Chapter 6: Heart palpitations... This is a medicine for tigers and wolves
The Crown Prince bears the heavy responsibility of heaven and earth. Since he is in charge of the government of the Eastern Palace, he should think about the harmony between orchids and angelica, and the glory of brothers. He should also set an example of virtue.
As the departure was approaching, no matter what Xiao Lingjun was thinking, he had to at least put in some superficial effort. As someone close to the prince, Shen Zhiwei went to the clinic more frequently than usual.
Today's snow was a bit heavier than the previous few days. Shen Zhiwei, wearing the fox fur coat sent by the Third Prince earlier, held an umbrella as she stepped out of the sedan chair, but the wind couldn't stop the snow from sticking to her hair. The heater Xiao Lingjun had plugged in before she left was still a little hot, and the mink coat hugged her frail figure so tightly that it looked like it had grown on her.
Shen Zhiwei waved away the attendant who wanted to follow him, stepped over the threshold of the Imperial Hospital, and heard Xiao Wangqing's muffled groan through the window paper, followed by a sound like meat hitting a chopping board.
"Is Chen Bandu here to be the door god again?" The old doctor came out with a blood-stained copper basin, opening the curtain. His voice was dry and hoarse, and his cloudy eyes rolled around, his gaze falling on Shen Zhiwei.
Their relationship was entirely due to Shen Zhiwei's wishful thinking. Even when she was a little girl, she'd been in poor health, often visiting the pharmacy, and even reading a lot of medical books. Back then, the old doctor's beard wasn't nearly as long as the old scholar's, almost hanging to the ground.
Over the years, Xu Shu almost took her as his apprentice. He had no children, so it was like he had a granddaughter out of nowhere.
"President Xu... Your Highness asked me to come and see if there is anything I can help with." Shen Zhi smiled and nodded as a greeting. In fact, she was not willing to come. Every time she looked into Xiao Wangqing's eyes, she would think of her younger sister who died young.
It is clear that they look nothing alike, but they have the same desire to survive.
Shen Zhiwei hated this desire to survive, and hated even more the compassion he couldn't help but feel.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince is so kind." The old doctor did not comment and lifted the door curtain for Shen Zhiwei. The fresh blood was still weak, and without the cover, it suddenly made people dizzy.
In fact, there was nothing that needed help. Apart from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince himself, no one in the Eastern Palace could order the frail Shen Bandu to do anything.
Shen Zhiwei put away her umbrella and walked in. It was too cold outside just now. The tip of her nose was red from the cold, and her fair face was almost buried in the soft and thick fur.
Xiao Wangqing lay naked on the medicine couch. The sixteen-year-old prince's bony back was covered with silver needles. The gauze on his left leg was oozing red, and cold sweat rolled down his temples.
Hearing the rustle of curtains and the faint sound of footsteps, the Third Prince turned his head slightly. When he saw Shen Zhiwei standing in the shadows, the ferocity and fury in his eyes, which had almost made him want to devour anyone, receded like the tide, and was replaced by a show of weakness that suppressed all pain.
"Master...Sir?" His voice was extremely hoarse, like the friction of rough sandpaper, and each word was accompanied by a suppressed gasp. "This place is filthy, I'm afraid it will pollute your eyes."
As Xiao Wangqing spoke, he tried to prop himself up, but his arm trembled violently due to the severe pain, and he fell down heavily again with a dull thud, and a thick layer of sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.
Shen Zhiwei recalled that snowy night when Xiao Wangqing was also holding the malt candy in the same way, his hands were sticky and he still tried to grab her red rope.
Shen Bandu’s mood was not very good again.
The Emperor had bestowed countless natural treasures upon the Third Prince, and although he had gained some weight over the past few days, he was still thin. He wasn't as frightening as before, but it was as if an even thinner human skin had been substituted for his own, leaving the extra flesh completely useless, only circumventing the bones in vain.
Shen Zhiwei shuddered at her own thoughts. She had never seen the young prince in good health. It seemed that every time she saw Xiao Wangqing, he was either being beaten or dying. Bruises piled up layer upon layer on his thin torso, growing like tree rings.
