Chapter Ninety-Seven: A Gruesome Sight

The moment Gu Li finally saw Lie Chang'an, the tears she had been holding back burst forth in a flood.

The man lying on the bed wore only a thin white undergarment. His cheeks had hollowed out, his face had gone sallow and bluish, his lips were dry and pale, and cold sweat covered his brow. His white inner robe was stained all over with blood. It was plain to see that he had been carefully bandaged and treated with medicine, yet it had done him no good at all.

He had lost so much weight that he was scarcely human anymore, and his body was ice-cold.

Gu Li went over, dropped to the bedside, and took his hand. The chill in it was so piercing that, had she not still seen the faint rise and fall of his chest, she might have thought he was already dead.

Tears fell from her eyes at once. She clutched Lie Chang'an’s hand tightly, pressed it to her lips, and kept kissing it over and over, sobbing so hard she could not speak, grief choking off every word.

Jasmine stood nearby, staring in a daze, and it took her a long while to come back to herself.

How could this still be the once-brilliant and dashing General Chang'an? If Jasmine had not seen him with her own eyes today, she would almost never have recognized him.

The princess had only been holding his hand, yet as her sleeve slid down to her elbow, one could faintly see the mottled, dripping gashes within. They were knife wounds cut down to the bone, the flesh torn open in a ghastly sight that made one’s heart lurch.

One glance was enough for Jasmine to look away in pain. Let alone the wounds all over his hands and legs, or the grave injuries from the hundred strokes of the heavy board he had endured.

Her eyes burned. Seeing the princess bent over the bed, crying as though her heart were being torn apart, trembling uncontrollably, she could only turn her face away by force and bear to look no longer.

“Why has this happened... Please wake up, will you? Wake up!”

Gu Li’s hands shook as she stroked his gaunt face, unwilling to accept the fact that he lay here unmoving, on the brink of death. Her heart felt as though it were being cleaved apart, as though even her breath was about to be taken from her.

“Lie Chang'an... Chang'an...”

She gently cupped his cheek with her palm, trying to chase away the cold from his body. “Wake up. Look at me... I’m Gu Li. I’ve come back to life, so you must come back too, all right?”

Choking on her tears, her voice rough and broken, Gu Li stared fixedly at his face through blurred vision, not even willing to blink.

“I... I beg you, wake up, all right?”

“Don’t do this to me. I’m so afraid...”

“Why did it turn out like this? Clearly I saved you, so why, in the end, am I still the one who has brought you to this state?”

“What am I supposed to do, Chang'an? What must I do for you to wake up...”

Standing nearby, the Crown Prince listened to Gu Li’s low, broken murmurs, so full of despair and helplessness that even his eyes reddened.

For who could fail to be moved by such a sight, so long as they were not a heart of stone?

The several imperial physicians summoned in by the Crown Prince had been treating General Chang'an here these past days. They knew all too well the torment and suffering he had endured. Even with a healer’s compassion, few could have gone to such lengths for a patient.

They were deeply shaken.

“Your Highness...”

Physician Hu watched the princess crying so hard she could scarcely breathe. Fearing that the princess, still recovering from a serious illness, would not be able to bear such violent emotional upheaval, he could not help stepping forward to offer comfort.

“Physician Hu...”

When Gu Li heard that familiar voice, it was as though she had seen a lifeline. She hurriedly seized Physician Hu’s sleeve and pleaded with desperate sincerity, “Physician Hu, save him. Please save him, all right? You were able to cure me, so you must be able to save him too, mustn’t you?”