chapter 7

Ming got back to his room and immediately called for the imperial physician who came quickly and bowed respectfully , then said :

" Greeting your highness, how can this humble servant help you"

" You may raise now, physician , I want you to check on my health, I was feeling strange lately"

The physician smiled slightly then bowed saying:

" At your service my lord "

The emperor sat down on his bed leaving space for the doctor to check on him .

The doctor checked over his body, his pulse, his breathing and muscles state and so on after asking him some questions regarding his health in general and the symptoms he was having.

" No need to worry your majesty, your body is fine , those are only the signs of tiredness and the old age "

Ming's pov : (" is that all !?....no more explanation?..... That doesn't resemble a bit of what princess Yaopin said...")

" Isn't there a cure ? Imperial physician?"

" Well your majesty.. there's no cure for getting older ... except for cultivation if you know what I mean 😉....but eating nutritional food and practicing sport will help to prolong your life "

Ming looked down, stroking his beard suspiciously, then said :

" Anything else?"

" Well your majesty, you know about my special treatment to your trembling legs and arms , do you want it , As usual? "

(" As usual!?...so this is the special treatment the emperor Jin was used to having  ?!.... I am curious but....I don't know..I will ask first ")

" Of course imperial physician, but ..can you remind me..of this special method of yours .

" Of course your majesty, This is Doctor Yao's acupuncture ،It is practiced by placing the patient on his stomach and pricking the needles on his back. In special places "

("Acupuncture on the Back that remind me of the first day I came here it was so comforting but .... I don't know why something feels off ...Am I exaggerating in my doubt? ")

" Good job physician Yao , no need for the special treatment, maybe next time, you may leave now "

I can swear I saw some darkness in the doctor yoe's  eyes the moment I said that  ,  but I didn't give it much though , I had other things in mind  , like my most important problem Which I haven't been able to find time to deal with yet,  and finally after freeing some time in the emperor's busy schedule I can go and look for clues about the thing that brought me here  , it's a long and hard  task but I have to figure it out soon , as for the bad feeling I had about the doctor I left the job for my old  trusted servant "yuung " , history mentioned that my old servant was one of the most loyal  and capable men in the palace , He is also one of the oldest residents of the palace and knows most of their secrets and scandals, so he is the most worthy of the investigation task .

My first direction must be the imperial Treasury , the thing that brought me here was a  golden coffin  , it wasn't a regular one so I think any similar thing must be put in the treasury of the imperial family where they keep all the treasures and the mysterious things , maybe I will find something in the museum or in the temple but I will start by the treasury for now .

And once that  I made up my mind and headed to the royal treasury ، in the famous hallway through the imperial garden, I saw a very strange view . Young man running behind butterfly in a very messy and weird way .

Mint was standing there with a stupid expression on his face

" Is this a dejaVu 😑? "

The young man  noticed the emperor's presence and immediately stopped running after the butterfly and bowed before  him respectfully with an awkwardes expression .

" Greeting the imperial father "

" I see that your chasing after the butterfly hasn't come to an end yet 😑 "

"It is a demanding task, Your Majesty. "  ( He looked down with an awkward expression ,  I  even can see a slight  blush on his cheeks )

("You shouldn't have done it in the first place if it was that  embarrassing ")

" What do you need the butterfly for anyway ?"

As soon as Ming said that ، the ninth eyes sparkled with a new light

" Well your majesty... you see.... those magnificent creatures hold a lot of mystery.....hey are...."

" You know something  ? I don't care "

Ming interrupted his sentence with his bored expression , Making the ninth face, which had been illuminated for a few seconds, return to its usual darkness.

"Ammm... yeah...ok...."(Disappointed expression)

" Good luck catching your butterfly , if you couldn't try the next time with a net "

The emperor said before leaving him in  a shocked and disappointed expression , but another light glints in his face at  the new idea .

(" There is no way I can find a bride for this weirdo ")

The emperor Ming thought to himself putting the palm of his hand on his forehead 🤦 , and continued his way towards the imperial Treasury .

★★★★★

Servant yuung's POV:

His majesty asked me to investigate the physician Yao's background and his recent acts ...why ? Isn't he supposed to be the most talented and sympathetic doctor !? Did something happened between him and his majesty?... does his majesty want to frame him !?...no ..no... his majesty isn't like that...but Doesn't His Majesty look different lately?! He was trying to cover it but ... there was indeed some change in his behavior.....no no no ...

(Servant Yuung shaked his head in refusal )

" No ! old man Young , this is not the time for your curious self to Pop up ... Stop doubting his majesty and focus on the taske you have....yes ! I will investigate the suspicious physician "

Once he made up his mind, servant yuung continued his way to investigate the suspicious doctor .

for the investigation, he needed first to ask the maids and the guards about any suspicious movement or change in the attitude that he was doing lately, and then followed behind the information toward the exact things he was doing.

And some days later .. yuung was happy and excited about the informations he has gathered regarding the task given to him and waiting for the return of the emperor to inform him about everything, forgetting completely that it's a sign of something probably dangerous.

___________________

" Dear Yaopin . How are you doing ? I hope you are fine and happy, I am also in good health .

The symptoms that you told me about in your least letter doesn't belong to a new disease , I don't know where you came with that ...in fact those are symptoms of a dangerous and rare poison, it's called the White Mamba juice, it's a very special poison that doesn't have a smell or a color, and can't be detected by the usual ways of detecting poison , the thing about this poison is that it won't have any effect unless it's taken with a special method of acupuncture , in the first stages in the poisoning process, it can seem like an intoxication, but in the later stages the body won't feel any pain or any strangeness anymore .

if you stop taking the poison in the early stages then you're good, if not, you will die without a sign.

It's a scary kind of poison and very hard to detect , and the only way to take out the poison in the early stages is with another type of acupuncture .

I don't know who's the patient, but maybe I can help if you brought him to me .

The hands holding the letter trembled, and the reader's eyes widened in shock... ("Is it possible?! Father was poisoned again?!") .

Later in the Emperor's office :

(" It is the seventh day of the investigation of the Royal stores and Museums , I can say proudly that our imperial family is Rich in treasures and antiquities ، but nothing about my transition , I checked many places and yet I didn't find even one clue , in addition to another problem I was having regarding the imperial physician Yao , the old servant yuung told me so many suspicious things about him , His frequent visits to the imperial kitchen and modifications of my meals, and his request for unusual ingredients from the medical treasury ، and checking repetitively on my health which was something that he would never do a couple of months ago .

Yeah ... absolutely suspicious, I would say that those investigations went very smoothly unlike what I expected , it feels like someone already did the whole job , I even found this mysterious letter talking about the Mamba white juice poison , which made it easier for me to discover the physicien's betrayal .")

Ming leaned on his office and sighted heavily then said with a bored and tires expression:

I will not continue with this crap ، I will hand it over to the first prince and let him struggle with it instead of me , I have more important things to do, the emperor is that busy after all 🤷.

After that day , I can swear that I heard some rumors running between the maids about the first charming first Prince standing stiff in front of a letter full of bullshit ( the letter that contain the informations gathered by the servant Yuung) and a royal decree , with a dumbfounded expression , Like the employee who got all the extra work from his director , and some people even talked about him saying something about Not even finding the the first and here comes the second . ( He was talking about the culprit behind the poisoning) .