Chapter 518 The Old Fox

The Empress Dowager's face immediately fell, and she said in a deep voice, "Are you sure? Even Physician Qin said that the cause of the illness may not be a cold, but something else. How can you be so sure that it is a cold?"

Physician Zhou said without hesitation, "Migraines caused by wind and cold are different from migraines caused by other reasons. Migraines caused by wind and cold have no warning signs and go straight into the headache stage. Moreover, when cold pathogens invade, the meridians in the forehead are the first to contract, so the pain is mainly in the forehead and temples when it occurs. In addition..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Empress Dowager impatiently interrupted him: "Alright, alright, you're starting to spout off your erudition again. I forgot that you're only good at gynecology and pregnancy preservation, not these kinds of difficult and complicated diseases. Asking you to take Fu Mama's pulse was putting you in a difficult position. Don't go on and on pretending to know what you don't. Get out!"

Physician Zhou's face instantly stiffened. He opened his mouth, wanting to clear his name, but the Empress Dowager didn't give him a chance and instead called Physician Cui forward to answer.

He could only retreat with a stiff, old face.

He was quite indignant. He was indeed most skilled in gynecology, but he was also very adept at treating common ailments like migraines! What kind of difficult case was a migraine? He couldn't possibly misdiagnose such a minor ailment! And he certainly wouldn't pretend to know what he didn't!

This is slander by the Empress Dowager, blatant slander!

The Empress Dowager didn't care what Physician Zhou thought. She summoned Physician Cui and asked him, "Cui Yuhe, you tell me, did Granny Fu have migraines? And how were they caused?"

Physician Cui was only thirty years old, much younger than Physician Qin and Physician Zhou. However, he came from a family of physicians, and his ancestors had all been imperial physicians. In fact, his ancestors had even served as imperial physicians for the emperors of the previous dynasty. Because of their superb medical skills, they were kept in the palace by the current emperor to continue serving as imperial physicians.

From a young age, Imperial Physician Cui was influenced by his surroundings and knew the saying that serving a ruler is like serving a tiger. He spoke very tactfully and acted with great discretion. He never offended anyone easily and never tarnished the Cui family's reputation.

He replied respectfully and gently, “Your Majesty, the causes of migraines are quite complex. Sometimes it is not caused by just one reason. Multiple factors may be involved, resulting in multiple symptoms.”

"I observe that Granny Fu's pulse is firm, indicating that external pathogens have invaded her body and internal cold has accumulated. This is mostly due to insufficient sleep at night, and it is not just a matter of one or two days, but rather a long-term condition that causes her pulse to become unstable."

"However..."

The Empress Dowager impatiently interrupted him: "What are you rambling on about?! I'm asking you whether Granny Fu has migraines or not!"

Imperial Physician Cui immediately knelt down: "Your Majesty, Granny Fu does indeed have a headache."

"What caused this?"

"In my opinion, it is caused by the invasion of wind and evil combined with hard work. If the patient had rested properly when the disease first started, it should have recovered quickly. However, due to the hard work and sleeplessness in the later stages, the headache kept recurring and getting worse."

"So, you mean that Granny Fu's migraines are caused by not getting enough sleep and overworking?"

"Your Majesty, this is indeed a very important contributing factor."

The Empress Dowager's expression was rather unpleasant. She waved her hand impatiently, telling Physician Cui to step back, and then summoned another physician to come forward and answer her questions.

After asking all the questions, the Empress Dowager was dumbfounded.

All six imperial physicians said that Granny Fu did indeed have migraines, but their answers to the cause of the headaches were completely different!

Their discrepancy gave Shen Wantang an opening—she diagnosed the pulse correctly, but not entirely.

In other words, she couldn't say whether there were any errors or omissions!

How can she punish Shen Wantang?

The Empress Dowager stared intently at Shen Wantang, each word she uttered almost squeezed out from between her teeth: "You are indeed insidious and cunning, a despicable person! In such a short time, you actually found a loophole in my words! Your mind works so fast, and your schemes are so deep, Qingyuan and Qingxi, the brother and sister, could never be your match!"

Shen Wantang lowered her head, looking extremely submissive: "Your Majesty, I am now a member of the Prince's household, having married into it. I have a sincere heart towards the Prince and the Eldest Miss."

The Empress Dowager sneered, clearly not believing Shen Wantang's words at all.

Shen Wantang didn't care whether she believed it or not, but when she first married into the Prince's Mansion, she was indeed very tolerant and forgiving of Xiao Qingyuan and Xiao Qingxi, and had secretly done a lot of good things for them.

She once genuinely wanted to treat the Ning Prince's Mansion as her own home and wanted everyone in the Ning Prince's Mansion to be well.

Unfortunately, some people always wanted to kill her.

If you want to kill her, then be prepared to be killed in return. If you're not prepared for that, then don't harbor any evil thoughts.

Shen Wantang felt a chill in her heart, but her voice remained neither loud nor soft, behaving like a proper daughter-in-law in front of everyone: "However, now is not the time to talk about these things. My father and mother are on the verge of death. I beg the Empress Dowager to order the imperial physicians to work together to treat them. This really cannot be delayed any longer."

The Empress Dowager's heart skipped a beat. Indeed, there was no time to delay any longer. She wanted to punish Shen Wantang, and the time was ripe!

She raised her hand and pointed at Shen Wantang: "Aren't you skilled in medicine? Then I order you to work with the imperial physicians to heal my son immediately! I want him to wake up right now! If anything happens to him, you will all lose your heads!"

When Shen Wantang heard her mention only Prince Ning and not Princess Ning, she knew that the Empress Dowager didn't care about Princess Ning's life or death at all. As the mother-in-law, she only cared about her own son's life.

The imperial physicians all looked solemn. One by one, they entered the inner room and began a new round of pulse diagnosis and prescription writing.

Shen Wantang naturally followed her in. If someone asked her a question, she would answer a few words. If no one asked her a question, she would stand quietly to the side, neither taking the initiative nor refusing, and not taking responsibility.

With so many imperial physicians present today, although Prince Ning's condition is somewhat dangerous, his life is not in danger.

As for whether he can wake up, that depends on whether any of the imperial physicians are willing to take the risk.

After nearly an hour of discussion, the group finally came up with a new prescription.

Granny Quan took the prescription, immediately ordered someone to prepare and decoct the medicine, and then fed it to Prince Ning.

Then, the imperial physicians finally had time to attend to Princess Ning, and another long round of pulse diagnosis, discussion, and prescription was conducted.

The new medicine was decocted, and Granny Quan fed it to Princess Ning as well.

However, Prince Ning and Princess Ning showed no signs of waking up.

After a brief discussion, the imperial physicians all looked at Shen Wantang.

Shen Wantang's heart skipped a beat. What was going on? Were these old foxes trying to push her out?

Sure enough, the next moment, Physician Qin politely bowed to her: "Princess Consort, your acupuncture skills seem to be quite profound. You have treated the Princess Consort's fainting ailments many times before. Why don't you use acupuncture on the Prince and Princess Consort again?"