182|A penny is worth a pound of flesh.

Before the city was put under martial law, Xie Ren and the others traveled through the night to another city.

He still placed the Lord and Queen of the country in a secluded place, and himself and Windsong went out to earn money. However, just because they couldn’t earn much money in the previous city doesn’t mean they’ll suddenly get lucky in the other one.

The two of them still tend to get only a meager amount of money after a day’s work, and, because there is suddenly one less person in the usual inseparable trio, the other two are extremely uncomfortable. For example, before, it was Mu Qing who was responsible for keeping the money bag and counting it at all times, but now that Mu Qing is gone, and Feng Xin said that he might lose the money, Xie Ren has no choice but to keep the money bag on herself. Every time he counted the pitifully small amount of money, he could not believe that this was the reward for his one day’s labor. He knew that in the past, even if he was rewarding beggars, it was more than this amount of money.

Without Mu Qing, and without someone to deliver food to the Queen, Xie Ren had to bring Feng Xin to personally deliver all the necessary things to the Queen’s hiding place every day. Being able to see her son more often made the Queen very happy, and when she was happy, she cooked. On this day, she let Xie Ren and Feng Xin try her soup, and pulled them to sit at the table, saying, “You two need to make up for it, you’ve all lost weight.”

Feng Xin sweated coldly and bounced up as soon as his butt touched the stool, waving his hands and saying, “No, no, no, Your Majesty the Queen, Feng Xin wouldn’t dare, never dare!”

The Queen said in a pleasant manner, “You child, what are you afraid of? Come, sit down.”

How dare Feng Xin say? Is really do not dare, hard to sit down after the queen delivered the fruits of her labor. Feng Xin took a sharp breath and suddenly uncovered the pot, Xie Ren sat on the upper seat, the two saw the things in the pot, both had a miserable face.

Xie Ren whispered, “This chicken …… died a terrible death.”

“……” Feng Xin’s lips opened and closed slightly, saying, “Your Highness, you’re looking at it wrong, there are no chickens in it at all.”

“???” Xie Ren: “Then what’s this dead chicken-like thing floating around in there?”

Windsong: “I’m guessing it’s spoon-paste …… a little misshapen?”

The two of them studied for half a day but couldn’t guess what this in the pot actually was. The queen gave Xie Ren each a bowl, Feng Xin grabbed a bowl of his own, and when the queen went to the state master after entering the house, they immediately poured out the soup in their own bowls, and then pretended to drink it in one go with an unfulfilled intention of wiping their mouths, and said, “Satisfied and full.”

Seeing this, the Queen was quite pleased and said, “Is it good?”

Xie Ren said without saying a word, “Delicious, delicious!”

The queen said happily, “Drink as much as you like if it’s good!”

Xie Ren nearly spewed out the mouthful of non-existent soup, raising his handkerchief to pretentiously wipe the corners of his mouth. At this point, the Queen seemed to hesitate for a moment and said, “Imperial son, I’ll ask you a question, so don’t blame Mother for being talkative.”

Xie Ren’s heart tightened slightly as she put down her handkerchief and said, “What is it? You ask.”

The Queen sat down beside him and said, “Where is that child Muyi? Why hasn’t he been here for the past few days?”

Sure enough.

Hearing her bring up Mu Ai, Xie Ren’s heart tightened even more as he said, “Ah, I explained some tasks to him, so he went somewhere else first.”

The Queen seemed relieved and nodded, then, added, “And when will he be back?”

Xie Ren said, “Possibly, a long time to be outside …… can not come back.”

Upon hearing this, the Queen looked a bit embarrassed, which Xie Ren sensed and said, “What’s wrong?”

The Queen immediately said, “Nothing.”

It was Feng Xin who was sharp-eyed and suddenly said, “Your Majesty the Queen, what happened to your hand?”

Hands?

Xie Ren looked down and was instantly shocked.

His mother’s original pair of well-maintained, elegant hands, at the moment, but looks a bit appalling. The knuckles are broken skin, vaguely also some blood. Xie Ren stood up, pulled her hand, “What’s going on?”

The Queen was busy saying, “Nothing’s going on. Just washing some clothes and quilts, but I’m not very good at it.”

Xie Ren said offhandedly, “Why do you want to wash yourself? You can ……”

The words stuck in his mouth. Could what? You can have the palace servants help wash it? Could have Muoi help wash it? None of it was possible.

On the way to escape, all along, Mu Xiang, as a close servant, had taken care of all kinds of daily personal things for Xie Ren and the Lord and Queen of the country, and once he left, all of a sudden all the trivial chores had no one to do them.

No more cooking, no more laundry, no more folding. The original simple days, suddenly became anywhere not smooth. Xie Ren could barely tolerate it because he had too many things to worry about, but where had his mother, who was used to enjoying her happiness, done such rough work? And if the queen didn’t do it herself, who else could do it for her?

After a long moment of silence, Xie Ren said, “You put it away. I’ll wash it.”

