Chapter 122: Observing, Listening, Asking, and Examining

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The Prince of Jing Estate was silent. The five-story Jasper Pavilion was like a lighthouse erected in the capital, with golden lights shining in the windows.

Outside the study on the top floor, the empress dowager, who was wearing a crimson nightgown, was standing beside the balcony railing. She was holding a telescope that had been tributed and looking at Parasol Street in the distance. The night wind blew the hem of her dress, faintly revealing her fair calves.

The study was brightly lit. Dongfang Liren was sitting behind her large desk with several stacks of files in front of her, writing and drawing on a small booklet.

Dongfang Li had been born as the second princess of the imperial family. She liked martial arts, but practicing martial arts and investigating cases were two different things. She hadn’t had the chance to go out personally to handle cases, so she had never learned these things before.

But today, on Bamboo Street, Sir Tangtang had come to show his divinity in person. It really stunned her.

Originally, her martial arts talent was already lacking a little. Now, she couldn’t even say a word about her job. How could she establish her prestige in front of her subordinate in the future?

For this reason, after returning from Bamboo Street, Dongfang Liren had been immersing herself in reading past dossiers and learning experiences so that she wouldn’t be treated as Prince Dumdum by Ye Jingtang the next time she encountered such an occasion.

While she was studying seriously, the empress dowager handed the telescope to Hongyu and walked into the room listlessly. “Liren, is that subordinate of yours back?”

Dongfang Liren wrote something in the booklet without looking up. “Who?”

It’s that Young Master Ye. Didn’t you say last time that I should learn to paint? Have you forgotten?”

Dongfang Liren paused in her writing and blinked. She recalled that she had promised last month to lend Ye Jingtang to the empress dowager for her to paint him for a few days. “Yes… He just came back this morning. When he’s free, I’ll ask him to come over and let you paint him.”

The empress dowager sat sideways on the beauty’s couch and played with the little furball used for saber practice. She sighed faintly. “You are a prince. Do you still have to see if your subordinate is free?”

Dongfang Liren explained, “Official matters are more important. Ye Jingtang is a great talent. Today, I brought him to Bamboo Street to handle a case. I only gave him a little pointer, and his eyes were like torches. From some traces, he deduced the characteristics of the murderer and shocked the people of the Ministry of Justice. If I send such a capable minister to the palace and let my sister keep him by her side, the people will have one less just and incorruptible official…”

Dongfang Liren was likely explaining to the empress dowager that she was detaining Ye Jingtang because she appreciated his talent and not because she wanted to keep a handsome man for herself.

But the empress dowager wasn’t stupid. She pretended not to hear these deceptive words and thought for a moment before saying, “If he really has the ability, you have to think of a way to use him as the edge of a sword to share Her Majesty’s worries. I don’t care about the affairs of the court, but 1 can feel that the situation isn’t very peaceful. Yesterday, 1 accompanied Her Majesty to bathe and found that Her Majesty had a strand of white hair. I was so anxious…”

“Hmm?” Dongfang Liren’s eyelashes fluttered as she looked up. “White hair?”

“There’s only one. Her Majesty said that it’s fine, but 1 don’t think so. In history, there have been many diligent emperors who became ill from overwork.

Although you’re also busy, at least you can take a break from your busy schedule. When you have nothing to do, you can even walk around with Ye Jingtang to relax. When Her Majesty wakes up, she has to deal with government affairs. Every day, she can only play with the palace maids beside her for a while. It’s like this every day, every year…”

Dongfang Liren blinked and felt that things were not that simple. As the emperor of a country, there was indeed a lot of pressure on her shoulders. However, with her sister’s valiant personality, which even dared to pull down the emperor, she could completely withstand it. How could she worry about growing old…

Is it because I kept a handsome man in my pocket…

Just as she was letting her imagination run wild, the white-haired old woman silently appeared in the study and reported softly, “Your Highness, just now, Young Master Ye went to investigate the murder case on Bamboo Street and found the murderer in the Anti-Crime Division…”

“Hmm?” Dongfang Liren snapped out of her daze and closed the booklet. She was rather surprised. “He ran out to investigate the case alone in the middle of the night? How did he find the murderer?”

