Falling Dreams Of Fang Hua

Chapter 31: Strange Illness (Part 1)

The imperial palace was extremely luxurious.

The old man emperor lived in a main hall that was resplendent without measure. Wherever the eyes looked, everything glittered...the dragon pearls embellishing the walls were extremely huge, and really made a person drool with envy.

The common people were suffering, but he sure knew how to enjoy himself, though that had stopped now.

A fine vermillion canopy screened a bed from view, its fabric embroidered with gold dragons baring their fangs and claws. A hazy form could be seen within, accompanied by the loud noises of someone gasping for breath.

He sounded very uncomfortable...

For a person confined to bed with a weak body, it was important to maintain proper airflow. With this gauze in the way, wouldn't it only exacerbate his sickness?

"Your servant pays respects to His Imperial Highness."

The sudden voice frightened me after I had finally managed to steady Fang Hua's medical instruments in my arms. Peering from behind, I saw Nongyu catch my eye with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.

Strange, he was here too.

His medical knowledge was exemplary, so he should know these things. Even if the servants had forgotten to open the windows and draw the screens, he should remind them. Why wasn't he interfering or paying the matter any attention now?

Han Zichuan swept his robes, filled with the imposing air of a crown prince. "Rise. How is father's illness?"

"After a months-long coma, he awoke briefly to mutter a few things before losing consciousness. Now that Lord Fang Hua's come to personally treat him, the emperor's illness will certainly get better." Nongyu's expression was one of sincerity, his sleeves spread open in a bow. His figure was infused with ceremony and propriety the whole time he led us to the monarch's bed.

A servant lifted aside the bed-curtains. Inside was a roughly 40 to 50-year-old man with emaciated features lying on the bed. His face was deathly pale, yet his lips were a blackish red, and the space between his eyebrows seemed a bit dark. As for the original eyebrows, they were already gone.

This was the current emperor? It looked like he was close to dying...

I gave a glance and noticed that Fang Hua had already pulled up his sleeves to lift aside the bedcovers. He didn't take a pulse, but just pressed on the body in random places. There was no way to know the status of his diagnosis.

An indistinct sound rose as a torrent from the patient's lips. Fang Hua knitted his brows and didn't move, but reached behind him towards me... His finger shook impatiently two or three times. I blinked my eyes and fell into thought...

My head lowered to look within the pouch and its varying sizes of acupuncture needles. Which one did he want?

As it turned out, he lost patience waiting and slowly turned to give me another silent look. Those fingers moved over and past me to plunder the bag and take out a handful of needles. There were thick ones and thin ones, long ones and short ones. Their silvery light glinted back and forth in his hands as he poked the emperor like a doll. Casting all caution to the winds, the needles swooped down...until every single point had a needle in place.

I was silent...

Nongyu looked as if he hadn't processed everything yet, and Han Zichuan was completely floored.

In the beginning, the emperor still had a breath...now there wasn't a sound. How tragic. Although the emperor had snatched resources from all under the heavens, Fang Hua had now pricked him black and blue all over into silence. That's why the saying went, 'no matter who you offend, never offend a doctor.'