After speaking, Chen Qing bent down.
He lifted a corner of the back tent, braved the howling wind and swirling snow, and scrambled out.
The curtains fell.
The gaps that had let in the strong wind closed again.
The tent fell silent once more.
All that remained was the crackling sound of the wet charcoal burning in the iron basin.
Yang Tie stood still.
Watching the tent curtains fall.
The somber look on his face vanished instantly; a slight twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes were as cold as knives.
That sheepskin blueprint is indeed genuine.
However, the three forward outposts above were precisely the deadly traps set by the Tubo commander Chile.
Anyone who steps even half a step into Wild Wolf Valley will be shot into a pincushion by the Tubo cavalry lying in ambush beneath the snow.
Chen Qing took the map with him, regardless of whether he died under a hail of arrows or was captured by the Tubo.
This would completely capture the attention of the Tubo scouts on the southern front.
This could even mislead the Tubo into thinking there was a major operation in the Dali direction, thus causing them to relax their checks on the alchemy workshops.
Yang Tie slowly wiped the blood off the boning knife with a cloth.
Even a fool's fate can pave the way for themselves; it's not a bad deal.
Deep within the Hall of Supreme Ultimate.
The strong, bitter smell of medicine mixed with ambergris made one's throat feel tight.
The bright yellow curtains hung down halfway.
It blocked out the sunlight from the window, creating a dim atmosphere inside the dragon bed.
The emperor lay there with his eyes closed.
The muscles on half of his face were stiff, his mouth was crooked, and a withered crease drooped down.
The right hand that was sticking out from under the brocade quilt.
He flicked his index finger twice, revealing the withered and grayish veins beneath the skin.
He wanted to move.
But those fingers, resting on the gold-threaded satin, just wouldn't lift up.
Two beautiful women in light red short dresses knelt before the couch.
With her hair styled in a "fallen horse bun," her eyes and brows revealed a resemblance to the former Noble Consort Chen.
A person holding a wrung-out handkerchief.
He moved closer and wiped the cold sweat from the emperor's forehead.
Another person knelt beside the footstool, stirring the newly delivered calming soup with a silver spoon.
"Sister, smell this."
The beautiful woman carrying the medicine lowered her voice, the sound seeping through the gaps in the curtains and directly into the emperor's ears.
"This ginseng soup is extremely bitter and has a musty smell."
The beautiful woman holding the handkerchief pulled her wrist away.
He quickly turned and glared at her.
"Shut up. This is old ginseng that just arrived from the Imperial Treasury. The imperial physician personally oversaw the brewing process. How could it have a musty smell?"
"But this color doesn't look right."
The beautiful woman carrying the medicine shrank back, her voice tinged with fear.
"I overheard the old ladies in the side hall chatting the other day, saying that when Zhaoyi Lan was seven months pregnant with the emperor's child, she drank this bitter ginseng soup that the Empress had given her."
She swallowed.
"Later, the child was stillborn, and Zhaoyi Lan did not survive that winter."
The beautiful woman holding the handkerchief almost dropped it onto the dragon robe because her hand went limp.
She reached out and covered the other person's mouth.
"Are you out of your mind! How dare you bring up these old grievances in front of the Emperor!"
"I'm scared. His Majesty is still unconscious, and the Empress has just been released from confinement. And now this soup has changed..."
The beautiful woman carrying the medicine had tears in her eyes and muttered aggrievedly.
"And then there's Cairen Zhao's young prince, who ate a bite of the cheese bestowed upon him by the Palace of Phoenix Ceremony at night, and the next day he developed a high fever and convulsions."
She sighed.
"He didn't even survive to be three years old... The herbal medicine in the palace is truly deadly to anyone who touches it."
On the dragon bed.
The old emperor's breathing suddenly became heavy.
The body under the blanket suddenly tensed up like a fully drawn bow.
A thick phlegm was stuck in his throat, making a "whooshing" sound like a broken bellows.
These few light, casual words stirred up old memories that had been weighing on my mind for years.
The tragic death of Zhaoyi Lan.
The bluish-purple color of Cairen Zhao's son's lips.
