Chapter 031
Chapter 31: Your Life as a Supporting Hero Cannot Rival the Central Phoenix’s
[Your spinal injury damaged the nerves. Stagnation blocks the channels. That is why your legs feel nothing.]
[No wonder those useless imperial physicians could not heal you. It is serious. Even in modern times it would need surgery, and even then recovery is uncertain.]
[But if I treat you, it will not be hard.]
[First, prepare three qian each of Stretching Tendon Herb and Penetrating Bone Grass, one qian each of Chicken Blood Vine, Turmeric Slice, and Sappan Wood. Brew them to move blood and soften sinews. Next add Sichuan Aconite, Wild Aconite, and Notopterygium Root to warm the channels and drive out cold. Finally I will use my secret tendon and bone setting technique.]
[During treatment I will support with acupuncture to strengthen righteous qi and expel evil, opening the blocked meridians. Within three months Big Brother will run and jump.]
[Ah, but I cannot speak. By the time I can, who knows how much worse it will be.]
[I am tearing my hair out. Mother understands me well, but she cannot guess a full prescription. Do I have to watch Big Brother become a cripple before my eyes.]
[Worry, worry.]
The milk bun wanted to pull her hair, then glanced toward Mother. Madam Yun was already writing busily at the table.
[Ai, Mother truly loves writing. It might look a little rude to Seventh Uncle and Big Brother after a long journey, but writing refines the heart and improves one’s aura. It is a fine habit.]
Everyone present: “…”
Whom had this sweet talking little flatterer taken after.
At the words that Chen’er could still be cured, the air lightened. They listened in rapt silence as the baby, snug in her brother’s arms, lectured proudly on needles and bones.
[Eldest Brother, do you know. The body has twelve main meridians and eight extraordinary vessels, the central channel makes fourteen, and there are three hundred and sixty one points.]
She must have been very bored, for she recited meridians and points in exact detail, then explained every step and caution of acupuncture. When she finished, she added an internal power cultivation method like the finishing stroke.
[Once the meridians are clear, cultivating internal power becomes twice as effective. Speaking of this, I should start cultivating early. By seven I will beat a hundred men.]
The last line flew past the men like wind. Their minds caught only the internal method. As martial practitioners they felt its depth at once. If mastered, their inner strength would soar.
Aside from the brother holding the child, the other three sat down and tried circulating their breath according to the method.
Madam Yun copied swiftly, one neat page after another. The prescription, the acupuncture, the bone setting technique, the inner method, she recorded all.
[So sleepy. My eyelids will not stay up. I will sleep first. Inner practice can wait until tomorrow.]
[Oh, and Big Brother’s arms are very comfy.]
She rubbed her eyes with tiny fists and dozed off at once in Yun Wan Chen’s embrace. When he looked down she was already breathing evenly, soft as cotton.
He laughed quietly and adjusted his arms so she slept more comfortably.
“Husband,” Madam Yun said, finishing two fair copies of the prescription. She planned to store one for Little Fourth when she grew. The other, without the internal method, she handed to Yun Zheng, eyes bright with hope.
Yun Zheng stopped circulating qi, nodded, and folded the page with care: “Good. I will visit the Imperial Medical Academy at once and ask Imperial Physician Yao.”
“Mm,” Madam Yun answered.
Yun Zheng fetched a horse and rode out. A watcher in the dark trailed him and slipped away with the news.
“Hmph,” Yun Zheng’s eyes went cold. He sneered and did not slow.
Imperial Medical Academy.
After Imperial Physician Yao read the page, his beard trembled with wonder: “Marvelous. Exquisite beyond words. I have never seen the like. Who knew our Great Wu still had such a physician.”
He looked up, gaze burning like a lantern: “Your Grace, where did you obtain this prescription. If possible, this old man wishes…”
Yun Zheng had prepared the story on the way. He said easily, “Imperial Physician may have heard that my younger brother took my son to Jingzhou. They acquired it there.”
He explained they had bought it for a thousand taels from an unknown physician fallen on hard times. Since the identity was unclear, he had come to ask Imperial Physician Yao’s judgment.
Imperial Physician Yao sighed in regret. He loved talent and had hoped to invite this person into the Academy, but with such murk he could not. He turned back to the page.
“This prescription sitting idle does Your Grace no good. Why not sell it to this old fellow. I will offer five thousand taels. You will not lose.”
A man of his level could memorize a formula at a glance, yet he still offered pay. Whether character or respect for Duke Ning, it spoke well.
“It is not for sale,” Yun Zheng said at once.
Disappointment fell across the physician’s face. Then Yun Zheng added words that stunned him: “But I can give it to Imperial Physician Yao. In exchange, I need your help with one important matter.”
…
“Lord Yun Qi and Heir Apparent Yun have returned home.”
“Duke Ning visited the Imperial Medical Academy and met Imperial Physician Yao.”
“Imperial Physician Yao has visited Duke Ning’s manor daily these last two days, staying exactly two hours each time.”
“Cangyun Ridge troops remain unchanged.”
Prince Qi Manor.
Reading report after report, Mo Yuan Hao’s gaze grew dark. Lately his shadows brought only mundane news. Duke Ning and his household moved like ordinary folk. Had he overthought. Was their intercept of Su Qian Xue near the Temple simply to break a marriage and not about him at all.
