The Grand Secretary has no heir? His concubine gives birth to triplets.

Doctor Xu swallowed hard and forced himself to step across the threshold.

Jiang Guo'er coughed weakly twice, then cautiously stretched her wrist out from under the blanket.

The back of his hand had also been smeared with nettle juice, which caused many red rashes to appear, a truly shocking sight.

Physician Xu took out a snow-white silk handkerchief from his medicine box and placed it on Jiang Guo'er's wrist through the handkerchief.

The room was so quiet that only the sound of breathing could be heard.

Physician Xu closed his eyes slightly and focused on sensing the sensation.

Suddenly, his eyes widened.

This pulse... is like pearls rolling on a plate, smooth and flowing.

This is a happy pulse! This Aunt Jiang is pregnant?

As Physician Xu opened his mouth to shout, the pulse under his fingertips suddenly changed.

The originally smooth and powerful movements suddenly became thin and weak, and then became chaotic and disordered.

In the blink of an eye, the pulse seemed to have been cut off, growing weaker and weaker until it finally showed signs of exhaustion.

This is a deadly vein fraught with danger!

Doctor Xu broke out in a cold sweat.

He pointed at Jiang Guo'er on the bed, his voice trembling uncontrollably: "Dead...dead pulse! She...she's probably not going to make it!"

Before he could finish speaking, a sudden gust of wind arose from the side.

"Bang!"

Pei Yan kicked over the chair that was under Physician Xu's buttocks.

Doctor Xu trembled with fright. Before he could scramble away, a hand gripped his shoulder tightly.

Pei Yan leaned down to look at him, his eyes chillingly cold.

"Say that again?!"

Physician Xu was in so much pain that his face turned deathly pale, and his shoulder bone felt like it was about to be crushed.

"Your Excellency... this humble official... this humble official was merely taking a pulse—"

Pei Yan shouted, his fierce aura surging, making him look like a ferocious beast that had been provoked.

"Before you walked in, she only had tinea versicolor and was perfectly fine! What underhanded methods did you use to harm her?!"

Jiang Guo'er curled up in the quilt, her tense heart gradually relaxing.

[You acted so well.]

Hearing the protectiveness and anger in Pei Yan's tone, a sweet feeling welled up in her heart.

When our Grand Secretary gets angry, he's truly awe-inspiring and handsome!

Upon hearing these two heartfelt words, Pei Yan paused slightly in the hand that was gripping Physician Xu's shoulder.

Immediately, the force increased.

Doctor Xu was in so much pain that tears streamed down his face.

"Your Excellency, you are innocent! This humble official...this humble official did nothing! I merely took a pulse..."

"quack!"

Pei Yan ignored his explanation and, with a burst of strength, flung Doctor Xu away like a rag doll.

Physician Xu crashed into the multi-treasure pavilion, dislocating his right arm and screaming in pain on the ground.

"Xiao San, search him!"

Pei Yan pointed at him and shouted angrily.

Xue Lingyi, who had been standing in the corner observing coldly, stepped forward with the help of Lüyi.

She didn't even glance at the wailing Physician Xu, but instead squatted down and rummaged through a pile of scattered medicine bottles and gauze.

Soon after, Xue Lingyi pulled out a flat silver box from the bottom of the medicine box.

Upon opening the box, a row of gleaming silver needles was neatly arranged inside.

She picked one up, brought it close to her nose, and smelled it again and again, her brows furrowing suddenly.

"Your Excellency, this needle is poisoned."

"It's not a highly toxic substance like arsenic, but a slow-acting poison with a very faint sweet taste. If it's injected into an acupuncture point, the person hit will die of heart failure. But in reality, it's death from poisoning."

Her master was skilled at identifying poisons, and she had been exposed to this kind of poison from a young age, so she could identify it quickly.

Pei Yan's gaze was icy.

He originally intended to take advantage of the situation to turn the tables and launch an attack, so as to teach the Crown Prince a lesson.

But this box of poisoned needles wasn't something the other party was putting on.

If they don't come up with a solution today, and Physician Xu really uses acupuncture as a pretext to insert the poisoned needle into the baby's body...

Pei Yan's face instantly darkened, and he clenched his fists so tightly they cracked.

He turned his head and stared at Physician Xu on the ground as if he were looking at a dead man.

"You have the audacity to murder the wife of a high-ranking official!"

When Physician Xu looked at the detoxification needle, his mind went completely blank.

