Chang Yuncheng stepped through the door.

“How did it go?” Marquis Dingxi asked urgently, while looking behind him. Not seeing the figure he was hoping for, his face immediately fell. “Useless thing!”

“She said she couldn’t treat it,” Chang Yuncheng said.

Marquis Dingxi kicked him.

“Bah,” he spat. “It’s not that she can’t treat it—she’s unwilling to treat it.”

“She’s not that kind of person!” Chang Yuncheng turned around and shouted in a low voice.

Marquis Dingxi became even more irritated at being shouted at and kicked again.

“What are you shouting for? What right do you have to shout at me!” he raged. “If it weren’t for you mother and son bringing this upon yourselves, would today’s events have happened!”

Chang Yuncheng’s hands hanging at his sides clenched into fists.

Marquis Dingxi became angrier as he spoke.

If it weren’t for their mother and son bringing this upon themselves, how would today have come to pass!

If it weren’t for their mother and son bringing this upon themselves, Qi Yueniang would still be his daughter-in-law, and all the powerful families in the city would have to treat him with respect and deference!

If it weren’t for their mother and son bringing this upon themselves, there wouldn’t be today’s situation where every bit of Qi Yueniang’s glory brought a bit of humiliation to the Marquis Dingxi’s residence!

If it weren’t for their mother and son bringing this upon themselves, how would the Marquis Dingxi’s residence have become the laughingstock of the entire city!

“It’s all because of you! What left and right wives nonsense! What did you see in that girl! Now look! The retribution has come!” Marquis Dingxi shouted angrily.

“It’s all because of them? Chang Rong! Do you have any conscience when you speak!” An aged voice came from outside.

Both Marquis Dingxi and Chang Yuncheng looked toward the sound.

Old Madam Xie was walking quickly with her cane, and the little maid supporting her couldn’t keep up.

The steward was running beside her.

“Marquis, Old Madam Xie is here…” he called out.

Nonsense! I’m not blind yet! Marquis Dingxi glared at the steward.

“Why have you come, Old Madam…” Marquis Dingxi said.

Old Madam Xie struck her cane against the ground.

“I have another daughter dying in your house. Can’t I come to see her one last time?” she said breathlessly.

“Mother, slow down,” Master Xie followed behind. Being fat, he was even more out of breath from walking.

“Slow down? If I slow down, you’ll have one less sister!” Old Madam Xie turned to scold him.

After saying this, she looked at Chang Yuncheng again, her eyes reddening.

“My child…” she cried, reaching out to Chang Yuncheng.

Chang Yuncheng reached out to take her arm.

“Grandmother, don’t be anxious… your health is important…” he said hoarsely.

“What use is this body of mine! What use is it!” Old Madam Xie wailed. “Why won’t they let me die! Why wasn’t it me who died!”

Master Xie looked ashamed.

“Mother, sister hasn’t… yet,” he hurriedly said in a low voice to comfort her.

Old Madam Xie spat in his face.

“Sooner or later she’ll be killed by this Chang family!” she shouted.

Memories from the past jumped out again. Marquis Dingxi felt his ears buzzing.

Back then, his mother was still alive. She alone had withstood the Xie family members who nearly overturned the Marquis Dingxi’s residence. Now that his mother was gone, would he… would he be devoured alive by the Xie family?

In the past, the Xie family ancestors had followed the founding emperor in conquering the world, specifically responsible for reconnaissance, and they were elite scouts at that. Those scouts did the most dangerous and tense work, and everyone had developed strange habits—like scalping people, like eating people…

It was said that the Xie family ancestors were the type who would capture Tartars, dig out their hearts, and eat them raw…

Marquis Dingxi couldn’t help but step back two paces.

Seeing Marquis Dingxi’s instantly pale face, Master Xie felt somewhat sympathetic. This brother-in-law was pitifully stupid.

“Mother, let’s go see sister first. Old Physician An has also gotten out of the carriage,” he quickly said in a low voice.

Old Madam Xie stopped looking at Marquis Dingxi and went crying into the room.

Old Physician An examined the pulse, his expression grave.

