The carriage curtain fluttered in the face of the oncoming wind, revealing a corner of the verdant mountains outside and the long stone slab road receding behind, like countless images playing in reverse.

A corner of the image showed a piece of black cloth fluttering, transforming into flowing black light, gradually dominating the entire scene.

The image brightened again, the mottled sequins turning into familiar little flowers, blooming on the cliffs of Danzhou. A slightly rough but exceptionally warm hand reached out and plucked one.

The flower was dried by the sunlight and sea breeze on the rooftop of a common house, then mixed into tea. Boiling water poured into the cup, stirring up the tea leaves and dried flower, creating a golden, lustrous amber color. Another hand reached out, steadily picked it up, and placed it in front of him.

"Young Master, have a cup of tea brewed by Sisi; it's her first day," said Dong'er, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, her face full of gentle smiles. For some reason, she wasn't selling tofu in Danzhou today.

He shook his head, took the tea, and handed it to the side, looking at Wan'er, who was sitting next to him, constantly gnawing on a chicken leg, and scolded playfully, "So greasy, how can you eat that? Have some tea to clear your throat."

Wan'er didn't reply, but his sister, sitting to his right, laughed. The faint worry between her eyebrows vanished completely, which made him feel very gratified.

"It's time to go," Wu Zhu, his face covered with a black cloth, said coldly.

"Go where?" he asked subconsciously.

"To see Miss."

"Okay." He stood up without a trace of hesitation, walked to the bedside to pick up his luggage, and that... black box. But for some reason, the box was unusually heavy today, and he couldn't lift it no matter how hard he tried, making him sweat profusely.

...

...

A drop of sweat slid down Fan Xian's forehead in his unconsciousness, landing on the pillow. He groggily pried open his eyelids a crack, staring blankly at the painted eaves above, knowing he was in a very unfamiliar room. He couldn't help but feel a chill run through him, thinking:

"Could it be... another transmigration?"

If he had to transmigrate every time he died, Fan Xian might have preferred to die thoroughly the last time. Why come to this world for another round, see so many people, experience so many things, feel so many emotions, become attached, only to leave again, and still remember.

Fan Xian's scattered gaze finally adjusted to the light in the room and began to focus like a baby. He finally saw that Wan'er's eyes beside him were swollen red like small peaches from crying, clutching the corner of the bedsheet tightly, biting her lower lip, refusing to make a sound - so he was still alive, still in the world of Qing Yu Nian, only he didn't know where he was lying.

It was difficult to lower his head, but from the pain in his chest, he knew his injuries hadn't healed. All around the room were low-eyebrowed, docile eunuchs, looking around in a panic, pretending to be busy and sorrowful. At the door, a group of old men in imperial physician robes were talking to a middle-aged man with mournful expressions.

"Your Majesty, we are truly unable."

The middle-aged man roared, "If you can't save him, you will be buried with him!"

In his semi-conscious state, Fan Xian watched this scene and couldn't help but sneer, though the corners of his lips didn't follow his brain's command to curl up.

He thought to himself, these lines are certainly familiar, but you, the emperor, only get angry when I'm about to die; you don't seem very kind - compared to the current situation, Fan Xian subconsciously wished that it was his father, Minister Fan, yelling at the imperial physicians.

He wanted to reach out and pat Wan'er's hand, but he didn't have the strength to move. Every part of his body was in pain, every part was empty. He forced himself to gather his mind, but his head buzzed, and he passed out again.

--------------------------------------------------

While Fan Ti Si (Commissioner Fan) had the leisure to criticize the emperor and comfort his wife, the entire capital was in chaos.

The Emperor was assassinated!

It was impossible to hide this matter from everyone in the world, so many people learned about it at dusk. However, what reassured the people was that His Majesty was not injured in the incident. But before long, news came again that Commissioner Fan, in his loyalty, had bravely stepped forward and personally eliminated this great disaster, then disregarded his weakness after illness and injury, chasing the assassin from the Suspended Temple back to the capital, finally collapsing and suffering serious injuries, with an unknown chance of survival!

