Chapter 68: Definite diagnosis, three generations’ death penalty
Although Han Congan was eager to have a go, Emperor Tianhui didn’t immediately allow him to check, but asked seriously, “Imperial Physician Gu, you’ve examined it once already. There’s really poison in the blood?”
Gu Beiyue was a gentle but still a fox. He modestly replied, “Your majesty, you know that this one isn’t adept with poisons. How about Divine Doctor Han take a look?” After which he added, “Of course, safety comes first. We could ask for a professional poisons specialist to come take a look too?”
Han Congan firmly believed in his own diagnosis and was still filled with confidence. “Imperial Physician Gu said it right. A poisons specialist ought to examine this too.” He glanced at Han Yunxi. “Qin Wangfei, wouldn’t you say so as well?”
Han Yunxi nodded, a mocking lilt in her lips, but didn’t say a word.
The empress dowager and empress understood these state of affairs well. They exchanged glances with each other without speaking. Actually, if the dirtied blood wasn’t poison, but blood from a fetus, neither Han Yunxi nor Han Congan would have an easy time. Since the crown prince was already well, why did they need a doctor? Han Congan was a famous physician, but still a commoner. Han Yunxi might be Qin Wangfei, but it was an empty title at best. Han Congan was so anxious to prove his own diagnosis that he overlooked the most important point.
The three poison doctors quickly arrived. Emperor Tianhui commanded them to simultaneously checked the dirtied blood on the bedsheets before reporting the results. Seeing the doctors examine the blood samples, everyone in the room held thoughts of their own. Han Congan’s eyes swept past Han Yunxi’s pouch and Imperial Physician Gu’s medicine chest on purpose as if he’d really discovered something.\nHan Yunxi seemed tired as she quietly sat on one side. All right, despite all the exhaustion piling up, she was still anticipating the examination results. Soon enough, the three poison doctors came to a conclusion.
“To reply your majesty, there really is poison in this blood, and it’s potent enough to be hypertoxic. But this official is ignorant and doesn’t know what type of poison it might be,” the poison doctor reported truthfully.
These words shocked the self-confident Han Congan, who roared, “Impossible!”
Emperor Tianhui gave him a cold glance before Han Congan cooled down, suppressing his amazement and indignation. He said respectfully, “Your majesty, even if there’s poison in the blood, we can’t determine whether it came from the crown prince’s stomach, or was added into the blood that flowed out.”
“Divine Doctor Han, what do you mean by these words?” the calm and placid Gu Beiyue asked coldly. Han Congan naturally suspected Gu Beiyue. Only, he didn’t dare speak his suspicions out loud.
“Your majesty, without ample evidence, there’s no way to convince someone, much less determine the truth!” Han Congan reminded.
“Since there’s poison, there’s naturally an antidote!” Gu Beiyue said.
Emperor Tianhui still trusted Gu Beiyue and nodded at his words before his eyes rested on the nearby medicine pot. Gu Beiyue was quite indifferent as he spoke.
“Your majesty, that medicine was boiled by this official and isn’t poisonous. However, since the poison doctors are here, there’s no harm in inspecting that as well?”
Han Yunxi had long taken care of the dregs, so how could they find anything to give the game away?
Emperor Tianhui was quite prudent and nodded for the poison specialists to examine the pot. A short while later, they concluded, “Your majesty, these are medicinal ingredients and have no poison. It contains many varieties, but this official isn’t familiar with commonplace ingredients and cannot determine what kind of medicine it is.”\nHearing this, Han Congan’s face turned three parts whiter, while Emperor Tianhui had a better idea of how things stood.
“Han Congan, you’re proficient in medicinal materials. How about you go see what kind of medicine it is?” Emperor Tianhui said, a hint of ice in his tone.
Han Congan just wouldn’t believe it; he just wanted to uncover Han Yunxi’s tail. “Yes!”
Thus, Han Congan dumped out all the ingredients in the medicine pot and analyzed them one-by-one, carefully writing down each ingredient into a prescription. Han Yunxi watched coldly from the side, at a loss as to why her mother would’ve married such a man. How did she find him attractive?
A long time later, Han Congan finally finished analyzing each ingredient to write a finished prescription. He thought, as long as this medicine was a single smidgen different from the one written before, it’d be enough proof that Han Yunxi tampered with it. The prescription was handed to Emperor Tianhui while Gu Beiyue took out the original. Emperor Tianhui personally compared the two and fell into silence as everyone waited anxiously.
Perhaps the atmosphere had affected him, but Han Congan grew nervous for no reason, his hands tangled together behind his back. Finally, Emperor Tianhui lifted his head and looked towards Han Congan. In an instant, everyone’s heart skipped a beat. The results of the comparison were…
CLAP!
Suddenly, Emperor Tianhui slammed the table and threw the two prescriptions at Han Congan’s face in anger. “What a good Divine Doctor Han! Look for yourself!”
Han Congan’s face turned white as he picked up the papers for comparison. He discovered that these two prescriptions were actually…were actually identical!
Heavens…how could this be?
“No! No!” Han Congan shook his head. “Your majesty, it can’t be, it can’t be! Han Yunxi must have used poison to harm the infant! There must be poison in the dregs, but she hid them away!” He was fortunate to guess correctly, but it was already too late.\n“Han Congan, what nonsense are you saying?” On one side, the empress had finally gotten angry. The truth was right before their eyes. There was no baby in the crown prince’s stomach. It was just a malignant tumor, but Han Congan dared to rave and tarnish the crown prince’s name!