“How did it become like this…” he murmured, with disbelief. “It was just a cold with nasal congestion and breathing difficulties. How did it suddenly become…”

Hearing him speak this way, and seeing Madam Xie’s condition where each breath was weaker than the last, the people in the room finally gave up hope.

“Mei’er…” Old Madam Xie sat down and began to cry.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry,” Old Physician An hurriedly comforted her, while looking up at Chang Yuncheng. “Have you asked my master to examine her?”

His master?

Marquis Dingxi and the others didn’t immediately understand.

“She said it couldn’t be treated,” Chang Yuncheng replied, knowing whom Old Physician An was referring to.

Only then did Marquis Dingxi and the others realize.

Old Physician An called her master! Old Physician An’s master! She was worthy of it!

Marquis Dingxi felt his mouth fill with bitterness.

“It’s all because she herself offended Yueniang. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be unable to get help now,” he said loudly.

“She offended her?” Old Madam Xie stepped forward, looking at Marquis Dingxi with red eyes. “Chang Rong, even if it was originally her idea, who submitted the memorial?”

“I, I did so because she told me to!” Marquis Dingxi said huffily.

“She told you?” Old Madam Xie stepped forward. “If she told you to die, would you go die?”

Marquis Dingxi’s face turned white with anger.

“It takes two to clap. Chang Rong, if you hadn’t been tempted, could a mere woman’s scheming in the inner quarters have brought about an imperial edict?” Old Madam Xie struck her cane and shouted. “You yourself were heartless and unrighteous, you yourself brought shame and disgrace, you yourself caused this trouble, and you’re pushing it onto others! Saying it’s because Zhengmei has a grudge against Qi Yueniang and can’t seek medical treatment—bah!”

Having said this, she spat. Fortunately, Marquis Dingxi had been on guard all along and jumped away in time.

“If you had treated her as a daughter-in-law, as family, would you have submitted that memorial? Chang Rong, people aren’t fools. Who treats whom well, who doesn’t take whom seriously—everyone knows in their hearts! What are you pretending to be wronged and innocent about!” she continued scolding. “Still calling her daughter-in-law—think hard, has she ever called you father?”

Marquis Dingxi stared with a pale face. Had she ever called him father?

He couldn’t help but think about it.

At first, she hadn’t. Later…

She had! She had called him that. He remembered now. When he heard that his son and daughter-in-law had surrounded Wang Tongye’s house, he went to demand an explanation. At that time, the woman had turned around, looked at him, and called out “Father” with bright, shining eyes…

Later, from when did she stop calling him that?

Right, it seemed to be from when she learned about marrying the left and right wives…

Marquis Dingxi suddenly felt his nose sting.

Before his eyes appeared the woman’s bright, shining eyes.

“Father,” she had called, showing a full smile. “Thank you, Father.”

Thank you, Father…

The quarrel between the two, almost coming to blows, was giving Old Physician An a headache.

“No, no, Master isn’t that kind of person,” he raised his hand and said loudly, stopping them both.

Chang Yuncheng nodded.

“She said she couldn’t treat it,” he said again.

Hearing him say this, Old Physician An sighed.

“Then it truly… cannot be treated…” he said, shaking his head.

“It can be treated! It can be treated!”

An urgent voice came from outside the door, followed by someone rushing in.

The moment Marquis Dingxi saw this old man, his anger flared up.

What kind of imperial physician was this! Did he have any medical ethics! Here they were with someone dying, and he had gone out for a stroll!

How did this kind of imperial physician manage to survive before the Emperor!

“Maoqing!” Old Physician An looked at the person who had run in and called out in surprise.

Imperial Physician Zhou only then noticed Old Physician An in the room and immediately stepped forward excitedly to bow.

“Director An,” he said respectfully.

“You’ve come too,” Old Physician An nodded.

However, this wasn’t the time for reminiscing.

“You just said it could be treated?” he asked urgently.

Imperial Physician Zhou nodded, his expression excited.

“Director An, the Marchioness’s condition is due to a foreign object stuck in her airway, which caused her throat to swell and blocked her blood circulation,” he said.

Old Physician An had just arrived and hadn’t inquired yet, so he didn’t know the illness was actually caused by this.

“What?” he asked in surprise.

