After Becoming the Cannon Fodder Live-in Spouse A (GL) - Chapter 21: The Twenty-First Day

Chapter 21: The Twenty-First Day

Ye Fuguang wanted to follow the usual novel routine and ask Ruyi to use connections to find out how Ye Yuge had offended the emperor.

Ruyi was happy to run the errand, but she asked, “The Imperial Guards, the Court of Judicial Review, the Ministry of Justice, or the Censorate—Princess, which officials do you know?”

“…”

Ye, the cannon fodder, teared up, realizing that as a mere cannon fodder in Yong’an City, she could barely step outside Prince Qi’s mansion. Her strongest connection was the incense for all wishes at Xiangguo Temple in the city outskirts.

In other words, bathing and burning incense tonight, waiting for some deity to reveal the truth in a dream, was more likely than knocking on the doors of Yong’an officials.

College student Ye stayed quiet for a moment, then recalled that her scumbag father seemed to value Ye Yuge highly. Now that he’d been promoted and had worked in the palace for years, she pursed her lips and told Ruyi, “Then send someone to the Ye Family to check if Ye Rong has any solutions.”

Ye Rong, naturally, had no solutions.

He lacked insight and was dull in his work. If he had real skills or was good at scheming, with a medical clinic that relied on genuine ability and allowed frequent contact with nobles in the inner palace, he wouldn’t have only been promoted today.

And this promotion was clearly putting him on the fire.

Just after making him head of the Imperial Medical Academy, the emperor threw the child he relied on and valued into a dark prison. Everyone in Mingde Hall was tight-lipped about it. He spent a lot of silver but couldn’t pry a single word from the attendants.

Though Ye Rong still didn’t know how his daughter, who took the imperial exam this year aiming to enter the emperor’s court, had violated royal taboos, he vaguely sensed—

Prince Qi’s condition was far more complex than he initially thought, not something he could handle by copying former Head Xue’s medical notes and having his daughter figure out a way to muddle through.

Had he known it would cost Ye Yuge her head, he would’ve found an excuse to avoid the emperor’s summons to the Imperial Medical Academy that day.

Ye Rong was so anxious that blisters formed on his lips. After several futile trips in the palace like a scurrying ant, just as he was about to boldly request an audience with the emperor, Fuyao, the emperor’s attendant, arrived.

“I know what worries Head Ye, but there’s no need for such panic. The emperor actually admires your daughter’s talent. She’s just young and spoke too rashly. If she’s fortunate enough to inherit your mantle, she’ll need to be more cautious. No need to worry—she’s in the top level of the imperial prison, where she can see light and won’t face punishment.”

At these words, Ye Rong, disregarding his status, knelt and thanked Fuyao profusely, tears streaming, begging him to look after his child.

Fuyao’s smile deepened. He avoided the bow, helped him up, and slipped a stack of papers into his hand, casually mentioning, “By the way, the emperor tested your daughter’s medical skills with Prince Qi’s case. This is her response. I thought it might be a family secret, so I brought it to you.”

“As for Prince Qi’s matter, please take it seriously, Head Ye. After all, she’s the emperor’s bl00d relative.” Fuyao left with this meaningful remark.

…

Ye Rong stood dazed at the Imperial Medical Academy’s gate for a long time.

Other physicians passing by kept their distance or lowered their heads, avoiding his gaze. Ye Rong looked around and realized they weren’t avoiding him out of fear of bad luck—he was the bad luck itself.

No one wanted to be associated with Prince Qi.

His expression shifted several times, showing a mix of crying and laughing. Finally, he slowly looked at the papers, hoping to find where Ye Yuge went wrong—

After a few breaths.

Ye Rong’s eyes widened, staring at each herb listed on the paper.

He read it several times, exhausting his lifetime of knowledge, and couldn’t find a single flaw. In his mind, he reviewed Prince Qi’s medical case, matching each herb to the symptoms, almost wanting to applaud the brilliant solution!

At first, his hands trembled with excitement, but then his eyes grew wider until he crumpled the paper. A gust of wind blew, snatching it from his hand.

Ye Rong didn’t want to pick it up, unsure how to devise a better solution to make up for his daughter’s mistake and free her from prison sooner.

In his sorrow, the paper was caught by a hand on the palace path ahead.

“This prescription is brilliant, Head Ye. Is it yours?”

