Chapter 40 Debut

  "Zong, what's going on with Huai Xuan? Don't you care at all? You can make a ruckus in your own home, but why did it have to happen at our relatives' place?" Old Lady Zhou gently scolded General Zhou Zong.

  Zhou Chengzong didn't say anything, just "uh-huh" and nodded to show he understood.

  Mrs. Zhou wanted to ask more questions, but Chunfen had already shouted from outside the door: "Madam, I'm back from Master Huai's courtyard."

  "Come in." Old Lady Zhou said loudly, and asked Zhou Chengzong to sit down.

  Zhou Chengzong sat up straight, with a distinctly military bearing.

  Chunfen walked in and bowed to Old Lady and Zhou Chengzong separately, then said: "In response to Old Lady's words, I just went to Master Huai Xuan's courtyard."

  "What about Huai Xuan? Why didn't he come with you?" Old Lady Zhou interrupted Chun Fen's words, looking back and not seeing any sign of Zhou Huai Xuan, before anxiously asking.

  "Old lady, don't worry. It's like this, the servant girl just found out that Young Master Huai Xuan fell ill last night and didn't sleep after tossing about all night, only falling asleep this morning. When the servant girl went there, Young Master Huai Xuan was still sleeping in bed."

  "Fallen ill again?" both Zhou Chengzong and Old Lady Zhou asked in unison, both of them astonished.

  "This is what Xiang said." Chunfen pushes out Shen Xiang, Zhou Huaixuan's big servant girl, as a shield.

  Zhou Chengzong stood up and said, "Mother, I'll go take a look at Huai Xuan." After a pause, he added, "Huai Xuan was ill last night. As for the cats and dogs in Er Di Mei's courtyard, it shouldn't have anything to do with Huai Xuan, right?"

  "Go quickly. Who cares about those cats and dogs..." Old Lady Zhou's eyebrows furrowed even tighter. Compared to her most precious legitimate grandson, the cats and dogs from the concubine's courtyard were not worth mentioning.

  However, Zhou Chengzong was stopped by Chunfen, "Sir, the eunuch Ruan Tonggong from the palace has arrived and is waiting at the second gate. He says that the Empress Dowager has summoned you to enter the palace."

  "What? Ruan Tong has arrived?" Zhou Chengzong was startled and quickly turned around to say to Old Lady Zhou, "Mother, I'll go into the palace first. As for Huai Xuan's place, I'll let his mother take a look."

  "Go ahead, go ahead, official business is urgent." Old Lady Zhou said hastily, "I'll let Chunfen tell your wife about it."

  Zhou Chengzong responded and hurriedly went up to the second gate.

  At Ermen and Ruan Tonghui converged, and then they entered the palace together.

  The Empress Dowager originally summoned him into the palace to escort the divine doctor who was behind him into the palace to diagnose Emperor Xiaoming's illness.

  Zhou Chengzong was speechless. He was a great general who fought on the borders and killed enemies, not some ornamental imperial guard in the palace...

  But who dares disobey the Empress Dowager's edict?

  This is an empress dowager who holds court and issues decrees, not just any ordinary empress dowager.

  "Yes, sir!" Zhou Chengzong had no choice but to accept this assignment.

  From then on, all the divine doctors who entered the palace had to go through Zhou Chengzong. He was the God General of the Divine General's Mansion, with a pair of eyes that were extremely sharp. Those who had guilty consciences would find it difficult not to reveal their secrets under his piercing gaze.

  With General Zhou stepping in, the divine doctor who entered the palace finally no longer had to worry about being impersonated by a fake.

  However, the effect of the divine doctor was still negligible, and no one could make Xia Mingdi's condition improve.

  Zheng Suxin has also been keeping watch day and night in the palace with Empress Dowager, responsible for nursing Emperor Xiaoming back to health.

  Those divine doctors' medicines all have to pass through Zheng Suhui's hands. She says they can be tried, before being sent into Xia Mingdi's mouth.

  Unfortunately, more than a month passed and no divine doctor was able to truly cure Xiaoming Emperor's illness.

  The stench in Xia Mingdi's mouth was getting more and more obvious, even his breath carried a hint of rotting smell.

  Zheng Suxin knew that this was the beginning of Xia Mingdi's internal organs deteriorating...

  If there is no good medicine to take effect, the Great Xia Dynasty will have to go through another change of dynasty.

  "Empress Dowager, you've been tired for days, why not take a rest? I also need to go back and see the children." Zheng Suhui advised the Empress Dowager with great care.

  The Empress Dowager looked at Emperor Xiaoming lying on the dragon bed and said in a low voice, "I'm not tired, you go back first."

  Zheng Suxin let out a soft sigh, wiped the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief, and backed out of Emperor Xiaoming's bedchamber, hurrying back to the Wu residence.

  In her opinion, Emperor Xiaoming was going to pass away soon, and their Wu family needed to prepare to curry favor with the new emperor.

  The new emperor is naturally His Highness the Crown Prince.

