A group of Imperial Physicians stood utterly helpless over a mere stomachache! Stomachache!
Have the Imperial Physicians become this utterly foolish? Can’t even handle a simple stomachache?
She hadn't intended to make things difficult in the first place; granting them an audience was already a concession, but at least fabricate a believable excuse! If she let this pass, wouldn't it make her, the Empress Dowager, look utterly incompetent?
This isn't pleading; this is outright blatant disregard, isn't it? “If you truly can’t manage it, then go find a doctor outside to take a look,” the Empress Dowager said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
“Any physician on the street could cure this stomachache.” The young eunuch’s face was a mask of extreme embarrassment. He had already told them they needed to change their explanation, that this one was absolutely unusable!
Isn't this just asking for a scolding! “Your Highness, a stomachache is nothing to be taken lightly,” Qi Yue quickly interjected.
The Empress Dowager smiled. “I know, I am not taking you lightly,” she replied.
If her previous words held veiled sarcasm, the displeasure on the Empress Dowager’s face was now utterly undisguised. “This humble subject didn't mean that, I meant that a stomachache can sometimes indicate a very serious illness,” Qi Yue lowered her head and said again.
“Yes, did you hear that?” The Empress Dowager looked at the young eunuch. “Tell the Imperial Physicians that the stomachache is very serious, and instruct them to examine it properly.
Don't let them disgrace the Imperial Physicians by failing to treat even a simple stomachache.” The young eunuch didn't want to linger a moment longer; it was too humiliating. He quickly bowed and retreated.
Qi Yue sighed inwardly. So be it.
After striking a dignified young Prince, it would be almost heaven-defying if no one sowed discord. She had anticipated this outcome, so she would simply bear it.
When the Emperor arrived, Qi Yue was no longer being admonished by the Empress Dowager. “Why has the Emperor come?
Isn’t this usually a busy time?” the Empress Dowager asked with that knowing smile. “I heard Mother Empress was feeling unwell?” the Emperor inquired.
“Not at all,” the Empress Dowager laughed frankly. “It’s just that someone in the palace entrusted this humble servant to invite this Madam Qi to examine them.
Everyone has long admired this divine physician’s name, but this Madam Qi, she isn't exactly easy to invite.” She said this while looking pointedly at the Emperor. “Your Majesty, you aren’t displeased, are you?” she asked, smiling.
The Emperor smiled. “She is indeed a difficult person to invite,” he said, then picked up a nearby cup of tea and took a sip, steering the conversation toward other matters with the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager didn't press the issue, smoothly following his lead. The Empress stood behind the beaded curtain in another room, watching the mother and son converse so amiably, and smiled.
“In any case, it has been a long time since His Majesty spoke with the Empress Dowager like this,” she remarked. A senior palace maid beside her assented.
“It seems keeping this female physician here is a good thing for the Empress Dowager,” the Empress continued. “That is her fortune,” the maid replied with a smile.
The Empress gazed outside the curtain; whatever the Emperor said to the Empress Dowager caused her to break into a smile. “Indeed, it is her fortune,” the Empress murmured.
A cup of tea’s worth of time passed quickly, yet no one entered the room, and the Empress Dowager made no move to send anyone out. The Emperor took another sip of tea.
“Your Majesty should attend to your duties,” the Empress Dowager said with a gentle smile. “There are many matters in the front court; Your Majesty need not worry about affairs here.” The Emperor nodded.
As they were speaking, urgent footsteps sounded outside the door. “Your Highness, Your Highness, the Imperial Physicians have arrived!” The eunuchs scurried in.
The Empress Dowager’s face immediately fell. Are they really determined to defy me?
The Emperor remained expressionless, still holding his tea. “It is not yet time for me to require the services of the Imperial Hospital!” the Empress Dowager stated sternly.
“Tell them, when I am near death, I shall naturally summon them!” Oh, those words were harsh. The eunuchs immediately knelt, but none dared to retreat.
“Your Highness, the Imperial Physicians have brought the young Prince!” they cried out. What?
Everyone in the room froze. “Your Highness, Your Highness, quickly ask Madam Qi to examine him,” Zhou Maochun’s voice rang out from outside.
Only Zhou Maochun could conceive of and execute such a maneuver. The Emperor gently set down his teacup and smiled faintly.
The Empress Dowager, however, had snapped back to reality, her face livid. This is too much!
To play such a trick! “Carry him in!” the Empress Dowager commanded.
“I want to see exactly how this stomachache has left the entire Imperial Hospital stumped!” A flurry of chaotic footsteps followed, and indeed, four eunuchs carried in a stretcher. “Oh, that’s the type of stretcher made by Madam Qi’s pharmacy,” Cai Chong immediately pointed out to the Emperor.
The Emperor nodded, examining the stretcher with obvious interest. The others turned their attention to the person lying on the stretcher.
Young Prince Sima lay on the stretcher, emitting one painful cry after another. “Ah, that strap, was that originally part of the stretcher?” the Emperor asked, pointing to the wide band securing Young Prince Sima onto the frame.
“It probably was,” Cai Chong guessed. “They thought of everything,” the Emperor chuckled.
While they were conversing, the Empress Dowager had risen, shocked by the Young Prince’s appearance. “What is it?
What happened?” she exclaimed. Is it really just a stomachache?
Is the pain truly this severe? “You—are you deliberately refusing to treat him?” the Empress Dowager suddenly accused the assembled Imperial Physicians who had followed in.
The physicians were stunned. “Your Highness!” Zhou Maochun exclaimed.
“You may accuse us of being foolish, of being unable to cure the patient, but you cannot say we did not apply ourselves wholeheartedly to the treatment!” The Empress Dowager snorted. “Peng-ge’er?
