Chapter 1554: Chapter 1529: His Majesty Is Ill

“It’s really rare, that you’ve become so generous.” The emperor saw her taking his pulse in a careless manner and gestured for her to be more serious. After a while, seeing her still staring at him, he asked, “Well, tell me, where do I have an ailment?”

Manbao solemnly said, “You’ve caught a cold.”

The emperor again said, “I just ate one, no, I didn’t even finish one, just half of it!”

Manbao then reached out to touch the melon on the table beside them, finding it ice-cold to the touch, she frowned and asked, “Was it iced?”

Gu Zhong immediately said, “These past few days have been hot, your majesty struggles in the summer, so the fruits have been placed in the ice basins to be chilled.”

Manbao then looked at the two ice basins under the desk, only then realizing the room was indeed much cooler than outside. However, it was already evening, and as she walked through the corridor from the side hall to here, it wasn’t very hot, so she didn’t really feel it.

Manbao stared at the two basins of nearly melted ice and asked, “Just two basins of ice placed in the hall?”

Gu Zhong glanced at the emperor, then whispered, “There were two more basins earlier.”

For some unknown reason, under Zhou Man’s gaze, Gu Zhong felt a bit guilty and explained, “Earlier, there were many officials in the hall, and it was hot, so two more basins of ice were added.”

Manbao then affirmatively said, “Did your majesty leave the main hall?”

It was still Gu Zhong who answered, “He went out once with Liu Da and Lord Li at the hour of Wēi, and returned in less than three ke. (about 45 minutes)”

Manbao then asked the emperor, “Did you feel particularly cool when you came in?”

Emperor: …

He seriously looked at Manbao and, confirming she was not mocking him but merely inquiring, nodded.

Entering a hall with ice basins on a hot day, wouldn’t it be particularly cool?

Manbao then said, “Alternating cold and heat, you caught a chill, your majesty. Shall I dispel some of the cold for you, and prescribe some medicine as well?”

At this moment, the emperor felt clear-headed, extraordinarily strong, and without any pain in his stomach, so he was not at all eager to take medicine.

However, acupuncture was indeed quite comfortable, although the needles looked very long, as long as he didn’t see them, there was no pain when being pierced, instead it felt sore and swollen, but afterward quite pleasant.

So he hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

Manbao said, “This room is too cool, let’s go to the side hall.”

Manbao performed acupuncture on the emperor and then prescribed him some medicine, “Take one dose now and another dose before bed, that should be enough.”

The emperor put on his clothes and, while putting on his shoes, curiously looked at her, “Did you really come to bring imperial medicinal packets?”

Manbao nodded repeatedly, yes, really, why does everyone not believe me?

She thought for a moment and then sincerely said to the emperor, “Your majesty, I came specifically to thank you, and I am very sorry about last time, but that was the rule. To prescribe for you the formula had to be recorded, I didn’t expect Lord Wei to scold you for this.”

The emperor immediately asked, “Do you also think Wei Zhi was being unreasonable?”

Manbao hesitated for a moment, neither nodding nor shaking her head.

But to the emperor, this was a great encouragement, so he straightforwardly pulled Manbao over and talked about Wei Zhi’s faults, “Wei Zhi, that person, is harsh to others and lenient to himself, in his eyes, I’m hardly even a person, speaking up even just for eating more melon, and when taking a nap for a bit longer, speculating that I was partying at night, keeping such a close watch on me, not to mention I am the emperor, even an ordinary person wouldn’t bear it, right?”

Manbao said, “But your majesty is not an ordinary person.”

She said, “My teacher said that to do extraordinary things, one must be extraordinary; to achieve great accomplishments, one must endure what ordinary people cannot endure. Since your majesty aspires to be a sage king, naturally you must endure what ordinary people cannot.”

While packing up the medicine box, Manbao said, “Lord Wei regards you as a sage king therefore he holds you to the standards of a sage king, you should actually feel happy.”

The emperor felt that he should not be happy, yet, truth be told, there was a part of him that was indeed happy.

Manbao handed over the prescription to Gu Zhong and again softly said, “Your majesty, this time I still have to enter it into the record.”

Emperor: …

Gu Zhong accepted the prescription, bowing his head even lower.

Having just received Zhou Man’s flattery, the emperor could not turn hostile at this moment, so he waved his hand to let her go away.

Manbao grabbed her medicine box and ran off.

After returning, she made a trip to the Imperial Hospital to record the pulse case in the files.

Director Xiao was already used to it, after all, it was the second time, wasn’t it?

He glanced at the emperor’s pulse case and felt it was okay, but still planned to send Imperial Doctor Liu over for a re-examination the next day.

He collected the medical case and asked Manbao, “How’s the progress on that medical book in your hand?”

“Didn’t you all pass the content? I’ve already started writing, it should take around two more months.”

Although they appeared busy in the palace, there was still quite a bit of time they could squeeze out, so their efficiency was pretty high.

Director Xiao nodded, seeing her about to leave, he couldn’t help but lightly cough, calling her back, “Lord Zhou Junior, I’ve looked at that medical book you wrote for Ms. Doctor Liu, I think some of it can be used, but I’d like to personally verify a few sets of acupuncture methods.”

Manbao nodded, “Try it, if there’s anything you’re unsure of, you can ask me.”

Director Xiao saw she didn’t understand his meaning and more clearly said, “I want to go to the side hall of the Eastern Palace to see your three students practicing acupuncture, I heard you haven’t been to the side hall these past two days.”

Manbao said, “They are quite familiar with the needle techniques used recently, if there’s anything they’re unsure of they’ll leave the symptom for me, and have someone deliver the medical case to me, so I haven’t gone these past two days.”

In fact, she was so engrossed in playing with Mingda and the others that she didn’t want to bother her mind with the side hall disciples who can study by themselves.

Director Xiao said, “Should I also go and take a look?”

Manbao laughed, “Go ahead, and by the way, keep an eye on my disciples for me, if there’s something they don’t understand, you have to teach them.”

Director Xiao nodded, but felt something was odd, only to barely remember after Manbao left with her medicine box, he was supposed to go to study sneaking, oh no, to learn, how did it turn into him teaching her disciples?

Director Xiao shook his head, sighed, and stayed on duty.

Speaking of which, he was rather unlucky, both times Zhou Man recorded the emperor’s medical case, he was on duty.

Director Xiao thought, tomorrow morning as soon as Imperial Doctor Liu arrives, he’ll let him go to Daming Palace to do a re-assessment for the emperor, and also discuss with Imperial Doctor Zheng about changing shifts, so that next time he won’t be on duty at this time.

He thought, surely there could be a way to avoid Zhou Man?

However, the next day before Imperial Doctor Liu even entered the palace, an attendant hurried over from Daming Palace saying, “Director Xiao, the emperor has summoned.”

Director Xiao was startled awake from his small cot, hurriedly putting on his shoes and asked, “What’s wrong with the emperor?”

“The emperor has a fever, and Imperial Doctor Lu and Imperial Doctor Fang from Daming Palace have already gone, but fever is a serious matter, so Imperial Doctor Lu sent for you.”