Noticing that Doctor Liu's gaze had become wary, Yan Mingli quickly explained, "No, I just think the dried apricots are delicious. I'd like you to give me more. I'll pay you extra."
"Don't worry. I'm never short of money."
Yan Mingli took out a silver note worth a thousand taels from his bosom and generously placed it in Doctor Liu's hand.
Taking advantage of the idle moment, Yan Mingli complimented casually, "Doctor Liu, I never expected you to be the disciple of a divine doctor. I'm truly in awe!"
When it came to his master, Doctor Liu recalled the past, and a touch of melancholy appeared on his face. "Now that I've been expelled from the sect, I don't deserve the title of the divine doctor's disciple."
The divine doctor was called so not only for his excellent medical skills but also because he and his disciples saved the sick and the injured without charging a single cent.
Yan Mingli asked curiously, "Then how did they make a living?"
Doctor Liu paused. Eventually, his desire to confide overcame him. He pulled Yan Mingli to a corner and began to tell his story.
As per the sect's order, disciples were not allowed to make money from their medical skills. Most of them had other means of making a living, such as farming and selling herbal medicine.
Doctor Liu belonged to the minority. He lived off others and occasionally went up the mountain to gather herbs to earn a little pocket money.
That little bit of money was just enough for a meager living, but it was not enough for him to get married and support a family. In order to marry the woman he loved, Doctor Liu had to make money. But since he had no business acumen, he became an imperial physician.
Becoming an imperial physician was also considered making money from medical skills, so the divine doctor expelled Doctor Liu from the sect.
When mentioning this, Doctor Liu inexplicably felt happy. He said proudly, "Since I was expelled, I must do something truly rebellious. Before I left, I took my master's private savings."
Dragon King: [Is this considered rebellious?]
True Lord Qingyun: [Rebellious should mean killing one's master and massacring the sect.]
Lin Yu: [You guys are so cruel.]
Yan Mingli was so engrossed in listening to Doctor Liu's story that he casually placed the cloth bag beside him without noticing that Shen Baozhu secretly took it away.
Shen Baozhu distributed the dried apricots in the bag to the Fourth Prince. "These are so delicious. Try them, Fourth Prince."
Previously, when the Fourth Prince was taking medicine, Doctor Liu had given him dried apricots. He remembered they were delicious.
The two children were right beside Yan Mingli, openly stealing the dried apricots.
Yan Mingli was an excellent listener. The more Doctor Liu talked, the smoother it became. He even told the reason why the Princess Jingning had become a disciple.
At that time, General Mu's wife had just passed away, and the Princess Jingning was left unattended. In order to win over General Mu, the late emperor wanted to arrange a marriage for him.
General Mu didn't want to remarry. To dispel the late emperor's idea, he sent the Princess Jingning to his wife's senior brother to learn medicine and volunteered to go to the frontier.
Yan Mingli didn't understand the logic. "Why would this dispel the late emperor's idea?"
Doctor Liu was very pleased. "I asked the same question back then. The late emperor arranged the marriage to win over General Mu. If General Mu only had a single daughter and this daughter was in very poor health and might not even live to adulthood, the Mu family would have no descendants. Even if General Mu had high prestige, it would be useless."
"After that, General Mu received continuous imperial favors."
Dragon King: [The late emperor sounds quite smart. How could he be deceived by Shen Qingshan and end up so miserable?]
Lin Yu: [He must have had bad luck. The heir he favored died, and he himself died suddenly without telling the emperor about this.]
Lin Yu: [It seems that the emperor ascended the throne in a hurry and was taken advantage of in the chaos.]
Dragon King: [The late emperor really had bad luck.]
True Lord Qingyun: [The Fourth Prince is about to finish all the dried apricots.]
As they were chatting, Yan Mingli felt his mouth a bit idle. He picked up the cloth bag beside him, took out two dried apricots, and gave them to Doctor Liu. Then he reached in again... and again... Yan Mingli reached into the bag three times but came up empty.
He picked up the bag in disbelief and found it was really empty.
When it came to food, Yan Mingli's mind worked quickly. He immediately looked at Shen Baozhu and the Fourth Prince.
Shen Baozhu lowered her head guiltily, while the Fourth Prince looked at Yan Mingli boldly and took all the blame. "I ate them. Baozhu didn't."
