Jiang Xingyan was carried out of the carriage by Su Mo and Wang Qi, and immediately spotted Grand Physician Sun climbing up the wall of the Imperial Medical Institute.
A smile curled at the corners of her mouth. “Gazing at each other from atop the wall while on horseback, one look at you and my heart breaks. Grand Physician Sun, is this the kind of affection you share with your esteemed wife?”
Grand Physician Sun was so angry his mustache bristled. “General Huo, please watch your words.”
——What business is it of yours, you scoundrel!
If it weren’t for your wife’s sake, would I even bother with you?!
I should just let you die from the pain!
The main gate of the Imperial Medical Institute was barred too tightly; it took a great deal of effort to slowly pry it open.
By this time, Huo Ci was already past the peak of his pain.
He wore a numb expression, enduring Grand Physician Sun’s praises:
“General Huo’s wife is truly pure-hearted, intelligent, and has the whole world in her thoughts—a truly unique and extraordinary woman in this world! General Huo must have accumulated immense good fortune in his past life to be able to marry such a virtuous wife.”
——Miss Jiang is perfect in every way, except for her poor eyesight, falling for that scoundrel Huo Ci!
Hmph, what’s so good about that scoundrel?
Any one of his, Sun Miao’s, grandsons isn’t a hundred times better than him?
At the very least, they wouldn’t go around casually tricking people!
Passing by, Jiang Xingyan timely added a supplementary comment: “Already divorced.”
Grand Physician Sun looked at ‘Huo Ci’ with an indescribable expression.
——This scoundrel, what gives him the right?
He instantly turned his head, looking eagerly at ‘Jiang Xingyan’: “Since Miss Jiang is now free, if you wouldn’t mind, this old official could summon a few of my grandsons for Miss Jiang to take a look at? If any catch your eye, why not just——”
“Cough! Cough!”
Two displeased, heavy coughs came from up ahead.
Grand Physician Sun looked up: Huh?
Why are the National Preceptor and the Second Highlander looking at him with such dangerous eyes?
Did he say something wrong?
A woman this wonderful, anyone would want to strike first and get her into their family!
Huo Ci couldn’t damage Yan’s image, so he could only refuse stiffly, all the while mentally noting a huge debt against Grand Physician Sun.
Fine, you’ve got nerve, trying to snatch my wife right in front of me, Huo Ci?
Just wait until we swap back!
I’ll transfer every single one of your grandsons to the border to be military doctors!
“Grand Physician Sun, instead of having time to play matchmaker, you should focus on bandaging General Huo as quickly as possible.”
Yun Chunfeng’s heart felt increasingly stifled.
When will they finally be able to swap back!
If this goes on much longer, he wouldn’t even know how many romantic rivals he’d have to guard against.
Grand Physician Sun cast a disdainful glance at ‘Huo Ci’: “Don’t worry, he won’t die from this!”
Jiang Xingyan chimed in : “Exactly! Grand Physician Sun, since you have this free time, it would be better to take the Second Highlander’s pulse first.”
Sun Miao grew even angrier.
You scoundrel, what are you so proud of?
Since you’ve put it that way, if I still rush to bandage and treat you, wouldn’t that mean I’m practically begging to be looked down upon?
So, very naturally, he took Xiao Zhenhuai’s hand and sat down on a stone chair in the courtyard.
“Second Highlander, please relax. This humble official will take your pulse.”
He had diagnosed Xiao Zhenhuai’s weakness before.
It was merely some wind-cold attack from when he was in his mother’s womb, and being born during a heavy snowstorm had ruined his constitution.
Originally, he wasn’t expected to live past one year old, but after his treatments, hadn’t he grown up this much?
However, why did it seem like he wasn’t completely cured yet?
That shouldn’t be the case.
He must not have been taking his medicine on time.
He’d have to find a way to subtly remind him later.
Whoosh!
The moment Sun Miao’s fingers touched Xiao Zhenhuai’s pulse, he was startled into standing up abruptly, pointing at the Second Highlander and stammering:
“You, what have you been taking?”
Jiang Xingyan’s heart tightened.
For a cautious imperial physician to be so shocked as to forget status and rank, even forgetting proper titles, it must be something terribly serious.
She called for the other physicians on duty to help apply some wound-healing medicine and roughly bandage her up.
Huo Ci gritted his teeth in pain beside her, but dared not make a sound.
“Grand Physician Sun, is something wrong?”
Grand Physician Sun pointed at Xiao Zhenhuai with his wrinkled hand, unable to speak for a long moment.
Jiang Xingyan was frantic and slapped him on the back: “Grand Physician Sun, speak!”
Sun Miao’s heart, which had leapt to his throat, seemed to be knocked back into his chest by this slap.
The words tumbled out: “He is deeply poisoned, he won’t live out the year!”
Boom!
Everyone seemed frozen in place, maintaining their previous positions, unable to move.
Even Little Ya in Yun Chunfeng’s arms widened her eyes, staring blankly at this newly acquainted uncle.
It was Xiao Zhenhuai who reacted first, forcing a smile, his tone strained as he tried to lighten the atmosphere: “How could that be. Grand Physician Sun must be joking, this is truly——absurd.”
