Divine Physician Li glanced at the Princess Consort of Pingnan, his tone emotionless: “The feathered arrow injured his internal organs and remained in his body for far too long. Even if an immortal came, it would be difficult to save him. This old man is no immortal. At most, I can guarantee that the prince won’t die from excessive bleeding when the feathered arrow is removed. As for anything else, I cannot guarantee…”

The Princess Consort of Pingnan grasped the implication, her face completely drained of color: “You mean to say… even if the prince survives the arrow removal, he might still, he might still…”

Divine Physician Li’s expression remained unchanged as he stroked his beard: “Not ‘might still’—it’s a nine-in-ten chance of death to begin with. Dying would be normal.”

The Princess Consort of Pingnan’s eyelids trembled, showing signs of fainting again.

Wei Feng couldn’t help but say: “Divine Physician, my mother consort cannot bear hearing such things—”

Facing a wet-behind-the-ears youth, Divine Physician Li was even less courteous. He immediately sneered coldly: “This old man is only responsible for treating illness, not for comforting people. The prince’s condition is just as I described. You all think it over carefully. Don’t let it be that when someone is clearly doomed to die, after this old man intervenes to save him and he doesn’t recover well, you come to ruin this old man’s reputation.”

Seeing Divine Physician Li standing with his hands clasped behind his back, looking completely detached from the matter, Wei Feng couldn’t help but look toward the Princess Consort of Pingnan.

Of course such a major decision still required the Princess Consort of Pingnan to make.

“Mother Consort—” Young Princess Wei Wen called out tearfully.

The Princess Consort of Pingnan’s dull eyes slowly moved to look at Divine Physician Li.

She wanted to discern something from this elder’s face, this person whom the world revered as a living immortal, to receive some words of assurance, but what she saw was a face of indifference.

The Princess Consort of Pingnan looked again at the several imperial physicians.

The several imperial physicians kept their eyes on their noses and their noses on their hearts, adopting a posture of desperately minimizing their presence.

The Princess Consort of Pingnan’s heart turned cold. Myriad hesitations finally transformed into a few words squeezed out through clenched teeth: “Please… Divine Physician… proceed…”

Having finished this short sentence, she seemed to have all her strength drained away and collapsed softly.

Wei Wen supported the Princess Consort of Pingnan’s body, her voice choked with sobs: “Mother Consort, are you alright?”

The Princess Consort of Pingnan trembled uncontrollably all over, having no strength to comfort her daughter.

The tears Wei Wen had been forcibly holding back fell, sliding down her cheeks and hitting the ground.

Though they made no sound, they struck her with a sense of despair.

How could this be? Even with the divine physician here, he couldn’t make Father Prince recover?

“Has the princess consort thought this through?” Before entering, Divine Physician Li confirmed once more.

The Princess Consort of Pingnan nodded with difficulty.

“If something should happen to the prince—”

The Princess Consort of Pingnan clenched her fists forcefully, saying in a trembling voice: “That would be the prince’s fate… it has nothing to do with the divine physician…”

Only then did Divine Physician Li’s constantly impassive face relax somewhat. He stepped into the inner chamber and drove out all those attending.

The several imperial physicians immediately gathered at the doorway, discussing in low voices.

“At that location, how will the divine physician remove the arrow?”

“Difficult, extremely difficult. The slightest carelessness will cause massive bleeding.”

“The arrow has been lodged in the prince’s body for a full night. Even if the bleeding is controlled, I’m afraid the inside will have festered…”

…

Hearing these discussions, the Princess Consort of Pingnan swayed unsteadily, and Wei Wen’s face was also streaming with tears.

Wei Feng was furious and angrily said: “Why didn’t you gentlemen say any of this when you were in front of the divine physician just now?”

Saying all this now—were they deliberately trying to frighten his mother consort and sister?

The several imperial physicians resumed their appearance of eyes on noses, noses on hearts, and stopped speaking.

Scold them if he wanted—they couldn’t cure the patient anyway.

An unknown amount of time passed before Divine Physician Li emerged.

The Princess Consort of Pingnan rushed forward, her expression tense: “Divine Physician, how is the prince?”

“He didn’t die. You may go in and attend to him now.”

The Princess Consort of Pingnan hurried inside and immediately saw the spotted bloodstains on Prince Pingnan’s snow-white garment.

