one dared to command him in anything.
Furthermore, the person was the sworn younger brother of the Eldest Prince, and was officially accepted by the Emperor and the Empress as an adopted child; although they saw him thin, weak, and impoverished like that, who dared to look down on him to his face? There was only badmouthing and mockery behind his back.
Approaching near midday, Yan Si at present was already thoroughly exhausted; never before had he been required to engage in so much movement and walking, wishing only to return to his quarters to sleep.
Just then, Xiao Yi suddenly ran over to announce, saying that the Imperial Consort had awakened, so His Highness commanded him to be called in haste. Hearing this, Yan Si immediately followed him to the Zixuan Palace.
It could be considered strange indeed; the imperial palace inherently lacked no imperial physicians, yet RongCheng solely called Yan Si alone—it was always him.
Yan Si sat beside the edge of the bed and examined Shang Yuan's pulse for a while, saying, "The Imperial Consort at present is already stable; it is enough to merely place importance on nursing the injury and restoring his strength."
At this time, RongCheng was finally able to let out a collective sigh of relief. Waiting until Yan Si stood up, he instantly sat down, caught hold of Shang Yuan's hand, and tenderly stroked the back of his hand...
This scene... was truly difficult to look upon indeed; just as Yan Si intended to shrink to one side, Shang Yuan seemed to take notice of him, asking in a low voice, "Your Highness, who is that person?"
"Ah..." Only at this moment did RongCheng suddenly remember, and replied, "It is difficult to explain completely in a single word; gradually I will recount it for you to hear."
Afterward, he looked across at Yan Si, saying, "Withdraw to rest, you have no need to stand here."
When a mishap befell the Imperial Consort, he immediately called for him; yet when the person was healthy, he dismissed him straight away.
Yan Si's heart was drooping with sorrow without a clear reason.
Everything taking place seemed entirely far removed from what he had once thought. Wishing to meet RongCheng also required possessing a reason; it could not be that saying he wished to be embraced by him would immediately result in being embraced, because the man was already occupied with taking care of another person.
Immediately afterward, Yan Si silently returned home and closed the door, while simultaneously forbidding even Xiao Yi from causing a disturbance.
He staggered over and cast himself face-down upon the bed; at the moment when he wished to call his name, he stopped.
"Why did you say you would care for me?" The person had genuinely forgotten.
"Could it be that I am on the verge of being cast away again?"
The spectacle of RongCheng taking care of Shang Yuan caused Yan Si to realize a cruel truth. The imperial palace possessed a place for every single person, except him.
Shang Yuan possessed the status of the Imperial Consort. RongCheng possessed power and responsibility.
And Yan Si? He was given a puppet post. He was merely a "that person" within Shang Yuan's question, a "difficult to explain completely in a single word" within RongCheng's mouth. This anonymity caused him to feel his own self no different from a ghost at the very place where he was living.
"I wish to return." In the wilderness of the forest, lacking RongCheng would not matter at all. Even if he strove to cling on here, the man would not look upon his face either.
From then on, Yan Si continually confined himself within his quarters, each day merely departing when coming to visit the Imperial Consort, and afterward hurriedly returning straight back, absolutely never lingering to cause a disturbance.
Yan Si being in such a manner caused Shang Yuan, even when wishing to say something to him, to possess no opportunity; even when RongCheng asked after him, he merely replied perfunctorily with a few sentences, and upon reaching approximately three days, he completely vanished.
Meanwhile, RongCheng was inherently still rejoicing because Shang Yuan was recovering exceptionally well, and thinking that he had instructed Xiao Yi to follow and take care of him with thorough care, he also placed little concern upon him.
Who would have expected that Xiao Yi increasingly could not persuade Yan Si at all. The person continually ate and drank erratically; seeing food arrive, his reaction was exactly like being on the verge of being tortured, and on some days he discarded it entirely. The situation was bad to such an extent, yet he resolutely refused to permit him to go meet RongCheng, merely saying, "I am fine, my belly is very weak and cannot contain a great deal of food, so there is no need to force it; let me sleep a little and I will be healthy."
Deep within the forest, although Yan Si ate a small amount of wild fruits and plant leaves, they were all entirely good for his body. As for the imperial palace, it consisted entirely of things that were unsuitable... After a mere three days, he was completely exhausted, unable to walk further, entirely burying himself in sleep.
Not wishing to walk anymore... and also not wishing to behold...
The words that someone had spoken at the cave on that day were all merely lies! He would not believe them further!
Five days slipped away, and Yan Si's situation became worse with each moment; he continually slept soundly throughout, causing Xiao Yi to unceasingly worry; he walked back and forth, silently thinking to himself that he did not know whether he ought to report to His Highness: "If by chance an untoward matter befalls master, even with ten lives I could not possibly bear it; nonetheless, at present His Highness has also..."
RongCheng was busy caring for the Imperial Consort; coming to disturb him at this time might result in being scolded... At that thought, Xiao Yi tightly gritted his teeth, "It will not do... is the person not an imperial physician? How could it be that he cannot even cure his own illness... or rather... let us just... just trust him."
Furthermore, it had been a long time since he saw RongCheng ask after him; Xiao Yi thought he would gradually persuade the person later on.
Upon reaching the seventh day, when Shang Yuan had nearly recovered completely, RongCheng only then possessed the time to remember Yan Si.
