Chapter 124 An Ill-Fated Meeting on a Narrow Path
The so-called Southern Palace, in fact, was also in the Imperial Palace, but it was not officially inside there. Actually, it lay to the south of the Imperial Palace and was a large mansion, or a large garden, closely adjacent to the Imperial Palace.
As far as its status was concerned, it was far from the Eastern Palace.
From the interior of the Imperial Palace, one could also enter the Southern Palace. In fact, the Southern Palace in the past was a quiet courtyard for summer vacations and leisure. As long as Chu Liuchen was still small but dethroned as the prince, he moved into the Southern Palace. Therefore, a sign was hung there that said Prince Chen’s Mansion.
In the last life, the sign of Prince Chen’s Mansion was removed, and the title of Southern Palace was restored.
In this life, although people all knew that it was now renamed Prince Chen’s Mansion, many people in private still called it the Southern Palace. Because of its unique position and name and Chu Liuchen himself, people had all kinds of taboos about Chu Liuchen, who lived in it.
Qin Wanru had been to the Southern Palace in her last life, but she had entered through a small side door of the palace. She had never entered the Southern Palace from the outside, but this did not prevent her from finding the former Southern Palace, now Prince Chen’s Mansion, according to the general direction.
Before she reached it, she could see the large tablets shining in the distance, and the huge characters, like flying dragons and dancing phoenixes, with fierce force.
It was said that the characters were written by the emperor himself, but Chu Liuchen then was still in his infancy.
The cart driver had asked the way several times before, but all the people who had been asked were in a hurry and pointed at random, as if they were unwilling to be close to the Southern Palace. Fortunately, however, it was Qin Wanru who found it with a few of her memories.
Just around the corner should be Prince Chen’s Mansion. The cart driver carefully pulled the reins of the horse. In the capital city, he, an unimportant cart driver, did not dare to be arrogant.
The cart driver in the Qin’s Mansion was a newcomer. He was quite familiar with the roads in the capital and was clever, so he did not dare move forward when he found the cart was caught in a small road and another cart came in front of him.
“What’s going on?” Yujie lifted the curtain, leaned out, and asked.
“Yujie, there is a cart coming in front of us.” The cart driver lowered his voice. Although he could not tell which mansion the carriage in front of him was from, the wide and beautiful carriage occupied almost the whole road, which was not available to ordinary people. Besides, there were two guards riding on high horses behind the carriage.
This situation has already made the cart driver timid.
“Step back to make way.” Qin Wanru’s voice came out from the carriage. Through the cracks in the curtain raised by Yujie, she also saw the situation of her carriage.
“Yes, Miss!” The cart driver answered, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had just recently arrived at Qin’s Mansion, so he didn’t know the temperament of all the masters in the mansion. He was afraid that the Second Miss had just come from Jiangzhou and thought she could be arrogant like she had been there. If they made some trouble, no one could handle it.
The carriage on their side slowly retreated, and the carriage in front of them followed closely. The latter took for granted that the Qin’s carriage would give way.
The cart driver from the Qin’s Mansion was a little panicked. Looking at this situation, the status of the one in front was really huge, so he retreated more cautiously.
But the less he wanted to make a mistake, the more mistakes he made. The wheels of the carriage were caught in a small ditch beside the road. And a wheel was half sunk. No matter how hard the cart driver tried, the carriage was still blocking the road.
“Miss… Miss, it is stuck!” The cart driver tried several times and was sweating.
The carriage in front had to stop as well. The curtain of the carriage was pulled up slightly. Someone shouted, “Can your carriage be faster? We have patients here. If something goes wrong, how many heads do you have to bear it?”
The cart driver’s anxious face was white as he said cautiously, “We seem to be stuck. Can we trouble you to step back?”
“What do you mean step back? It will take us a long time. Hurry up. If something really happens, you will be in trouble.” An old woman jumped out of the carriage with a terrible look on her face and sharp eyes.
“I… we will try our best!” The cart driver did not dare to speak again. He pulled the reins again and tried again.
“What do you mean ‘try your best’? It is a must. Our old Madam is sick. If she is not treated as soon as possible, something terrible will happen!” The old woman was very anxious, and angrily pushed the two horses pulling the carriage.
Someone was sick? And it was also very urgent? This kind of thing could not be delayed!
Qin Wanru signaled for Yujie to lift the carriage curtain. Yujie first jumped from the carriage and Qin Wanru jumped down with Yujie’s hand.
After she got down from the carriage, she looked at the anxious old woman, and asked gently, “What disease does your old Madam have?”
The old woman didn’t expect such a Young Lady to come down from the carriage. After being stunned for a moment, she answered in displeasure, “Our old Madam suddenly fell ill. At this time, she can’t even speak. You should leave and make way!”
“I will have a look!” Qin Wanru went over to the other carriage.
