Inside the prison was gloomy and the coldness was trembling. All year round unlit by the sunlight. Spread all over this place was the smell of moldy odor.
The guards at the prison gate bowed down, carefully and cautiously said: “Your Majesty is highly respected, it’s really unsuitable and inadvisable to enter.”
His Majesty made a heavy expression, said with a lowered voice: “Lead the way!”
One of the guards grabbed the torch, led the Emperor to enter the prison. They walked down a section of damp and slippery steps, down to the prison cells.
Inside the prison was moist and dirty. The bad smell of moldy odor offended the nose and caused people to feel sick as if overcome by nausea. This group of people walked down the long and narrow path like an alley. After making a turn on a curved end, they caught a glimpse of two bodies piling up while lying prone from the space between the cells.
The Emperor couldn’t help but wrinkle his brows: “What has happened here?”
Upon hearing the sound of a voice, Xiao Bao struggled to prop his body up from the ground. From all over his whole body, droplets of water were dripping following suit of each and every one of his movements. When he saw the one who’s coming was The Emperor, he was unable to restrain his anxious howl : “Your Majesty, Master fainted again!!!”
The Emperor’s heart skipped a beat, “How can that be?”
Xiao Bao explained with his hoarse voice: “Master was being punished, right now he is enduring this hardship. *When a wall is about to collapse, everybody gives it a shove. The Court Official, in order to gain Your Majesty’s favor, was pouring icy cold water on him. Not after pouring ten pails of water did they finally stop. How could my Master stand that!!”
*(t/n : meaning : Everybody hits a person who is already down.)
After hearing this, the Emperor was in a great wrath: “I haven’t ordered the Judicial Officers to do anything. There were actually people who were brave enough to perform this kind of illegal punishment?!”
The surrounding guards all fell down on their knees. Loudly shouted and begged for forgiveness while kneeling.
The Emperor strode to enter the prison cell; from the straw mat he took the Blind Concubine into his embrace.
The Blind Concubine’s pair of eyes tightly shut. Lips were of a purple color. From head to toe drenched through and through. It was like he was just being pulled out from the river. The Emperor stretched out his hand to examine him, his cheek was freezing cold, like an ice cube. The nose had ceased to breathe.
Rui Ze’s words suddenly filled his mind at that moment: “If by any chance the person really has gone for good. I would like to see what Big Brother will do!!” Sharp and loud, like a knife cut and pierced his ears.
The Emperor’s heart abruptly filled with fear and shook him, “Quick! Summon the Imperial Physician!!”
His voice unwittingly had a thread of detectable quivering.
The Blind Concubine was brought back all the way to the serving quarter in his embrace. The Palace’s servants hurriedly prepared things all around. Boiled the water. Fetched the quilts and bed clothes. Got the Imperial Physician. All together in a rush of confusion.
The Blind Concubine was limply reclined on the Emperor’s bosom. Unmoving. His body was cold to the extreme. Xiao Bao anxiously said: “In this condition, even washing him in a bath is impossible. Want to put him in a barrel of hot water, but I’m afraid that he might lose his life!”
The Emperor ordered: “Make haste and bring me some towels. The more the better.”
Immediately, the Palace’s Servants holding the tray of towels walked in the room in a line. Xiao Bao grabbed a towel and soaked it in the warm water, twisting to dry it before he handed it over to the Emperor. The Emperor took off the Blind Concubine’s clothes, using the warm towel, he wiped and cleaned the Blind Concubine’s entire body. The towel changed from one piece to the other, one by one, after a long while, that freezing cold body gradually regained its temperature.
When the night fell, The Emperor immediately rushed back to the serving quarter from the Front Palace after finishing his discussion regarding government affairs.
Entered only a step into the quarter, he already saw Xiao Bao carrying a porcelain bowl out from the room. His face had such a worried expression.
Stepped forward, he asked while glaring at him: “What happened?”
Xiao Bao answered: “With difficulty, he finally regained his consciousness, so I fed him to eat a small bowl of porridge. He vomited all of it. I fed him again. In the end, he vomited again. Even a mouthful of food he was not able to eat.”
The Emperor raised the curtain and entered the bedroom. The Blind Concubine was clinging on the edge of the bed coughing, his face became red because of the cough, his back was undulating fiercely, like a small boat that rose and fell in the middle of a storm. His cough was so bad to the point as if he was about to cough out his heart and