And before he fell into a coma, in the snowy plum grove, the Consort Xian looked disheveled.
All of them are correct.
Perfectly fitted!
The emperor had his eyes closed.
The eyeballs beneath the eyelids were trembling wildly.
His jaw clenched so tightly it made a grinding sound.
In the days since he suffered a stroke and lost his speech, he has heard far too much gossip that he wouldn't normally hear.
The entire palace regarded him as a useless person waiting to die!
In the shadow of the golden dragon pillar on the east side.
Gu Moli stood quietly.
She wore a light moon-colored palace dress, and only a white jade hairpin adorned her hair.
Stand upright with your hands clasped in front of your abdomen.
He just watched the scene unfold in front of the bed without lifting an eyelid or moving a muscle.
I secretly praised the two women for their excellent acting.
The sound of phlegm in the emperor's throat grew increasingly shrill, causing the entire brocade quilt to tremble.
She slowly raised her eyes and stepped out of the shadows.
" Qingwu."
The sound wasn't loud.
It landed in the empty hall, but it felt like a piece of iron had been smashed down.
The hand that was stirring the medicine by the bedside suddenly stopped.
The silver spoon slipped and clattered against the rim of the bowl.
The two beauties turned around and saw it was her. Their knees buckled, and they slid off the footstool and onto the blue bricks.
His head was pressed against the ground, lying face down.
This is called playing the whole act.
Gu Moli didn't even glance at them.
He turned to the eunuch at the palace gate and spoke.
"Your Majesty is experiencing phlegm obstruction and shortness of breath."
"Go and summon Elder Shen and Chu Tianxing the Imperial Palace to administer acupuncture."
A voice quickly responded from outside.
A moment later, the heavy, carved palace door was pushed open a crack.
Elder Shen stepped across the threshold, carrying his sandalwood medicine chest.
Her footsteps were light and slow, as if afraid of making noise on the floor tiles.
Chu Tianxing followed behind.
He wore a loose-fitting blue cloth robe, his eyes darted around furtively, and he twitched his nose twice.
"Wow, such heavy agarwood, and so many women..."
He just opened his mouth to spout nonsense.
Elder Shen stomped hard on Chu Tianxing's instep.
Chu Tianxing's face twitched, and he gasped in pain, swallowing the rest of his sentence.
Elder Shen glared at him, then strode to the dragon bed and knelt down, lifting his robe.
"Your Majesty, this humble subject, accompanied by the physician Chu Tianxing, pays his respects."
Gu Moli walked slowly closer.
He raised his hand to offer a helping hand.
"No need for formalities Elder Shen. My father is feeling nauseous and his qi is rising; I would be grateful if you two could administer acupuncture to calm him."
Chu Tianxing rubbed the back of his feet and leaned closer.
His gaze swept over the emperor's ashen, crooked old face.
He took out a cloth bag and pulled out three gold needles.
With lightning speed, the needles were inserted into the Yifeng acupoint behind the emperor's ear and the Tiantu acupoint on his neck.
"Tsk, this pulse is as deep as... you know."
As Chu Tianxing twisted the needle, he nudged Elder Shen beside him with his elbow.
" Elder Shen, look at this blood, it's a deep, almost blackish purple."
He pursed his lips.
"This chill has been seeping into my bones for who knows how long; it can't be forced out by a stroke."
Elder Shen's eyelids twitched violently.
He raised his hand to slap the boy on the back of the head, but with the princess present, he could only lower his voice.
"Physician Chu, be careful what you say! His Majesty is suffering from a wind-evil infection; stop spouting nonsense!"
What nonsense did I spout?
Chu Tianxing continued his work, inserting another needle into the tiger's mouth of the emperor's left hand.
"Look at the bluish tinge around these fingernails; it's obvious you've been taking incompatible tonics every day."
He pulled out a tiny bit of the needle.
"The person who delivered this tonic is either brainless or utterly rotten! Didn't you notice, Elder Shen?"
" Chu Tianxing your words! His Majesty's prescriptions are written by the Imperial Medical Bureau, but the tonics are prepared by the people in the Empress's Imperial Pharmacy."