Imperial Physician Wei was sent to the Luo estate by the emperor himself, but after seeing the wounds on Luo Wei, the imperial physician regretted coming here. He was worried if Luo Wei would kill someone who knew what the truth was.
Luo Wei was putting on a brave front for the physician as he spoke, “Don’t tell my family, but you can let His Imperial Majesty know what happened to me.”
Imperial Physician Wei let out a relieved breath. If the third young master wouldn’t mind the emperor knowing, then there was no need to kill a simple physician like him.
As the physician applied medication for him, Luo Wei fell into a deep slumber.
“The third young master has suffered brutal torture,” Physician Wei told the Luo family, “He’s been severely injured, and will need time to recover.”
“How severely?” Luo Zhi Qiu asked.
“It’s not life threatening anymore,” Physician Wei answered.
The Luo family heaved a collective sigh in relief.
There are some thing that Physician Wei couldn’t bring himself to tell them. Those horrible men had used the drugs too heavily on Luo Wei, and there’s very little chance that Luo Wei would completely recover. When he was applying medicine to the youth earlier, Physician Wei noted that there was no semen inside. This settled him a little, meaning that no one had truly ruined this boy, and it was a small mercy in this horrific event.
In the Hall of Eternal light, Emperor Xing Wu raged furiously after hearing the imperial physician’s honest report on Luo Wei’s condition. How dare someone do this to his son! Physician Wei almost felt that even if Luo Wei wasn’t about to kill him, the emperor might do it instead.
When the emperor calmed down, he summoned the Dragon Guard’s leader, One, “Go investigate,” Emperor Xing Wu told One, “Starting from that damned brothel, find out who the hell wanted to hurt Luo Wei like this!”
The Dragon Guard accepted the command and left.
Emperor Xing Wu couldn’t just sit around in the Hall of Eternal Light anymore, and immediately called for a palanquin to visit the Luo estate.
Luo Wei was deep in sleep, making no reaction at all to anything happening beside him.
Emperor Xing Wu sat at Luo Wei’s bedside, instructing Luo Zhi Qiu, “You can excuse yourself, I want to sit with Wei Er for a bit.”
Luo Zhi Qiu took Luo Qi and Luo Ze out of the room with him, guarding outside Luo Wei’s door.
Emperor Xing Wu lifted the blanket on top of Luo Wei, and carefully took a look at the wounds. Luo Wei’s lower body was red and bruised and raw all over, the cotton cloth wrapped around him couldn’t hide the blood. Emperor Xing Wu felt his heartstrings being wrung out. Luo Wei still had one more month before he was fourteen. How could a boy like this withstand such humiliation?
“I didn’t protect you well enough,” Emperor Xing Wu quietly repeated his apologies to Luo Wei as the boy slept.
At some point, Luo Wei suddenly woke from his sleep and started coughing. Just as Emperor Xing Wu thought that he was finally conscious, Luo Wei coughed a mouthful of blood out of his throat.
“Imperial Physician!” Emperor Xing Wu quickly moved to call the physician back in from outside.
Physician Wei rushed in, and the Luo trio of father and son followed suite.
Luo Wei was woken by the coughing, but he wasn’t quite conscious. The only thing he was managing to do was coughing mouthfuls of blood onto the ground.
Physician Wei knew well enough that the drugs inside Luo Wei’s body were wracking him with its own kind of hangover, and quickly started administering acupuncture to stop the internal bleeding. Along with his hands, the physician called out Luo Wei’s name. They had to wake him somehow, if not, he might breathe in the blood and choke.
“Wei Er, Wei Er!” Emperor Xing Wu understood what the physician meant, and quickly called for Luo Wei too, lightly clapping his hand over the boy’s face.
Luo Wei only opened his eyes once, staring darkly at the emperor, before passing back out again.
Luo Ze mumbled as he watched this scene, “Didn’t you say he was out of danger?”
Emperor Xing Wu aimed his furor at the imperial physician, shouting, “What is going on with him?”
Physician Wei was sweating, “Your Imperial Majesty, the third young master’s insides…”
The emperor suddenly remembered what the physician had told him, how those bastards had given Luo Wei those drugs, “Enough, stop his bleeding first!” The emperor didn’t let the physician finish the rest of that sentence. It must have been the drugs acting up again.
“My little brother’s insides…?” Luo Qi wanted to know the truth.
