The entire hall erupted with exclamations of horror, all eyes fixed upon the chaos that was unravelling up front. The crown prince had gone into violent convulsions, his eyeballs rolling upwards in their sockets so only the whites were showing.
"Call the royal physicians!" the king shouted to his stewards.
"Quan-er!" The queen had already run to her son's side, and was now cradling him in her arms.
While the commotion was taking place, the doors to the grand hall had already been ordered shut by Zhenghuan. No one would be leaving this place until the truth—or the treachery—behind the crown prince's sudden illness came to light.
Zi-ning carefully studied the faces of all the potential culprits. This was not how things had previously unfolded. In her past life, Crown Prince Ru-quan had taken ill not long after his wedding to Ouyang Sangya. According to what was publicly revealed, it had been a serious case of pneumonia caused by an accidental fall into the river during one of the king's royal hunting trips, which was certainly not what was happening right now.
She looked towards the vile puddle that the prince had retched onto the floor. There was the tiniest of movements coming from the brownish pool—the so-called worms.
Worms...
That was deeply unusual.
If it was a case of poisoning, then vomiting or even spitting of blackened blood could be expected, but to have worms found in the discharge suggested that there was something even more insidious at play. Funnily enough, she had come across such a case before—in the Shanhe manual that Old Hu had given her. It was only a brief record of an anecdotal incident, where a farmer had taken gravely ill with worms found in his excretions. There was no indication of what could have caused the strange illness, beyond some barely legible guesses revolving around food poisoning and shamans casting spells.
Could it be witchcraft?
Witchcraft was not commonly heard of in the three kingdoms, but there were rumours that it was practised by shamans of the southern tribes. It was not impossible for the southern tribes to have attempted an assassination of the Duan crown prince, but were they the only ones involved? Or could it merely a case of misdirection, with the real mastermind being someone else altogether? She unwittingly looked in Ru-an's direction. The fifth prince had stood up and rushed to his older brother's side, appearing anxious and worried.
He had always been a good actor.
The physicians arrived shortly and the crown prince was carried by attendants out of the hall, possibly to one of the back rooms where he would be able to be examined and treated. By this time, Ru-quan was already unconscious, his face as pale as a sheet of parchment. After he had been taken away, the king surveyed the crowd with a steely gaze. An unsettling silence set in.
"Zhenghuan, investigate the situation immediately. I want to know what happened to the crown prince, and who's responsible for it. " King Shunde ordered, before swiftly leaving to check on his son's condition.
The Shadow Lord nodded, proceeding to issue instructions to the royal guards. Everyone else exchanged worried glances while they waited for the guards to commence their inspection, concerned that they would be implicated in this mess.
Zi-ning considered the situation for a moment, then she leaned over and whispered something into Lady Li's ear. The lady frowned, contemplating her words briefly, then she nodded. They both stood up, heading towards the back rooms.
#
"What do you mean by that? You're the most experience physician in the palace! How can you not be able to cure the crown prince?" the queen was railing at the cowering physicians.
That was the first thing that Lady Li and Zi-ning saw when they entered the room that the crown prince had been taken to. Queen Yuanji's face was flushed with rage as she flung a nearby teacup at the chief physician, striking the elderly man on the forehead. The porcelain shattered, and a gash appeared where it had hit.
The physicians dropped to their knees.
"Forgive us, Your Majesty, but this unlike any illness we have seen before. There is nothing wrong with the crown prince's pulse, yet no acupuncture seems to be able to help him regain consciousness. Also, those worms..."
"If you are so incompetent, then what is the point of keeping any of you! I should have all of you beheaded!" the queen yelled.
"Yuanji, I know you're upset and worried, but executing the physicians will not help Ru-quan," King Shunde advised. His thick brows were also knitted into a deep frown, but he still retained his composure, unlike the queen. "Give them some time to go back and find a solution."
"Give them time? Who's going to give Quan-er time! How could you be so calm when your own son is lying there on his deathbed!" Queen Ci stared at her husband in disbelief, anguish and disappointment written all over her face. Then, she caught sight of Lady Li and Zi-ning standing by the doorway. "What are you doing here! Are you here to mock me? To see if my son is dead? Get out!" she shrieked.
"Yuanji!" the king bellowed. "Control yourself!"
"Why should I? My son is going to die, and you care more about this woman's feelings than about saving his life."
King Shunde raised his hand and slapped the queen soundly across the left cheek. The woman fell to the ground, breaking down in fitful sobs.
Sensing the situation deteriorating, the few physicians quickly bowed out of the room and took their leave before they could end up being collateral damage.
"You are the queen of this kingdom," the king hissed. "How could you behave like a shrew!"
"You've never treated me like I was queen anyway," Queen Ci scoffed.
