The Splendid Brocade of the Painting Physician – Chapter 129

Chapter 129: Tricking Chen Shuling

When Xiao Jinyu walked out of Tai City, it was already dusk, the sky gradually darkening. After the palace attendant escorted her outside the palace gate and wanted to continue escorting her, Xiao Jinyu stopped him and told him to stay.

“Young Lady, Her Majesty asked me to escort you home!”

“No need, Eunuch Wu, you can go back!”

The palace attendant was a bit troubled, not knowing how to answer, when he heard footsteps approaching. Looking up, he saw the envoy from Northern Qi, Prince of Lanling, walking towards them.

“Go back! I will escort her!” Prince of Lanling said to the palace attendant.

“Alright, then I will return to the palace to report!”

The palace attendant reported to Empress Liu Jingyan that Prince of Lanling personally escorted Xiao Jinyu. After hearing this, Liu Jingyan only nodded, seemingly not thinking much of it, and immediately summoned General Xiao Mohe, the General of the Right Guard, for a secret meeting.

Afterwards, she sent General Fan Yi, the General of the Left Guard, to raid the Prince of Shixing’s residence, causing many servants and concubines in the residence to flee with their belongings.

“If the Prince of Shixing is defeated, he will surely kill all the concubines and servants in his residence to be buried with him. Out of compassion, I have ordered the residence to be raided and those innocent women to be dispersed, so they will not be harmed!”

These were the last words Xiao Jinyu said to Empress Liu Jingyan before leaving Tai City.

Liu Jingyan attended to Chen Xu at his bedside, pondering for a long time, and finally made a decision.

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After being helped onto the carriage by Prince of Lanling, Xiao Jinyu quickly fell into a deep sleep again. When she woke up, she found herself in Prince of Lanling’s embassy.

She was lying on Gao Changgong’s bed, while Gao Changgong was sleeping by the bed, fully clothed.

Candles were still burning in the room, so as soon as she opened her eyes, she could see his face, leaning against the bed and already asleep.

Xiao Jinyu felt a warmth in her heart and got up to cover him with the blanket.

Her movements were already very gentle, but unexpectedly, Gao Changgong woke up immediately, looking at her with gentle and worried eyes.

“How are you? Are you feeling better?”

Seeing her asleep in the carriage and unable to wake her up no matter how he called, Gao Changgong was so frightened that he quickly brought her to the embassy and summoned a physician.

The physician only said she was weak and prescribed a decoction before leaving.

Afterwards, he ordered Lu Yu to prepare the medicine and personally fed it to her. However, even after a bowl of decoction, she still didn’t wake up. Gao Changgong was extremely worried and felt a bit helpless, so he simply let Xiao Jinyu stay at the embassy and sent Lu Yu to Xiao Xian’s residence to inform him.

Xiao Jinyu nodded with a smile: “I’m better.”

“I saw that you seemed a bit weak, so I didn’t send you back. The embassy is closer to Tai City, so I brought you here.”

“I know, you don’t need to explain. Thank you!” she smiled.

Seeing her smile, Gao Changgong couldn’t help but smile too, but there was a hint of heartache in his smile: What was going on with this young lady? Why did she always fall into a deep sleep after treating someone?

After pondering for a while, Gao Changgong finally found a topic to ask: “Is His Majesty’s illness really cured?”

Xiao Jinyu nodded, then shook her head.

“It’s cured, but it’s not the right time for him to wake up yet, so I gave him another acupuncture treatment to keep him asleep!”

Gao Changgong was astonished: Is that even possible?

It was indeed true. When Chen Xu suddenly called out Xie Yuqing’s name and tightly grabbed her wrist, she secretly gave him another acupuncture treatment to keep him asleep.

Then she said to Yao Boshen: “His Majesty had a nightmare. To dispel it, we can only let him sleep for a while longer. He should wake up around noon tomorrow!”

“Noon tomorrow, will he really wake up?” Yao Boshen was both happy and doubtful.

“Yes, I guarantee it with my life. But Imperial Physician Yao, you must stay by His Majesty’s bedside to prevent any malicious interference!”

“Of course, good! As long as he can wake up!”

At this point, he could only trust this young lady. Besides, a solemn oath like “guaranteeing it with my life” wasn’t something one could say lightly!

It was not appropriate for an unmarried young lady to stay in the palace, so Empress Liu had someone escort her out of Tai City.

“Why did you say it’s not the right time for him to wake up yet?” Gao Changgong asked curiously.