In the evening, RongCheng unexpectedly came to visit him to see how things were, but never expecting...
Before his eyes, what exactly was this spectacle?
Yan Si, his countenance pale and sallow, leaned against Xiao Yi's shoulder, while that other person held a spoonful of porridge in hand and placed it near his lips, weeping and pleading, "Master... master... quickly wake up to eat a bit of porridge... it has already been two days that My Lord has not..."
Before Xiao Yi could even finish his words, he caught sight of RongCheng arriving; his countenance was dark as night, appearing immensely furious as he asked, "What are you doing?"
The spoonful of porridge in Xiao Yi's hand instantly dropped down; his face suddenly turned pale without a drop of blood remaining. He hurriedly laid Yan Si down upon the bed and voluntarily knelt flat on the ground, "Your... Your Highness, forgive my offense; this servant is powerless, unable to persuade master..."
At this time, RongCheng indeed no longer possessed enough patience to listen to Xiao Yi speak; he instantly stepped forward, kicked that dog servant away, and simultaneously checked Yan Si's condition.
Beholding him at present even worse than the time spent at the cave, RongCheng asked with gritted teeth, "Did I not tell you to take care of the person with thorough care, for what reason have you let him come to such a pass?"
Xiao Yi at present was still kneeling flat on the ground, his entire frame trembling and shivering all over, replying haltingly, "It... it is this ser... servant who is power... power... powerless; master refused to eat or drink, this servant could not... persuade him, there... therefore it was why..."
"Refused to eat or drink?" Hearing up to here, RongCheng's burning wrath rose higher with each moment; he asked with gritted teeth, "Refused to eat or drink, and you then just abandoned him? Even going so far as to not bother coming to report to me, what exactly do you regard my words as?"
Knowing that he was entirely in the wrong, Xiao Yi continuously kowtowed, "Your Highness forgive my offense, it is this servant's fault... this servant knows his wrong... Your Highness forgive my offense."
RongCheng's burning wrath pierced the sky; just as he intended to call for men to come and drag the dog servant before his eyes out to be beaten for a session, he suddenly caught sound of an extraordinarily feeble voice: "Do not blame him... it is not his fault, it is my fault, please do not blame and scold him."
Yan Si had awakened, yet he could not open his eyes at all; he could only hear sounds near and far, and amidst the blurriness, sensing what RongCheng intended to do, he strained to speak up to intervene.
Seeing the boy awaken, RongCheng felt both a bit of joy and anxiety; he let out a sigh and asked, "Little brother, why have you become like this again?"
He faintly shook his head, not replying to his words, merely saying, "Hold me, will you?"
"Very well." RongCheng nodded and assisted Yan Si up, letting the boy lean into his chest, his arms wrapping around to embrace him.
Obtaining a bit of the familiar warmth, Yan Si's entire frame seemed on the verge of melting away; after a long, long period of silence, he spoke again, "Bring me back to the cave."
Cast him away so as to not involve other innocent individuals, and as for him, he would be fine too.
Wishing only to return to the cave to continue sleeping, so as to not have to face RongCheng's wrath, and not having to strain himself against rules that he himself had never been capable of understanding.
RongCheng tightened his embrace around Yan Si even further, asking in a low voice, "Why do you wish to return? Why do you wish to depart? What about this place is not good? Has some individual treated you poorly?"
Who exactly had treated him poorly? Who was it? The corner of Yan Si's lips faintly drooped; how could he say it was due to him, the person who had forgotten the promise? He wished only to quickly return to the place where he belonged. In the future, he would surely miss him a bit more, but it did not matter... he could still endure it.
A person like this caused RongCheng to be even more bewildered; he genuinely did not know what he had done wrong or what was amiss toward him, and asked again in a low voice, "Little brother, speak quickly—is it that I have done something wrong to you?"
Yan Si shook his head feebly, saying, "No! It is because I am not good… Let me return, I… I am not accustomed to being here."
His world at this time was RongCheng; it was because of having him that he had forced himself to endure, gathering all his courage to come here. But what he faced instead was a cold dismissal, and if every place lacked him, he would rather choose the place where it was easiest to live.
"In the final analysis, for what reason is it?" RongCheng tightened his embrace around Yan Si, seeing the boy nearly fainting away within his arms; a surge of distress abruptly welled up... Thinking carefully over what had occurred throughout many days, he silently blamed himself: "That is right, the person has just returned here from the deep forest, yet I left him entirely alone… a minor young servant who only knows how to execute commands, how could he possess the capacity to guide him to integrate? I was truly too negligent—"
He tightened his embrace around Yan Si's frame, saying with sorrow, "Forgive me, it is eldest brother who is wrong; I abandoned you without care for it to come to this pass."
Up until now, RongCheng had not realized at all that the action he thought was saving Yan Si was in reality striving to scoop a fish up from a stagnant pond onto dry land, furthermore feeding the fish meat and wishing for the fish to be healthy and swim on its own. Xiao Yi was the one who fed it, not knowing that it was difficult for the fish to survive, and it was currently struggling within.
That fish did not know the way to raise its voice to demand; enduring and refusing to accept was the sole method that it understood.
RongCheng possessed everything from the entire realm to beautiful individuals, yet he lacked the single thing that Yan Si required, which was entire devotion.