The white-haired old woman’s eyes were full of admiration. “According to the report, Young Master Ye saw that the Wandering Body Palm was real during the day, but he felt that there was more to it, so he deliberately said that there was something suspicious about the palm technique. Then he staked around the corpse at night to see if anyone would come to destroy the evidence. In the end, the murderer really came at night…”

Dongfang Liren frowned. “Does he suspect that the government has a mole?”

The white-haired old woman nodded solemnly. “From the results, there is indeed a mole in the government office. After discovering that Young A/Iaster Ye saw through the palm technique, he secretly reported it to the murderer.”

Dongfang Liren blinked. “Uh… How did he know that the government office had a mole?”

The white-haired old woman thought for a moment and reluctantly explained, “Young Master Ye must have seen something unreasonable about the palm technique, so he gave it a try. The murderer came at night to destroy the evidence, which means that the murderer himself thinks there’s a difference between his palm technique and the palm technique of Zhang Henggu’s lineage. The murderer is definitely not from the Pacifying Heaven Cult… Hmm… I can only say that Young Master Ye has sharp eyes, extraordinary intuition, and good luck…”

Dongfang Liren was surprised, feeling that Ye Jingtang’s ability to handle cases seemed to be even more ridiculous than his talent in martial arts. She nodded slowly. “There’s a unique palm technique of the Pacifying Heaven Cult and a mole in the government. This matter is definitely not small… Has the murderer been caught?”

“Young Master Ye said that the murderer is very cunning and is trying to track him down. When he was fighting with the murderer, Young Master Ye was injured and just went to Imperial Physician Wang’s residence…”

“Injured?!” Dongfang Liren’s expression changed slightly as she stood up.

“Empress Dowager, you should rest first. I’ll go out and take a look.”

The empress dowager waved her hand in understanding. “Go ahead. You don’t have to rush back to accompany me tonight.”

?

Dongfang Liren stopped in her tracks, feeling that there was a hidden meaning in the empress dowager’s words. But after thinking about it, she decided to forget about it…

Literary Virtue Bridge, Wang family’s mansion…

Literary Virtue Bridge was located in the southern part of the city and was adjacent to the outer wall of the Imperial City. Most of the residents here were aristocrats and high-ranking officials, so the living environment was excellent. The street was paved with white stone tiles, and there were green plants on both sides.

At night, although there weren’t many pedestrians, there were lanterns hanging on both sides of the street. It was one of the few streets in the capital equipped with ‘street lights’.

Imperial Physician Wang’s mansion was in the center of the Literary Virtue Bridge. In front of it was a medical clinic. Above the entrance was a golden signboard with the words ‘Xinglin Sacred Hands’ written by the founding emperor of Great Wei.

Behind the clinic were several houses for patients to recuperate. A few rooms had lights lit.

The last building was the Wang family’s residence. It was quite large, but it was very simple. There were all kinds of medicinal herbs growing in the garden.

In the main hall of the Wang residence, there was candlelight.

Ye Jingtang was sitting upright beside the tea table, his right hand stretched out flat on a soft pillow.

Opposite the tea table was an old man in a white robe. His beard and hair were snow-white, and he had a kind expression. His left hand was holding Ye Jingtang’s wrist, and his right hand was gently rubbing his fingers. He was frowning in deep thought.

Imperial Physician Wang was over 8o years old now. In the previous dynasty, he was a folk doctor who had roamed Jianghu with his master. When Great Wei launched its rebellion, he became a military physician. The founding emperor had been injured in several battles, and it was Imperial Physician Wang who had personally saved him. After the founding of Great Wei, he had served as an imperial physician until now. Including the deposed emperor, he had experienced four emperors.

No one in Jianghu dared to provoke the divine doctor, Medicine King Li, who had learned from Imperial Physician Wang. A bottle of Jade Dragon Ointment from Medicine King Li could be sold for a hundred taels of silver in Jianghu. It was imaginable the status of Imperial Physician Wang.

But even the old divine doctor had a solemn expression on his face at this moment. He took Ye Jingtang’s pulse for a long time and didn’t say anything.

Ye Jingtang knew Divine Doctor Wang’s name and originally thought that he was fine, but when he saw him like this, his heart turned cold. Afraid that Heroine Luo, who was waiting outside, would be heartbroken to hear bad news, he approached and probed, “Elder Wang, can 1… still be saved?”

