CH 5

Fu Zhiyu slept until noon the next day. After he woke up, he felt much better and could already sit up on the bed, propping himself up with his hands.

Concubine Yun, feeling distressed for him, fed him spoonfuls of medicine and asked, “Do you feel better?”

He nodded and replied: “I had a strange dream last night. I dreamed of a big snake wrapping around me. I don’t know what it signifies.”

“It means an assault of a villain,” Concubine Yun put down the spoon in her hand, a hint of worry on her face, “I didn’t even have time to ask you about the situation before. That incident on the ice lake, was someone in the palace scheming against you?”

“I went there by myself, but someone did play a part,“ Fu Zhiyu said with a smile. “Don’t worry, you don’t need to bother with it. Just leave it to me, I will take care of it.”

He had already investigated the ice lake in his previous life. It was not the first time he had been to the ice lake in this kind of cold weather. Fu Zhiyu knew very well how thick the ice was over there. It would never collapse as soon as he stepped on it, and none of the young monks who used to be there all the time appeared that day, otherwise he wouldn’t have stayed in the ice water for so long before being rescued.

It was someone in the palace who was restless; knowing that Fu Zhiyu had been going there every day recently, this person deliberately designed the accident.

And this person was his old acquaintance, his old rival who opposed him since he was born, Eighth Prince Fu Rongli.

He was the second son of Noble Concubine Xue, only half an hour older than Fu Zhiyu. Fu Rongli was born almost at the same time and was always compared to Fu Zhiyu since he was a child. Fu Zhiyu bettered him again and again, and hatred was born.

In fact, Fu Zhiyu had no particular opinion on Fu Rongli, but he was targeted by the Eighth Prince over and over, and sooner or later he would be annoyed.

This grand ceremony made the conflict even more intense. After all, on such an important occasion, the emperor only brought the Crown Prince, the Third Prince and Fu Zhiyu, and Fu Rongli was left behind.

More importantly, the emperor originally wanted to bring him along, but who was to blame that the last time Fu Rongli wrote an essay on political theory he submitted it at the same time as Fu Zhiyu? The contrast was extremely obvious. After reading it, the emperor became angry and reprimanded him. Not only did he leave Fu Rongli behind, he even gave an order that the Eighth Prince should retreat to study and stay in the library during the ceremony.

Originally, had Fu Zhiyu moved with the large camp, Eight Prince would not have had a chance. But he stayed in the temple after the ceremony and walked alone, giving Fu Rongli an opportunity to make his move.

In his previous life, Fu Zhiyu woke up and felt very suspicious, but the ice lake had already frozen again and he couldn’t find any clues, so he was going to give up and get better first. He didn’t expect the other side to hear that he woke up, to be very upset and strike again, and to be caught in the act at once.

If he followed the experience of the previous life, it should be… tomorrow night?

Concubine Yun stretched out her hand and wiped the corners of his mouth with a silk handkerchief. Although the worry on her face didn’t dissipate, she never argued with her son.

“Let Dr. Chen come in,” Fu Zhiyu said after drinking the medicine, “I have something to discuss with him.”

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“Good,“ Concubine Yun agreed, and said to him as if she had remembered something, “By the way, the person who saved you is General Xie’s third son, named Xie Ke. He has been coming to see you but you were in a critical condition and Dr. Chen wouldn’t even let me into the room, let alone him. When the Empress Dowager heard that he saved you, she rewarded him with a lot of things on the spot, but he still wouldn’t leave, waiting outside. He finally went back when he heard that you were better.

Now he’s here again, just standing outside. I don’t know why he is like this, he seems to be a little… too concerned? I was a bit wary, so I only rewarded him, but still didn’t let him in. Do you want to see him?”

Fu Zhiyu was taken aback; what kind of game was Xie Ke playing?

In his previous life, Xie Ke never appeared again after saving him. Fu Zhiyu spent some time just to find out who his rescuer was. He didn’t understand why Xie Ke was a bit unhappy after saving him. Later he read the original book and realised that it was because he had stolen Miss Xue’s plot. Xie Ke, the actor, saved him only to find out that he was not Miss Xue. If the plot deviated, he was going to be deducted points. Naturally he was unhappy.

What did he want to do this time?

Fu Zhiyu wondered, was the current Xie Ke still the original Xie Ke? Had the actor been changed?

But the last sentence of the Lord God clearly referred to “that” Xie Ke, so Fu Zhiyu really didn’t know what he was doing this time.

Fu Zhiyu thought for a while and said, “Just say that I am still not feeling well and not suitable to see guests for fear of infecting others. When I’m well enough, I will visit him in person to thank him for saving my life.”

In the tea room a few doors away, Xie Ke, who had been waiting, heard this reply, but did not leave.

