Denghuangtai

The old doctor's gaze was deep and his tone was exceptionally serious, as if a thunderbolt had struck Pei Qingyan and Yun Zheng's hearts.

Upon hearing this, Pei Qingyan's heart sank. She subconsciously looked up and saw Yun Zheng's eyes suddenly turn cold and his face darken, clearly quite frightened by the old doctor's words. After regaining her composure, she complained to the old doctor, "You're scaring me again."

The old doctor was already furious at Pei Qingyan's indifferent attitude, but now, after being questioned repeatedly, his temper flared. His eyes widened instantly, and he angrily retorted, "I am a doctor, not a charlatan who swindles people all day long! I have no need to scare people all the time. You know in your heart whether what I say is true or false. Dare you say that over the years, you haven't felt your energy declining? You often feel physically exhausted?"

Pei Qingyan coughed lightly and offered a dry explanation: "Isn't it because I'm getting old?"

"Old age?" The old doctor raised his voice, his beard bristling and eyes wide with anger. "I'm fifty and I don't feel old at all. How dare you, at such a young age, claim to be old? That's utterly absurd."

Pei Qingyan twitched the corner of his mouth, thinking to himself, "People always need to find excuses for themselves, right? You can't just keep thinking you're going to die, can you? If you do, how can you have the will to live?"

She remained silent, her eyes lowered. Seeing this, the old doctor assumed she felt guilty and dared not say anything more.

The old doctor secretly regretted his words and silently reflected on them, realizing he had been too harsh. Pei Qingyan was, after all, a young lady, pampered since childhood, and had rarely been spoken to harshly. To have her past exposed like this in front of her beloved was likely to make her lose face…

"Well..." the old doctor said in a gentler tone, "Don't worry too much, there's still room for maneuver."

After a long silence, Yun Zheng finally spoke, eagerly asking, "How can we turn things around?"

The old doctor pointed at Pei Qingyan, "Leave her here and take good care of her. In less than two..." The old doctor originally wanted to say two years, but after thinking about it, he felt that given Pei Qingyan's restless nature, two years was a bit too short. He changed his mind after the word "two" had been on his lips.

He held up four fingers. "Four years. In less than four years, this body will be just like a normal person's. But—"

He then changed the subject, saying, "It will take some more time to recover to the state of a martial artist."

"This is too tedious," Pei Qingyan complained.

"Stop dawdling?" The old doctor glanced at her, intending to immediately yell, "If you think this is too much trouble, just find a rope and kill yourself to settle the score!"

But he only dared to say these words in his heart, not out loud. After all, he was genuinely afraid of these two living ancestors in front of him.

Who knows… no, he was certain. As soon as he said that, one glare shot over, and the other, while not quite ready to actually hang himself, might just grab a knife and fight to the death…

None of my ancestors were easy to deal with.

That day, he went out with the guards from the Grand Minister's mansion; it was truly the worst decision of his life.

Despite his anger and rage, the old doctor still held Pei Qingyan in high esteem, a general who had seen many battles. Suppressing his anger, he gently advised, "A breach in a thousand-mile dike is not something that can be accomplished in a day, and naturally, repairing it will not be done overnight either. We must proceed gradually."

"Oh." Pei Qingyan responded reluctantly, her mind already calculating what she would need to explain and deploy regarding matters outside if she stayed in the Prince's mansion to recuperate for many years.

"Don't just lie there," the old doctor said.

Pei Qingyan tilted her head, looking at the old doctor with confusion. "What else can I do if I don't lie down?" She gestured towards her legs. "They're all bandaged up, so I can't walk even if I wanted to."

The old doctor was quite a genius. Despite his anger and cursing, he didn't neglect his skills. He took the time to fill Pei Qingyan's legs and feet with silver needles. Now, Pei Qingyan looked like a porcupine with sparse quills, and the kind that was completely paralyzed.

The old doctor rolled his eyes. "What I mean is, take this opportunity to promote blood circulation and use the force of the silver needles to slowly clear the blockages in your body."

"oh."

Pei Qingyan readily agreed, closed her eyes, and began to circulate her inner energy. As soon as she started, her blood and qi began to surge, and she felt a metallic taste in her throat. Afraid that she would spit out another mouthful of blood and frighten Yun Zheng, she gritted her teeth and swallowed the blood back down.

Seeing her brows furrowed and beads of sweat constantly appearing on her forehead, Yun Zheng knew she was enduring excruciating pain. He looked at the old doctor and, not wanting to disturb Pei Qingyan, slowly mouthed a few words to the old doctor: "Mafeisan (麻沸散)."

The old doctor shook his head. Although the anesthetic could relieve pain, it also anesthetized the patient, rendering her unconscious. This meant she couldn't exert herself to promote blood circulation; she would have to rely solely on her willpower to overcome this hurdle.

"I'll go brew the medicine." The old doctor couldn't bear to watch such a cruel scene any longer, so he bowed and slipped away.

Only Pei Qingyan and Yun Zheng remained in the room, silent except for the occasional groan. It was the sound Pei Qingyan let out through gritted teeth when he couldn't hold back anymore; the sound was low and faint, making it particularly heartbreaking to hear...

At night, Pei Qingyan was lying in the room, just about to drift off to sleep, when he suddenly heard the sound of the window being opened.

She immediately woke up, opened her eyes, and sat up.

By the moonlight, she could vaguely see a thin figure. The person carefully slipped in through the window and tiptoed toward the bed.

Pei Qingyan coughed and lowered his voice, saying, "The door wasn't bolted. Next time, you don't need to jump out the window; just use the door."

The figure paused for a moment upon hearing this, then quickly walked to the bedside and said with a grin, "Thank you, my lord."

Although Pei Qingyan still couldn't see the person's face clearly, this figure and the way he sat down on her bedside without any politeness could only be Yuan Man, that fox.

"Is there any progress?" Pei Qingyan asked.

Yuan Man sighed and said ambiguously, "I'd say it's a little bit."

"What do you mean by 'consider'?" Pei Qingyan asked, utterly confused.

Yuan Man sighed again, "I found the documents from when that Grand Minister of Works was serving as the Palace Attendant. Judging from the documents I found, he shouldn't have been involved in military affairs; most of his cases involved interrogating officials in the court. But..."

He shook his head and sighed, "Even if these documents were archived, it would be impossible to register them one by one. Therefore, I cannot be sure whether these documents have been tampered with."

The implication is that the documents found are genuine, but whether all the information is fabricated is uncertain.

Investigating this kind of truth, the worst thing is encountering ambiguous or vague information...

"I also gleaned some information from Yun Zheng today," Pei Qingyan said thoughtfully. "He said he hadn't been involved in any military supplies or preparations. If we haven't secretly attracted his attention, then this information can be believed."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Man's eyes lit up. He put his arm around Pei Qingyan's shoulder and laughed, "That's great, my Lord."