The Stories of Mine in the Ming Dynasty of China in 1368

Li Qing's heart sank. He knew that Empress Ma was seriously ill, but he never expected it to be this bad.

This... clearly was a sign that her end was near!

Not only him, even if his slovenly master were here, it would be of no avail.

There were no real immortals. His master was just an old geezer who had lived a long life. Li Qing knew his master well. His master was indeed formidable, but far from being as extraordinary as the rumors described.

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment, then completely lost his composure. All of his imperial presence vanished. His face was a mixture of shock and anger, but mostly panic and fear.

"Useless wretches, all of you are good-for-nothing." Zhu Yuanzhang roared, "If anything happens to the empress, none of you will live!"

With that, he stomped towards Li Qing, grabbed his hand, "Come with me. If you cure the empress, I'll confer a title of nobility on you and reward you with ten thousand taels of gold!

If you can't..."

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't continue, but his cold and intimidating gaze said it all.

Li Qing was almost dragged along. Feeling the big hand on his wrist trembling, his calves couldn't help but tremble slightly.

Get a title and a fortune for a cure, and be flayed and stuffed with straw if he fails?

In the Qianqing Palace.

The imperial physicians and palace maids knelt down to welcome the emperor. Li Qing didn't want to be part of this grand greeting. He tried to pull his hand away but couldn't, so he had to accept it calmly.

Zhu Yuanzhang ignored everyone and dragged Li Qing straight inside.

The spacious hall was very quiet, only the sound of their footsteps echoing, 'tap, tap, tap...' like drums beating on the heart.

After a while, Li Qing stepped into the empress's bedroom with fear and trepidation.

On the bed, a woman was leaning against the headboard, her eyes half - open. A little palace maid picked up a cotton handkerchief from the water basin, wrung it out, and gently wiped her face.

Seeing this, Li Qing felt slightly relieved. Since she was awake, the situation wasn't too bad.

When the little palace maid saw the emperor enter, she quickly knelt down to pay her respects, "Your servant pays respects to the emperor."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and rushed forward to embrace the woman in his arms. The little palace maid tactfully stepped aside.

Li Qing was about to back out as well when he heard Zhu Yuanzhang say, "My dear, you'll get better. I've brought the disciple of Zhang the Slovenly."

Li Qing scratched his head, knelt down, and said, "Commoner Li Qing pays respects to Empress Dowager."

"Excuse yourself." Empress Ma replied weakly, then said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "Physicians can treat illnesses, but they can't change fate. Don't make things difficult for him. Let him go back."

"Nonsense. You're just ill and you'll surely get better... ah." Zhu Yuanzhang's voice trembled, "There are still many good days ahead. You can't die."

Empress Ma smiled bitterly, "Who can escape death?"

"I don't care. You can't die." At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't look like an emperor at all. He was like a petulant child, "I'm the emperor. I won't allow you to die, so you can't die."

Li Qing hadn't eaten lunch yet. Now, after being bombarded with so much affection, he wasn't as hungry anymore.

"Li Qing!"

"Ah... I'm here."

"What are you dazed for? Hurry up and examine the empress."

"Yes, I obey the order."

Li Qing stepped forward a few steps, extended two fingers to rest on Empress Ma's wrist, held his breath and concentrated to analyze the pathology. After a long time, he slowly let out a breath.

"How is it?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked nervously.

Li Qing nodded, "It can be treated!"

"Good!" Zhu Yuanzhang showed a happy expression and promised, "As long as you can cure the empress, I will give you a generous reward."

I just said it can be treated, not that it can be cured... Li Qing was full of helplessness, but didn't dare to show even a bit on his face. He had to say, "Rome wasn't built in a day. I need to know the diagnosis and treatment process of the previous imperial physicians first before prescribing the right medicine."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded gently, "When can you start the treatment?"

"Tomorrow!"

Li Qing explained, "Today, the empress took the medicine prescribed by the imperial physicians. There are still drug residues in her body. If she takes the medicine prescribed by me now, I'm afraid it will have the opposite effect."

He paused and said, "The empress is ill and is not suitable for eating highly nutritious or meaty foods. She can just have some rice porridge and rice soup."

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't understand medical skills. However, seeing that he spoke clearly and logically, his expression greatly eased: "OK, I'll have someone handle this right away."

Having said that, he hurriedly walked out. After taking two steps, he turned back and said to Empress Ma, "Sister, you rest first. You also heard that your illness can be cured. Relax."

"Um." Empress Ma nodded and said softly, "Your Majesty, don't delay state affairs because of me."

"OK, OK. Don't delay. Just relax and rest."

The palace maid beside immediately came forward to help the empress lie down. Seeing her sleep, Zhu Yuanzhang then stepped out of the hall.

