It was a dark and windy night. Yuanyang opened the door and slipped out cautiously. She went to a corner and then imitated the soft chirping of a bird.
A shadow flashed past outside the wall. Yuanyang bent down and took a paper package from the small dog - hole. Without caring about the dust on it, she stuffed it directly into her sleeve.
Her eyebrows were knitted deeply, and her eyes were as sharp as an eagle's, losing the pitiful look from the daytime.
Yuanyang walked extremely fast and returned to the courtyard in a few steps. But just as she was about to enter the house, a soft sound of footsteps suddenly came from behind.
She paused in her movement and suddenly turned around.
Concubine Su looked at her coldly. "Where did you go in the middle of the night when you should be sleeping?"
Yuanyang secretly tightened the hand in her sleeve and put on an embarrassed smile on her face. "This servant ate something bad at night and just came back from the toilet. It's so late. Why are you still awake, Concubine? Did this servant's noise disturb your rest?"
Concubine Su didn't say whether she believed it or not. She just stared at Yuanyang coldly. After a long while, she lowered her eyes. "I spared your life because I took pity on you. You'd better not have any bad ideas."
But Yuanyang slowly stepped closer, with a puzzled and hesitant tone. "What are you talking about, Concubine? This servant would never dare to have any dirty thoughts. This servant remembers all the kindness you've shown me. I will help you fulfill your long - cherished wish."
Concubine Su sneered and turned to leave. The next second, Yuanyang covered her mouth and nose from behind. The medicinal powder in her palm was inhaled by Concubine Su during the struggle. In just a few breaths, she completely lost her strength.
Yuanyang looked at the unconscious Concubine Su in her arms disdainfully, casually grabbed her collar and dragged her into the room, throwing her on the bed. She flicked her fingers and murmured, "If you hadn't almost ruined my good deed, I wouldn't have wasted this precious sleeping drug on you."
The sleeping drug could make a person fall into a deep sleep and completely forget what happened when they were drugged when they woke up.
When Concubine Su woke up the next day, she would only remember going out. As for whom she met and what she did outside, she wouldn't remember anything.
Yuanyang coldly pulled down the curtain on the bed and then turned to light an incense in the room.
The fragrant smoke slowly rose from the incense burner. She covered her mouth and nose, took one last look at the motionless bed, cleaned up the traces, and then turned to leave.
The next day, Yuanyang heard that a little maid had accidentally pulled Concubine Su's hair while combing it and was angrily scolded and punished to kneel by her.
She let out a soft laugh. "Idiot. If I didn't still need you..."
The emperor's health was getting worse. One morning, he even vomited blood. He was furious, smashed the medicine brought by the eunuch, and ordered Doctor Liu to be dragged out and beheaded.
But as soon as the order was given, he fainted completely.
The eldest princess rushed over in a hurry. Seeing Doctor Liu kneeling in the hall, sweating profusely, she waved her hand impatiently. "Get out of the way, useless thing. Someone, guard this useless man. I'll question him later."
She went in to watch over the emperor. Seeing the mess in the hall, she told the maids to clean it up quickly.
Another doctor was giving the emperor acupuncture. After seeing that the emperor's breathing had stabilized, she looked at this doctor. "Can you cure the emperor's illness?"
The doctor was shocked. The emperor's body was already severely damaged, and he couldn't bear tonics. How could there be a day when he could be cured? He could only barely survive day by day until one day the illness finally took his life.
Didn't Doctor Liu fail to cure the emperor and almost got beheaded?
His medical skills were even worse than Doctor Liu's. Besides, failing to cure the emperor meant losing one's head. How could he dare to take on this task?
It would be better to shift all the blame to Doctor Liu. If someone had to die, let it be him.
He wiped the sweat off his forehead, looking panicked and hesitant. "To answer the eldest princess, my medical skills are far inferior to Doctor Liu's. Now the acupuncture is just an emergency measure. It only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. It would be better... It would be better to let Doctor Liu continue the treatment. Maybe there's still a glimmer of hope."
The eldest princess's face darkened, and she scolded in a low voice. "Useless thing! Get out!"
The doctor scrambled to pack up his things and rushed out of the door.
When there was no one else in the room, the anger on Xie Lingyun's face gradually faded. She lowered her eyes and looked at the unconscious emperor on the bed, whispering softly, "It's too easy for a person like you to die of illness. The current progress is still a bit slow..."
She walked out of the bedroom and sat down on a chair. Doctor Liu was escorted and knelt in front of her, looking extremely disheveled.
Xie Lingyun raised her hand, and the eunuch let go and stepped back. She looked at Doctor Liu, who was kowtowing, and said in a calm tone, "I won't say much else. I only ask you, is there still a way to save the emperor?"
The cold sweat on Doctor Liu's forehead ran into his eyes, but he didn't dare to raise his hand to wipe it off. He stammered, "Your Majesty's body is really severely damaged. This subject... This subject can't make a definite conclusion. We can only take good care of him gently. Maybe there will be some improvement."
Xie Lingyun sneered. "You said the same thing before, but the emperor coughed up blood today!"
"Doctor Liu, if it weren't for me today, you would have been dead by now," she picked up the teacup, blew on it gently, and skimmed the foam off with the cup lid. "I want you to treat the emperor well. If the emperor coughs up blood or faints again, you can forget about keeping your head."
Doctor Liu had a bitter face. "The emperor's internal organs have already shown faint signs of decline. Coughing up blood... Coughing up blood is inevitable. Ordinary medicine can't suppress the emperor's decline at all. Only... Only..."
"Only what?" Xie Lingyun's tone was solemn.
Doctor Liu knocked his head on the ground and said defiantly, "Only by using poison. When the two forces collide, maybe we can still contain the downward trend!"
Xie Lingyun swept the tea on the table away. "How dare you!"
Doctor Liu knocked his head on the ground with a "bang" again, but he still stubbornly refused to change his words.
If they didn't save the emperor, he would surely die; if they wanted to save him, they could only use poison.
Xie Lingyun's face turned green and white, as if she was struggling. After a long while, she closed her eyes. "If you use poison, do you have any confidence?"
"Sixty percent!" he said.
Xie Lingyun slowly let out a breath. "...Don't mention this to anyone else."
Doctor Liu's eyes flashed, and he hesitated. "What about the queen..."
"Don't mention it to her either."
Doctor Liu kowtowed in response. "This subject obeys the order."
In the queen's palace.
She suddenly stood up. "What did you say? Use poison?"
She looked at Xie Guang beside her. "Guang'er, can Doctor Liu really save him?"
Xie Guang's face was solemn. "I've heard of the method of treating poison with poison, but it's extremely difficult to control the dosage of the poison. If one is not careful, it will make a person bleed from the seven orifices and die... If it were anyone else using this method, the emperor would surely die. But if it's Doctor Liu, I'm really not sure."
Everyone in the Imperial Medical Bureau knew that Doctor Liu was good at using poison.
"I put the poison in the pills that Xie Yan asked Doctor Liu to present. If it weren't for Xie Lingyun's interference, the emperor would surely be slowly dragged down by the poison. Then we could take the throne without bloodshed. But if we detoxify the poison now..." Xie Guang's expression was vicious. "Anyway, we must never let that man get better!"
He turned to look at the queen. "Mother, we have to advance our plan."