When Hu Xiaotian operated on Yang Longjing, he asked everyone who had no part in the procedure to leave.
Although Empress Dowager Long Xuanjiao was worried about her son, she had no choice but to leave for the time being and sit in the adjoining chamber. Thinking of her son hovering between life and death, she began to weep silently. Hu Buwei quietly pushed open the door and entered. Without a word, he approached Long Xuanjiao and gently rested his hands on her shoulders. Long Xuanjiao leaned limply into his embrace, tears streaming down her face. "If anything happens to Longjing, I don't want to live either," she choked out.
"There's no need to worry," Hu Buwei said. "Hu Xiaotian is a highly skilled physician. He should be able to save Longjing." He had been the one to recommend Hu Xiaotian when the palace's imperial physicians were at their wits' end. No one knew Hu Xiaotian's medical skills better than he did, and he would never have made such a suggestion had Yang Longjing's life not been hanging by a thread.
Long Xuanjiao nodded, but Hu Buwei's words did nothing to ease her mind. "If he can cure Longjing, I'll allow him and Xiyue to be together," she said, her voice trembling. Every word she spoke now came from the depths of her heart, without the slightest trace of falsehood.
Hu Buwei pressed his lips together. In truth, he was far from certain himself. Once he calmed down and reflected on the events of the past two days, he felt that layers of conspiracy lay beneath them. On the surface, they seemed to have nothing to do with Hu Xiaotian, but closer thought revealed that the spearhead pointed in a very clear direction: everything was developing in Hu Xiaotian's favor.