Chapter 157 Only Three Months Left to Live

Xiao Yongjing rushed to Shen Yiqiu's side, knelt on one knee, and carefully checked her condition.

He gently shook her shoulder, and his hand touched something sticky and warm, the blood seeping from the wound on her back soaking and staining his entire palm red.

Normally, if someone else had gotten blood or dirt on him, he would have been furious.

But at this moment, looking at the glaring red in his palm, he felt no disgust whatsoever, only a throbbing pain he had never experienced before, a pain that made it hard to breathe.

Xiao Yongjing's hands trembled; never before had he felt such panic.

"Yiqiu... Shen Yiqiu! Wake up! Look at me, wake up!"

Shen Yiqiu's eyelids were heavy and half-closed, and her vision was blurred for a while before she finally focused on the face in front of her.

Confirming it was him, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. With his last ounce of strength, he forced a sickly smile and weakly uttered two words:

"Not...dead..."

Before she could finish speaking, her head tilted limply to one side, and she lost consciousness completely.

Xiao Yongjing had no mind to argue with her at this moment. Looking at her pale face and her battered body, he was filled with raging anger.

He wanted to rush in and kill everyone who had harmed her, but reason made him stop in his tracks for three seconds, regaining some of his senses.

He moved gently, as if handling a fragile piece of porcelain, carefully lifting her up horizontally.

Upon seeing this, the palace guards accompanying the prince exclaimed, "Your Highness..."

They all looked astonished, exchanging bewildered glances, each seeing disbelief in the other's eyes.

Their Crown Prince, who had a severe case of mysophobia and never allowed anyone to get close to him, and who didn't even have a woman by his side, was now taking the initiative to pick up a person covered in blood, and his movements were... so gentle.

Xiao Yongjing had no time to pay attention to his subordinates' gazes. Holding Shen Yiqiu, he turned to face the warehouse, his killing intent palpable.

He addressed the head of the guards:

"Not a single person inside is to be spared. I demand to see them alive or dead. Take them all to the East Palace dungeon. If anyone resists, kill them without mercy!"

After saying that, he picked up Shen Yiqiu and strode out.

Inside the East Palace's sleeping quarters.

The imperial physician cautiously took the pulse of the unconscious Shen Yiqiu, his forehead beaded with cold sweat.

It wasn't just because of the severity of her injuries, but also because of the murderous gaze of the Crown Prince behind her.

After a long while, Physician Zhang withdrew his hand and knelt down with a thud:

"Your Highness, the Marquis of Yongjia's pulse is like a leaky roof, with sparrows pecking at it constantly. This is a sign of the decline of his five internal organs."

"Moreover, there is a sluggish and cold sensation deep within the pulse, indicating that the deadly poison has taken root and penetrated to the very core. Although the external injury is severe, it is merely the trigger; the truly fatal factor is this toxin accumulated over the years."

"Now the poison has fully erupted, damaging the liver and kidneys, corroding the heart and lungs. Your Majesty... Your Majesty is powerless. Even if we exhaust all the resources of the Imperial Medical Academy, I'm afraid... we will be unable to turn the tide. At most... at most, we only have three months left."

"Nonsense!"

Xiao Yongjing slammed his hand on the table, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at the imperial physician.

"Incompetent doctors, spreading alarmist rumors! What use are you to the Imperial Medical Academy? Get out! Replace them! Summon all the imperial physicians on duty from the Imperial Medical Academy to me!"

For a time, the people in the Eastern Palace were filled with unease.

The eunuchs scrambled out of the bedchamber, the entire East Palace was pitch black, and a sense of impending doom gripped everyone.

Everyone walked very quietly, afraid of angering the out-of-control crown prince.

Within a quarter of an hour, seven or eight imperial physicians dressed in official robes, carrying medicine chests, hurried to the outside of the sleeping quarters.

They exchanged bewildered glances, lowered their heads, lined up, and filed in.

Inside the hall, Xiao Yongjing, his face dark with anger, stood guard beside Shen Yiqiu.

The judge has the most seniority.

He held his breath and carefully placed his hand on Shen Yiqiu's delicate wrist.

As time passed, his brows furrowed more and more, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"The Imperial Physician Zhang's diagnosis is accurate... Marquis of Yongjia... Your subject can only do your best..."

"waste!"

Xiao Yongjing grabbed the teacup beside him and slammed it to the ground.

His chest heaved violently, his eyes filled with ruthlessness.

"I won't listen to any of that. Your medical skills are so poor, yet you dare to presume to judge life and death? Get out! Next!"

The next person stepped forward tremblingly, and after a careful examination, his face also turned deathly pale, and he knelt down on the ground:

"Your Highness, please calm your anger. The poison in the Marquis's body is insidious and treacherous, seemingly composed of multiple toxins that lie dormant deep within him. Once triggered by a major injury, it spreads like wildfire... His internal organs are indeed damaged, and his life force... is rapidly slipping away. We... are powerless to reverse his fate."

"impossible!"

"She was just talking to me, and she even recognized me! You bunch of quacks, give her another checkup!"

Third place, fourth place...

Every imperial physician stepped forward with utmost caution, and each pulse diagnosis felt like an eternity.

However, the conclusions reached were all surprisingly consistent.

"The poison has invaded the heart..."

"The liver is withered and dry, and the kidneys are depleted..."

"When the lung's metal element is damaged, breathing becomes as faint as a spider's thread..."

"When the spleen and stomach are weak, it becomes difficult to generate essential nutrients..."

"At most...three months..."

He waved his hand weakly and said hoarsely:

"...Get out of here."

The imperial physicians felt as if they had been granted a pardon, yet they were also filled with trepidation and quietly withdrew.

Finally, only the two of them remained in the bedchamber.

Xiao Yongjing slowly sat down on the edge of the bed, as if his soul had left his body.

He grasped Shen Yiqiu's wrist with almost reverence, feeling its icy coldness and slenderness. Only then did he realize with a start that this woman, who could take the head of an enemy general amidst a vast army, was so frail and seemed as if she might vanish at any moment.

The palace servants had cleaned the blood off her face and changed her into a snow-white nightgown.

She lay there quietly, as fragile as a porcelain doll.

The dark bruise on his neck, left by the whip, looked grotesque and glaring against his pale skin.

Beneath the slightly open collar, one could vaguely see old and new scars, now marred by this inexplicable deadly poison.

Seeing all this, Xiao Yongjing felt so much pain that he couldn't breathe.

He leaned down and whispered his vow in her ear, word by word:

"Shen Yiqiu...you can't die...I won't allow you to die! Listen to me, I'll make everyone who hurt you pay for it, one by one!"

Just then, the head of the guards quietly entered, looking at His Highness the Crown Prince who was on the verge of losing control, and hesitated to speak.

Without turning his head, Xiao Yongjing coldly said, "Speak!"

The guard immediately reported:

"Your Highness, all those involved in the Song family's storeroom have been captured and imprisoned in the dungeon. Four of them are seriously injured and have already been treated. There is one person with minor injuries, and I have brought her here."

Xiao Yongjing looked down and saw that the person being helped in by the guards was Qingzhu, who was covered in wounds.

As soon as Qingzhu entered the room, her gaze was fixed on Shen Yiqiu, who was lying unconscious on the bed, and tears instantly streamed down her face.

She broke free from the guards' support, staggered to the bedside, and cried out in anguish:

"Miss! Miss—!"

Overwhelmed by her emotions, she aggravated her internal injuries and coughed up a mouthful of blood.