My Beautiful Master is Delicate and Charming (14)

Si finally understood—it was all about being happy about this.

But...

"Didn't you already lose it before?" Si stared dumbfounded.

"So what? It’s just a few ounces of flesh relocating. Isn’t it much prettier now?" Little Wei’s tail practically wagged up to the sky.

"Prettier? Let me take a look and see for myself."

Little Wei: o_O||

"What do you mean by that?" Little Wei was furious at Si for trying to trick her.

She decided to be a domineering, unreasonable host and teach this mischievous, teasing system a lesson.

"Nothing."

Si was quick to play innocent.

Little Wei was speechless. She couldn’t exactly fight Si, given they weren’t even in the same dimension.

"You’ll find out soon, Miss Little Wei. This servant dare not say more," Su Zhe said with a faint smile.

A moment later, a young eunuch arrived with a message.

"His Majesty has heard of the divine physician’s arrival and requests her presence."

His Majesty?

Hearing the title, Mu Miao stood up in surprise. Su Zhe quickly escorted the two to the main hall, where the Emperor sat in the warm pavilion, sipping tea lightly as Su Zhe entered.

"Your Majesty, the divine physician Mu Miao and her disciple, Miss Little Wei, have arrived."

At a glance, the Emperor noticed the two graceful figures—one tall, one short—both strikingly beautiful. The only pity was that the taller one was blind.

"This humble subject pays respects to Your Majesty." Mu Miao hurriedly pulled Little Wei down to kneel, but the Emperor gestured for them to rise before they could.

"No need for formalities, Divine Physician. It was I who summoned you both so abruptly. I’ve heard of your exceptional medical skills—might you examine and prescribe for my ailing health?"

The Emperor spoke softly as Su Zhe laid a cloth over the wooden table for His Majesty’s wrist.

"This humble subject’s skills hardly deserve such praise. To have the honor of taking Your Majesty’s pulse is a privilege."

"Ah, you’re a divine physician sent by Heaven’s will. No need for such humble titles—refer to yourself as ‘I.’ I’ve merely been feeling unwell. Examine me, and dismiss everyone else from the hall. Speak freely of whatever you find."

The Emperor’s eyes darkened.

If he discovered who was scheming behind his back, they would not escape unscathed.

"Then, I thank Your Majesty for your grace." As Mu Miao spoke, Little Wei guided her hand, letting her fingertips rest lightly on the Emperor’s wrist.

After a brief pulse reading, the Emperor’s heart raced. Mu Miao’s brows furrowed slightly before relaxing.

A look of realization crossed her face.

"Has Your Majesty consumed many tonics recently? You must feel increasingly fatigued, sleeping longer each day, with a bluish tint on the tip of your tongue."

She added, "And you’ve lost quite a bit of hair, haven’t you?"

The Emperor trusted her diagnosis ninefold. The imperial physicians had noted the same symptoms, but they had eyes—this blind physician had even discerned his hair loss from his pulse alone.

"You’re quite right. These symptoms are present. Could it be due to overexertion?"

After all, as the Emperor, endless state affairs often left him sleep-deprived, leading to hair loss and exhaustion.

"Not so. It doesn’t seem like that. But coincidentally, my valley holds a fragment of a lost medical text from the previous dynasty, which mentions a poisonous incense. When paired with the fragrance of Lingling flowers, it produces these very symptoms. Prolonged exposure weakens the body’s foundation, and over time, one might simply..."

Pass away silently in the night.

Mu Miao dared not voice this aloud—speaking of death to the Emperor was taboo.

"So that’s it. No wonder His Majesty’s meals showed no irregularities. Your Majesty, this matter..." Su Zhe bowed deeply, his expression grave.

"Lingling flowers? They don’t grow in the Central Plains. Some were once tributed from the northern borders, and a pot was given to each consort’s palace." The Emperor frowned.

This would be difficult to investigate.

There were three consorts of high rank, all favored: Consort Li, mother of the Crown Prince; Consort De, mother of Prince Qi; and Consort Ru, mother of the thirteenth prince, still an infant.

Consort Ru would never dare harm the Son of Heaven.

That left the Crown Prince and Prince Qi.

The Emperor scoffed. They said there were no true father-son bonds in royalty. His sons would stop at nothing to claim his throne—even resorting to poison.

"Divine Physician, what is this incense called? Does it have any distinctive scent?" the Emperor pressed urgently.

"None at all. People simply grow fond of it. It’s called Mansheng incense. I once concocted it but discarded it all. Still, if I were to smell it again, I’d recognize it."

"Can my health still be saved?" the Emperor ventured cautiously.

The imperial physicians had only prescribed strong tonics, to no avail. Now that a lifeline was offered, he clung to it.

"Tonics are necessary, but Your Majesty must cease taking those from the imperial pharmacy. I have a prescription—medicine to be taken daily for seven days, then halted. Another incense must also be prepared, though its ingredients are rare. But for the Son of Heaven, such herbs should pose no difficulty."

Su Zhe promptly brought a small table and cushion for Little Wei to sit.

With the imperial physicians under suspicion, the prescription had to be written in Little Wei’s own hand.

Mu Miao listed over a dozen herbs and incense ingredients. Fortunately, this world’s Little Wei knew how to write prescriptions, her delicate calligraphy elegant—far better than letting the Emperor’s men see her scribbles.

That would’ve been embarrassing.

Once the ink dried, Su Zhe skimmed the list. Some ingredients overlapped with the Emperor’s previous tonics, so it seemed safe.

At the Emperor’s glance, Su Zhe folded the prescription and rushed to the imperial pharmacy to consult Imperial Physician Li. If anything was amiss, Mu Miao would be in trouble.

"Little Zhe, where’d you get this prescription? It’s brilliant! Whoever wrote it is a genius—how did they think of this?" Imperial Physician Li marveled, unwilling to let go.

"Since when do you call me ‘Little Zhe’?" The two were childhood friends from the same village, and Su Zhe bristled at his informality.

"Fine, fine. But this prescription is excellent—though it seems more like an antidote for..."

"Shh!" Su Zhe clamped a hand over Li’s mouth.

Imperial Physician Li nodded, and Su Zhe released him.

"Both are safe, but the ingredients... they shouldn’t be sourced from the imperial pharmacy." Li’s expression darkened.

Some here had ulterior motives.

"I know. That’s why I came to you. These herbs will have to be procured outside the palace."