Tangli Fried Snow

Jin Cheng has been extremely busy lately, only managing to visit Xue Li once in secret. He hadn't slept for days and nights, his face pale. Holding Xue Li, he said, "Xi An is probably not going to make it. He won't take any medicine, he's unconscious, and his high fever won't go down. He's been sick for so long, and his body is obviously worn out. If anything happens to him, won't the Song Dynasty be left without a successor? Then the world will be in chaos, and we will all die without a burial place."

Sherry asked in surprise, "Didn't the imperial physician stay by the Third Prince's side for twelve hours a day? I heard he was doing better a few days ago, so why is medicine suddenly ineffective?"

Jin Cheng smiled bitterly: "Children of royal families are given all kinds of supplements from the womb. Since they were born, they have been given all kinds of supplements as long as they can eat. All kinds of medicines have long been toxic and have mutual antagonism in their bodies. He has been sick for days, but no disease can be found. He just has a fever, a low cough and difficulty breathing every day. Medicine and acupuncture are of no use."

He paused, then said with difficulty, "I'm afraid he won't last another two or three days."

After Jin Cheng finished speaking, he seemed to have lost his soul, let out a deep sigh, and could no longer speak.

These are extraordinary times. The emperor has passed away, the crown prince is imprisoned, the second prince is missing, and the third prince is seriously ill. If Zhao Xi'an dies and the crown prince in prison ascends the throne, the empress and the Jin family will not have a good end. The best outcome would be for the empress to live out her days as a concubine in the deep palace, for Jin Cheng to live a life of leisure and idleness, and for General Jin to continue serving the country until he dies on the battlefield.

If the Crown Prince had been more ruthless, the Jin family might have faced the risk of being wiped out or even having their entire clan executed.

The struggle for power has always been like this: it's either life or death, there's no gray area.

The examples of Consort Liu and Grand Tutor Liu serve as cautionary tales.

Sherry inquired about the Third Prince's symptoms in detail. It seemed to be acute pneumonia or a highly contagious flu. After much consideration, she secretly took out three antibiotics and ibuprofen from her backpack, wrapped them in a handkerchief, and solemnly handed them to Jin Cheng.

In the dim candlelight, Sherry's little face radiated an unusual seriousness.

Sherry instructed him to give this to the Third Prince, saying, "Take this medicine to your nephew and let him try it."

Jin Cheng asked in surprise and doubt, "What is this? Why is it so strange? I've never seen anything like it before!"

Shirley coaxed him, "This is a miracle medicine from Duan Jingyu's place. Once, I was so sick that I couldn't get out of bed. I had a fever, a cough, and convulsions. I almost died. This medicine saved my life. I only have a few pills here, and that's all. You should take it to Xi'an and try it."

As she spoke, she used a knife to cut off some powder from the pill, then swallowed it with a flick of her tongue. "Look, it's not poisonous. This is a miracle cure for high fever. One pill is worth a fortune. You should take it now."

"One pill a day for three days, and the disease will be cured."

Jin Cheng has recently collected many miraculous medicines to bring to his nephew, but none of them have been effective. The child is too young and can't take much medicine before vomiting it up. Even if he manages to take some, it has no effect. Today, I heard that he's started delirious with fever and can no longer be fed any medicine.

"Crush this into powder, mix it with a little water, and feed it to him. Go quickly," Shirley urged.

Jin Cheng thought to himself, "I'll trust her this once, and give it a shot!"

When he arrived at his nephew's place with the medicine, there was a panic in the main hall. It turned out that Zhao Xi'an had started to have a high fever, convulsions, and foaming at the mouth again, and the room was in chaos.

The empress was terrified, her face drained of color. If her beloved son died, what use was this power? Was she to ascend the throne and become an empress? Had she just lost her husband and now her son? What hope did this widow have left?

She was cold all over, her face was pale, her hands were trembling, and she was completely lost.

