Chapter 53

Although Lin Qingyu didn’t regard Shen Huaishi as a friend, he still understood his experience. Shen Huaishi and Xiao Cheng had known each other since they were children. He practiced martial arts to protect Xiao Cheng and he had already placed himself in the position of loyal servant. He was an obstinate man and Xiao Cheng had saved his life. So, towards Xiao Cheng, he was naturally submissive and utterly obedient.

In all fairness, Shen Huaishi was a very qualified servant. But what he wanted wasn’t Xiao Cheng’s loyal servant; rather, he wanted a chess piece that could kill Xiao Cheng. At present, he had tried many times but to no avail. It could be seen that if were to use Shen Huaishi’s abilities for himself, the stimulation of words was far from enough. What was needed was a powerful medicine.

Met with Shen Huaishi’s silence, Lin Qingyu didn’t bother to go on. “Show me your injury.”

The ointment that Shen Huaishi had taken was usually used by concubines in the palace after they’ve been favored for the first time. From this, it could be surmissed that Shen Huashi’s injury was in some place that was too embarassing to mention.

Shen Huaizhi suddenly raised his head. The redness that had just faded from his face climbed up again. He was too shocked to speak.

Lin Qingyu said indifferently, “As a doctor, there’s nothing I’ve never seen.”

Shen Huaishi stood up abruptly and said quickly, “It’s just a minor injury. I still have something to do…”

“Even with your physique, you’ve already reached the point where you had to come to tbe Thousand Herb Hall to get medicine. That just means that your injury definitely isn’t light. There is no need for you to mind, I’m not gay.” Lin Qingyu said, paused unconsciously and vaguely felt that something wasn’t quite right.

Shen Huaishi almost knelt down and begged Lin Qingyu to stop talking. “Thank you, Imperial Physician Lin, I’d better go ahead.” As soon as he turned around, he heard a male voice from outside the door. “It’s already so late in the evening. Who’s talking there?”

Lin Qingyu recognized the voice as coming from sixth-grade medical officer Hong Changfeng. He and Hong Changfeng had a quarrel because of the delay in delivering the antidote. Before, Hong Changfeng was relatively restrained. Since Lin Qingyu’s father was demoted, Hong Changfeng no longer concealed his hatred for him — constantly dropping “male wife” in front of him, assigning him shifts in the evening, sending him to deal with tasks that ordinary people wouldn’t want to do, such as seeing the worst-tempered taifei in the palace or letting him take on the comparatively disgusting sicknesses.

Lin Qingyu had no particular opinion on this. Hu Ji’s influence was probably rubbing off on him, now, he felt the same towards all patients; even if it was a slave, it was still a life. But if Hong Changfeng wanted to pick a fight with him beyond these matters, he wasn’t going to back down.

Sure enough, as soon as Hong Changfeng saw him, he put on a look. “It’s already past the curfew, what are you still sneaking around the Thousand Herb Hall for?”

Lin Qingyu said coldly, “The Emperor has allowed me to enter and leave the Imperial Medical Office freely. Do you know the meaning of ‘freely’?”

Hong Changfeng was dumbstruck, unable to reply. Not wanting to lose face, he pointed a finger at Shen Huaishi. “Who are you, and what are you holding in your hand?”

Shen Huaizhi pursed his lips. Apparently, he didn’t want to reveal his identity. Lin Qingyu said, “He’s my friend.”

Shen Huaishi was momentarily stunned looking at Lin Qingyu’s profile, a gleam of brilliance appeared in his always submissive eyes.

Hong Changfeng thought he finally had something on Lin Qingyu and hurriedly blurted out, “The Emperor allowed free entry and exit to the Imperial Medical Office but not your friends. Lin Qingyu, you brought in an unauthorized person in the middle of the night and you even let your friend to take things from the Thousand Herb Hall. Have you no respect for the rules?”

Shen Huaishi opened his mouth to explain, but was stopped by Lin Qingyu, “This was my negligence. Tomorrow I will go to Chu Yuan Pan to bring a bramble and ask for punishment. Shen Xiong, put the medicine back first.”

Hong Changfeng smiled smugly. “You’d better go yourself, otherwise don’t blame me for disregarding any friendship I may have for a colleague.”

After Hong Changfeng left, Shen Huaishi said, sounding guilty, “I’m the one who got you involved.”

“Not necessarily.” Lin Qingyu smiled lightly, “Maybe you’ve just helped me out.”

