Qiu Mama was so nervous she could barely stay still, standing felt wrong, sitting felt wrong, and she dared not reveal even the slightest expression. All she could do was lower her head.
Qi Wang, however, was staring hard at Divine Physician Xue. Watching him take out the golden acupuncture needles from his case, he couldn’t help but grab the physician’s hand anxiously: “Are you confident? If you can’t cure her, I’ll have you buried with her!”
That sentence instantly reignited all the rage Divine Physician Xue had just forced down.
He pulled his hand away and gave a cold, mocking smile: “If Your Highness doesn’t trust me, feel free to find another doctor!”
Buried with her, buried with her, he was sick of hearing it.
Every little thing, and it was “be buried with them”!
Qi Wang looked at him for a long moment before finally letting go.
Divine Physician Xue held the silver needle steadily and first pierced the Renying acupoint on Qi Yuan’s body.
Qi Wang, having followed Divine Physician Xue for a long time, knew enough about acupuncture to recognize where the needle was going. Seeing the doctor aim directly at a vital acupoint, he immediately tensed up: “What are you doing?!”
Even Qiu Mama jerked her head up in alarm.
But the needle went in, and Qi Yuan still didn’t move at all.
Divine Physician Xue frowned, picked up a small reflex hammer nearby, and tapped Qi Yuan lightly on the knee. Still no response.
Even Qi Wang’s expression darkened.
As someone who practiced martial arts, he knew well, no matter how skilled someone was, they couldn’t control certain instinctive reflexes.
Like the knee-jerk reflex, if someone was conscious and had intact nerve function, there would definitely be a reaction.
Qi Yuan had no reaction. That could only mean she was truly ill, and seriously so.
His tone changed immediately: “What’s going on? Can you tell or not? What’s the issue?”
Divine Physician Xue squinted, then plucked the still-quivering needle from Qi Yuan’s temple and said with a furrowed brow: “I’ve never seen a condition like this before. I’ll need to study it further.”
Qi Wang’s face turned ugly.
He lowered his voice, pressuring him: “Then you’d better figure it out. If you can’t wake her up, I won’t let you off!”
Divine Physician Xue had reached the peak of his disgust.
After all he’d done, diligently working for Duke Chu’s estate and for Qi Wang, he was still nothing but a servant in Qi Wang’s eyes.
Just someone to order around and threaten at will.
He took a deep breath, swallowed the words he had intended to say, gave Qi Yuan a long, meaningful look, and then stood up and left with his medicine box.
Only once Qi Wang had followed him out did Qiu Mama rush to Qi Yuan’s bedside. She instinctively reached for Qi Yuan’s hand and, seeing her open her eyes, finally let out a breath of relief, only to feel a surge of awe.
Qi Yuan was something else, to endure that kind of pain without so much as flinching. How had she managed it?
That was a real acupuncture needle, after all!
Outside, Divine Physician Xue was walking faster and faster, until he suddenly crashed into someone and fell hard to the ground with an “Ow!”, nearly scraping his backside raw.
It was a young eunuch messenger from the residence who had run into him. Seeing it was the physician, the boy immediately scrambled up and apologized profusely.
Divine Physician Xue waved it off: “Forget it, forget it, it’s no big deal. Get up.”
The eunuch, still frightened, stood up, just as Qi Wang came out and asked: “What’s going on?”
The young eunuch dropped to his knees with a thud and bowed deeply: “Your Highness, the Imperial Grandson has gone missing.”
Divine Physician Xue’s heart stirred, and he glanced at Qi Wang.
Qi Wang’s brows furrowed sharply, and he immediately asked: “What do you mean, ‘missing’?”
“The Imperial Grandson never went to Gaojia Town,” the eunuch replied while banging his head in panic. “Your Highness, Lord Xiong sent word, Fang Yuanping said the Imperial Grandson changed course. He might have gone to Pingxiang or Xinyu instead!”
Qi Wang sneered coldly. He had been furious, until he remembered Qi Yuan lying on that bed. His eyes dropped in thought.
In a way, he was actually grateful Xiao Yunting hadn’t gone to Gaojia Town.
Otherwise, he might have discovered Qi Yuan and Gao Qing.
He lowered his eyes and gave the eunuch a chilly look: “Tell Xiong Liangyong, if he can’t find them, don’t blame me for washing my hands of it.”
Just as Eunuch Xu had once said:
He was a newly appointed county prince. Even if a single flood in Jiangxi had led to such disastrous outcomes, that didn’t happen overnight, clearly, the entire Jiangxi bureaucracy had problems.
If the court really wanted to assign blame, his liability was limited.
Besides, he hadn’t actually done much, he simply refused to open his granaries.
As for burning Xujiagou?
What, would Wang Weiqi and Huang Hongzhong dare speak up?
The eunuch nodded quickly and then cautiously asked, “Your Highness, Lord Xiong also asked… about Gaojia Town…”
Qi Wang frowned in irritation: “Those commoners’ lives are worthless. Do as before, burn it.”
Finally, Divine Physician Xue couldn’t stay silent any longer: “If it’s an epidemic, I can go have a look. Prescribe a few treatments, ”
“No need!” Qi Wang cut him off immediately. “You don’t need to concern yourself with that. Just focus on curing Qi Yuan, everything else is none of your business.”
Divine Physician Xue’s heart sank completely.
Now he saw it clearly, Qi Wang would never make a good regional ruler.
This man had no idea how to love anyone.
And he would never love the people.
He turned and left.
Qi Wang, on the other hand, returned to the room and sat again at Qi Yuan’s bedside. Watching her quietly lie there, he couldn’t help but reach out and touch her face.
Divine Physician Xue had said her muscles were firm, not slackened.
But he thought Qi Yuan had lost weight.
Qiu Mama called out hurriedly from the side: “Your Highness?”
Qi Wang came back to himself and told her, “Take good care of the Wangfei. When she recovers, your rewards will be generous.”
Qiu Mama froze, eyes going wide.
Wangfei?!
This Miss Qi… he wanted to marry her?
She swallowed hard and gently reminded him, “Your Highness, if you want to take a Wangfei, you’ll need to speak to His Majesty first…”
Qi Wang smirked: “Marriage is a man and woman’s affair, what’s the big deal? Even the emperor has no reason to deny his son a wife.”
He stood up and left, clearly in high spirits.
As soon as he was gone, Qiu Mama quickly shut the door and rushed over to Qi Yuan: “Miss?”
Qi Yuan opened her eyes and gave a soft “Mm,” then sat up and rolled her wrists.
Qiu Mama pointed to Qi Yuan’s forehead: “Are… are you alright?”
After all, that needle just now had really pierced her!
It had looked painful just to watch, she didn’t know how Qi Yuan had managed to endure it.
Want to show your support? Go donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! Want to get early access to at least 20+ chapters in advance? Go to my Patreon to join now! :)