She covered her mouth and began crying silently.

What followed—fetching medicine, brewing medicine, explaining precautions—need not be described in detail.

A steward hurried in to report: “Princess Consort, His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived.”

The Princess Consort of Pingnan wiped away her tears and led the Wei Feng siblings out to greet him.

Wei Qiang brought many gifts, representing the Emperor in visiting Prince Pingnan.

“Your Highness—” Upon seeing Wei Qiang, the Princess Consort of Pingnan seemed to have found her anchor, tears streaming down like pearls.

Regardless of the present circumstances, in her heart Qiang’er had always been her eldest son, the child carefully cultivated from childhood as the heir to the prince’s manor.

The expectations she placed on Qiang’er versus Feng’er were different, like every household’s parents’ expectations for their legitimate eldest son.

Watching the Princess Consort of Pingnan in this state, Wei Qiang’s emotions were extremely complicated.

On one hand, he resented that Father Prince had struck down Luo’er without any regard for his feelings back then. On the other hand, blood kinship could never be severed no matter what.

Especially now, with his birth father’s life hanging in the balance and his birth mother in helpless distress.

He didn’t want to see his birth father meet with misfortune or his birth mother spend her days washing her face with tears.

Turning over these thoughts, Wei Qiang stepped forward to comfort her: “Aunt need not worry. Uncle Prince is blessed with heavenly protection and will surely be fine.”

“Yes, with Your Highness here to see him, he will surely recover…” The Princess Consort of Pingnan grasped Wei Qiang’s hand, extremely moved.

It had been so long since Qiang’er had spoken to her this way.

Wei Feng found it somewhat unbearable to watch. He opened his mouth: “Elder bro—”

Meeting Wei Qiang’s sweeping glance, he changed his words: “Your Highness, please go in and see Father Prince.”

At a time like this, he still didn’t see any particular anxiety from eldest brother.

Could Princess Qingyang really hold such weight in eldest brother’s heart that parents and family must all take second place?

If he were eldest brother, he would only be grateful to his parents for everything they had given him.

To want to become the most honored man in the Great Zhou—what did sacrificing one woman matter?

One cannot have both fish and bear’s paw. Eldest brother was truly too insatiable.

All those bits and pieces of past dissatisfaction gathered together at this moment, forming a dark, flowing stream.

Staring at Wei Qiang’s retreating back as he entered, Wei Feng’s eyes darkened.

If only he were the eldest brother…

Walking out from Prince Pingnan’s manor, Wei Qiang clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky.

The horizon was cloudless, the sunlight bright and beautiful.

Yet Wei Qiang’s mood was not good.

Not only because his birth father’s life was in critical danger—it should be said that every time he came to Prince Pingnan’s manor, his mood was never particularly good.

“Your Highness?”

Wei Qiang glanced at Dou Ren, the trusted eunuch who had come with him.

“It’s hot outside. You should return to the palace earlier.” Knowing Wei Qiang’s mood was poor, Dou Ren said carefully.

Wei Qiang didn’t respond. After a moment of silence, he asked: “Do you know about the wine shop Uncle Prince visited before he was attacked?”

Dou Ren’s greatest strength was his cleverness.

When news of Prince Pingnan being attacked in the street reached the palace, he had already inquired with the guards and happened to hear some matters about the wine shop.

“This servant heard that wine shop is called Youjian Wine Shop and was opened by Grand Marshal Luo’s beloved daughter, Miss Luo.”

Miss Luo?

The scene of encountering Luo Sheng in the prince’s manor garden suddenly flashed through Wei Qiang’s mind.

That malicious young lady who had used a snake to frighten a maidservant had actually opened a wine shop?

“Where is Youjian Wine Shop?”

“Right on Qingxing Street.”

Wei Qiang stepped forward: “Let’s go take a look.”

“Your Highness, you mustn’t go! The prince was attacked shortly after leaving that wine shop, and the villains still haven’t been found—”

Wei Qiang paid no heed and strode forward with large steps.

Dou Ren hurriedly followed, sighing inwardly.

“Is that the place?” Wei Qiang stopped and gazed at the wine shop in the distance with its main gate tightly closed.

At that moment, a figure entered his line of sight.