Chapter 608 - 225: No Coincidence, No Story
Chapter 608: Chapter 225: No Coincidence, No Story
The carriage rolled forward with a CLIP CLOP, covering seventy miles in a single day. To Xu Shiling, this seemed rather slow. After all, if he were returning to the Capital City alone, he would ride a horse and easily cover over a hundred miles a day. However, since he was traveling with his sister’s family and several carriages of luggage, it was only right to slow down a bit. In reality, traveling seventy miles a day by carriage was no small feat.
This was primarily because the carriages were finely crafted with excellent shock absorption, minimizing their fatigue to the greatest extent. Furthermore, the horses were fine steeds brought from the Western Regions, boasting immense stamina and endurance. Having just left the Prefecture, they were still within Heyuan Province, where the official roads had been painstakingly constructed and remained exceptionally smooth. Thus, even after stopping in the wilderness at noon to cook a hot meal, they still managed to cover seventy miles by the end of the day.
Arriving at the post house that evening, the family shared a meal together before returning to their respective rooms to rest. They had booked an entire small courtyard. With plenty of rooms available, sharing one between two people left more than enough space. Xu Shiling had brought fifteen skilled guards with him. Each of them carried concealed weapons, kept their eyes and ears alert to their surroundings, and was capable of fighting ten men at once. With them keeping watch through the night, there was no need to worry about any unexpected incidents. Exhausted from the day’s journey, the family fell asleep the moment their heads hit the pillows.
Over the next ten days, their daylight hours were spent on the road.
They traveled by day and rested at the nearest post house by night. Perhaps because they were running on sheer determination, the family didn’t complain of fatigue. However, the closer they got to the Capital City, the colder the weather became. It was already approaching November, and the biting chill of winter was palpable. In some areas, it had even started to snow heavily. To avoid being delayed by blizzards, the group decided to set off earlier each morning, hoping to enter the Capital City before the weather turned completely frigid.
But more often than not, things rarely went exactly as planned; variables were always at play. That night, after they had settled down at another post house, a sudden commotion broke out in the courtyard in the middle of the night.
Chen Wanqing had been terribly drowsy these past few days, unable to even open her eyes once she lay down. Seeing this, her mother simply assumed she was exhausted from the long carriage rides and thought nothing more of it. Zhao Jing, having never been a father, was ignorant of the symptoms of pregnancy, so the thought never crossed his mind either. This didn’t stop him from caring for her, though. Seeing her struggle to open her eyes and sit up, he patted her gently and said, "Go back to sleep. I’ll get up and see what’s going on."
Zhao Jing tucked her back in, threw on his clothes, and opened the door to step outside. A ferocious gust of wind howled past, whipping the fallen leaves on the ground into a spiraling dance and causing the doors and roof tiles to CLATTER. Caught off guard, Zhao Jing stumbled as he stepped out. Fortunately, he was quick to react and managed to steady himself in time. Adjusting his clothes as he walked, he headed further out, only to find that Xu Shiling and Chen Song were also awake.
De’an stood frantically at his door. His hair was disheveled, his clothes unkempt, and his eyes were filled with panic. "Yao’an is running a fever! It’s really high, and he’s starting to speak nonsense!"
As soon as De’an finished speaking, everyone’s hearts leaped into their throats, and they immediately rushed into the room. Just as he reached the doorway, Xu Shiling remembered something and quickly called for a servant. "Go ask the post house manager if there’s a doctor nearby. Hurry up and fetch him!" The servant acknowledged the order and darted off. At that moment, Xu Su Ying rushed into the room in a panic. "How is he? How is Yao’an?"
Yao’an’s condition was dire; his fever was so severe that it had triggered convulsions. His entire body was scorching hot, radiating heat like a fireball, leaving everyone at a loss for what to do. Chen Song moved to pick up his son, but Xu Shiling quickly intervened. "Don’t hold him. Go get a towel so the child doesn’t bite his tongue." A towel was quickly brought over, but it was useless. Yao’an’s lips were clamped tightly shut, and his body was shaking like a leaf. Those present had no idea how to help without accidentally hurting him.
De’an was consumed with self-reproach. "I was too tired. I didn’t even notice when Yao’an started running a fever." It was only because he had drank too much soup before bed and was woken up in the middle of the night by the urge to urinate that he spotted Yao’an sleeping naked at the foot of the bed, burning up like a ball of fire. Overwhelmed with guilt, De’an slapped himself hard across the face. Zhao Jing quickly reached out to stop him from hurting himself further. "You couldn’t have known Yao’an would suddenly develop a fever."
Xu Su Ying chimed in, "If anyone is to blame, it’s me. Yao’an wasn’t acting right at dinner tonight. He barely ate a few bites and only wanted to sleep." She had touched her son’s forehead earlier and found it wasn’t hot, so she hadn’t paid it any mind, assuming the young child was simply exhausted from the consecutive days of travel. She should have let Yao’an sleep with them that night so she could check on him. But she had been so tired that she fell asleep the moment she lay down after dinner, completely forgetting about the matter.