Chapter 23 Chapter Twenty-One

It was nearly dusk, and Yan Wei had finished giving Li Qichen some advice.The three of them sipped the wine offered by the servants, and continued to listen to Prince Cong recalling the past. Young Master Cong drank an earful of wine, cleared his throat and said, "Since then, those people have been rotated every three months, and no matter what errands I have, at least half of the people will stay in the valley... The best way to deal with them is to be picky about them in every possible way. They are not satisfied after changing a piece of clothing five or six times. Let them find a lot of people with five elements and eight skills to come in, and learn a lot from them. It seems...as long as I don’t want to go out, they will do whatever I want. What’s more, I concentrate on asking these people for advice, so naturally I don’t have time to go If you make things difficult for them, they can take it easy."

Yan Wei asked: "So, you asked them to collect those medical books from all over the place?" Gongzi Cong said: "Some are, some are not. I also invited many doctors to the valley before, and listened to their explanations of medicine, and I wrote them down. So, there are some books here that you have never heard of, because I have them here." Yan Wei pouted: "But you never invited my father, he is the best doctor in Yang Guo." Young Master Cong laughed and said: "Your father lives in Huaidu, and he often went to the palace to treat illnesses. He has a great reputation. If he disappears for a few months, the government and the public will definitely be shaken, and there will be changes. The doctors I invited include famous doctors from the Yang Kingdom, and some Famous doctors in other countries have proposed various diagnosis and treatment plans, but I have not adopted them. After more than ten years of accumulation, I already know my illness well. I firmly believe that your father's prescription will definitely cure my illness. .”

Li Qichen heard that they were gradually talking about healing, so he quickly changed the subject and asked, "Your Master also learned the information about these organs in the valley from those people?" Young Master Cong nodded and said: "There is news about the mechanism. I have some talent. Some of these mechanisms are set up by craftsmen, and some of them are designed by me and let them implement them. For example, the bamboo house. There are a lot of other agency information hidden everywhere, so try not to move around to avoid accidents." Li Qichen was secretly surprised again, the bamboo house organ was already amazing as a cage for detaining people, there are many organs in this valley, what are they for?This son Cong has been stuck here for more than 20 years, and he really has not been idle, it seems that he has made a lot of preparations.After thinking about it again, with his ingenuity and wisdom, he had worked so hard and couldn't get out of the predicament at this time. Is it too difficult to get out of the valley, or he hasn't made up his mind to go out of the valley... So he asked: "The young master did not go out of the valley, but the news is So smart, what's going on?"

Young Master Cong smiled triumphantly, got up and went to the window, pointed to the downstairs and said, "Did you see those pigeons downstairs? They are all trained and used to exchange news. I will give gifts to anyone who has been to the valley." A lot of gold and thick coins, and let them take some pigeons out of the valley, saying that it is a reward, let them go home and release them, and the pigeons will know the way to the two places. I made an appointment with them again, whether it is a rumor in the countryside or the court The notices are detailed, but if they are interesting, they will be recorded, and when the pigeons fly away, they will be written on silk and passed on to me. Although not everyone obeys, and not all pigeons go back and forth without error, but very Over the past few years, there have been hundreds of people coming and going in this valley, so I am afraid that I am more informed about the news here than Brother Ling who guards Changyan Pass."

Li Qichen thought, although pigeons are also used in the army to convey messages, but they are rare, and beacon fires are the main ones.Firstly, the pigeons are easy to be captured, and the secret is lost; secondly, it is not easy to raise pigeons in the army. It is said that the reason is that the army is too evil.But for Gongzi Cong's situation at this time, it is appropriate to convey the message in this way.So he asked: "Then... about the poisoning of Young Master Yan, what news do you have here, Young Master?" Young Master Cong shook his head and said: "There is no more news... The people I have made friends with are nothing more than ordinary craftsmen, none of them are high-ranking officials. For example, the old couple who gave you medicine are excellent jade craftsmen. They heard It’s just rumors in the market, how can you know more than you?”

