Chapter 656 - Chapter 656: Illness

Chapter 656: Illness

Editor: Atlas Studios

After dinner, Qi Haoran asked Fei Bai to invite Fan Zijin over, intending to have a heart-to-heart chat with him all night.

When Fan Zijin brought a pot of wine over with his lips pursed, Qi Haoran sent someone to inform Mu Yangling to sleep first because he was resting in the study tonight. Fan Zijin blinked. “Are you really planning to have a chat with me all night?”

This was rare.

Ever since this kid got married, he was no longer very willing to play with him. Fan Zijin stared at Qi Haoran with bright eyes, trying to use his gaze to force him to confess his true intentions. Unexpectedly, Qi Haoran was especially tight-lipped this time. He actually instructed Fei Bai to prepare food and wine without changing his expression.

Fei Bai pretended not to see the exchange of looks between the two of them and quickly went down. However, before he could walk out of the courtyard, he heard Fan Zijin shout. Startled, Fei Bai turned around and saw Fan Zijin chasing after Qi Haoran and hitting him. Qi Haoran only dodged and did not retaliate.

Fei Bai shivered and decided to say that he had fallen on the way to explain his late arrival.

Fan Zijin kicked Qi Haoran and demanded to know with a ferocious expression, “What do you mean? Are you suspecting that I’m not a man?”

Qi Haoran rubbed his kicked butt and straightened his neck. “I didn’t say that. I’m just suggesting you let the doctor check your pulse. What’s wrong with that?”

Under Fan Zijin’s cold glare, Qi Haoran scratched his head and whispered, “Only the two of us know about this. If Imperial Physician Wang dares to tell anyone, I’ll kill him! Little Bear is already two years old, but your son has yet to be born. If you don’t have a child soon, how are our kids going to play together if their age difference is too great?”

Fan Zijin glared at him and sat on the armchair to ponder over his words. To him, it was a great humiliation to see a doctor because of such a thing. However, Haoran was right. Only the two of them knew about this. As for Imperial Physician Wang, as long as he didn’t want to die, he definitely wouldn’t dare to tell anyone.

Fan Zijin looked up at Qi Haoran and asked, “You won’t turn around and tell Ah Ling, right?”

Qi Haoran said seriously, “This is between us brothers. Why would I tell her?”

Fan Zijin snorted and waved his hand. “Call him in.”

Qi Haoran heaved a sigh of relief and hurriedly ran over to call Imperial Physician Wang over.

Imperial Physician Wang, who had been waiting in the west wing, had heard the loud argument in the study. His heart had been pounding non-stop. When he saw Qi Haoran coming over to call him, he hurriedly followed behind respectfully.

Seeing that he was uneasy and afraid that it would affect him from giving an accurate diagnosis, Qi Haoran hurriedly comforted him in a low voice. “Imperial Physician Wang, don’t be nervous. I believe in your medical skills. Back then, Brother chose you to follow us south because of your superb medical skills. He even said that with you by my side, he wouldn’t have to worry about me all the time.”

He hinted to Imperial Physician Wang that he would be his subordinate from now on. As long as he was loyal, he would not kill him to silence him.

Imperial Physician Wang heaved a sigh of relief. When he left the palace, His Majesty did not ask him to report Prince Rong’s health condition periodically. This meant that the Emperor was purely worried about Prince Rong’s family’s health and not monitoring them. Since the Emperor did not ask, he naturally would not reveal Fan Zijin’s secret. Therefore, regardless of whether there was anything wrong with Fan Zijin, he did not have to worry about being silenced.

After calming himself down, Imperial Physician Wang entered with a smile on his face. Fan Zijin opened his eyes and glanced at the two of them before extending his hand to Imperial Physician Wang.

When Imperial Physician Wang saw how cooperative Fan Zijin was, he quickly sat at the side and took his pulse seriously. After that, he asked a few more private questions. After pondering for a long time, he said, “Your Highness, there’s nothing wrong with your health regarding your reproductive abilities.”

