Reborn To Be The Imperial Consort [BL]-Chapter 122: Dancing Daffodils — III

[Bonus Chapter 7]

The grey curtains of the carriage window rustled as the cold monsoon wind billowed them into disorder, the soft sheer caressed the side of the youth’s face as he sat with his legs crossed one over the other and body leaned towards the open window as he sat with his eyes closed, seemingly in deep contemplation as he sat in silence.

Uncaring was he of the sheer kissing the porcelain of his handsome face, eyebrows drawn together in a frown as he hummed to himself, locks of his raven hair billowing from the waterfall of their freedom.

"Master," Hu Lijing’s soft call drew the surgeon out of his meditative state as the nine-tailed fox carefully placed a hand on his knee, eliciting a noise of acknowledgement from Li Xinyuan. "We have arrived at the northern Shaanxi’s Taihang mountain range. Do you wish to exit the carriage and perhaps stretch out your legs?" He paused for a brief second before adding. "I would dissuade you from doing so, however."

Lazily, the surgeon cracked an eyelid open, resting his cheek on the heel of his palm, Li Xinyuan replied in a low voice, his words were an inquiry, "Why, is it raining?"

Briefly, Hu Lijing rolled his eyes at the obvious question. "It is mid-monsoon, Xinyuan, of course it is." His tone was nothing short of exasperation. "If not for you insisting on fresh air, I would have closed the windows. We are travelling in the middle of monsoon. Be grateful that you are a cultivator!"

In return Li Xinyuan rolled his eyes at the nine-tailed fox’s nagging. "Neither of us will catch a cold so easily, Lijing. For heaven’s sake you are a fox born of flames, it is extremely hot with you in here." He drawled, turning to face the amber-haired male. "With you in here, even a thousand braziers pale in comparison, look I am sweating."

Saying so, the doctor pointed towards himself, his slender but calloused finger bending slightly while gesturing towards the rolling trail of perspire running down his throat, his bland expression seemingly blaming the fox of divine flames for that.

Hu Lijing let out a soft scoff as he crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head feeling incredulous. "All the more reason for me to close these windows. Sweating combined with cold monsoon wind will surely have you catch a cold or a fever!"

Li Xinyuan snorted and turned towards the window, letting out a quiet noise at the back of his throat as he reached his hand, gently pushing aside the curtains, leaning forward as the wind came rushing in and kissed his skin the sensation making the surgeon’s eyes slide shut as he drew in a deep breath before slowly opening his eyes.

The deep molten gold of his eyes slowly peered out of the window as he allowed his gaze to wander, drinking in the renewed lushness covering the once green vegetation and the soil under the wheels, his eyes flickered upwards, sight following the swift falling of the small beads of rain.

"I don’t suppose this time the rainfall will cease soon?" He murmured, his voice coloured in soft wonderment. Hu Lijing huffed, observing the rainfall from his own side.

"No. Not anytime soon," he commented as he drew the curtains back and leaned forward to speak to the coachman. "We should hurry and endeavour to leave this forest sooner. It was a foolish wish to move through the Taihang mountains instead of the official path."

"How much longer are you going to complain?" Li Xinyuan sighed deeply. "I told you I have no desire of being mobbed, dragged and paraded around by officials again—" a shudder clawed down his spine at the memory of what had transpired in Zizhiqu "—I would much rather face a bear than those people."

Hu Lijing said nothing as he gave a slight shrug, letting out a sigh at the increased speed of the carriage. Then. in a quiet murmur, he replied. "None of us could have expected the words to travel so quickly, nor the gall of those people."

It had been exactly three months since Li Xinyuan and Hu Lijing had embarked the journey around Jianghu. For the longest time, Li Xinyuan’s enthusiasm had been high as he went from one branch of the Divine Phoenix hospital as he encountered and treated new patients, both surgically as well as using internal medicines. As the cases that came and the patients came and were successfully relieved of their ails, so did the surgeon’s fame.

And before long, that happened.

Words of mouth and rumours flew about and quickly spread to places the surgeon and the divine fox of flames had yet to arrive. Sooner than later, Li Xinyuan’s carriage was mobbed—well, mobbed would be a strong word but—by the officials of Zizhiqu, all of them falling over one other, tripping in their shoes to get the opportunity to monopolise the surgeons favour and attention, much to his dismay.

Well, such conduct certainly did not help them gain what they desired but rather garnered Li Xinyuan’s displeasure because their behaviour hindered the people who truly needed medical attention—specifically those of underprivileged and impoverished background.

After the less than stellar experience, the surgeon’s enthusiasm waned and his attitude towards the official roads soured, preferring to take detours than travel via those paths.

"I was not a nobody in my past life either but never have I ever been mobbed so severely." Li Xinyuan frowned, fingers clenching as he took a deep bracing breath to abate the frustration welling in the depth of his heart. "I—"

Forget it. He had nothing more to say.

Instead, he changed the topic, irritation still apparent in his voice as he asked. "When are we actually entering Shaanxi?"

"Once we go down this mountain region, we should be in Shaanxi. Have some patience, Master." Hu Lijing tapped his fingers on his upper arm as he answered calmly.

...

"... Why is there ice and snow in this place?" Li Xinyuan asked, incredulous as he looked out of the window, eyes blown wide in shock. "It’s monsoon. And it looks like this place has been hit by a blizzard." He gasped.

Hu Lijing quickly climbed back into the carriage, snowflakes were stuck in his long amber locks as some of it melted, water soaking through his clothes, only to evaporate soon after. "I investigated a little. From what little I saw, this place definitely is having a completely different season in its entirety." He paused, the snow would be reaching below my knee if it didn’t melt in my vicinity."

Li Xinyuan let out a soft snort, a chuckle escaping his lips as he retorted. "You’re short."

"Master, kindly shut up, else I will throw you out of this carriage and let you freeze to death."

Li Xinyuan smirked. "Did I hurt you?"

"Silence, brat. I don’t wish to be angry anymore." The nine-tailed fox replied without missing a beat, his jaw tense as his teeth clenched, muscle twitching in irritation. After a pause, he asked in a low voice. "Do we still advance or should we take a detour?"

Li Xinyuan glanced at the faded silhouettes of decrepit houses standing in the uncertainty of the blizzard of snow and fog. "I do not have a good feeling about this, Lijing. Something tells me we should help... Who knows if there are survivors in this... village? And perhaps we can do something more to aid them."

"Ah." The fox of divine flames shook his head. "By all means, what else did I expect?" Once more, he hopped off the carriage, closed the door behind himself and lit a bright flame in his palm, looking over his shoulder as he strode towards the snow. "Follow me closely, I shall secure the vision. I have a feeling this blizzard is not just a wrath of nature... it’s something worse, I fear."

Li Xinyuan’s eyes darkened, a shadow of solemnity falling over his features as his expression darkened. "You took the words right out of my mouth."

The surgeon knew this could very well be a really really damningly stupid decision by them, not too dissimilar to the rather retarted behaviour depicted in horror movies...

But well, his gut feeling just didn’t allow him to walk away from this village in a good conscience.

There has to be something strange going on.