Chapter 24: The Healer’s Heart
Prince Jing became more and more silent after the conspiracy and rebellion in Kyoto, except for one cry for the Empress Dowager when she held a national funeral, he never entered the palace again, and his part-time job as a flower farmer never appeared in front of the ministers again. The royal residence became the quietest place in Kyoto, and the door was only open to a few people, including Fan Xian.
Fan Xian inclined his head and put his fingers on Prince Jing’s wrist, his brows slightly furrowed, and after a moment, he released his fingers and said after thinking for a while, “The wind chill that I contracted two years ago has long since cleared up, it’s just that there’s always something wrong with this pulse, but I can’t tell what it is.”
Prince Jing glared and said, “Bullshit is not right, you follow Fei Jie that old man can learn what things? Get lost and get out of the way, the ready-made Green Mountain Famous Doctor is not used, what are you stopping here for.”
Qing Shan famous doctor naturally refers to Fan Ruo Ruo, Ruo Ruo today after entering the mansion, seems particularly quiet, because she really do not know how to face Prince Jing, at this time listening to this, and by Wan Er smiling look, know that can not hide over, went forward a blessing, and then seriously look up the pulse.
Fan Xian stifled a laugh and went aside, Prince Jing’s body under his and the Imperial Hospital’s care, of course nothing is wrong, earlier just acted out a scene with the king to let Ruo Ruo relax a bit.
But Prince Jing looked at Fan Ruoruo’s old and comforting look, like seeing Li Hongcheng and the woman in front of him in the marriage, smiling very weird, so how can Fan Ruoruo relax. Fortunately, once Fan Ruoruo treated the king as a patient, her expression became natural, and after a long time, she frowned and said, “What’s wrong with it? His Majesty’s body is extremely good.”
“My face looks old, but my body is actually good, Hong Cheng follows me on this point.”
Prince Jing narrowed his eyes and looked at the girl in front of him, saying, “Ruoruo ah, your age is also not small, if you change in other families I’m afraid that I would have married, that is, this brother of yours was fooling around and sent you out.”
Speaking here, Prince Jing glared at Fan Xian, then said gently to Ruo Ruo, “You have to think about it.”
Fan Ruo Ruo’s face abruptly went white, and she turned back to look at her brother, but she didn’t know where the shameless Fan Xian had run off to, leaving herself alone in this room.
In another part of the royal residence, Lin Wan’er sat by Fan Xian’s side and whispered, “Be careful when you return to the residence and your sister tears your skin off.”
Fan Xian shrugged uncaringly, “My sister never dares to yell at me, unlike you.”
Lin Wan Er has now given birth to a son, the biggest wish to solve, coupled with the day to day busy dealing with the Fan family and Hangzhou will be matters, busy, but gradually raised some solemn and rich look, the body is more plump.
But this county princess is beside Fan Xian, but can never be dignified, listening to this, so angry that a clenched teeth, twisted in his body, said: “only know to take words to stab me.”
“It’s good to be lively, you’re still a little girl, why bother pretending to be some kind of mother in charge.” Fan Xian laughed out loud and said, “It’s the one who cut her throat with a knife that year.”
This is the old story when a son overstepped the wall and went to the bedroom, Lin Wan’er couldn’t help but be shy when she heard him talk about it and forgot what she was going to say earlier. Rather, Fan Xian deliberated for a moment and then whispered in her ear: “I went to Dingzhou to see Hongcheng, these two years I also sent people to keep an eye on him, although he was playing in the bushes, but now it is not that look, you say he and Ruoruo in the end there is no possibility?”
Lin Wan Er glanced at him, thinking that only a character like husband in this world would have so many strange and bizarre ideas, his sister is already this old and he’s just starting to get anxious, what was he doing back then?
“Didn’t you say that if your sister is unwilling, you’d rather she didn’t marry?” She opened her big eyes and asked curiously, “Why did you change your mind again? No wonder you left her with the king.”