“Esteemed empress, Han Yunxi must have used poison. There must be signs of it in the dregs! Believe me!” Han Congan was on the edge of falling apart. He suddenly rushed towards Gu Beiyue’s traveling medicine chest and searched through it in a frenzy. But not only were there no dregs, there wasn’t even any poison. Seeing this, Han Yunxi generously threw over her medicine pouch.
“Divine Doctor Han, look through mine as well.”
Han Congan started searching as soon as he got the pouch, dumping out everything in Han Yunxi’s bag. For a while, all sorts of acupuncture needles landed on the ground, as well as some white gauze. But there was no medicine inside. This time, it wasn’t just Han Congan, but Emperor Tianhui and the empress dowager who completely believed Han Yunxi. They were convinced that the crown prince’s stomach had a sarcoma!
Han Congan’s hands turned boneless as he let go of Han Yunxi’s medicine pouch. His mind began to buzz, as if something hard had crashed into his head, making him dizzy and his leags weak!
“No…it’s impossible!”
“How could this be…”
There really wasn’t any poison? Han Yunxi’s diagnosis was correct, but he couldn’t have made a mistake. There really was a child in that stomach!
“No…impossible!”
“It’s not possible! I don’t believe it!”
……
As Han Congan spoke, his legs gave way until he sat on the ground. The staunch reality before him left him at a loss for explanations. He was wrong, so did that mean the Cloud Realm Medical Academy directors were wrong as well? This completely subverted his outlook, but he had no way to dispute the facts.\nHe suddenly looked at Han Yunxi, who was smiling, and grew enraged. He shouted, “Han Yunxi, tell me why! The crown prince was clearly pregnant with child, clearly!”
Perhaps he could have said these words before, but after Emperor Tianhui completely believed in Han Yunxi, speaking such things was like…looking for death.
What did they mean by ‘trouble comes from the mouth?’ Exactly this!
Emperor Tianhui was already angry, but hearing this enraged him further. Just when he was about to flip, the empress lost control first. “You scoundrel, fishing for undeserved fame and hurting someone with your wrong diagnosis! The evidence is conclusive but you still dare to quibble? You’re certainly something to diagnose a man being pregnant! Han Congan, if I don’t kill you today, then I can’t apologize for all the years my son’s suffered!”
Such a lecture sobered down the frenzied Han Congan until he didn’t refute a word. As soon as he sensed ‘death,’ his mind turned blank and left him at a loss.
Emperor Tianhui’s eyes were filled with killer intent. He gave a kick and said sternly, “Han Congan, you still won’t admit your mistakes at this stage, but dared to sully the crown prince! You really are audacious in the extreme! You won’t shed tears until you see a coffin! Someone, take this liar to the prisons to await trial, Zhen will exterminate his three generations!”
Exterminate three generations?
Han Congan’s erroneous diagnosis shamed the crown prince and affected the reputation of the imperial house. A simple crime like this was enough to exterminate three generations of his family. But he had let this strange illness persist for so many years and wasted much of the crown prince’s youth. Eliminating three generations was cheapening the deal for Han Congan, but these words were like five peals of thunder against his head! On one side, the leisurely sitting Han Yunxi changed her expression slightly, and unconsciously sat up.\nHan Congan gave a start before beginning to howl. “Your majesty, this subject was wrong, this subject knows his wrongs! Your majesty, spare my life!”
“Your majesty, for the sake of Han Yunxi who saved the crown prince’s life, spare this subject and this subject’s Han family! Your majesty!”
“Spare my life! Esteemed empress dowager, esteemed empress, this subject has exerted himself all these years to perform his duties. Even if there’s no meritorious service, there was still hard work! Spare this subject just this once…”
Han Congan desperately kowtowed as he begged, crying and yelling. Yet very quickly, attendants arrived to take him into custody. Emperor Tianhui’s cold, angry face was dreadfully ominous and had no trace of mercy. This time, Han Congan finally remembered that Han Yunxi was still his daughter.
He threw himself at Han Yunxi’s feet, crying out, “Yunxi ah, daughter ah, you did a kindness for the crown prince. Save your father, save the three generations of the Han Clan, please!”
Han Yunxi’s eyes held back a complicated expression.
Although Han Congan’s diagnosis hadn’t been wrong and his conservative treatment was correct, making his current treatment unjust, Han Yunxi still didn’t plan to help him. In the business with the young general, Han Congan as a father hadn’t helped her, but stabbed her in the back. Even leaving that aside, all the wrongs she’d suffered since childhood gave Han Yunxi ample reason not to save him.
In her eyes, it served Han Congan right.
Yet this matter involved three generations of the Han Clan. Destroying three generations of the father’s side, mother’s side, and wives’ side would involved around a hundred people. It’d implicate the relatives on her own mother’s side as well.
What did Emperor Tianhui mean by this?
Han Yunxi ignored Han Congan, hesitating for a while before looking towards Emperor Tianhui. Just when she was about to speak, he did instead. “You have rendered great service saving Tianmo, so Zhen won’t implicate you. But Han Congan cannot be pardoned and the Han Clan must pay the price!”\nHan Yunxi rose to pay her respects, but still opened her mouth. “Please think carefully, your majesty!”
Although the wives and siblings of the Han family had maltreated her, their guilt didn’t deserve death. After all, there were still plenty of innocent people within the Han family! And though this matter had started with Han Congan, she still couldn’t cast off responsibility. She wasn’t a Virgin Mary doctor, but she didn’t want to be an executioner, nor did she want to be the punisher of the Han Clan.\n