Fan Xian had always had a good reputation among the people of Qing Yu Nian. Upon hearing this news, most of the residents of the capital expressed their sincere concern and heartfelt blessings while holding their rice bowls. The people carrying lanterns to the Qing Temple to pray for him at night formed a long queue.

Fan Manor on Chengnan Street had few lights lit, and was shrouded in dimness, with servants waiting for news in a flurry. After Fan Xian was injured, he was sent directly into the palace by the Tiger Guards. After His Majesty returned to the capital, he left the seriously injured Fan Xian in the palace, ordering the imperial physicians to watch over him every step of the way. The entire Fan Manor felt that this expression from His Majesty was only natural - the young mistress and miss had entered the palace, and no news had come out yet, but rumor had it that the young master had been stabbed with a knife and was seriously injured, and the imperial physicians didn't have a good solution for the time being.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, Minister of Revenue Fan Jian did not enter the palace but sat in his study with a gloomy face, not knowing what he was thinking.

With such a big thing happening, Chen Pingping couldn't still be watching beautiful women dance in the Chen Garden in the suburbs. He returned to the Supervisory Council in his wheelchair and immediately began investigating the assassination and took over the bodies of the little eunuch and the ninth-rank master captured on the Suspended Temple.

Prince Jing had already rushed into the palace, and Princess Roujia stayed in her boudoir, crying.

It was unknown how many other young girls in the capital were saddened.

...

...

The Second Prince closed the gates of his palace tightly, strictly forbidding any of his subordinates from inquiring about any news or making any reactions. He knew that his current situation was very dangerous and, in this tumultuous time, any inappropriate action would bring him a fatal disaster.

The First Prince stood outside the Guangxin Palace, where Fan Xian was being rescued, pacing back and forth.

Consort Yi also led the Third Prince, standing outside the Guangxin Palace. The Third Prince's life had been saved by Fan Xian today. Not to mention Consort Yi's family relationship with the Fan Manor, as a woman in the palace, she also knew what His Majesty's rage implied and what kind of attitude she should show.

The Empress did not come, and the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace only expressed his concern at the Guangxin Palace, comforted Wan'er and Ruoruo a few times, and asked His Majesty to take care of his health before returning to the Eastern Palace.

According to other news, although the Empress Dowager only sent Hong Gonggong to take a look, the old woman was burning incense and praying in the small meditation hall behind the Hanguang Palace.

The news of Fan Xian's serious injury and impending death made all the forces of Qing Yu Nian react in the most truthful way, which felt absurdly cute.

...

...

The Guangxin Palace used to be Princess Chang's residence in the palace, and it was also the place Fan Xian had visited during his first night exploration of the palace, but he had never stayed in the bedroom, so he didn't recognize that he was lying in the palace when he woke up earlier. Although Fan Xian was so seriously injured for His Majesty's sake, it was, after all, a very inappropriate thing for a courtier to be left in the palace for treatment. Fortunately, he also had the identity of Princess Chang's son-in-law.

With a creak, the door of Guangxin Palace was pushed open, and the Emperor walked out with a gloomy face, glanced at the tearful Fan Ruoruo beside him, and a trace of fatigue appeared between his brows. Yao Gonggong said in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, please go and rest. The imperial physicians are treating Commissioner Fan, and he should be fine."

A cold light flashed in the Emperor's eyes: "Those useless fellows..."

"Your Majesty, I want to go in and see," Fan Ruoruo stabilized her mind and saluted the Emperor, "But... the chief physician won't let me in."

"Hmm?" The Emperor frowned. "Why?" He noticed a very ordinary box at the Fan family's daughter's feet.

Fan Ruoruo bit her lip and said, "Brother hasn't woken up, but the Tiger Guards said to bring him the detoxification pills he usually uses, presumably he knew it in his heart before he fell unconscious, but the imperial physician doesn't... believe me."

