Become the Head Imperial Physician and Grand Tutor?
Gu Beiyue could accept the former without hesitation, but the latter gave him pause. The Grand Tutor was the teacher of the sovereign! Not only did he tutor the emperor, but also his imperial princes. This was a massive responsibility!
A complex look flitted back Gu Beiyue’s eyes, but he ultimately nodded. “Many thanks to Your Highness for your recognition. This subordinate…”
“Give me an answer after you’ve thought things through,” Long Feiye interrupted. “There’s no rush.”
Gu Beiyue nodded. “Alright.”
As Gu Beiyue and Mu Linger took Gu Qishao to Medical City, Ning Jing and Tang Li headed for the Tang Clan. Soon only Long Feiye and Han Yunxi were left in Rear Camp again. Yunning’s provisional capital city construction had just about finished. The temporary palace was built over its old site and was almost completed. Everyone assumed that Long Feiye would ascend the throne on the day his son turned one month old, but he only moved into the Yunning Palace that day.
That left everyone to speculate on his motives. Only Northern Li remained to be conquered, while the rest of Cloud Realm Continent rested in Long Feiye’s hands. Why wasn’t he declaring himself emperor yet?
What was he waiting for?
The East Qin and southern generals’ factions were all waiting for the final moment. Once Long Feiye paid his respects to the East Qin emperors’ mausoleum and consecrated his ancestors, he would truly revive the East Qin Dynasty and become sovereign.
The West Qin faction were all concerned over their ultimate fates. After reviving East Qin, would Long Feiye claim West Qin as his own? Did the princess care about their fates at all?
Long Feiye didn’t act and Han Yunxi didn’t express an opinion, leaving both factions ill at ease. The western frontier generals didn’t care either way. Whether or not Long Feiye revived East Qin or the Great Qin Empire, it didn’t affect them much. They just hoped the day would come sooner so they could be rewarded for their efforts and given titles and ranks.
Han Yunxi was probably the only one who knew what Long Feiye was waiting for. After little Rui’er was one month old, various factions had sent him gifts. There were treasures and jewels and all sorts of luxuries. Long Feiye didn’t even bother looking at them but had Zhao mama carry Rui’er over so he could join his parents for a meal. He personally instructed the treasure sword Iceflow from Celestial Mountain’s Sword Depository to be gifted to little Rui’er. However, it was sealed up with his Lustbite energy until Rui’er was 16 years old.
In truth, Long Feiye hadn’t become emperor yet because he was waiting for the plague in Northern Li to subside once and for all. He didn’t want to establish a new kingdom while it was still running rampant, much less while Ning Cheng was still fighting on the frontlines. Otherwise, the Di Clan would come bother Han Yunxi about Ning Cheng’s return.
Moreover, he had an ongoing bet with the man. The internal matters of the Di Clan had to be left for Ning Cheng to manage as well. When Long Feiye spread orders that Ning Cheng was heading north, the man immediately advanced with his limited supply of rations and men while the rest of the supplies were being delivered. Vice Academy Head Shen had already sent a contingent of 20 or so doctors to rush into Northern Li and assist Ning Cheng.
As Ning Cheng wasn’t going to fight, but to heal, the doctors and medicine would be much more important than troops or rations. If not for the fact that Rui’er was still young, Han Yunxi would be leading the medical expedition personally. Since she couldn’t go far from home, she busied herself with other matters. While Long Feiye was busy managing military affairs and politics, she took over the mobilization of medical supplies and acted as a middleman between Medicine and Medical City. As the Pill King’s disciple in name and a close friend of Pill Furnace Master, her clout was further strengthened by her and her husband’s support towards the major clans of Medicine City. Thus, Medicine City didn’t refuse her requests for ingredients. Many clans even sent her supplies voluntarily and waived the fees in favor of helping out the victims in Northern Li.
Han Yunxi naturally didn’t refuse free medicine and accepted it all. Those clans in Medicine City were solid and stable enough that donating some supplies wouldn’t affect them much. Whatever the case, it’s best to save where we can even if Long Feiye is rich.
Long Feiye’s military expenses had been astronomical in the past couple of years. After years of unrest between Tianan, Tianning, and Western Zhou, the national treasuries were quite empty. They didn’t get much silver even after taking over the respective countries. Leaving aside the costs of future construction projects, even building the Yunning Palace and Tianan Palace would require huge sums of silver! Where did this money come from? Some of the costs Long Feiye covered on his own, some came from Jiangnan’s trade consortiums in the south. The southern generals had the fewest battle records to their name, but they had a vocal standing in the military faction precisely because they were backed by the huge trade consortiums.
Han Yunxi knew that once the kingdom was established, they would need money for everything. She had no idea how much debt Cloud Realm would be in after the wars. She only knew that it was best to scrimp and save where sh could. In fact, she even began to look for other areas of revenue to support Long Feiye’s future national treasury.
The markets of Medical and Medicine City were a great place to do business, but that field would no longer be profitable if they placed the cities until imperial jurisdiction. Even if she stood to get rich, Han Yunxi would never put patients’ lives on the line. She couldn’t earn profits at the expense of civilians’ lives!
