Painting Doctor Jinhua

Chapter 205 Xiao Luan and Lu Lingxuan, tell her the cause of death

Life in the Ye Ting was hard. There was endless laundry to do and other dirty and heavy work to do every day, and there were women all around who were in tattered clothes and smelled dirty.

Like her, most of these women were relatives of criminals who were confiscated from the palace because their fathers, brothers or husbands were convicted of crimes. Some were even sent here when they were still infants, to be slaves for the rest of their lives, with no chance of ever turning over a new leaf.

She was already pregnant when she was sent in. This child, which was totally unexpected tormented her all the time. She thought that the heavy and dirty work in the palace would surely make the child die, but she did not expect that he would stubbornly hold on until the last moment of birth.

She was very weak as she had just given birth to a child, but the obese woman Liu Yu in the palace did not sympathize with her. She pulled her up and continued to work, which caused her to become ill.

She stayed in such miserable and undignified days for seven or eight years, thinking all the time about how to get out of the palace. Finally one day, when her illness flared up, she met a beautiful, gentle and amiable woman, who was Xiao Luan.

Seeing that she was pale and almost fell to the ground due to illness, Xiao Luan rushed forward, felt her pulse, gave her acupuncture, prescribed some medicine, had someone boil it, and brought it to her to drink.

Everyone in the palace respected her very much and dared not say anything.

And that bowl of medicine was the first warmth she received other than from her mother.

She grabbed this warmth like a life-saving straw and asked her to come and see her when she was free!

Later, she noticed the kindness and sadness in Xiao Luan's eyes when he looked at her son. That unspoken emotion was probably the only soft spot in her heart, and she seized this soft spot just right. She pulled her son in front of her and tearfully told him her tragic life story. Sure enough, her unfortunate half-life experience won Xiao Luan's sympathy.

After that, Xiao Luan would often come to the Ye Ting to visit her and her son. At first, she wondered why Xiao Luan could come and go freely in the palace. Later, she found out that she was a doctor, and that her talent and medical skills had earned her the attention of Gao Yangzhi, the King of Qi who had proclaimed himself emperor in place of Wei. Many people in the palace wanted to curry favor with her.

She was naturally one of them, but she did not perform disgusting flattery like those stupid women. Instead, she catered to her interests, chatted with her sincerely, and even occasionally showed her talents and demonstrated that she shared the same ideals as her.

Although Xiao Luan had never told her about his past, she was very sensitive and could feel her sadness from her occasional dazed eyes.

She could see that this was a kind-hearted and very strong woman, and she felt especially pity for her as a woman.

After spending several times together, Xiao Luan trusted her more and more, and even developed a sense of mutual appreciation. The two even talked about their ideals.

Unexpectedly, the two of them said it at the same time, hoping that one day, women like them can freely control their own destiny, without having to become victims of their families or vassals of men. They can live freely in the world with their own abilities and create a world of their own.

This ideal is unrealistic, but it is exciting and makes us look forward to the future.

Later, Xiao Luan persuaded Gao Yang to issue a general amnesty on the grounds that astronomical phenomena were warning of disaster, and she was among those pardoned.

She finally walked out of that dirty place where the labor was unbearable. The moment she walked out of the palace, tears welled up in her eyes and she couldn't help laughing out loud. Then, she saw herself again. It was a sunny day, and the woman walking towards her step by step in the sunlight was like a god.

She knew she saved her!

But Xiao Luan also told her that since she was the widow of a convicted official after all, she could not be completely free and could only be a slave. She chose to enter the Prince Changguang's palace and be a wet nurse for Gao Wei, who was just born not long ago.

In the Prince Changguang's Mansion, she also used her expertise and tried her best to cater to the preferences of Gao Zhan and Princess Hu of Changguang, and soon gained the trust of the two. Hu even regarded her as a sister, allowed her freedom, allowed her to enter and leave the mansion at will, and even bought a house for her in Yecheng.

After she was freed, she first went to find Xiao Luan. At that time, Gao Yang had already given her a large mansion. She also started a business in Yecheng. In addition to opening a clinic, she also had a room dedicated to taking in women with miserable life experiences and nowhere to go, so that they could become self-reliant and be able to support themselves.

When she first saw it, this house-like place was not big and had no name. It was on a whim that she suggested to Xiao Luan that this house be converted into a restaurant, and let each of these women learn a skill and learn how to make a living in this restaurant.

Xiao Luan listened to her suggestion and named the restaurant Luanxuan Pavilion, thus taking the first step towards their ideal.

Later, to everyone's surprise, the restaurant's business grew bigger and bigger, attracting countless dignitaries in Beijing.

They used the money they earned to open many wine shops and tea houses in Yecheng, giving more and more women of humble status the opportunity to become self-reliant.

But Xiao Luan did not have much time to manage these wine shops and tea houses. She would often be urgently summoned to the palace by His Majesty. Sometimes she would stay for an hour or two, and occasionally she would not return until late at night.

Xiao Luan also had a habit. No matter how late she came out of the palace, she would always go to a place. She did not allow anyone to follow her because that was her secret place.

Later she found out that she entered the palace to treat Emperor Xuan Gao Yang. After being a heroic emperor for several years and implementing a large number of reform policies, this founding emperor of Qi became extremely bloodthirsty and crazy, killing people at will, and even the ministers around him were not spared.

The court officials were terrified, and the palace doctors were helpless, saying that this was an incurable mental illness. Some even said that this was a case of being possessed by an evil spirit.

Xiao Luan was summoned to the palace to cure the emperor's madness. Surprisingly, as long as this female doctor was by his side, the emperor no longer killed people crazily. Moreover, the emperor treated the female doctor with great courtesy and later conferred her the title of Guanglu Dafu.