Gongzi Cong stopped talking, just paced up and down in the room, suddenly turned around and stood still, and said to Yan Wei: "The story has been told, you should know that this day is what I have been doing for so many years, if this illness is really cold poison, then the person who poisoned is the person behind these people!" Gongzi Cong clenched his fists, angrily, "So I have to go out of the valley to cut off the source of the poison, but if I go out of the valley, from then on, although the world is big, only I am left alone, if I get sick from time to time, how can I live?" Then he suddenly pressed Yan Wei's shoulders, "Please! Please heal me! Life and death are fate, even if I die because of this, there is a spirit behind me, Not only will I not blame you, but I will also protect you!"

Seeing that he spoke so decisively, Yan Wei was very embarrassed, and turned to look at Li Qichen. Li Qichen also understands the key point. Exiting the valley and curing the poison are two sides of the same coin. If only exiting the valley but not treating the poison, Gong Zi Cong will be trapped by the poison for the rest of his life; Thinking of this, I couldn't give up, so I had to say: "I don't know medicine, and I don't know the dangers here, so you have to make up your own mind." Yan Wei muttered: "Those medicines are also difficult to prepare, why don't we find a way to get them out of the valley first, and then make sense?"

Gongzi Cong shook his head and said, "Who knows what will happen after going out... what will happen to you, what will happen to Junfu... besides, the medicine has been prepared." As he spoke, he brought a huge jade from the table next to him. The letter is all carved out of suet white jade, and the whole body is coiled with dragons and dragons. You can faintly see a cloud of blue inside, and you feel a cold air rushing towards your face. Gongzi Cong gently pushed open the lid of the jade letter, and saw that the inside was divided into inner and outer compartments. The inner compartment in the center was filled with porridge-like medicinal paste, which was dark blue and black and exuded a strong medicinal smell. ice.

Li Qichen wondered: "There is an ice cellar here to store ice?" Young Master Cong nodded: "Exactly! All my food and clothing expenses are only higher than the other young masters of the Yang Kingdom, not inferior to them. When I was young, I was extravagant and spent money like dirt. No matter what valuable things I wanted or what absurd demands I made , these people will do it, I dare say that there is no noble family in the Yang Kingdom who can do it, except Junfu...so no matter how they deny it, I still feel that I am Gongzi Cong!" Yan Wei dipped a little of the medicine paste with her finger, sniffed it carefully on the tip of her nose, and asked, "You made it yourself?"

Young Master Cong said: "That's right! If you don't want to treat me, I can do it myself, but the acupuncture points on my back are beyond my power..." Yan Wei sighed and said, "I'll do it..." Young Master Cong heaved a sigh of relief, sat down on his knees, took Yan Wei's hand and said, "Thank you very much!" Yan Wei pondered for a moment, then said: "I'm a little confused, please allow me to sort out my thoughts clearly. Let's start the treatment tomorrow, and..." She paused for a while, as if she didn't know how to speak.

