Chapter 31 (1/2)

Chapter 31: Strange Illness (Part 1)

The imperial palace was extremely luxurious.

The old man emperor lived in a main hall that was resplendent without measure. Wherever the eyes looked, everything glittered…the dragon pearls embellis.h.i.+ng the walls were extremely huge, and really made a person drool with envy.

The common people were suffering, but he sure knew how to enjoy himself, though that had stopped now.

A fine vermillion canopy screened a bed from view, its fabric embroidered with gold dragons baring their fangs and claws. A hazy form could be seen within, accompanied by the loud noises of someone gasping for breath.

He sounded very uncomfortable…

For a person confined to bed with a weak body, it was important to maintain proper airflow. With this gauze in the way, wouldn’t it only exacerbate his sickness?

“Your servant pays respects to His Imperial Highness.”

The sudden voice frightened me after I had finally managed to steady Fang Hua’s medical instruments in my arms. Peering from behind, I saw Nongyu catch my eye with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.

Strange, he was here too.

His medical knowledge was exemplary, so he should know these things. Even if the servants had forgotten to open the windows and draw the screens, he should remind them. Why wasn’t he interfering or paying the matter any attention now?

Han Zichuan swept his robes, filled with the imposing air of a crown prince. “Rise. How is father’s illness?”

“After a months-long coma, he awoke briefly to mutter a few things before losing consciousness. Now that Lord Fang Hua’s come to personally treat him, the emperor’s illness will certainly get better.” Nongyu’s  expression was one of sincerity, his sleeves spread open in a bow. His figure was infused with ceremony and propriety the whole time he led us to the monarch’s bed.

A servant lifted aside the bed-curtains. Inside was a roughly 40 to 50-year-old man with emaciated features lying on the bed. His face was deathly pale, yet his lips were a blackish red, and the s.p.a.ce between his eyebrows seemed a bit dark. As for the original eyebrows, they were already gone.

This was the current emperor? It looked like he was close to dying…

I gave a glance and noticed that Fang Hua had already pulled up his sleeves to lift aside the bedcovers. He didn’t take a pulse, but just pressed on the body in random places. There was no way to know the status of his diagnosis.

An indistinct sound rose as a torrent from the patient’s lips. Fang Hua knitted his brows and didn’t move, but reached behind him towards me… His finger shook impatiently two or three times. I blinked my eyes and fell into thought…

My head lowered to look within the pouch and its varying sizes of acupuncture needles. Which one did he want?

As it turned out, he lost patience waiting and slowly turned to give me another silent look. Those fingers moved over and past me to plunder the bag and take out a handful of needles. There were thick ones and thin ones, long ones and short ones. Their silvery light glinted back and forth in his hands as he poked the emperor like a doll. Casting all caution to the winds, the needles swooped down…until every single point had a needle in place.

I was silent…

Nongyu looked as if he hadn’t processed everything yet, and Han Zichuan was completely floored.

In the beginning, the emperor still had a breath…now there wasn’t a sound. How tragic. Although the emperor had s.n.a.t.c.hed resources from all under the heavens, Fang Hua had now p.r.i.c.ked him black and blue all over into silence. That’s why the saying went, ‘no matter who you offend, never offend a doctor.’

Fang Hua sat down and waited for a while. Han Zichuan and Nongyu must have had plenty of faith in his medical skills because neither expressed any anxiety or misgivings. Instead, both retreated to the sides to talk about state affairs or the price by weight of medicinal ingredients.

My head drooped as I held the cloth bag in my arms, bored into drowsiness. Suddenly, a sleeve flashed before my face, startling me awake…just in time to see Fang Hua extend his hand, warm it up a bit, and start pulling out the needles.

The silver needles had flashed when they were stabbed in and still gleamed as they were pulled out, with no changes in color.

Remarkable.

Just by looking at the emperor’s face, he was definitely poisoned…but there was no way to scope out the source. I held my cloth and reached out to receive the needles, but Fang Hua brushed me aside, shaking his head as he gave me a cold glance. While I was trying to puzzle him out, he blew on a needle held between his fingers.

Goodness…

The s.h.i.+ny needle immediately turned black, giving one a sense of dread.

“This poison is very odd and hard to perceive. The needles I stuck inside….most of them changed colors. I’m afraid that the poison has already hurt his internal organs.”

“Is there any possibility of a cure?” Han Zichuan’s face sank as he hurried over.

“I’ll write a prescription first to temporarily restrain the poison. The rest will be left for afterward.” Fang Hua turned his glance towards me, and I took the hint to start grinding some ink from the inkstick.

He raised his sleeves without a second thought, writing words with a brush like floating clouds and flowing water[1] as he recorded the name of the ingredients and its various weights. I cast a sidelong glance and saw that it was a medicine he rarely prescribed… I used to jokingly call it a miracle pill, and had sold it for a high price to Nongyu.

Nongyu took the formula into his hands and carefully reviewed it, before calling for the eunuchs to bring over the stove.

This guy…

He really was lazy, insisting on making his inferiors labor before him. I wanted to help, but Fang Hua lightly held me back, quietly shaking his head. Then he lowered his head and went about his own business, drinking tea. Han Zichuan stared at me with s.h.i.+ning eyes, before giving a thoughtful gaze towards Fang Hua, and sat down on a chair to play with a ring on his finger[2].

Two or three eunuchs carefully followed the formula to measure out the weights for each ingredient. Nongyu directed them from the sides and frequently jumped in to do the job himself. I couldn’t hold back a yawn as I closed my eyes, though I suddenly caught a glimpse of a certain young eunuch briefly raising his sleeve. I looked down and fell silent.

A decoction of medicinal ingredients had been cooking for around four hours, enough to fill many small bowls. The eunuchs handling the bowls had to drink first, then the imperial physicians, before it reached the emperor. Each of them looked as if they were drinking a rebirth elixir[3], their eyebrows knitted as they held their bowls while shaking in fear. I really wanted to laugh…

They were a bunch of fools. The good fortune they’d cultivated in former lives allowed them this chance to drink such a treasured medicine. Just one sip would prevent light poisons from entering the body for half a year.

I pursed my lips and walked over, getting myself a bowl. Abruptly, I felt a heated stare at my back that put me ill at ease. I started, uncomprehending, before lifting a bowl to take a whiff….before my eyebrows knitted and I took a sip.

Wrong.