Chapter 3: The Prince is a Woman 3

Ye Ji clenched his fists, his eyes, dark as deep pools, erupting with a hint of disbelief.

This old dog Ning had made him wait all night. He had assumed the man was plotting some scheme, but it turned out he had simply fallen ill.

Still hateful.

Ye Ji took a deep breath. Lucky old dog Ning.

He hoped he would recover soon; if he were to die from this illness, he would truly feel as if he had punched a pile of cotton. Just thinking about it filled him with stifled frustration.

Ye Ji’s emotions flashed for only an instant before he quickly returned to his usual dignified and inscrutable self, making it impossible for anyone to read anything in his eyes.

"You may all withdraw," he waved his hand.

As for what kind of illness Prince Ning had, he would know once he asked Zhao Jincai. He had no intention of sending imperial physicians over for the time being; Zhao Jincai’s medical skills were not inferior to those in the palace.

Meanwhile, Ning Guangjun, who had been unconscious for the entire night, finally opened his eyes slowly, feeling only a dull ache in the back of his neck.

His eyes were still somewhat dazed, but upon seeing A-Zhen guarding the bedside, he suddenly remembered the events of the previous night, and fury crawled across his face.

He flipped himself up, opening his mouth to shout.

A-Zhen moved in a flash, delivering another hand-chop to the back of Ning Guangjun’s neck. He stared with wide eyes, collapsing back down in resentment.

Beside them, Zhao Jincai rubbed his nose. Good heavens, he finally understood how Prince Ning had been knocked out.

Looking at A-Zhen’s somewhat innocent face, if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Zhao Jincai would never have imagined that the Prince Ning’s heir could treat the Prince so brutally.

This was a ruthless person, truly ruthless.

He just didn't know what the other party's goal was.

"Father just woke up for a moment and fell back asleep quickly; you all should not disturb him," A-Zhen said, dealing with the factions who had come to visit the Prince. After they left, she instructed the guards at the door, "Keep a close watch. I am going into the mountains."

This was the Pingshan Hunting Grounds, and the camp was set up at the foot of the grounds, so one could enter the mountains in just a few steps.

"Doctor Zhao, thank you for your hard work. Since Father’s condition is stable now and you have also kept watch all night, you should go back and rest," A-Zhen said, handing a money bag to Zhao Jincai.

Zhao Jincai did not stand on ceremony; he took it with a smile, appropriately showing a greedy look to deceive the other party. He didn't mind at all that the money bag had been stripped off Prince Ning by this heir; the other party was likely thanking him for the bottle of sleeping medicine he had contributed that morning.

Of course, the heir hadn't asked for sleeping medicine directly; he had used the excuse that Prince Ning had an unbearable headache and asked if he had any medicine to help one sleep soundly.

Heh, how could he not understand the heir's goal? It didn't hurt him anyway, so he gave it.

When A-Zhen entered the mountains, Zhao Jincai had not long returned to his tent before he found an opportunity to report the previous night's events to Ye Ji.

Ye Ji sat at the head of the table without a word. Zhao Jincai was still holding two golden ingots and a money bag. Feeling the cold air radiating from them, he felt a bit scared. Even though he knew the Emperor wouldn't lash out at people without reason, it was still terrifying.

Ye Ji took a sharp breath. He had already accepted that his efforts last night were in vain, but after Zhao Jincai told him the truth, that fire of frustration surged upward.

Prince Ning’s heir, was it? Fine, that brat was very good indeed. So it was this person who had made him stay up all night waiting for nothing.

Zhao Jincai hid the gold ingots and returned to Prince Ning’s side, just in time to run into A-Zhen, who was boiling something outside the tent. He sniffed—it was the smell of mushroom soup.

He greeted her with a smile, performing a display of sycophancy: "Greetings, Your Highness."

Actually, he wanted to call her "God of Wealth."

"Why is Your Highness boiling soup personally? Why not call someone to help?"

