Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Later, because Doctor Ye’s clinic had not opened for several days, the people of Yue City finally realized something had happened to the Ye family.
When they went to the small Ye house, they saw three tombstones standing in front of the house. The person who had erected them was the Ye family’s eldest daughter, Ye Gui, yet Ye Gui herself had vanished without a trace.
My parents had been kind to the people of Yue City. When the townsfolk heard that the divine-doctor family had been killed for no reason by the princess’s prince consort, outrage rose at once, and they marched to the magistrate’s office to demand an explanation.
After recovering, the princess heard about this and, while sipping ginseng soup, said lightly, “The three members of the Ye family were able to save my life. That alone was the honor of a lifetime.”
“I haven’t even complained that the blood flowing through my precious body came from commoners!”
Magistrate Lu bobbed and bowed. “Yes, yes, yes. But Princess, what about those townsfolk? If we don’t give them an answer, they won’t leave.”
“Isn’t that easy? Give the Ye family some random crime. Say they had it coming, and the crowd will naturally disperse.”
She issued an order saying the Ye family had committed the capital crime of attempting to murder the princess and were therefore executed, and the missing eldest daughter of the Ye family was put on the wanted list as well.
Half a month later, she followed the prince consort back to the capital.
She had no idea that three years later, the wanted Ye family’s eldest daughter would appear before her in broad daylight as a female physician.
The lives of her and her child were now laid bare beneath my silver needles.
The princess’s abdomen had already begun to round out. When I felt it, the fetus inside was restless, but it was clearly the last burst of strength before death.
Physician Xu and the others could tell from the pulse, but none of them dared say it so bluntly.
My mother had specialized in childbirth in life, and had once pulled hundreds of women through difficult deliveries back from the gates of hell.
When fathers tried to choose the child and sacrifice the mother, she never listened to their nonsense. She always put the woman’s life first.
She taught me, “Once the months are far enough along, you only need to touch the belly with your hand to know how likely the child is to survive.”
“It’s a pity that men would rather have a stillborn child dropped on the ground than save the wife who nearly died giving birth to it.”
“Remember this: when we practice medicine, we must always keep compassion and virtue in our hearts.”
Now, I too had felt how much life remained in the princess’s unborn little heir.
Through the skin of her belly, I pressed down on the baby’s fragile skull and drew out a long silver needle.
In my mind, I silently recited a soul-summoning witch’s incantation.
[Restless souls will be reborn within the belly of their enemy.]
[Father, mother, little sister, this dying noble child will be the sacrifice that ushers in your reincarnation.]
I drove the slender needle neatly into the princess’s abdomen, piercing the still-soft skull of the fetus at the same time.
The princess cried out in pain.
The prince consort rushed in. Seeing a few drops of blood on the princess’s belly, he flew into a rage. “You bold servant girl! How dare you harm the princess!”
I withdrew the needle and lowered my eyes. “Princess, do you still feel any bloating or discomfort now?”
Princess Yongwu cautiously opened her eyes, which had been clenched shut from pain.
She touched her stomach, and her expression was no longer as twisted with agony.
Color had returned to her face. She could already support herself and sit up by clutching her belly.
She looked at me. “This female physician of yours does have some skill.”
I knelt obediently. “It is only that Your Highness is blessed with deep fortune. This servant’s medicine merely adds a little polish.”
The prince consort touched the princess’s belly. “Then is this pregnancy saved?”
“Although this acupuncture technique can treat the root cause, I will need to apply the needles once every seven days to nurse Your Highness’s weakened body back to strength. Once the princess recovers, the little heir inside will naturally remain safe as well.”
“This servant will come from the Imperial Medical Bureau every day.”
“How troublesome.”
“What is your name?”
“This servant is Ning Li.”
As expected, Princess Yongwu said, “Then stay in the princess’s manor and nurse me through the pregnancy. Physician Xu, you surely have no objection, do you?”
Physician Xu looked at me deeply before answering, “Everything should be for the princess and the little heir.”
“Wait.” The prince consort suddenly looked at me. “I think you look somewhat familiar.”
“Since you will be serving the princess up close every day, we naturally need to check your background carefully.”
He stared at my face and questioned me suspiciously. “Where are you from? What do your parents do? Do you have any brothers or sisters at home?”
“Prince Consort, this female physician lost both parents in childhood and has no relatives. She…” Physician Xu tried to answer for me, but the prince consort only gave him a sidelong glance.
“I was asking this female physician. Who asked you to speak?”
He sat down in a chair, pressed the top of my chin with his shoe, and lifted my face as if teasing a dog.
“I think I saw this face on a wanted notice.”
Physician Xu’s face went white.
I kept my chin slightly raised and looked him straight in the eye, steady as anything.
“Prince Consort is joking. Since this servant was able to enter the palace as a female physician, my background must be clean. How could I possibly appear on a wanted notice?”
The prince consort was suspicious by nature. Back then, he had been the one to arrange the framing of the Ye family, and he had seen that wanted notice with his own eyes. It was possible he still remembered my face.
But when the notices were posted all over Yue City, I had looked at one myself. Perhaps the painter had done it on purpose; the features were not especially accurate, only vaguely similar to my own.
To avoid even the slightest chance of exposure, I had even altered my appearance with medicine.
He had only seen the portrait. There was no way he could recognize me.
He was trying to extort me.
“I only wish to help the princess nurse the pregnancy. When the little heir is born, I would be grateful for some reward.”
Keeping my eyes lowered, I remained calm and took the initiative. “If the prince consort doubts this servant, you may have the magistrate’s office verify my identity.”
The prince consort narrowed his eyes, suspicion and scrutiny filling his gaze.
He set down his teacup. “Fine. Then send Yue City’s magistrate Lu Bin to the capital and have him identify you. Let’s see whether you are the same person who was on Yue City’s wanted notice!”
Before Magistrate Lu arrived, the prince consort ordered me locked in the princess’s manor’s underground prison.
The princess still needed me to nurse her pregnancy, so she asked why.
The prince consort said, “Being cautious never hurts. These ants who claw their way up from the bottom, relying on a little skill, quickly forget they are servants.”
“Even if she turns out to be innocent in the end, we still need to beat down her arrogance so we can keep her nearby with peace of mind.”
The princess leaned weakly into the prince consort’s arms. “Husband, you really are thoughtful.”