Perhaps it was because they knew each other’s thoughts, but along the way, there was an inexplicable, tacit understanding between Li Huaike and Liu Sike.
When they arrived in Yancheng, Li Huaike was directly invited into the palace. Along the way, he met several blindfolded, dejected doctors.
Many of her acquaintances exclaimed when they saw Liu Sike. “Wanqing, didn’t you die?”
Liu Sike turned a deaf ear to them, only following Li Huaike.
When they arrived at the princess’s Xifangnian courtyard, Liu Sike’s expression finally changed. She saw her parents and younger brother, who had been waiting at the door after receiving the news.
Upon seeing this, Li Huaike turned his head to look at Liu Sike. “Go ahead.”
Liu Sike nodded. “I’ll be right back.”
Liu Sike walked to her parents, and Li Huaike and Li Huairou were invited into the princess’s chambers.
When they saw Princess Baozhu, although Li Huaike had a lot of experience and knowledge, he couldn’t help but take a breath. The same was true for Li Huairou. She still remembered how bright and charming the princess had been when she’d passed by. How could she become like this now, her whole body ulcerated and exuding an unpleasant stench?
Li Huaike didn’t have time to ponder. He sat down to take her pulse.
“No need to look—she is poisoned with Thousand Gold.” Li Huairou frowned.
[Qian jin (千金) literally means “thousand gold”, but it can also mean a treasured daughter]
“Thousand Gold? The Zoroastrians? How could it be?!” Li Huaike was shocked. Thousand Gold was a unique poison of the Zoroastrians. How could Xiao Lingling have it? Did she have anything to do with Zoroastrianism?
[According to Wikipedia, Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest practiced religions from ancient Persia. It encourages being good for its own sake, rather than personal gain]
When the momo next to them heard that they’d recognized the princess’s poison as soon as they saw her, she was overjoyed and ordered someone to tell the prince. She asked, “Does the doctor know how to deal with this poison?”
“It’ll be a bit troublesome, but it’s not a difficult poison to cure! Bring some paper and a pen!” Li Huairou said.
Someone immediately prepared paper and a pen.
Li Huairou sat at the table. After a little thought, she wrote everything she needed.
The momo took a look at the list and found that it was actually quite reasonable. Although, there were a few rare things on there that needed time to prepare.
“Three days, only three days. This toxin is overbearing; if it is too late, even if the poison is cured, I am afraid that the princess’s face and body will be difficult to heal, and her lifespan will be damaged,” Li Huairou said.
The momo‘s face changed when she heard this. “Doctor, will the princess be able to recover?”
“Naturally,” Li Huairou replied. After thinking about it, she took a bottle of pills out from her sleeve. “Give her a dose of this first. It can temporarily stop the onset of the toxin. Hurry up and prepare the things I need. We are tired—prepare a room, hot water, and meals, and let us rest.”
“Yes! Lan Cui, quickly prepare a room for the doctor to rest in,” the momo said excitedly.
Immediately, a beautiful maid came over and took Li Huaike and Li Huairou to their own room.
After bathing and changing her clothes, Li Huairou looked at the table, which was full of exquisite meals. She bluntly sat down and began to feast.
Li Huaike was being a little absentminded.
Seeing this, Li Huairou shook her head helplessly. “Don’t worry, the palace is still waiting for us to treat the princess. They won’t make things difficult for Liu-jiejie.”
Li Huaike lowered his head uncomfortably. “I’m not…”
As soon as his voice fell, Liu Sike came in with a happy face. “Sir, Huairou.”
“Come here, sit down and eat,” Li Huaike said without asking her about her conversation with her parents.
Liu Sike nodded and sat down beside Li Huaike.
Li Huairou looked at her with joy and knew that the result should be good.
After eating, Li Huairou went to check on the princess’s condition, and Liu Sike also went along. When she saw what the princess looked like, her eyes grew red. How could this happen!
Li Huaike comforted her softly. “Don’t worry, it will be cured.”
Liu Sike wiped her tears. “Miss Xiao is really too vicious. The prince only showed that he wanted to recruit Young Master Fang as a prince consort, but Young Master Fang refused on the spot. Although the princess acts like a child, even if there is some disagreement, you can’t retaliate this viciously!”
“She really did it?” Li Huaike asked.
“The princess was indeed poisoned after seeing Young Master Fang and Miss Xiao,” Liu Sike said.
“Oh!” Li Huaike sighed.
“Thousand Gold is usually a term for the daughter of the family. A treasured daughter cannot be exchanged for anything, and she is extremely precious. But Thousand Gold can ulcerate the skin, make the body stink all over, rot the intestines, and death follows after. Death is extremely miserable! This kind of poison is usually used by women toward their love rivals,” Li Huairou added.
Li Huaike frowned. “How vicious the intention is!” Hadn’t Brother Tianluo refused on the spot? Why did Miss Xiao still do this? It was too vicious!
“Huairou, you will keep your distance from Brother Tianluo in the future!” Li Huaike urged. Fortunately, he’d insisted on having Brother Tianluo and Huairou become sworn siblings at that time. Otherwise… he still felt scared after thinking about it now.
“Why do you think I had to leave after I was injured?” Li Huairou said.
“Could it be?” Li Huaike’s eyes widened.