Luo Zhi Qiu lifted a hand to silence Luo Qi. The physician cannot be distracted when he was administering acupuncture. Some questions can be asked later. Even though the physician hadn’t said so, but Luo Zhi Qiu could imagine the sort of torture Luo Wei went through by looking at the wounds on Luo Wei’s lower body. That’s why he didn’t let Luo Qi and Luo Ze see how badly Luo Wei was wounded. Luo Wei wouldn’t want his two older brothers to know what happened to him, that is to say, he didn’t want anyone to know what happened in these past five days if possible. Luo Zhi Qiu’s heart ached! He was enraged! But he couldn’t let his emotions go rampant because he knew that the most important thing right now was for the physician to take care of Luo Wei’s body, and his possibly broken mind.
Two hours had passed before the imperial physician stopped.
“How is he?” Emperor Xing Wu saw the physician’s hands leave the needles, and questioned him immediately.
Physician Wei quickly responded, “Your Imperial Majesty, the third young master’s condition is slowly improving.”
“Then why hasn’t he woken up yet?” Luo Ze didn’t care that the emperor was there anymore, he questioned the imperial physician hastily, “What exactly happened to Xiao Wei? What kind of injuries are there? He…”
“Luo Ze!” Luo Zhi Qiu yelled at Luo Ze to stop him from talking, “Silence! His Imperial Majesty is present, how can you talk out of turn like this?!”
Luo Ze opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything else.
“It’s fine,” Emperor Xing Wu didn’t have enough heart right now to care about Luo Ze’s lack of politeness by yelling in front of him. He turned and headed outside.
“The two of you guard him,” Luo Zhi Qiu followed Emperor Xing Wu out after ordering his sons to their station.
The emperor didn’t even stop in the hall, he left Luo Wei’s quarters directly, standing in the small courtyard.
When Luo Zhi Qiu followed him out, the chancellor waved his hand at the household servants, ordering them out.
“Tell me,” Emperor Xing Wu’s face was calm like a deep late as he spoke to Physician Wei, “What will become of Wei Er in the future?”
The physician answered, “The third young master might have a tough time with the cold.”
Emperor Xing Wu spared a look at Luo Zhi Qiu, then managed the words with some difficulty, “And what about having children?”
Physician Wei almost buried his head in the ground, hating the fact that he was the one who was assigned this case!
“Master Wei,” Luo Zhi Qiu’s face still managed a strained smile, “Please, speak plainly.”
Physician Wei stuttered and shook as he answered, “The third young master will find it very difficult to have children in the future.”
“Very difficult, but you mean to say that he still could?” Those words from the physician settled the emperor somewhat.
“So long as we help him recover and take care of his health?” Luo Zhi Qiu followed it up with his own question.
“Your Imperial Majesty, Your Excellency,” Physician Wei wouldn’t dare to lie over this matter, “Your humble servant can only say that there is a very small hope.”
The emperor and his minister fell silent in the courtyard. What’s to become of Luo Wei’s future?
Emperor Xing Wu sent Physician Wei to go and check on Luo Wei. It was only after the physician had left that he asked Luo Zhi Qiu quietly, “Who was the one who rescued Wei Er?”
Luo Zhi Qiu answered, “It was a body guard of Xiao Wei’s.”
“And you’re still keeping him around?” Emperor Xing Wu’s intentions were clear, the less people who knew about Luo Wei’s condition the better. His stare towards Luo Zhi Qiu was filled with blame as well, how could he let someone who’d seen Luo Wei’s tortured body live?
“Your Imperial Majesty, Xiao Wei has always been very protective of this guard,” Luo Zhi Qiu never had the intention of hurting Wei Lan, he saw exactly how Luo Wei acted around Wei Lan on the daily, “Let us leave this matter for Luo Wei to decide.”
“Is this person trustworthy?”
“He owes his life to Xiao Wei. So long as Xiao Wei has confidence in him, I believe he’s trustworthy.”
Emperor Xing Wu didn’t try to argue the point. At a time like this, he didn’t want to do anything that would go against Luo Wei’s wishes even a little.
“Your Imperial Majesty,” Luo Zhi Qiu tried to comfort Emperor Xing Wu, “The matters of the nation are numerous and complex, you should go back to the palace and rest. I shall guard Xiao Wei here myself, and make sure that nothing else happens. If Your Imperial Majesty insists on staying here to watch over Xiao Wei, I’m afraid it might stir suspicion from others.”
“Damn it all, I really wish I could name him my son here and now!” Emperor Xing Wu cursed out of frustration.
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