After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

Marquis Yongchang looked at the Crown Prince: "As a son, do you know that your father is ill?"

"Your Excellency asks such a question. Everyone knows that the Emperor is seriously ill." The Crown Prince said, "If you have something to say, Your Excellency may speak frankly."

Marquis Yongchang sneered: "Everyone says that His Highness the Crown Prince is filial, but now it seems that it's all a lie. As a son, he didn't even know that his father had been ill for a long time."

The crown prince looked bewildered; he truly did not know.

The Marquis of Yongchang told him that the Emperor suffered from bone pain, a condition that had plagued him since his teens. Each flare-up was excruciating, yet no specific cause could be found. Fortunately, the pain wasn't constant; it only occurred at certain times. But what those specific times were, no one knew, and no pattern could be discerned.

Because of his bone pain, he was often reprimanded by the retired emperor, who thought he was faking illness to slack off. Because of his bone pain, he was also often reprimanded by the empress dowager, who thought he was being negligent. Because of his bone pain, he could not learn martial arts or horsemanship, and was therefore considered unworthy of inheriting the vast empire of Northern Liang.

Those he cared about didn't trust him and couldn't see the torment he suffered from bone pain. Even those who cared about him couldn't see the efforts and pain he endured for the position of Crown Prince and Emperor; they only cared whether he was qualified and capable.

The Marquis of Yongchang angrily rebuked the Crown Prince: "He is the Crown Prince, the Emperor, your father, but beneath these identities, he is a human being. Has any of you ever truly cared about him or paid attention to him?"

The crown prince was speechless; he truly did not know that his father suffered from bone pain.

The Marquis of Yongchang then said that after the Emperor ascended the throne, he originally intended to stay by the Emperor's side to assist him. However, the Emperor remembered the promise he made to him when he was a child and let him leave the palace to roam freely. On their parting, they drank and made merry, but before they could even drink, the Emperor's bone pain flared up.

Surrounded by people, he had to maintain the emperor's dignity and dared not let anyone know, so he forced himself to enter the palace. He curled up on the ground, feeling like he was dying, and endured it for three long hours. After regaining his senses, he looked at the Marquis of Yongchang who was guarding him and asked with a smile, "Was I very pathetic? If they had seen me, they would have laughed at me. My life was predetermined. What I do, what I learn, who I marry, and whose children I have are all arranged by others. Even my food, clothing, and shelter are not up to me. Only you are an exception."

The Emperor knew he couldn't escape the cage called the Imperial Palace, so he asked the Marquis of Yongchang to help him go out and see the world, to see sights he'd never seen before, to meet people he'd never met, and to eat things he'd never tasted before. If one day he grew tired of it, he could return to the capital, and the Emperor would grant him any title—marquis, prince, or even the throne.

Marquis Yongchang didn't care about those things; he only cared about the Emperor's health and wanted to alleviate his suffering.

He agreed to the emperor's request to leave the capital, not for sightseeing, but to seek a cure for his bone pain. He didn't love the country, nor the common people, and felt little concern for their suffering. In his view, the state of the country was irrelevant to him, nor was the plight of the people.

Poverty or war, he brought it upon himself; it had nothing to do with him. He did not harm anyone, nor did he need to bear any responsibility for it.

But his elder brother loved the world. From birth, everything he learned and did was for the world and for the common people. He wanted his people to live happy and peaceful lives. Because of this love for his elder brother, he did those things that benefited the people.

Lu Zhiyuan let out a long sigh: "No wonder your style of doing things is both righteous and wicked, it turns out it's because you love the house and its crows. The Marquis has never married, nor does he have anyone he likes. The Marquis, you don't happen to be in love with the Emperor, do you?"

Marquis Yongchang did not reply, his expression calm, seemingly acknowledging Lu Zhiyuan's guess.

Lu Zhiyuan touched the tip of her nose and didn't continue speaking.

After five years of searching, the Marquis of Yongchang finally discovered the cause of the Emperor's bone pain. Someone had inserted a needle into his thigh when he was a child. The needle traveled with the blood, causing pain wherever it was inserted. Who inserted the needle and when is unknown. The needle is an external object, not a disease, hence the imperial physicians could not diagnose it.

The doctor did make the diagnosis, but the needles had been inside the emperor's body for so many years that they had become one with his body, making it extremely difficult to remove them.

To remove the needle, Marquis Yongchang searched for two more years, finally finding a Gu doctor in the southern borderlands. That Gu doctor used Gu worms to remove the silver needle that had been lodged in the emperor's body.

Over twenty years, the emperor's body had been riddled with holes by that silver needle.

Even if it were removed, he wouldn't live much longer. After that, Marquis Yongchang focused on finding a way to prolong his life.

Over the years, he had traveled to many places and tried many methods, but the results only got worse, until he heard the legend, went to the village, and saw the giant snake that the villagers had been talking about.

He lived in the village for a year, carefully observing every villager and exploring every legend. He discovered that anyone bitten by the giant snake but not killed would live a long life and their appearance would not change much.

To verify his hypothesis, he deliberately moved near the snake's nest and ordered his men to capture a vicious and ruthless person and throw him near the snake's nest.

Most of them were eaten by snakes, but one survived. The Marquis of Yongchang took him in and observed his every change.

He had seen many people bitten by snakes, but his wound was different from theirs. The wound was entangled in something like spider silk, likely the saliva of a large snake. However, unlike saliva, it was unusually sticky, impossible to remove, pull out, or cut, tightly connected to the victim's veins. The victim hadn't lost much blood, yet the wound was difficult to heal, even the best wound medicine in the royal court was ineffective.

While wounds heal and leave unsightly scars, the body undergoes subtle but noticeable changes. For example, one may become stronger, less prone to illness, and even recover from previous ailments.

The survivor suffered from a stomach ailment, unable to eat sour or spicy foods, and unable to be full or hungry. Eating, or being full or hungry, would cause him unbearable abdominal pain. During the time his wounds were healing, he had personally witnessed him writhing in bed, clutching his stomach. He had called a doctor, whose diagnosis was exactly the same as his own.

After the wound healed, his symptoms disappeared. To find out the cause, he ordered his abdomen to be cut open to examine his stomach. The coroner's examination revealed that there were two small holes in his stomach, which were the main cause of his stomach pain. In addition, his stomach was larger and thinner than that of a normal person, which was likely related to his lifestyle habits in his early years.

After being bitten by a large snake, his stomach was wrapped in something like spider silk. The coroner and doctor both believed that the spider silk was the key to preventing him from feeling stomach pain.

"Was his increased strength also related to those spider silks?"

"It's not that my strength has increased, but that I've lost feeling for those things." Marquis Yongchang looked at his hands: "I don't know what pain, weight, or lightness is anymore."