Chapter 343: No Way to Seek Help

Song the Imperial Physician's mood at this moment was beyond words; the news he had been mentioning concerned Prince Rui's one-time intrusion into the Imperial Harem and entering the room of the Gu family's eldest miss.

He had kept this matter hidden in his heart and dared not speak of it, until he heard the elderly Feng Gonggong in the palace blurt the truth after drinking, which gave him a huge fright.

Feng Gonggong liked drinking; when he was young it was no problem, but now that he is old and frail, he still struggles to get drunk.

One time he drank too much and fell ill.

The palace eunuchs are not the prominent nobles like Wang Gonggong or Li Gonggong who are close to the emperor.

After falling ill, naturally he couldn't summon the imperial physicians of the Imperial Medical Institute; even dragging his sick body to the institute to beg for some medicinal residue would cost him many forced smiles, and even then there was no guarantee.

In earlier years Feng Gonggong had a good relationship with Song the Imperial Physician; both served the Imperial Harem's senior consorts.

Song the Imperial Physician, while checking the health pulses of the Imperial Harem's senior consorts, also took the opportunity to diagnose Feng Gonggong's pulse and deliver medicine.

After Feng Gonggong recovered, he insisted on treating Song the Imperial Physician to wine; Song felt both amused and exasperated, thinking the old fellow would eventually die in a wine jar.

But refusing a longtime friend seemed improper, and after a round of wine the two drank heartily.

After drinking, Feng Gonggong, facing his old friend and lifesaver, began to speak without holding back.

He drunkenly told him a curious matter: that the Bei Di hostage Tuo Ba Yu had voluntarily taken on the role of father.

The child in the Princess Consort of Rui's womb was a mystery, not Prince Rui's, and Prince Rui himself sent people to investigate what had happened that day.

Unexpectedly, after Tuo Ba Yu got the news, he deliberately had a few of them spread a rumor that the child was left by Tuo Ba Yu after assaulting the Princess Consort of Rui.

He even laughed, saying that the thoughts of powerful people in this world are truly beyond them, and that he was deliberately claiming paternity.

Feng Gonggong treated this as a joke, saying it without intention, but listeners took it to heart.

Song the Imperial Physician, also an old fox turned spirit, suddenly realized a problem.

Did Prince Rui also think that child belonged to someone else, when clearly it was his!

He still hides the jade pendant that Prince Rui left that day; perhaps in his haste he dropped it on a tree branch.

He would not dare to speak of this matter, even if beaten to death.

After all, he deals with top‑tier power holders; he is merely a tiny imperial physician with no influence, waiting a few more years until the senior consorts he serves pass away, after which he can be completely released from the palace city.

Thus he would have no more ties to the palace city; now the palace's imperial physicians have each secretly opened their own clinics and pharmacies.

He also set up a small shop; although it doesn't earn as much as Gu Jiu Ling's clinic, it is enough to support his whole family.

He has nothing else to do, so just helping his son live a decent life is enough.

As a commoner like him, merely being alive is fine; he has no business concerning Prince Rui's affairs.

The trouble, however, lies with his grandson, who likes to brandish knives and guns and has joined the army.

Unfortunately the grandson doesn't listen to advice, is straightforward, and has offended many military elites.

This time he even offended a fierce commander under the Third Prince.

That man coveted military pay and blood, slaughtered villagers as bandit heads, and sought Imperial Court credit, committing heinous deeds.

Moreover, his grandson couldn't stand it; although he had already been promoted to a hundred‑household commander, he was beaten with fifty military sticks and imprisoned for confronting a senior officer.

Now Song the Imperial Physician was truly panicked; he recalled that the only person in the army who could speak up and contend with the Third Prince was Xiao Yin.

He had come once before, but Xiao Yin was unexpectedly absent.

He thought they'd wait a few more days, but then the Princess Consort of Rui and the child in her womb were burned to death.

If he were to bring this up again, it would be especially awkward.

But his grandson can't wait!

If he gets locked up again, his life will be forfeit.

He would then be a lone sprout, a small grandson!

