Physician, Not A Consort

Lin Haihai glanced at the empress and felt a faint sense of sorrow rising in her heart. She could sense the melancholy emanating from the empress, and Lin Haihai was certain that the empress was hiding a past unknown to everyone. However, there were some things that couldn’t be probed casually, otherwise there would be very serious consequences.

“Why did you make my Imperial Mother cry?” When the little girl saw the tears in the empress’ eyes, she immediately became hostile and chided Lin Haihai.

“Ting’er, don’t be disrespectful. It has nothing to do with her. Imperial Mother just thought of your uncle,” the empress replied gently.

“Imperial Mother, don’t be upset! Uncle has been dead for a very long time, so maybe he has already reincarnated into a fat young fellow,” said the little girl.

Lin Haihai and the empress chuckled in amusement. The palace maids and the eunuchs all laughed too. Lin Haihai glanced at the sky and murmured to herself, “I wonder if Imperial Consort Li has left yet.”

“She did. However, she is His Majesty's favorite concubine, so try not to collide with her. Otherwise, you’ll bear the consequences,” the empress warned Lin Haihai out of kindness.

“I naturally don’t dare to offend her. Seeing how arrogant she is, she must have powerful tricks and schemes,” Lin Haihai said with a smile.

“You’ll naturally find out in the future. Your paths will eventually cross,” the empress said with underlying implication.

“I won’t. Once His Majesty recovers, I won’t run into her anymore. I won’t even argue with her over that slap.” Lin Haihai politely declined. What a joke. I'd rather offend a nasty man than a shrewish woman. And I should stay far away from her!

“Right. Your Majesty, I want to request something.” Lin Haihai remembered about her plans to plant medicinal herbs. Since there was a consultant available in front of her, she obviously couldn’t leave without getting what she wanted.

“Speak.”

“I hope that Your Majesty can teach me how to plant thorn apples.” Lin Haihai cut to the chase.

“Why do you want to plant thorn apples? You clearly know that they are poisonous!” the Empress asked, suddenly on alert.

“I said that even though thorn apples are poisonous, they can still be used in medicine. Plus, their medicinal effects are irreplaceable by any other herb, so I have to plant them successfully.”

“Are you really just a physician?” The empress was uncertain at first. Was I mistaken?

“I really am.” Lin Haihai patted her chest and said playfully, “Your Majesty, as long as you serve as my consultant, I promise you that you will gain a surprise that's beyond your wildest imagination.” Lin Haihai seemed to be hinting at something.

The empress glanced at Lin Haihai; her bright and beautiful eyes were smiling, but the empress couldn’t see the true meaning behind Lin Haihai’s eyes. Despite this, under the confident and brilliant aura that Lin Haihai emanated, the empress felt compelled to nod.

Lin Haihai smiled even more splendidly. She stood up and curtsied. (Author: *sweats* Not appropriate at all). “I am heading back to check on His Majesty. If there isn’t anything else, I’ll be going. Your Majesty, please remember what you promised me. I will come and find you.” She winked at Yang Chuting before she turned around, waving, and left without looking back. 

The palace maid standing behind the empress was displeased and wanted to say something when the empress reached out and stopped her.

“This palace maid, please wait a second.” Lin Haihai awkwardly stopped a palace maid passing by. The palace maid looked at her on alert. She had already seen Lin Haihai walking around at Lan'zhi Palace and then saw her again in the imperial garden. Now, she bumped into her again after returning to Mo'qiu Palace. Is she stalking me?!

“Yeah, um, let me explain. I want to find Eunuch Xiao Yuan. How do I find him?” Dang. She surprisingly didn’t know the name of the emperor’s sleeping chamber, so it wasn't as though she could say that she wanted to find the emperor. Thankfully, she remembered the name Xiao Yuan, the eunuch by the emperor’s side and the one who stood up for her today.

“Sir Xiao is serving His Majesty at Qian'kun Palace Hall. How about this? I’m going there anyway, so I’ll take you there while I’m at it.” The palace maid thought that Lin Haihai was Sir Xiao’s relative since she knew him. Therefore, she hurriedly tried to curry favor with Lin Haihai.

This was exactly what Lin Haihai wanted!

On the way, Lin Haihai asked the palace maids quite a number of things. As it turned out, Imperial Consort Li’s father was the powerful and supreme grand councillor, Yan Guan. Imperial Consort Li had entered the palace a year ago. The moment she did, she was conferred the rank of jieyu[1], and was promoted to the rank of "Imperial Concubine" a few months after. Half a year ago, she was even promoted to become an imperial consort. Although the empress ranked higher in the imperial hierarchy, she had no sons. Besides, she was kind and liked to keep a low profile.

