Chapter 149 - A Big Trap for You!

The news that the emperor punished some officials for Shen Ninghua swept across the capital like a gale. Other officials who had been ready to make trouble quickly restrained their movements. At this time, they should take care with what they said and did. Otherwise, they might lose their position and even their lives.

Baili Jinze, however, was unwilling to yield. It took him much effort to coerce and bribe a nurse in Shen Xuanlin’s courtyard. He asked her to stuff a piece of cloth with chickenpox scab into the quilt when the servants aired the quilts of Shen Xuanlin. If Shen Ninghua escaped so easily, then his painstaking arrangements would be in vain!

“Shen Ninghua, don’t blame me. It’s all because Second Elder Brother likes you. He has a lot of prestige in the army and His Majesty likes you very much. If he has your support, then no one else will be able to have a foothold in the court. Therefore, even if you are not dead, your reputation must be ruined!”

Baili Jinze was racking his brain to find ways to reverse the situation and destroy Shen Ninghua.

Inside the Prefectural Princess Mansion, Shen Ninghua also received news.

“Miss, I tracked down Nurse Gui’s family and found some clues. Take a look.” Hong Ling walked in with an envelope and handed it to Shen Ninghua.

Shen Ninghua finished reading the contents and crushed the letter into a ball. Her voice carried traces of an icy killing intent. “Baili Jinze, it’s really you. Although I didn’t press for your payment of debt, you actually took the initiative to attack me. You really have guts!”

Hong Ling was shocked by the sudden baleful aura and her entire body trembled. “Miss, don’t get angry at the cost of your own health.”

“I’m fine. I never gave up the idea of taking revenge on him in the first place. Since he attacked me first, how can I not return the favor? Hong Ling, send someone to inform Chu Junyi that he can get to work now.”

“Yes, Miss.”

The capital was enveloped in silence, as if it was an empty city. In the Fifth Prince’s Mansion, Baili Jinze looked at himself in the mirror and suddenly swept the mirror onto the ground. “Damn, damn it!” If a prince had a scar on his face, he would not have the qualification to ascend the throne. The poxes on his face were getting worse and worse, and there wasn’t any good skin on his entire face. How could he not be anxious?

Several imperial doctors lowered their heads and walked in, with obvious fear in their eyes. “Greetings, Your Highness.”

“Get up. Didn’t you say that the medicine would work? Why haven’t the poxes on my face changed for the better?” Baili Jinze said angrily.

“Your Highness, that medicine is indeed effective. The other two persons in the mansion who were infected with chickenpox have taken this medicine and their poxes have begun to form scabs.”

Baili Jinze picked up the teacup beside his hand and smashed it at the imperial doctor who was speaking. “Nonsense! Is my life comparable to those of the lowly servants? They are thick-skinned and their lives are cheap. Will it prove that the medicine is also suitable for me after it worked on the servants?”

Hearing those bone-chilling words, the foreheads of the few imperial doctors were covered in cold sweat. They wished they could faint on the ground. “Your Highness, we are working hard to find a cure for chickenpox on your face.”

“Working hard? How long do you have to study before finding the cure? Until my face is ruined and I’m dead?” Baili Jinze almost lost his rationality and roared without thinking.

“Your Highness really wronged us. How can you think of us like this? If Your Highness doesn’t trust us, we would rather die crashing into this pillar to prove our innocence.” As one of the imperial doctors spoke, he raised his head and was about to crash into the pillar in the middle of the hall.

Baili Jinze sneered and squinted at the imperial doctor who was putting on an act vividly. He let out a cold snort from his nose. “You are acting. I know very well how capable you are. Don’t act in front of me.”

“Your Highness, how can you think of me in this way…”

The imperial doctor wanted to defend himself, but was interrupted by the announcement from the door.

“Your Highness, news from the Palace.”

Baili Jinze’s eyes suddenly flashed. He turned to look at the imperial doctors on the ground and said, “Go back and continue to study the prescription. Go down.”

When the imperial doctors left, he looked at the guard and said, “What news?”

“Your Highness, someone said that Prefectural Princess Zhaohua entered the Palace and was received by His Majesty.”

“What? That’s impossible!” Baili Jinze exclaimed. Shen Xuanlin was still suffering from chickenpox. No matter how much His Majesty liked Shen Ninghua, he would not risk his life to see her.

“Your Highness, I did not believe it at first, but according to the reports of the scouts, it’s true. Furthermore, His Majesty seemed to be extremely happy. He summoned the imperial doctors from the Imperial Health Institute overnight, and the imperial doctors are still in the Palace.”

“Shen Ninghua went into the Palace, and then His Majesty summoned the imperial doctors who kept studying till now…Could it be that Shen Ninghua offered a prescription for curing chickenpox?” Baili Jinze suddenly stood up and said, “It must be like this. If it weren’t for this, His Majesty would definitely not see Shen Ninghua. No wonder the officials I sent to accuse Shen Ninghua were beaten so miserably. Shen Ninghua offered the prescription, and it was another great exploit of her for saving the country and the people. His Majesty would in no way punish her at this juncture!”

The guard kneeling on the ground trembled. When the Fifth Prince mentioned the emperor, his tone was extremely resentful. This was not something he was allowed to hear.

Baili Jinze seemed to realize that there was a person on the ground. He lowered his head and glanced across his face that was covered with cold sweat. His voice was chilly. “What did I just say?”

