Chapter 53: With certainty, he’s wrong (2/2)

“Then do you have proof for your fetus?” Han Yunxi asked back.

Han Congan’s lips curled into a sneer. “The pulse is the proof. His highness the crown prince’s abdomen is also proof. Qin Wangfei, even the Cloud Realm Medical Academy directors have verified that this is a pregnancy pulse.”

“The pregnancy pulse is exactly the point of dispute. The pulse itself isn’t sufficient evidence,” Han Yunxi’s attitude turned rigid.

If it wasn’t for her status and all the people present, Han Congan would’ve lost his temper long again. No wonder these few days the empress dowager and empress’s people kept searching for him for questioning. This damned girl really had changed into a completely different person. If this was the past, then even if she was Qin Wangfei, she wouldn’t dare speak to him this way!

“You say it’s a sarcoma, but how can you tell?” Han Congan asked. Even if this blasted girl had extensive abilities, a diagnosis couldn’t stray far from the reality of the pulse. She actually said that the pulse wasn’t evidence; well, he’d like to see what proof she’d offer instead.

“Poison!” Han Yunxi was supremely confident.

These words made everyone suck in a breath. It was actually poison?

“His Highness Crown Prince was poisoned with a liudu[3] toxin. This poison won’t take away a life immediately, but it’ll stay in the body for long periods of time and absorb all the foul and muddy qi from the surrounding organs to become a malignant tumor. When the tumor gets big enough to press on the vital passages, his life will be in danger.”

These were all lies made up by Han Yunxi, but she made a show of being calm and unhurried as she pretended. Everyone present was gaping at her words, not ever thinking that such a dangerous poison could exist in this world, much less that this was the cause behind the crown prince’s illness! This was completely different from a pregnancy pulse and its ensuing pregnancy!

Compared to a pregnant man, Han Yunxi’s words appeared far more sensible and trustworthy. Even the empress, who had intended to make things difficult for her, revealed an expression filled with pleased surprise. With things as they were, she really wanted to believe Han Yunxi! Han Congan was stunned as well.

It took him awhile to ask, “Then…then you have proof?”

Han Yunxi wouldn’t say something as foolish like she saw it from the pulse. Her eyes glimmered with self-confidence as she said, “I can dissolve the poison and extract the malignant tumor. It’s already been seven years, but can you birth a baby from that stomach?”

“You…” Han Congan couldn’t bear it anymore and backed up two steps, face filled with incredulity. Those who didn’t know they were father and daughter would probably think they were competing rivals.

“Esteemed wangfei, you can’t make jokes with His Highness Crown Prince’s life!” Han Congan said earnestly. Though he wasn’t familiar with poison, he didn’t want to believe that the crown prince could be one of its victims. It was clearly a pregnancy pulse, and his stomach clearly held a life. Even if he was wrong, would the medical directors’ top medical academy be mistaken as well?

Though all the medical directors had left, these years he’d consulted with a few of them in secret to discuss this problem. The pregnancy pulse was a certain thing, so they had to discuss how to shrink the crown prince’s stomach and kill the fetus within without endangering his life. Abortion pills were completely ineffective, so they’d have to attempt a birth. But if birthing was already so dangerous for a woman, how much more would it be for a man?

Truthfully speaking, none of them had figured out from where a man would birth a child. Nobody dared to use a knife to do surgery, either. Moreover, if they really cut out a child, their lives would be forfeit. The emperor had believed in the pregnancy pulse a long time ago, but he still held hope in his heart for another possibility.

“As the wangfei, I haven’t used the crown prince’s life as a joke. Instead, it’s you who can’t even tell his pulse’s been poisoned and dragged everything on for seven years. Don’t you know that treating the poison early on would’ve prevented his highness’s stomach from getting so large?! You’re the one that wasted seven years of the crown prince’s time!” Han Yunxi wrathfully rebutted.

She could admit that she was seizing the opportunity to take revenge.

Don’t think she didn’t know how Han Congan stuck his foot into the young general’s affairs. Without even mentioning her bullying and humiliation in the Han household, her father’s readiness to sacrifice a daughter for the sake of making good with the empress dowager was enough to make Han Yunxi hate him for a lifetime. Did a man like this deserve to be her father?

“You, you’re speaking nonsense! Balderdash!” Han Congan was stirred up, censuring her with no thought for status.

Yet Han Yunxi only dressed him down in exchange. “Audacious Han Congan, is this how you speak to the wangfei? An inferior going against a superior, shouldn’t that be punished?” These words were rather unexpected. Nobody thought that an unloved Qin Wangfei like Han Yunxi would hold up her noble status against Han Congan in front of everyone.

This woman was a little too interesting, wasn’t she?

The curve in Long Feiye’s lips grew more and more attractive, while Emperor Tianhui massaged his chin in thought.

Han Congan was shocked beyond speech as he kept shaking his head in disbelief, unable to say a word. Han Yunxi set herself above the masses as she looked at him disdainfully. “Whether or not I’m speaking nonsense will be proved once I extract the malignant tumor.”

As she spoke, she turned towards Emperor Tianhui. “Your majesty, I’ve already explained the results of my examination. Please take the lead in approving or denying treatment.”

-o-

[1] don’t spread the Dao to those who will not learn it, don’t knock on doors for those who don’t want treatment (????, ????) – daobu chuanjing, yibu koumen, basically meaning to not push oneself onto others.

[2] sarcoma (??) – rouliu, basically a meat tumor.

[3] liudu (??) – literally “malignant tumor” in reverse, as in “tumor poison”.