HNYWEF -Chapter 20 A Sickness of the Heart

When Cheng Yaojin carried Zhou Yi out of the inner room, the old brothers in the courtyard had almost finished moving everything.

He stood beneath the sunlight and set Zhou Yi down.

The child stood there without moving or speaking. His eyes still kept drifting toward the hanging door curtain.

Cheng Yaojin crouched down and patted his shoulder.

“Little cub, wait here for a bit. Uncle Cheng needs to take care of something. I’ll be back soon.”

Zhou Yi looked at him and nodded.

Cheng Yaojin stood up and beckoned to the old brothers in the courtyard.

“You lot stay here and keep watch. Don’t go inside, and don’t make noise. Wait till I get back.”

One of them wanted to say something, but Cheng Yaojin glared at him, and he swallowed the words back down.

Cheng Yaojin strode out.

When he reached the alley entrance, he stopped again and turned to look back at the door.

The door was shut.

The curtain inside hung perfectly still.

He cursed under his breath, swung himself onto his horse, and headed toward the imperial city.

Ganlu Hall.

Li Shimin was reading memorials. Fang Xuanling stood nearby holding a stack of newly drafted imperial edicts. Qin Qiong stood at the side of the hall, having just finished his shift in the palace guard and not yet left.

Cheng Yaojin strode in and cupped his fists in greeting.

Li Shimin lifted his head and glanced at him.

“What brings you here at this hour?”

Cheng Yaojin opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Li Shimin set down his vermilion brush.

“Speak.”

Cheng Yaojin scratched his head.

“Something happened over at Zhou Xiong’s place…”

Li Shimin’s brows twitched slightly.

“What happened?”

Cheng Yaojin recounted everything that had happened that day. How they brought him back, how they entered the courtyard, how the old brothers had come, how Zhou Xiong stood at the doorway without entering, how he suddenly retreated into the inner room, how he crouched in the corner without moving.

When he got to the part about Zhou Yi standing there watching, his voice lowered.

When he spoke of carrying Zhou Yi out himself, it dropped even lower.

After he finished, he stood there with his head lowered.

The room fell silent for a moment.

Li Shimin said nothing.

Fang Xuanling said nothing either.

Cheng Yaojin lifted his head and looked at Li Shimin.

“Your Majesty… this subject doesn’t know what to do anymore.”

Li Shimin looked at him, then suddenly turned his head.

He looked toward Qin Qiong standing nearby.

Qin Qiong had not spoken once. Ever since Cheng Yaojin entered, he had simply stood there listening.

Now, when Li Shimin looked at him, his gaze met it.

The two men locked eyes for an instant.

Cheng Yaojin froze.

He looked at Li Shimin, then at Qin Qiong.

“What is it?”

Qin Qiong did not answer.

He looked at Li Shimin in silence for a while.

Then he spoke.

“Your Majesty, this subject remembered something.”

Li Shimin said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

Qin Qiong said, “That winter, back at Wagang寨, one of the brothers came down with a strange illness.”

Li Shimin’s brows shifted slightly.

Beside him, Cheng Yaojin scratched his head.

“A strange illness? Who? Why don’t I remember that?”

Qin Qiong ignored him.

He continued, “At the time, Zhou Xiong had only recently joined Wagang. When that brother fell ill, nobody dared approach him. Zhou Xiong was the one who went in. He restrained the man and treated him for three days and three nights, forcibly dragging him back from the gates of hell.”

Li Shimin nodded.

Qin Qiong paused before continuing.

“Later, Zhou Xiong once said something. He said that people who had gone to war sometimes developed a kind of illness. Not a sickness of the body, but of the heart. People change. They stop talking, avoid others, have nightmares, suddenly become afraid of things they were never afraid of before.”

Listening nearby, Cheng Yaojin suddenly interrupted:

“Then… then the way Bear Blind Man is now… he’s got that kind of illness?”

At last, Qin Qiong turned to look at him.

But he said nothing.

What he did not say was that the scene felt hauntingly familiar.

Except that day…

Cheng Yaojin opened his mouth, but no words came out.

He remembered the way Zhou Xiong had crouched in the corner earlier.

Curled into himself. Holding his head. Completely motionless.

That was not the Bear Blind Man he knew.

That was someone else.

Suddenly, Cheng Yaojin no longer knew what to say.

He scratched his head and looked toward Li Shimin.

Li Shimin remained silent.

He looked toward Qin Qiong.

Qin Qiong also remained silent.

After a moment, Qin Qiong finally spoke.

“Your Majesty, this subject knows how to persuade him now.”

Li Shimin looked at him.

Qin Qiong said nothing more. He cupped his fists in salute, then turned and walked out.

Cheng Yaojin stood where he was, watching his back.

When Qin Qiong reached the doorway, his footsteps paused briefly.

Cheng Yaojin heard him mutter softly to himself—

“Bear Blind Man really doesn’t seem like the kind of person who’d get that strange illness…”

His voice was very light, as though he were speaking only to himself.

Then he pushed open the door and left.

Cheng Yaojin stood there blankly.

He scratched his head.

A strange illness?

He’s sick?

Cheng Yaojin looked toward Li Shimin.

But Li Shimin did not look at him.

Li Shimin lowered his head, staring at the memorials on the desk.

Cheng Yaojin stood there for a long while.

He did not know what to say.

So he simply stood there.

The hall was deathly quiet.