Yan Si remained silent and did not reply; RongCheng once more stroked his head, saying, "From now onward I will care for you more, do not be sad, I will not abandon you further, therefore… do not go anywhere, stay here."
RongCheng's apology caused Yan Si's heart momentarily to surge with waves; the immense grievance throughout the past many days abruptly burst forth fiercely. He buried himself deep into the man's chest and began to weep… wishing only to weep for a session to relieve the sorrow.
RongCheng reached his hand out to stroke his cheek, soothing him, "Do not weep… do not weep… you must not weep..."
Never expecting it, the resolve to depart just now, merely due to a few words of sweet coaxing, had instantly gone limp. Everything had been driven away and cleared completely by RongCheng's gaze and warmth. Yan Si, even though not wishing to, still unconsciously clung to him—the place where he felt a bit of affection still existed.
The place where he had not yet been cast away…
Meanwhile, Xiao Yi, although kneeling flat on the ground, still strove to crane his head up to observe the situation. In truth, this master was even more childish than himself, conducting himself exactly like a three-year-old toddler, while His Highness was no different from his mother.
It was truly difficult to understand when RongCheng at all times exuded an awe-inspiring divine aura that caused the people in the palace to revere and fear him to the utmost extent, yet right now he was gentle and tender to an unbelievable degree.
At this time, RongCheng's anger had subsided; he laid Yan Si back down upon the bed and fell silent in contemplation. After a period of thinking thoroughly and carefully, he turned toward Xiao Yi, saying, "Go invite Imperial Physician Qiong to come here."
Receiving the command, how could Xiao Yi dare to hesitate? He instantly complied and ran off, leaving Yan Si with no time to even intervene and stop him. He tightly gripped the man's sleeve, knitted his brows, and asked, "Why.. why must you call him here?"
Was he himself not an imperial physician as well? For what reason did he still call another person to come?
RongCheng patted Yan Si's hand, shook his head, and said, "It seems that even your own self does not know what illness you possess, therefore I called him to come examine you."
How could he not know what illness he possessed? It was merely that.. it could not be spoken because of the fear that the man would cause difficulties for him.
Liu Yu, unexpectedly being called here, looked with wide eyes at RongCheng and then looked at Yan Si, feeling in his heart somewhat unable to understand.
In the past when the Male Imperial Consort was severely injured, everyone had tied their hands and admitted defeat; the moment this fellow appeared, he was immediately able to treat him. For a person who inherently possessed such excellent medical skills, when falling ill himself, did he still require his own presence?
Knowing it was thus, yet this was RongCheng's command; Liu Yu naturally did not dare to evade, so he sat down upon the bed to feel Yan Si's pulse. After a long period of careful examination, he let out a sigh and asked, "Your Highness, I know not before returning to the palace, what did he usually eat?"
RongCheng was just about to speak when he discovered Yan Si was tightly gripping his clothes, seemingly not wishing to be exposed. Understanding the meaning—the man felt all the more requirement to speak, "It was… wild forest leaves and wild fruits."
"Having arrived here already, what is there to hide and conceal?" RongCheng thought silently to himself, then looked across at Yan Si, saying, "Possessing an illness, one must treat it; could it be that you will live fitfully and drift along like this forever?"
Liu Yu knew Yan Si had just been brought back from the deep forest by RongCheng, yet he simply had not expected the life to be bad to such an extent. He silently looked at him, and a long time later spoke, "This person is due to his body being emaciated to an extreme degree, which has led to this state of total exhaustion; furthermore, the food of the imperial palace is unsuitable, leading to the body being heavily poisoned. To rectify this, it is necessary to adjust to a special dietary regime."
Hearing this, RongCheng did not understand much, yet he paid heed to the two words: "Heavily poisoned?"
He asked angrily, "You say the food of the imperial palace possesses poison!? Who has intentionally poisoned him?"
Yan Si's fist faintly tightened; he knew the man would certainly be in this manner anyway… RongCheng's reaction caused Liu Yu to be alarmed, and he replied haltingly, "No… it is not so! Your Highness has misunderstood! This humble servant's meaning is that due to his physical constitution being unable to digest the food here, it has given rise to the illness."
Having finished listening to the analysis, RongCheng became even more impatient, and asked anxiously, "If it is so, then what must be done?"
Could it be that they must continually go into the forest to pluck leaves and wild fruits for him to eat? How could a human being be reared like a wild beast?
Liu Yu pondered for a moment, and spoke, "Your Highness, do not be impatient! The situation can be rectified, it only requires that My Lord here is willing to cooperate a little…"
He looked at Yan Si, smiled slightly, and asked, "This matter, with My Lord's level of medical skills, surely you know what ought to be done, do you not?"
