Chapter 254 The Familiar Recipe
Doctor Wu took out silver needles from his medicine box and carefully pricked Su Chengniang's fingertips and other places to draw blood. The two of them huddled together, drawing blood and observing each other.
After a while, the two left the inner room and came to the outer room, where they asked several imperial physicians in detail. Later, they went back in to continue their examination of Su Chengniang.
Yu Qingci waited quietly, her emotions rising and falling with the voices of the others.
Just as she was feeling nervous, she felt a pair of warm, large hands tightly envelop her. Turning her head, she saw Lu Yunqi's deep black eyes, and her anxious heart seemed to calm down instantly.
She then noticed that he was still wearing the same clothes he had worn upon arrival, looking travel-worn. Yu Qingci whispered:
“I’ll keep watch over things here. Husband, please go to the side room and freshen up first.”
Seeing that the doctors wouldn't be finished anytime soon and that he wouldn't be needed for the time being, Lu Yunqi nodded in agreement.
Pei Mama and Liu Mama, who were standing nearby, hurried out to arrange for people to prepare bath water. Almost no one in Mingyue Residence dared to doze off that night, as everyone needed to take turns to rest, so they went off to prepare the bath water separately.
Lu Yunqi was quick; before the doctors could even reach a conclusion, he had already finished washing up and came over to Yu Qingci, saying:
"Granny Pei said you haven't slept all night, go and rest. I'll watch over you here, and I'll call you if you need anything."
Yu Qingci was naturally exhausted after staying up all night, but she knew she couldn't rest peacefully without getting any results from her mother. She shook her head and said:
"I'm fine. Even if I go to sleep, I won't be able to. I might as well stay here and keep watch. Don't worry, my husband. I'll go to rest when I can't take it anymore."
Seeing that he couldn't persuade her, Lu Yunqi could only silently stay by her side. When the servants brought up the warm breakfast, he personally served her a bowl of glutinous rice and red date porridge.
Yu Qingci had only drunk a few cups of water since arriving here, and she didn't feel hungry at the moment. However, Lu Yunqi insisted on feeding her spoonful by spoonful, and she had no choice but to open her mouth and eat a bowl of glutinous rice and red date porridge.
Qiao arrived again with her entourage. Upon entering, she glanced sharply at the young couple who were feeding each other as if no one else was around, waiting for them to speak to her first.
To her surprise, the two of them acted as if they hadn't seen her at all and continued eating their porridge. Qiao was furious again; they were just country bumpkins with no manners at all!
She simply spoke up, "How is it? Have all the doctors in the room diagnosed anything? What illness does my sister have? It's so dangerous. Just tell me what medicine you need, so it won't seem like our Earl's mansion is taking advantage of you."
Beside her was Qin, the old lady Zhang's personal maid. Qin stepped forward, curtsied to Yu Qingci and the other woman, and then rose to say:
"The old lady is very concerned about the lady's condition. She originally wanted to come and see her in person, but she has been so worried about the lady these past two days that she has not been eating or sleeping well. She also started to feel unwell yesterday, so she decided not to come and sent this old servant to check on her instead."
The old lady spoke up, saying that the lady's illness was of utmost importance. She said that if the lady needed anything to eat or use, she should just ask, and the Earl's Mansion would send everything it could provide.
As for the third son-in-law and third daughter, now that they're here, they can rest assured and take care of Madam; there's no need for them to go and pay their respects to her.
Granny Qin was very polite and her words were impeccable, making everyone feel that Madam Zhang was a good mother-in-law who cared about her daughter-in-law.
Yu Qingci understood that Madam Zhang believed what Physician Zhao had said before, and was afraid that Su Chengniang's illness was really contagious. If she were to get infected, it would be terrible. So she simply pretended to be sick and refused to see the young couple.
Yu Qingci: "I'm sorry to have troubled my grandmother."
After the doctors finished their examinations and came out of the inner room, Doctor Wu turned to Lu Yunqi and Yu Qingci, frowning as he said:
“General, Madam, and the Lady’s pulse… The internal damage is too great. The pulse is deep and hesitant, like a dry well, thin as a thread, as if something is deeply hidden in the internal organs, or as if… as if some external force has stirred up her already depleted qi and blood, causing it to suddenly become disordered and chaotic, to the point that her life force is almost cut off. This can never be explained by ordinary chronic illness or epidemic disease.”
Dr. Rao interjected, "Indeed, the lady's complexion is sallow, her lips are pale and purplish, her nails are bluish, and her breathing is weak, short and turbid, which shows that her heart and lungs are severely damaged. Could you please describe her diet before the onset of the illness, or if there are any leftovers, that would be even better."
Yu Qingci looked at Granny Liu, who was already prepared and quickly had someone bring over several food boxes.
Granny Liu: "General, Third Miss, Physician Zhao and the others have examined all of Madam's food before. This old servant thought it would be better to be prepared than not, so I prepared a few extra portions."
Yu Qingci nodded in approval, but Qiao Shi, standing to the side, secretly clenched her fists and gave Liu Mama a gloomy look.
The two doctors looked at the food box for a while and then shook their heads.
Qiao secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn't help but sneer inwardly. So what if this old codger was prepared? She wanted to see if he could diagnose the illness with these things.
Doctor Wu frowned even more: "I have reviewed all of Madam's previous medical records. At first, she only had symptoms of wind-cold. Gradually, her cough worsened, her body became weak, she was prone to dizziness and shortness of breath, and she could not sleep well at night."
Later, rashes started to appear on his body, he would sweat profusely, and his whole body ached. As time went on, his cough became more and more severe and accompanied by blood. Eating became increasingly difficult, and he was prone to choking.
This symptom seems familiar, but I can't quite place it. It's likely caused by accidentally ingesting something, but the dosage was so small that it was difficult to detect.
Doctor Rao agreed with this, and the two fell into deep thought. Qiao, who was standing nearby, was horrified and clenched her fists again.
After carefully listening to Doctor Wu's words, Yu Qingci felt as if she had been struck several times in the heart, and vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
Why do these symptoms seem familiar?
Lu Yunqi's voice rang out: "Who has been serving your mother-in-law's meals the most in the last two months?"
Granny Liu hurriedly replied, "There is a small kitchen in Madam's courtyard. The people from the outer courtyard bring in the ingredients they buy, and the cooks in our courtyard prepare them. The people who serve Madam personally are all loyal and reliable."
Loyal and reliable?
Yu Qingci's heart skipped a beat as she recalled the smug words her mother-in-law, Liao, had uttered in her previous life:
"She's stupid too, thinking that the servants who have served her for years must be loyal and reliable. I had her loyal and reliable servants poison her food every day so that she wouldn't notice and I could slowly kill her!"
Yu Qingci felt a chill run through her body and weakly grabbed Lu Yunqi's sleeve beside her.
Lu Yunqi was startled to see her pale face and swaying figure, and quickly supported her, asking anxiously:
"Qingci, what's wrong?"
Yu Qingci rubbed her forehead: "I'm fine, I'm probably just too tired. Husband, help me to the side room to rest for a while."
Lu Yunqi picked up Yu Qingci and carried her to the side room.
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