Instead, she silently set her targets on the major clans and trade consortiums of the Jiangan region. Of course, this is a story for another time.
With Han Yunxi personally overseeing the delegation of medical supplies, everything went smoothly. Gu Beiyue and Mu Linger arrived at Medical City, where the former arranged for Little Qi to stay in his rear courtyard. He and Mu Linger had a long discussion before finally settling on a prescription.
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While Gu Beiyue said ordinary ingredients would be sufficient, Mu Linger insisted on using all the rare and exquisite ones. She even had them delivered personally from Medicine City’s Mu Clan. Thanks to her relationship with Han Yunxi, the Mu Clan had finally found stable footing in Medicine City again. Mu Yingdong was still in the army, so Mu Linger and her stepbrother by the same father were the only ones in charge. That elder stepbrother treated Mu Linger like a Goddess of Mercy and agreed to all of her requests.
While Gu Beiyue was busy with Gu Qishao, he also took care of personally forming a medical team. Only two teams had been sent to Northern Li so far, but that was far from enough to control a fast-spreading plague! Ten days after their arrival in Medical City, Gu Qishao’s condition stabilized enough for Gu Beiyue to hand over the reins to Mu Linger.
With help from young medical assistants, Mu Linger could brew medical decoctions and use needles on Gu Qishao everyday very well. On this afternoon, Mu Linger personally made a big pot of medical decoction to replace the one in the giant medical tub. Then she had the servants carry Gu Qishao inside for his daily two hour soak. His quiet form sitting in the tub looked like he was only sleeping.
Mu Linger dismissed everyone else after that and personally shut the doors. Like every other day, she took a chair to sit next to the tub while resting her arms on the edges and stared at her Qi gege.
She had to admit that her eyes weren’t idle. Sometimes they looked at Qi gege’s, face, other times somewhere further down, like his chest. Because he was completely bare, his good-looking physique often turned her face red. She knew that this was the only time in her life she could spend daily with Qi gege again at such close proximity day and night.
When Qi gege woke up, he would only run away, while she would have to face Jin Zi. In the past, she had hoped to wait until Qi gege grew too old to run any more, but who knew he had an un-aging body? That wasn’t true anymore, but she couldn’t afford to wait until he aged, either.
“Qi gege, what do you think I should do?” Besides staring at Gu Qishao these days, Mu Linger also talked to him. She knew he couldn’t hear her or answer back, so she dared to speak whatever was on her mind.
“Qi gege, Linger isn’t someone who goes back on her word. I promised back then…Linger knows she’s a fool, but still…”
“Qi gege, Jin Zi isn’t a bad guy. Actually…he has a good heart.”
“Qi gege, if I hadn’t accepted Jin Zi’s demand back then, he would have used me to threaten my big sis. That wouldn’t have ended well for him. That’s why…I had no choice but to agree.”
“Qi gege…” As Mu Linge spoke, she tilted her head to look both helplessly and intently at Gu Qishao. “Qi gege, Linge wants to marry you. I want to bear your children…you know?”
She suddenly realized how stupid she was. Qi gege had already hinted to her back in Northern Li that they were an impossible pair. Qi gege had always known she liked him! He wasn’t a fool…
What would Gu Qishao think if he heard her words? Perhaps nothing at all. He knew Mu Linger’s thoughts better than anyone else. He’d probably think…that she was being too noisy again.
Like this, Mu Linger rambled next to Gu Qishao for an entire hour. It wasn’t until the medical assistants returned with another batch of heated medical decoction that she ran off to drink some water. The assistant was a youth of 12 to 13 years old, personally hand-picked by Gu Beiyue. He was sharp and obedient, so he usually left the room as soon as his job was done. But today, he hung around waiting.
“Do you still have some business?” Mu Linger asked.
The assistant began to stammer, “Big sister Linger, it’s….actually, I’m just…”
“Just say it outright, there aren’t any outsiders here,” Mu Linger never put on airs in front of the medical assistant.
“Big sis Linger, my father’s placing bets with other people and staked a lot of money. I wanted…I wanted to ask you in secret whether he’ll win or lose,” the assistant replied.
Mu Linger was puzzled. “What kind of bet? Is it related to me?”
“It’s…it’s…” the assistant grew timid. “It’s related to Academy Head Beiyue. They’re betting on whether he’ll marry Eldest Miss Qin.”
“What did you say?” Mu Linger was surprised.
“The rumors started months again. They said Academy Head Beiyue already sent a marriage proposal to the Qin Clan, but there’s been no movements since then. That’s why so many people are placing bets. My father bet that Academy Head Beiyue wouldn’t marry Eldest Miss Qin.”
“The eldest daughter of the Qin Clan who’s confined to a wheelchair?” Mu Linger exclaimed in surprise. She knew the various clans of Medical City and their circumstances well.
The assistant immediately nodded, shocking Mu Linger even further. She ran out without a word to find Gu Beiyue himself…