Imperial Physician Wang gently rubbed his fingers. After a long time, he replied, “It’s snow moth scale, commonly known as the white lime. It’s more common in Northern Liang. Few people use it in Great Wei. It’s not considered poison, but it’s powerful because once it enters the flesh, it can block the meridians. It is difficult to treat in a short time. It’s mostly used to ambush or stop pursuers.”

Oh… How should I solve it?”

“You can recover on your own in seven days. I’ll give you a needle, and you’ll be fine in half an hour.”

Ye Jingtang secretly heaved a sigh of relief. At the same time, he was a little speechless. It’s just a small matter. Did you have to examine me for so long? It made me feel that you were thinking about how to explain my funeral…

But this was definitely not easy to say. Ye Jingtang smiled and said, “Elder Wang, you really live up to your reputation. That white powder really looks like quicklime. I didn’t expect it to have a great origin…”

“Snow moth scale can also be sprinkled on people’s faces. The effect isn’t much different from quicklime. That’s why it’s commonly known as white lime. It’s an item that doesn’t care about martial ethics. Even if it’s sprinkled accurately, this thing actually doesn’t work as fast as quicklime. It’s just that those with high martial arts skills have extraordinary movement techniques, and quicklime can’t be sprinkled, so the Jianghu scoundrels figured out this item.”

“Oh… I see.”

While Imperial Physician Wang spoke, he took out a golden needle from the needle box beside him, stabbed it into Ye Jingtang’s left arm, and then pricked his fingertip. Black blood immediately seeped out of his fingertip and dripped into a porcelain bowl.

Ye Jingtang found that after Imperial Physician Wang finished performing the acupuncture, he took his pulse again.

Ye Jingtang asked, “Do 1 have any other illnesses?”

Imperial Physician Wang tapped his fingers on the armrest and pondered for a long time. He looked up and asked, “Who is your father?”

?

Ye Jingtang didn’t expect Imperial Physician Wang to ask this. He shook his head and said, “I’m an abandoned child. I was picked up by my foster father and don’t know my background. Elder Wang, could it be that you saw something?”

Imperial Physician Wang stroked his beard. “Dragons give birth to dragons, and phoenixes give birth to phoenixes. Your bone structure ranks among the best of the people I’ve seen in my life. Your parents are definitely not ordinary people. I’m just curious.”

“Hehe, Elder Wang, you flatter me. Perhaps my foster father taught me well and helped me build a good foundation since I was a child.”

Drip-

Drip—

The drops of blood on his fingertip dripped into the bowl, and the black color visibly faded.

Imperial Physician Wang took his pulse seriously. After a long time, he said, “The muscles, bones, and skin are the surface. The essence, qi, and spirit are the inside. Only tempering the muscles, bones, and skin and not cultivating the inside will overdraft one’s innate essence qi. This isn’t the path of longevity. No matter what martial arts you practice in the future, you must remember this principle.”

Ye Jingtang felt that there was something in Imperial Physician Wang’s words, but it was difficult to confirm. He nodded and said, “I will definitely pay attention in the future. Elder Wang, have you seen through my martial arts skills?”

“Qi circulation methods must follow people’s meridians. As long as you have rich experience, you can tell something from the strength of the meridians. I’ve checked the pulses of Kuang Yazi, Qiu Tianhe, and the old Spear Chief. I can see their shadows in you.”

Ye Jingtang’s eyes were full of surprise as he nodded and cupped his hands. “Sorry for being rude. I’m ignorant and experienced. Elder Wang, have you taken Zheng Feng’s pulse?”

“After Zheng Feng was seriously injured, he came here once. His meridians were all broken, and even giving birth to a descendant was an extravagant hope. I’m a doctor, not a god. I couldn’t save him.”

Ye Jingtang’s gaze moved slightly, but he didn’t show any abnormality. He just nodded slowly.

“Don’t move around. Once your finger stops bleeding, you can pull out the needle yourself.”

With that, Imperial Physician Wang stood up with his walking stick and walked to the back of the hall.

Ye Jingtang was a little emotional. After a moment of silence, he suddenly remembered that the bird was still working outside.. He turned to look outside, only to find that Heroine Luo, who had been waiting outside the door, had disappeared for some reason…