Anyway, they couldn’t confront him, and Xiao Lingling had done many bad things, so Li Huairou felt a little burdened and spoke carelessly: “Ge, you and I have been siblings for many years. Do you think I’m the kind of person who disregards the value of life for love? No! I cherish my life better than anyone else—even if I loved Fang Tianluo, I wouldn’t have blocked the sword for him. I didn’t know any martial arts, and I didn’t know what was going on at the time. It’s just that something had been thrown on my leg, and when my foot went weak, I fell in front of Fang Tianluo. I suspect that Xiao Lingling had secretly shot me. She’s always regarded Fang Tianluo as her possession, and no woman will have a good ending if they get close to him.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?!” Li Huaike got up and started pounding the table.
“If there is no evidence, what’s the use of saying it?” Li Huairou said. “That’s why I have to leave as soon as possible. Who’d have known that they were like brown sugar—so sticky and hard to get rid of!”
Li Huaike was worried.
“Okay, don’t worry, ge. Now that I’ve become sworn siblings with Fang Tianluo and can make poison, she won’t dare to do anything to me,” Li Huairou comforted. As she’d already poisoned Xiao Lingling, it’d be better not to tell Li Huaike about the poisoning.
On the second day, Prince Yan’s mansion prepared everything Li Huairou needed.
Li Huairou immediately began to prepare the antidote, and Li Huaike also helped.
Liu Sike also helped prepare a private room to be arranged according to the instructions, and she took off Princess Baozhu’s clothes, carefully wiping her whole body with a boiled solution.
After that, she applied the ointment Li Huairou had prepared to the princess’s whole body.
It wasn’t over yet. They carried the princess to a special bed. One inch below the bed was a slate, and under the slate was a burning charcoal fire; the charcoal fire was covered with a thick layer of medicinal materials, and the medicinal materials burned with the fire. The hot air steamed the slate, and a maid next to it poured water on the slate—it was burning-hot, so when the cold water was poured onto it, there was a burst of heat. The heat wafted onto the princess and enveloped her whole person.
“The princess’s body!” Liu Sike exclaimed.
The ointment was green, but the white gauze wrapped around the princess’s body exuded black dirt, and then it slowly turned bright red.
“That is the toxin in the body. When the gauze is clean, only a small amount will be left. The remaining poison will just need a few medications. Don’t just stand there—continue. After a quarter of an hour, give the princess two sips of water. Remember, only two sips, and no more than that. Feed her every quarter of an hour, never more,” Li Huairou instructed, sitting on the chair beside her and nibbling on melon seeds.
“After the poison is cleared, will the princess be able to recover?” Liu Sike asked.
“It’s not that simple. Although the poison will have been cleared, her face and skin have been ruined. It’ll take a bit of work for her to recover. But that’s a future thing. For now, let’s save her life first,” Li Huairou said. “These melon seeds are good and savory. Give my brother some too.”
“Yes,” the maid said.
After Princess Baozhu’s body steamed for three days in a row, there was no dirt oozing out of it. Li Huaike took her pulse and breathed a sigh of relief. “The toxins in the princess’s body are almost cleared. I will write a prescription. She will need to take the medicine according to the prescription to remove the remaining toxins in her body.”
“Why is the princess still not awake?” The momo was worried.
“Perhaps the princess can’t accept her appearance, and she subconsciously doesn’t want to face it, so she hasn’t woken up. Don’t worry, I have a way!” Li Huairou waved for everyone to move away. She sat on the side of the bed and cleared her throat. “Princess, princess, I have a way to get you back to your old self, but only if you wake up quickly—otherwise…”
Her voice did not continue, and Princess Baozhu’s weak voice rang out. “Otherwise what?”
“Otherwise, I will deliberately leave you with a few ugly scars,” Li Huairou laughed.
“You dare!” Princess Baozhu opened her eyes.
“The princess is awake! The princess is awake! Quickly send someone to tell the prince that the princess is awake!” the momo wept with joy.
Li Huaike stood aside and was deeply moved. During their stay in the Yan Palace, Prince Yan had not shown up. Rumor had it that the barbarian tribes wanted to attack Yancheng, and Prince Yan had led a large army to prepare for battle. But even so, he must have sent someone everyday to inquire about the princess’ condition. Dedicated to his duties and cherishing his daughter—Prince Yan was definitely not an ungrateful person.
Brother Tianluo, Brother Tianluo, you are too blind to see Mount Tai.
[An idiom meaning to have one’s view of the important overshadowed by the trivial]
Princess Baozhu didn’t care much about the remaining poison in her body. What she cared about was whether her appearance could be restored to its previous state. She dared not look in the mirror now, dared not see her appearance.
She could only eagerly watch Li Huaike and Li Huairou all day, asking them to heal her quickly.
In order to win Li Huaike over, instead of being angry after learning about Wanqing, she prepared a generous dowry and gave Wanqing’s service to Li Huaike.
Liu Sike knelt on the ground with excitement. “Thank you for the princess’s support.”
“Wanqing—no, Sike. Quickly get up.” Princess Baozhu ordered someone to help her up, then looked at Li Huaike.
Li Huaike was dumbfounded. “I know the princess is in a hurry, but we have to wait for the residual poison in your body to clear first. Rest assured, princess, my sister Huairou has been working on the preparation of the ointment, and I am sure you will make a full recovery.”
Princess Baozhu was relieved.
Prince Yan was very willing to spend for his only daughter; as long as Li Huairou said the word, no matter if it was sky snow lotuses, lingzhi mushrooms, or knotweed, everything was delivered. When Li Huairou prepared the ointment for Princess Baozhu, she also secretly prepared some skincare ointment for herself. There were so many things, anyways.
After waiting for another half-month, when Princess Baozhu’s patience was about to run out, Li Huairou finally started the treatment.
thanks for the translation