The young face looking at him was Mi Yun, a traveling physician who joined the Imperial Medical Academy this year. Rumor had it he studied Miao medicine in the borderlands for years. Compared to Ye Rong’s honest, unremarkable face, Mi Yun was already a favored physician among many nobles.

Mi Yun approached, smiling. “The herbs are common but cleverly achieve liver qi generation and essence reinforcement. Ophiopogon and raw rehmannia cool the bl00d and nourish yin, especially raw rehmannia, which reminds me of a story from the northern border.”

He was a skilled conversationalist, naturally drawing listeners in.

Ye Rong initially didn’t want to engage, but once Mi Yun spoke, he instinctively listened to the story about two brothers who offended someone and were secretly poisoned. When seeking a traveling physician, they mistook raw rehmannia for processed rehmannia. The illness was cured, but they went mad.

Mi Yun laughed. “Some nobles confuse the two when taking tonics—oh, Head Ye seemed in a rush earlier. I hope I haven’t delayed you. I tend to ramble; please don’t mind.”

Ye Rong grew thoughtful.

Somehow, he recalled colleagues in Yong’an City, drunk after the Yancheng battle, slurring about politics.

Their words implied Prince Qi’s merits overshadowed the emperor. If she won the Yancheng battle again, there’d be no higher title to grant. But the Great Dynasty’s foundation wasn’t stable, and it couldn’t lose this war god. Making Prince Qi unable to fight, reduced to a commoner or invalid, would be best for the dynasty.

This story mingled with Mi Yun’s tale of “raw rehmannia” and “processed rehmannia” in his mind.

The only spark of insight in Ye Rong’s life flashed at this moment.

He lowered his eyes to the returned prescription, returned to his office, and sat at his desk for a long time, deliberating. Finally, with closed eyes, he slowly crossed out “raw rehmannia”…

–

One incense stick earlier, on the palace path.

Mi Yun watched Ye Rong leave, recorded his shift with his badge, and headed to a three-courtyard house on North Street.

Through winding pavilions, he found a figure playing with water in a courtyard of wilted flowers.

Her fingertips skimmed the water, her lowered head showing only a pale neck. As she turned at the sound, a striking red mole dotted her full lips.

Mi Yun squinted, watching koi fish avoid her outstretched hand. He faintly saw snowflake-like grains fall from her fingers, then smiled:

“Is the little princess craving fish?”

“The koi here have too many bones and smell bad. No amount of salt helps.”

The woman called little princess glanced at him faintly, rubbing the snow-white grains in her palm. She paused, then said, “You came back from the palace just to say that, Mi Yun?”

“I wouldn’t dare disturb your elegance without reason—”

The man with a bright smile gazed at her, then said, “I just learned there’s a talent in the Central Plains who can solve our Da Zhi royal clan’s long-secret ‘Three Spring Life.’”

Su Wanqiu looked at him expressionlessly. “Didn’t your Guishuang prince already turn Xue Congde’s head into a skull cup? How does the Great Dynasty have another divine physician so soon?”

Mi Yun raised a hand to his lips, shushing her, then said, “Don’t worry, I bring good news. This divine physician upset Shen Jingming and is already in prison.”

“Oh?”

“But the Great Dynasty’s emperor seems reluctant to let that golden signboard fall so soon.”

“What’s the good news then?”

Su Wanqiu released the salt grains, letting them scatter into the lake, like the wind and snow she saw in Plum Garden at Prince Qi’s mansion.

Her face was cold as she considered changing dinner to roasted wild bird. If she remembered correctly, “Mi Yun” in Da Zhi language meant owl.

And the one before her was a human-faced owl, the kind that loved to smile.

Then Mi Yun asked with a mysterious smile:

“Want to see a brand-new Prince Qi?”

“—Like a passionate, uncontrollable, bloodthirsty lunatic?”

Su Wanqiu paused while wiping her hands with a handkerchief.

Looking at the salt grains in her palm, she seemed back at Prince Qi’s mansion. Compared to the snow that could’ve frozen her then, these salt grains now only melted pitifully in her warmth.

Turning into wet droplets.

In a daze, Su Wanqiu seemed to see that pitiful little princess, turning from snowflakes into a puddle crushed by Shen Jinglan’s madness, dripping miserably through her fingers.