"Brother Mingli can spank my palm."
The Fourth Prince's thinking was very simple. When one made a mistake and was caught, one had to stand in a corner, study, or get one's palm spanked. He took all the blame so that Yan Mingli would only spank his palm and Baozhu would be spared.
Yan Mingli was stunned. He pointed at himself and asked, "Me? Spank your palm? My father is just a minister, while your father is the emperor. It would be more appropriate for you to spank me."
The Fourth Prince wrinkled his little face and complained, "Then your father is really useless."
Shen Baozhu refuted Yan Mingli's words. "The Fourth Prince can't be like the Third Prince and bully others."
While they were having a good time here, Shen Haiyan had already brought the Princess Jingning back.
Xu Yunmiao was lucky. Originally, the Princess Jingning was going to the mountain villa. But since Chen Miaochun was on leave these days, she changed her mind and took Chen Miaochun and Chen Ruxia to pay respects to her deceased mother. Just as they were coming back, they met Shen Haiyan. The carriage made a turn and headed for the prime minister's mansion.
On the way, Shen Haiyan told the Princess Jingning everything. He said worriedly, "Mother, can you please take a look? If you can save Xu Yunmiao, Yutang's status in the Xu family will be secure."
The Princess Jingning ignored him and quickly walked into the prime minister's mansion.
She saw Xu Yunmiao lying on the ground at a glance. She bent down, first opened Xu Yunmiao's eyelids, then pried open his mouth, and finally felt his pulse.
When Doctor Liu saw the Princess Jingning, he quickly opened his medicine box and handed his silver needles to her.
Xu Yutang supported Lady Xu and stood beside them. Because of nervousness, Lady Xu bit her lower lip tightly and didn't even notice when it started to bleed.
Time passed bit by bit, and more and more silver needles were inserted into Xu Yunmiao's body. It wasn't until the seventh silver needle was inserted that he slowly woke up.
Lady Xu immediately rushed over. "What's wrong? Do you still feel uncomfortable anywhere? Mother has found the disciple of a divine doctor. You'll be saved. You'll be saved!"
The back of the Princess Jingning's clothes was soaked. Seeing Xu Yunmiao wake up, she also let out a sigh of relief. Then she straightened up and returned the acupuncture kit to Doctor Liu.
Doctor Liu leaned over. "How is it? What's the chance of success? He was introduced by master. Master said you could save him."
The Princess Jingning didn't give a direct answer. Instead, she asked about Xu Yunmiao's condition. After learning that Xu Yunmiao had had this illness since birth, she frowned in distress. "With my current skills, I can only keep him alive at most. I can't cure him completely. If you want him to live, he must receive acupuncture continuously."
"His body is very weak now. The acupuncture can't last for more than three days."
There was a glimmer of hope in Lady Xu's eyes. As long as her son could live, anything was fine.
She pleaded, "Princess, please save Yunmiao. Please give him acupuncture. I'll give you anything you want."
The Princess Jingning hesitated a bit. She was afraid of trouble, so she had always hidden the fact that she knew medicine. If Xu Yunmiao could be cured completely, she would save him. But if not, she would have to spend a lot of effort on acupuncture every once in a while, which was too exhausting.
Prime Minister Sima clenched his fist. With Shen Baozhu as her daughter, the Princess Jingning lacked nothing. The things they had now couldn't move her. But Prime Minister Sima also didn't want to see his grandson miss this chance.
Suddenly, Xu Yutang had an idea. "The Princess can't cure him completely with her current skills, but it doesn't mean she won't be able to in the future. Medical skills are like learning. If you don't progress, you regress. Why doesn't the Princess use... elder brother to practice?"
Under Shen Haiyan's hint, Xu Yutang called Xu Yunmiao elder brother. All this was also seen by Prime Minister Sima and the Princess Jingning.
The Princess Jingning's gaze swept over Xu Yutang and Shen Haiyan imperceptibly. She said meaningfully, "For Yutang's sake, I can give it a try. I wonder if Lady Xu is willing?"
Lady Xu was at the end of her rope. As long as her son could be saved, anything was fine. She immediately replied, "Yes, I'm willing. I'm willing."