June 18th became a day that many people would remember forever.

Liu Pucheng and Old Physician An, carrying the special permit for Qianjin Hall disciples, walked into the Empress Dowager’s palace. Qi Yue, who had been looking outward anxiously, breathed a sigh of relief, while the originally tense and uneasy Sima family members suddenly stood up.

“Hey, why is this old man here?”

“Throw him out!”

They all shouted.

Most of those shouting were younger people.

“Logically speaking, the incident happened over ten years ago. How do these people all seem to recognize Old Physician An? They wouldn’t have remembered things at that time, right? Besides, they wouldn’t have all been present then, would they?” Qi Yue couldn’t help asking in a low voice.

Zhou Maochun coughed lightly.

“Back then, Prince Julu spared Old Physician An’s life, but swore that in this lifetime, Old Physician An would not be allowed to see any member of the Sima family. If he was ever seen, he would be beaten. To ensure this was carried out, Prince Julu distributed portraits of Old Physician An, making sure that everyone in the family, old and young, high and low, would recognize him. Even the dogs sniffed Old Physician An’s clothes…” he said in a low voice.

Qi Yue was embarrassed.

How thorough of them.

Seeing that the Sima family members were indeed about to take action here, Qi Yue stood by the curtain and stopped them.

“This is my senior disciple,” she said.

The Sima family members who were about to act were stunned.

“Whatever the matter is, discuss it later,” the Empress Dowager spoke from above.

She didn’t want that woman to use interference as an excuse when she failed to cure Peng’er.

Since the Empress Dowager had spoken, the Sima family members had to restrain themselves, but this didn’t mean they would let Old Physician An off.

“This jinx coming here means even the living will be treated to death!”

“You quack fool are dead today!”

“This immortal bastard! How dare he still have the face to come out!”

“To scrape by, he even acknowledged a woman as his master!”

The Sima family members shouted, pointing at Old Physician An being pushed by Liu Pucheng.

If not for the presence of the Empress Dowager and Emperor, they would have cursed even more harshly.

Old Physician An neither spoke nor argued. This time he didn’t lower his head but looked straight ahead, moving forward through this torrent of curses.

Qi Yue stood by the curtain watching, not stopping them again, just watching as Old Physician An wheeled closer. Then she raised her hand.

“Disinfect,” she said. “Now beginning exploratory abdominal surgery.”

The great hall fell silent for a moment.

“What did she say?” the Empress Dowager asked those beside her. “Abdominal… what does abdominal mean?”

How would the palace maids know? If taken literally…

It seemed like cutting open the belly?

But how could that be possible!

How could anyone treat illness like that?

When they didn’t know how to answer, shaking their heads was the best response.

“Treating an illness with such a grand spectacle—divine physician? More like a divine charlatan,” the Empress Dowager snorted.

“I’ve heard that those truly skilled masters are all like this. They don’t look at ordinary minor illnesses,” Noble Consort Xian, sitting nearby, said hastily in a low voice.

The Empress Dowager glanced at her.

“How many masters have you seen?” she asked.

Noble Consort Xian smiled awkwardly and lowered her head.

While they were talking here, others also began to speak.

Everyone looked toward the bright room, with a somewhat relaxed and casual attitude, seeing four or five people in ugly white coats standing at different positions around that strange bed, on which lay Little Prince Sima covered by surgical drapes.

“Oh my, how has the Little Prince been made to look like this?”

“It seems like he’s been stripped naked…”

“You can see that? Then wouldn’t those over there see even more clearly? There are several women there… this is really… really improper…”

“Even acupuncture and moxibustion wouldn’t require complete undressing…”

Meanwhile, palace maids served tea one by one, with different grades of tea being served.

“…My palace just received a fine tea, let me have it brought for the sisters to taste…”

“…Yes, His Majesty only gave it to you alone, we’re borrowing your good fortune to have a taste…”

Soon everyone’s attention was no longer on this so-called medical treatment. With the Emperor present, who would pay attention to others?

“Your Majesty, Lian’er has just learned a new poem and is clamoring to recite it for Imperial Father,” a consort said with a smile, approaching the Emperor.

The Emperor leaned back in his chair, seemingly carelessly watching the surgical area, and hummed in response.

The consort was overjoyed.

“Then shall this concubine have her called over now?” she said hastily.

Only then did the Emperor look at her, smiled, and shook his head.

“No need, don’t frighten the child,” he said.

“How could that be? When Lian’er sees Imperial Father, she’s not afraid of anything,” the consort laughed, while looking at the empty seat beside the Emperor and the tea set on the table.

She bent down and picked it up.

“Your Majesty, please have some tea…” she said, preparing to sit down smoothly.

The screaming erupted at precisely this moment.

The sound came suddenly and sharply, like a thunderbolt from clear skies, frightening everyone into trembling.

The tea in the consort’s hands tilted, the tea tray and teacup made crisp sounds, and tea spilled on her clothes.

Before she could apologize, the screaming sounded again.

This time it wasn’t one, but two, three, four…

The eunuchs and palace maids near the curtains retreated as if they’d seen ghosts, their faces terrified, bodies trembling.

“Are you sure it’s here?” Qi Yue asked, her two eyes visible above the surgical mask and cap looking toward Old Physician An across from her, the scalpel in her hand gleaming slightly.