Peng-ge’er?” Temporarily ignoring the physicians, she bent down, grasped the young Prince’s hand, and anxiously inquired, “How are you? How did this happen?” The Young Prince could only moan about unbearable pain; he could offer no other response.
The Empress also emerged. A crowd gathered around the stretcher, a chaotic mix of worry, panic, crying, and shouting.
“What exactly happened?” the Emperor finally asked, rising to his feet. “Reporting to Your Majesty, the Young Prince’s abdominal pain intensified last night.
Upon questioning, he had experienced abdominal pain before, but only mild symptoms, which he ignored. This has been going on for about four or five days,” one Imperial Physician bowed and stated.
“No diarrhea, mild vomiting,” another physician added. “No high fever or chills,” a third physician contributed.
The Emperor frowned. “Who asked you for this information!” he snapped.
“I only asked what is wrong!” “Your Majesty, we suspect the Young Prince consumed something he shouldn't have,” Zhou Maochun explained. “Nonsense,” the Empress Dowager interjected with a frown.
“Doesn’t eating something bad cause stomachaches? Since you know that, why aren’t you using moxibustion or medicine quickly?” “We’ve used everything, it’s not working,” Zhou Maochun shook his head.
“That is why we must request Madam Qi.” That Madam Qi again! She refused to believe it; Zhou Maochun was clearly trying to blackmail her!
Isn't this exactly what he’s been doing? Wasn't the position of the Head Physician of the Imperial Hospital established specifically to deal with those who offended him?
And now he dares to use this tactic on her! For the sake of this so-called adopted daughter!
For this inexplicably important woman! He’s using Sima Young Prince as bait!
Who is Sima Young Prince? Have the Emperor and Zhou Maochun both gone mad?
“What good will asking her do? All of you, with your white hair, have you lived for nothing?
Why must you insist on calling for a young woman? What can she do that you cannot?
Does she have extra hands or extra eyes?” the Empress Dowager demanded angrily. “When she arrives, she can extract whatever the Young Prince ate by mistake from his stomach!” Zhou Maochun raised his voice to meet hers.
What? Remove something from his stomach?
The Empress Dowager froze. “Your Highness, it has been a whole night.
If we delay further, the Young Prince’s life will be in danger! He will be tormented to death by the pain!” Zhou Maochun stepped forward again.
“Go and invite Madam Qi,” the Emperor commanded, sitting back down. Upon the Emperor’s word, palace maids hurried toward the back of the hall, but after a long wait, no one returned.
“What is happening? Is she putting on airs, waiting for me to fetch her personally?” the Emperor suddenly roared, sweeping a teacup from the table to the floor.
The Emperor’s sudden fury silenced the entire hall; everyone present dared not speak. In the quiet hall, the Young Prince’s cries of pain sounded even more terrifying, as if he might die at any second.
“Reporting to Your Majesty,” a palace maid was forced to step forward nervously. “Madam Qi, Madam Qi has been summoned by Noble Consort Xian...” The Emperor said nothing, his expression dark and unreadable.
“Go and bring her back now,” the Empress Dowager hissed quietly. Someone had already been sent, but the palace maid still bowed and ran out.
At that moment, Qi Yue was in Noble Consort Xian’s palace, where a girl of five or six years leaned against the Noble Consort, crying and screaming while throwing things at Qi Yue. “Bad person, go away, bad person, go away!” she shrieked.
“Be good, Rongrong, let the female physician examine you. Why aren't you eating?” the Noble Consort said softly, making no move to stop the child’s tantrum.
She then looked at Qi Yue, a hint of displeasure in her expression. “Do you know how to treat illnesses or not?” she demanded.
“Why are you just standing there foolishly? Examine the little princess!” This child isn't sick!
Look at the strength in her cries and her spirit! Qi Yue felt helpless.
“Your Highness, the little princess is perfectly healthy,” she stated again. “Oh?
So you mean I am deliberately making things difficult for you?” Noble Consort Xian’s face darkened as she scolded. Qi Yue stood up straight, looking at the Noble Consort.
“That is not what I meant,” she replied. “How dare you refer to yourself as ‘I’ in front of Her Highness!” a nearby palace maid immediately snapped.
“What sort of low creature are you to speak so boldly!” “I am nothing,” Qi Yue said. “Your Highness, since you call me a female physician, yet refuse to believe what I, this physician, say, then why did you summon me here in the first place?” Ah, no wonder the Empress Dowager deliberately wanted to make things difficult for this woman!
Look at that arrogant attitude! Does she think she can run roughshod in the palace just because she has Zhou Maochun backing her?
She hasn't even saved the life of the Empress Dowager! And yet she dared to strike Sima Young Prince—the Empress Dowager cherishes him like a treasure!
If the Empress Dowager doesn't vent her anger, how can that be tolerated! Noble Consort Xian was furious and slammed her hand heavily onto the table.
“Insolent wretch, speaking to me like that! Guards, drag her out and give her thirty strokes with the board!” she ordered.
Before the words had fully left her mouth, four or five palace maids and eunuchs rushed into the hall in haste. They were people from the Empress Dowager’s side.
Noble Consort Xian felt a surge of satisfaction. Those people entered as if they didn't see the Noble Consort, rushing immediately to bow before Qi Yue.
“Madam Qi, hurry, hurry! The Empress Dowager and His Majesty request your presence immediately!
Sima Young Prince is ill and depends on you for his life!” a palace maid gasped out. What?
Depending on her to save his life? Everyone present was stunned, and Qi Yue was momentarily taken aback.
“Then…” She didn’t move her feet, but instead looked solemnly at Noble Consort Xian. “Your Highness, should I receive the strokes before I go, or will I come back later to receive them?”