Like a Roller Coaster of Emotions (vi)
Edited: 03.20.2024
Ruan Qing carefully recalled the old man’s symptoms just now and he finally seemed to understand. He couldn’t help but smile at Xiao Ziming: “Your First Imperial Majesty, you are worrying too much. The lives of Ruan Qing’s family are hanging by a thread in your hands. How could I dare betray you? It’s just that Ruan Qing would like to boldly remind you that the use of medicines to treat sores is very dangerous. Your First Imperial Majesty must not be careless, otherwise there will be endless consequences.”
Hearing this, Xiao Ziming was slightly startled, then his eyes darkened and he sneered: “So it seems that Mr. Ruan really does have some skills. To think you could actually tell the root cause of this epidemic at a glance.”
Ruan Qing rubbed his temples, still having a slight headache, “Thank you for your praise, Your First Imperial Majesty. The symptoms of those who died from the Huizhou epidemic were weird, and even other medical experts would be able to identify such strangeness at a glance. My guess is that the drugstore owner isn’t capable of such things himself, but I think we all know who the real mastermind is. Now that things are getting out of hand, instead of trying to make things difficult for me, Your First Imperial Majesty should think about how to deal with it.”
Xiao Ziming couldn’t help but feel a little angry when he saw that he looked calm and confident. The lives of his whole family were in his hands, but there was no fear in his eyes.
How did such a talented person end up following Xiao Ziheng?
“You don’t need to worry about it, just focus on the task I assigned you.” Xiao Ziming put down the teacup, looked at the green-clothed guards, and the group quickly walked out of the granary and disappeared into the night.
Ruan Qing sighed and walked back dejectedly, already thinking carefully about how to solve this epidemic.
So far, he only figured out the cause of this epidemic. Based on the analysis of symptoms of people affected by the epidemic, there was a high probability that they were infected with sores, which was what modern medicine called fungal infections, but it was more than that.
Those who died due to the epidemic all appeared to be poisoned, but if it was just snake venom, how could it be so contagious? There was a high probability that someone with evil intentions used venomous snakes to cultivate the fungus, which caused the bacteria to mutate. In addition to its extremely high infection rate, it also became toxic.
Ruan Qing frowned slightly. Even modern medicine had difficulties treating fungal infections. Due to their ferocity, they must be treated as early as possible. For example, inflammation caused by cryptococcosis could be treated with amphotericin B or its liposomes in combination with 5-FC. If necessary, intrathecal injection of amphotericin B could be used. For other fungal infections, antifungal drugs such as triazoles, echinocandins, and allylamines, etc. were also used for treatment.
Unfortunately, let alone getting his hands on these drugs, he still couldn’t figure out the type of fungal infection. Even if he had the skills, how would he be able to use them?
The more he thought about it, the more unhappy he felt. Ruan Qing returned to the governor’s residence with a depressed look on his face. Before he could sneak in through the small door, there was a faint sound of yelling and cursing inside, which was especially harsh in the dark night.
“You wench, why are you still here if you caught the epidemic? Are you trying to infect His Second Imperial Majesty?!”
Oh no, were they talking about his mother and sister?
Ruan Qing was shocked and hurriedly opened the door. However, he was stunned when he saw Xiao Ziheng and a bunch of guards.
“Second Imperial Majesty……”
Xiao Ziheng heard his voice and looked up at him, as indifferent as ever, even slightly disgusted, which made him look even more terrifying.
The guard next to him got angry when he saw Ruan Qing sneaking in sneakily, and couldn’t help but shout: “You sure have gotten gutsy, Ruan Qing! How dare you hide a person carrying the epidemic in the residence secretly? What an evil person you are, your crime is punishable, why aren’t you kneeling?!”
Ruan Qing knelt down quickly. The old woman beside him was frightened. She hugged the fainted girl in her arms and couldn’t help but tremble. She wanted to ask Ruan Qing for help several times but held back. Her eyes were full of despair.
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Ruan Qing knew that this was bad. As his mind began to race, he begged for mercy with a cry: “Your Second Imperial Majesty, I have been wronged! I never harbored any evil intentions. My mother and sister were kicked out and since my sister was infected with the epidemic and was dying, I had to bring them here as a last resort……”
Xiao Ziheng looked down at Ruan Qing, who was making up lies on the ground, and couldn’t help but feel even more angry. He wasn’t stupid. Although Ruan Qing’s hometown was in Huizhou, Liangzhou City was three days away from Hexi Town. How could Ruan Qing have picked up his mother and sister in such a short time?