The Queen laughed, “No need. You do your own thing well. I’ve never done any laundry or cooking, and I have nothing to do every day anyway, so it’s quite fun to do it myself. Especially when I see you guys eating happily, I also have a good taste.”

That pot of soup was made by his mother with such a pair of hands. However, they hadn’t taken a single sip and had secretly poured the soup away. Xie Ren and Feng Xin glanced at each other, both feeling bad. At this time, the Queen added, ”Right, there’s one more thing. It is, can you bring back some medicine tomorrow?”

Xie Ren slightly opened her eyes and said, “Medicine? What medicine?”

The Queen looked sad and said, “Alas, I don’t know, why don’t you go to the pharmacy and ask what medicine should be used for coughing up blood?”

“Coughing up blood?!” Xie Ren was stunned, “Who coughed up blood? You? Father? Why didn’t you guys say so earlier?”

His voice got louder, and the Queen immediately said, “Lower your voice!” However, it was already too late, as an angry voice came from the back of the house, saying, “I told you to keep your mouth shut!”

It was none other than the Lord of the Country. Seeing that he had already heard it, the Queen did not hide it anymore and rushed the room, “But it’s not a good idea for you to go on like this!”

Xie Ren walked into the back of the house and saw the State Lord nestled in a bed of broken quilts. These days he didn’t take a close look, but now when he looked at it, the Lord of the Country had a sickly look on his face, his cheeks were almost sunken in, and in the gloomy house, he looked more and more like he had an extremely bad complexion. Where was the aura of a king of a country, it was simply a bad old man with a gray face.

Xie Ren didn’t even need to take his pulse to know that he must have been sick for a long time, and it wasn’t light, and even the whole room was filled with a haze-like sickly air, making it difficult to breathe. Thinking that the queen was talking about “coughing up blood”, he was anxious and his voice immediately rose: “What’s going on?!”

The State Lord said with an ironized face, “What kind of tone is that?”

The Queen and Feng Xin both came in. Xie Ren said, “Don’t worry about what I sound like for now. Why didn’t you tell me earlier when you were sick?”

The Lord of the Kingdom said angrily, “Are you lecturing the Orphan King? At all times, the Orphan King doesn’t need you to teach him what he should and shouldn’t say!”

Seeing that he was actually still being stubborn, Xie Ren said incredulously, “Are you simply unbelievable? Do you still want to emphasize your status and authority at this point in time?”

The Lord of the Land raged, “Get out! Get out!”

The Queen and Feng Xin hurriedly pulled Xie Ren out, saying, ”Imperial son! Don’t be like this. He’s your father and he’s sick, so just let it go.”

Fleeing with a disease is especially better than adding insult to injury. Xie Ren buried his face into his hands and said, “Mother ah! Why didn’t you guys say so earlier? If you had said it earlier, perhaps it wouldn’t have dragged into a coughing up blood disease! Do you know how difficult it is to cure this disease?” It should be said that with the condition they were in now, it was impossible to cure it!

The queen was a bit terrified and still a bit sad, saying, “We …… we didn’t know that it would actually be so serious ah.”

Feng Xin also said, “Yes. And how can we stop when we were fleeing from Yongan’s pursuers all the way before?”

Xie Ren took his face out of his hands and said, “I’m taking him to the city now to find a doctor.”

But the Lord of the Land said from the house, “No need!”

Xie Ren turned around and was about to top it off by saying that I’m in charge now, but then he heard Feng Xin say, “Your Highness, if you take His Majesty the Lord of the Land to the city’s medical center, you’ll definitely be noticed.”

At those words, Xie Ren’s movements froze for a moment. The queen said, “This is what we are afraid of, and that’s why we haven’t said anything about it for the past few days. Emperor’s son you should still first …… find a way to get some medicine back.”

Behind the house, the State Lord coughed violently again, and the Queen went in to tend to him. Xie Ren stayed for a long time and dropped out, and Feng Xin said, “Your Highness! What are you going to do?”

Xie Ren didn’t answer and started rummaging through the house. Feng Xin said, “What are you looking for?” He didn’t answer, and in a matter of moments, he himself rummaged through the bottom of the box and pulled out something.

It was an ancient sword. Feng Xin took a look at it and said, “What did you take out the red mirror for?”

After a moment of silence, Xie Ren said, “I’m going to pawn it.”

Feng Xin was shocked and immediately said, “Make it impossible!”

Xie Ren closed the box heavily and said, “So many swords have been pawned, not this one.”

Along the way, in order to make up for their carriage fees as well as the necessary punting fees when passing through dangerous barriers, Xie Ren has already pawned off most of his original beloved swords. And because they couldn’t go to the crowded big pawnshops, and were sometimes blackmailed by the black-hearted merchants who discovered their whereabouts, they all endured the pain of discounting their prices. Feng Xin said, “It’s not the same! Didn’t you like this sword very much? Otherwise why didn’t you pawn it before and still keep it in the bottom of the box? Moreover, this is the sword sent to you by the emperor, how bad is it to pawn it and tell the world?”