“I don’t trust him anymore. Chen Xu is too biased towards his relatives, especially his second son, Chen Shuling. I can’t guarantee that he will be ruthless enough to sentence Chen Shuling to a heavy punishment or even death. He might just try to downplay the matter and give him a light sentence,

✿✿✿

But I can’t let this opportunity slip away. Chen Shuling must die!

Therefore, I need to borrow someone else’s hand to kill Chen Shuling. Only after Chen Shuling is completely dead can Chen Xu, the Emperor, wake up!”

Gao Changgong could understand Xiao Jinyu’s concerns: Given the Prince of Shixing’s character, if he didn’t die this time, he would definitely seek revenge even more cruelly in the future.

“But wouldn’t it be too urgent to quell this rebellion before noon tomorrow?”

“It’s enough. At least by the time Chen Xu wakes up, the situation will be irreversible!”

Gao Changgong noticed that Xiao Jinyu had been directly addressing the Southern Dynasty Emperor by his name, showing no respect, but he didn’t ask further.

✿✿✿

“Her Majesty sent General Fan Yi, the General of the Left Guard, to raid my residence?”

The Prince of Shixing’s face contorted with anger upon receiving the news.

“Not only that, she also dispersed all the concubines and servants in the residence, and all the gold, silver, jewelry, and valuables were taken by those servants!”

“Everyone… took the valuables and fled!”

With a thud, another long sword pierced the chest of the servant. Before he could finish his sentence, he fell to the ground, spitting blood.

“How many generals have responded to the summons?”

Chen Shuling turned to his advisor, Wei Liang.

Wei Liang was sweating profusely, his voice trembling as he replied: “Your Highness, perhaps the messengers haven’t reached everyone yet. Currently, only General Peng and General Tan have responded.”

General Peng Gao was his maternal uncle, and with Consort Peng’s order, he naturally had to side with him.

General Tan was the elder brother of Tan Qi. With his younger brother removed from office by the Emperor, summoned to the Ministry of Justice for questioning, and sentenced to death after autumn, his elder brother, Tan Wu, was motivated to rescue his brother!

“I offered the position of one of the Three Excellencies, and no one responded?” Chen Shuling raged. “Where are all those who used to obey me and flatter me?”

Wei Liang didn’t dare to answer. Although they were rebelling under the banner of “eliminating evil ministers around the Emperor,” discerning people could see that this justification was weak. They claimed that Xie Zhen was a treacherous official who wanted to control and manipulate the Emperor, but Xie Zhen was clearly just a scholar in white clothing, without even an official position. Moreover, both at the Pure Conversation Gathering and in this debate with the Buddhist community, he had gained a good reputation, a reputation admired by scholars all over the world!

But as a retainer of the Prince of Shixing, his food, clothing, and expenses were all provided by the prince, and his entire family was under his control, Wei Liang didn’t dare to betray him.

“What about Prince Chen Bogu of Xin’an? Where is he at this time?” Chen Shuling asked again.

“Your Highness, Prince Chen Bogu has also been placed under house arrest by Her Majesty!” Wei Liang replied. “However, Prince Chen Bogu also has a weakness in your hands. He shouldn’t betray you!”

Shouldn’t betray? Hmph, without troops coming to his aid, whether he betrayed or not was no longer important!

Suddenly remembering something, Chen Shuling asked again: “What about the personal troops under Princess Yunyin? I sent a letter long ago, why haven’t they arrived yet?”

Wei Liang was even more speechless when it came to this matter.

Under Chen Shuling’s intense gaze, after a long time, Wei Liang finally replied: “The Princess sent a letter saying that her personal troops have defected! The Xiao family is also in chaos now, and Princess Yunyin is still trying to reorganize!”

After hearing this, Chen Shuling sneered, then burst into crazy laughter. As he laughed, he actually drew his sword and started slashing at the servants in the residence. The servants, who were already terrified, now screamed and fled in all directions, but they couldn’t escape Chen Shuling’s sword as he hacked at them madly.

More than half of the servants were pierced through the chest, falling to the ground one after another.

Blood flowed like a river on the ground…

Wei Liang felt his whole body turn cold, frozen and unable to move.

But at this moment, Dai Wen, who had gone out to gather information, rushed back, his expression quite flustered, as if he had something urgent to report. However, when he saw the blood and corpses all over the ground, he was stunned and seemed too frightened to move.

“What is it? Speak quickly!” Chen Shuling asked sharply.

Dai Wen composed himself, and after a long while, he finally found his voice and replied: “Her Majesty has sent General Xiao Mohe, the General of the Right Guard, to… to suppress Your Highness! He is currently stationed at the West City Gate!”