Fan Xian said with a bit of a headache, “Of course I won’t marry if I don’t like it, but the question is where in the world can I find a better man than Hong Cheng?”
Lin Wan Er listened to these words, also some for the little aunt anxious, began to frown bitterly think up, to see what good family in Kyoto, but after thinking about it, think of the little aunt’s standard, but can not find out a family.
The couple’s status is too expensive to mention, handling matters is also smart, but in some ways are a bit naive, no wonder that the first time we met in the Qing Temple, they will look at mung beans, right on the eye. After thinking for half a day, and not being able to think of a solution, Lin Wan’er took the lead to give up and said, “If you don’t marry, don’t marry, are you afraid that you won’t be able to feed a girl in your house?”
Hearing this, Fan Xian was happy, thinking that Wan Er had really changed under her own influence, and was about to break away from the evil feudalism.
His husband and wife were in a corner of the hall, laughing and gossiping. On the other side of the room, Si Si and a few old maids were holding a baby and talking with the princess Roujia, Roujia curiously hugged the baby and held it carefully, looking at the baby’s adorable appearance, she couldn’t help but laugh, giggling and silver-bell-like laughter rang through the hall, the scene was very happy and natural and friendly.
Being disturbed by the sound of laughter, Fan Xian lifted his head from Wan Er’s ear and glanced at Rou Jia who was wearing a Chu red pomegranate dress, his eyes narrowed. Obviously, it was a somewhat tacky dress, but wearing it on the little princess, with her well-behaved disposition, it instead appeared to add two points of brightness.
The little princess is not small, that year that shy lightly call idle brother’s twelve year old Zojia has become a big girl, temperament as always, well-behaved and lovely, identity, but serving the county king, respect aunt, good treatment of subordinates, in Kyoto’s reputation is very good, I do not know how many famous families look at the county king’s house, waiting for the house to open up.
Zojia this year full of seventeen, according to reason should have been fixed marriage, just the palace of His Majesty the Emperor pity Jing Wang a person in the House of loneliness, so this matter will be delayed for two years, but can not be delayed – Jing Wang a son and a daughter, Hiro adult nearly thirty, but still refused to get married, hiding to Dingzhou, this daughter always have to marry people is.
According to Fan Xian heard the wind, after the year the palace will give Zoujia marriage, according to the old Dai said, there have been a lot of dukes and ministers are in the palace secretly wrestling, are staring at the marriage on top.
Although marrying a county princess will cause many inconveniences and have an impact on your future, Zojia’s reputation in the capital is so good that no one cares about that. As for the future, Little Lord Fan also married a county princess, and is now just as powerful?
Everyone was thinking like this, desperately trying to go through the doors of several ladies in the palace, and some sharp-eyed and cunning people, thinking of Fan Xian’s relationship with the Jing Wang family, and the weight of his words in front of several ladies, even shamelessly went to beg Fan Xian.
Thinking about this, Fan Xian couldn’t help but smile bitterly, looking at Zuo Jia who was holding her child. In the blink of an eye, Roujia was getting married, and he had been in the capital for five years, and the changes were always unconsciously overwhelming people. Such a gentle and beautiful little county princess, also do not know which family’s son will be cheaper.
Zojia carefully held the little prince, and SiSi came together, trying to tell the difference between the little faces of Fan XiaoHua and Fan Liang’s siblings.
I don’t know if it was because holding a baby made her think of her own marriage, but the look in her eyes was a bit uneasy and confused. Although Si Si had already been a mom for two years, presiding over matters in the mansion along with Wan Er on a day-to-day basis, but the carelessness that Fan Xian had inculcated in her hadn’t changed at all, and she even grumpily approached Rou Jia’s ear and said a few words.
Si Si spoke in an extremely low voice, but County Head Roujia’s eyes were getting brighter and brighter, nodding her head repeatedly.
“This girl, again, I don’t know what ghost ideas she has.” Lin Wan’er had sharp eyes and saw this scene, reminding Fan Xian.
