Chapter 286: What Affection Puts You in Such a Hurry?
Le Xi wasn’t afraid of him. In fact, he doubled down.
"If you had what it takes, I could call her by a different title, too."
Le Xi continued, "But from what I can see, you just don’t have what it takes. Otherwise, would you have let her marry that little fox from the Wei Family?"
Ji Qingwu pursed her lips and immediately took half a step back.
But it was too late; the crossfire had already reached her. She could see the fire in Emperor Wu Su’s eyes about to turn on her.
Ji Qingwu quickly interjected, "Doctor Le, shouldn’t we focus on the examination first?"
’Don’t make the Emperor collapse from anger again before you’ve even started the treatment.’
Li Yuzong brought over a few rosewood chairs. Le Xi sat down and took the Emperor’s pulse. Ji Qingwu remained standing, watching them.
The moment Le Xi’s fingers touched his wrist, his brow furrowed in surprise.
He asked, "What were you two doing just now? Why is your blood pumping so fiercely?"
Their earlier position was easy to misinterpret, so Ji Qingwu explained, "Before you arrived, I was examining Your Majesty’s wound."
Le Xi tutted, muttering about the fiery passion of youth. "Does examining a wound require all this staring into each other’s eyes? And stripping off half his clothes?"
Being spoken to like that by an elder, Ji Qingwu wished the ground would swallow her whole.
Zhao Mingyan glanced at her, his expression unchanged. "You’re here to treat an illness, not to gossip," he said.
Le Xi retorted, "Seeking a diagnosis involves looking, listening, asking, and palpating. How am I supposed to know anything if I don’t ask? I’m not going to argue with a layman like you."
He turned to the young woman beside him and asked, "Why are you so concerned about his injury?"
Ji Qingwu said, "...It was just the heat of the moment."
Le Xi’s fingers pressed down harder, though his expression remained deceptively casual.
He continued, as if narrating a story, "My dear girl, you really are an impetuous one. At the palace gates, you heard a little eunuch say the Emperor was in a bad way, and you nearly fell right out of your carriage."
"After you got out, you were in such a hurry your forehead was beaded with sweat, and you ran so fast your shoes nearly flew off."
Le Xi asked curiously, "Little A Wu, what kind of affection could make you so frantic?"
This time, the Emperor didn’t object to the name Le Xi used for Ji Qingwu. His fingers, resting on the table, twitched slightly.
His gaze was deep as he looked at the woman, who had lowered her head, the tips of her ears flushing red.
Ji Qingwu wasn’t entirely embarrassed; her eyes also held a hint of confusion. ’Was I really like that...?’
’She remembered moving as gracefully as a startled rabbit, running steadily and swiftly after leaving the carriage.’
A short while later, Le Xi fell silent. His brow knitted ever more tightly as he stared intently at the flagstones of Zhaoyang Hall, his expression growing increasingly solemn.
As he said nothing, the atmosphere in the hall grew heavy.
Although Ji Qingwu wasn’t the one taking his pulse, she recognized the feeling of encountering a difficult and perplexing case.
The silent, focused Le Xi, with his silver hair and white beard, had the very bearing of a master physician, but his silence was also deeply unsettling.
’Switching between wrists to check the pulse... he must have encountered a difficult problem.’
As a fellow physician, worry creased Ji Qingwu’s brow.
Of everyone in the hall, Zhao Mingyan was the most relaxed. When his gaze met hers, he even gave her a slight, teasing arch of his brow.
This earned him an indignant glare from Ji Qingwu.
Le Xi finally pulled his hand back. Ignoring the fact that he was addressing the Emperor, he immediately let loose on him.
"Do you have a death wish?!"
"I told you long ago! Your constitution is unique. Your body is exceptionally robust, making you a martial arts prodigy the likes of which is seen once in a millennium. But the moment a single weakness appears, you’re in grave danger."
"The antidote I gave you already contained a balancing agent. You shouldn’t be having this reaction where your True Qi sinks and gets trapped."
Ji Qingwu, who only half-understood, asked softly, "Doctor Le, what exactly is the problem?"
Le Xi shot to his feet, bristling with anger. "Did you go behind my back and see another doctor?!"
"Those quacks from the Imperial Hospital would never be able to tell you’ve taken a Breath Avoiding Pill! The medicine from whatever doctor you found contains two ingredients that have completely counteracted the pill’s effects!"
"Are you just acting this recklessly because you have a son and an heir?! Do you want to die from your own body exploding?!"
Zhao Mingyan frowned. His gaze flickered briefly to Ji Qingwu before he denied it. "I didn’t."
He asked in a low voice, "The priority now is how to treat this."
Without a trace of a smile on his face, Le Xi said sullenly, "Then you’d best find someone more capable."
But his eyes were fixed on Ji Qingwu.
Having heard all this, it suddenly dawned on Ji Qingwu: the problem was the medicine she had given to Emperor Wu Su.
’Suspecting it was one thing, but hearing it confirmed was another. So the assassination attempt and his injury really were all part of the Emperor’s plan.’
A hundred different emotions churned within Ji Qingwu.
But she still had her priorities straight.
She spoke up. "Doctor Le, the medicine you’re talking about... it must be what I gave His Majesty."
"No wonder," Le Xi said. "So it was you, my dear girl..." He sighed. "You’re truly generous, to use such priceless medicinal ingredients on him."
Ji Qingwu thought of her now-barren Wutong Garden, and her own heart ached a little.
’But since I’ve already invested so much,’ she thought, ’I have to see Emperor Wu Su’s recovery through to the end.’
She asked, "Is there really no other way?"
A glint flashed in Le Xi’s old eyes, and he deliberately mulled it over for a moment.
"Well, there is one way."
"What is it?"
Le Xi said, "Although you weren’t aware of the situation beforehand, his current condition is now inextricably linked to you."
Ji Qingwu knew it was a trap, but she walked right into it anyway.
"...What do I need to do?"
*
Everyone in the hall was dismissed.
The great red gates swung shut. Li Yuzong escorted Doctor Le to the entrance and asked hesitantly, "Doctor Le, will the method you mentioned really work?"
Le Xi nodded. "It will. There’s no better way."
Then, as if remembering something, he gave another order. "Go prepare a restorative tonic. And bring that ointment."
Li Yuzong was confused. "What ointment?"
"What ointment? Do I have to spell it out for you?" Le Xi chided. "Little Zongzi, are you up to this or not? It’s what you prepare for the imperial consorts after... an intimate encounter."
"Your Emperor is as vigorous as a dragon, and right now his body is coursing with incredibly potent medicine. That young lady is so delicate. Do you think she can handle it?"
For the first time, Li Yuzong’s old face flushed with embarrassment. "But... no other consorts or ladies have ever stayed the night in Zhaoyang Hall."
Chief Li, who was usually so quick-witted he could infer three things from one, was a complete novice in this domain.
It wasn’t his fault. In all his long years serving Emperor Wu Su, he’d never witnessed such a scene. The palace’s green cards might as well have been rusted over.
How was Li Yuzong to know what should be prepared for afterward?
Le Xi asked, "The consorts have never stayed over?"
Li Yuzong nodded emphatically.
Le Xi was silent for a long moment, then said, a note of pity in his voice, "The poor girl. I’d better write out the prescription for the ointment myself. Prepare it according to this."
Outside, the sun still shone brightly, but the inside of the hall was dim.
The hall doors were shut tight. Outside, rings of Black Armor Guards stood watch, so dense that not even a whisper of wind could penetrate. The hall was unnervingly still.