Song the Imperial Physician, trembling, stepped up the stairs and was about to knock when the Rui Wang Fu gate opened.

From inside hurried out squads of guards, as if rushing to do something.

He quickly hid to the side, and once those people had gone far, he went over to beg the guard at the gate to let him in and report.

"Young man, could you please let this old fellow in and deliver a message? I have an urgent matter for the Prince! This…"

"Sorry, the Prince has left the city! Come back in a few days!"

"There are many people eager to see the Prince; they're all queuing!"

The guard, impatient, said that the Prince has been almost going mad these days and has no time for other people's petty matters.

Song the Imperial Physician felt as if struck by five bolts of lightning; he opened his mouth but could no longer speak.

The words Song the Imperial Physician needed to say had to be spoken in front of Xiao Yin.

Naturally, he couldn't see the proper master and thus dared not speak, even the Prime Minister's residence was hard to enter, let alone the lofty gates of Rui Wang Fu.

At this moment Song the Imperial Physician realized that with the Princess Consort of Rui dead, Prince Rui's thoughts were no longer here; they had long flown elsewhere.

He felt instantly disheartened, wondering why dealing with people was so difficult.

The evidence he held in his hands felt like a hot potato, and he didn't know how to deal with it.

But his grandson can't wait!

If he can't save anyone again, he fears the Song lineage will become extinct.

The guard at the gate of Rui Wang Fu looked at the bewildered old man before him.

Now that the Princess Consort died so terribly, the Prince himself…

He has no energy left to concern himself with these strangers' affairs.

He, a bit impatient, nudged Song the Imperial Physician's stiff body, waved his hand and said, "Go, go, don't linger here. As you can see, the Wangfu is handling funeral rites, very busy, no time to entertain you."

"Come back after some days when the Prince is free! If it weren't for your advanced age, I could gently persuade you. Go, go!"

Song the Imperial Physician staggered as a few guards pushed him aside, leaving him bewildered and at a loss.

He couldn't help but resent being an incompetent, unremarkable imperial physician who, after so many years in the Imperial Harem, never managed to curry favor with a reliable master.

Now, does he really have to watch his grandson die helplessly?

He made up his mind, "Well, well, if Xiao Yin's path doesn't work out, I'll go file an imperial petition—but I'd be suing the Third Prince, Consort Duan, and the Duan family, head of the eight great clans!"

How could he possibly win such a lawsuit?

Not to mention filing a petition; he might not even get to see the emperor's face.

Having served as an imperial physician for so many years, he only ever went back and forth in those cold palaces where the imperial consorts resided; though he was inside the palace, he was separated from the emperor by heaven and earth and countless mountains.

For a moment he felt dazed; the fate of a lowly person is truly this tragic.

Physician Song walked aimlessly, not knowing when he had already begun to shed tears of old age.

His son was also an honest sort, staying by his side as a pharmacy assistant who prepared medicines; the family ran a small clinic, hoping only to avoid mistakes and earn a little money to support the household.

But his grandson seemed to have been born with a rebellious bone, insisting on joining the army—what can be done now?

Oh heavens! Open your eyes and take a look!

The great clans run rampant, yet the common folk have nowhere to seek justice!

He was merely a low-ranking physician in the palace; if an ordinary family encountered this, they would have only a dead end.

Physician Song thought, wept, and shuffled along, until the bustling traffic around him turned into a desolate waste.

Suddenly a carriage came racing toward him from the front; at the corner, the opposite side could not see him stumbling wildly into the middle of the street.

A neigh of horses rang out, the driver's cry, the carriage pole brushed against Physician Song's body and struck him; he instantly fainted from the impact.

All around came screams, and the carriage's curtain was lifted.

Jinzhi wore a veil over her face, a white woolen flower on her head, her eyes swollen from crying, dressed in plain white garments, as if wearing mourning for a relative.

She had just returned from a temple in the suburbs, praying for the burned-to-death Gu Jiu Ling and her two children.

She hadn't expected that, upon returning to the city, the carriage would hit someone; she hurried down to check.