"I"ve imposed on you for many days, General," said the young man who was so handsome that he looked as if he was a character in a painting. He tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest of the chair as he smiled a gracious and warm smile. He looked to be totally innocent, especially because he was also frail-looking from his sickness. Everyone who saw him for the first time would think he was such a beautiful young man.
"Don"t mention, it is in my duty as a subject to the king!" said Qin Huaiyong respectfully as he bowed his head.
Chu Liuchen c.o.c.ked his head and coughed lightly, turned around and with a gentle voice, he said, "It must have been hard for the general to help me keep this secret. I heard that there is a great physician who is very skillful in medicine in Jingxin Monastery. Do you think it is possible for me to go there and stay for a few days?"
"Erm..." Qin Huaiyong hesitated.
"Why? Is there a problem, Ningyuan Army General?" asked Chu Liuchen, smiling and c.o.c.king his head again. His lips were so pale that they looked to be drained of their colors. For this reason, he looked even more frail and sickly, yet he looked exceptionally attractive as if all the light was s.h.i.+ning on his face.
Handsome and innocent-looking！
This was the first impression Chu Liuchen left on Qin Huaiyong. To him, this sickly looking man could not be counted as a valiant man!
"Jingxin Monastery would not permit an overnight stay for any males," said Qin Huaiyong, who paused for a moment and decided to be upfront with him. He continued, "It is because it is only occupied by nuns, so they would not allow any male to stay there overnight. All the guestrooms in Jingxin Monastery are for females."
"Were there not a single male who went to Jingxin Monastery to seek medical help?" asked Chu Liuchen politely as his lips curled up into a smile. This made Qin Huaiyong believe that Prince Chen was a gentlemanly young man, who was unfortunately sickly.
"There is actually one place where you may sleep, but it"s quite cramped and I"m afraid Prince Chen may not feel comfortable staying there," said Qin Huaiyong after pondering for a while, and he continued, "It"s nearby Jingxin Monastery. There used to be some other man seeking medical treatment from Jingxin Monastery who stayed with the nearby households."
"Tell me about it!" asked Chu Liuchen as he pinched his chin.
"I have a small courtyard with a room near Jingxin Monastery which I acquired from a farmer. I had someone built an extension to that building, but it is still quite a small place. If Prince Chen doesn"t mind, you can stay there. It"s not far from Jingxin Monastery and it"ll be convenient to invite the reverend from Jingxin Monastery to go over there to treat you."
Qin Huaiyong replied.
Qin Huaiyong had stayed in that house whenever he visited Old Grandma in Jingxin Monastery. Old Grandma had always stayed in Jingxin Monastery for a period of time whenever she was not feeling well and Qin Huaiyong would spend his nights at this place whenever he visited her.
"Alright, I will stay there. Since my uncle, the king had given me permission to go around, so that if I were to b.u.mp into any skillful physician, I should get treated by him. I was inflicted with this illness from my mother"s womb, so I"m not hopeful towards a full recovery. All I"m asking is to have my agony reduced," Chu Liuchen said impa.s.sively as if he was not talking about his own health.
Thereafter, he turned his face away and coughed a little.
Qin Huaiyong looked down as he suddenly felt a wave of grieve in his heart. He used to go to war with the late emperor, and he had a much deeper feeling for him than the current emperor, who was Prince Chen"s uncle, not his father. The supposed crown prince was now merely a prince and a sickly one.
"Your majesty, as your subject, I will escort you over and request for the reverend of Jingxin Monastery to treat you," said Qin Huaiyong.
"Looks like I have to trouble the General!" said Chu Liuchen softly, as he stopped to cough again.
"Let me go ahead of Your Majesty to make the necessary arrangements!" said Qin Huiyong, as he excused himself to arrange horse carriages for Chu Liuchen. When Chu Liuchen first arrived at Jiangzhou Prefecture, he simply had a few carriages with him, having instructed Qin Huaiyong not to make his arrival known, so much so that he did not even inform his wife and daughters.
"Are you going to Jingxin Monastery, Master?" asked Xiao Xuanzi, one of the prince"s eunuchs, perplexed because Jingxin Monastery was not on their itinerary.
"So I heard that the reverend of Jingxin Monastery was a highly skilled physician. There"s no harm paying her a visit," said Chu Liuchen, as he sat up and then leaned back. Although this handsome young man was acting laid back, he did not look obtrusive.
"How medically skillful can the reverend of a monastery be? I supposed she treats people anyhow and coincidentally they were healed," said Xiao Xuanzi doubtfully. If she was really this good, she would have gone to the capital city to answer to the emperor"s soliciting for physicians to treat you!"
"Those who went to the capital city may not necessarily be great physicians, and those outside the capital may be great physicians! The reverend of Jingxin Monastery is a lady," said Chu Liuchen with a smile as he patted his fingers on the armrest of the chair.
"Master, are you saying that you"ve found the person whom Physician Qi was talking about?" a clever Xiao Xuanzi responded as hope and excitement flashed across his eyes.
Qin Yu, the great physician had given permission for Chu Liuchen to go around precisely to look for his junior female fellow disciple...
Qin Wanru was not aware that after she left the General"s Mansion, the general had prepared another procession of horse carriages for Chu Liuchen to to to Jingxin Monastery.
By then, Qin Wanru had arrived at Jingxin Monastery. She alighted from her carriage and went over to help Old Grandma alight from hers. The reverend of Jingxin Monastery had been informed of their coming and she was welcoming them at the gates of the monastery.
