“The doctor invited to treat the First Miss? Is it true?” Qu Le said in disbelief. She looked around and did not find any manservant or maid. “Why is there no one showing you the way out since you are invited to treat the First Miss?”
Since he was a doctor invited here, there certainly would be someone seeing him off. But now, Doctor Qiu was alone.
It actually was reasonable. Doctor Qiu had lived in the mansion for nearly three years and was usually alone. Shao Yanru didn’t think of sending someone to see him off, while he found nothing wrong about it. But he couldn’t answer Qu Le’s questions at the moment.
Just now, he deliberately mentioned the First Miss so that he could conveniently avoid arousing suspicion and they could let him pass quickly. But now, it was a little hard for him to explain it.
He could only say vaguely, “I have come to your mansion often to treat patients, so I don’t need anyone to show the way out. If you don’t believe it, you can go to ask the First Miss!”
It was the First Miss and Madam of Duke Xing who were in charge of the domestic affairs of the mansion. Doctor Qiu was really not afraid of their inquiry.
Shao Wanru walked over slowly with the needle bag, looked at Doctor Qiu’s face lightly and asked, “You have come here often to treat patients? Who have you ever treated?”
Doctor Qiu had seen a Miss a long time ago. However, Shao Wanru had been a little far away from him, and it was inappropriate for him to look at a Miss. When he saw Shao Wanru coming over slowly, he looked up, but didn’t recognize her at a glance.
“This is the Fifth Miss of our mansion. Why don’t you reply quickly!” Qu Le reproached him.
Doctor Qiu was stunned and hurriedly lowered his head, immediately recalling that the Fifth Miss was the one at the center of the storm in the manor these days. What happened to Wang Yishu had something to do with her. He heard it when Wang Yishu cursed the Fifth Miss sometimes with a profound hatred as if she wanted to eat her flesh and drink her blood.
It could be said that Wang Yishu fell into the current situation because of the Fifth Miss Shao. Although Doctor Qiu was not familiar with other people in the mansion, he was very familiar with things about the Fifth Miss Shao.
Moreover, the Fifth Miss Shao also had something to do with his being invited to the mansion!
He didn’t expect that the Miss in front of him turned out to be her. It was not the right time to come across her now, because he needed to treat the First Miss and Madam of Duke Xing was locked up in the ancestral hall.
“Greetings, Fifth Miss!” Doctor Qiu pulled himself together and saluted Shao Wanru with joined hands.
Shao Wanru gently waved her hand to indicate that he didn’t have to be over-courteous, and asked, “You are the doctor treating Miss Wang?”
Although she was young, she was impressive in bearing. During the three years in the Yuhui Nunnery, she became more and more sedate. She looked at him with her deep watery eyes, which were so sharp that they seemed to be able to see through his mind. What was more, she was so blunt, leaving him no room to evade the subject.
With his heart skipping a beat. It was no wonder, Doctor Qiu thought that this Fifth Miss Shao was so extraordinary. No wonder he heard that Madam of Duke Xing was detained in the ancestral hall because of her.
“Yes, I’m the doctor treating Miss Wang!” Doctor Qiu lowered his head and said.
“How is Miss Wang? Why didn’t she get better in three years? At that time, when she suddenly fainted in the imperial palace, all the imperial physicians said that she fainted because of her rising phlegm fire. Why hasn’t she recovered until now?”
Shao Wanru asked curiously, while examining Doctor Qiu.
Doctor Qiu somehow felt as if he were under her watch and in great danger. With a frown, he thought that he probably had lived so comfortably in the past three years that he found a girl’s gaze intimidating enough to alarm him.
He remembered that when he was in the south of the Yangtze River, no matter who asked him to pay a home visit, he just said whatever he wanted fearlessly. Even if someone came to blame him after getting sicker, he had never cared about it. Now he was panic-stricken under a girl’s watch?
In the past three years in Duke Xing’s Mansion, he had lived quite a peaceful life indeed. In fact, it was an accident for him to stay here for three years. At the beginning, he was not supposed to spend such a long time here. Of course, it was because of the Fifth Miss Shao.
Hearing her mention the imperial physicians’ words, Doctor Qiu did not dare to say anything rashly although he thought that the Fifth Miss knew nothing about medical skill. After thinking for a while, he said slowly, “It is true that the phlegm has confused her mind, which is nothing serious. But when Miss Wang fell down, she probably happened to hit her head on something. So although she has woken up, she has difficulty in walking and her health condition gets worse in the past three years. I’m afraid…”
At this point, Doctor Qiu sighed and shook his head.
In the past three years, Wang Yishu had never shown up in front of others indeed. She lay in bed every day. On one hand, she was seriously sick. On the other hand, although she was not paralyzed, she could hardly walk by herself because of her weak legs. This was an important reason why Madam of Duke Xing rested assured to allow Wang Yishu to continue staying in Duke Xing’s Mansion.
Since she had difficulty in walking, she naturally couldn’t go out and talk nonsense, couldn’t meet anyone else and wouldn’t let anyone find out what had happened in the imperial palace that year. Although some Misses on friendly terms with Wang Yishu wanted to visit her, they were sent away with the excuse of her weakness. In the past three years, Wang Yishu actually had never met anyone from outside.
