Chapter 120: The Greatest Divine Physician in Five Thousand Years of Chinese History! A Track Record Verified by All!

These people were not only the Cabinet’s administrative staff in the Imperial Palace, but a significant portion of them were also loyal to Empress Dowager Zhou! The Twenty-Four Directorates, serving as the Empress Dowager’s eyes and ears, had been wiped out almost overnight; she was now effectively blinded.

Renshou Palace.

Empress Dowager Zhou’s usual calm demeanor had vanished, replaced by volatile rage, anxiety, and jumpiness. The situation unfolded as follows:

"Grandmother Empress!" little Zhu Jianshen suddenly jumped out and shouted at the top of his lungs.

Ugh!

Empress Dowager Zhou’s eyes rolled back, and she collapsed on the spot.

"A few more times, and she should be scared to death," little Zhu Jianshen mused, estimating that his mother’s psychological threshold was nearing its limit.

In truth, little Zhu Jianshen had no concept of a biological mother. All his maternal affection came from Aunt Wan; since he could remember, he had never even seen this woman, Zhou.

Biological mother? Little Zhu Jianshen felt completely indifferent. Losing a biological mother to him was like a fish losing a bicycle or a bird losing a wristwatch—what else could it be?

"Grandmother Empress, why did you fall? Did that man in the red robe feed you poison?" Little Zhu Jianshen rushed forward, feigning concern with a worried expression as he watched the Empress Dowager slowly regain consciousness.

Empress Dowager Zhou, who was about to erupt in rage, stopped abruptly. Poisoned!?

"My dear grandson, quickly, help me call the imperial physician!" she urged, pushing him away in a panic.

"Alright, alright!" little Zhu Jianshen nodded immediately.

Amidst her paranoia, the Empress Dowager did not forget to add: "My dear grandson, remember, give orders that Liu Wentai is not to be called!"

"Understood!" little Zhu Jianshen nodded earnestly.

He trotted out, his voice crisp and clear as he told the palace maids: "The Empress Dowager wants an imperial physician, and she specifically named one: Liu Wentai."

Before long, Liu Wentai arrived in a rush.

The Empress Dowager was terrified out of her mind and retreated in horror: "Someone come! Someone come! Beat him out of here!!!"

The bewildered Liu Wentai was beaten and kicked out of the palace. What kind of nonsense was this? Liu Wentai was utterly confused. He knew nothing of medicine, and the Empress Dowager knew this too; he had assumed that being summoned so urgently to Renshou Palace meant there was a serious matter to discuss. With so many people dying inside and outside the palace over the past two days, he was already on edge. He never expected to be pummeled out of the palace!

After making some discreet inquiries, he finally understood: the Empress Dowager was ill and wanted a real doctor. The aggrieved Liu Wentai grumbled to himself as he walked away, deciding that he would study medicine when he returned. If you don't have the diamond drill, you shouldn't take on the porcelain work.

...

In the small world.

Zhu Yuanzhang hugged Zhu Xiongying and lectured him: "Xiongying, you can't be like this. That eunuch named Huai'en put his hands on the shoulders of our Zhu family's emperor, and you just chopped his arms off?"

"That won't do. Our family believes in strict laws and discipline. If this isn't handled severely, more people will be putting their hands on our emperors in the future!"

"Listen to your grandfather, and change your ways. Look here, Huai'en has eighty-seven relatives, right? Chop all of their arms off..."

"Hey, don't be impatient, I'm not finished yet. Drag his entire clan to the marketplace, execute them all, and exile their extended family to Lingnan. Only then will the matter be settled!"

Zhu Xiongying looked on with admiration: Grandfather, you truly are a living King of Hell!

"It's so good. Back in the day, Imperial Grandfather even held me," the chubby Yongle Emperor said, clutching his hands with a look of nostalgia.

"Who's to say otherwise," the chubby Hongxi Emperor sighed with emotion.

They could only reminisce now; otherwise, if their three-hundred-pound frames pressed down on old Zhu, the Founding Emperor would have died at fifty-six. Then they would be mourning him instead.

