Chapter 223:

When Ruan Chongyue saw her open her eyes, she thought she had woken up and immediately leaned closer: "Awu, how are you feeling?"

Jingwu felt dazed and unable to respond, so he closed his eyes again.

Just then, Shao Che's voice came from outside the door.

"Ah Yue, the doctor is here. Quickly, let him take a look at Ah Wu."

"Okay, please come in quickly." Ruan Chongyue said hurriedly, and as soon as the doctor walked in, she went to greet him: "Doctor, please take a look."

The doctor put the medicine box aside and began to take the pulse.

The moment his hand touched her wrist, his eyes widened suddenly, and he carefully took her pulse.

The doctor, with a stern face, carefully examined and smelled the lesions. Then, he stood up and sighed deeply.

"Sigh, let's prepare for the worst. What a pity, such a young girl."

"Wh...what?" Ruan Chongyue was stunned, standing there and asking instinctively, "Doctor, what do you mean?"

“This pulse is the kind that only a dying person would have. Madam, you should start preparing for her funeral as soon as possible.”

As soon as the doctor finished speaking, Ruan Chongyue's eyes rolled back and her body went limp.

The maidservant beside her was terrified and immediately stepped forward to support him.

The doctor sighed deeply, pricked her twice with silver needles, and watched as the woman slowly woke up before writing a prescription and leaving.

Ruan Chongyue looked at the girl on the bed, and her eyes instantly reddened.

It's just a fever, how did it turn into preparing for the worst?

Is this doctor too old and made a mistake in taking the pulse?

Ruan Chongyue refused to believe it and hurriedly walked outside, wanting her husband to go and fetch another doctor.

As soon as I stepped outside, I saw Shao Che's red eyes and immediately understood that he also knew what the doctor had said.

"Ah Yue, don't worry, I'll have someone find a few more doctors right away." Shao Che held his wife's hand tightly, his voice trembling uncontrollably: "They must have misdiagnosed her. Our Ah Wu has always been lively and healthy. How could she have died from a fever?"

While he was rambling on and on, he instructed the steward to fetch a few more doctors.

Before long, several doctors arrived one after another. They all said that Jingwu didn't have many days left and that his family should prepare for his funeral.

Ruan Chongyue could no longer hold on and collapsed onto the stone bench.

"How could this be?! How could this be?!"

Shao Che paced anxiously in the courtyard. Suddenly, he looked up sharply and asked the steward, "Has the eldest young master returned? Has he brought back the imperial physician? If he has, have him examine Yue Huai and then come to see A Wu!"

The butler raised his eyes and glanced at the person in front of him, his expression complex. He opened his mouth, then carefully spoke.

"The young master has summoned the imperial physician back, but... the pulse readings from Young Master Yue and the young lady are the same, both..."

The butler didn't finish his sentence, carefully observing his master's expression.

Upon hearing this, Shao Che could not hide his shock, and his hand trembled involuntarily.

How could this happen? How could this happen?!

They were both fine yesterday, so why did they both develop fevers today, and even both...

"Regardless, first summon the imperial physician and have him examine A-Wu." Ruan Chongyue suddenly stood up and said to the steward in front of her, "Go quickly!"

"Oh, okay." The butler quickly agreed and hurriedly ran towards another courtyard.

Before long, Shao Chengrui and the imperial physician arrived together.

The imperial physician was immediately led into the room by Ruan Chongyue to take his pulse.

With reddened eyes, Shao Chengrui looked at his father and asked, "Father, is Awu also..."

Shao Che nodded heavily with his eyes closed: "How could that be? As soon as she developed a fever, we called a doctor. How could the first thing they said after taking her pulse be to prepare for her death?"

He couldn't help but choke up, and the scene of his first meeting with A-Wu flashed through his mind.

The little girl was thin and small, wrapped in a cotton coat that was too small for her, and her eyes were fixed on me with curiosity.

Now that they have money and can eat meat every meal, why did Awu suddenly become seriously ill?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat, and tears welled up in his eyes. He quickly raised his sleeve to wipe away the tears.

Just then, a commotion broke out inside the house.

Then, the imperial physician came out.

"My lord, my sister..." Shao Chengrui immediately went to greet him, but looking at the expression on the face of the imperial physician in front of him, he was really at a loss.

The imperial physician sighed deeply and looked at the person in front of him, saying, "My lord, please accept my condolences. Even if Hua Tuo were alive today, he could not save the young lady from this illness. If we could use a thousand-year-old ginseng, we might be able to keep her alive, but... alas."

Upon hearing this, both father and son were stunned, as if struck by lightning, and remained speechless for a long time.

The first to react was Shao Chengrui. He pulled the imperial physician aside and asked in a low voice, "Sir, is my sister's pulse the same as Young Master Yue's?"

"Yes, it's really strange. I can't figure out the cause of the illness either. I only know that the two of them don't have long to live." The imperial physician frowned deeply and couldn't help but tug at his white beard.

Upon hearing this, Shao Chengrui's first thought was that he had been murdered.

After respectfully seeing the imperial physician off, he immediately took the doctor to examine the wine and food the two had drunk the day before, but found nothing.

Just when he was extremely worried, Yue Huai's parents rushed over.

Before the two of them had even stood still, they saw the wine jug in his hand and their brows furrowed deeply.

"Where...where did this wine come from?" Madam Yue asked, her brows furrowed and her voice trembling.

"This is the wine that Young Master Yue and my younger sister drank yesterday. Has Madam noticed anything wrong with it?"

Shao Chengrui keenly noticed that the two men's expressions were off and immediately pressed them for an explanation.

The Yue couple exchanged a glance and said, "This wine has been laced with Spirit-Locking Saliva. If a Xuan Master drinks it, it will turn into shackles, sealing their meridians and preventing them from using spiritual power. It will also slowly absorb their life essence, and within three days, they will... die."

As Madam Yue finished speaking, she couldn't hold back any longer and covered her face, sobbing softly.

Upon hearing this, Shao Chengrui was at a loss for what to do. He looked at the wine jar in his hand and couldn't help but tremble.

"Is there no way to save them?"

While comforting his wife, the Yue family head said, "There's still no other way to break this. Generally speaking, if this stuff is put in wine, it can be detected... Who knew that Ah Huai would be so careless this time!"

As he said this, he suddenly remembered something, his eyes darted around, and he looked up at the barrier around the Shao residence.

"It looks like your Ah Wu's life force has been almost completely drained; look, this barrier is about to dissipate."

Shao Chengrui looked up at the sky, but saw nothing else.