Chapter 170: Long Overdue
TN: bonus chapter!?
Lin Yuan slept in for once. Although he was willing to be a diligent emperor, it was not like he could work 365 days a year without rest. That was not diligent administration, that was suicidal, so he would give himself a day off every week——in fact, only half a day, he still had to read the memorials in the afternoon, but he could sleep until noon instead of going to the morning assembly at the ungodly hour of 5am.
Although it was very improper, the officials did not admonish him.
After all…..they wanted to sleep in too.
No one was made of iron, getting up every day at 3am in the morning, who could stand it.
Lin Yuan sat up from the bed. Chen Baisong was no longer in bed. He was sitting at the wooden table in the bedroom drinking tea, shirtless and revealing a torso that was covered with scars, but they did not make him look hideous, but rather sexy.
"Is there any news from Haozhou?" Lin Yuan asked.
Only then did Chen Baisong realize that Lin Yuan was up. He watched Lin Yuan walk to his side and sat down, and said, "Sun Deya is dying."
Lin Yuan raised his eyebrows.
Sun Deya himself was a villain, he rejoiced in grandiose deeds, and he liked to play conspiracy tricks. He would suppress any outstanding high-ranking military officers under his command.
No one could be better than him.
After all, his claim to the throne was not legitimate, so he was even crazier than Han Lin'er.
He seized and confiscated as many treasures as possible, and lived a life of extravagance and debauchery.
Wine and sex hollowed out his body.
Suspicion made him unable to trust anyone.
With a person who had no magnanimity sitting in that seat, the fact that the people below had yet to rebel made Lin Yuan feel disbelief.
Now Sun Deya was ill and couldn't move in bed.
Haozhou was not in chaos yet, but it was about to be in chaos.
Lin Yuan was not planning on recovering a piece of scorched earth, so the sooner he dispatched troops, the better.
Lin Yuan said to Chen Baisong, "Tell Zhu Yuanzhang to go and bring Ma shi along."
Ma shi had been working with Zhu Yuanzhang's army as a nurse, and Lin Yuan had heard that she had been promoted to head nurse.
Whether Ma shi's adoptive father Guo Zixing died because of Sun Deya was unknown.
But Ma shi seemed to believe that Guo Zixing's death was related to Sun Deya.
Since that was the case, why not fulfill her desire to uphold filial piety?
Lin Yuan took a bite of lotus cake, the flakes falling on the table.
Chen Baisong reached out and brushed away the residue from the corner of Lin Yuan's mouth, and said softly, "Alright."
When the imperial decree reached the barracks, and within half a day after Zhu Yuanzhang accepted the decree, Ma shi arrived. She was still wearing a nurse's uniform. The nurse's uniform was a cyan robe of a very light color, so that it could be noticed when it was stained with dirt and dust. This way, when patching up injured soldiers they could avoid dirt stuck to their robes getting into the wounds of the injured soldiers.
Ma shi and Zhu Yuanzhang did not communicate frequently.
The nurses didn't often walk around the barracks, they all lived outside the barracks, and Ma shi was in charge of them.
"I heard that His Majesty asked General to go to Haozhou?!" Ma shi's shaved eyebrows and hairline grew back, and now one could tell she was a woman even in men's clothes.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't hide it from her: "Exactly."
Ma shi's heart surged up and down, she had been waiting for this day, waiting for the day to avenge her adoptive father and kill the enemy!
She knelt down on the spot and kowtowed three times to Zhu Yuanzhang: "General, take me along!"
She raised her head, her eyes were wide, full of anger, fierce like the eyes of an or a tiger: "The hatred of killing my father must be avenged!"
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed at her: "You are a woman, and weapons on the battlefield have no eyes. I have no energy to protect you."
Ma shi also knew that she would be a hindrance on the battlefield. Since childhood, it was not wielding swords that she had studied, and she had no strength. She couldn't even lift a sword. She gritted her teeth and said, "Then I will be in the camp, waiting for General's triumphant return, I only hope General will not kill Sun Deya immediately."
"At least let me watch him die." Ma shi stared at Zhu Yuanzhang, her eyes reddened.
Zhu Yuanzhang personally helped her up and said earnestly, "I answer you."
Ma shi revealed a teary but joyful smile.
She was clearly not a beauty, but Zhu Yuanzhang was suddenly struck into a daze, and he didn't recover until Ma shi exited the tent.
Really…..
How strange.
Sun Deya, who was immobile in bed, could only move his eyes, breathe through his nose, and open and close his mouth but could not speak.
He had truly become a true cripple.
His officials have not come to see him for a long time.
Even the palace maids and eunuchs treated him more and more perfunctorily.
Because he couldn't speak, even if the palace maids and eunuchs treated him rudely, he couldn't tell anyone.