  The Crown Prince and the Empress have endured for fifteen years, but this year they can no longer bear it.

  Zheng Suxin left the palace when General Zhou was just bringing another divine doctor into the palace.

  This time, it was Sheng Qiye who brought in the prescription and a crucial medicinal ingredient.

  He had originally prepared a medicinal concoction, but this time, Zheng Suhui spoke to the Empress Dowager, saying that since it was for treating the Emperor's illness, all the imperial physicians who entered the palace could only bring their prescriptions. The medicinal ingredients would have to be provided by the palace, lest someone try something funny and secretly add other things to the medicine.

  The empress dowager thought it was reasonable and agreed to her request.

  This move is indeed effective, at least it has disrupted the plans of some people with ulterior motives. The "medicine" that had been prepared for a long time can no longer be used, and many plans have to be abandoned halfway...

  There were also many people who hated Zheng Suxin.

  Sheng Qiye went to register at the place where the divine doctor was receiving guests and happened to meet Zhou Chengzong taking Zhou Huaixuan out for a walk.

  Zhou Huai-xuan and Sheng Qi-ye also count as old times, so he introduced Sheng Qi-ye's origin to Zhou Cheng-zong.

  "Sheng Qiye? Are you really...?" Zhou Chengzong hinted with his eyes, asking if Sheng Qiye was truly related to the Shen Nong Fu.

  Sheng Qiye smiled and said: "After we rescue Your Majesty, we can have a long talk over wine."

  Sheng Qiye said so confidently, Zhou Chengzong was overjoyed.

  Perhaps this time, Xia Mingdi is really saved.

  The Sheng family's move is never ordinary.

  The last time Old Man Sheng messed up, it wasn't because of his medical skills, but because his old eyes were blurry and he gave Xia Mingdi the wrong medicine...

  Zhou Chengzong immediately took Sheng Qiye into the palace.

  Zhou Huaixuan is now a personal soldier under his father Zhou Chengzong and followed him together.

  Upon arriving at the palace, Sheng Qi gave a grand salute to the Empress Dowager and announced, "Sheng Qi, the 73rd generation descendant of Shen Nong, pays his respects to Your Majesty!"

  The empress suddenly stood up, her face cold and frosty, and angrily said: "Sheng Qi? Are you the eldest son of the Sheng family? I clearly remember that the 73rd generation grandson of the Sheng family only had six sons. Where did you come from? Is someone deceiving the emperor and cheating me?!

  Deceiving the emperor and deceiving his superiors can lead to the rhythm of exterminating the entire family.

  Of course, the Shen Nong Fu family had already been executed once, and even if they were to be executed again, it would only be a matter of executing those who had escaped the net.

  The Seventh Master said calmly, "Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, please calm down. I didn't mean to deceive you. It's just that I have a special situation. Since childhood, I've been weak and sickly, my father tried all sorts of methods but couldn't cure me, so in the end he had no choice but to abandon me and let me become a monk, only then did my illness improve."

  A monk, of course, cannot be counted as a member of the family, and he went to the temple when he was young, before he had reached the age to be listed in the family genealogy, so his name is not on the family tree of the Sheng family.

  Later that night, the Sheng family was beheaded overnight, and Empress Dowager only let people cut off their heads according to the Sheng family's genealogy, so they missed the seventh young master of the Sheng family.

  But how can it be so coincidental?

  The empress dowager still had some doubts. She looked at the bun on Sheng Qiye's head and asked sarcastically, "....to become a monk?"

  Monks certainly don't grow hair.

  Sheng Qiye smiled and said, "I have been a layman for 15 years."

  Fifteen years ago, it was the year when the Sheng family was slaughtered and the year when Xia Mingdi became the "living dead" he is today.

  The empress dowager was slightly stunned, and carefully measured Sheng Qiye. Seeing his elegant appearance, it was indeed exactly the same as young Master Sheng's in his youth. She nodded slightly and said: "Alright, if you can cure the emperor, I will pardon the crimes of the Sheng family and let you inherit the title."

  Sheng Qiye cupped his hands and said: "I dare not inherit the title. However, I hope that you can let the Sheng family live in peace."

  The Sheng family was beheaded, and the dead members of the Sheng family are now lying in coffins, still placed inside the Sheng family's Shen Nong Fu. Because the Empress Dowager is furious, she does not allow the Sheng family to be buried, wanting them to suffer endlessly like the Emperor, neither reaching heaven nor touching the ground.

  The Empress Dowager was resolute and decisive. She paused for a moment, then said: "First, let's see how you plan to treat the Emperor." After finishing speaking, she ordered the eunuch Ruan Tong: "Go, announce that Zheng Yiren has entered the palace, saying that the eldest daughter of the Sheng family has brought a prescription into the palace, and let her come to verify its authenticity." Yiren was the title given to Zheng Suhui, whose husband Wu Changge was a fifth-rank official. The wife of a fifth-rank official had the title "Yiren". Therefore, the Empress Dowager called her "Zheng Yiren".

  ……