The Emperor stood silently on the steps. Imperial physicians naturally had their own procedures for treating illnesses, and it was normal to reject Fan Ruoruo's medicine. But the Emperor at this time was different from many years ago... it seemed that for the first time, he realized that among his many sons, only the one inside was the most promising, and only the one inside was not thinking about his position...

At the Suspended Temple, in such a critical moment, if Fan Xian's first choice was to save the Emperor at the expense of his own life, the habitually suspicious Emperor would still be wary of Fan Xian, because that action might be exactly what he, as a powerful official, wanted to show his loyalty to a monarch - and people in the profession of being an emperor never believed in visible loyalty.

But the problem was... Fan Xian chose to save the Third Prince first!

If investigated deeply, the Censorate could even impeach Fan Xian for treason based on this detail. However, the Emperor was not an ordinary person. From this detail, he thought he saw that beneath Fan Xian's extremely shrewd exterior was still a gentle and benevolent heart... just like that woman back then.

It was funny that Fan Xian wasn't thinking that way at all at that moment. The problem was that the Emperor didn't know.

So, the Emperor was very gratified.

After learning that Fan Xian was seriously injured and about to die, his heart, which hadn't wavered for many years, finally trembled slightly, and he even began to doubt whether he had been exploiting Fan Xian too extremely. After doubting himself, he felt a trace of unreasonable jealousy towards Fan Jian, a trace of anger that couldn't be expressed to the heavens - such an excellent young man, why... could he only be your son?

His own sons? The eldest was too straightforward, the second too fake, the third... too young. As for the Crown Prince? The Emperor sneered in his heart, thinking, did this little bastard think that I didn't see you deliberately stepping on that wine glass?

So he left Fan Xian in the palace, partly to save Fan Xian as soon as possible, and partly because of some negative emotions lurking in the bones of a middle-aged man. Fan Jian, who had grown up with him since childhood, was probably very clear about the Emperor's psychological process, so he did not enter the palace even when his son was seriously injured, but stayed in the study of the Fan Manor in a very gloomy mood.

--------------------------------------------------

His Majesty summoned, and the Chief Physician led an imperial physician who was resting out of the palace gate, and said with a bitter face: "Your Majesty, the bleeding on the outside has stopped, but the knife has hurt Commissioner Fan's internal organs."

The Emperor slightly raised his chin and gestured to Fan Ruoruo's existence: "Why don't you let the Fan family's daughter enter the palace?"

Even at this time, the Chief Physician did not forget to maintain his professional spirit, and frowned: "I don't know what the ingredients of those pills are... The assassin's knife was soaked in poison, but the toxins have not been analyzed clearly, so I don't dare to eat them indiscriminately, I'm afraid..."

"Afraid of what!" At this time, Prince Jing, who had been sitting on a chair under the steps, rushed up, and with a snap, slapped the Chief Physician's cheek and cursed: "I gave you two hours! You don't say you can save him, at least you have to wake Fan Xian! As long as he wakes up, with his medical skills, he is more reliable than you old man!"

The Chief Physician was stunned by the slap and felt angry, unable to say anything at all.

The Emperor was about to reprimand Prince Jing for his improper behavior, but hearing these words, his heart moved, and he felt that it was really reasonable. Now that Fei Jie was not in the capital, to say who was more capable of detoxification and healing, I am afraid that no one was better than Fan Xian. He frowned and said: "No matter what, first find a way to wake Fan Xian up!"

As soon as the words came out, the Emperor realized that Fan Xian was indeed a versatile talent, and if he hadn't been worried that himself and the princes would be poisoned by the smoke and had thrown the medicine pouch on the floor, he would probably not have fallen into the current state even if he had been invaded by the assassin's sword poison - thinking of the benefits of Fan Xian again, he couldn't help but sigh again, thinking, if this child's mother... was not her, how good it would be.

He shook his head and returned to the Imperial Study under the leadership of the eunuchs.

