I [Imperial] Am Not This Kind of Man

The emperor lying on the sickbed abruptly twitched, as if he was about to wake up, and let out a series of muffled noises.

The palace servants immediately gathered around, but they were startled. The emperor’s complexion suddenly turned pale, his mouth making muffled noises like it had been stuffed with something.

Qin Nuo and Qin Ze rushed over.

The four doctors on night duty also gathered. One person measured the pulse, one cast the needles, another whacked his back—demonstrating the level of emergency first aid in ancient medicine from every angle.

Crowded out of the room, a cold feeling burst in Qin Nuo’s heart as he watched the commotion.

By the look of things, this situation was extremely bad. There was a bold imperial doctor who was whacking hard at the emperor’s back, but the latter couldn’t cough anything up.

A couple of the imperial doctors also became frantic. If it was a simple issue of phlegm being stuck in the throat, this kind of emergency first aid would have already worked. But since he was still having breathing difficulties, it was most likely that it was the blood rising!1

Eunuch Wang was in a state of panic, flying in front of the two like a headless chicken, “Your Highnesses, this….”

“Don’t just stand here, hurry up and report to the Queen Mother and older brother Crown Prince!” Qin Ze barked.

“This servant2 will obey.” It was like Eunuch Wang had received a celestial decree, stumbling as he hastily rushed out.

“This sly old thing…..” Qin Ze gave a cold snort.

It was at that moment that Qin Nuo realized, Eunuch Wang may not have really been as panicked as he appeared. It was only that in times like this, he could not make a single misstep. Therefore, he had to consult about everything before he could act. Now that the emperor seemed to be in critical condition, they were the only ones who could take charge here.

Imperial Physician Ling Yu set down the silver needles in his hands, wiped his sweat, and turned to look towards an old, wrinkly and thin eunuch. “Eunuch Chen, it’s not enough to only use silver needles to help with His Majesty’s blood circulation. How about using internal force to make the blood flow, 3 what do you [formal] think?”

“Let me try first. However, His Majesty has never learned martial arts. His veins are weak, I do not know how much he can bear.” Eunuch Chen sighed and stepped forward.

The two imperial physicians gave way, and Eunuch Chen moved closer. He spread his fingers out and pressed on the emperor’s chest.

Is this the legendary internal strength? Qin Nuo also recognized this Eunuch Chen, he was one of the emperor’s trusted attendants. Normally he didn’t attend to him and followed by the emperor’s side all day like a shadow, who would have thought that he was actually a master of Internal Martial Arts.

Before he could get a closer look, there was a voice announcing from outside the door, “The empress has arrived!” Before the announcement was finished, a beautiful middle-aged lady charged into the palace.

The first thing she did when she charged in was to head towards the bed, only slowing down when Ling Yu quickly warned her, “Empress, Eunuch Chen is treating His Majesty right now. He absolutely cannot be disturbed at this time.”

Her hair was down and she looked panicked. The non-powdered complexion was a gaunt yellow.

These couple of days she had led a few high-ranked consorts in attending to the ill. Today she saw that the emperor’s illness had eased a lot, so she took a break for half a day.

Who would have thought that things would take a turn for the worst in the middle of the night?

After transmigrating over, Qin Nuo had only seen this empress two or three times. Each time she would be dressed in luxurious clothing and had an intimidating aura. This kind of ragged appearance was a first.

The empress came from Da Zhou’s top-notch, rich and powerful aristocratic clan, the Huo family. Her basic necessities and her conduct all show the majesty of the Mother of the Country.

Although Emperor Jing Yao was a dissolute person, he was very respectful towards this main wife. She also gave birth to the only Di child. Even though the Emperor didn’t love her anymore, she still wielded authority in the palace and her position was unshakable.

Furthermore, the Empress’ methods were also first-class. This could be seen from how that crown prince brother of his was fourth among the princes but has been able to keep his seat as crown prince.

Of the three princes before the Crown Prince, two died before they came of age, and the last one had a riding accident. He fell off his horse and became a cripple.

Even the fifth prince—possibly because he was too close in age to the Crown Prince—didn’t live very long.

Whenever he thought about this, Qin Nuo couldn’t resist being grateful that this body of his was still very young; otherwise, it would have been dead long before he transmigrated over.

Soon, the Crown Prince also rushed over after he heard the news, along with the medical officers and attendants. Even if it was a wide hall, it couldn’t fit this many people.

Crown Prince Qin Cong noticed the situation and ordered all the servants except the medical officers out.

Qin Nuo and Qin Ze were also escorted out of the room on grounds of potentially disturbing the treatment.

Footnotes

心血逆冲- ‘the blood rushing in the opposite direction’; something similar to heartburn, but with blood奴才- “this servant/slave”, way that the servants refer to themselves in 3rd person不如以内息催动心脉-something similar to doing abdominal thrusts/Heimlich Maneuver for people who are choking, but using internal strength