“What? Did Your Highness say anything?” The guard raised his head, and he looked totally perplexed. He had to play the fool at this moment.

“You are a smart person. You can go down now.”

The guard hurriedly stood up and didn’t have time to wipe the cold sweat off his forehead. He took two steps back, turned around and walked out. He couldn’t help but feel relieved. Fortunately, he had a quick mind and made the right response. Just as he was thinking about this, he felt a sharp pain in his chest and was stunned. He slowly lowered his head to look at his chest and saw the bloodstained tip of a sword that had pierced through him.

Baili Jinze sneered as he pulled out the sword. He didn’t even look at the dead guard lying on the ground with his eyes open. His tone was gloomy and cold. “The smarter a person is, the unsafer I feel when I use him.”

The rumors about chickenpox were getting more and more exaggerated. The residents of the capital were almost unable to stand it, and they felt that the sky above their heads was about to collapse.

Just as they were about to despair, an exciting piece of news suddenly spread throughout the entire city. “Prefectural Princess Zhaohua’s younger brother, Shen Xuanlin, has recovered from chickenpox.”

Recovered from chickenpox…These words were like a heart-strengthening drug for the people in the capital. Countless people wept with joy. It had been almost twenty days, and finally, there was good news.

Shortly after, another piece of news arrived. The Imperial Health Institute had developed a prescription for chickenpox. In the future, they would no longer be afraid of chickenpox.

The people were about to shout and jump with joy. Chickenpox had troubled them for countless generations. All they knew was that the families with children were the most afraid of hearing the word “chickenpox”, for fear that chickenpox would suddenly deprive them of their beloved children. Now, they didn’t have to worry about it anymore. They had every reason to be happy!

“Have you heard it? It was said that Prefectural Princess Zhaohua presented the prescription for chickenpox this time.”

“How did you know that?”

“Think about it and you’ll know. Look, the last time when there was the plague, it was Prefectural Princess Zhaohua who helped find the prescription. Now, Prefectural Princess Zhaohua’s younger brother is the first to recover. Don’t you understand?”

“Yes, what you said makes sense.”

“Right, Peerless Dual Master Chu is truly fortunate to be able to marry such a wife.”

“You tell me!”

In the Qinyang Building, Chu Junyi poured a cup of tea for Shen Ninghua with a smile that had lingered on his lips for a long time. “Ninghua, now there are so many people on the streets who are envious of me. Everyone says that it is my fortune to be able to marry you.”

Shen Ninghua raised her head and rolled her eyes at him. “Marry me? We don’t even have an engagement. It’s too early to talk about marriage.”

“Not early, not early at all. Don’t worry, His Majesty will definitely grant us a marriage within three days.”

“Three days? What did you do to manipulate his mind?”

“Not manipulate, but request! I begged His Majesty to marry Prefectural Princess Zhaohua to me!” Chu Junyi had a smile on his lips, and his eyes were filled with brilliant warmth that seemed to be able to melt the glacier.

Shen Ninghua’s expression paused as she turned to look out of the window and ignored Chu Junyi.

“Ninghua, what I said is true. However, I still need your cooperation.”

“How?”

Chu Junyi curled his lips and raised his hand as a signal for Shen Ninghua to tilt her head closer to him.

Shen Ninghua looked at him suspiciously without any movement.

Chu Junyi straightforwardly stood up and walked behind Shen Ninghua. He placed his hands on her shoulders and lowered his head close to her ears. “You…”

The next day, the emperor dispatched imperial doctors to send medicinal ingredients to every aristocratic family that was affected by chickenpox. There were also people who supervised the whole process of medicine cooking and delivery to the patients.

The person who came to deliver the medicine to Baili Jinze was the little eunuch called Xi Ping who served in front of the emperor and had been bribed by him.

The little eunuch personally delivered the medicine to Baili Jinze with a flattering expression. “Greetings, Your Highness.”

“Well, what a coincidence that you should deliver medicine to my mansion.”

“There was no coincidence at all. I asked someone to make a shift for me.”

“Oh, for what purpose?”

The eunuch looked left and right before whispering, “Your Highness, when I waited on His Majesty, I accidentally learned that when His Majesty ordered to club the officials, Prefectural Princess Zhaohua was also in his study. Furthermore, I glanced through the crack in the door and saw Prefectural Princess Zhaohua handing a book to His Majesty.”

“A book, what book?”

“A book personally copied by Prefectural Princess Zhaohua. I thought that this piece of information might be useful to you, so I hurriedly took the opportunity to tell you.”

Baili Jinze raised his hand and threw a purse over. “Alright, you can go down now.”

The little eunuch walked out of the room, opened the purse and took a look. Seeing the 1,000-tael silver note inside, he smiled complacently. This trip was too worthwhile.

In the room, Baili Jinze thought rapidly. Cold light flashed in his eyes from time to time. Last time, Shen Ninghua helped find a prescription to cure the plague, and now she found another one to cure chickenpox. In the future, will she find more prescriptions to cure more diseases? She seemed to have too many prescriptions…Wait, prescriptions…Could it be that Shen Ninghua has ready-made prescriptions to cure all kinds of diseases?

He thought about the period of more than half a year in which Shen Ninghua disappeared, and he suddenly had a bold guess in his heart. In that period of time, Shen Ninghua must have experienced something special. Not only did she remove the poison from her own body, she also developed a few rare prescriptions. Perhaps, she obtained a precious book…