Chapter 62: Miraculous Doctor Fang Buyu turned around suddenly. The moment he turned around...
Fang Buyu turned around abruptly. The moment he turned around, the dripping sound of water droplets seeping from the corner of the wall hitting the ground also stopped.
Seeing his reaction, Wang Xin's tense shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly. Her cracked lips twitched upwards, and she let out a few hoarse, dry laughs. "Looks like... my bet was right. Pavilion Master Fang is indeed interested in this matter."
Fang Buyu said nothing as he walked back to the cell. He leaned forward slightly, his gaze piercing the shadows of the wooden bars, fixed firmly on Wang Xin. "What did you just say?"
Wang Xin, his previous frantic expression gone, calmly moved to the moldy pile of straw in the corner and sat down. His fingers gently scratched the dry grass, making a rustling sound. "Didn't Pavilion Master Fang hear that just now?"
Fang Buyu just looked at her silently, with no emotion visible in his deep eyes.
The cell fell into a dead silence, even the sound of breathing becoming audible. In this suffocating stillness, the sound of dripping water in the corner of the wall began again—tick-tick, tick-tick, neither fast nor slow, like some silent urging, or like beating a cold rhythm to this confrontation.
Seeing Fang Buyu didn't ask the expected, impatient question, Wang Xin felt the straw between her fingers warp. Her forced composure was about to give way. Finally, she raised her head, meeting that fluttering gaze. "If I tell you, what will Pavilion Master Fang offer me in exchange?"
Fang Buyu heard this and a faint sneer appeared on his lips. "Are you threatening me?"
As he spoke, he slowly crouched down, his gaze level with Wang Xin's, looking directly into her flickering eyes. "The Crown Prince and Tuoba Xuan are secretly practicing the art of immortality. What does this have to do with me? If I follow your advice and investigate the Crown Prince, and thus offend the Crown Prince, what good will it do me? Why do you think you can threaten me with something that has nothing to do with me and is of no benefit to me?"
After saying that, Fang Buyu stood up, brushed off the non-existent dust on his robe, and made a gesture to leave.
Wang Xin rushed to the wooden fence and shouted, "Because I believe you are not stupid and insensitive!"
"Master Fang, I know you're a good person." Wang Xin's defenses completely collapsed. She frantically knelt and crawled forward, tears mixed with the dirt on her face. "Please, please save my son! He's only five years old, he doesn't understand anything. He's so innocent..."
She stared at Fang Buyu's back, and when he seemed to pause for a moment, a faint hope immediately ignited in her heart. She hurriedly added, "As long as...as long as you plead for him in front of His Majesty, even if it's just a few words...I will be your slave in the next life..."
Fang Buyu stood still for a moment, a faint light filtering through the cracks in the cell ceiling illuminating half of his serene face. He finally turned slowly, lowered his head, and looked back at Wang Xin, who lay limp on the ground. His voice was inarticulate, "Continue with what you were saying."
Wang Xin knew this meant she had agreed. Suddenly, a light flashed in her eyes, as if she had escaped death. She practically prostrated herself on the ground, kowtowed frantically several times, "Thank you! Thank you, Pavilion Master Fang!"
She panted, wiped her face with her sleeve, and tried to calm her excitement before speaking intermittently: "About...about thirteen years ago, I went to deliver tea to Tuoba Xuan's study and heard him and the prince having a secret conversation inside..."
Her eyes were lost in reminiscence. "The general idea was that the Crown Prince was developing an elixir of immortality, but its properties were uncertain. So, Tuoba Xuan was asked to secretly set up testing sites in various medical clinics in Weizhou... He specifically targeted the widowed, lonely, elderly, seriously ill, and the poor and powerless to test the drug's effectiveness."
"If it is an elixir of life, why do you choose to test it on these weak people? Wouldn't normal people be more likely to test the effect? Moreover, why choose Weizhou?" Fang Buyu asked.
"These questions... Tuoba Xuan also asked them at the time." Wang Xin licked her dry lips. "The prince's consideration was to try it on these weak people first. If it was proven to prolong life, then try it on normal people. As for why Weizhou was chosen," she paused, "it might be because Yaozhou is the capital, with many eyes and ears, making it difficult to move. Weizhou is close to Yaozhou, making travel convenient, and... Lin Bowen, who was the prefect of Weizhou at the time, was Tuoba Xuan's man, so it would be convenient to implement it."
A deep shadow flashed across Fang Buyu's eyes. "You said before that this has been going on for more than ten years. Are they still doing it now?"
"It should have stopped this year." Wang Xin's fingertips twisted the corner of his clothes unconsciously, his eyes drifting into the void, as if struggling to search through shattered fragments of memory. "At the beginning of this year... yes, it was around that time. Eunuch Huang, who was with the Crown Prince, came to visit secretly. I hid by the door and overheard... They said that the elixir experiment seemed to have completely failed. The Crown Prince ordered Tuoba Xuan to immediately stop all drug testing activities in Weizhou."
*
The heavy iron door slammed shut behind him, completely isolating him from the darkness and dampness.
The afternoon sun blazed down, carrying a hint of early summer heat that blinded his eyes. Fang Buyu subconsciously squinted, paused in front of the steps, and took a deep breath.