Shen Huaishi wondered, “Helped you out?”

“Whether you have or not depends on how much the Crown Prince cares about you.”

Shen Huaishi said in a low voice, “How could His Highness care about me?”

Lin Qingyu made no comment. “We’ll know once we test it.”

The next day, Lin Qingyu was in the Imperial Hospital and Hong Changfeng kept staring at him. During lunch, he didn’t forget to remind him “kindly”, “Imperial Physician Lin, when are you going to go to the Chu Yuan Pan to be punished?”

Lin Qingyu didn’t even look at him. “I’ll go now.”

Chu Zhengde didn’t sit with the ordinary imperial physicians in the Imperial Hospital; he had a room of his own. Not long ago, this room had been Lin Qingyu’s father’s.

Lin Qingyu knocked on the door, heard a “come in”, pushed the door and entered, “Chu Yuan Pan.”

Chu Zhengde was writing a prescription for the emperor and even if he wrote til his hair turned while and fell out, he couldn’t come up with anything fresh and useful. He held back his frustration. Seeing that it was Lin Qingyu, naturally, he had no good expression on his face. “Oh, what a rare guest. Imperial Physician Lin has never shown any respect for laofu. For you to come see me, you must have something important to discuss.”

Lin Qingyu wasn’t there to talk nonsense. He went straight to the point, “I have a method, which may make His Majesty’s condition improve.”

“You?” Chu Zhengde glared at him, “What could you possibly do?” Without waiting for Lin Qingyu to answer, he said, “Could it be that, like your father, you want to use Gu on the sage?”

Lin Qingyu said, “Chu Yuan Pan should know clearly in his heart whether the Southern Border Gu technique is of no use or not.”

The old fogey’s mystifying demeanor diminished somewhat. “The Central Plains are a long way from the Southern Border and when common people hear of Gu, they immediately reject it. Also, there was that matter of an imperial concubine plotting to kill the previous Emperor using Gu. His Majesty remains ruler of his land, how could the Empress and the Crown Price possibly let those dirty things into His Majesty’s body?”

“If that ‘dirty thing’ becomes a dead thing and then you smash it into powder and use it as medicine, although the effect is not as good as that of a living Gu, it can still relieve the suffering from a headache.”

Chu Zhengde sneered, “For young people, running their mouths is always so easy. There’s no medical supplement, no prescription. You dare let His Majesty use a dead Gu, what is the difference between this and regicide?”

“Together with the doctor from the Southern Border, we’ve already found a suitable medical supplement and formulated a prescription.” Lin Qingyu took out from his sleeve the results of his work during the past few days with the Southern Border doctor. “This is the prescription and dosage.”

Chu Zhengde was stunned. He looked at Lin Qingyu in disbelief, then grabbed the prescription, looking at it hungrily.

“Chu Yuan Pan can test the medicine first and then make his decision after.” Lin Qingyu said indifferently, “Then, I shall withdraw.”

While Lin Qingyu and Chu Zhengde were talking, Hu Ji went to the Eastern Palace. Xiao Cheng has been troubled by the military officials’ remonstrance recently and hasn’t been able to sleep for the past two days. When paying his respects to Concubine Chen this morning, Concubine Chen saw that his complexion was not good and ordered Hu Ji to go to the Eastern Palace to perform a check-up.

Hu Ji examined Xiao Cheng’s pulse and said, “His Highness is fine but listless because of too little sleep. This official will prescribes a soothing medicine for His Highness. Your Highness should be able to sleep better after taking the medicine.”

Xiao Cheng closed his eyes and raised his hand to signal Hu Ji to step back. Hu Ji spoke up again, “This humble official, has another matter to report to His Highness.”

“Oh?” Xiao Cheng opened his eyes and said slowly, “You, an Imperial Physician, what matter could you have to report to Gu?”

“Last night, Imperial Guard Shen came to the Imperial Medicine Office to get medicine but he was kicked out by Imperial Physician Hong Changfeng. Imperial Guard Shen’s injury seemed to not be light and walked very awkwardly. Later, when this humble official asked, I found out that he was one of His Highness’ men.” Hu Ji He took out a box of ointment from his medicine box, “This humble official was worried that Imperial Guard Shen might delay his medication because of this so I brought the medicine over here today.”

Xiao Cheng was in a bad mood. Hearing that his shadow guard was being bullied outside, a sullen look appeared between his brows and he said coldly, “So there was such a thing.”