“It’s the middle of the night, where did you go?”
Ruan Qing had already planned out his next words of feigned misery, but he never thought that he would suddenly ask such a question. He was a little confused for a moment and stuttered: “Uh, I-I was delivering medicine to that couple we stumbled upon during the daytime.”
“Oh?” Xiao Ziheng sneered. The coldness in his eyes looked as if it was going to stab Ruan Qing and it was obvious he had lost his patience: “What a joke! It only takes a stick of incense to go from the governor’s residence to the city gate, but you didn’t even return after half an hour. Tell me truthfully, where exactly did you go and who did you meet?!”
Ruan Qing had no doubt that Xiao Ziheng knew that he was secretly communicating with the Eldest Imperial Prince, but how could he retract the lies after he had made them up? He couldn’t help but stand his ground: “Y-Your Second Imperial Majesty, Ruan Qing really was just delivering medicine. I may have been delayed a bit on the way, but I definitely didn’t go anywhere else nor did I meet up with anyone.”
Xiao Ziheng stood with his hands behind his back and stared at him silently, as if he was extremely disappointed, “Very well, then come with this Prince.”
After he finished speaking, he went into the room first. Ruan Qing stood up tremblingly, lowered his head, and followed quickly under the resentful eyes of the guards.
After entering the room, Xiao Ziheng dismissed all the guards and maids, sat on the couch, and looked at Ruan Qing coldly: “It was probably inconvenient to say it outside the room just now, but this Prince will give you another chance.”
He was too oppressive. Ruan Qing thought of the drugstore owner’s tragic death again and his eyes suddenly darted wildly. He nervously tugged at the corner of his clothes: “I-I……”
Seeing him like this, Xiao Ziheng seemed to understand and said calmly: “You can rest assured that the Green Uniform Guards cannot pry into this Prince’s room.”
Ruan Qing was shocked at his words, so Xiao Ziheng knew that his brother was spying on him?
Without the Green Uniform Guards monitoring him, Ruan Qing instantly felt a lot more relaxed, and that feeling crawling on his back disappeared. He couldn’t help but feel relieved as he obediently knelt down: “Your Second Imperial Majesty, it was His First Imperial Majesty who intercepted me halfway and asked me to help him do something.”
Xiao Ziheng raised the corners of his mouth slightly, but his face remained calm, “What did he ask?”
Ruan Qing bit his lower lip. After some hesitation, he finally made up his mind. He quietly moved closer to Xiao Ziheng, “He asked me to devise a plan to accuse Your Second Imperial Majesty as the mastermind of the Huizhou epidemic.”
Xiao Ziheng’s fist that was placed on his leg clenched slightly.
Ruan Qing looked at him cowardly. Feeling that something was off, he quickly tried to curry favor: “B-But I will never do it! Your Second Imperial Majesty has been so kind to me, Ruan Qing will never betray you no matter what!”
He tried to widen his eyes to make himself look sincere and raised four fingers to swear, looking pitiful and aggrieved.
Xiao Ziheng pondered for a long time and sighed: “Get up. In fact, this Prince has long guessed that this is the case, it’s not your fault.”
Once Ruan Qing was granted amnesty, he quickly tried to kiss up to him by stepping forward and massaging his shoulders and legs: “Your Second Imperial Majesty, you might not know, but His First Imperial Majesty is absolutely trash. Not only did he use my mother and sister to coerce me, he also drugged me and knocked me out, my head still hurts even now….”
Xiao Ziheng glanced at him. He was secretly amused and stretched out his hand to rub his head for him, “This Prince will help you pay him back.”
Ruan Qing, who was suddenly treated kindly: “Huh?”
This wasn’t right, why was Xiao Ziheng so gentle all of a sudden? Did he hit his head?
Wait, could it be he was trying to make him happy and then drag him out and kill him when he relaxed his vigilance?!
☽ ⋆ℍalf 𝕄oon 𝕋ranslations⋆ ☾ 
Uff, it was close~!
Thank You for the new chapter ♡⃛*⁎⋆(꒡ᵋ ꒡ღ)
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