He felt that his whole body emitted a rancid smell.
He wondered who was holding the court now.
No one came to tell him.
Not only was he paralyzed and unable to speak, he was also deaf.
Even if he could hear, he could not receive any news.
He wondered what was going on outside.
Every day passed meaninglessly.
At the beginning, he was very angry, he didn't believe that he would become a cripple.
Later, he was still angry, but he couldn't express it. Over time, his illness became more and more serious.
The palace maids and eunuchs were also reluctant to approach him.
He could hear the palace maid whispering as she wiped him, "It smells so bad."
Kill her!
Someone! Drag her out and chop off her head!
Beat her to death!
Turn her into a human swine!
But he couldn't utter a word, he could only listen to the palace maid continue to say: "If I knew I would be serving a cripple who doesn't even know how to shit and pee on his own, I wouldn't have entered the palace."
A cripple who doesn't even know how to shit and pee on his own…..
Sun Deya wished he was dead at this moment!
Why didn't he die when he had an attack? And instead live in such humiliation.
A paralyzing stroke, even if Bian Que was alive, he might not be able to cure such a terminal illness. (TN: Bian Que=Warring States physician known for his medical skills)
He wanted to die.
But when he thought of his empire, he didn't want to die.
Maybe it could be cured?
There were so many capable people in the world, as long as he could find a Daoist priest with cultivation, maybe he would be able to recover after swallowing a pill?
But the more beautiful his daydreams, the more anxious and suffering he was.
Because he couldn't say those words to anyone.
Slowly, Sun Deya stopped thinking.
What he saw every day when he opened his eyes was the bed canopy, and then the maid would feed him. He could only eat liquids, solids were unable to be ingested
At the beginning, there were all kinds of meat porridge, and sugar or other things were added. Later, there was no meat and no sugar, and only white porridge was left.
His empress and concubines would come to see him at first.
Later, they didn't come anymore. They were busy currying favor with officials and pushing their son to become the next emperor.
Everyone thought he was dead, even if he was still lying here.
The palace maids and eunuchs would sometimes hide in his bedroom, slacking off from work under the guise of serving him.
And then they would even gossip in front of him.
He remembered that some palace maids and eunuchs were caught in affairs in the palace before, and he even mocked them, saying that these things without roots actually wanted to play with women as well.
And now he lay in bed immobile.
The eunuch who was ridiculed by him was now embracing the palace maid he had once slept with.
They were even laying beside him!
The eunuch also said: "Come, my beloved concubine, call me Your Majesty."
The palace maid giggled and said, "Your Majesty."
Sun Deya closed his eyes tightly.
The sounds of pleasure were right next to his ear.
At this moment, there was a huge explosion and a terrifying sound came from outside.
The palace maid and the eunuch hurriedly got out of bed and dressed. The eunuch opened the window of the bedroom and looked into the distance. The city wall was on fire!
Someone was attacking the city!
He said to the palace maid, "Quick! Let's go!"
The palace maid was so frightened she nearly fainted, "Where?"
The eunuch said, "Let's escape and go to a safe place."
The maid wanted to ask where the safe place was.
But looking at the eunuch's firm eyes, she stretched out her hand.
Before leaving, she turned her head to take a last look at Sun Deya lying on the bed.
The man who once took her in bed.
The man who used to frighten and disgust her.
"Bah!"
The palace maid turned her head and ran away.
Sun Deya didn't know how long he had waited, but only knew that when he opened his eyes again, what he saw was not the bed canopy that he saw every day before. He could feel himself lying on the rough ground under him.
Then a face appeared in his field of vision.
It was a woman's face.
Ma shi was also looking at Sun Deya.
But the strange thing was, the moment she saw Sun Deya, her hatred slowly receded.
She recalled the first time she saw Sun Deya.
It was Sun Deya who came to see her adoptive father, and she met him by chance.
At that time, she didn't know that she and this honest looking man would become enemies.
She didn't know that she could hate someone so much.
And now she looked into Sun Deya's eyes and knew that Sun Deya didn't recognize her anymore.
That's right, they have only met twice in total.
Perhaps in Sun Deya's heart, she had no value worthy of his memory.
"My surname is Ma, and I'm Guo Zixing's goddaughter." Ma shi held a dagger that Zhu Yuanzhang gave her and inserted it deeply into Sun Deya's chest.
"When reincarnated in the next life, if you want revenge, come and find me."
Sun Deya didn't remember who this woman was even up to the moment of his death.
He killed too many people, too many to count.
Whose wife was this? Whose daughter? He really couldn't remember.
At the moment of dying, Sun Deya's mind went blank.
When the dagger pierced his flesh and blood, only then did he feel that "I'm alive".
And also feel pain.
He should have died long ago…..