Taizi: Chapter 18.2

Shu Fei glanced down at it and asked slowly, “In your medical profession, is there anything to go against it?”

“Yes, some medicinal properties cannot be used together with other medicinal properties. It is good for people to separate them, and when they are used together, they will hurt…”

“Enough, I didn’t ask to inquire about your medical procedure.”

“Yes.”

Shu Fei thought for a moment, then turned her head to fix her gaze on Zhang Yunfeng’s face, and suddenly gave him a strange smile, “Zhang Dayi (Dr.), you have been in the Imperial Hospital for all these years, and your position is still very low, right?”

“This… Wei Chen has no ability…”

“You don’t need to have the ability to be an official, just the skill to discerning judgments is enough.” Shu Fei glanced at him lightly, “This aphrodisiac is inherited from your family, so you can’t be unfamiliar with the medicinal properties. You can prescribe another prescription for me. In the future, I will guarantee that you will be the first person inside the Imperial Hospital.”

Zhang Yunfeng’s heart skipped a beat.

He intuitively felt that great wealth and honor were right in front of him.

Zhang Yunfeng took a deep breath, his voice unusually lowered, “I don’t know what recipe Niangninag wants me to prescribe?”

“Someone has already taken your family’s ancestral secret medicine. I want you to prescribe an additional special prescription for him.”

Zhang Yunfeng could guess something. His heart was beating wildly like a drum, his voice became even lower. Holding his breath, he asked, “This… this lowly minister is stupid, please ask Niangniang to clarify what kind of curative medicine you want? What kind of disease is it for?”

Shu Fei smiled extremely coldly as she glanced at him, “I’ve been in this Palace for almost twenty years, and I have brought up two princes, and you alone, think you can act stupid in front of me? “

Seeing that she was so sharp, Zhang Yunfeng didn’t dare to hide from her any further. He nodded and said, “Yes, the Crown Prince is young and inattentive, and has been bewitched by others. Niangniang loves the Crown Prince, and is naturally angry, so she must help the Crown Prince in secret to take care of it.”

“I don’t want anyone to find out how he dies.” Shu Fei smiled, her lips parted slightly, “Whenever a person in the Palace is sick, the medical records and the medicines used are registered in the Imperial Hospital, and it is clear that the medicinal materials that cannot be used cannot be delivered to his mouth. It is impossible for you alone to see such shameful medicines in the medical records. Even if something is found out in the future, no one can say that it was intentional to harm him. Who knows that he secretly commits such lewd sins and takes all kinds of drugs? It will be only himself to blame.”

Her smiling face blossomed like a flower, natural and graceful, yet it gave Zhang Yunfeng chills. Cold sweat broke out from his spine as he said in a low voice, “For those who have taken the aphrodisiac, Wei Chen can indeed prescribe a prescription that can harm their health. But the system in the Imperial Hospital is strict, each Imperial Physician has his own duties, and he cannot prescribe medicine to anyone at will, how to make them take it, this is…”

Just a glance from Shu Fei and he no longer hesitated.

“Don’t worry, you prescribe the recipe, and the rest will naturally be handled by someone.”

“Yes.”

“Write it.”

Zhang Yunfeng bowed and turned back to the desk covered with white paper.

Needless to say, there must be some woman in the harem who bewitched the Crown Prince and made Shu Fei angry. [T/N: because he/she in Chinese uses the same Ta, so he thought it was a woman.]

To use this kind of undetectable method, even the medicine was often requested by Chang Defu. It could be seen that this woman was not an ordinary low-level Palace maid, and that she must have a great family background behind her.

Or she would really become the new Emperor’s side concubine in the future.

If this recipe was written down, he would become an accomplice to harm Yong Shan’s favored woman. Whether the road ahead in his life had ups and downs depended on this.

His heart beated like a drum while holding the ink-stained pen, hesitating for a long time.

He quietly turned back to look at Shu Fei, only to see her face had a smile yet not like a smile expression, with a murderous aura.

Alas, things in the Palace were either on this ship or on that ship. Called a king if successful, called a bandit if defeated; losers were always in the wrong and good people would never end well.

Anyway, if he didn’t get on the pirate ship at this moment, he wouldn’t be able to live past tonight.

Thinking til this point, without hesitation, he swiped his pen on the white paper, his strokes were like a dragon and snake, as he wrote the recipe that Shu Fei wanted, and held it in front of her with both hands after finishing it.

“Niangniang, if a normal healthy person takes this medicine, there will be nothing at all, and it will be just a small supplement to the body. But the cinnabar, the notopterygium root, and purple scallops that are ground into fine powder, if decocted with water and taken on an empty stomach, will clash with my family’s aphrodisiac prescription. If the sick person has taken my aphrodisiac recently, and takes this again, he will immediately become seriously ill. The body will be slightly weaker, and on such a heavy snow day, it is probably impossible to see the beginning of spring.”

