Chapter 253 Night Raid on the Earl's Mansion 2
Yu Qingci: "If I hadn't come back, I wouldn't have known that Madam Qiao was such a head of the household. Knowing that my mother was seriously ill, she not only didn't send me any messages, but also locked everyone in Mingyue Residence in the courtyard and forbade them to go out. If anything were to happen to my mother, how many lives would you have to pay for it?"
Madam Qiao slammed her hand on the table: "Outrageous! The whole mansion is watching. Your mother's illness has been present for a long time. Who knew it would suddenly worsen? Moreover, Physician Zhao suspected that the disease was contagious and feared it would affect the entire Earl's mansion, which is why he temporarily cordoned off Mingyue Residence. Yet you claim that I wanted to kill someone. How can I reason with you? Third girl, you can't just throw mud at me for no reason!"
Yu Qingci: "So, I should be grateful to you for leaving my mother lying in bed, left to fend for herself?"
Madam Qiao: "What are you talking about! Physician Zhao prescribed the medicine! The family physician has been watching over us the whole time..."
"Stay and guard?"
Yu Qingci's gaze swept over the trembling physician.
"What else can he do but kneel here trembling? Where is Physician Zhao? They've been discussing for a whole day and night; have they reached a conclusion yet?"
Yu Qingci pressed on relentlessly, showing no mercy to Qiao Shi. Qiao Shi's face was contorted with rage. She never expected that this wretched girl would openly defy her in front of so many servants.
At this moment, an even bigger commotion came from outside. Steward Lu arrived with a team of guards and several burly, rough-looking maids, filling the courtyard in a dark mass. Qiao was so startled that she almost lost her footing and took several steps back.
"Madam, the men have arrived!"
The steward bowed and reported in a loud voice.
This display of force made Qiao's heart skip a beat, and her expression changed completely.
"Third girl, what do you mean by this?"
Yu Qingci stopped looking at her and directly gave orders to the butler:
"Send a few strong guards to stand watch inside and outside the main gate. If any imperial physicians come, bring them in immediately. Anyone who dares to stop them, beat them! The rest of you, guard the inside and outside of Mingyue Residence and await orders."
Butler Lu immediately accepted the order and began making arrangements. Only then did Yu Qingci look at the pale-faced Madam Qiao:
"There's no need for Madam Qiao here. Please leave and don't disturb my mother's peace."
Madam Qiao's face turned ashen with rage. If she was merely angry before, seeing that brat had brazenly led so many people into the inner courtyard of the Earl's mansion without any regard for consequences, she was completely bewildered, her heart filled with shock and panic.
Now the courtyard is full of that brat's people, all of whom are eyeing her covetously. Qiao Shi was still worried about losing face and not actually kicking them all out of the mansion, so she could only snort coldly and leave.
After walking a distance from Mingyue Residence, Madam Qiao stopped and looked back, her eyes now chillingly cold and gloomy.
Granny Wu leaned close to her and said in a low voice, "Don't worry, Madam. Our people are very careful. I doubt they'll find anything."
Qiao: "In case..."
Granny Wu: "There's no chance of anything going wrong. Madam, you have to trust our old lady. The Lord specially invited Chief Physician Liu, and he didn't find anything. Let alone these imperial physicians. We can just relax and watch the show from the sidelines."
Remembering her mother's instructions, Qiao nodded silently and turned to continue walking back.
She wanted to see just how capable this brat really was.
The guards sent by Yu Qingci to fetch the imperial physician were also very capable. The first imperial physician had already been escorted in. It was said to be escorted, but it was because the people from the Earl's Mansion actually tried to stop them.
But the guards of the general's mansion were all veterans who had fought their way out of battle. They didn't take this small matter seriously at all. They kicked the person blocking their way away in one go without even saying a word.
Yu Qingci focused her attention back on her mother, and several more imperial physicians were brought in, but Physician Zhao was not among them.
One of the imperial physicians said: "Imperial Physician Zhao is on duty in the palace tonight; it's his turn to be on duty."
Yu Qingci disregarded those matters and spoke earnestly to the imperial physicians:
"Honorable physicians, my mother's condition is critical. Qingci earnestly requests your utmost efforts to save her. Whatever rare medicinal herbs or treatment methods are needed, please just name your names. The General's Mansion will bear all the costs without hesitation!"
Several imperial physicians took turns taking turns to check the pulse of the unconscious Su Chengniang.
The moment their fingertips touched that withered wrist, their brows involuntarily furrowed.
Time passed slowly, and one of the older imperial physicians stood up and said:
"The lady's pulse is deep and hesitant, as if there is stagnation, and her breath is weak like a candle flickering in the wind. In addition, her complexion is sallow and her lips are pale. These signs are probably not caused by ordinary illnesses."
However, the exact cause is difficult to ascertain at the moment, and since Lady Bo was previously being treated by Physician Zhao, he is currently not present...
I'll first administer acupuncture to save the lady's life, then I'll brew some ginseng soup to see if she can swallow it. We'll discuss it further once Physician Zhao comes out of his palace duty.
Yu Qingci immediately ordered someone to fetch ginseng to make soup.
Although Su Chengniang does not manage the household affairs in the Marquis's mansion, her status is still there, and the Marquis of Nanping now spends most of his time at Mingyue Residence, so there is no shortage of good things in Mingyue Residence.
Especially after Su Chengniang fell ill, the Earl of Nanping collected many precious medicinal herbs so that they could be used at any time.
This night is destined to be sleepless.
As dawn broke, a series of hurried footsteps sounded outside the courtyard, and soon a tall and upright figure appeared in front of Yu Qingci; it was Lu Yunqi.
Behind him came Xuan Ying, Xuan Bing, and others, along with two old men carrying medicine boxes. All of them looked travel-worn.
Yu Qingci was surprised that Lu Yunqi would actually appear, and exclaimed in astonishment:
"Husband, what brings you here?"
Lu Yun got up and, without exchanging pleasantries, went straight to asking, "How is your mother-in-law?"
Yu Qingci briefly explained her mother's condition, and Lu Yunqi then asked the two old men behind him to step forward and take her pulse.
Lu Yunqi: "It was Steward Lu who sent someone to the military camp to deliver the message. Doctor Wu in our army is quite skilled, and coincidentally, he was also there, so I invited him over."
The other doctor is Dr. Rao, whom I recently invited back from a neighboring county. He is a highly respected doctor in the community. I asked them to take a look at him.
He then invited the two elderly men to come forward.
The two elderly men did not stand on ceremony; they put down their medicine boxes and came to the bedside to take the patient's pulse.
Doctor Wu gently placed three fingers on Su Chengniang's thin wrist, closed his eyes and concentrated, carefully examining the pulse points at the cun, guan, and chi positions with his fingertips, his brows gradually furrowing as time passed.
The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone's eyes were fixed on Dr. Wu, and even their breathing was shallow. Yu Qingci's heart was in her throat, her nails almost digging into her palms, hoping to see a glimmer of hope on the old doctor's face.
After a long while, Dr. Wu slowly withdrew his hand without saying a word. He simply gestured to Dr. Rao beside him, his expression solemn.
Dr. Rao was dressed in coarse cloth short clothes, looking like an old farmer working in the fields, but his face was clear and his eyes were sharp.
His fingers touched the pulse for only a moment before his knuckles paused almost imperceptibly. Then, like Dr. Wu, he became engrossed in a long and focused pulse diagnosis.
Finally, Doctor Rao withdrew his hand. The two old men exchanged a glance, both seeing deep worry and a hint of unspeakable surprise in each other's eyes.
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