Fan Xian also had some drumming in his heart, and then watched as County Mistress Roujia handed the child to the old grandma, straightened her skirt, and slowly walked over.
Zojia made a deep bow to him, half squatted on the ground, and said softly, “Brother Idle.”
It had already been five years, and whenever the flushed, shy, and incredibly gentle little county princess uttered the three words, Brother Idle, Fan Xian would be so numbed that his body would go limp and he couldn’t wait to hurry and run away. He hurriedly picked himself up with a straight face and said, “Sister Roujia, how can this be.”
The little princess refused to get up, saying with a rare stubbornness, “Brother Idle has to promise me one thing, or else my sister won’t get up.”
“You have to say it first, then see if I can do it.” Fan Xian looked at Si Si over there, who was acting as if she had done nothing, and his heart thumped, thinking that this matter was definitely troublesome.
Roujia was slightly shy, her face flushed, and she said in a mosquito-like voice, “The palace will be appointing a bride in a year’s time, so I hope that my brother will make the decision.”
Fan Xian was shocked, thinking how could he make the decision on this kind of thing? Seemingly guessing what he was thinking, Sheriff Roujia said, “Brother is the Secretary of the Taishang Temple, how can you not make the decision?”
Fan Xian’s mouth was bitter, thinking that the Secretary of the Imperial Standing Temple is really not a human being, no matter if it’s the Grand Prince’s side consort or the County Lord’s marriage, how could he have to waste his own head!
When he thought about this, he was extremely angry with Ren Shao’an, originally Ren Shao’an was his close friend, and was the most powerful support in the three temples in the court, but two years ago, the patriarchal battle on the Great Eastern Mountain had scared this Lord Ren out of his wits, and in less than half a year, he looked for another place to run away on an errand, and as a result, he had handed over the post of the head of the Taishang Temple to Fan Xian naturally.
Fan Xian pondered for a moment, and said with difficulty, “You are the Queen Mother of the county, and the marriage is naturally a matter for the palace to talk about, so how can I intervene.”
Roujia lifted her face, her eyes reddened, and said, “If you have a method for sister Ruo Ruo’s marriage, why can’t Roujia? Could it be that Brother Idle really endures to see his sister marry poorly?”
Another voice of brother Idle, and the endless grudge in those eyes, where Fan Xian didn’t know what was going on in the little princess’s head, and secretly cried out in bitterness.
The two of them are cousins, Roujia grew into an adult before gradually cut off this mind, but the object of a young girl’s springtime, and where can be easily erased, Roujia even if there is no heart to Fan Xian, but also take him as the most can rely on the elder brother, even more than Hongcheng close to some.
Fan Xian can not help, looking at the soft Jia eyes seem to want to hang down the teardrops, in front of the eyes seems to emerge again under the grapevine that little girl’s lovely look, heart a soft, really do not want to let the palace arbitrarily pointed marriage, the boldness of a burst of hair: “Strike strike, the matter will be handed over to me, I’m going to the capital of the young people of the age of the young people are picked out, separated from the curtain, so that you pick yourself! ”
“The palace can choose a consort, I can also choose a good emperor’s son-in-law for you.”
Hearing this, the room was shocked, thinking that this is also too unseemly. Roujia, however, turned from sadness to joy, and smiled happily, blessing Fan Xian again and again, and then carefully standing beside him, holding the corner of his sleeve, as if afraid that he would not count on his words, and run away at all times, and said happily, “Thank you, Brother Idle.”
Lin Wan Er covered her mouth and smiled, thinking that Si Si’s idea was really good, her husband really can’t bear it, probably only he, this scoundrel, would come up with the idea of picking the extra horse harnessed by the side of a team through the curtain, this kind of shocking idea.
Right at this moment, Lin Dabao who was following the servants to spoil King Jing’s vegetable garden walked over from outside the hall, his body was covered with mud and his hands were black. Lin Wan Er took a look and hurriedly greeted her, painfully calling for water to wash her hands.
