Chapter 61


For the next couple of days, dong hua stayed right by feng jiu's side and nursed her back to health. On the morning of the fifth day after lian song's fateful visit, feng jiu woke up early. As she laid on the bed right beside dong hua, she softly caressed his face. She wondered as to how carefully and tenderly he had catered to her for the past few days. Her heart filled up at the attentiveness and warmth with which he had treated her.


She had loved seeing this considerate and devoted side of her husband. So, as a thank you for all the love and care of the past few days, she decided to make him a big, hearty breakfast. Getting out of the bed, she went to work in the kitchen.


An hour later, the breakfast was ready and served out on the table for both of them. After placing out the food, feng jiu went to look for dong hua. Since the man never overslept, it wasn't difficult to figure out where he would be at the moment. So, instead of going to their private chambers, feng jiu went looking for dong hua in his study.


Opening the doors of his study, she saw him writing away at his desk. From her vantage point, it looked like he was writing a letter of some sort. She walked inside and towards his desk. As she came to a stop beside his seat, a letter appeared on the table beside him. She waited for him to pick it up and open it. When he made no move to reach for it, she picked it up and brought it to his attention.


"a letter came for you, dijun. Aren't you going to open it?"


Without stopping his writing, he answered, "ignore it, little fox. It's nothing major."


While he said this, feng jiu analyzed the letter and found a familiar seal on it. "but dijun, this letter is from lian song. Isn't he in the demon realm? Maybe some difficulty came up and he requires your assistance. Don't you think you should at least look at it once?"


Putting aside the letter that he was writing; he turned his full focus towards feng jiu. He took the letter from her hand and placed it back on the table before he answered, "I already know what is in it, xaio bai. This isn't the first letter to have arrived. I am already working on a solution to his problem. After I have sorted it out, I will address his letter, till then it's better to ignore it."


Grabbing his empty hand in both of hers, she said in a melodic voice, "if you don't mind me asking, what problem has occurred in his task?"


Dong hua gave her hand a reassuring squeeze while he replied, "the seal he and mo yuan were working on is secured by one of heavenly father's spells. It is strong enough to repel both of their cultivation. They need to break through the outer security layer in order to rebuild it and for that, they will require more power than either of them has. Previously they would have accessed the one percent of your power that you allowed them to use. But since your health has not been very good these past few days, I have ordered them not to tap into it. So, they are scrambling to keep the seal and the beast within contained."


'oh, so you are going to help them then. That's good."


"no, my little fox. I am writing a letter to your grandfather. He will be going in my stead. How can I leave when you need me here, xaio bai?"


Feng jiu shook her head at what he said. Squeezing his hand in hers, she said, "no, dong hua. They need you more, right now. As much as I love my grandfather, I am not sure he would be of much help in this matter. Lian song and mo yuan need you right now, my love. They need their dijun. Only you can rework such a heavy spell, dong hua. So, go and help them. Don't worry about me. I am fine now. How can I not be when you have nursed me back to health yourself? All your love and care has made me strong again."


"no, xaio bai. I cannot leave you alone, right now. Absolutely not." Dong hua refused without giving her any leeway out of it.


But feng jiu too was stubborn. She didn't give up and tried the one thing she was sure he would never risk, her. "if you won't go, then fine. I will go by myself. I have the same powers as you. I will rework the seal by myself. Or better, maybe I will try to salvage the poor creature trapped inside. Good idea. I will leave then. "


Dropping his hand, she started to get up from her seat. When she was completely upright and about to take her first step, she felt a swift wind beneath her feet. The wind twisted her around and dropped her straight into dong hua's lap. He captured her hands inside both of his and growled out, "don't you dare think about it."


Feng jiu moved her head forward and pressed a sweet kiss on donghua's lips. Retreating back, she gave him a soft smile as she said, "then you have to go help lian song and mo yuan now."


The smile on her face melted everything inside dong hua. He had no idea how a simple smile from her could affect him so much. Shaking his head clear of that thought, he grumbled out loud, "I know what you did there, and while that was intelligent of you. My wife, I would recommend that you don't repeat it again. The consequences might not be to your liking." While he said this, the hand that had held her hand priorly had now slid down to the bottom of her back and was squeezing her bottom in an indication of the implied threat.


It took feng jiu a few minutes to understand the meaning behind his words but when the implication became clear, she immediately jumped out of his lap and landed on the top of his desk. Pushing away his wandering hands, she shyly said, "this is no time for you to be naughty, dong hua. Go now and help our friends."


