Sun Miaoyang frowned. He checked Qin Yunuan’s expression repeatedly and asked Qin Yunuan to show him her tongue. After a careful inspection, he said sincerely, “Girl, did you recently eat something that you shouldn’t?”
Qin Yunuan shook her head. Seeing Sun Miaoyang looking troubled, she said openly, “Doctor Sun, just tell me what’s wrong.”
“If you didn’t eat anything by mistake, then someone must have drugged you.” Sun Miaoyang nodded. “Any normal doctor could tell that your pulse shows a sign of pregnancy. However, it’s just part of it. Let me put it this way. Five percent of your pulse is weak. Apparently, you’re drugged with agrimony.”
“Agrimony?” Qin Yunuan asked in confusion, “What’s that?”
“Agrimony is a precious herb from the remote areas of West Xia. Few people know about it, fewer could get hold of it. The local women use this herb on skincare. Although it has the effect of maintaining youth and beauty, it has some side effects, just like pregnancy. Not only would there be morning sickness, but even the pulses are the same. If I hadn’t known about this herb, I couldn’t tell the problem in your pulse.”
After Sun Miaoyang finished explaining, he asked Qin Yunuan cautiously, “Girl, did you cross some big shots? Agrimony is extremely rare. Apart from people like me who deal with herbs for many years or those with years of street experiences, no one knows the use of the herb.”
“I don’t know.” Qin Yunuan tilted her head to hide her anxiety, but the first person who came to her mind was Guo Shidong. That was because he was the first one who found out that she was “pregnant.” However, they had never met before, why would he do that? Or actually, they had. Qin Yunuan shivered. Guo Shidong had been wearing a mask all this time, and no one had ever seen his face. Or actually, he was trying to hide the fact that everyone had seen his face before.
“Leng Shuang,” Qin Yunuan decisively ordered Leng Shuang against her ear, “I want to know the truth in three days.”
Leng Shuang bit her lips. It was quite a tough task that Qin Yunuan gave her, but the only thing she could do was to try her best.
Seeing Qin Yunuan so decisive and powerful, Sun Miaoyang couldn’t help but exclaimed, “Apparently, you aren’t the little girl Chenghai always thought about. You’ve grown, and you’re quite powerful now.”
Qin Yunuan forced a smile and said, “Here’s a side room. If Doctor Sun don’t mind, you can stay here first.”
Sun Miaoyang carefully stared at Qin Yunuan for quite a while, before he suddenly returned to a childish manner, “Sure, sure! I’ve been to the palaces of Qi, West Xia and North Di. Why should I care? I feel just like home being here.”
Just when Sun Miaoyang finished his sentence, the earth started shaking tremendously, as if a dragon underneath was awake and was about to break itself free. A pavilion built on a far-away hill was beginning to collapse. They could even see the mountains in the distance starting to sink. The shaking of earth was becoming more and more drastic. Qin Yunuan knew that it was the earthquake.
“Nuan.” Leng Changxi’s figure suddenly appeared by the courtyard door. The strong shock made it hard for him to walk. Seeing Qin Yunuan covering her head, he tried his best to run towards her. Meanwhile, Sun Miaoyang was nowhere to be found.
“Nuan, don’t be afraid, I’m here.” Leng Changxi closely protected Qin Yunuan in his arms. While he was running, his ankle was cut by a rock, with blood oozing from the wound. However, Leng Changxi seemed not to have noticed. He hugged Qin Yunuan tighter in his arms, as he was afraid that Qin Yunuan would get hurt at all.
Crash, a rock fell on Leng Changxi’s back heavily. The muffled sound was daunting.
“Honey, your shoulder’s bleeding.” Qin Yunuan hurriedly tried to cover the bleeding wound for Leng Changxi, but she couldn’t even stand firmly.
“Don’t worry. Squat, it’s better this way.” Leng Changxi was squatting in an open area, holding Qin Yunuan in his arms, who was unable to stand to her feet. His big hands were like a helmet, protecting Qin Yunuan’s head, as he comforted her, “Don’t be afraid, Nuan. I’m here. Everything’s going to be fine.”
The earthquake happened suddenly and ended suddenly, like a storm. However, after the disaster, everything was a mess. Luckily, it took seven years to build the palace, and its structure was incredibly solid. Apart from the damage of plants in the garden, the most damaged buildings were only half-tilted but not collapsed. Most of the people weren’t hurt at all apart from the mental shock.
Looking at the mess after the earthquake, Qin Yunuan became heavy in the mood. She knew that as soon as the emperor ordered to evacuate the palace overnight, Leng Changxi had sent people to evacuate the residents of the Prince Ning’s Mansion, including nurse Liao and Baochuan. But what about the normal citizens in the royal city?
Soon, people from the Leng Army came to report the loss of the earthquake. “General, we’ve done the headcount. There’s a total of 531 people. There are 301 palace servant girls and eunuchs, all safe apart from a few who risked their lives to protect their masters. The other 230 are officials and nobles. It’s just that….”