Dabao just stared blankly at Fan Xian and Roujia, who was holding his sleeve, and wondered why this little sister was trying to steal his place, so he was in a somewhat bad mood. Pulling Wan’er’s hand, he walked over to Fan Xian’s side, clutched Fan Xian’s other sleeve, glared at Zojia, and cooed, “Little Xian Xian, I’m hungry and want to eat a bun.”
Everyone laughed, only Fan Xian’s expression was extremely helpless.
County princess Roujia and Fan Ruo Ruo grew up in the same place since they were young, their friendship was naturally very good, if they returned to Kyoto for the first time, the two girls didn’t know how many words they had to say, and they hadn’t even finished talking by evening, so with a wave of his hand, Prince Jing let the county princess follow the carriage of the Fan Mansion, and stayed in the Fan Mansion for five, six, or seven days before going back to the royal residence.
Two days later, Fan Xian took his sister out of the city again. This time, he went to the Chen Garden in the countryside, which was far away and difficult to walk, plus the newly renovated Chen Garden had more beautiful concubines with bare breasts and bare stomachs, so Wan’er and SiSi had a headache once they went there, so they resolutely didn’t go there this time, while County Head RouJia was afraid of Chen’s old abbot herself, so she also resolutely didn’t go there.
Fan Xian siblings had to go on their own, Chen Pingping as an elder, coupled with his relationship with Fan Jian’s comradeship, Fan Ruoruo returned to the capital, if they do not go to pay their respects, how can not be said.
Once into the Chen garden, the scenery is still the same, perhaps even better than before, the old Qin family rebellion when the fire, in addition to let Chen Pingping more to the inner treasury to ask for more reasons for silver, did not cause any impact, green mountains or that mountain, the ambush organs in the outer forest is still strict, the garden of the beauty of the concubines is still that beautiful, even the singing of the children or sang the sister of the text.
After entering the garden and speaking briefly, Fan Xian wanted to tell Chen Pingping in detail about His Majesty’s arrangement in Xiliang and the disposition of the courtyard, but unexpectedly the old cripple sitting in a wheelchair waved his hand and directly prevented him from opening his mouth.
It has been two years, since Fan Jian sued for old age and returned to Tanyu, Chen Pingping put down all the power of the Supervisory Yuan, and didn’t even want to listen to it, which hides the deep meaning, perhaps Fan Xian can understand a thing or two, but he is still not accustomed to it.
Because he opened his eyes, the first person he saw was Uncle Wu Zhu and the old man in the wheelchair, from the time of Tanyu state, until after entering the capital, his life has been in the old man’s careful care and cruel polishing under the growth, Chen Pingping’s will through his life, like the tree in the back garden of Tanyu state, to shield him from the wind and the rain.
He was used to Chen Pingping standing behind him and solving his biggest worries for him, and once Chen Pingping fell into silence, he fell into a slight uneasiness.
Nowadays Chen Pingping was aging, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes were getting deeper and deeper, but fortunately she didn’t have to deal with the affairs of the courtyard for two years, she just took a walk in Chen Garden, her spirit was still good. He did not care about Fan Xian at this time some gloomy uneasiness, smiled and Fan Ruoruo gossip, mentioning the green mountain in Northern Qi, talking about the death of the bitter lotus, but also since some sigh of relief.
The old cripple is more and more like an ordinary old man in the village, not the dark monarch who controlled the world, this kind of transformation, even Fan Ruoruo is also a little bit uncomfortable for a moment.
After coming out of the Chen Garden, on the carriage, Fan Xian was silent for a long time and asked softly, “How long will he live?”
Today, he brought Ruo Ruo here, firstly to pay a visit, secondly, he also wanted to borrow his sister’s excellent medical skills, which were now superb and passed down from Castle Peak, to confirm the expiration date of Chen Pingping’s big day, and of course, Fan Xian hoped that this old cripple would have a longer and happier twilight years.