Fan Zijin heaved a sigh of relief.

However, Qi Haoran’s heart tightened. “If there’s no problem with that, what about other aspects?”

“The Duke is overworked and has exhausted his heart meridians. If this continues, I’m afraid it will affect his lifespan.”

Qi Haoran’s expression changed, and Fan Zijin also could not help but become solemn.

Anger brewed in Qi Haoran’s eyes. He said angrily, “What have you been doing for his monthly pulse diagnosis?”

Imperial Physician Wang felt wronged as well. “Your Highnesses, only the Princess Consort, Little Madam Xia, and Young Master regularly come to me for their pulse diagnosis every month. When I wanted to pay my respects to Your Highnesses, you said that you were very healthy and didn’t need me to take your pulse. Seeing this, the duke also took the opportunity to reject it…”

What he meant was, ‘You were the one who refused to let me take your pulse, setting a bad example for Fan Zijin. And now you’re blaming me?’

Qi Haoran soothed the anger in his chest and asked, “Then what do you think we should do?”

“Firstly, Duke, you can’t over-exhaust yourself anymore. You have to strike a balance between work and rest. Otherwise, even if you take medicine, it won’t be of much use. Secondly, I’ll write you a few more prescriptions to nourish your body first before slowly conditioning your health…” Imperial Physician Wang said a lot of things to take note of. Fan Zijin looked a little dazed, but Qi Haoran listened seriously with a solemn expression.

Qi Haoran could not help but rejoice. Fortunately, he had listened to Ah Ling and asked Zijin to see the imperial physician. Otherwise, who knew when he would discover the issue. Thinking of how Big Brother’s body had also been a little weak ever since he was poisoned, his eyes could not help but turn red.

Imperial Physician Wang said a lot of things. Finally, he left a prescription and a few medicinal cuisine prescriptions before leaving respectfully.

Qi Haoran said with a straight face, “Leave the business matters to the steward and just look at the accounts every month. As for military matters, I’ll get someone to help you.”

Fan Zijin rubbed his forehead and said, “The Ministry of Revenue just complained that they were broke. Zhang Cheng sent a letter asking if I could fork out 100,000 taels of silver this month. The seeds of Jiangnan have already been funded, but the farmers in the west, north, and south are still eagerly waiting for the Imperial Court to provide them with the seeds…”

“Don’t tell me they can’t do anything without you? Then what’s the use of them?” Furious, Qi Haoran roared, “My words are final. You’re not allowed to transfer money to the Ministry of Revenue.”

Fan Zijin looked at him with a cold sneer. “And then make Eldest Cousin so anxious that he falls ill? The poison in his body hasn’t been completely removed. If you can’t bear to see me suffer, can you bear to see him suffer?”

Qi Haoran flew into a rage. “I’ll tell Big Brother about this. If Zhang Cheng and the others can’t fix this themselves, he can kiss goodbye to his Minister of Revenue position.”

Qi Haoran was so anxious that his eyes turned red and were filled with tears. He roared in a low voice, “Big Brother’s lifespan is affected, so is yours. None of the three of us can live healthily till a ripe old age?”

Fan Zijin’s expression changed and he reprimanded, “What nonsense are you spouting? Imperial Physician Wang was just exaggerating…”

Qi Haoran looked at him stubbornly and said, “If you don’t listen to me, I’ll tie you up myself. Do you believe me?”

Fan Zijin looked at him helplessly.

At night, the two brothers lay on the bed with their backs facing each other. Qi Haoran said, “To govern the country and bring peace to the world, this isn’t something that can be achieved overnight. We’ve been in too much of a hurry recently and always want to take responsibility for everything. But in fact, whether it’s governing the country or bringing peace to the world, it’s not something that just the three of us can do with help from no one else. There are many capable people in the world. Let’s see if we can utilize their talents. If we can deploy those talents well, even if you sleep until dawn, the government affairs will still run smoothly.”