Jin Cheng quickly took the medicine inside, first comforting his sister, and then instructing the imperial physician to give Zhao Xi'an two pills.

The medicine was ground into powder, mixed with water, and then several palace servants forcibly pried open the third prince's teeth and forced him to swallow it.

Fortunately, he swallowed it all at once this time without vomiting it up, thus saving the precious antibiotics from being wasted.

People in ancient times never came into contact with antibiotics. As long as the symptoms were right, one pill could kill all the viruses in the body.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Zhao Xi'an was visibly sweating profusely, his fever subsided, his breathing became steady, and after a nap, he opened his eyes and sat up with a clear mind, saying that he was hungry and wanted to drink porridge.

The Empress wept with joy and personally fed her son some porridge. Jin Cheng, watching from the side, was inwardly churning with turmoil. This little vixen's medicine truly deserved to be called a miraculous elixir, a cure-all! She had done the most merit this time, and he would have to reward her handsomely.

Suddenly, a flood of doubts welled up in his mind, and as if remembering something else, his face turned ashen.

Jin Cheng frowned, a question lingering in his mind.

As evening fell, the Empress, who had been busy for several days, finally couldn't stay awake any longer. Seeing that her son's breathing was steady, she went back to sleep peacefully. Zhao Xi'an also fell into a deep sleep, and his condition did not relapse. Several palace servants, who had been busy for days and nights, also couldn't stay awake any longer. Seeing their young master sleeping soundly, they dozed off beside him.

Jin Cheng secretly lurked in his nephew's palace, like a cheetah lying in wait in the darkness, until the fourth watch of the night.

Sure enough, a very light footstep was heard in the quiet of the night. Jin Cheng was getting drowsy while waiting, but he suddenly woke up. He looked closely and saw a palace maid sneaking into Zhao Xi'an's palace. Her face was wrapped in bandages and she was carrying some clothes, which she was putting on Zhao Xi'an's head and face.

Jin Cheng suddenly sprang into action and apprehended the man on the spot.

Besides Jin Cheng, several guards rushed in from outside the palace, and a group of them held the middle-aged palace maid down tightly.

Jin Cheng shouted, "What a vicious thing! Did you repeatedly pass on the disease to the Third Prince?"

The palace maid struggled fiercely, but she was no match for these burly men and was pinned down, unable to move. Several guards entered with torches, instantly illuminating the palace.

The veil covering her face was pulled down, revealing her to be of average appearance, around thirty years old, an ordinary palace maid who swept and cleaned in the Empress's palace. At this moment, she was being pressed to the ground with her hair disheveled. Seeing that the situation was hopeless and there was no way to escape, she shot a cold light of hatred in her eyes and shouted, "I have done my duty to the Imperial Noble Consort!"

Upon hearing this, Jin Cheng's heart trembled. It turned out that the dead Huang Wanqing was behind this.

Before he could interrogate her further, she glared at him, her face contorted in anger, and with a sudden effort, bit her tongue and committed suicide on the spot. Caught off guard, Jin Cheng tried to pry her mouth open, but it was too late. Enraged, he launched into a tirade against the guards.

Upon hearing the news, the Empress rushed over in the middle of the night. After learning the whole story, she ordered a thorough investigation with a grim face. The imperial physician carefully examined the things she brought and determined that they were the clothes of patients with lung disease or infectious diseases. Someone had deliberately collected them and brought them to infect the Third Prince with these diseases.

The Empress was furious and immediately ordered the filthy object to be burned. She also ordered that Huang Wanqing's body be found and her bones crushed and scattered to the winds.

The people sent out searched everywhere, but they couldn't find Huang Wanqing's body. Her maid, Suiying, had also hanged herself, and the matter remained a mystery forever.

The Empress sent people to issue an arrest warrant for the Second Prince, promising a thousand gold pieces as a reward to anyone who could capture Zhao Muqing, regardless of whether he lived or died.

. . . .