A-Zhen looked earnest. "Father said earlier he wanted to drink mushroom soup. I should do it myself; as a child, it is only right to show filial piety."

"With such filial piety from Your Highness, the Prince will surely feel very comforted," Zhao Jincai praised.

Heh, today he had witnessed what it meant to be "filial to death," and what "uproarious filial piety" really was!

When the mushroom soup was ready, despite the mouth-watering aroma, when A-Zhen asked if he wanted to taste it, Zhao Jincai shook his head and refused.

Just kidding, this was cooked for Prince Ning; who knew if it would kill someone?

It smelled truly delicious—mushroom soup was naturally savory, but for some reason, the soup the heir cooked was even more so. He had never smelled anything this fragrant before. Unfortunately, he didn't have an iron-clad body, so he really didn't dare to taste it.

After serving the bowl for Prince Ning, under Zhao Jincai’s puzzled gaze, A-Zhen threw two more fresh mushrooms into the pot to boil.

Noticing Zhao Jincai’s gaze, A-Zhen explained, "Father doesn't like to eat these two types of mushrooms."

Zhao Jincai looked enlightened on the surface, but inwardly he questioned: Is that true? It feels wrong.

997, who had been organizing the world mission data all night and intended to come over to check the situation, heard this and its electronic eyes were filled with confusion. Is that true? It didn't seem to be written in the data.

Maybe it was missed.

That made sense; anything could happen in a small world, and missing some data was perfectly normal.

Seeing that its novice host was adapting well, 997 felt relieved and continued to get busy.

Now that it had a permanently bound host, it naturally needed to organize more mission world data and keep an eye out for high-quality world missions, noting the times so it could snatch them for its host. Since they were permanently bound, the more missions, the better.

It was very busy.

But very happy.

As expected, a life of grinding was the only one that suited it.

There was something to look forward to.

Ning Guangjun had not yet woken up. A-Zhen kept the bowl of mushroom soup prepared specifically for him warm, intending to feed it to him once he woke up.

Before long, the new mushrooms in the pot were also cooked through, so she invited Zhao Jincai and the guards standing outside to have some soup.

The guards were off their guard and took turns eating.

Zhao Jincai hadn't left yet. Seeing that the guards had no issues after eating, and under A-Zhen’s repeated invitations, he couldn't resist and served himself a bowl.

It was hard to refuse such kindness; excuse him, excuse him.

He would just take it into the tent to eat, and couldn't he just secretly check if there were any problems before eating?

Indeed, he was a brilliant doctor.

Zhao Jincai enjoyed the delicious mushroom soup and was walking around holding his belly when he was suddenly caught by Prince Ning’s guards, who said the Prince had woken up, but he seemed a bit off.

Zhao Jincai felt strange, pondering all sorts of possibilities.

In Prince Ning’s tent, all of the Prince’s factions had arrived. It was noisy inside, but it was all the Prince’s voice. He looked closely and saw Prince Ning sitting on the bed, his hands grabbing rapidly in front of him, as if trying to catch something.

Huh? Had Prince Ning’s brain been damaged by the heir?

Zhao Jincai suddenly caught sight of the empty bowl placed to the side and had a strange thought: could this have something to do with that bowl of mushroom soup?

He touched his belly, worried about his own situation. Recalling that the heir had later thrown two different mushrooms into the pot, perhaps it was fine?

Zhao Jincai still felt some regret; he shouldn't have been so greedy.

A-Zhen saw him and called out, "Doctor Zhao, please help see what is wrong with Father. He looks like he has caught some kind of madness."

Zhao Jincai understood immediately. The heir had already decided what the illness was; how thoughtful.

Facing the pairs of worried eyes around him, Zhao Jincai released Ning Guangjun’s wrist and said with a heavy face, "Your Highness, the Prince is indeed suffering from a mental disorder. This should be caused by a brain ailment, and there is no solution for now. Perhaps you could request an imperial physician to take a look."

(End of chapter)