Xiao Luan's official position became higher and higher, and he was like a child of destiny. While he was envied and admired by everyone, he was also particularly dazzling.

She found that she was getting less and less attention from her, and she was even too busy to respond to her or have a drink with her.

More importantly, she was harboring secrets that made it hard to see what was going on in her mind.

She asked Xiao Luan what kind of disease His Majesty had and whether there was any way to cure it.

Xiao Luan shook his head and said that the most difficult disease to cure in the world is the evil disease in the heart, or mental harm. People who suffer from this disease cannot stand mental stimulation, or when under great pressure, their self-consciousness will split, and they will not be able to suppress the worst thoughts in their hearts, or they will become manic or crazy and kill people.

She could only use medicinal incense to temporarily relieve the evil disease in His Majesty's heart and let him have a good dream every day.

But she made a lot of observations and analyses of His Majesty's illness and read many medical books, trying to find a cure.

Lu Lingxuan also read those notes and analyses and kept them in mind.

From then on, she began to think, if she could also cure His Majesty, then could she also be like Xiao Luan, and become a person respected by the powerful and even His Majesty, and also hold a high position like her and become a female official of Qi State.

Later, she quietly began to learn medical skills, learning how to identify and dispense medicines.

When Xiao Luan wanted to go to the palace again to treat Gao Yang, she secretly replaced the medicine prescribed by Xiao Luan with her own.

She originally thought that the medicine she prepared according to Xiao Luan's instructions would be fine, but she didn't expect that one day, His Majesty would go crazy again, even more bloodthirsty and crazy than before.

Even Xiao Luan seemed to have fallen victim to his murder. That night, she saw Xiao Luan returning to the mansion in a daze and distraught, and in deep self-blame.

She was very scared, afraid that Xiao Luan would be hurt, and even more afraid that her changing of the medicine would be discovered.

Fortunately, after waking up, Xiao Luan did not mention the medicine. She continued to find ways to cure the emperor.

And she continued to learn her medical skills secretly.

Later, she suddenly had an idea. Although the medicine she prepared could not cure people's diseases, it seemed to make people more crazy. This was also another kind of achievement. At least she had developed a poison that had never existed in the world.

After that, another imperial decree came from the palace ordering Xiao Luan to come in. She changed Xiao Luan's medicine again, wanting to verify the results once again, but this time she was discovered by Xiao Luan.

After seeing the process of changing her dressings with his own eyes, Xiao Luan looked at her with great disappointment.

She said: "I thought you would change after making a mistake once, but I didn't expect... Since you want to learn medicine, just tell me, why do you have to do this sneaky thing of changing the medicine?"

She apologized profusely and promised not to do it again.

But from then on Xiao Luan distanced himself from her and even no longer let her manage the restaurants and teahouses he opened in Yecheng.

She didn't expect that just because of a mistake, Xiao Luan would be so heartless to her.

She took back all the kindness shown to her, and even asked for his resignation from the emperor, leaving Yecheng quietly without saying goodbye.

Not long after Xiao Luan left, Gao Yang died. To be precise, he died from the effects of the medicine she prescribed. Crown Prince Gao Yin succeeded to the throne, but this cowardly crown prince did not sit on the throne for long before Gao Yan and Gao Zhan jointly seized the throne.

Gao Yan became the emperor, and seemed to be a kind and good emperor. As soon as he took the throne, he freed the slaves, implemented the equal-field system, vigorously cultivated land, and set up granaries. The State of Qi began to prosper.

She wanted to be valued by the new emperor Gao Yan, so she claimed that she had medical skills and talents comparable to Xiao Luan, but Gao Yan ignored her.

Later, Gao Yan believed the rumors and thought that King Gao Yin of Jinan wanted to restore the throne, so he asked Gao Guiyan to kill Gao Yin.

But from then on, he felt guilty and often had hallucinations, seeing his royal brother Gao Yang, Crown Prince Gao Yin, and former Prime Minister Yang Yin, who he had killed, coming to find him.

The Queen thought of Xiao Luan, so she summoned her into the palace and ordered her to bring the palace guards to find Xiao Luan to treat Her Majesty.

She went to look for him, searched the entire Yecheng, and later went to Jinyang and Luoyang, but couldn't find him. However, in order to give an explanation to the Queen, she could only lie to the Queen and say that Xiao Luan was unwilling to serve as an official in the palace again, but still gave her a prescription that could cure the Majesty's illness.

So, she temporarily replaced Xiao Luan's identity to treat Gao Yan, but her medical skills were definitely not as good as Xiao Luan's. In order to cover up her tracks, she also asked the queen to invite a wizard to perform an exorcism ceremony.

Naturally, these were of no use, and Gao Yan's condition was still deteriorating extremely. At this time, Gao Zhan found her and threw her a great temptation, which was to help him ascend to the throne, and after Gao Yan's death, become the ruler of Qi. After that, Gao Zhan promised her the wealth and glory she wanted.

The temptation was so great for her that she agreed without hesitation, and then secretly gave Gao Yan the medicine she had used before that could accelerate the deterioration of his condition. Sure enough, under the effect of her medicine, Gao Yan died not long after falling off a horse.

Gao Zhan became the emperor as he wished, and gave her the title of Princess, and even granted her the privilege of participating in government affairs.

But Gao Yan's death must be explained, so she indirectly attributed the worsening of Gao Yan's condition to the prescription given by Xiao Luan. Gao Zhan was furious and sent the guards to look for Xiao Luan again.

This time the search was on a large scale. It took her three full months to find Xiao Luan, who was living in seclusion in a small mountain village in Luoyang. It was at this time that she learned that Xiao Luan had a daughter. It turned out that all the efforts she had made before were to protect her daughter. All the assets, including the troops around her and the restaurants and teahouses she operated, were left to her daughter.