The prefect's official residence is naturally incomparable to the Taishu Palace.
The small courtyard where Xie Bufeng lived, both in size and decoration, seemed a bit shabby in the eyes of the nobles from Yongdu.
But for Xie Bufeng, who was used to dealing with imperial mausoleums, this was not a problem.
Returning to his residence, he slowly opened the closet.
There were several sets of clothes placed here, all of them were dark in color.
Only at the very top, there is a dazzling white.
Xie Bufeng temporarily put aside what he had heard from Concubine Lan.
He hesitated for a moment and took the thing out.
—This is a silvery-white muff made of fur.
When Xie Bufeng was in Suzhou, he learned martial arts entirely from books, and no one corrected his movements or competed with him.
He knew that learning martial arts must not be done on paper.
Without an opponent, Xie Bufeng looked for one himself.
The Suzhou Imperial Tomb is located at the junction of the Gobi Desert and the grassland, with a snow-capped mountain not far away. It is far away from the town and desolate, with few people to be seen. Wild beasts always roam around at night.
The soldiers guarding the mausoleum never thought that someone would sneak out at night to seek death, so they were always particularly lax in their watch over Xie Bufeng at night.
The boy, who knew no pain and had never been afraid, sneaked out of Lingyi in the middle of the night and went to the Gobi Desert to look for his opponent.
The scars of varying sizes on Xie Bufeng's body came from that time.
The boy's first prey was a snow wolf, which he killed when he was thirteen years old.
The cold winter in Suzhou is particularly harsh.
Whenever the mountains are blocked by heavy snow, you can always see hungry wild animals coming down the mountain to hunt.
The wild beasts at this time are also the most ferocious.
A hungry snow wolf is already scary enough, not to mention that wolves are social animals.
Every time I encounter them, there are about ten of them.
In the Gobi Desert late at night, under the moonlight, pairs of green eyes and silver fur are particularly dazzling.
They moved slowly and surrounded the boy, as silent as ghosts.
Even if one is skilled in martial arts, most people would be so frightened that their legs would go weak if they encountered such a scene.
But that day, Xie Bufeng felt a surge of excitement and excitement from the bottom of his heart.
He held a heavy sword in his hand and walked slowly towards the wolf pack.
The specific process has long become blurred by time.
Xie Bufeng could only recall a scene of blood and the hoarse howl of a wolf.
He finally killed the entire pack of snow wolves with the blunt heavy sword in his hand and skinned one of them.
From then on, it was kept as a trophy.
This was what Xie Bufeng once thought was the most precious thing in his life.
Thinking of this, the boy slowly moved his hand from the hand warmer to the muff.
This hand warmer was made from the snow wolf fur he left behind.
Xie Bufeng specifically selected the softest piece of fur from the snow wolf's belly and made it into its current shape with his own hands.
—Growing up alone in the mausoleum, he has always taken care of his own life.
Xie Bufeng's eyes fell on the hand warmer, and he suddenly became a little hesitant.
Although the material of the thing in his hand was of high quality, it was not very attractive in terms of appearance.
Xie Bufeng, who has always only valued practicality and durability, does not know how to hide the stitching.
The obvious stitches on the hand warmer even made the originally smooth and shiny snow wolf fur, which looked not ordinary, look simple.
Seeing this, Xie Bufeng couldn't help but frowned.
Although Wen Qingci was only an imperial physician, he did not usually have any extravagant hobbies.
But his food, clothing and other daily necessities were all of the best quality.
This was the gift the young man intended to give to Wen Qingci. He had been preparing it for many days but had been hesitating as to whether or not to give it away.
After a long pause, Xie Bufeng slowly put it back into the closet.
The newly refined Convolvulus Pill provided a temporary relief for the emperor's headaches.
But his emotional and mental problems remained unsolved.
—However, neither the emperor himself nor his courtiers tacitly agreed not to mention or acknowledge this.
In the evening, the emperor dismissed the palace maids and eunuchs and lay on the bed in the back hall to rest.
He recently had symptoms of chest tightness and muscle cramps, so he specially called Wen Qingci over at this time to give him acupuncture to relieve the symptoms.