Unexpectedly, his trembling voice betrayed the fear deep within him.
He clearly wanted so badly to live.
He survived that snowy night when the Empress Dowager expelled him from Cining Palace.
He survived being locked in a woodshed by his birth mother for seven days with nothing to eat, living only by chewing dry twigs and drinking the rainwater that seeped in through the cracks in the windows and doors.
He didn’t contend or snatch, he was respectful to his elder brother and friendly to his younger brother, offending no one, rushing to do all the dirty and tiring work – just hoping to live peacefully.
Why was it so hard?
Jiang Xingyan’s heart felt even more unsettled.
Deep down, it seemed she cherished Xiao Zhenhuai almost as someone sharing the same plight as Little Ya.
She always secretly thought, if only someone had stood up to help her and Little Ya when they were suffering.
Now, having met Xiao Zhenhuai, she wanted to be that person who helped him.
It was as if, in doing so, she could also pull her past self out of the mire.
“Grand Physician Sun, you are a living Hua Tuo, a reincarnated Bian Que. You must have a way to cure him, right?”
Grand Physician Sun’s mind was completely unable to function.
The daily meals of princes and nobles were all checked by food-testing eunuchs, and samples were kept.
For the poisoning to be this deep, it certainly couldn’t have happened overnight.
It must have been long-term ingestion for the poison to侵蚀 his internal organs to the point of no return.
If you think about what Xiao Zhenhuai consumed most, aside from regular meals, it would have to be medicine.
And those medicines were all prescribed by his own hand.
Someone must have tampered with them.
“The medicine! The medicine!”
His eyes glazed over, his mouth muttering this single word repeatedly.
Jiang Xingyan sharply extended her hand towards Su Mo: “Bring the medicine!”
Thump!
Su Mo knelt on the ground, presenting the medicine bottle with both hands.
“I beg Grand Physician Sun to save my master, the Second Highlander!”
Jiang Xingyan had no time to deal with him now.
He was currently the prime suspect.
He was in charge of all of Xiao Zhenhuai’s medicine; if there was anyone with the opportunity to tamper with it, it could only be him.
Jiang Xingyan snatched the medicine bottle, poured out a few pills, and placed them in Sun Miao’s palm.
“Grand Physician Sun, stop standing there stunned, investigate immediately! Guards, seal off the Imperial Medical Institute, no one is allowed to leave!”
With her concise命令, everyone in the institute sprang into action.
Grand Physician Sun, now somewhat revived, despite his enmity with ‘Huo Ci’, couldn’t help but admire her calm demeanor in the face of danger and her swift, decisive dispose.
He steadied himself, crushed the pill in his hand, smelled it, and his pupils suddenly contracted:
“There’s an extra ingredient – Aconite! It completely counteracts the Pinellia in the original prescription. Taking both together progressively damages the internal organs until they exhausted and cause death. Even if a coroner performed an autopsy, they would rule it as death from a worsening illness, not poisoning.”
Su Mo was the first to refute: “Impossible! I personally supervised the preparation of the Second Highlander’s medicine.”
Jiang Xingyan narrowed her eyes: “Is it possible that you were the one who did it?”
“Impossible.”
Xiao Zhenhuai personally defended Su Mo.
“In this world, anyone might betray me, but not Su Mo.”
Jiang Xingyan looked at Su Mo suspiciously: “Second Highlander, are you absolutely sure?”
“Absolutely certain!”
Even Grand Physician Sun didn’t believe it: “He supervised the pill-making, and he carries them on him at all times. Besides him, who else could it be?”
“Su Mo, remove your leg bindings.”
Su Mo’s voice was choked with tears: “Second Highlander…”
“Remove them!”
Su Mo’s hands trembling, he pulled down his trousers and slowly unwound the bandages from his thigh.
Jiang Xingyan felt a wave of embarrassment.
She didn’t want to look, but the matter needed to be clarified.
So she forced herself to watch.
With each circle of coarse cloth removed, everyone present gasped.
Yun Chunfeng was glad he had covered Little Ya’s eyes in time.
There, on Su Mo’s thigh, was a large hollow, devoid of flesh and blood.
“When I was young, my birth mother often locked me in the woodshed without food or water. Sometimes there was rainwater or muddy water to drink, sometimes bark or wild grass to eat. But when I was ten, there was nothing at all. Just as I was about to starve to death, Su Mo gave me meat to eat and water to drink.”
Xiao Zhenhuai paused. “Later, I survived, and only then did I learn that the meat that day was his own flesh, and the water was his blood. If he wanted to kill me, he wouldn’t need such complicated methods. Just one sword thrust into my heart would do. And I wouldn’t blame him for it.”
A profound silence fell over the Imperial Medical Institute.
Sun Miao, hardening his heart, took advantage of everyone’s distraction to eat half a pill himself.
“Grand Physician Sun!”
Sun Miao waved his hand, signaling ‘Huo Ci’ to be quiet.
“No, it’s not right. The Aconite wasn’t mixed into the medicine during preparation; the dosage is too weak. Otherwise, the Second Highlander definitely wouldn’t have lived until today. It’s more like it was steeped or soaked into it.”
Su Mo stood up with a shout: “I know who it is!”