What Was the Reason?

"It's not that I don't want to help, but I myself am going to be implicated by your master." Zhao Wen waved at A Qi like swatting a mosquito, stood up, and hurriedly went out.

He needs to try and build up his connections. If someone brings up old grievances and tries to pin this on him, he won't end up in a good situation.

Having no other choice, A Qi left the Office of the Grand Steward, found his coachman and another servant, and asked the coachman to pay someone to fetch a doctor. Then he drove the carriage to wait at the gate while he and the servant bought a door panel and bedding from a nearby shop before returning to the government office.

Inside, Eunuch Fu didn't want to hear Zhao Yuankun's howling, so he ordered someone to gag him with a rag. Actually, there was no need to gag him; by then, Zhao Yuankun had already received about thirty strokes of the cane and had passed out.

A Qi carried the door panel inside, just in time to hear Eunuch Fu instructing the guards. "Throw him out."

He immediately carried the door panel forward with the servant, lifted the unconscious Zhao Yuankun onto the door panel, covered him with a blanket, and ran outside.

"Hey, this attendant is quite clever." Eunuch Fu couldn't help but laugh when he saw A Qi's series of actions.

Hearing the shrill laughter, A Qi ran even faster.

When the group returned to the third branch of the Zhao Family, the entire place was in chaos.

When Madam Lady Su of Third Madam Zhao, saw her husband being carried back and becoming a living dead, she was immediately thrown into a panic and rushed over to him, crying and sobbing.

"Don't touch him! Don't touch him!" The old doctor quickly gestured to the maids and servants to stop her. "If you lunge at him, won't he be even more seriously injured?"

He had his servants carry Zhao Yuankun into the house, cut open his clothes with scissors, cleaned the wound, applied medicine, and took his pulse before coming out to write a prescription.

"Doctor, how is my master?" the steward of the third branch of the family asked hurriedly.

The doctor sighed, "His internal and external injuries are quite severe. I've already applied some ointment and prescribed a decoction for him to take. Your master is in good health; with proper care, he should be fine."

Upon hearing how serious the situation was, Lady Su couldn't stop her tears again, and asked through sobs, "Then... when will he wake up?"

"We'll see. If he doesn't have a fever, he should wake up tonight."

The steward, finding the doctor's words unreliable, took the prescription, paid the consultation fee, and sent the doctor away. He then said to Lady Su, "Madam, would you like to invite Physician Shi to take a look?"

Physician Shi is the physician of the Earl of Suiping's Residence Earl of Suiping's Residence still lives there.

Originally, after the family split up, given Zhao Yuankun's personality, he wanted nothing more than to stay far away from the old lady and Zhao Yuanxun, and not have anything to do with them. If he were sober, he certainly wouldn't want to use the Earl of Suiping's Residence's physician anymore. But Physician Shi's skills were quite good, and hiring him was better than hiring those unknown doctors from outside. The steward felt that now was not the time to act impulsively.

As for the imperial physicians, Zhao Yuankun, given his rank, couldn't afford to hire them.

Upon hearing this, A Qi hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Madam, I suggest we consult another doctor. Master's beating is related to Fifth Miss Zhao from the eldest branch of the family. Even if we invite Physician Shi, we don't know if he will be able to do his best. If he isn't, Master will be in danger."

Upon hearing this Lady Su and the housekeeper hurriedly asked, "What happened?"

A Qi shook his head. "I only heard a mention of it from Eunuch Fu, who was punishing the master; I don't know the specifics."

Now is not the time to talk about this; let's get Zhao Yuankun back first.

Before the Lady Su pretended to be weak and submissive, but within her own household, she was a woman of strong will.

She immediately instructed, "A Qi, first take the prescription, get the medicine, decoct it, and give it to the master. Steward, go to the Rongqing Hall and fetch a doctor. No matter the cost, just invite the best doctor from their clinic."

Rongqing Hall is a famous medical clinic in the capital. However, in the past, when the master of the Earl of Suiping's Residence was ill, it was always Physician Shi treated him. We have never consulted the doctors at the Rongqing Hall before, so we don't know how skilled they are or how easy it is to get their services. Now we can only give it a try for now.

Everyone agreed and went their separate ways to carry out their tasks.

When the Duke of Sui was alive, he doted on Zhao Yuankun the most. When Zhao Yuankun was young, he hired famous teachers to teach him to read and to practice martial arts. After the Duke of Sui passed away, Zhao Yuankun was prevented from seeking a military position by the old lady, but he did not give up practicing martial arts.

Furthermore, Zhao Yuankun was only twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, in his prime, and in excellent health. Therefore, after being given the medicine and examined by the doctor at the Rongqing Hall, he woke up not long afterward.

"Prepare... generous gifts, and have A Qi... go to Zhao Wen's residence... to inquire about the reason," Zhao Yuankun ordered weakly.

He wouldn't rest until he got to the bottom of things. He also wanted to know if he could return to the Office of the Grand Steward after his injuries healed.

"Yes." Lady Su wiped away her tears, took the nanny to prepare a generous gift, and sent A Qi to Zhao Wen's residence.

Zhao Wen was greedy, while Zhao Yuankun was known for his generosity; this was a significant reason why the two became friends.

During the day, fearing being seen in the yamen, he simply chased A Qi away. Now, upon hearing from a servant that A Qi to the door, he knew that Aqi must have come to inquire about the reason and had brought generous gifts, so he let him in.

"You know about the dismissal and demotion of Jia Songlin, Earl of Zhongqin, right? It all started with a dispute between Fifth Miss Zhao and Jia Junze. Because of Fifth Miss Zhao's relationship with your master, a prince suspected that the Crown Prince was behind it, and directly brought down a third-rank official under the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince was furious, which is why he had your master beaten and told him to get out of here. He can no longer work in the Office of the Grand Steward."

Zhao Wen sighed as he spoke, "I've been implicated in this matter too. Some people even suspect I'm a spy, deliberately placing your master in the Office of the Grand Steward Sacrifices to frame the Crown Prince. I'm not even sure if I can keep my position."

A Qi was shocked. He never expected that his master, a mere official, who was busy in the Office of the Grand Steward all day, could get directly involved in the power struggles among the princes in the court and become an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.

In retrospect, it is already a testament to the Crown Prince's mercy that the master was spared.

"Thank you for informing me Lord Zhao. My master will certainly come to thank you in person once he recovers."

"No need," Zhao Wen waved his hand. "Don't worry about him here. Just stay home and recover. And don't come to my house again. I wanted to help you out, but I almost lost my life. Let's just go our separate ways."

He also faced a very dangerous situation today.

In officialdom, it's always a matter of who goes up and who goes down; how can you avoid being envied? Even if you're kind and don't offend anyone, there will still be people who covet your position and want to pull you down so they can take your place.

So immediately after Zhao Yuankun was beaten, people started talking about his incident.

Fortunately, Zhao Wen made arrangements as soon as he received the news. Moreover, his father was an old servant of the Crown Prince and had some connections with Eunuch Fu. Many old people in the Office of the Grand Steward had watched him grow up, and his background was very clean. That's how he escaped a disaster.

He was only allowing A Qi in because Zhao Yuankun had given him a lot of money. Now that things were cleared up, he immediately served tea and saw the guest out.