“Say it.” Leng Changxi held back the pain on his back, and his glance was still sharp and focused as always.
“It’s just that more than half of the officials and nobles tried to retrieve their properties during the earthquake, and more than twenty of them get hurt. The more severe ones have their arms and legs hurt by the falling rocks.”
“Alright, dismiss. Everything will go on as planned. General Shang will be in charge of the east and west gates, while Leng Wu will be in charge of the south and north gates.” Leng Changxi managed to hold himself together until he finished giving every detailed order. Then, he leant towards Qin Yunuan weakly and said, “Nuan, let me take a rest. I’m a bit tired.”
Qin Yunuan held Leng Changxi in her arms in distress, and she wanted to soothe him by patting his back. However, she felt some thick and sticky liquid. When she raised her hand to check it out, she found that her fingertips were stained with blood.
“Honey, honey, wake up!” Qin Yunuan shook the slightly dazed Leng Changxi. He lost so much blood and got hit by rocks on the ankle and the shoulder. Normal people would have passed out already. However, Leng Changxi held on for that long just because he wanted to protect Qin Yunuan, even risking his own life.
Right then, Maner and Ting Xue came from the side room. As soon as they saw what happened, they became extremely anxious as well.
“Go, go find Doctor Sun.” Qin Yunuan suddenly reminded that there was a legendary doctor in the courtyard, she couldn’t waste it.
Maner and Ting Xue still didn’t know about Sun Miaoyang’s visit yet, but they understood as soon as they listened to Qin Yunuan’s explanation.
Soon, the unkempt Sun Miaoyang, looking even dirtier than before, was brought to Qin Yunuan.
“Save him.” Qin Yunuan didn’t say anything redundant.
Sun Miaoyang rolled his rascally eyes and took a glance at Leng Changxi’s arm and gasped, “Tsk-tsk-tsk, his arm is dislocated, and the bone at his ankle is exposed. It’s not hard to save him, but I’ve not been saving someone for too long, and I’m not used to it now. It would be easy for me to kill him though.” After he finished, he pretended that he wanted to twist Leng Changxi’s neck but was stopped by Maner and Ting Xue.
“I’m not pleading you. I’m demanding you. Doctor Sun, you have to save my husband.” Qin Yunuan’s glance is filled with irresistible aggressiveness.
“Nope.” Sun Miaoyang turned his head sideways, “I’m here just because I want to see how the girl, whom my silly apprentice loved for so long, looks like. I’m not here to save someone’s life for you for free.”
Old urchins wouldn’t change their decisions easily. Qin Yunuan narrowed her eyes and suddenly drew a dagger from her waist, as long as a palm and as thin as paper. The moment that Sun Miaoyang raised his head, she put the dagger against Sun Miaoyang’s neck. If Sun Miaoyang dared to move, the sharp dagger could easily slit his skin.
Leng Changxi deliberately gave this dagger to Qin Yunuan so that she could protect herself. As the dagger was light and thin, people wouldn’t notice even if she hides it on her.
Sun Miaoyang finally yielded. He wasn’t really afraid of Qin Yunuan, but he was shocked by the firmness in her eyes. He knew that the masked weirdo was irreplaceable to this little girl.
An earthquake, a mess. After Sun Miaoyang cleared up Leng Changxi’s wound, he had disappeared again. Right when Qin Yunuan sent Qin Yuzhao’s servant girl, who came to ask about the situation, away, Maner came from the other side in a panic.
“Something’s wrong. Something’s happened to the emperor.” Maner said in a hurry, “After the earthquake, the suspicious Taoist appeared again, saying that it was a disaster that he expected. He also said that it was all because of the Seventh Prince, and he is now asking the emperor to send the Seventh Prince on exile as far away from Qi as possible.”
Guo Shidong, he’s here again. Qin Yunuan stroked her abdomen. She was extremely suspicious about the identity of this Guo Shidong.
When Qin Yunuan arrived at the main hall, Xuanyuan Hall of the Vacation Palace, the tension inside was red-hot. She clenched the thing she was tightly holding in her hands, took a deep breath, and saw the scene when she walked in.
Emperor Zhaoxuan walked down the hall furiously and slapped the Seventh Prince Sima Qiu on the face a couple of times in front of countless nobles and officials. Sima Qiu was kneeling on the ground and knocked to the ground by the slaps. The sixteen-year-old young man was extremely not reconciled, and his eyes were full of viciousness.
“You Hoodoo! I shouldn’t have listened to the officials’ advice to take you back.”
This time, the party led by Minister Liu dared not say an extra word.
Just then, Eunuch You serving the emperor came in to report in a hurry, “Your Majesty, Infanta Ping wants to see you. She said that she has some important information that is related to everyone in the world.”