Old Zhu saw that Zhu Xiongying was willing to correct his mistakes and smiled with satisfaction. He turned around and asked: "Great-grandson, we see that this Zhou woman is quite afraid of this Liu Wentai. Why is that?"

How could she not be afraid? In five thousand years of Chinese history, this man was the only "divine doctor" to achieve a double kill on emperors. His track record was verifiable! Who wouldn't tremble at the sight of him?

Zhu Youjian muttered to himself and pondered: "This Liu Wentai belongs to the 'prescribe medicine and the patient dies' school. He doesn't actually know medicine."

Hm?

Zhu Yuanzhang grew serious and gestured: "Great-grandson, tell us more."

"His two bowls of medicine sent two of our Zhu family's emperors to their graves—Emperor Xianzong Zhu Jianshen and Emperor Xiaozong Zhu Youtang..." As Zhu Youjian said this, the entire room of emperors and heirs fell into stunned silence.

"The most miraculous thing is that this guy ended up living a long life and died of natural causes!" Zhu Youjian dropped the bombshell.

The Zhu family was left speechless.

After a long while, Zhu Yuanzhang's cold voice rang out: "Xiongying, write down the name of Liu Wentai in that notebook of yours..."

Zhu Xiongying wrote with divine inspiration, swiftly jotting down the three characters for Liu Wentai. He paused, then added two more characters after the name: —Entire Clan!

A child worth teaching!

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and turned his gaze back to the accelerating light screen.

On the Zhengton throne, Zhu Qizhen sat hugging his knees, staring blankly, having already killed the Zhou woman a hundred times in his heart! A hundred times! It was impossible to finish killing her in a short while!

Zhu Youjian sat on the armrest of the throne, looking at the dazed "Fortress Emperor" and feeling quite guilty. If it weren't for him, the Fortress Emperor wouldn't have had to endure so many beatings. The Fortress Emperor knew who had brought the ancestors there, but he never once held a grudge against Zhu Youjian. At least, he had never mentioned it openly. Perhaps it was just the Fortress Emperor's blunt nature—he hated whoever hit him.

"What are you thinking about?" Zhu Youjian asked tentatively.

Zhu Qizhen looked back at him, smacked his lips, and asked with eager eyes: "I'm hungry. Should we have pork ribs later, or Wan San trotters?"

???

Zhu Youjian was filled with question marks.

...

Empress Dowager Zhou ordered the execution of the palace maid who had fetched Liu Wentai. The little prince said he wanted Liu Wentai to come? Ridiculous! Would a child lie?

After a diagnosis by another imperial physician, she was prescribed a few decoctions to calm her spirit. In ancient times, when working as an imperial physician, you could never say there was nothing wrong. If the Empress Dowager said she was uncomfortable, you had to give her something, even if it were just two bags of sugar, for the psychological effect. Otherwise, if the palace ladies said they were uncomfortable and you just smiled and said, "Try to overcome it," then you were useless.

"My dear grandson, you must keep a close watch for Grandmother Empress in the future!" Empress Dowager Zhou was still shaken; she was very superstitious about such things. After all, those who do no evil have no fear of ghosts knocking at their door, and the memory of that one bowl of medicine sending off the Yingzong Emperor was still very fresh. If she let Liu Wentai treat her, even if her name wasn't in the Book of Life and Death, he could force her to go!

"Yes, Grandmother Empress, you should rest in peace!" little Zhu Jianshen nodded earnestly.

Hm?

Empress Dowager Zhou froze: "Rest... rest in peace?"

Little Zhu Jianshen blinked, looking puzzled: "Did I say rest in peace or rest at ease?"

The child had made a slip of the tongue and was trying hard to cover it up.

Empress Dowager Zhou scolded: "It's rest at ease! You child, quickly spit it out and say it again!"

"Spit it out?" Little Zhu Jianshen said: "Ptooey!"

"My dear grandson!" Empress Dowager Zhou patted his hand comfortingly, though she kept glancing out the window, restless and uneasy.

She had become paranoid, seeing an enemy in every tree and blade of grass.