“I’ve inquired about it. When the Marchioness first became ill, she choked while eating a late-night snack and felt short of breath, but after a while, she seemed fine. It was from that time that she gradually began to frequently feel short of breath…” Imperial Physician Zhou explained, gesturing at his throat. “According to my speculation, there should have been unswallowed foreign matter remaining at that time—wheat or beans or something similar. At first, it was tiny and harmless, but as it absorbed water, it gradually swelled, so it increasingly blocked the airway, leading to today’s situation…”

He pointed to Madam Xie on the bed, who was gasping for breath and had turned blue.

So that was it!

The people in the room were amazed.

So even choking once could cause such serious consequences…

“This is nothing unusual. The illnesses of the world are naturally strange and varied,” Old Physician An explained to them.

“If this had happened at the beginning, I could have used vegetable or rice balls to swallow and push the foreign object down, but delayed until today, that foreign object must have adhered to the flesh wall. Rash swallowing would not only fail to push it down but could immediately block the remaining airway, and the madam would die instantly,” Imperial Physician Zhou said with a sigh. “So I really have no solution and can only say there’s no hope.”

Old Physician An nodded. If it were him, he would also have no solution.

“However, now it’s good! This Yongqing Prefecture actually has a doctor with miraculous needle and blade skills,” Imperial Physician Zhou’s eyes lit up again as he shouted excitedly. “There should be a way to remove the foreign object.”

Old Physician An was stunned.

Imperial Physician Zhou excitedly couldn’t stand still and walked back and forth several steps, telling about how he had spent the day wandering around and inquiring about that divine physician’s skills. It was even more exciting than listening to storytelling.

“It was truly spectacular. If I hadn’t been eager to rush back and tell you all, I still had two more cases I hadn’t finished hearing about,” he said with some regret, clicking his tongue.

“So, to save the madam, you must go and invite that doctor again,” he said to Marquis Dingxi meaningfully.

Having listened to stories for half the day, he naturally understood the divine physician’s background, and the entanglement between the divine physician and the Marquis Dingxi’s residence was naturally an essential part of the story.

The back-and-forth between them was as exciting as the medical cases themselves!

Imperial Physician Zhou was very satisfied with the tea money he had spent today. This was rare entertainment that couldn’t be heard in the capital even for ten times the price.

“But she said it couldn’t be treated…” Chang Yuncheng said.

“That’s because she doesn’t know. She was driven away before anyone could properly examine the patient,” Imperial Physician Zhou stamped his foot. “Go quickly, go quickly. If you explain the cause of the illness clearly now, she’ll definitely say she can treat it.”

Hurry, hurry! He would actually be able to witness such miraculous skills with his own eyes!

Imperial Physician Zhou was so excited he could barely catch his breath.

Where would the incision be made? The chest? The neck? He couldn’t help but look over Madam Xie’s body with shining eyes.

“If it’s inconvenient for you, I’ll go speak to her,” Old Physician An said.

“No need,” Chang Yuncheng said, about to step forward.

“You don’t need to either,” Old Madam Xie reached out to stop him.

“Grandmother,” Chang Yuncheng looked at her in confusion.

“My daughter—I’ll go ask her,” Old Madam Xie said. Without waiting for anyone to respond, she quickly walked out.

Chang Yuncheng’s expression was complicated, but he finally stopped.

If I go, Yueniang will be put in a difficult position…

Soon, Old Madam Xie returned with a pale face.

“She refused?” Marquis Dingxi couldn’t help but ask, with a hint of schadenfreude on his face.

Serves you right! Who do you think you are! As if Yueniang would give you face!

“She’s not that kind of person!” Chang Yuncheng shouted at Marquis Dingxi again, his expression firm and brooking no doubt.

Marquis Dingxi was startled, glared at Chang Yuncheng resentfully, opened his mouth to scold, but seeing Old Madam Xie, finally closed it.

“That’s right, Master wouldn’t do that,” Old Physician An said.

“I don’t know whether she would or wouldn’t. I just didn’t see her—she went out on a house call,” Old Madam Xie said.

How could it be such a coincidence…

Everyone looked at her with anxious, complicated expressions.

“The madam is dying!” came Nanny Su’s heart-wrenching cry from inside the room.

The courtyard immediately erupted in chaos.