He knew, but because it was too difficult, he was unable to perform it… Catching sight of RongCheng's gaze directed toward himself, Yan Si merely bit his teeth tightly in silence.
It appeared that he would not be honest; Liu Yu coughed softly a few times and began to explain thoroughly to avoid being misunderstood by RongCheng. These were entirely the things that caused Yan Si to feel the most terrified.
Having finished giving instructions, Liu Yu then requested permission to withdraw; Xiao Yi was assigned to go decoct the medicine.
At this time, only the two of them remained within the quarters. RongCheng caught hold of Yan Si's hand, saying in a low voice, "Little brother, those words Imperial Physician Qiong spoke just now, you have also heard them clearly; from now onward you must definitely strive hard."
"I…" Yan Si hesitated for a very long time without replying; he knew he truly could not perform it. Eating and drinking simply for so many years, and now continually being stuffed… merely catching sight of food arriving already caused a desire to vomit.
RongCheng raised his hand, faintly stroking his sallow and gaunt cheek, saying, "I know, at present you suffer greatly from a loss of appetite, but looking at you like this truly will not do… From this time onward, just regard eating as being for eldest brother; do not let me worry further, will you?"
Hearing the man worry because of him, Yan Si silently blamed himself, "I… am truly a burden indeed..."
Thinking thus, he suddenly wrapped his arms around to tightly embrace RongCheng, speaking softly, "Forgive me, eldest brother! It is I who have caused trouble and made you worry!"
What RongCheng awaited and yearned for was a promise that "I will strive hard", yet what he received was "an embrace and an apology". He faintly let out a sigh, gently pushed him away, and said sternly, "I do not mean to say you cause trouble—A Si, I only wish for you to live healthily and better."
Yan Si noticed that RongCheng's countenance was quite strained, and his body automatically shrunk back… Thinking he had done something wrong to cause the man to be like that, he faintly nodded, "I… understand."
Although conveying his intent was quite a failure, Yan Si seemingly had understood; RongCheng reassured him with a few more sentences before finally being willing to depart.
In the end, the thing that Yan Si feared most after all had arrived; RongCheng forced him to eat throughout the entire day regardless of whether he wished to or not.
Morning, noon, afternoon, evening… a single day he was forced to eat seven or eight intervals, to the point that merely catching sight of Xiao Yi carrying something over caused him to immediately grimace, "Again? Was it not just a moment ago that I already ate?"
His "just a moment ago" also had to be separated by more than a watch… This, although it was eating many intervals, each time like that consisted of only a tiny bit.
Yan Si's dietary regime at present was specially cooked by a chef on his own, low in protein and grease, with the seasoning faint and closest to nature, furthermore it had to be items stewed very thoroughly, so that the shrunken stomach of the forest person could easily digest it.
At that thought, Xiao Yi strove to persuade him, "Master, strive a little to quickly regain strength, this is only a tiny bit of porridge… His Highness has instructed, this servant cannot do otherwise."
Passing through that session just now caused Xiao Yi to draw a lesson of experience; if by chance master did not listen to words, then he would immediately have to go call His Highness to manage him. As for that other person, even though he was busy, he would immediately arrive straight away; nonetheless, calling too many times would naturally cause him to find it annoying and begin to unleash a burning wrath that appeared immensely terrifying…
Even so, His Highness did not vent his anger directly upon master; it was only the servants behind their backs who were the ones to bear all the consequences.
Xiao Yi once more let out a sigh and pleaded, "My ancestor, my master... I beg of you, please take pity upon this servant; if His Highness is let to unleash his anger, it will truly be difficult for this servant to live."
Speaking up to here, he was truly on the verge of crying, "Master, do you truly possess no resolve at all to wish to live? Please think of His Highness's heart; he is currently truly worrying greatly, will you continually let him be burdened like this forever?"
Furthermore, he might also find him very annoying; discarding him was impossible, yet retaining him was...
It turned out that his own self was actually an extremely immense source of trouble, furthermore causing so many people to involve themselves in suffering like that… Remaining silent for a long time, he suddenly forced himself to sit up, saying, "Give it to me…"
Seeing this, Xiao Yi was overjoyed and assisted Yan Si up, saying, "Let this servant assist you."
He said nothing, merely nodding his head faintly to agree…
From that time onward, Yan Si began to become more conscious; he voluntarily ate all the things Xiao Yi brought over, even though sometimes just after eating it down he vomited it all back out because it was too distasteful.
His stomach was being forced to work after too many years of hibernation; his body continually stagnated and revolted. At times Yan Si felt that living like an ordinary person was even more difficult than being inside the forest; eating wild fruits had been how comfortable instead.