After leaving the Taoist temple, the group looked around and discovered a mountain peak not far away.
In comparison, this mountain is quite high, and there are large areas of forest on it, making it the best place to gather medicinal herbs. Thinking of this, Zhao Xian said:
“We must actually gather some herbs when we go to that mountain.”
"Yes, Uncle, your nephew obeys." Li Xue replied in a serious tone.
Li Xue's words made both Zhao Xian and Li Guang laugh.
The mountain peaks ahead don't seem far away, but it's still quite a walk.
As Li Guang walked, he looked around, seemingly searching for herbs, but in reality, he was checking to see if anyone was following him.
As expected, there were indeed two people following them. Judging from their attire, they should be woodcutters.
Li Guang told Zhao Xian about this discovery, and upon hearing it, Zhao Xian immediately said:
“That’s right. These Taoist priests are very cautious. If they can confirm that we are doctors, they will let us treat Yelü Khan. So we really need to collect some herbs to take back.”
“But we don’t recognize the herbs, what should we do?” Li Xue asked.
"That's alright. They might not even recognize the herbs. They're just sending people to follow us to see if we're really gathering herbs and to verify our identities. Even if the princess just gathers a basket of wild vegetables to take back, it's fine."
"Okay, I understand. But we don't know which ones are wild vegetables or whether they're edible, so we'll just pick some randomly to fool them."
The group whispered among themselves and soon arrived at the foot of the mountain, where they began searching for medicinal herbs.
Surprisingly, Li Guang actually knew some herbs; he knew exactly which ones were used to treat fever and which ones to treat cough.
Li Xue immediately became interested and began searching for herbs while inquiring about their effects.
Gradually, they reached the middle of the mountain, when two woodcutters hurriedly walked past them.
In fact, the three of them had already discovered them and knew why they had come here, but they pretended not to see them and focused on gathering herbs.
After the two men descended the mountain, they left. Since they weren't seen carrying firewood, it was confirmed that they were sent by the Taoist temple.
Zhao Xian smiled and said:
"They're gone, we can rest for a bit now."
The group found a rock, sat down, and prepared to rest before returning to the Taoist temple.
"Brother Zhao, if Yelü Khan is truly ill, what illness does he have?" Li Guang asked.
Zhao Xian pondered for a moment, then spoke:
"Judging from the situation, Yelü Khan is not too old and still participates in farm work. Relatively speaking, his life should not be too hard, so the possibility of him getting a serious illness is not high."
I suspect that Yelü Khan's illness may be related to his anxiety. Think about it, Yelü Khan is over fifty years old. He has been biding his time for so many years, and although he has some strength, he is still no match for Yelü Wu.
We spread rumors along the way, especially the news that the Second Prince was about to make a comeback and seize the throne. Yelü Khan must have heard about it.
But given his own limited strength, how could he possibly compete with Yelü Wu and reclaim the throne? It's no wonder he fell ill in his anxiety.
Another point is that he is the genuine Second Prince, and the entire vassal state knows that he is about to make a comeback, except for himself.
Could it be that someone is impersonating him and trying to seize the throne from the Yelü family? He didn't want to see that.
Even if Yelü Wu was a scoundrel, he was still a descendant of the Yelü family. Even if he couldn't seize the throne himself, he didn't want the Yelü family's empire to fall into the hands of others.
“Brother Zhao is right. It seems that Yelü Khan is suffering from a sudden attack of anger. Only we can cure his illness,” Li Xue said with a smile.
Zhao Xian nodded and said:
"When I visit the Second Prince Yelü Khan this time, I plan to give him a gift. It wouldn't be right to meet him empty-handed."
"What gift is it? Let me see."
Zhao Xian smiled, took out a round silver coin from his pocket, and handed it to Li Xue.
Li Xue took it and saw that it was a silver coin with eight characters on it: "A new emperor ascends the throne, the country is prosperous and the people are at peace."
"Isn't this the silver that Li Guang, disguised as a Taoist priest, gave to the beggars in Xianzhou City when we passed through it?"
The locals regard it as a divine artifact, estimating that it could now be sold for a thousand taels of silver.
I reckon Yelü Khan must have heard about this. Zhao Ge gave him these silver coins as a gift; I wonder what he thinks of it.”
"I think Yelü Khan, after receiving this silver coin, would have thought it was a sign from Heaven."
At this point, we can reveal our identity and say that we have been sent by Heaven to lend him a helping hand.
The fact that the Great Northern Dynasty's army is pressing in is meant to create momentum for him and reassure him that he doesn't need to worry. However, since we've been spreading rumors along the way, we can't tell him these things.
At this point, we can bring Ge Kaishan on stage. We need to let Yelü Khan know that there are many people loyal to him in the Fan Kingdom, and the people are hoping that he can become emperor. We must make him follow the will of the people.
This greatly boosted Yelü Khan's confidence. How he gains power is no longer our concern; we can simply watch the show from the sidelines.
"It seems that a grand show we've orchestrated is about to begin, and I'm already quite looking forward to it."
Zhao Xian glanced at the sun and realized it was getting late, so he prepared to return to the Taoist temple.
The three of them were not in a hurry and walked back slowly. By the time they got back to the Taoist temple, it was already past noon.
At this moment, two old Taoist priests were standing anxiously at the entrance of the Taoist temple. When they saw the three people returning from gathering herbs, they quickly went forward and led them into the dining hall.
The dining hall was quite large, with several tables, but there wasn't a single Taoist priest in it at the moment.
The table was already set with food, all vegetarian dishes, and there was quite a variety of them.
After the three were seated, the old Taoist priest instructed a young Taoist boy to invite the abbot over.
Zhao Xian knew that if his guess was correct, this abbot should be Yelü Khan.
A moment later, the curtain of the side door of the dining hall was lifted, and a Taoist priest walked in.
Zhao Xian sized up the Taoist priest who had entered. Judging from his appearance, the man was over fifty years old, with a thin face and not in good spirits. He was somewhat different from the person in the Taoist priest's portrait, but it was still certain that this was the person in the painting.
The three breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that their long journey here had not been in vain, and they had finally found Yelü Khan.
Yelü Khan approached the three men and respectfully bowed. The three men quickly rose to return the bow.
"My Buddhist name is Guiyi, and I am the abbot of this temple. Please forgive any neglect from the believers who have traveled from afar." After saying this, the old Taoist priest seemed about to cough, but he tried his best to hold it in.
The two old Taoist priests quickly stepped forward and helped the abbot sit down at the dining table.
After settling down, Yelü Khan began to cough. Judging from his expression, he seemed to be in chest pain. After a bout of coughing, no phlegm came out.
Upon seeing this, Zhao Xian knew that Yelü Khan had contracted severe pneumonia, and that it had been present for some time, requiring immediate treatment.
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