You dare to make such a big movement before the needle is even removed? You are really looking for death.
Shen Zhiwei stopped three steps away from the medicine couch. She wanted to turn around and leave, but she knew it was not realistic. Besides, she came here on a mission, so she had to at least accompany him to remove the needle for it to count.
Xu Shu placed the needle tray on the small table without raising his head. His withered fingers were as steady as a rock. He picked up another needle and inserted it into the soft flesh on his waist. His tone was calm.
"Third Prince, please save your energy. The pus has already penetrated your skin. If you move any more, the cold will invade your bones. I will have no choice but to saw off this leg and replace it with a piece of wood. Mr. Shen, since you are here, please lend a hand. Hold his right shoulder and don't let him break my needle."
"……good."
Anyway, there were only three of them in the room. Shen Zhiwei rolled up her sleeves and approached. She usually had a cold face, and now she looked even more depressed, as if she wanted to pick someone up and beat him up.
The soft edge of the black fox fur swept across the blood-stained ground. She walked silently without looking into Xiao Wangqing's eyes. She stretched out her hand and pressed her cold fingers on his tense right shoulder through his sleeve.
Xiao Wangqing curled his knuckles, his fingers, clenched tightly, now loosened, leaving only a crescent-shaped bloodstain on his palm. Half his face sunk into the medicine pillow, his voice muffled like unmelted snow: "Thank you... Master Chen."
When Shen Zhiwei pressed on him, he obediently turned his head to the side, with his chin resting on the cold edge of the couch, but his eyes were stubbornly looking up, trying to catch Shen Zhiwei's drooping gaze.
In his heart, he inappropriately thought of the bite mark left on Shen Zhiwei's wrist on Xue Ye before. He vaguely remembered that it was a bite to the bone, so Shen Zhiwei's indifference became reasonable in Xiao Wangqing's eyes.
Out of affection, I should be nicer to him.
Yu Li just doesn't care.
"Don't move. If Judge Xu really turns the Third Prince into a paraplegic... I can only say that it's bad luck. If you feel severe pain, you can bite the cork." Shen Zhiwei noticed Xiao Wangqing's gaze, and was too lazy to guess what he was thinking, but the strength in his hands was reduced by three points.
The process of removing the needle is also long and painful. The needle tip is slowly pulled out with heavy resistance, bringing out strands of dark red pus and blood and clear tissue fluid.
Suddenly she felt a palpitation, and Shen Zhiwei's eyelashes trembled slightly. She had long been accustomed to sudden discomfort. She skillfully took the ginseng slices from the medicine box with one hand and held them at the root of her tongue, without delaying to watch Xu Shu pick up the needle.
It didn't seem to hurt, so I didn't hear the Third Prince cry out in pain.
When all the needles were inserted into the needle tray, Shen Zhiwei wanted to withdraw her hand, but Xiao Wangqing grabbed her wrist.
He just held it loosely, more like a helpless attempt to keep it, and said in a low voice: "Can you give me half of Shen Bandu's ginseng slices?"
“…”
Xu Shu, who was washing the silver needles and bloody cloth with his back to them, paused slightly. His cloudy old eyes glanced over, then quickly looked away, continuing to concentrate on the work in his hands, as if he hadn't heard anything.
The Imperial Hospital was eerily silent for a moment. The only sounds were the occasional crackling of burning wood in the charcoal basin and Xiao Wangqing's unsteady breathing.
Shen Zhiwei's fingertips curled up almost imperceptibly. The ginseng slices under the root of his tongue had already dissolved most of the time, and the medicinal power with a faint numb feeling was still lingering in his heart.
She lowered her eyes and looked at the place where Xiao Wangqing grabbed her wrist. Xiao Wangqing's wrist was too pale, and the purple blood vessels under the skin were clearly visible. It had the unique heat of a high fever patient, and was entangled with endless weakness.
