Chapter 5: Puppet

When the servants from Princess Shouyang's mansion came to the door, Feng Qingsui was walking with Qi in the back garden to bask in the sun.

Upon learning the other party's intention, Qi frowned.

"You're new here, unknown, and how could Princess Shouyang ask you to treat her son? Nine out of ten times, it's Uncle Changqing who's up to no good."

"Don't be afraid, I'll refuse for you."

"Mom, wait a minute."

Feng Qingsui called her.

Why did she try so hard to get into a wealthy family?

Isn't it just about getting close to the powerful and investigating the truth behind the extermination of my sister's family?

If she was not Ji Changfeng's widow, Princess Shouyang would have invited all the doctors in the capital, but it would not have been her turn as an orphan from outside the city.

She had to seize the opportunity that came to her door even if she knew there was a pitfall.

"Mother, I've only given you emergency treatment once since I came to the capital. The princess couldn't have been unaware of this. Even so, she still sent someone to find me. This shows that her son is desperate and has sought help from any doctor."

"If I don't go, she will definitely blame me if something happens later."

"I went to see her, and she said there was nothing she could do. It was hard for her to say anything. After all, so many imperial doctors and physicians couldn't help, so how could she still count on me?"

Qi: "You have a point, but Princess Shouyang is not someone you can get along with easily. Mother is afraid you will be wronged if you go there."

Feng Qingsui coaxed, "We still have the leverage over Prince Consort Ji. If they dare to wrong me, will Prince Consort Ji just sit back and do nothing?"

Seeing that she couldn't persuade her any more, Qi Shi had no choice but to say:

"Then bring a few more people with you. If anything goes wrong, come back and report to Mother immediately."

Feng Qingsui agreed.

Then she took Wuhua and the two maids given to her by Qi to the princess's mansion.

After entering the mansion, he was led to a hall full of old doctors.

She immediately understood that even though Ji Peiyuan strongly recommended her to Princess Shouyang, Princess Shouyang did not take her seriously and just asked her to go through the motions.

The old doctors all had serious expressions on their faces and remained silent. When they saw her, they just glanced at her slightly with no expression on their faces.

She chose a seat by the window and sat down to admire the wintersweet flowers planted in the courtyard.

My sister loves wintersweet the most.

Every winter, when flower sellers cut down branches of blooming wintersweet from the mountains and fields outside the city and carried them in bundles to sell in the city, my sister would always use the money she had saved from embroidering handkerchiefs to buy a bundle, put them in a jar, and put them in the house.

Or you can wrap the wintersweet flowers on a hair tie and braid them into your braids.

She was still a little blind girl at that time and was very sensitive to smells. As soon as she smelled the fragrance of wintersweet, she knew that her sister was coming.

With a "pop", a round figure suddenly came into view, interrupting her memories.

It was a boy of five or six years old dressed like a bear.

He was holding a palm-sized puppet on a hanging thread in his hand. He was putting the puppet on the ground and walking around with it in his hand.

Feng Qingsui glanced at the puppet and his eyes suddenly froze.

After a pause, she left her seat, walked to the corridor, and squatted down to watch the child play with the puppet.

The boy glanced at her and saw that she was staring intently. He felt very proud and started to dance with the puppet in his hand.

"Where did you get this puppet?"

Feng Qingsui asked.

"Someone gave it to me."

"Who sent it?"

The boy's eyes flickered for a moment, and he replied, "It was given to my grandfather by a patient."

Feng Qingsui was just about to ask who his grandfather was when he saw a skinny old man hurriedly coming out of the moon-shaped door carrying a medicine box.

"What trouble have you gotten yourself into again?"

The old man started cursing.

The child pouted and said, "I didn't do anything wrong. I was just chatting with my older sister."

The old man's expression softened, he touched the child's head, and cast a puzzled look at Feng Qingsui.

Feng Qingsui stood up and said with a smile, "Are you Doctor Huang from Baozhilin?"

A trace of displeasure flashed across the old man's eyes: "You've got the wrong person. I'm Xun Shan, from Ping An Hall."

"So it's Doctor Xun, the expert on women and children. I've heard of him for a long time."

Xun Shan's expression looked a little better.

"It's just a reputation."

"You are too modest. Everyone in the capital knows your name..."

Feng Qingsui complimented her, and the servant who had invited her to the princess's mansion came over and said, "It's your turn."

"good."

She said goodbye to Grandpa Xun Shan and his grandson, and left with her servants.

On the way, the servant told her about his son's illness:

"About half a year ago, the young master's hands began to shake uncontrollably, and he would fall over from time to time while walking. Later, the situation became increasingly serious, with convulsions all over his body, and his limbs becoming weak. He couldn't stand or walk..."

"The imperial physician and the famous doctors in the capital came to see me and said it was... a convulsion or a spasm." (That is, epilepsy or cerebral palsy.)

Feng Qingsui just listened without saying anything.

After a while, he followed the servants into a gorgeous bedroom covered with silk carpets and filled with gold, pearls and jade.

The charcoal fire in the hall was burning brightly, and it was as warm as a spring day.

A thirty-year-old woman wearing a long brocade dress embroidered with gold peonies, with an elegant and noble temperament, sat on either side of the Arhat couch with Ji Peiyuan.

Feng Qingsui bowed to the woman and said, "Greetings, Princess."

Princess Shouyang looked her up and down and asked doubtfully, "Have I seen you somewhere before? You look quite familiar..."

"I am from Wucheng, Fuzhou. This is my first time in the capital. I have never had the chance to meet the princess before."

"From Fuzhou? Your Mandarin pronunciation is quite accurate."

"I have specially sought out a teacher to learn from me."

Princess Shouyang asked casually, and after exchanging pleasantries, she said to Feng Qingsui, "Xuan'er is inside, he just fell asleep. Go and take his pulse, but be careful not to wake him up."

Feng Qingsui said hello and followed the servant into the inner room.

On the bed in the inner room, there lay a fat boy of about eleven or twelve years old. His eyes were closed, his expression was a little painful, and his arms and neck were trembling slightly.

Feng Qingsui tiptoed to the bedside and sat down on the stool. He took his pulse and left the inner room.

After asking about Ji Xuan's diet, daily routine and past medical history, he roughly knew what Ji Xuan's illness was, but said to Princess Shouyang:

"Master Xuan's illness is unusual. I cannot make a definitive diagnosis for now. I need to go back and think about it."

Ji Peiyuan clenched his fists.

Why doesn't Feng play by the rules?

The servants have already told her that she is suffering from epilepsy or convulsion, why doesn't she say anything?

As soon as she said that, Shouyang would definitely fly into a rage and have her dragged away and beaten with a stick.

But Feng didn't say anything.

He snorted coldly: "Aren't you quite capable? How come you can't even tell what's wrong with Xuan'er? Don't you want to treat Xuan'er?"

When Princess Shouyang heard this, her eyes suddenly became fierce.

Feng Qingsui said calmly, "How dare I be perfunctory when my husband thinks so highly of me? Young Master Xuan is the princess's only child, so I naturally dare not jump to conclusions."

Ji Peiyuan heard the emphasis on the word "only": "..."

Xuan'er is Shouyang's only one, but not his only one.

This woman was clearly threatening him.

He gritted his teeth and forced a smile: "We really need to be more cautious."

"I'm glad your Highness understands." Feng Qingsui looked at Princess Shouyang, "I seem to have seen a similar case in my mentor's notes. I need to go back and look it up before reporting back to you."

Princess Shouyang didn't hold out much hope to begin with, so she nodded and said, "Okay."