The old woman rushed to stop her. “Miss, who are you looking at? You had better get your carriage away. We…”
“Our getting out of the carriage will make it more convenient for the carriage to move, but this does not guarantee that the carriage will get out immediately. If you are not worried about your master’s illness, you can stop me. If something really happens, you can bear it yourself!” Qin Wanru stopped and coldly interrupted the old woman.
Although she was young, she was very calm. Her slightly open eyes were cold. She was completely unlike girls at her age, who were arrogant and capricious.
The old woman loosened her hands and looked terrible. She couldn’t gamble and dared not gamble. Looking at Qin Wanru going over, she thought about it and then followed Qin Wanru. At this time, she was anxious and puzzled, so she took a short cut. It was unexpected that the short cut was blocked.
If something happened, as an old woman, she couldn’t bear it!
Qin Wanru continued to go to the carriage. Yujie first jumped on the carriage, then gave Qin Wanru a hand. After Qin Wanru got on, the old woman following her also jumped up to the carriage, and raised the curtain of the carriage high, so that Qin Wanru could see the situation inside more clearly.
On a couch in the carriage lay a magnificent old woman with her eyes and mouth closed. She was absolutely in a bad situation, her face was blue and her breath was short.
Qin Wanru was anxious to step forward, reaching out to touch the old woman’s pulse, and slightly bowed.
Looking at Qin Wanru’s posture, the old woman immediately had expectation. She squatted beside Qin Wanru in anticipation and dared not speak again for fear of disturbing her diagnosis.
Qin Wanru’s diagnosis was not slow. After she had to lay down her hand, she realized that the old woman was suddenly ill. She reached out and took the old Madam’s hand and pulled her sleeve up.
“Yujie, get my set of needles!”
“Yes, miss!” Yujie nodded and returned to jump from the carriage.
“Pull up the curtain to let the old Madam breathe!” Qin Wanru ordered the old woman beside her.
The old woman hurriedly responded and opened the curtains on both sides.
The air in the carriage was immediately clear. Although it was a little cold, the old woman’s face looked better after the cold air rushed in. She no longer appeared iron-green and breathless.
“Help her to sit up halfway. Don’t let her lie down too low!” Qin Wanru said.
Seeing that her master looked better, the old woman became more obedient to Qin Wanru. She reached out to help Qin Wanru raise up the old Madam, and made her whole upper body higher with a cushion.
At this time, Yujie arrived with the medicine box, placed it beside Qin Wanru, and opened it to take out a set of needles.
Qin Wanru looked through it and took one of them. She picked it up and found the acupoint in the old Madam’s wrist to insert it, and then inserted others skillfully.
After inserting the needles, her forehead was sweating. Acupuncture and moxibustion required a lot of strength. After all, she was young and weak. She was afraid that her strength was not sufficient and that the positions of the needles were inaccurate. She made more effort. The old lady was suffering from an acute illness and it was an old disease, so she couldn’t afford to be mistaken.
Yujie handed Qin Wanru a handkerchief. Qin Wanru took the handkerchief, and was relieved to see that the old Madam’s face looked better.
She wiped her sweat with her handkerchief and said to the old woman on one side, “Shouldn’t your old Madam have medicine with her?”
This disease had to be an old one. An old Madam like her should have her own medicine prepared.
“Yes… yes… yes, she does!” At this time, the old woman seemed to have been sincerely convinced of Qin Wanru. She nodded and reached out to take out a brown medicine bottle from one side of the cabinet and showed it to Qin Wanru.
Qin Wanru opened the lid. She first smelled the odor of the medicine. After nodding her head, she poured out a small brown pill. After carefully looking at it, she nodded.
“Melt two pills with warm water.”
“Miss… The old Madam usually has four pills.” The old woman hesitated.
“It is not the same as it was before. She got sick just now, and your old Madam is still weak. She can’t have so many pills. She should have two pills, and have another two pills two hours later. Then, she can have the medicine as usual,” Qin Wanru said calmly.
“Yes!” The old woman nodded again and again, and hurriedly melted two pills in warm water. Then she brought it and handed it over to Qin Wanru. She asked the old woman help the old Madam, and slowly fed the medicine to the old Madam.
She fed her extremely carefully and patiently. She fed her a little bit of medicine at a time. After she finished, there was some water on the corner of her mouth, and there was no water on her body. Looking at Qin Wanru feeding her the medicine, the old woman’s eyes became more respectful.
When she had finished feeding her, she put the medicine bowl in the hands of the old woman. Qin Wanru was relieved when she saw the old woman had recovered her usual look and breathing.
She stretched out to pull out the needles from the old Madam’s arm.
“The window should be kept open for ventilation. Let the old Madam half-sit like this first. Don’t let her lie down. She’ll wake up soon!” Qin Wanru ordered as she pulled the needles out.
“Yes… yes, I know. Thank you, Miss!” The old woman nodded and was relieved when her old Madam recovered the normal appearance.
Qin Wanru took a handkerchief and wiped her hand, and got down from the carriage. She was ready to get down with Yujie’s help.
The old woman went to the front of the carriage and asked respectfully, “Could you please tell me which mansion you are from, Miss?”