Chapter 41 - Xia Houmo, the King of Jin!
Chapter 41 Xia Houmo, the King of Jin!
Su Muge took one step back. “I have to visit the other patients again, please wait here, Lord Xia.”
“You couldn’t help anyway!” thought she.
Xia Houmo didn’t refuse this time. “Fine.”
After getting rid of this troublesome “tail”, Su Muge let out her breath in a long exhalation and went to another ward with her medical kit.
Gazing at her receding figure, there was a slight coldness in Xia Houmo’s eyes. “Zuowei.”
Zuowei came in from the outside upon his master’s call.
“My Lord.”
“Where has Guima gone?”
“Doctor Gui has left Yanxia pass, and should be on his way to the land of southern barbarians.”
Xia Houmo lifted his dark eyes a little. “He went to the land of southern barbarians?”
“Yes.”
“Fine, let him go.”
“Lord, are you looking for Doctor Gui because you’re not feeling well? How about passing the message and ask people to bring him back?”
Xia Houmo shook his head. “No. Go and find some skilled doctors before tomorrow evening.”
“Yes.”
Su Muge went into the ward and began to give further consultations to each patient, asking them about their reaction after taking the medicine.
When it came to a little girl lying in the corner, Su Muge frowned.
“Give me the medical records.” She had taken notes of everyone’s situation when she had visited every patient yesterday.
Today, Adviser Li asked several young medical assistants to help her, and every three people were arranged to look after the patients in one ward.
A medical assistant at the age of twelve or thirteen took the medical records hanging on the wall and handed it to Su Muge upon her words.
Su Muge looked at the notes on the little girl’s condition in the medical records. When she checked her yesterday, the little girl was just a little weak and lack of appetite. At that time, she had no fever and her pulse was normal.
“Is there anything wrong with the child after taking the medicine yesterday?”
The young medical assistant shook his head. “Since the little sister is so young, I took special care of her for some time. She fell asleep after taking the medicine and having some porridge. Nothing was abnormal then.”
Su Muge checked the little girl again and found that she had some similar symptoms as that feverish boy.
“Pass on my words, and prepare more empty rooms. Clean them with burnt vinegar water for disinfection. And then stop everyone else from entering.”
The young medical assistant scratched his head in confusion. “Lord Su, are we having more patients here?”
Su Muge shook her head and explained, “Just in case of need. Go and do it.”
“Yes.”
Su Muge then asked two other medical assistants to carry the little girl to another empty room.
She went on to check other patients, and only after no abnormality was found did she leave the wards.
The sun was setting when she finally came out.
“Lord Su, the empty rooms are ready under your requirements.”
Su Muge nodded her head. “Good. Take the little girl in, and pay close attention to her condition tonight. If there’s anything wrong, come to the county yamen for me as soon as possible.”
“Sure Lord，I see.”
Not until Su Muge had walked out of the gate with the medical kit on her back, did she realize something awkward. Raising her head, she saw Xia Houmo standing beside the carriage, and paused for a moment.
“Lord Xia…” She was in the ward so long that she completely forgot this man. Unexpectedly, he was still there!
The face of Xia Houmo looked indifferent and it was unable to perceive his emotion. He said, “Lord Su, you have already finished?”
“Yes. Sorry for making you wait so long.”
“Let’s go.” Xia Houmo turned around and got on the carriage. Though feeling reluctant, Su Muge followed him since she didn’t want to walk back to the county yamen.
The carriage swayed forward on the road.
In the enclosed space, Su Muge was so sleepy with the tranquil atmosphere, fighting with her eyelids. Whereas the scent around her nose kept telling her that she must keep wide-awake!
When they finally arrived at the county yamen, her eyes were red with tiredness and sleepiness.
Xia Houmo got off the carriage first, then Su Muge. However, with the medical kit in her hand, she jumped and felt a sudden pain in her knees. She bent the knees subconsciously, falling towards the ground.
No way!
Again?!
This time, however, Su Muge reacted quickly. She could hold her body as long as she reached for the edges of the carriage.
But someone was faster. Xia Houmo reached out, grabbed her, and pulled her into his arms.
“Ouch!”
With a low cry out of surprise, Su Muge didn’t sense anything wrong before she could find her balance.
She lowered her head and saw a big but slender hand on her chest. She turned herself in his arms and struggled.
“Let me out!”
Xia Houmo slowly released his hand.
Su Muge stared at him with a gasp from the accident.
“This was the second time. Well, it seems that Lord Su, your legs are truly a bit too short.” There seemed to be a light teasing in that deep dark eyes.
Gritting her teeth in anger, Su Muge swore to herself in her mind, “You were the one to have short legs! All your family had short legs!”
“Lord Xia, I’m sorry to trouble you! I shall leave.” Su Muge took her medical kit in hand and walked in the county yamen directly, passing Xia Houmo. Adviser Li just came out and he had no idea of that long face on her.
“Lord Xia…Lord Su, he…”
Looking down at his hand, there was a light smile on Xia Houmo’s face.
“Never mind.” After that, he passed Adviser Li by and walked in the county yamen as well.
Adviser Li stood still with a thousand questions in his mind. Why the weird atmosphere between the two lords?
