Dingbei Hou's doctor brother

The Concubine Chen ordered the eunuch who was carrying the sedan chair to move forward, gently waving his round fan and looking down at the person standing there from above.

"Keep your head up."

Lu Ziqing raised his head slightly when he heard the voice, and his eyes happened to fall on the topaz hanging on the edge of the sedan chair.

The jade is translucent and has an icy texture. It is a carved Ruyi pendant. It does not look like Hetian jade. It is... yellow jadeite.

He thought to himself, "Jadeite is not available in the general public yet. Yellow jadeite of this quality is extremely rare and even rarely found among multinational jewelers. It differs from Lady Mei's white ice jadeite only in color."

Lu Ziqing thought again of the rotten papers in the Imperial Household Department that had been found but to no avail. The picture albums were destroyed. Did he really have to search for them one by one among the concubines?

He withdrew his thoughts, looked at Huang Yu expressionlessly, and said, "I didn't mean to offend you, please forgive me, Your Majesty."

The Concubine Chen looked him up and down and thought to herself, "His skin is fair and elegant, his features are handsome and his heroic spirit remains unchanged. He is indeed good-looking, but it's a pity that he is a reckless person."

"Are you the new imperial physician?" she asked knowingly.

Lu Ziqing responded respectfully, "Your Majesty, that's right."

"How long have you been at the Imperial Hospital?"

"More than half a month."

The Concubine Chen said with a gloomy face, "It has taken so long and they still haven't learned the palace rules. The Imperial Hospital has failed in its duty."

Chi Musheng's eyelids twitched when he heard this. Knowing the bad reputation of Concubine Chen, he quickly took over the conversation.

"Your Majesty, we were a little tired after finishing our work, and the heat made us dizzy. This happened suddenly and we didn't mean to collide. Please forgive us, Your Majesty."

Concubine Chen said nonchalantly, "As the imperial physician, I am responsible for the health of the emperor and the harem. The brain is particularly important, and there must not be any mistakes, but..."

She squinted at the sun and said, "It's really hot today. The two imperial physicians have worked so hard. I should also show some sympathy to the ministers on behalf of the emperor."

The Concubine Chen hooked her finger lightly and Hongxiu leaned over.

"Go, get some cooling and refreshing things for the two imperial physicians, and make sure they use them all up."

Only after the Concubine Chen left did the two of them breathe a sigh of relief.

"The Concubine Chen is notoriously domineering and moody. It's surprising that she didn't make things difficult for us today. This is unlike her style," said Chi Musheng.

It was the first time that Lu Ziqing met this Concubine Chen and he didn't know much about her deeds, but it was not difficult for Dan Cong Hongxiu to see that she was not a good person.

He glanced at the figure gradually disappearing in the distance and asked, "Who is this Empress Chen Fei?"

Chi Musheng said, "The Concubine Chen is the Emperor's favorite concubine, and her mother's family is a pillar of support in the court. Her father, Guo Zhou, is the commander-in-chief guarding the Ningdong border. Her younger brother is also in the military camp, serving as the commander-in-chief of the attack camp. They have made countless military achievements for Daning. The Concubine Chen is domineering because of her power, and even the palace maids around her are arrogant."

Guozhou! Ningdong Cavalry!

Lu Ziqing suddenly remembered the bad words the soldiers had said about this man in the Northern Expedition camp, and the thought "like father, like daughter" came to his mind.

The air was filled with heat waves, and the scorching sun shone on the jade slabs, making them so white that they were blinding.

It was lunchtime again, and there was no one in the bare corridor except Lu Ziqing and Chi Musheng.

The two waited for a quarter of an hour but no one came, and sweat could not stop coming out of their skin.

I had been busy all morning and hadn't had a drop of water. Add to that the hot weather and I was exhausted. Now I was hungry and had been exposed to the sun for most of the day.

Lu Ziqing's long-standing illness began to flare up. It felt like there was a fire burning in his stomach, and he felt a little anxious and dizzy.

He swayed a bit, and Chi Musheng quickly supported him. "How are you? Are you okay?"

Lu Ziqing squinted his eyes from time to time, feeling his stomach beating wildly and weakly, and he slowly slid down.

"It's okay, I'll just squat down and rest for a while."

Seeing him like this, Chi Musheng asked bluntly, "Do you have stomach problems?"

Lu Ziqing closed his eyes and nodded.

At this critical juncture, it is neither right to leave nor to stay.

Chi Musheng frowned and started to get anxious as he watched Lu Ziqing suffer without being able to help.

He stood up and looked back and forth several times, but there was still no one there. A quarter of an hour later, someone finally came to the end of the corridor.

In the past, he always wanted to stay away from these people, but only at this moment, Chi Musheng was looking forward to seeing them instead of running away.

He quickly squatted down to support Lu Ziqing and said, "Ziqing, they are coming. We can leave soon. Just bear with it."