"This time...cough, cough... I will trouble ... cough... you, the reverend, yet again!" said Old Grandma with a hoa.r.s.e voice interrupted by coughs. Because of persistent coughing over the last couple days, Old Grandma had lost so much weight, and the veins on her forehead were showing, so much so she looked very frail.
"Let"s come in first before we continue with our conversation, Old Madam!" said the reverend of Jingxin Monastery, as she took over from Qin Wanru to hold on to Old Grandma"s hand and helped her into the house carefully.
Without feeling Old Grandma"s pulse, the reverend was already able to tell that Old Grandma"s condition was deteriorating, compared to the last time she saw her.
Although the walk into the building of Jingxin Mansion was not exactly very long, it was tedious enough for Old Grandma. She started panting even after she took a few steps. Shui Ruolan，who was walking by Old Grandma"s side kept wiping the perspiration on her face gently, as her eyebrows locked into a frown.
When they finally entered the guestroom, the reverend of Jingxin Monastery helped Old Grandma onto the bed to lie down. Compared to other physicians, the reverend of the monastery was very much more familiar with Old Grandma"s health conditions.
As the reverend of Jingxin Monastery felt for Old Grandma"s pulse, both Shui Ruolan and Qin Wanru fixed their gazes on her anxiously.
After a long while, she finally released her grip on Old Grandma"s wrist and stood up.
Shui Ruolan was about to inquire about Old Grandma"s condition when the reverend stopped her with a wave of her hand.
"Reverend, how... is my illness?" asked Old Grandma, opening her eyes.
"Just like before, you have to get plenty of rest. I will prescribe you some medicine as usual so Old Grandma have to take it consistently and you"ll be alright. However, age is catching up with Old Grandma so you have to be take extra care!" the reverend a.s.sured Old Grandma.
The words of the reverend put Old Grandma slightly at ease. She nodded her head weakly and with a feeble voice, she said, "I shall trouble you to do that for me!"
"Don"t say that, Old Grandma!" the reverend said with smile, then continued, "I shall not impose on you and leave you to take a rest now, Old Grandma. You must be tired from the trip."
Old Grandma was indeed exhausted from the journey so she nodded and said, "Alright!"
She closed her eyes afterwards.
By the time everyone left the room, the reverend of Jingxin Monastery rested her eyes on Qin Yuru, who was still wearing a veil over her face.
"Elder Miss Qin, is your face alright?"
"Please have a look at my face, reverend," said Qin Yuru as she removed the veil from her face.
The reverend had a look and saw that her wound was not serious. It was almost fully healed after application of some ointment, the only thing that was visible was some small spots.
"There"s nothing to worry about, Elder Miss Qin. It is almost healed. Just continue to be careful and remember not to ingest anything too flavorful," the reverend said with a smile.
"How about my hand?" Qin Yuru stretched out her bandaged arm as Mei Xue rushed over to undress the wound. When the reverend took a look at the extensive burnt skin, she started to frown.
"I"m afraid... this would leave some scar," the burnt wound covered quite a large area on her skin, which was basically her entire palm, it looked like the ointment was not doing its job.
"Are there no other solutions?" Qin Yuru said, giving Qin Wanru a cold stare, while she gritted her teeth!
"If we use a better ointment, perhaps it"ll work better," said the reverend, trying to give a conclusive answer. She quietly frowned as she caught Qin Yuru"s glancing at Qin Wanru with an evil look, although it was just a pa.s.sed quickly.
"Since Elder Miss Qin is injured, you should take a rest," said the reverend politely.
Qin Yuru was about to do exactly what the reverend said. She stood up, smiled and said, "We will be troubling you these few days!"
"Don"t mention it, Elder Miss Qin!" said the reverend as she called a nun over to lead Qin Yuru to her room to rest.
After Qin Yuru left the room, Qin Wanru inquired anxiously, "Reverend, how is my grandmother"s condition?"
The reverend had said that Old Grandma"s condition was the same as past years, but Qin Wanru could tell from the frown on the reverend"s face that her grandmother"s illness had turned for the worst all of a sudden. It was nothing like in the past years when the cough came on slowly.
"Was Old Grandma provoked recently? Like the kind that happened suddenly," asked the reverend, frowning, when she saw the earnestness in Qin Wanru and Shui Ruolan"s eyes as they looked at her with antic.i.p.ation. She knew they were genuinely concerned about Old Grandma"s health and decided not to hold back any information.
"Erm... I don"t think so..." Shui Ruolan replied. When Old Grandma"s coughing started, she was already staying at the family temple and she was not aware of the details. Turning to Qin Wanru, she said, "Wanru, will you tell us when what was different about Grandma"s illness this time when it started."
"Something happened in the mansion the other when Miss Qi came over and stirred up a great commotion. After Grandma went to have a look, she started coughing even before she returned to her own room," Qin Wanru said after pondering for a while. She supposed that the reverend of Jingxin Monastery already knew about the Qin Rongzhi episode. Together with what happened to Qin Yuru, these two incidents were the greatest scandal of Jiangzhou for now.
There were many visitors to Jingxin Monastery and she supposed such news would have reached the reverend"s ears.
"Grandma suddenly started to cough badly when Miss Qin fell into the water? Were Mrs. Qin and Elder Miss Qin there when it happened?" asked the reverend, frowning.
"Both Mother and Elder Sister went," affirmed Qin Wanru.
"Your grandmother"s illness must have been triggered by something which happened abruptly... it"s much more serious than in the past." The reverend spoke up again after a pause. She did not wish to keep Old Grandma"s condition a secret. She looked intently at Shui Ruolan, then Qin Wanru"s tense little face and reiterated with conviction, saying, "This time it is truly very serious!"