He Had to Be Gravely Ill

Something had gone wrong again with the public carriage commandant at the East Sima Gate of the Yang Mausoleum.

One had been beaten to death, another had been beheaded by the court for colluding with a foreign enemy, and the third had been struck on the head and needed his skull opened for treatment.

Zhang Xuezhou was a minor official with a six-hundred-shi salary, but he had become famous lately, and plenty of officials wanted to see the curiosity for themselves.

Many people had seen someone beheaded, but few had seen a person survive after having his skull opened.

If not for the special nature of the Imperial Medical Bureau, quite a few people would have come to watch the spectacle.

Even so, Zhang Xuezhou still received several waves of visitors who came to look in on him.

They included Chancellor Dou Ying, Imperial Censor-in-Chief Zhao Wan, Shen Peigong, Minister of the Household Wang Zang, Li Guang, commander of the Weiyang Palace guards, and Guan Fu, the Grand Coachman.

Zhang Xuezhou had originally been able to get up and walk, but he had caught that foul stench from the Grand Empress Dowager at the Palace of Peace and Happiness, and it had truly made him ill.

In a daze, Zhang Xuezhou went through an altar ritual to drive away evil, had black, yellow, and red medicinal decoctions poured down his throat, and saw several high officials come to watch the spectacle.

Later, the new emperor seemed to have come for a look as well.

But after breathing in the foul stench the Grand Empress Dowager had blasted out as she spoke, Zhang Xuezhou remained disoriented and struggled to regain consciousness for a full three days.

A single breath had done that to him, so there was no need to speak