At this time, there were only Wen Qingci and the emperor in the entire back hall.
After inserting the silver needles one by one, the imperial physician dressed in moon-white could not help but look at the incense burner in the corner of the room.
There is a short jade incense burner there.
Wen Qingci originally had no interest in the art of incense, but after seeing Eunuch Zhao light incense balls with his own eyes last time, he went to learn more about it.
Incense balls are rarely used in the art of incense. Generally, when burning incense, people will choose this kind of low incense burner.
Thinking of this, Wen Qingci's heart suddenly started beating nervously.
At this moment, the back hall was so quiet that he could even hear the crackling sound of the flickering candle flames.
“… Your Majesty, Your Majesty?” Wen Qingci called softly a few times.
Seeing that the person on the bed did not answer, Wen Qingci carefully put down the things in his hands and stood up, pretending to be calm and said to the person on the bed: "The incense over there seems to be gone, I will go and take a look."
The sleeping emperor still did not respond.
Wen Qingci finally breathed a sigh of relief. He used his Qinggong skills to slowly walk towards there, without making any sound under his feet.
After walking over, Wen Qingci carefully bent down and picked up the lid of the incense burner.
Before he came in, Eunuch Zhao, who was in charge of taking care of the emperor's daily life, had just changed a incense ball, and it had not burned much yet.
Through the faint smoke, Wen Qingci saw that Eunuch Zhao did not completely grind the incense ball into powder, and several larger fragments were vaguely visible in the incense burner.
Even... you can see intricate patterns engraved on those fragments.
Incense balls are an elegant item popular among aristocrats.
Although it needs to be crushed and put into the incense burner when used, the making of the mold is still very particular.
Several famous incense-making workshops in the Wei Dynasty all had their own special molds.
Even some nobles would specially order models in order to show their differences.
Wen Qingci looked back at the emperor, and after confirming that he was still asleep and had not woken up, he took off the silver hairpin on his head and slowly pushed it into the incense ashes.
Immediately afterwards, the pattern on the fragments appeared completely in front of Wen Qingci.
After seeing the pattern clearly, Wen Qingci's heart suddenly sank.
The candlelight in the room once again made a clear sound at this time.
He immediately closed the lid of the incense burner, stood up, and quickly returned to his previous position, with his hands subconsciously placed on his chest due to nervousness.
Wen Qingci's heart was beating wildly, and no matter how deeply he took a breath, the rhythm refused to slow down.
He subconsciously wanted to leave here, but acupuncture usually lasts for twenty to thirty minutes, so now is not the time to leave.
Wen Qingci had no choice but to slowly walk to the window and close his eyes towards the direction where the warm wind was blowing.
His long hair was messed up by the wind, but Wen Qingci had no intention of taking care of it.
The pattern on the incense ball looked too familiar to him.
Thinking of this, Wen Qingci bit his lips involuntarily.
After entering the book world, he read the books left by the original owner almost every day.
Among them are the medical books that have been passed down in the Valley of Divine Doctors, as well as the notebook written by the original owner himself called "Xinglin Jie'e".
In addition to recording the medical cases he handled, the notes also included his own anatomical drawings and some relatively rare herbal medicine drawings.
Wen Qingci had seen the exact same pattern printed on the incense pill in "Xinglin Jie'e" before.
That pattern is very special, and it was hand-painted by the original owner. Wen Qingci would definitely not remember it wrong...
Therefore, even if the incense pill made of mercury sulfide was not made by the original owner, it is closely related to him.
It might even be that the original owner entered the palace just to kill the emperor!
No way.
Wen Qingci’s eyes suddenly went dark.
So after searching for a long time, I found out that I was one of the masterminds behind this
What kind of black humor is this!
After this guess, many things gradually became clear.
For example, Convolvulus dan.
This was found by Wen Qingci from the medical book left by the original owner.
He did not use this prescription rashly - when Wen Qingci was flipping through the book, he saw that the original owner had made a lot of notes on this page and even put a special bookmark on it. It was obvious that he had prepared for it and was about to try it out.
Now it seems that he probably already knew the consequences of becoming dependent on the Convolvulus Pill.
Even the side effects were intentionally only half written.