Dong hua gave a short laugh at her reaction. As he watched her trying to hide away her blushing red face, he placed a hand behind her neck and pulled her eyes up to him. Looking directly into her eyes, he said with a deep resounding voice, "I will go but only because you are urging me to. So, while I am gone, I want you to take full care of my wife. Nothing should happen to her, okay? I love my wife very much and if anything were to happen to her in my absence, I don't know what I will do. So, please take care of my dear wife."


"I will, my love." Feng jiu nodded her head and kissed him. The kiss was soft and full of longing from both sides. They were pouring in all their love into the kiss, hoping the other would understand.


A few minutes later, dong hua broke the kiss when he felt feng jiu getting light-headed. Holding her close, he held her stable. He lifted up his face and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.


"I will be back soon. Take care, little love."


Feng jiu watched silently as he disappeared from view. After he was gone, she cleaned up his table and went back to enjoy her breakfast alone.


She settled down and began working her way through the spread. Almost done with her breakfast, she picked up her favorite salted caramel pudding. As she ate the first few bites, her stomach started rumbling and she felt queasy. Trying to shake off the uneasy feeling, she put down the pudding and stood up. Instead of going away, the queasiness increased and a moment later, feng jiu was rushing off to the nearest washroom to heave out her breakfast.


When she emerged from the washroom, she saw a very familiar steward standing there with a towel in one hand and a glass of water in the other. Weak from dispelling the contents of her stomach, she spoke in a slow, exasperated voice, "let me guess, dong hua sent you here, didn't he, Zhong lin?"


"yes, your majesty. He came by the tai chen palace a little while ago. I wrapped up my work at tai chen palace as fast as I could and came here to look after you." Zhong lin answered at the same time he offered feng jiu the glass of water he held.


The water felt nice and the towel was useful to wipe off her face. After she was done cleaning up, she regarded Zhong lin with her stern queenly expression.


"Zhong lin, when you walked in here, you didn't see anything, did you?"


"I... "Zhong lin struggled on how to answer that but after being dong hua's steward for so long, his wisdom kicked in and he replied, "no, your majesty. I saw nothing."


"Good. That better be your only thought till dong hua comes back. I know he sent you here to take care of me and report to him afterward. I won't stop you from doing the first half, zhong lin but make sure not to say anything else. the task he had gone for is extremely important to maintain the safety of the realms. It took a lot for me to convince him to go and fulfill his duties, Zhong lin. I reckon he will be back by tomorrow so, till then you will inform him nothing untoward or anything that might make him return before his job is done. understood?"


"I understand, your majesty." Zhong lin nodded.


"and Zhong lin, that is a command from your dihou. So, proceed wisely." She said before turning and walking away. left in her wake, Zhong lin gulped down air at the ill-concealed threat in her last statement.


For the rest of the day, feng jiu rested in her chambers, while Zhong lin punctually delivered all the meals and medicines to her in bed. The man was nothing but efficient. he saw to all her needs before she could even say it out loud. As for the queasiness of her stomach, it didn't fade out as she had hoped it would. Every time she ate something sweet, the queasiness returned with a vengeance and she ended up spewing out all the contents of her stomach. Each time she walked out afterward, Zhong lin stood there with a glass of water and a towel in his hands, patiently waiting for her. She saw no judgment or apprehension in his eyes instead every time he looked at her stumbling form it was with true devotion.


What feng jiu couldn't understand here was that for as long as Zhong lin had served dong hua, he had never seen anyone put his master's needs and duties first. Everyone came to dong hua with a selfish motive. Even if in some scenarios where the person was a close friend or acquaintance that asked for nothing, nobody had ever understood his duties and commitment towards the realm. So, seeing feng jiu bear through all this alone just so dong hua could tend to his duties without any distraction touched Zhong lin's heart. He had always known and respected how much feng jiu had loved his master but seeing such selflessness in the face of adversity had turned the respect into true devotion and loyalty towards her.


By evening, she had boycotted all sweets and desserts from her diet and it showed when her stomach finally settled down. By night, her health was perfectly normal and she was kicking up a storm in the kitchen. That night, Zhong lin learned a whole new way of approaching food. She taught him from the ways of cooking several dishes to how they were grown. After the impromptu cooking lesson, she enjoyed her dinner and retreated to her chambers for the night, unaware of what was brewing in the dark.

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