“Bang”, Su Muge closed the door behind her heavily after she returned to her room, and sat on a chair. The anger in her didn’t vanish until quite a while later.
She put her hands on her chest and touched herself. She had been malnourished, so her female features had not grown that well. Besides, she had been busy dealing with stuff lately with almost no attention paid to her food and rest, so she looked even flatter now. Besides, there was a corset worn on her which felt stiff. There should be no flaws.
This man was way too dangerous. She started to wonder if An had any news back at Su Mansion. She asked An to arrange someone to search for Su Lun secretly when she left the mansion.
It was important to make it clear whether Su Lun had been caught or killed. There could be a series of troubles later on even if she solved the current problems of Zhou county as long as Su Lun was not found.
After eating the dinner sent by Granny Fang hastily, Su Muge took out the blood samples taken from the two children today.
If only one person had this disease, it could be fine, but now there were two, and she couldn’t help but pay special attention to it.
Outside the county yamen, two black figures were hiding in a deep alley opposite to it.
After long-time observation in secret, they left swiftly to a remote residential house.
In the dark, one pushed the door open and went in, while the other watched the surroundings carefully before closing the door behind them.
“The Master has been urging us. When on earth can you get it?” A hoarse voice came out from the dark.
“I had planned to take action before I arrived here in Zhou county, but the man seemed to be an expert. I was afraid to arouse his suspicions so I did not.”
The hoarse voice snorted with coldness. “After so many years with the Lord, you seemed still mindless at all! Don’t you know how to hide well such an important thing on yourself!”
“If I had it with me, I couldn’t have made it out from Yanxia pass.”
“I don’t care that. If you can’t get anything before the end of this month, you don’t have to go back!”
The figure in the dark ground his teeth. Now it’s only two or three days before the end of the month!
“I know!”
…
“Look, Lord Su, the people arranged by Lord Xia have raised the river bank with sands and stones. The water stopped coming over!” Adviser Li was pointing at the river bank not far away, thrilled.
Adviser Li came to her early this morning, telling her the flood was stopped, and it would not come to Zhou county anymore. Otherwise, according to the previous speed of the water, Zhou county would be flooded at this moment!
Su Muge also wondered where Lord Xia could find people with such high working efficiency, so she followed Adviser Li to the river bank to check.
“Come on, bring the sandbag here. There’s still a gap here!”
“Faster!”
Looking at the men in their uniforms made of coarse cloth, there was a flash of surprise in Su Muge’s eyes.
Those people were highly trained and powerful with great physical strength. When they did it, they didn’t even say a word, but just concentrated on their work.
They were no random people from nearby villages or counties at all. Instead, they looked like a group of well-trained…soldiers!
What was the background of this Lord Xia? He could find a strong army in such a short time to carry sandbags!
The rain had gradually stopped in these two days. With this trend, the flood would not go worse.
“Adviser Li, what’s the ranking of Lord Xia’s official position in the imperial court?” Su Muge asked on their way back.
Adviser Li was surprised to hear such a question from Su Muge. How could the Chief of Shunyang prefecture never know this?
Noticing the surprise in his eyes, Su Muge gave a mild cough and said, “Adviser Li, you know I’ve been busy with the flood relief work these two days, and I brought no one with me to help. So it was acceptable for me to ignore some things.”
Adviser Li was convinced by this explanation, and answered her, “Lord Xia holds the position prior to the first-ranking ones in the imperial court, and his official seal is extraordinary.”
Adviser Li had spent half of his life in Zhou county, and he got this position in county yamen relying on some close connections. He was not well-educated, yet he knew well about the world and the people, which was the main reason he could keep his position till now.
It never came to him that he could work with the officials of the imperial court in his lifetime. It would be a glorious story to be passed on for generations!
“Prior to the first-ranking?”
Suddenly, her heart came up in her throat.
Actually, Adviser Li wasn’t quite clear about a ranking at that level, however, Su Muge did. She had let Yueru help her remember a lot of information about this dynasty when she learned that she had experienced the time travel.
The highest official position of Chu was the first-ranking. The so-called “prior to the first-ranking” could only be the title of nobility, the prince of the imperial family, or the king of a vassal state!
That meant this “Lord Xia” was either the prince of the imperial family or the king of a vassal state!
Wait, Xia…if she remembered correctly, the imperial family name of Chu had two letters…Xiahou…So his first name was actually Xiahou instead of Xia!
Yueru once said that in Yanxia pass, which was a hundred miles away from Shunyang prefecture, there was an invincible king, the King of Jin, Xia Houmo!
With the imposing manner of this “Lord Xia”, combined with that well-trained army she just saw, she was for sure at this moment that this Lord Xia was not a high-ranking official from the imperial court at all, but Xia Houmo, the King of Jin, a relative to the emperor!
Adviser Li saw Su Muge’s face first changed from blue to white, and then from white to black. At last, it was a look of being shocked by a flash of lightning. He was puzzled about her reactions.
“Lord Su, are, are you all right?”
Su Muge raised her eyes and looked at Adviser Li, frozen and quiet.
I was not all right. I was not all right at all!