“…is he still not feeling well?” He nervously asked the servant who came to deliver the message, “I went to the mountains yesterday and dug up some old ginseng. Can you…”

“Young Master Xie, please don’t make things difficult for me,” the servant had some helplessness written on his face. He had been facing this Young Master Xie for more than a day or two and didn’t know what this one really wanted. “The prince said, when he is well enough, he will come to visit you.

As for the medicine, there is everything in the palace, and the imperial doctor has his own arrangements. I’m not bold enough to dare give the prince the medicine from outside at this time, right?”

After saying this, the servant lowered his head and bowed, raising the tray in his hands again. This was a reward from Concubine Yun, and the servant didn’t know how many times it had been offered. But this man, who knew what he wanted, refused to accept the reward and only asked for one thing: he wanted to see the Ninth Prince.

At this juncture, how could it be possible?

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Fu Zhiyu put Xie Ke’s affairs aside for the time being. No matter how awesome the protagonist was in the future, now he said he didn’t want to see him, so he wouldn’t see him, and Xie Ke couldn’t barge in.

Dr. Chen entered the room, first checked his pulse, breathed a sigh of relief, and said, “Master is lucky, there is no more danger.”

When the two were alone, Dr. Chen did not call him ‘His Highness Ninth Prince’ but just ‘Master’.

There was nothing unusual about it. Fu Zhiyu was sixteen years old this year, not six years old. His position among princes was top-notch. It was normal to have a trusted imperial doctor in the palace, a basic thing necessary to protect life. Dr. Chen originally followed Concubine Yun and later, when Fu Zhiyu became sensible, followed him.

Dr. Chen’s medical skills were good, especially his ancestral golden needle technique, which was one of the best in the Imperial Hospital.

“I’ve been troubling you all this time,” Fu Zhiyu said, “but I have one more thing to ask for.”

“Please tell me.”

“Help me play a scene,” Fu Zhiyu said, “a half-true and half-false scene. When I wake up tomorrow, I’ll say that I’m fine and the other imperial doctors will all go back, leaving only you, so my condition will be completely under your control.”

Dr. Chen glanced at him in surprise and said, “Master means this matter is not over yet?”

“It’s not over,” Fu Zhiyu said, “But I don’t want to attract attention to it.”

When Dr. Chen heard what he was going to do, he didn’t ask anything else. He only listened to Fu Zhiyu’s words and retreated when he knew what he had to prepare.

After Dr. Chen left, Fu Zhiyu lay on the bed thinking about the events of his previous life.

In his last life, Fu Rongli had failed once, so he made a move again, tampering with Fu Zhiyu’s medicine. The medicinal materials were sent from the palace, and he changed things at the source.

It was a pity that Fu Zhiyu didn’t drink a drop of that bowl of decoction. Dr. Chen had a keen nose, and when he smelled it, he felt that this bowl of medicine was different from usual. He was also smart. He didn’t speak out at the time, but gave Fu Zhiyu a wink when he handed the medicine.

Fu Zhiyu understood it on the spot. To avoid scaring the snake (alerting the enemy), he poured all the medicine into the quilt under the cover of Dr. Chen. Then he followed the trail and grabbed Fu Rongli’s fox tail.

The second attempt was arranged in a hurry, not as meticulous as the first one on the ice lake; after all, Fu Rongli didn’t expect Fu Zhiyu to wake up. Then he was caught by Fu Zhiyu with all the physical evidence. 

The emperor was outraged by this incident and scolded the Eighth Prince for harming his brother, and the Empress Dowager was also furious. Although Fu Rongli still retained the title of prince, it was clear that he had been completely abandoned.

Concubine Xue was scolded for not being strict with her son and was confined for half a year. Finally her family managed to get her released but she no longer had the glory of the past. Third Prince Fu Rongye, who was also Concubine Xue’s son, was affected too. He fell behind in the struggle with the Crown Prince and didn’t rise up for a long time.

The incident on the ice lake was a powerful one, shaking the harem, but the most important thing about it was that it made Fu Zhiyu stand out.

After weakening the two sons of Concubine Xue, the Ninth Prince, who had always been praised by the emperor as “naturally talented and capable to take up a great responsibility”, faced the Crown Prince almost directly. At that time, whether Fu Zhiyu wanted it or not, he was pushed into the vortex of the princes’ struggle for power and could no longer get out.

But this time he didn’t want to play it that way.

Fu Zhiyu thought, “What is there to fight for? In the end, it’ll all be Xie Ke’s. This group of people, including myself, won’t end up well anyway, so why bother with anything at this point?”

The author has something to say: 

Xiao Yu: I’m a Buddha, I won’t play with you guys anymore.