Chapter 1119 - 1121 - The Medical Saint Won’t Come But Mr. Yao Will_1
Seeing that all three Imperial Doctors nodded, Fu Yiyi’s face turned deathly pale, making it seem as if she had lost too much blood.
Yin Shuang gritted her teeth as she watched from the side, afraid that saying too much might give her away. She had no choice but to help Fu Yiyi to the soft lounge set off to the side.
Soon, the Emperor was informed of the situation and made his way to the West Courtyard of Wanshuang Hall. When the word of the Emperor’s arrival spread, other beauties of the Wanshuang Hall came to visit Fu Yiyi. On the surface, they showed concern for her well-being, but in reality, they simply wanted to appear before the Emperor and seize an opportunity to gain his favor.
The Empress also rushed over upon receiving the news. With two concubines in the harem experiencing complications with their pregnancies, one even losing her child, she, as the Empress, could hardly shirk responsibility. As soon as she arrived, she pleaded guilty to the Emperor. However, the gravity of her fault could be both great and small. What if the Emperor deemed her useless and grew tired of her?
With this thought in mind, the Empress turned her attention to Bai Ruozhu. The complications encountered by the two concubines were both somehow connected to Bai Ruozhu. It was too much of a coincidence. If she played her cards right, she could certainly clear her own name.
"Your Majesty," the Empress began with a pitying expression, "I heard that it was Madame Jiang who pushed Lady Fu. She was far too careless." After speaking, she covered her nose with a handkerchief and sobbed twice as if she deeply mourned the loss of the unborn child.
The Emperor’s gaze was frighteningly cold. He glanced at the Empress and then turned to Bai Ruozhu, who awaited his attention, "Bai Family, what is your crime?"
He didn’t even allow her to explain before questioning her guilt. It seemed the Emperor truly disliked her. Bai Ruozhu sighed silently to herself and said, "Lady Fu suddenly lunged forward to attack me. I subconsciously blocked her without much force. I don’t understand how she could have fallen so violently. Moreover, Lady Fu had previously been handling Soul-soothing leaves to massage the Empress Dowager. If the Empress Dowager visited Concubine Le, those Soul-soothing leaves could have harmed the child in Concubine Le’s womb. Regarding the matter of the Soul-soothing leaves, Lady Fu has yet to provide a reasonable explanation."
Upon the mention of Concubine Le, the Emperor’s eyes visibly darkened. Bai Ruozhu could feel the murderous aura emanating from him. It vanished in the blink of an eye, and she even thought she might have imagined it.
The Emperor turned to Lady Fu, his voice grave as he asked, "Yiyi, why did you use the Soul-soothing leaf?"
His tone was still relatively gentle, and he didn’t seem furious enough to punish Fu Yiyi right away. Bai Ruozhu speculated that it might be because of General Fu. The harem and the court were inextricably linked after all.
Fu Yiyi began to cry, tears streaming down her face, pitiful as a pear blossom drenched in the rain. She sat up in bed, looking up at the Emperor with large, watery eyes, resembling an abandoned puppy, which naturally elicited sympathy.
"Answering Your Majesty," Fu Yiyi said, "I aimed to serve the Empress Dowager better, so I inquired with the Imperial Medical Bureau for an effective remedy for headaches, and this method was the best at calming the mind without doing any harm to the Empress Dowager’s health."
"Summon the Imperial Doctor whom Lady Fu inquired about," the Emperor commanded the eunuch beside him. "Additionally, the Imperial Medical Bureau logs all consultations. I want to see if this inquiry is recorded."
The eunuch accepted the order and withdrew. Then, a guard entered and reported to the Emperor, "Your Majesty, the Medical Sage has left the capital to forage for herbs and cannot be located. I’m afraid it will not be possible to summon him to the Palace in the near future."