Having received His Majesty's decree, Prince Jing led Fan Ruoruo and pushed the door open, ignoring the bitter advice of the imperial physicians and rushing directly to the bedside.

Wan'er's eyes were red and swollen, and she didn't say a word, just holding Fan Xian's somewhat cold hand and staring blankly at Fan Xian's pale face after he fell unconscious, as if she didn't even know who came behind her.

Fan Ruoruo's heart trembled when she saw this scene, but she immediately turned into a firm determination. She believed that her extraordinary brother could not die so simply.

"Wake him up." Prince Jing was no longer like a flower farmer today, but like a decisive general, squinting his eyes and said: "If taking medicine is useless, I will cut off one of his fingers."

Fan Ruoruo seemed not to have heard this sentence, and directly took out several wooden boxes of different sizes from the box.

Prince Jing said: "Do you know... which one should you take?" He couldn't help but be cautious. After all, the imperial physicians were not completely stupid, and what they said made some sense. If the pill was taken incorrectly, who knew what the effect would be? Maybe Fan Xian, who was dying, would die directly!

Fan Ruoruo nodded and calmly took out a light yellow pill from the wooden box. The pill gave off an extremely spicy smell.

She handed the pill to her sister-in-law. Both girls were very intelligent. After Lin Wan'er's palm trembled, she didn't need to ask any more questions, and directly put it in her mouth and began to chew it quickly, then took a sip of the warm water handed over by the eunuch to make the medicine in her mouth thinner.

The imperial physicians who were curiously and nervously watching from the side knew that these two bold girls were going to administer the medicine. Since they couldn't stop it anyway, one of them quickly stepped forward and pried open Fan Xian's teeth with a special wooden tool.

Lin Wan'er lowered her head and fed it over.

Prince Jing, who had been watching silently, suddenly stretched out a palm and patted Fan Xian's chest, then smoothed it down.

Then, everyone began to wait nervously.

I don't know how long it took, Fan Xian's long eyelashes trembled slightly, and then opened, but his eyes were a little weak.

...

...

"Commissioner Fan is awake!"

The clever eunuch shouted early, went out of the palace to report to His Majesty the Emperor, and the inside and outside of the palace suddenly became lively.

Fan Xian's first thought after waking up from his injury was: "Many people must be disappointed."

Then he looked at the familiar faces around him that were nervous, excited, and still full of sorrow, and said softly: "Pillow."

Wan'er clenched her fists, her lips tightly closed, as if she was too nervous to speak. She took a pillow and placed it behind his neck, knowing that her husband wanted to see the injury on his chest, so she put another one to make his head higher.

Ruoruo had already moved a bright candlestick over to illuminate his tragically injured chest.

Fan Xian closed his eyes first to let the spicy medicinal power gradually spread in his body and improve his energy, which had withered to the extreme, before slowly opening his eyes and looking towards his chest.

The wound was not deep, and the position was a little lower. It looked like the chest, but it was actually at the upper end of the stomach. The imperial physicians had treated the external wounds extremely well, and Fan Xian could not find any fault with them.

But he knew that there should also be a hole pierced in his stomach, and blood was slowly flowing out. His true energy had completely dispersed, and it was impossible to rely on true energy to heal himself... If the bleeding continued in his body, he estimated that he would not survive tonight. With the medical level of this world, there was really no way to deal with internal injuries. It was not the fault of the imperial physicians.

"Wipe it off." His energy only allowed him to issue orders very briefly.

Without thinking, Fan Ruoruo directly took the boiled rough cloth and wiped off all the medicinal powder on her brother's chest, causing a burst of exclamations from the onlookers.

Unsurprisingly, the wound on the chest began to ooze blood again.

"Needles." Fan Xian gently spit out a word, and the hand that could barely move held his trembling wife's cold hand.

Ruoruo took out a few long needles. Fan Xian's eyes turned slightly to the side and looked at Prince Jing beside him and said, "Tiantu, Qimen, Yufu, Guanyuan, insert the needles two fen."