He said it very solemnly, but Shu Fei only gave him a light look, “I also know the heart of doctors, treating patients like their own child. You are not hurting people, but helping them instead. The Crown Prince is the pillar of the country, and those of us who love him, of course, don’t want to see him bewitched and deceived by evil demons. If this matter succeeds, it is a great credit to you.”

She rolled up the prescription, put it in her arms, and said in a low voice, “Remember, only you and I know about this. Today, you are just here to help me prescribe a prescription for the cold, other than that, nothing else happened.”

***

As soon as Yong Lin was out of his mother’s sight, he immediately jumped off the warm sedan chair like a monkey without a string, leaving the servants behind, and went to the Prince’s Palace with great interest.

It had been snowing regardless of the time of day or night to the point that the ground was covered with thick snow, even the flowers were turned frozen white. Yong Lin’s thick leather boots made a creaking noise as he stepped on them. He loved to hear the refreshing and energetic sounds of the cold winter, as he stepped on them very vigorously.

Halfway through the road, there was a person on the right who happened to be coming out from under the rockery. Yong Lin’s eyesight was extraordinarily sharp, and could see clearly in an instant. He suddenly and coldly snorted, “Hold still! What misdeeds are you doing?”

The man was dressed in the clothes of an ordinary guard in the Palace, who seemed to be a gate watcher; his name was Tu Nan. It was snowing heavily in the sky, and the Palace was extremely quiet. Someone suddenly shouted at him in a high pitch making him startled and jumped around to look.

Seeing Yong Lin, his panic-stricken face disappeared immediately, and let out a sigh of relief before smiling and hurrying over to greet him, “Oh my god, Your Highness’s voice is almost frightening me to death. When I was young, I thought that in the Palace, except for Your Highness, no one else could have such a remarkable aura. A few days ago, I heard that Your Highness came back from the fief and was planning to go to greet Your Highness, but, hehe, you also know that because of my low status, and the gate to Shu Fei’s palace is also strictly guarded…”

“All right.” Yong Lin kicked him lightly, ordered him to get up and look at him with a smile, “Tu Nan, are you still gathering in the Palace to gamble again?”

“No, no, no, how dare this servant…”

“Humph!” Yong Lin stretched out his hand, tugged at his ear, and asked smugly, “Look at how sneaky you are! I, Your Highness Yong Lin, can’t see a thousand miles, but I’m still able to see things absolutely clear within a mile or two. As soon as your tail is up, I can smell the dice on your body, tell me! Where are you going to play?”

Among the princes, he was known for his arrogance and generosity, regardless of whether he was high or low, he was the best at fooling around with others. These guards were not afraid when they saw him, but it was different from when they met the silent and cold Yong Shan, the twin brother of his.

Tu Nan grabbed his ears, bared his teeth and groaned twice before begging for mercy with a wry smile, “Okay, Your Highness can see things as clearly as light, servant admits it! Severnat admits it! Your Highness hurts this servant’s ear so much. Your Highness, let go, it hurts!”

Only then did Yong Lin let go and wait with a smile.

“I dare not hide it from Your Highness. It’s just a small betting game. It’s snowing heavily now, but the brothers can’t go home after changing shifts. They can’t go home even when they are idle. Drinking is not allowed in the palace either, so everyone should have some fun together, right?”

“Blah blah blah.” Yong Lin smiled and kicked him again, “Aren’t you afraid that I will report you? If I want to report you, you might have been thrown into prison hundreds of years ago!”

“Thank you, Your Highness, for taking care of us. There are words saying that Your Highness’s righteousness is the best of all the princes in the Palace. But today, we don’t play dice over there. Hehe, Your Highness has not been with us for many days, so you don’t know that the rules have been changed. Now everyone is playing Pai Gow (a Chinese gambling game, played with a set of 32 Chinese dominoes)…”

Yong Lin immediately became interested, “I’ve also played Pai Gow, it’s very interesting. Hurry up, lead me there, how can you play this kind of good thing without me?”

Tu Nan didn’t know whether to laugh and cry. “Your Highness, this is really difficult. Not only Shu Fei, but even His Highness, the Crown Prince, has issued strict orders over and over again recently. The servants are not allowed to have you make a fool of yourself. If this matter becomes known, the servant will be in great misfortune.”

Yong Lin only knew how to have fun, so he didn’t care about the orders of his mother and brother.

He had been reprimanded no less than ten thousand times in his life. After making trouble, he would be fine after being scolded. Shu Fei and Yong Shan, even the Emperor, didn’t really do anything to him because of this kind of thing.

“F*ck you!” Hearing that Tu Nan was unwilling, Yong Lin raised his eyebrows and put on a vicious expression, then reached out and grabbed his ear and tugged it up, “If you don’t play with me, you’ll be very unlucky! Do you still want to have an ear? Are you taking me there or not?”

Tu Nan yelled for mercy, “Take you there! I’ll take you there!!”

