The Emperor coughed blood from his mouth and nose and fell unconscious, throwing the palace into chaos. The Empress ordered the Forbidden City sealed off and kept the Emperor's only son, the reigning Prince, close at her side as they waited in the side chamber of the Emperor's bedchamber.
Inside the Emperor's bedchamber, a group of imperial physicians busily treated him. The Empress sat in the outer hall with the eight-year-old Prince in her arms, her expression calm. Candlelight flickered, and none of the attending eunuchs or palace maids dared make the slightest sound. The hall was deathly silent.
Just then, the curtain was lifted, and the Imperial Physician Director hurried over and bowed. "Your Majesty, after the diagnosis conducted by several of us, His Majesty, His Majesty..."
The Prince in the Empress's arms widened his eyes at the physician, who did not dare continue.
"Tell me the truth!"
the Empress said gravely.
"Yes. After our consultation, His Majesty's liver pulse is urgent within and without, like running along a blade, tense and taut; his heart pulse is hard and pounding, like rows of coix seeds; his lung pulse is large yet empty, like a feather brushing the skin; his kidney pulse pounds and cuts off, like fingers striking stone; his spleen pulse is weak, sometimes rapid and sometimes sparse..."
The Empress raised a hand to interrupt the Imperial Physician Director. "Say something I can understand."
"Yes, Your Majesty. His Majesty's pulse rate is irregular and its form scattered. There is the Sparrow Pecking Pulse, like sparrows pecking for food; the Roof Leak Pulse, like a lingering drip from a leaking roof; and the Untangling Rope Pulse, alternately sparse and dense, like unraveling a tangled rope. These are spiritless pulses."
"And what does a spiritless pulse mean?" the Empress asked.