Upon hearing Zhiqiu's words, Ying Yuan quickly regained his composure and scanned the physicians.
"Which of you is skilled in detoxification?"
A physician said with a bitter smile, "Seventh Prince, Your Highness's illness has always been treated by Chief Wang. Perhaps you should wait until Chief Wang returns."
"The Imperial Hospital has so many physicians, how can..."
"Seventh Prince." Li Jin interrupted Ying Yuan's words. "Imperial Physician Wang is more familiar with my illness than the other physicians. Let's wait for him. Besides, my health really isn't a problem."
Ying Yuan was persuaded by Li Jin. "Alright."
Under the gestures of the imperial physicians, a young eunuch responsible for handling medicinal materials walked over trembling. "Seventh Prince, Heir Li, Attendant Zhiqiu, this servant will take you over there to rest."
Li Jin and the others nodded and followed the young eunuch.
The imperial physicians very much wanted to use this opportunity to gain favor with Ying Yuan and Li Jin, but Li Jin's status involved too many complications. The physicians truly dared not treat him, as if anything went wrong, they would not only face mortal danger but also incur the wrath of the Prince of Dingbei.
____
"Quite nice." Upon arriving at the place, Li Jin was attracted by the environment here. Although it was far less grand than other palaces, it was comfortable and lacked extravagant decorations. Moreover, whether it was Li Jin's misconception or not, he felt the air had improved significantly since entering.
"Thank you for your praise, Your Highness."
The young eunuch immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
The young eunuch had been very apprehensive while bringing them here, afraid they wouldn't like it.
"Li Jin, are you really alright?"
Ying Yuan still couldn't relax and asked repeatedly.
"Really." Li Jin shook his head amusedly, then walked out of the building and sat on a stone stool beside the courtyard, looking with great interest at the medicinal herbs planted on the ground.
The herbs were thriving, showing how diligently the person caring for them had worked.
Seeing this, Ying Yuan also came over and sat on the stone stool opposite Li Jin, casually remarking, "Li Jin, look, these vegetables are growing quite well. I just wonder how they taste."
"Seventh Prince, these are medicinal herbs."
"Uh..."
Ying Yuan was stumped.
Actually, Ying Yuan wanted to retort that he had eaten wild vegetables of the same appearance before at Tianshu Pavilion, but remembering that Li Jin was often ill and must have some knowledge of medicinal herbs, he couldn't get the words out.
Could it be... that what I ate before were all medicinal herbs??
Doubt arose in Ying Yuan's heart.
The young eunuch steeled himself and said, "Seventh Prince, Heir Li is right, these... these are indeed me... medicinal herbs..."
"By the way, Seventh Prince, don't you think these medicinal herbs look familiar?"
As Li Jin said this, he gave Ying Yuan a meaningful glance.
Considering Ying Yuan's experiences before being adopted by Gu Rushuang, his earlier expression like he was sharing his secret base, the traces on the ground that seemed to have been dug up, and his previous words, it wasn't hard to guess that Ying Yuan must have picked and eaten them when he was extremely hungry.
Thinking of this, Li Jin's gaze towards Ying Yuan became somewhat complex and puzzled.
If another child had suffered Ying Yuan's experiences, they might have been driven mad long ago.
At the same time.
A sliver of doubt also rose in Li Jin's heart. The moment he stepped into Tianshu Pavilion earlier, Li Jin noticed the ground was planted entirely with medicinal herbs, and there were signs of someone tending to them.
The dilapidated Tianshu Pavilion, the astonishing number of passion fruits, the medicinal herbs covering the ground...
What secret is hidden there?
"Ah, perhaps I've seen them elsewhere, that's why they look familiar."
Ying Yuan laughed awkwardly, feeling embarrassed.
He really didn't want Li Jin to know about his embarrassing history of mistaking medicinal herbs for wild vegetables.
"Success! It worked! I told them all my cowpox inoculation method would succeed..." Suddenly, a man's excited voice from nearby shattered the quiet atmosphere.