He did indeed come under the Crown Princess's secret orders, and he had prepared poisoned silver needles, but who knew that he would be discovered so quickly!

If there is an afterlife, he would never want to be a royal physician again.

"Eunuch Liu! Eunuch Liu, save me! I've been framed!"

Hearing this from outside, Eunuch Liu's face turned ashen, and he was so frightened that he shrank into a ball.

He led several palace guards and was about to rush into the house.

Clang—

The guards drew their long swords without hesitation, their gleaming blades crossed and placed in front of the door, forcing Eunuch Liu to retreat repeatedly.

"Pei Yan! Do you want to rebel?!" Eunuch Liu shouted angrily.

"We are here on the Crown Prince's orders, get out of the way!"

Pei Yan slowly walked to the threshold.

He stood tall and elegant, his robes perfectly straight, coldly looking down at Eunuch Liu.

"His Highness the Crown Prince is benevolent; how could he possibly order the murder of a subject's family?"

Pei Yan deliberately raised his voice to ensure that everyone outside the courtyard could hear him clearly.

"It is clearly you, a member of the eunuch faction, who, under the guise of the Crown Prince's name, secretly possessed poisoned needles and intended to commit murder!"

"Does Eunuch Liu think His Highness the Crown Prince would protect a few servants who intend to kill people?"

Liu Gonggong was so frightened that his lips trembled.

"Your Excellency...you can't make baseless accusations!"

"Whether it's slander or not, we'll find out once it's sent to the Dali Temple for trial."

"Tie them both up!" Pei Yan raised his hand.

A flash of light appeared.

One of the guards rushed towards the tyrant first, his blade slashing down.

Xiao San dodged to the side and blocked the blade with his backhand.

"clang!"

The clash of metal against metal was so powerful that it made people's eardrums go numb.

The remaining guards immediately stepped forward to protect Eunuch Liu.

But the guards had already surrounded them from both sides.

In the narrow doorway, the shadows of knives flashed, and within moments, someone screamed and fell to their knees.

Just as a palace guard blocked the long sword in front of him, he was kicked hard in the back of the knee and crashed to the ground with a thud.

The other two tried to turn back to help, but their weapons were knocked away by the back of the guard's blade.

"Clang—"

The long sword fell to the ground.

Liu Gonggong screamed and tried to run away, but before he could take a step, Xiao San grabbed his arm and pressed him face down on the ground.

"Ouch! Let go! We're the Crown Prince's favorites, do you all want to die?!"

The person they tied up was a favorite of the crown prince.

The thick hemp rope quickly wrapped around Liu Gonggong's wrist.

Physician Xu was also dragged out at this time.

The two envoys from the Crown Prince's palace were bound tightly and kneeled in the Pei residence courtyard, looking extremely unpleasant.

Pei Yan straightened his cuffs, his tone sinister.

"Prepare the car."

"If the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review dares not investigate this case of the eunuch faction's plot to murder, I will personally beat the Dengwen Drum and go to the Golden Palace to lodge a petition with the Emperor."

"I would like to ask Your Majesty, is there still any law in this Great Zhao realm?"

Upon hearing the words "appeal to the emperor," Eunuch Liu's eyes rolled back, and he fainted instantly.

The courtyard quickly emptied as Pei Yan led a large entourage, escorting the people out of the mansion.

Luyi quickly brought over several basins of warm water, wrung out a cloth, and carefully helped Jiang Guo'er wipe the black mud off her face little by little.

The pungent stench had finally mostly dissipated.

Jiang Guo'er spat out the dried plum from under her tongue and rinsed her mouth with the tea that Lvyi handed her.

He turned and took Xue Lingyi's hand.

"Lingyi, we really owe you a lot this time." Jiang Guo'er's eyes were full of lingering fear.

"If you hadn't taught me to suck on a dried plum and prepared a cork wedge for me, I might not have been able to get past Doctor Xu."

Ume plums are sour, and sourness has a constricting effect, which can make the pulse thinner and more hesitant, but it takes a while for it to take effect.

Fortunately, there was still that soft wedge.

The pulse was stuck under her armpit. When Doctor Xu took her pulse, she squeezed her arm tightly, blocking the blood flow and causing the pulse to disappear, turning into a withered pulse of someone on the verge of death.

Xue Lingyi grasped her hand and patted the back of it.

"To my shame, I was so flustered just now that I almost forgot the method my master once taught me. Fortunately... the Prime Minister reminded me in time."

"You should thank him too."