The outside air, a mixture of dust, grass, and even the faint hustle and bustle of the city in the distance, washed away the prison-like turbidity that had accumulated in his lungs, but the heaviness in his heart could not be dispelled at all.
Guo Yan relaxed his stiff shoulders and quickly followed, walking side by side with Fang Buyu. Unable to suppress his anxiety, he lowered his voice and asked, "Buyu, what Wang Xin just mentioned about the drug trial...how credible do you think it is?"
Fang Buyu's gaze swept across the mottled wall by the roadside. He spoke slowly, "Wang Xin is already a dying man. Blaming the Crown Prince and Tuoba Xuan won't do her any extra good. Besides, she's lived in seclusion for a long time. If she hadn't heard it firsthand, it would be difficult for her to fabricate such detailed information involving Weizhou, the medical clinic, and even the specific candidates for selection." He paused, his tone becoming cautious. "However, the truth still needs to be verified. Her one-sided account alone is not enough to be relied upon."
"There's one thing I can't figure out," Guo Yan scratched his forehead. "If the Crown Prince wanted to test some medicine, wouldn't it be more convenient to just use some of the palace eunuchs and maids, or secretly kidnap some refugees and beggars? Why go through all this trouble to screen them through the medical hall?"
Fang Buyu glanced at Guo Yan and said, "The palace maids and eunuchs are all recorded in the register. Even menial servants who are not important at all will be noticed if they are frequently absent. As for kidnapping refugees... this method may work temporarily, but if it continues for more than ten years, the number of people required is definitely not small. Once it becomes large-scale, it will inevitably leave traces, and the risks will be even greater."
His voice grew colder, carrying a hint of suppressed anger. "They can only exploit the lives of those already poor and sick, neglected ants, and then use doctors as pretexts to act. Even if there are occasional suspicious cases, they can easily be treated as ordinary deaths and not cause any trouble."
Guo Yan took a deep breath. "I didn't expect the Crown Prince to be so ruthless... But then again, the Crown Prince is already sixty years old, while His Majesty has always been in good health... It doesn't seem surprising that he would have such delusions..."
"There are too many people on the street and their ears are loud, so be careful with what you say." Fang Buyu interrupted him calmly, his eyes looking towards the gradually bustling street market.
Guo Yan was startled to realize they had unknowingly reached the bustling market entrance. The sounds of hawkers, chatter, and the clatter of carriages and horses mingled, overwhelming him. He quickly fell silent and instinctively touched the sword at his waist.
Fang Buyu's attention was drawn to a large group of people gathered not far ahead. The crowd was packed tightly together, talking and talking, as if they were watching something exciting.
"What's going on over there?" He raised his chin to indicate.
"Oh, Bu Yu, you've been locked up in your house for over two months, haven't you noticed?" Guo Yan followed his gaze, a mysterious yet excited look on his face. "Last month, an incredible 'female healer' appeared in our Jiusu County!"
"Female healer?"
"Yes!" Guo Yan leaned closer, his voice carrying the unique liveliness of a local rumor. "I heard that this female doctor is proficient in all kinds of difficult and complicated diseases and has the ability to bring the dead back to life! But she has a quirk——"
"What quirk?"
"Before she treated someone, she would first check their 'lifespan'!" Guo Yan recounted vividly. "If she said their lifespan was not yet over and could be treated, she would treat them. But if she shook her head and said their lifespan was almost over, she would refuse to touch them, no matter how much gold or silver she offered."
"Can you tell a person's lifespan?" Fang Buyu scoffed, a hint of undisguised sarcasm on his lips. "Oh... I'm afraid this isn't some female healer, but a con woman out there cheating people!"
"Hey, Bu Yu, don't disbelieve me!" Seeing that he didn't believe her, Guo Yan hurriedly explained, "At first, I was just like you, thinking it was a trick. But I heard that someone deliberately brought a big, sleek, fat duck from their home to test her, and guess what? The female healer took one look and said the duck wouldn't live more than three days! And the next day, the duck died out of nowhere!"
"Maybe it's a coincidence, or maybe she sent someone to do something at night. What's so strange about that?" Fang Buyu disagreed.
"That one case was just a coincidence, but she predicted it for many others! There's even Mr. Xu, the richest man in our county. His father fell ill with a strange disease, and after consulting all the famous doctors, they all said there was no cure. Finally, just to give it a try, he went to see the female healer. She took one look and simply said, 'You'll live to a ripe old age, no problem,' and wrote a prescription. And, well, not long after, Mr. Xu was able to walk again! Now he praises everyone he meets as a living god!"
"Oh?" Fang Buyu cast his gaze towards the crowded crowd again, a look of deep thought in his eyes. "So, this female healer seems to be quite capable?"
"It's not like she really is, she really has the ability! Hey, Bu Yu," Guo Yan nudged him with his elbow and suggested eagerly, "Since we're on the way, why don't you go over and take a look? Let's see if she's a real god or just a fake ghost?"
Fang Buyu withdrew his gaze and returned to his usual aloofness and calmness: "No, I won't join in this kind of fun. There are still a pile of files waiting to be processed in the cabinet." He turned around and walked straight in the opposite direction of the crowd.
The so-called female doctor is nothing but a trick to mystify and deceive people.
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