"Shunde, Yuanji, this is not the time for such arguments," Lady Li interrupted, taking a few steps forward. Despite the accusations that the queen had flung at her, she remained unperturbed. "I am here because Zi-ning says she might have a way to help Ru-quan."
Hope flickered in the queen's eyes. Then she narrowed them, regarding Zi-ning with scorn. "None of the royal physicians can identify the problem with my son, and you're telling me that this child knows better?" she sneered.
Even the king did not look convinced. He studied Zi-ning thoughtfully for a moment, then said, "As much as I trust your judgement, Wanle, the queen is not wrong here. The royal infirmary houses the most experienced and skilled physicians in the kingdom, but even they are at their wit's end..."
Lady Li turned to Zi-ning and nodded, signalling for her to speak.
Sucking in a breath, Zi-ning began, "I once met a travelling physician who gave me a manual containing records of some unusual illnesses and afflictions that he had encountered over the years. The manual did speak of one patient whose excretions contained traces of live worms—and it recorded a possible cure."
Now she had everyone's attention. Both the king and queen were watching her expectantly, and even Lady Li looked interested in what she had to say.
"The manual said that you could use acupuncture on eight acupoints: Baihui, Taiyang, Yamen, Fengchi, Shenjue, Guanyuan, Zhangmen and Mingmen. This will channel the remaining worms that are circulating in the body towards the mouth, so that they can be expelled entirely."
The queen's face turned ashen. She pointed a trembling finger at Zi-ning. "You're lying! You're trying to kill my son!" she screamed. Turning to the king, she grabbed hold of his arm and begged, "Don't listen to her. She's trying to kill Quan-er. All those acupoints are death acupoints. The slightest mistake will cost Quan-er his life!"
"Zi-ning, what manual is it that you speak of? Is it reliable? Those acupoints are indeed very dangerous to work with. Even I am not confident of being able to apply the needles to those acupoints," Lady Li said.
Zi-ning fell to her knees. "The manual is called the Shanhe manual, and it was shown to me by the River Immortal," she confessed. Judging from the grey tone of the unconscious crown prince's skin, he was on the brink of death. She had to convince them to let her use Old Hu's remedy, otherwise Ru-quan would certainly die. Even if the chance was slim, she had to try. She needed the crown prince alive to help thwart Ru-an's ambitious plans.
"The River Immortal? How did you meet someone like that?" King Shunde asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
"He found us at the bottom of the cliff, along the route from Ryoko Temple to the capital," someone else answered. Zhenghuan had entered through the door, with Ru-an and Ru-wen trailing behind him. "We fell off because of the bandit attack, and the River Immortal was the one who rescued us then. That was when he gave Zi-ning the manual. Shortly after, we met up with Lady Li and returned to Huangcheng."
Zi-ning noticed the greedy flicker in Ru-an's eyes when he heard mention of the River Immortal. The fifth prince had never managed to locate the elusive old man in her previous life, and she doubted he would be able to do so in this one.
The king rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he pondered upon Zhenghuan's words. "It is said that the River Immortal can raise the dead. If this remedy is truly from one of his manuals, then it could work a miracle..." he murmured.
"No!" the queen protested. "Your Majesty, you cannot leave Quan-er's life at the hands of a wandering charlatan. Who is this River Immortal? Even if he is as formidable as they claim he is, how do we know that this so-called manual really came from him? What if this is all a ruse to kill Quan-er!" Her voice rose to a shrill pitch as she regarded everyone else in the room with venom dripping from her tear-stained eyes.
"Yuanji, be reasonable. Look at your son," Lady Li said sternly. "If we do nothing, then he is already dead. Although Zi-ning's remedy sounds dangerous, it could work."
"Why you—"
"Wanle is right," the king intervened, cutting off the queen before she could begin venting more of her anger. "The royal physicians do not have a solution, and Quan-er may not have the time to wait for them to come up with one." He looked at Lady Li and nodded. "I trust Wanle's judgement. Every member of the Li clan is a highly skilled physician in their own right, so if she says that the method could work, then it is worth a try."
"I will wield the needles personally," Lady Li said. "Zi-ning, write down the acupoints in the order that they are supposed to be in. Make sure there is no mistake, is that clear?"
Zi-ning nodded, understanding the warning tone in her mentor's voice.
If they failed, then the death of the crown prince could be pinned on their heads. It was not just her life, but also Lady Li and Zhenghuan's lives who would be on the line, since they had both vouched for the legitimacy of her proposed cure.
She instinctively turned towards Zhenghuan, who gave her a barely noticeable tilt of the chin, as if to say, "There's nothing to worry about. I'll be right here."
Her nervous heart settled back down in her chest. She picked up a brush and began to write.