Sweat was pouring down Lu Ziqing's cheeks, and he pursed his lips and nodded.

Hongxiu led six palace maids, each holding a tray covered with silk cloth, and six eunuchs followed behind them.

Just looking at this posture, Chi Musheng had a bad feeling. His eyes fell on the covered tray and he felt inexplicably panicked.

Hongxiu saw Lu Ziqing squatting on the ground, sweating profusely, with a weird look on his face.

"Oh, Doctor Lu is really overwhelmed by the heat. Luckily I arrived in time. I'll have some cool drinks to cool you down later."

Several eunuchs lifted the silk cloth on the six trays. Chi Musheng's eyes suddenly widened and his face turned from red to white.

Each tray contained a large basin of finely crushed ice. This was to...

Before he could recover from his surprise, he heard Hongxiu's voice.

"Our queen is kindhearted. She appreciates that you, the imperial physician, have to see patients throughout the palace in this hot weather, so she specially gave you two these cool drinks to cool you down."

Even if you are extremely thirsty on a hot day, you should not drink too much ice water immediately.

If the stomach is suddenly stimulated by coldness, the spleen and stomach qi will be damaged, the body will be hot outside and cold inside, and the internal organs will be weak and cold, which will easily lead to vomiting blood or sudden death.

Not to mention that Lu Ziqing had stomach problems, even a normal person couldn't bear it. If he really ate all the ice, it would be equivalent to a disguised death sentence.

Chi Musheng had been wondering why Concubine Chen had changed her personality, but he didn't expect her to be waiting here.

He was furious and didn't intend to hold back, so he shouted at Hongxiu: "Does the queen want us to die?"

Hongxiu disagreed and snorted, "Doctor Chi, you are too serious. This is just ice, not poison. It won't kill anyone."

Chi Musheng stared at her, "What if you don't eat it?"

"It's okay if you don't eat it?" Hongxiu said, turning her face away.

"If the Emperor knew that two unruly imperial physicians had offended the Empress and caused her to suffer nightmares, I wonder what punishment they would receive. Perhaps beating them to death? Imprisonment? Or perhaps a lighter punishment, just a few dozen strokes of the cane or even dismissal from office and expulsion from the palace?"

Chi Musheng's eyes were cold, and his hanging hands were clenched into fists. Suddenly, his mind emerged with the scene of him being slapped in the face and forced to eat live earthworms by these two masters and servants not long after entering the palace. He was filled with hatred.

He stepped forward without warning and punched the ice.

"Clang-"

The porcelain basin fell to the ground and broke into several large pieces, with ice chips scattered all over the ground. Several palace maids screamed and stepped back.

Before he could smash the second pot, several eunuchs came forward and quickly detained him.

Chi Musheng struggled hard, staring fiercely at Hongxiu and scolding her, "You vicious woman, you're going too far!"

"Vicious woman?"

Hongxiu had a sinister look on her face. She walked slowly up to him and slapped him twice in the face.

"Today I'll show you what a vicious woman is. Beat her to death."

After receiving the order, several eunuchs nearby immediately rushed forward and started beating and kicking Chi Musheng. He was being held captive and had no way to resist, so he could only shout.

Lu Ziqing covered his stomach and slowly stood up despite the pain.

Once, in order to save a child from bandits, he was forced to drink lime water. He carried the child on a life-or-death journey, and after returning, he suffered for several days and nights but did not die. However, his stomach and intestines were damaged.

Eating some ice cubes is nothing right now, he bent down and grabbed Hongxiu's arm, saying with difficulty.

"Don't...don't hit him, I'll eat it."

"Ziqing, don't eat! Don't eat! Lu Ziqing...ah..." Chi Musheng was bleeding from his mouth and nose, kneeling on the ground and shouting, "You have a stomach problem and you will die if you eat it, don't eat it!"

The louder Chi Musheng shouted, the harder he was beaten. Before long, the subcutaneous layer of his eyes and cheeks was covered with bruises.

Lu Ziqing suppressed his anger and continued to plead with Hongxiu, "Don't hit him, I'll eat it, I'll eat it right away."

He grabbed some ice chips from the porcelain basin beside him and stuffed handfuls into his mouth. The coldness slid down his throat into his aching stomach, causing him another sharp pain.

"Lu Ziqing... I told you not to eat, did you hear me? Ah..."

The shouting beside him continued, but Lu Ziqing seemed not to hear it. What he was eating was not ice, but hope and opportunity.

The scorching sun was like a bystander at this moment, leaving Lu Ziqing's hands alone immersed in the thick layer of ice, his fingertips frozen red.

It was a hot day, and his face was extremely pale, his body trembling uncontrollably, and an unbearable pain spread from his abdomen throughout his body until it pulled him to the ground.

As I closed my eyes, a loud shout rang in my ears.

"Lu Ziqing!!"