Chapter 71 Poisoning

Upon hearing the truth, Li San Niang immediately realized that the inner quarters of noble families were indeed rife with troubles.

This Wu Silang can only be described as having this calamity in his destiny.

"However, why does this powder cause illness when it's inside the waistband?"

Li San Niang couldn't understand this. Most poisons require ingestion, and even the more sophisticated ones require inhalation or skin contact. How could this powder, hidden in her waistband through her clothes, have any effect?

"I don't know the specifics, but I think it was probably added to the wine the night before in Pingkangfang."

This part was later hidden in Wu Shilang's waistband.

Do you think it's possible that Wu Shilang, who was covered in sweat at the time, got the medicine powder on his clothes because the sweat soaked through his skin?

Li San Niang still couldn't figure it out, but she didn't deny that Xu Jingzhen's guess was somewhat possible.

Having heard the truth, drunk her tea, and eaten her snacks, Li San Niang decided to get up and take her leave.

At this moment, Xu Jingzhen's expression turned serious. He stood up and bowed respectfully to Li Sanniang before saying in a serious tone, "Please, Li Sanniang, take a look at this for my friend, considering that I went to great lengths to find out the truth and came to tell you."

Li San Niang saw Xu Jingzhen's sincerity in his expression, tone, and eyes; he genuinely wanted to seize any possible opportunity to help Fang Chengxian live.

"It turns out that Li San Niangzi is also skilled in medicine; she's truly amazing."

Cough cough, Jingzhen really cares about me. I've had this illness since I was born, and all these years I've just been keeping it afloat with medication.

Li San Niangzi probably doesn't know that I was predicted by the former head of the Imperial Medical Bureau to not live past twenty-five.

And I'm twenty-one this year.

Seeing Fang Chengxian speak these words with a smile, without any resentment or hatred, and in a very calm manner, Li Sanniang understood what Fang Chengxian meant.

I guess it's because they had hope before, but were disappointed every time, so in the end they could only give up any hope at all, so that they wouldn't be disappointed or desperate in the end.

When the servant brought tea again, Li San Niang became interested and slowly said to Fang Chengxian, "I am just a young lady who has not yet been recognized by the Medical Alliance and knows a little about medical skills."

Xu Sanlang asked me to come, simply as a friend who was worried about his friend.

Why must you do this, Mr. Fang?

Fang Chengxian glanced at Xu Jingzhen, his eyes questioning, "Is this the very interesting woman you mentioned yesterday?"

Xu Jingzhen nodded and replied with her eyes, "See? Isn't it interesting?"

Fang Chengxian gave a helpless wry smile, then coughed twice. "Since Madam Li is already here, I'll trouble you to take a look at my face. I would be grateful no matter what."

At this point, Li Sanniang raised her hand to signal Fang Chengxian to extend his hand. Fang Chengxian's servant Duoshou, who was standing by, was quite perceptive and brought a small soft pillow for Fang Chengxian to cushion his hand, so that Fang Chengxian's arm and chest were at the same level.

Li San Niang placed three fingers on Fang Chengxian's wrist to carefully examine his pulse.

This method of pulse diagnosis was taught to Li by her father when she was a child. Because Li San Niang was born with a keen sense of the five senses, she had an advantage over others in being able to discern subtle differences.

As soon as Li San Niang entered, she saw Fang Chengxian's face and physique, and listened to his breathing and coughing. She immediately understood that this was a typical case of pulmonary heart disease.

It's just that Fang Chengxian was relatively young, and he may have had congenital deficiencies, which led to his illness becoming terminal at such a young age.

Although no auscultation or X-ray was performed, Fang Chengxian's symptoms were very typical, practically textbook clinical manifestations of pulmonary heart disease.

But now, when Li San Niang examined his pulse, she sensed something different.

Fang Chengxian hadn't held out much hope to begin with, but he couldn't refuse his friend's insistence, so why not give Li San Niang a check-up?

Fang Chengxian had never heard of the once famous Li Sanniang in Chang'an. He was weak from childhood and was treated by the head of the Imperial Medical Bureau when he was young. He took good medicine and struggled to survive until adulthood.

I thought I could finally live a good life, but on the day I came of age, I vomited blood. If it weren't for the fact that the head of the department happened to be at my coming-of-age ceremony and had a golden needle with him, saving my life, I would have died long ago.

Over the years, he had seen many famous doctors, but only the prescription from the former head of the Imperial Medical Bureau could provide some relief. Fang Chengxian had long since given up, thinking that he would just live one day at a time.

Xu Jingzhen, watching from the side, noticed something different. Li Sanniang's furrowed brows were enough to prove that she had diagnosed something wrong.

For a quarter of an hour, Li Sanniang was taking pulses.

Besides the two servants, only Xu Jingzhen, Fang Chengxian, and Li Sanniang were in the room.

For such a long time, apart from the faint sound of a piano coming from the side, the whole room was completely silent.

The servant dared not utter a sound, Li Sanniang needed to calmly examine the pulse, and Xu Jingzhen and Fang Chengxian did not want to disturb them.

As a result, Li Sanniang listened to her right hand for a quarter of an hour, and then gestured for Fang Chengxian to extend his left hand.

This time it was a bit shorter; Li San Niang only stopped after a cup of tea had gone cold.

Before Xu Jingzhen could ask Li Sanniang if she had diagnosed anything or if there was any way to save Fang Chengxian, Li Sanniang said to Fang Chengxian, "Please stick out your tongue, young master Fang, so I can take a look."

Fang Chengxian had no objection to it. He had previously performed the action of sticking out his tongue when examining other doctors, and he knew that this was one aspect of a doctor's examination. So he openly stuck out his tongue.

Li San Niang instructed Fang Chengxian to raise his tongue so she could observe the area under his tongue.

After reading it, Li San Niang was torn between two conflicting feelings: a little devil and a little angel.

The little devil said, "We already have no ability to protect ourselves, how can we get involved in such trouble? Aren't you afraid of implicating the Li family? Aren't you afraid that Dewdrop won't be able to grow up safely?"

The little angel said, "You are a doctor, and it is your duty and responsibility to treat and save lives. Now that we have met, how can you ignore it?"

Xu Jingzhen watched as Li Sanniang's facial expressions changed constantly, and felt a surge of excitement in her heart. She felt that Li Sanniang had really figured something out, but dared not say it because of her status.

"Third Sister, speak freely! Once you leave this house today, I promise I will never let anyone or anything implicate you!"

Fang Chengxian wasn't stupid. He didn't have any hope at first. If there really was a chance to live, who would want to die?

Li San Niang looked at Xu Jingzhen, who was boasting, and Fang Chengxian, who was excited but pretending not to be, with conflicted feelings. She was extremely anxious.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Li Sanniang said to Xu Jingzhen firmly, "Xu Sanlang, I'm only speaking to you two alone."

Li San Niang gestured to Xu Jingzhen to have the two servants inside leave.

Xu Jingzhen never expected it to have come to this extent, to the point where even his personal servant couldn't listen to him.

But for a glimmer of hope, Xu Jingzhen raised his hand and told his servant Wuwei to go out and wait, while Fang Chengxian also waved his servant Duoshou out.

Once only three people remained in the room, Li Sanniang looked at Fang Chengxian with sympathy and said in a voice only the three of them could hear, "Young Master Fang, you've been poisoned."