Chapter 55: The truth must be concealed (2/2)

Gu Beiyue looked even more helpless as he replied, “Qin Wangfei, in the Cloud Realm Continent, the Tianning Imperial Family is but one of many powers.”

Naturally, Han Yunxi knew that the Cloud Realm Continent was vast and filled with powerful hidden tigers and crouching dragons. But right now she was most concerned with the location of the Life Blood Pill. With it on hand, the crown prince’s treatment would only take minutes to complete.

“Then tell me who has it?” Han Yunxi was getting impatient.

Gu Beiyue spoke three words: “Gu Qi Sha[3].”

Gu Qi Sha?

Han Yunxi seemed to have heard of this famous name in the recesses of her memories. “The strange genius Gu Qi Sha who was expelled from Cloud Realm Medical Academy?”

Gu Beiyue nodded. “Exactly so. This fellow’s been an eccentric genius since birth and has a natural talent for cultivating medicinal plants. Many commonly used plants today were personally grafted by him in his youth, so people call him the Pill Fiend[4].”

“I heard he was the adopted son of a medical academy elder and ate medicinal plants as his three meals while growing up?” Han Yunxi asked with curiosity.

Gu Beiyue nodded. This was as much as he knew, even though his grandfather was a director at that same medical academy. But a director was one level lower than an elder, so there was no way for him to come in contact with his superiors. Moreover, he hadn’t stayed long at the medical academy before following his grandfather to Tianning’s capital city.

“So where’s Gu Qi Sha now?” Han Yunxi asked in a hurry.

“After the medical academy expelled him, he set off on his own and created Pill Fiend Valley. There he collects and cultivates all kinds of miraculous medicines and sells them based on his moods. If you want to buy the Life Blood Pill from him, it’ll be a difficult task,” Gu Beiyue said.

And yet Han Yunxi’s face relaxed in response. “I thought you’d have to use a lot of effort, but it’s something this easy! A single pill’s obtainable enough.”

“It’ll be hard to get!” Gu Beiyue couldn’t help but remind her again.

Han Yunxi gave a mischievous smile. “I’m only responsible for the prescription, not finding its ingredients.”

This…

Seeing Han Yunxi’s crafty smile, Gu Beiyue finally understood her meaning. As long as the prescription was there, the emperor had to find his own methods to get the Life Blood Pill. If he couldn’t, then he couldn’t blame his two doctors, either. Han Yunxi immediately went to the table and scribbled rapidly with her brush all the ingredients and their prescribed quantities. The curious Gu Beiyue stood to one side as he carefully watched, only growing more and more puzzled by her list.

He recognized all the ingredients in the prescription, but couldn’t determine their effects when all mixed together. A prescription that could dissolve the thing in the crown prince’s stomach without harming any of the surrounding organs required extraordinary craftsmanship. Very quickly, Han Yunxi finished writing the prescription and placed the Life Blood Pill at the very end.

“Qin Wangfei, this prescription…it’s complete?” Gu Beiyue asked doubtfully.

Han Yunxi gave him a significant look. “A secret!”

Of course it was incomplete. Moreover, whoever ended up with these prescription wouldn’t be able to tell that it was a formula for poison. She hadn’t even written down the three most important ingredients. The prescription was just for show since the real medicine was already in her detoxification system. Han Yunxi had to leave herself a trick. If she wrote down the real prescription and it ended up in the hands of some expert, then wouldn’t it expose the true nature of her treatment for the crown prince?

Gu Beiyue observed Han Yunxi’s mysterious actions and didn’t ask, but his fondness for this woman increased three parts more in his eyes.

With the Life Blood Pill, Han Yunxi’s greatest hurdle had been solved. She was almost too impatient to become the crown prince’s savior so she could see the empress and empress dowager’s reactions. Of course, she was even more expectant for Grand Concubine Yi and Murong Wanru’s reactions. Right now, they must be burning with impatience back at the Duke of Qin’s house!

Hm, she had to get the Life Blood Pill first!

“Let’s hurry and deliver the prescription!” Han Yunxi grabbed Gu Beiyue’s arm and prepared to leave. Startled, Gu Beiyue blanked out briefly before quietly pushing her away. He didn’t speak, but a surprised Han Yunxi looked back to see Gu Beiyue avoiding her eyes.

This guy…

Han Yunxi snorted with laughter but didn’t explain. All right, she was so happy that she forgot she was in the past. As a married woman, she couldn’t have any close male friends.

“Cough, cough…” she pretended that nothing had happened before turning around. “My hand moved too quickly. I wasn’t trying to be improper, though.”

Gu Beiyue was about to move, but started again at her words. Except this time, a warm grin quietly blossomed onto his face.

Han Yunxi didn’t know, but she managed to miss seeing the world’s most beautiful smile.

-o-

[1] fetus in fetu (???) – tai zhong tai, a developmental abnormality in which a mass of tissue resembling a fetus forms inside the body. Again, I’ll leave the Google-fu to you. Be warned that images can be quite graphic.

[2] longest case…32 years – the author seems to be a little off here. The longest case may belong to Sanju Bhagat, who was 36 years old in 2006 when doctors operated on his stomach and discovered his partially-developed twin inside him. Before that, he’d carried around a swollen stomach for years.

[3] Gu Qi Sha (???) – Gu means ‘ancient, age-old,’ Qi is ‘seven,’ ‘Sha’ is to ‘stop, check.’

[4] Pill Fiend (??) – yaogui, Pill could also be translated as ‘medicine’ or ‘drug’; fiend may also mean ‘ghost, demon, monster, spirit, apparition.’