The two came outside. The previous little eunuch immediately came up to greet and pay respects. Zhu Yuanzhang instructed: "Inform the imperial kitchen to make some rice porridge and rice soup and send them over. Also, go and find the prescriptions prescribed by the previous imperial physicians."

"This servant obeys the order."

The little eunuch agreed and hurriedly left in small steps.

"Grr..."

Hearing about the imperial kitchen, Li Qing, who hadn't eaten lunch, his stomach growled disobediently.

Zhu Yuanzhang gave him a sideways glance, "Come with me!"

"OK."

...

After several turns, they arrived at the imperial study. Zhu Yuanzhang walked to the imperial desk piled high with memorials and sat down. He said to Li Qing, "The meal will be ready soon."

After saying that, without waiting for Li Qing's response, he began to review the memorials by himself.

Without the imperial order, Li Qing couldn't sit down either. Standing foolishly was very boring, so he would glance at Zhu Yuanzhang from time to time.

He was very interested in the legend of this emperor from a commoner background. This wasn't the words and paintings in the history books, but a living person. Starting with a bowl, and ending up with a country. Throughout history, it was an unprecedented existence.

However, the current Zhu Yuanzhang was very different from the Emperor Hongwu in the history books. When reviewing the memorials, he wasn't calm and composed at all. Instead, he swore constantly, with a high frequency of swearing involving mothers. He was even somewhat frustrated.

"Damn it. What the hell is this all about?" Zhu Yuanzhang angrily threw the memorial aside and said angrily, "The whole thing is just flattery. What's the use of keeping such an official? Pass on my oral decree and tell this person who submitted the memorial to go back home and farm."

The little yellow eunuch waiting beside hurriedly picked up the memorial, performed a courtesy and hurriedly left.

Zhu Yuanzhang muttered and cursed a few more words and continued to review the memorials, swearing all the time during the process.

Li Qing secretly thought, "History books say that it wasn't easy to be an official during the Hongwu period. It seems this statement is true.

But having said that, Zhu Yuanzhang is indeed very efficient in reviewing memorials. Um... It's no wonder. There is no prime minister. If he doesn't do it, who will?"

After two quarters of an hour, two little yellow eunuchs carried food boxes in, and softly called out, "Your Majesty, it's time to have the meal."

"Um. Put it there!"

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't raise his head and continued to review the memorials. It wasn't until a quarter of an hour later that he raised his head, got up and came to the dining table and sat down.

He took a bite of the dish and seemed to like the taste. Then he ate heartily. After eating and drinking his fill, he said to Li Qing, "You, come and eat!"

"... This commoner thanks Your Majesty for your great kindness."

Left-over food is better than nothing... Li Qing wasn't polite either. Picking up the chopsticks, he started to eat.

Deserving of being produced by the imperial kitchen, the taste is much better than that in the restaurants outside.

"Burp~"

There were four meat dishes, four vegetable dishes and two soups. Zhu Yuanzhang ate a small half, and the rest all went into Li Qing's stomach.

The little yellow eunuchs looked at Li Qing in shock. They had never seen such an unrestrained person before. Even several dukes with outstanding achievements had never been so rude.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't care much. Seeing that he was full, he put down the memorial in his hand and asked, "When can you cure the empress' illness?"

"This commoner dare not draw a conclusion rashly." Li Qing said with a stiff scalp, "This commoner will do his best."

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at him and said faintly, "It's still the same sentence. If you cure the empress' illness, you will be heavily rewarded. If not... You should understand."

"Understood, understood..."

At this time, the previous little eunuch came in to report: "Your Majesty, the prescriptions prescribed by the imperial physicians have been found."

"Give it to him!"

The little eunuch responded with an "OK" and handed a thick stack of prescriptions to Li Qing.

Li Qing took the prescriptions and looked at them one by one to understand the treatment process of Empress Ma.

The prescriptions were almost all based on the approach of slow medicine conditioning. To be honest, there was nothing wrong with this, but Empress Ma's physical condition didn't have time for conditioning.

This truth, presumably those imperial physicians also knew, but they had no other way. Slow medicine conditioning couldn't cure the disease, and using strong medicine would immediately kill her.

Li Qing could feel the helplessness of the imperial physicians and couldn't help but wryly smile secretly.

To be honest, in terms of medical skills alone, he wasn't any better than the imperial physicians, and even was inferior in many aspects. However, for Empress Ma's physical condition, he did have a good treatment plan.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang had been reviewing the memorials, he also looked at Li Qing from time to time. Seeing that he had finished reading the prescriptions, he said:

"Do you have a treatment strategy?"

"Yes!" Li Qing nodded affirmatively. "May I ask Your Majesty, is there a five-stringed zither in the palace?"