Relief loosened a knot in his chest, but suspicion did not die. The events of that night were too neat. His path from Emerald Leaning House should not have led there, yet the trouble sprang up just there. How could he be at ease.
“Keep watch closely,” he said.
“Yes.”
The next morning, after the meal, Madam Yun held Little Fourth and called Yun Wan Chen to her side.
“Chen’er, there is something important I did not have time to tell you yesterday,” she said.
“Mother, I am listening,” he answered. His eyes were clear as moonlit snow.
“Some days ago, that Su girl stirred scandal and ruined her name. So I asked your father to break off your engagement,” she said gently. She did not speak of Yun Zheng’s hidden hand.
“How could such an undisciplined girl be your future wife,” she added softly. “You were away, so we did not ask first. Will you blame Mother.”
He smiled with quiet ease: “Since ancient times marriage is settled by parents and matchmakers. Whatever Mother and Father decide, I accept.”
[Wow, Big Brother is so obedient. Told to marry he marries, told to annul he annuls. How can anyone be this good.]
Madam Yun: “…”
Yun Wan Chen: “…”
He merely had no feelings for Su Qian Xue and no one else in his heart, so he had no objection. How had that become obedience.
He lifted his gaze toward the tiny bun. Her eyes went round.
[Ah. Why is Big Brother staring at me.]
[Does he know I praised him. Impossible. Absolutely impossible.]
[He must be looking because I am cute.]
Mother and son: “…”
[Obedience secures one’s rice bowl, Big Brother. This annulment is a blessing. Su Qian Xue does not like you. She is not your fate. If you tangle with her, your end will be tragic.]
[Your life as a supporting hero cannot rival the central phoenix heroine.]
[The sooner you let go, the better chance you have to escape being a tool.]
[When I am older I will help you stand again. With your status, talent, and looks, you will meet a girl you truly love, one favored by Heaven.]
[Come to think of it, Su Qian Yue, the concubine born daughter of Grand Commandant Manor, loves you deeply.]
[In the original plot, Su Qian Xue sent Su Qian Yue to marry you in her place. What happened after, no one knows.]
[But in the official route, Su Qian Xue plotted to ruin your name and our house. Your legs were never healed. All the noble girls mocked and looked down on you.]
[Only Su Qian Yue kept speaking well of you, even quarreled fiercely with noblewomen to defend you. Once they pushed her into the water and she nearly drowned.]
[Later, when Duke Ning’s manor fell, besides Second Brother everyone died. You had no one to bury you. Su Qian Yue secretly buried you herself. She even climbed into your grave to die with you but was dragged out by Grand Commandant Su.]
[Seeing she had gone mad and might harm the manor’s face, he rushed to marry her off. On the eve of the wedding, she stabbed herself with a hairpin and died in her room.]
[Such devotion is rare. I hope this time she lives in peace.]
Mother and son were shaken to the core.
Yun Wan Chen could not believe the Yun house would be wiped out. Their walls were stout and their friends many. How could such a ruin happen. And Prince Qi. Did he not love Yao’er. Would he watch her die.
He could not untangle it. Then a name rose like a lamp in mist. Su Qian Yue. Something soft stirred.
Madam Yun also kept repeating the name. She had not expected such a girl, devoted to Chen’er in a dark corner of the world. If possible, she must meet her.
“Big Brother, what are you thinking about. Your face is so solemn,” Yun Wan Yao asked later in the courtyard. Her eyes brightened suddenly and she laughed: “I know. You regret the annulment.”
“What nonsense,” he said blandly.
She laughed so hard her shoulders shook: “I said you regret it. Oh no, Big Brother, do you actually like Su Qian Xue.”
“A while ago she chased Prince Qi and caused scandal, throwing you before the capital to be mocked. You knew,” she teased.
“No. I do not regret it,” he said.
“Oh, good,” she sighed in grand relief and patted her chest.
“Yao’er,” he called softly.
“What is it,” she grinned.
“About Little Sister,” he began, then paused.
Yun Wan Yao understood. She glanced around, then leaned close and whispered, hand by her lips: “When you met Mother, Little Sister spoke in her heart again.”
“Yes,” he said.
“I knew it. Big Brother, whatever she says, remember it and treat it like heaven’s decree. You have not seen it yet, but Ye’er and I have tested it more than once. Every time she was right. You saw how Father and Mother act. They trust her.”
“Our Little Sister’s heart voice has saved the family more than once,” she said.
Yun Wan Chen’s face went darker.
But the little one had said their house would be destroyed.
He did not care about his own end, but how could he bear to watch Father, Mother, Seventh Uncle, Ye’er, and his two sisters die.
Seeing his shadowed look, Yun Wan Yao soothed him: “Even if she predicts misfortune, do not drown in it. Mother is always by her side gathering pieces. With this advantage, our Yun family can prepare and turn crisis aside.”
“All right,” he said quietly.
Time moved like water. A month soon drew to a close.
Yun Wan Ning’s full moon celebration approached.
The duke and his lady intended to celebrate in grand style. Invitations had gone out half a month ago. The manor hummed as preparations neared completion.