“Miss Wang can’t get any better?” Shao Wanru glanced at Doctor Qiu, who slightly lowered his head, and asked lightly.
“That’s true… In fact, Miss Wang…” Doctor Qiu sighed again and wanted to say something, but stopped on second thought.
“Could it be that Miss Wang has any secret?” Qu Le interrupted and waved to Qing’er, who got up with an aggrieved look, “You should also watch your step. Look, the doctor was also knocked down by you!”
Qing’er was unwilling to submit. However, glancing at the Miss, who showed a cold face, and then at Qu Le, who seemed to be a principal maid, she lowered her head and went to pick up the hamper on the ground. After picking it up, she stood behind Shao Wanru and glared at Doctor Qiu angrily. At a glance, he could tell that she was obviously a little maid who dared to be angry but dared not to speak.
“I don’t know what secret Miss Wang has. I just heard Miss Wang talk about the Fifth Miss Shao and what happened in the imperial palace many times…” Doctor Qiu had always been used to not finishing his words, which aroused others’ interest and made them itching to hear the rest of his words.
Shao Wanru’s long eyelashes fluttered twice, but she seemed not to be curious. She handed the needle bag in her hand to Qu Le and told her to return it to Doctor Qiu.
After that, she turned around and was about to go back.
Doctor Qiu took his needle bag and looked up at Shao Wanru, who had taken two steps away, with a little anxiety.
“Fifth Miss, if you are available, please pay Miss Wang a visit… She, in such a terrible condition, will probably pass away sadly if she keeps feeling guilty!”
Doctor Qiu sighed again. His voice was neither too loud nor too low and could be heard by Shao Wanru, who had just left.
Shao Wanru stopped, turned to look at Doctor Qiu and asked without turning a hair, “Does Miss Wang feel guilty and sad?”
“After all, Miss Wang is just a weak young lady. Although she was incited by someone to hurt you, she was just immature at that time… But in any case, she did owe you. Fifth Miss, please forgive her so that she could pass away peacefully!” Doctor Qiu said with an increasingly sad look.
Wang Yishu was his patient he had treated for three years. In three years, even a doctor and his patient could get acquainted with each other and talk about something that they would not mention in front of others. What was more, he seemed to mean that Wang Yishu was going to die.
When someone was near death he spoke from his heart. What was more, the dispute between Shao Wanru and Wang Yishu arose out of no definite reason. In the end, it was Wang Yishu who had an accident, lay in bed for three years and was going to die. Speaking of this, Wang Yishu had a miserable fate.
From this point of view, Shao Wanru should pay her a visit in any case.
As he expected, Shao Wanru said lightly, “I will make time to visit Miss Wang.”
After that, she turned around and left.
Qu Le and Qing’er hurriedly followed her.
Watching Shao Wanru leaving, Doctor Qiu pinched the needle bag in his hand thoughtfully. Then he picked up his medicine chest, packed up the things, and carried the medicine chest on his back. After thinking for a while, he turned to head for somewhere else instead of the Chuihua Gate.
He had to tell Madam of Duke Xing about it after spending such a long time on this plan. Although Madam of Duke Xing was detained in the ancestral hall now, he could go to report it to Madam of Duke Xing…
“Miss, Doctor Qiu came to our mansion to treat Miss Wang three years ago exactly the day you reclaimed your identity, but he was not supposed to stay for a long time at the beginning. He lived in a guest room in the outer courtyard and was said to be leaving in a few days. However, he moved to our mansion the day you went to the Yuhui Nunnery, and has lived in our mansion from then on.”
The maids got the information very quickly and reported it to Shao Wanru.
When Madam of Duke Xing was in charge of the internal affairs, they definitely would not get the information so smoothly. But recently a lot of things had happened in the mansion. The most surprising thing was that Madam of Duke Xing’s fall. Now it was the Third Madam who was in charge of the internal affairs.
The Third Madam had never been in charge of the internal affairs, because everything in the inner courtyard had always been under the control of Madam of Duke Xing and Old Madam. Now she wanted everything to be under her control, so she was a little flustered. In addition, Nanny Sheng followed Madam of Duke Xing into the ancestral hall, so the mansion was in a great mess.
Many servants were hesitating, wondering if they should turn to a new master or wait for their master to stage a comeback. Their hesitation caused chaos, which made it easy to get information. Besides, many people knew Doctor Qiu’s story, so it was not a secret.
Nevertheless, because Doctor Qiu only shuttled between Wang Yishu’s courtyard and his current residence, so he rarely met others in the mansion.
“Why did he happen to come to our mansion?” Shao Wanru thought for a while and said, finding it quite a coincidence. Doctor Qiu was not a native of the capital city. Why did he come here exactly when Wang Yishu had an accident? At this point, it doesn’t seem that he came to the capital city because Wang Yishu had an accident. That was to say, he didn’t come to the capital city for Wang Yishu.
Realizing something, she turned to Qing’er and said, “Qing’er, go to check on this Doctor Qiu and find out if he had anything to do with the Prime Minister Wen’s Mansion next door before he came to our mansion.”