Li Qichen's heart was also in chaos, and he faintly felt that there was a huge crisis oppressing him, but he had no clue, so he straightened out his thoughts and asked: "You said before that the young master's illness is probably poisonous, so the poison came early. The previous one has been lingering until now, or does it take a while for the next one?" Yan Wei shook her head and said, "I don't know... the way of poison, my father never taught me, or after I started treating your illness, I just figured it out on my own." Gongzi Cong said: "If you need to poison frequently, then the leaders of this group of people who change shifts every time must know this secret. There have been dozens of people over the years, I'm afraid..." Li Qichen knew what he meant, poisoning the young master was a heinous crime, it was impossible for so many people to know about it. Yan Wei nodded and said, "Then these people see me treating your illness, will they think it's inappropriate and stop them?" Gongzi Cong murmured: "Although I have invited doctors to come to the valley before, I didn't give treatment with much fanfare, and they didn't pay attention to it...but...it's hard to say..." Li Qichen thought to himself, if the poison and the road were all ways to trap Gongzi Cong, then those people would find a way to stop him as soon as they saw Gongzi Cong healing the poison. Yan Wei said: "You have seen the silk, and you are clear about the treatment process. This is not an ordinary acupuncture treatment that only takes a while. This treatment takes three days and one round, nine days and one round, three nine twenty-seven days It cannot be interrupted in the middle, it is impossible for them not to know about it for such a long time. If something happens in the middle, it will be very dangerous." Young Master Cong frowned and pondered for a long time, and said, "How about this, from tonight onwards, the two of you will live in my dormitory, and the three of you will be together so that you can take care of each other. Do you think so?" Li Qichen nodded: "That's exactly what it should be. Everything you need is also stored there in case something changes." Yan Wei said again: "By the way, a lot of fine linen is needed. The ones that have been boiled in boiling water and dried in the sun must be linen, not silk." Gongzi Cong nodded and said, "I've prepared this too..." But he still frowned, with a worried look on his face. However, Li Qichen thought that there must be a reason for him to let the two of them move into his dormitory. He is so proficient in ingenious tricks, so there must be other arrangements in his dormitory. The three rooms on the left wing are connected, and they used to be the living place of Prince Cong. At this time, the three of them gathered in the south-facing room. The morning sun was just right and there was no wind. Yan Wei signaled to Prince Cong to take off all his clothes. Gongzi Cong's smile was a little stiff, hesitating and not moving. Yan Wei smiled, pointed at Li Qichen and said, "When he was seriously injured, I saw his whole body. There is nothing embarrassing about it. Healers are parents, so just treat me as a parent." When Yan Wei mentioned the word "parents", Gongzi Cong's eyes dimmed obviously. Without saying a word, he slowly took off all his clothes, leaving only a pair of short-nosed pants.I saw that he was slender, with white skin, his hands were stretched out stiffly on both sides of his body, as if he didn't know how to place them.Maybe it was because of the cold, maybe it was because of embarrassment, a thin layer of chestnuts appeared on his body, and his fingertips trembled slightly. Li Qichen knew that Gongzi Cong was embarrassed, so he deliberately didn't look at him, and lowered his head to look at the medicinal soup in the bathtub, but the brown medicinal soup was like a bronze mirror, reflecting Gongzi Cong's clean and flawless back, like curdled fat. Yan Wei didn't raise her head, her hands moved quickly: she used a bamboo stick to pick up the paste from the jade box, took a piece of copper or jade, wiped it on the recess, and crossed the bamboo stick to scrape the paste evenly, sticking it on. On Gongzi Cong's acupuncture point.The medicine paste seems to be very sticky, it sticks firmly to the acupuncture points and won't fall off.Yan Wei then took a piece of linen, wrapped it around Gongzi Cong's body a few times, and tied it tightly.Although the silk that recorded the therapy was spread out on several cases, Yan Wei seemed to have memorized it by heart, so she didn't even glance at it.Gradually, Gongzi Cong's whole body was covered with strips of cloth, as if he was wearing a piece of clothing. Yan Wei applied all the acupoints in one go, cleaned her hands slightly, pressed each copper piece and jade piece one by one, and said, "If you feel that it's too tight, just talk." Gongzi Cong seemed very nervous, his whole body was stiff: "I don't think it's too tight." "Do you feel itching?" Yan Wei asked while stretching the cloth strips with her fingers to check the tightness. Gongzi Cong didn't dare to make too much movement, he just shook his head lightly: "No." Yan Wei nodded, took the clothes, carefully dressed Gongzi Cong, and said: "Keep warm, don't let him catch the cold, and don't move around for twelve hours, otherwise the acupuncture points will be ineffective. Maybe later It will itch and hurt, so be patient.” Young Master Cong Ji was lying on the bed, feeling a bit indecent. He wanted to adjust his posture, but he was afraid that he would touch the wrong medicine. His cautious posture was like a baby. Yan Wei chuckled, helped him to lie down, and said: "It doesn't matter if you lie on your back or on your side, just be careful when turning over, and you can also walk slowly, but if you are sitting, you have to do it like just now. You are a patient, so you don’t need to be so polite.” After speaking, he looked at the acupuncture point map drawn on the silk, and said comfortingly, “It’s the first time today, hands are raw, let me think about it, the acupuncture points on the chest and back You can tie them together with a piece of linen, so that you can be more comfortable." Li Qichen asked: "Is there anything special about the jade and copper pieces?" Yan Wei said: "The jade piece is used on the Yin meridian acupoints, and the copper piece is used on the Yang meridian acupoints. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this." Just as Li Qichen was about to ask again, he suddenly heard the sound of teeth knocking against each other.