This man had just crawled out of the wolf's mouth and his brother's schemes, dragging his nearly crippled leg, struggling to breathe under the emperor's seemingly favored but actually harmful decree, and begging for half a ginseng slice. What was this tiny bit of tenderness, pity, a test?
Or... was he really in great pain?
She remembered the hand holding the candy in the snow, and the word "Mother" he shouted while he was curled up in his fur coat and babbling with fever.
Her heart felt like it was pricked by fine needles, causing an inexplicable pain. The feeling was extremely weak, but it was enough to make her fingers slightly stiff.
After a while, under that scorching gaze that almost burned through the air, Shen Zhiwei finally made a move. She didn't struggle to break free from the empty grip on her wrist, but simply raised her free hand and reached into her inner pocket.
There was a small rosewood box, which was the so-called good thing that Xie Mingxu forced on her on the night before the New Year.
What Shen Zhiwei picked up with her fingertips was not the item in the box, but a spare small ginseng slice that she had placed next to her own ginseng slice. It was the kind of thin slice commonly used in the Imperial Hospital to boost energy.
She flicked her fingertips, and the cool ginseng slice fell squarely into Xiao Wangqing's lips.
The action was quick and decisive, with a sense of almsgiving that left no room for questioning.
"I hope Your Highness takes care of himself. I don't want to have to worry about making sure you lie down comfortably on the boat to Jianghuai."
Xiao Wangqing bit the ginseng slices, and the dry sweetness in his mouth gradually turned into a bitter taste. As soon as the strength in his hand loosened, it was pulled away by Shen Bandu, just like the day when she hurried back to the East Palace in the cold palace without looking back at him.
But now he could do nothing, he could only taste a hint of sweetness from Shen Zhiwei's actions and watched her lift the bead curtain and leave the inner room.
Shen Zhiwei did not leave, but sat down on a chair in the front hall of the Imperial Hospital. After a while, Xu Shu came out and took out the wooden box that Xie Mingxu had stuffed in from his robe. When he opened the box, there was a pill inside.
She placed it in front of the old doctor and said, "Your Highness asked me to ask you about the efficacy of this medicine."
Judge Xu stared at the medicine, stroking his beard. He carefully picked up the dark brown pill and brought it to his nose, sniffing it carefully. After a moment, he produced a small, polished silver scraper and slowly placed the dark brown foam scraped off into his mouth.
After savoring it for a while, his cloudy old eyes suddenly narrowed, his sagging face twitched slightly, and when he looked up at Shen Zhiwei, his eyes revealed a mixture of surprise and mischievous inquiry.
"This is... medicine for tigers and wolves." There was no one else in the front hall at this time. Xu Shu's voice was very low. His skinny fingers pinched the edge of the wooden box and almost forced it back into Shen Zhiwei's hands, as if the box was hot.
"Who told you to touch this filthy stuff? Is this something your filthy body can touch? One or two of them are causing me so much trouble. Keep it away and don't pollute the pure air of my pharmacy!"
“……?”
This unlucky child, Shen Zhiwei snapped the wooden box shut.
"Your Highness found it by chance and thought it was quite good, so he sent me here," she said with a gritted smile in her voice. She lowered her eyes and poured a cup of tea for Xu Shu. For a moment, she looked very much like Xiao Lingjun. "This is not mine. Getting angry is harmful to your health. Please calm down."
The old doctor's anger was suppressed by the cup of tea. His eyes swept across the carvings on the rosewood box in her arms, and he banged his knuckles on the table. "You think you can call such a filthy thing decent? This medicine is used by prostitutes in brothels outside the palace!"
"...Okay, I get it. Thank you for your trouble. Next time I see someone giving me this medicine, I'll give him a slap in the face."
Shen Zhiwei's etiquette has always been flexible.
The author has something to say:
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Xu Shu started studying medicine at the age of five, entered the Imperial Hospital at the age of fourteen, and met Shen Zhiwei at the age of fifty-three.
Having been a doctor for forty or fifty years, there is no disease he cannot treat and no one he cannot save, but he is powerless to treat Shen Bandu's symptoms.
In fact, it is not powerless
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