“I’m not only sure it’s here, I can also confirm this is a piece of bone,” Old Physician An said with a firm expression.

“Good fellow, your touch is even better than an X-ray,” Qi Yue laughed.

Old Physician An took a deep breath. Though he tried to remain calm, he couldn’t help trembling slightly.

“Lady, please reconsider. I don’t know if what I’m saying can help…” he said hesitantly.

Before he finished speaking, Qi Yue had already made her incision at the location he indicated, clean and decisive without the slightest hesitation.

Although this wasn’t the first time watching Qi Yue perform surgery up close, this stimulating scene of cutting through skin and flesh was still not something one could get used to seeing regularly. Old Physician An instinctively averted his gaze.

Liu Pucheng wiped away blood traces with gauze while providing retraction, as layers of muscle were separated.

“Murder!”

“Murder!”

After the screaming came hoarse shouting.

The eunuchs and palace maids standing closest finally retreated in panic, colliding with palace maids carrying tea, causing them to overturn their trays and teacups.

Screaming, the sound of plates hitting the floor, and teacups shattering alternately played out in the great hall.

The chatting and laughing consorts were all stunned. Though they didn’t know what was happening, everyone instinctively joined in the screaming, then instinctively looked toward the curtains.

The abdominal incision was complete. Qi Yue reached in and lifted out the duodenum.

“…No ulcerative lesions in the duodenum…” she said.

A’Ru beside her recorded rapidly.

The bloody smell spread. That woman’s hands were covered in blood, pulling out something from the Little Prince’s belly—colorful, thin, and curved. She brought it close to her face, seemingly sniffing, looking, biting…

Biting?

A consort’s eyes rolled back and she fainted, falling onto the consort beside her. The screaming consort screamed again, then also fainted outright.

The men in the hall were only a few from the Sima family. After being stunned by the successive screams from the women, they came to their senses, only to be stunned again by the slaughter-like scene.

The Little Prince… had been butchered…

This thought echoed repeatedly in their minds, finally bringing them to full awareness.

“Murder!” they shouted, rushing toward the curtains.

“How dare you!”

The Emperor, who had been silent, suddenly shouted.

But his voice didn’t have much effect.

The room was in complete chaos, with everyone screaming desperately, as if only this way could they dispel the fear in their hearts.

“Protect the Emperor!” The Emperor sighed and leaned back in his chair, saying faintly.

This time his voice was so quiet that only he could hear it.

In what seemed like a blink of an eye, twenty or thirty imperial guards rushed in from outside, each brandishing weapons.

The Emperor raised his hand slightly, pointing in a direction.

“Block them,” he said simply. “Anyone who dares approach, kill them.”

The bloody smell, imperial guards, gleaming blades, and that woman over there cutting open someone’s belly…

Some consort took the lead in crawling and scrambling out, followed by palace maids and other consorts fleeing.

The eunuchs, palace maids, and guards who had rushed to the palace gates witnessed a scene they’d never seen before.

Those noble ladies who were usually dressed brilliantly, carried themselves with dignity, and maintained perfect deportment were now either prostrate, kneeling, sitting, or lying on the ground, hair disheveled, hairpins askew, makeup smeared, crying, shouting, and trembling.

Palace rebellion!

This was the only thought that flashed through everyone’s minds upon seeing this scene.

But as they ran closer, they saw the imperial guards standing at attention inside, with the Emperor still seated in his chair, looking relaxed.

“Carry all these people out,” the Emperor waved his hand and said.

The eunuchs who came to their senses did so tremblingly. Their bodies were weak and hands shaking, accidentally dropping the fainted consorts several times.

The great hall finally quieted down.

Those who hadn’t run out were the Sima family men, who stood frozen in place, looking over there.

The people over there seemed to neither hear nor see the commotion here. It was as if there was a barrier isolating them from the noise, their figures steady and movements orderly.

“It’s a perforation!” Qi Yue said, exhaling.

“Where?” Liu Pucheng, Old Physician An, and the others hurried to look.

“Here in the ileum,” Qi Yue said, pulling it out to show them. “Good fellow, it’s so close to the cecum.”

She reached out her hand.

“Scissors,” she said.

A disciple handed them over precisely.

At this moment in the great hall, the women had basically all fled, but the Empress Dowager had remained seated without moving.

She sat in her chair, staring fixedly at the curtained area without blinking.

“Mm.” The Emperor leaned forward to look, pointing, “Mother, look, did she cut off a section of intestine?”

He said this while picking up a piece of pastry from the table.

The tea had been spilled by that consort, but fortunately the refreshments were unharmed.

The Emperor put it in his mouth and chewed. Not hearing any sound from the Empress Dowager beside him, he quickly turned to look.

The Empress Dowager looked at him somewhat blankly.

What the Emperor was chewing was a piece of red bean cake, made into thin strips, soft and glutinous—a small pastry that all the women in the palace loved to eat.

“Mother, would you like a piece too?” Seeing the Empress Dowager staring at him so intently, the Emperor smiled and said.

His exposed teeth were stained with red cake.

The Empress Dowager’s eyes rolled back, she covered her mouth with her hand, let out a dry heave, and without needing palace maids to support her, stumbled out retching.

From June 18th onward, red bean cake was banned in the Empress Dowager’s palace, and this remained unchanged until her death.