“The dean suffered several extremely serious injuries over a decade ago, her legs were broken early, her meridians were impassable, and she was poisoned once again two years ago, so according to the theory, her body is failing and her qi is exhausted, so she could be in danger at any time.” Fan Ruoruo frowned slightly, a little puzzled, “But in these two years the Imperial Hospital has adjusted extremely well, it should still be able to support a few years.”
Fan Xian did not make a sound, taking out a few sheets of paper from his pocket and handing them over, saying, “The Imperial Hospital does not seem to have such good means to prescribe this prescription, to be able to take care of the old dean’s body so well, even a bit more so than Mr. Fei.”
Fan Ruo Ruo took the prescription and examined it carefully, her heart was shocked, and she couldn’t help but glance at her brother, saying, “This is the prescription from Chen Yuan Li?”
“Doesn’t it look somewhat familiar?”
“The medication diagnosis, the standard is above me, very accurate, without a trace of redundancy …… and the technique is very familiar.”
Fan Ruoruo lightly bit her lower lip, knowing what her brother meant by letting herself see this prescription. The practice of medicine in fact, like martial arts training in general, each has its own school, how long each flavor of medicine, for what disease, with what technique, as long as the characters in the medical road immersed in a long time, always can smell some flavor, not to mention the person who wrote these prescriptions, and Fan Ruo Ruo also has a not shallow relationship.
Fan Xian closed his eyes and said, “Is it true that the mupun who taught you the art of healing on the green mountain has not returned to Beiqi for two years?”
Fan Ruo Ruo looked at her older brother and nodded, wanting to speak. Fan Xian knew what his sister was worried about, that Bitter Lotus’ initiated disciple, Mu Pong, was in a sense his sister’s teacher in the art of healing, and of course his sister didn’t want her elder brother to take a shot at him.
“I can’t thank him enough, how could I deal with him, I just don’t understand why he, as a disciple of the Heavenly Dao, would come to Southern Qing to do this.” Fan Xian closed his eyes and said coldly.
To investigate a matter, the easiest thing to do was to confront and question him in front of the court, especially if it involved questions about unspeakable secrets.
On a cloudy afternoon, in the western city of Kyoto, in the location of Lotus Pond, where dragons and serpents mingle, a black-robed man wearing a hat and hat, walked very directly up to a small two-story building, entered without a sound, and with a flip of the palm of his hand, a black dagger probed ghostly, gently laying across a person’s neck.
The formation inside the house was simple, the man was packing packages by the bedside, seemingly preparing for a long journey. He was dressed as a Langzhong, and at that moment, he felt a chill on his neck that pricked the sweaty hairs on his neck.
His name is wood pong, is bitter lotus initiation second disciple, the entire northern qi medical skill most exquisite doctor, two years ago by the master’s legacy order, deep into the southern qing, want to exhaust all the methods close to the Chen Pingping, with their own wonderful medical skill to obtain the Chen Pingping’s trust, and to find an excuse, cover up his identity.
Although he is a doctor, but the bitter lotus disciples are not unusual people, can be silently borrowed lotus pool place noise touched the door, and will be the sword across his neck, he knows that behind this assassin, must be the top of the sky.
Wooden Peng did not turn around, and did not see how he moved, then saw a ball of powder poof hit the black-clothed man’s face, this hand is cold and incomparable, extremely see kung fu. Heavenly Road disciples, really not simple!
Powder along the hat rustling down, Fan Xian closed his eyes, did not muffled grunts, even did not breathe, because he knew that this flurry of powder contains a very terrible toxin – a miscalculation, he did not wipe the black dagger, but the fingertips gently pick, will be a poisonous needle into the back of the neck of the wooden poncho.
Mu Peng’s body was numb, and before his body stiffened, he snapped his palm and shattered the small porcelain bottle in his package, and the poisonous smoke spewed out. The green cloth shook, and Fan Xian’s hand probed out from behind him like electricity, using only a piece of cloth to gather the poisonous smoke in, not a single strand leaking out.