Shu Fei’s strict order not to lead His Highness Yong Lin to do mischief had been issued dozens of times over the years, but none of them could really restrain His Highness Yong Lin.

It seemed that except for a new Crown Prince, everything was still the same, especially this prince Yong Lin, who still loved to play and make trouble like before.

Tu Nan was not an important official either, this kind of trivial matter was harmless, just refuse it first, and then it would be enough to have a perfunctory excuse for being questioned in the future.

Being twisted by the ear by Yong Lin, he immediately begged for mercy and relented, and led the cheerful Yong Lin to the remote small wing where their guards were resting while changing shifts.

When the two arrived, there was already a group of people in the small wing. The idle servants and guards were all crowded into the place where the stove was heated, waiting to have fun. Several of them used to have a good time with Yong Lin in the past.


Yong Lin had a good temper. He never bullied others as a prince. He was generous in his actions, and everyone below loved to be close to him. As soon as Tu Nan brought him, no one objected. All of them laughed and coaxed, “Okay! Okay! Now it’s really lively! Without His Highness, it wouldn’t be so interesting to play.”

Yong Lin patted this one, touched that one, and scolded them with a smile, “A bunch of little bastards are all looking at the good things on me! Let me tell you, your Highness Yong Lin is here to win the lottery today, take away your monthly salary, and make you cry with your ass naked!”

Suddenly someone clapped their hands and laughed, “Your Highness is so arrogant! Tu Nan, don’t be the dealer, you have to leave it to His Highness!”

The crowd agreed in unison.

Tu Nan gave Pai Gow to Yong Lin, and Yong Lin didn’t stand on ceremony either, “I’ll be the dealer it is, look at my lion’s mouth, I’ll devour you all alive!” He threw Pai Gow on the table, rolled up his sleeves and shouted, “Come on! There is no honor or inferiority on the gambling table, don’t blame me for being snobbish. Take out the money and place it down first, if you don’t have money, you can use items instead.”

He stretched his hand into his arms first, and took out the small jade pendant and the silver note inside, “Win this if you have the ability!”

Everyone stared blankly, their hearts were extremely enthusiastic, as they rushed to take out things to show their gambling capital.

Sure enough, having Yong Lin present was unusually lively. As soon as the betting game started, the shouting, the sound of shuffling cards, raising bets and cursing became so loud, it turned the sky upside down.

Yong Lin became the dealer, and his momentum was very strong.

Today his luck was really good. He could push all the cards well, and won seven or eight times in ten rounds, making himself laugh out loud.

The betting was heated up for several rounds, until the bettors were getting smaller and smaller.

“Bet! Why don’t you bet?”

Yong Lin was in high spirits and wanted to play until the evening. Seeing that the atmosphere was not as lively as before, he looked down and saw a mountain of broken silver and a mess of collateral piled up in front of him.

Many people’s gambling capitals were empty.

“Go!” Yong Lin waved his hand, “Whoever’s things will be taken back by themselves, let’s bet again!”

“Your Highness, is what you said true?”

Yong Lin’s eyes widened, “What are you talking about? When has what I said become false? These bastards, hurry up and take everything back, how can you play without money to bet? How disappointing! Quick!”

Everyone was ecstatic, swarming up and dragging their belongings back from under Yong Lin’s eyes. They all knew Yong Lin’s temper, and so they were self-disciplined, and only took out what was theirs, and no one took what should not be their own.

Yong Lin shouted, “After playing Pai Gow, the dice can’t be left in vain. Shall we play the dice roll again?”

“OK! OK!”

“Play whatever your Highness says to play!”

Everyone agreed to his words as if the stars were holding the moon, and quickly found the best pair of dice.

Meeting such a bold prince like Yong Lin, everyone was excited, and when the second round of gambling started, they were even more excited.

Yong Lin was still the dealer and shouted the most vigorously. No matter whether he was winning or losing, the guards surrounding him kept applauding and cheering him up.

After playing for a long time, he couldn’t help but feel the need to answer the call of nature.

Yong Lin grabbed Tu Nan, who was next to him, “You help me for a while, I’ll be back soon.”

Tu Nan knew that Yong Lin was going to take care of a small business and asked, “Do you want me to lead the way?”

“F*ck you!” Yong Lin knocked on his forehead, “Is this the first time I’ve come to your dog’s kennel? I want you to lead the way? Be the dealer for me. If you win, it’s for you, and if you lose, it’s mine.”

“Thank you, Your Highness!”


Tu Nan was also a guy with a strong gambling addiction. Hearing Yong Lin said that, his face flushed with excitement. He was happy to take the opportunity to be the dealer, took Yong Lin’s position, and shouted in the air, “Come on! Let’s throw the dice! Keep your eyes widening! Come, the five wealth and fortune!”

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T/N: it’s gonna be super dog blood in the next few chapters!!!! I can’t bear to read, too frustrating!

PS: 3 more chapters until the end of book 3

• 2995 English words translation.