[Cowpox inoculation method: deliberately infecting a person with a mild case of cowpox (often by applying pus from an infected cow's sore to a small scratch on the skin) to provide immunity against the far more deadly smallpox.]
"Who is it?" The moment the voice sounded, Ying Yuan immediately became alert, scanning the surroundings, trying to locate the speaker.
The young eunuch promptly replied, "Replying to Seventh Prince, the one who spoke just now is Imperial Physician Shi who lives nearby. He prefers solitude and rarely associates with other physicians, dedicating himself entirely to research here. He rarely goes to the Imperial Hospital except for his duties."
Li Jin suddenly interjected, "Wait, what was that about the cowpox inoculation method that Imperial Physician Shi mentioned just now?"
Li Jin was not unfamiliar with the cowpox inoculation method, he had read about it in his previous life. But this was the first time he had heard of it in this world, and he had never heard of it in his last life either, which was why he was curious.
"This humble servant isn't certain," the eunuch admitted, "but I've occasionally heard Imperial Physician Shi mention that cowpox could be used to treat smallpox."
Zhiqiu said in astonishment, "Smallpox is an incurable disease, right? Is that cowpox thing really that miraculous?"
In Da Xia, contracting smallpox was tantamount to a death sentence. Worse still was its highly contagious and lethal nature. Areas where smallpox outbreaks occurred were often burned to the ground—people and all—to prevent its spread.
The young eunuch shook his head sheepishly. "Imperial Physician Shi said so, but whether it's true or not, this servant dare not speculate."
Li Jin looked at the young eunuch and signaled, "Let's go over and take a look, then we'll know."
"Alright." Ying Yuan was also very interested in the cowpox inoculation method mentioned by that Imperial Physician Shi. Since Li Jin suggested it, Ying Yuan naturally wouldn't oppose.
A short while later.
The group, led by the young eunuch, arrived at Shi Weixu's residence.
"Seventh Prince, Zhiqiu, please wait here for a moment. I will go in first to take a look." Just as they were about to enter, Li Jin suddenly spoke up to stop them.
Ying Yuan shook his head worriedly. "No, it's too dangerous. What if that Imperial Physician Shi has ill intentions and harms you?"
"He will enter with me. Nothing will happen."
Li Jin pointed at the young eunuch and smiled wryly.
Li Jin did this as a precaution, in case Ying Yuan and the others couldn't accept it immediately. If the cowpox inoculation method that Imperial Physician Shi had just exclaimed about successfully was the one he knew from his previous life, it might be rather shocking for Ying Yuan and Zhiqiu. Furthermore, Ying Yuan's princely attire was too conspicuous, which might make the person nervous or give rise to unnecessary thoughts.
"Him going is less useful than me going."
Hearing that the young eunuch could enter with Li Jin, Ying Yuan immediately felt somewhat annoyed.
"I will be fine." Li Jin could easily see Ying Yuan's little thoughts, it was probably that he felt he was less useful than a young eunuch and was angry. "Besides, you are right outside. If anything seems amiss, I will definitely shout, is that acceptable?"
"..."
Ying Yuan fell silent.
Since Li Jin had said this much, and Ying Yuan wasn't an unreasonable person, but he still didn't want Li Jin to take the risk.
"Seventh Prince?"
Li Jin tentatively called out to Ying Yuan.
Ying Yuan's back immediately stiffened. He sighed silently and said aggrievedly, "I understand."
"Thank you, Seventh Prince."
Li Jin reached out and gently ruffled Ying Yuan's hair, apologizing for not taking him inside.
"Hurry in, or I'll change my mind." Ying Yuan muttered, turning away. Unbeknownst to him, the tips of his ears had flushed as red as boiled shrimp.
"Alright."
Li Jin smiled and followed the young eunuch inside.
"You see? Every one of them said I was delusional, but in the end, I succeeded, didn't I? Hahahahaha..." Shi Weixu suddenly laughed heartily while looking at his own arm.
"You tested the cowpox on yourself?"
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