This was Wen Qingci's guess based on his recent observations of the emperor's symptoms.
Although this Convolvulus Pill can relieve headache symptoms, long-term use can amplify the negative effects of heavy metal poisoning.
In other words, it acts like a catalyst.
This is really the right medicine for the disease...
The acupuncture time was about to end, Wen Qingci slowly walked back and took out the silver needle.
Feeling a slight sting, the sleeping emperor opened his eyes.
Before he could fully wake up, footsteps suddenly came from outside the back hall.
Eunuch Xian came over with a soldier in silver armor. It looked like they were here to deliver military reports.
Seeing this, the emperor couldn't help but press his temples with his fingers and subconsciously poured a handful of Fuxuanhua Dan into his mouth.
After the Northern Di occupied the town, they stopped moving, as if they had no intention of continuing the fight.
But if Wei Chao does nothing at this time, wouldn’t it be tantamount to admitting defeat
The emperor had already begun remote command of military affairs some time ago.
The southern tour was originally scheduled to end in some time, but due to the war in the north, he was forced to make the decision to return to Beijing early.
In a few days, the group will leave here.
“…Okay, my dear, you can go down first.” The emperor slowly sat up.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Wen Qingci walked out quickly carrying the medicine box.
As soon as he walked out, the palace door slowly closed.
In a blink of an eye, only Wen Qingci and Eunuch Xian were left outside.
Before I knew it, it was already dark. The Jiangnan courtyard was filled with vegetation and looked particularly secluded.
Eunuch Xian glanced into the yard, turned around and said to Wen Qingci with a smile, "Doctor Wen, it's a little dark in the yard. I happen to have a lantern with me, so I'll take you there first."
Wen Qingci originally wanted to refuse, but he swallowed the words back when they came to his lips.
He smiled at the old eunuch, nodded and said, "Then I'll trouble you, eunuch."
"It's no trouble, no trouble!" Eunuch Xian looked flattered and walked forward with Wen Qingci holding a lantern.
After taking only two steps, Wen Qingci suddenly coughed lightly a few times.
"What's wrong with Mr. Wen?" Hearing the voice, Eunuch Xian immediately turned around and asked with concern.
"It's okay," Wen Qingci smiled and answered casually, "Maybe the smell of the incense in the back hall is a bit pungent."
Eunuch Xian also laughed: "Yes, there are some, but those incenses are all effective, and we can't just stop."
Wen Qingci nodded slightly following his words.
This mansion is exquisitely built, with a new view at every step. Its only drawback is that the road is quite narrow and difficult to navigate.
It’s summer now and it rains every now and then, making the bluestone slabs on the ground even more slippery.
"Watch your step," the virtuous eunuch reminded.
Wen Qingci nodded and retreated behind Eunuch Xian, and the road became clear.
His eyes darkened.
After a few seconds of silence, Wen Qingci continued the previous topic: "Where do the several kinds of incense that Your Majesty often uses come from?"
"Oh, this..." Eunuch Xian thought for a moment and replied, "I can't remember the details, each one is different. Most of them are purchased from a few major incense shops, and some are tribute incense from various places."
"Your Majesty, have you been using those incenses for a long time?" Wen Qingci asked tentatively.
This time, Eunuch Xian did not hesitate. He answered very straightforwardly: "His Majesty does not like to change the spices, so the incense around him has always been the same. The shortest-used one... should have been used for several years."
“Is that so…” Wen Qingci nodded slightly and stopped talking about this topic, but he started thinking rapidly in his mind.
I have been in the palace for less than a year, but the shortest time the emperor has used incense is longer than this.
So besides "himself", there are indeed people in this palace who want to kill the emperor.
What is his relationship with the original owner
Wen Qingci and Eunuch Xian walked very slowly. Before they had gone far, they saw the soldier in silver armor quickly retreating from the back hall.
He was holding a letter in his hand.
The cover of the letter was bright yellow. According to what Wen Qingci had learned during this period, what was written in the letter should be the arrangements for deploying troops to the north.
If his guess was correct, the imperial decree to send Xie Bufeng to the battlefield might have been issued...
(End of this chapter)