Xie Ren said wearily, “No matter how much you like it, it’s not as important as your life, let’s go, let’s go.”

The two of them took their swords and walked all the way to the city, both with a bereft look on their faces. When they arrived in front of the pawnshop, Xie Ren stopped and looked at the red mirror in his hand. Feng Xin looked at him and said, “Otherwise, don’t pawn it. Let s try …… to think of something else?”

Xie Ren shook his head and said, “It’s too late, besides, there’s no telling what other ways there are to definitely get enough money together.”

If they stole, robbed, or cheated, no mortal could stop them, and the money would come much faster. However, it was because they had to abide by the rules of mortals and the code of good and evil, and honestly try to earn money, that they were in such a tight and difficult situation. Having made up her mind, Xie Ren said, “Pawn is to be pawned, and when it is pawned, go buy medicine.” The words were said, but his feet still didn’t move, Feng Xin knew that he couldn’t afford to give it up, it was the last sword in his hand, and said, “Then let’s look at it again.”

It was at this moment that a noise came from the street over there, yelling and screaming, and someone shouted, “What kind of people make trouble?!” “Guts!” “Arrest them! Arrest them!”

Both of them were startled, and Xie Ren dodged to the side vigilantly, saying, “Who?!”

Feng Xin was also vigilant, went forward to check it out, let go, and came back, saying, “It’s fine! Don’t worry! It’s none of our business, it’s not looking for us, and it’s not the Yongan soldiers.”

Xie Ren’s taut heart then loosened a little and said, “What was that all about?”

Feng Xin said, “I’m not sure, it seems like a couple of evil servants fighting, go take a look?”

Xie Ren said, “Take a look, don’t be some bully.” The two of them came together and went forward, only to see a few people in the center were wrestling, and the onlookers were shouting. Feng Xin patted a passerby who was watching with glee and said, “Brother, what’s going on?”

The passerby smiled and said, “Don’t you know? It’s too wonderful! The servant has beaten his master!”

Actually this kind of thing, Xie Ren was speechless for a while and said, “Why is this? And why do you call it good?”

That passerby said, “Of course we should shout! This master, ah, really isn’t a thing! This servant has been with him since he was a child and has been loyal to him, but he knows how to exploit him! He knows how to exploit people, not to pay much money but also to make people work for him as a cow, this servant really can’t stand it anymore, this is not you see you see! There’s a fight going on!”

Sure enough, the one who hit him was cursing, “I’ve been putting up with you for a long time!” “What have you ever given me?” “My family is so poor that I can’t even make ends meet, and you’re still riding on my head!” “From today, I’m no longer your dog!” Yun Yun, the beaten master held his head and wailed, the crowd clapped their hands, listening to Xie Ren’s heart tightened, for some reason the cold hairs stood up, could not help but go to glance at Feng Xin’s face. Feng Xin, however, completely did not notice his abnormalities, listening to the bystanders said the master of this family of all kinds of bad deeds, casually said, “So, then this master is indeed unlike words, no wonder this servant wants to rebel.”

He said unintentionally, but Xie Ren’s heart was thumping, gripping the red mirror in her hand.

A headache, when off the red mirror, the two finally have money, immediately went to the medical center to ask the doctor, bought dozens of herbs to bring back.

The herbs used to treat coughing up blood are expensive and require large quantities, not just one or two flavors, one day or two days, so what happens next needs to be kept in mind. In the evening, Feng Xin first unpacked a few packets of medicines, decocted the medicines outside the house, holding a broken bushel fan to fan wildly, while Xie Ren rummaged through the house again. After rummaging for a long time, she finally found a golden belt from the bottom of the box.

Originally, Xie Ren had many gold belts, and like what happened to those swords, they were all pawned off. Only this last one was left, which he originally wanted to keep as a souvenir, but right now, he decided to do something with it.

It so happened that Feng Xin raised his eyes to look at him and said, “Your Highness, what are you doing with that belt? It’s not this one you want to pawn off too.”

Xie Ren, however, walked over and handed him this golden belt.

Seeing this, Feng Xin instantly widened his eyes and inexplicably said, “…… What are you giving this to me for????? Your Highness, when you closed the box just now, you didn’t close your brain in with it, did you???”

“…… “Xie Ren then remembered that in the Upper Heavenly Court, there was another layer of special meaning for giving a gold belt, and his face darkened immediately, saying, “You’re overthinking it, I don’t mean that at all. You just accept it as ordinary gold!” Saying that, he stuffed it over. With the golden belt hanging around his neck, Feng Xin glared and said, “No. You have to tell me why you’re suddenly shoving a piece of gold at me?”

Xie Ren said, “Think of it as making up for the salary owed to you for so long.”

Feng Xin wondered, “No. What’s wrong with you today all of a sudden? It’s this time of the year, what salary are you mentioning to me? If you give it to me, you might as well pawn it to buy a few more medicines for His Majesty the Lord of the Land. It’s fine if you don’t pawned it, keep it for yourself, it’s something only a Magus can have.”