The needle insertion required the blessing of true energy, and at this time... it seemed that only Prince Jing had this ability. Fan Xian guessed clearly after waking up that the palm that sent the medicine into his abdomen earlier contained the vigorous true energy that he had practiced for many years. Prince Jing was slightly stunned, seeming not to have expected that he would also be a doctor, and followed the words, took the thin long needles and nervously stabbed them into the acupoints pointed by Fan Xian in turn.

As the needles entered the skin, the blood stopped immediately, and the surrounding imperial physicians were stunned, unable to believe it.

...

...

"Three departments." Fan Xian said weakly to Prince Jing.

Prince Jing immediately understood that the three departments of the Supervisory Council were the best at making poison, and he and His Majesty were confused by concern and had forgotten to let them enter the palace to detoxify Fan Xian, so he quickly left the palace to order someone to summon the head and all personnel of the three departments of the Supervisory Council to enter the palace to save the patient.

Unexpectedly, the people from the three departments had been waiting outside the palace for a long time, and the head of the three departments had asked for instructions several times to enter the palace to save Fan Xian, but the palace was in chaos tonight, and several of the guards were taken by the Supervisory Council to ask questions, so no one dared to ask His Majesty for instructions, so naturally no one dared to let them enter the palace.

At this time, Prince Jing conveyed the decree on behalf of His Majesty, and the people from the Supervisory Council finally breathed a sigh of relief and entered the palace gate directly, rushing to the Guangxin Palace. The people from the three departments brought a lot of things, clanging like metal objects. The bedridden Fan Xian heard the sound, but it sounded as beautiful as the imperial edict.

The head of the three departments was Fei Jie's senior brother, that is, Fan Xian's senior brother, and he had always gotten along very well with Fan Xian in the Supervisory Council. At this time, looking at his senior brother lying on the bed in a miserable state, his face suddenly turned gloomy. He walked to Fan Xian's side and put a finger on his wrist.

Everyone, including the imperial physicians, watched him nervously.

After a while, the head of the three departments nodded and said to Fan Xian: "Senior brother's pills are already very good... However, this poison is from the Dongyi City line. Try this one prepared in the council."

Fan Xian's heart moved slightly, and he took the medicine as ordered. He didn't know if it was a psychological factor, but he felt better immediately.

The so-called three great poison masters in the world, Fei Jie was one, Xiao En was the second, and there was a strange person in Dongyi City. Among these three people, Fei Jie was the most widely involved and undoubtedly the strongest, but the poison masters had strong differences in the materials they chose and the styles of making and arranging poisons. Xiao En focused on animal fats and glandular secretions, and Fei Jie focused on plant sap, which also affected Fan Xian. It happened that the poison on the assassin's dagger was the saltpeter mine poison of the Dongyi City school. The two schools had different styles, so it was very troublesome to detoxify. How could the council have commonly used detoxification medicine?

Therefore, Fan Xian knew that someone must have sent this pill into the palace to detoxify him in the name of his senior brother, but his senior brother, who was always immersed in the study of toxicology and therefore seemed a bit single-minded, obviously did not think of this.

As the toxins gradually faded, what remained was the injury to the internal organs. Watching the detoxification skills of the Supervisory Council, the imperial physicians were finally a little impressed, but they were still very curious about how Commissioner Fan and the three departments would deal with the wound in his body.

"Senior brother, I have brought all the tools you asked the departments to prepare before. How should I use them?" The head of the three departments himself did not seem to know the function of those things.

Fan Xian looked at the bloody hole below his chest and said, gasping for breath: "I need someone with extraordinary courage... and someone with a particularly steady hand."

The heads of the three departments had been dealing with poisons and dead people all year round, and they had seen countless scenes of opening chests and cutting open bellies, so they were naturally courageous enough. As for someone with a particularly steady hand? It seemed that all the officials in the three departments were able to cope with it.

But... Fan Ruoruo stubbornly stood in front of the bed and said, "I'll do it."