Hu Ji said respectfully, “Imperial Physician Hong was also unaware of Imperial Guard Shen’s identity and thought him a thief who had made his way in. This is the reason why there was such a misunderstanding.”

Xiao Cheng had vented on Shen Huaishi yesterday. He didn’t expect that Shen Huaishi hadn’t even taken any medicine yet. “What an idiot.”

In the Imperial Hospital, with neck stretched out, Hong Changfeng watched as Lin Qingyu come out of Chu Zhengde’s room, looking forward to a good show. Unexpectedly, what he got wasn’t any sort of show but an order from the crown prince.

“Hong Changfeng has been remiss in his duties and has disrespected the Crown Prince. Henceforth, he is relived of his post as Imperial Physician, never to be appointed again.”

Hong Changfeng’s eyes widened and he collapsed to the ground. Before he could even realize what had happened, he was already being dragged out by two eunuchs.

In the blink of an eye, the generals have already been kicking up a fuss for three straight days. Many of civil officials couldn’t bear it anymore and they advised the Crown Prince to stop his investigation on General Gu for the sake of the stability of the court. After investigating for so long, nothing has been found, instead this matter has thrown the court into a turmoil; insisting on this course of action truly wasn’t sensible. However, the crown prince was also stubborn, full of youthful vigor. He didn’t like being forced to give in, reckless and desperate to protect his majesty as the crown prince. And so, the matter was at a stalemate.

Lin Qingyu and Gu Fuzhou talked about this matter and Gu Fuzhou said, grieving and lamenting, “How could they embarrass the Crown Prince like this? I heard that the Crown Prince was so angry because of this matter that he needed to be seen by an imperial physician. If the Crown Prince were to meet some unexpected misfortune, how am I to face the people of the land. The only think I’d be able to do is to apologize with my death.”

The two Tianji Camp guards guarding the door silently glanced at each other.

The first few times Lin Qingyu delivered the medicine, Gu Fuzhou was standing. Later on, he was usually sitting. Today, Gu Fuzhou…was lying down.

Lin Qingyu said: “General, get up and drink your medicine.”

Gu Fuzhou, who was now finished grieving and lamenting, said in a lazy tone, “Imperial Physician Lin, please bring the medicine over here.”

Lin Qingyu brought the medicine to his bedside. Gu Fuzhou propped his head up. He didn’t even fully rise. He finished his medicine in a half-up position, then handed the medicine bowl back to Lin Qingyu, laying back peacefully.

Lin Qingyu couldn’t help but ask, “How long has the general slept today?”

“I’ve been in bed since lunch.”

“Then where did you have your dinner?”

Gu Fuzhou winked. “In bed.”

Winking, this move, appearing on the grave and stern face of a tall and imposing thirty-year-old tall man was…Lin Qingyu couldn’t bear to look at it directly. “General, you can’t go on like this. This would be fine if you were a sick child. Right now, you’re strong and healthy. How can you stand just lying here everyday with nothing to do. Don’t tell you really want to be a cripple?”

“To tell Imperial Physician Lin the truth, even since I was able to take back my life back from Lord Yama, I have had an epiphany.”

“What did the general realize?”

“If a person’s dream is only to be a good-for-nothing, then what is the difference between him and being free from all care and anxiety?”

“…”

Gu Fuzhou let out a drawn-out sigh. “You don’t know my past days have been. I wake up earlier than a rooster and sleep later than a dog. I suffer hardships from my subordinates during the day and when I can finally sleep at night, I’m met with sneak attacks from enemy troop. There isn’t a moment that I can spend in bed. I’m forced to get up and run for my life. Can you imagine that kind of suffering?” Gu Fuzhou emphasized again, “I can’t stay in bed for even a moment!”

Lin Qingyu couldn’t help but smile. “It serves you right.”

Gu Fuzhou looked at him and smiled, somewhat unable to help it. Though he clearly knew that the threat had yet to be completely lifted, he still called out the name that he had been thinking of for as long as he had been living, “Qingyu…”

Lin Qingyu’s chest grew hot. He knew it wasn’t the best time, but he couldn’t help but answer him, “…Hm?”

“You’ve lost a lot of weight.” Gu Fuzhou didn’t want to make the atmosphere too sad and he added with a smile, “While I’ve gotten much stronger. Are you angry?”

Lin Qingyu: “…”

He was angry — so angry that he wanted to poison Jiang and make him wilt once again.