A look of triumph flashed in the depths of Fu Yiyi’s eyes. If it had been the Medical Sage, she would have had some cause for concern, wondering if the herb could go undetected by the Sage. But if it were any other Imperial Doctor, she doubted anyone could detect it. Even if Bai Ruozhu was judged to have accidentally harmed her without knowledge, she had still harmed a royal heir. Bai Ruozhu could not escape punishment, and Fu Yiyi thought that after this, Bai Ruozhu was unlikely to ever set foot in the Palace again.
Fu Yiyi’s heart began to flutter with joy, for she could finally avenge the humiliation she had suffered that day.
The emperor remained silent, seemingly pondering whether Fu Yiyi could be trusted. Although he wasn’t particularly fond of Bai Ruozhu, he had investigated her character and medical skills, and on those accounts, he found himself more inclined to trust Bai Ruozhu.
Bai Ruozhu’s heart sank at her misfortune, but she quickly composed herself. She bowed to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, why not invite the esteemed Mr. Yao, known for his unrivaled medical expertise, to take a look?"
The mention of "Mr. Yao" caused the Empress Dowager’s hands, hidden in her sleeves, to tighten. It had been a long time since she’d seen him; even if Yao Yuxuan occasionally attended court, she, as the Empress Dowager, was not permitted to enter. It was difficult for her to even catch a glimpse of him from afar.
"Mr. Yao’s medical skills are exceptional; it’s said he can bring the dying back to life and mend broken bones. Your Majesty, Mr. Yao is the most suitable choice." Jiu Sheng, standing by, perked up at the thought of witnessing Mr. Yao’s treatment – what fortune that would be for him.
The other two Imperial Doctors were also in agreement. The emperor nodded upon hearing this and summoned someone to invite Yao Yuxuan to the palace.
Fu Yiyi’s expression wavered. After all, she was young, and not a full-fledged miss of the Fu family; her acquaintance naturally couldn’t compare with the young ladies from the capital. Moreover, Yao Yuxuan had been away from public view for many years, not as prominent as he was in his younger days. The young Fu Yiyi was not familiar with his legend, just as Bai Ruozhu had been unaware of Yao Yuxuan’s reputation when she first heard his name.
She felt she had never heard of Yao Yuxuan; could he be more skilled than the reputed saint of medicine? Therefore, she decided to stay silent rather than object, to avoid revealing any flaw in her disguise.
At this moment, an Imperial Doctor followed by the emperor’s Inner Attendant entered. This was the very Imperial Doctor Fu Yiyi had inquired of that day. Trembling, he approached the emperor, bowed, and then knelt down with a thud.
"Your Majesty, this servant deserves to die a thousand deaths. Indeed, it was I who told the remedy to the beautiful Fu. However, at the time she said she had a headache, and she wasn’t pregnant, so I had no idea it would be used on the Empress Dowager..."
On the way there, this Imperial Doctor had already grasped the gravity of the situation. He was intensely upset, lamenting his bad luck, and he feared this might lead him straight to the jail.
An Inner Attendant handed over a register from the Imperial Medical Bureau, which confirmed that seven days prior, the beautiful Fu had inquired about remedies for her headache. It stated that Fu claimed she suffered from headaches now and then and asked if there was a better soothing formula. The Imperial Doctor then mentioned a formula containing the soul-soothing leaf.
The emperor turned to the beautiful Fu and asked, "You claimed you sought the formula for the Empress Dowager, so why did you say it was for your own use?"
The beautiful Fu lowered her head, "I was afraid others would think I was serving the Empress Dowager to vie for favor; I didn’t want to be subjected to other people’s gossip, so I said it was for my own use. But didn’t the Imperial Doctor remind me that the medicine could affect a fetus? Even with a hundred times the courage, I wouldn’t dare to give it to the Empress Dowager. And fortunately, it did not implicate my sister, Lady Le; otherwise, even dying a thousand times wouldn’t suffice to atone for the crime."
She began to cry again, tears streaming down as she spoke, "I pity my child, unaware of his imminent arrival. But why, when Lady Jiang was so skilled in medicine, could she not detect it? Why did she push me away like that?"