Searching for a Prescription

Jiang Yehua had wanted to spend more time bonding with his ninth sister, but remembering that her inner voice had mentioned finding a prescription for Chi Hengji, he chose to leave rather than disturb her further.

After finishing her meal, Jiang Nuan shut herself in her room and instructed Chunhua and Qiuyue not to let anyone enter.

Once inside, Jiang Nuan pulled out several medical books, each as thick as a brick.

Looking at the characters she recognized individually but found utterly unfamiliar when strung together, Jiang Nuan felt her head swell.

Damn it, I never studied medicine! How am I supposed to find what I need in these great big bricks?

Then Jiang Nuan suddenly realized a very serious problem: even if she actually found a prescription, she would have no idea whether it was suitable!

So Jiang Nuan decided to ask Guagua for help.

[Help me, Guagua! I can't get through all of these! Besides, I don't know anything about medicine, so I have no idea which prescription could cure Chancellor Chi! How much silver would it cost for you to find a prescription in these books?]

[Host, I would need two thousand taels, but those two thousand taels could also go toward my upgrade.]

Guagua answered honestly.

Two thousand taels of silver was no small sum, but after hearing that it could also go toward Guagua's upgrade, Jiang Nuan thought it was much better value.

But she did not have two thousand taels of silver on hand!

She had originally had some, but An Yan needed startup funds, and the more, the better. Since she had thought she would not need money for anything herself for the time being, she had given it all to An Yan.

[Host, if you don't have enough right now, you can open a book to a page, and I can check whether the prescriptions on it would work. It would take about ten seconds to reach a verdict. That would only cost two hundred taels.]

Guagua considerately offered another inexpensive, good-value option.

By gathering up her odds and ends, Jiang Nuan still managed to scrape together two hundred taels, so she said to Guagua in her mind:

[All right, let's do that. Let's begin!]

After that, Jiang Nuan became a merciless page-turning machine.

By the time the night was deep and quiet, Jiang Nuan could barely keep her eyes open. Her head was filled with nothing but Guagua's words: [Not this one. Next page.]

[Host, I've found it!]

Jiang Nuan did not react and continued turning the pages.

Only several seconds later did her rusty brain slowly begin to turn.

That woke her at once. She rose from her chair and bounced twice on the spot, shaking off her drowsiness.

[After all that waiting, we've finally found it.]

Jiang Nuan thought excitedly.

Looking at the remaining books, just under half of them still unread, she had already prepared herself to battle on until dawn. It seemed Heaven still favored her.

Next, Jiang Nuan ground some ink and wrote out a prescription in crooked, wobbly handwriting.

[Finally done. Now I just need to find a chance to give it to Chancellor Chi.]

Once everything was finished, Jiang Nuan took off her boots, climbed into bed, and went to sleep in one smooth sequence. Exhausted, she fell asleep the instant her head touched the pillow.

Unfortunately, after only three or four hours of sleep, she was forced to get up, wash, and prepare to attend court.

Poorly rested, she was utterly wilted, and when she saw the culprit responsible for her lack of sleep, she could not help feeling a little resentful.

[Sigh, if I hadn't been looking for a Prescription for Chancellor Chi, why would I have gone to sleep so late last night? I'm so sleepy now. Yawn~]

Jiang Nuan could not suppress a yawn. Only then did she remember that she seemed to be standing in the Golden Throne Hall. Sure enough, the hall fell silent for a moment.

That clearly audible yawn drew out the drowsiness lurking in many of the officials.

They were wondering who had breached decorum before the throne, but when they saw it was the Ninth Princess, there was no issue after all.

After catching the look her imperial father gave her, Jiang Nuan knew he would not hold it against her. She secretly stuck out her tongue, then forced herself to perk up.

Watching her like this, Chi Hengji felt a rare twinge of guilt.

[Now that I have the Prescription, how should I give it to him so he'll take it seriously?]

The question stumped Jiang Nuan.

Seeing Jiang Nuan struggling with this, Chi Hengji very much wanted to tell her that she could simply give it to him.

After thinking for a while, Jiang Nuan had a flash of inspiration.

[Oh, right! His illness was first discovered by an itinerant physician. I can spend a little silver to hire someone to pretend to be one, then have that person give him the Prescription! I'm a genius. It's settled!]

After hearing Jiang Nuan's plan, Chi Hengji decided that if any itinerant physicians appeared at his residence in the coming days, he would let them stay for the time being, lest he miss his chance.

Because of this illness, Chi Hengji's mother had been inviting renowned physicians from all over the realm to take his pulse.

This was no secret. Many eminent physicians had come to examine him, but they had all concluded that Chi Hengji was perfectly healthy and that nothing was wrong. Some had even suspected him of feigning illness.

Eventually, Chi Hengji had lost hope, and his residence had begun turning away itinerant physicians and other doctors who came to examine him.

[Both of my tasks are finished. After court today, I'll go see my sister and give her the property deed, and then we can start preparing to open the shop. Once that's done, I'll catch up on some sleep and save enough energy to sneak into Pure Brahma Temple tonight!]

Jiang Nuan had packed her day full.

Although she had called it a secret nighttime visit to Pure Brahma Temple, every official in the Golden Throne Hall now knew about it.

But after glancing at Jiang Yunsheng, none of them dared pluck whiskers from a tiger's mouth. They could only pretend they knew nothing.

Still, knowing that a huge sum of silver lay there without belonging to them left their fingers itching.

Forget it. They had better stop distracting themselves with it and focus on court instead, or the more they thought about it, the worse they would feel.

As soon as court ended, Jiang Nuan headed straight for the separate residence.

"Sister, sister, I'm here! Look what wonderful thing I've brought!"

Jiang Nuan's voice arrived before she did.

When An Yan came outside, she saw a jubilant Jiang Nuan.

"Hmm, let me guess. What wonderful thing could it be? Could it be the property deed for that shop?"

"You're amazing, sister! You got it in one guess."

Jiang Nuan took the property deed out of her pocket.

Although Jiang Nuan's inner voice had mentioned yesterday that the shop's owner was her fourth brother, An Yan was still a little surprised to see that the deed had actually made it into her hands.

Were imperial siblings really this harmonious? This wasn't how I'd imagined it!

But looking at Jiang Nuan's delighted smile, An Yan felt that it was probably because her little sister was loved by everyone who met her.

"Sister, did you receive the cake yesterday? I made it myself! What did you think? Wasn't it especially delicious?"

Jiang Nuan wore an expression that begged for praise.

"Of course! It was a delicacy without equal in heaven or on earth!"

To An Yan, nothing tasted better than yesterday's cake.

Hearing An Yan praise it so enthusiastically, Jiang Nuan actually grew a little embarrassed.

"By the way, Nuannuan, now that we have the shop's property deed, let's talk about opening it."