Imperial Consort Li had since disregarded the empress. She already found it a grievance to have to respectfully address the empress as Her Majesty. Let alone visiting the empress' chambers to do her daily supposed greetings, Imperial Consort Li never greeted the empress even if they were to meet elsewhere in the imperial palace. She refused to even curtsy at the empress. Now that she was pregnant, she was even more arrogant and despotic. When she was unhappy, she would even give the empress attitude.

The empress was a princess of Chen. She married Yang Shaolun when he was still a crown prince, and was conferred the title of crown princess back then. It was purely a political marriage. When Yang Shaolun ascended the throne, she naturally became the empress. Yang Shaolun respected her but didn’t show any favor towards her. Plus, she had only given birth to a daughter all these years. She had no sons nor did she have an influential father. The empress was forced to endure everything, not daring to retaliate.

Lin Haihai knew that the imperial harem was the most ruthless and merciless battlefield. It was best she didn’t get involved in it. However, since she had invited the empress to be her consultant, she would be implicated in some things regardless. She didn’t know whether she would offend Imperial Consort Li, but there was nothing wrong in trying to learn more about the harem.

The moment Imperial Physician Shangguan saw that Lin Haihai was back, he immediately asked, “His fever has reduced. What is our next step?” In the past, he was an independent imperial physician; coupled with outstanding medical skills, he could definitely stand on his own. But with Lin Haihai here, he acted like her disciple, treating her opinions as the absolute truth. Lin Haihai sighed. This isn’t good. He has already lost his views and confidence.

“What do you think we should do now?” Lin Haihai returned the question.

“Um, you’re the master. Please advise me.” Beads of sweat started to form on Imperial Physician Shangguan's forehead.

“Tell me your thoughts first!”

Imperial Physician Shangguan muttered to himself and then said doubtfully, “Prescribe a prescription to expel the poison paired with treatment via food. Since his fever has reduced, it means that the inflammation is controlled. Should he take another prescription to decrease the inflammation?”

Lin Haihai remained silent for a long time before she suddenly raised her head to say, “We’ll do it your way. Good job!”

Imperial Physician Shangguan sighed, his features relaxing into a smile. He had scrunched his whole face up, and Lin Haihai couldn’t help but laugh.

She glanced at the person in bed. Because he took the traditional medicine that helped reduce his fever, he had been unconscious and was in a deep sleep. Lin Haihai felt a little more relaxed and instructed the imperial physician to look after him.

She wanted to go back and check on the hospital. She had been out for a while and wondered if the imperial physicians were putting up a poor attitude. After all, they were used to serving influential figures in the palace, but now they had to treat commoners. She didn’t know if this would impact their mental state.

In truth, Lin Haihai’s worry was unnecessary. These imperial physicians were used to speaking cautiously and paying careful attention to their actions in the palace. They were even terrified to see patients, scared that they might be punished with a cudgel if they were careless. In the worst cases, they might have to pay with their lives. But in the hospital, they were able to scold the patients for not listening to their words. They could obtain respectful gazes and hear the patients give affirmative responses. Most importantly, they were able to put their skills to maximum use with the patients here and accumulate more clinical experience.

Besides treating pregnant imperial concubines in the imperial palace, the imperial physicians usually came across women's superficial conditions such as irregular menstruation patterns, unwell appetites, pimples on their faces, or small sores in their mouths. At most, they would treat colds or other such minor illnesses. The imperial physicians had worked hard to obtain their medical skills, and yet when they tried their best to reach the highest positions, their skills were used to diagnose and treat these little sicknesses. One could imagine how gloomy and depressed the imperial physicians must be. Having no place to put their skills to use was every hero’s sorrow!

When Lin Haihai entered the door, Imperial Physician Chen was treating a regular patient. She listened as Imperial Physician Chen criticized him, “What are you doing? Didn’t you say that Physician Lin requested for you to follow a diet? Why are you eating food that's not indicated in the diet? Do you want to die? What’s the point in eating more medicine, then? Aren’t you just wasting the physicians’ efforts? Go home and have it ground into your brain that you can’t eat these things that I wrote on the paper. If you dare to eat them in secrecy, no one can help you with the consequences. Do you understand?” The regular patient nodded repeatedly. Who dares to disobey an imperial physician’s words?

Lin Haihai faintly smiled. It seemed like the imperial physicians had found their place. That was good. She could finally do what she wanted without being restricted.

She went to the ward to check on General Chen. It was imperative for her to perform the surgery. There weren’t nutritional IV drips of amino acids here which could be used to sustain his life for a long time. However, it wasn’t easy to perform a craniotomy. She was a cardiologist, not a neurologist. She hadn’t done detailed research on the human brain either. If she abruptly performed a craniotomy and didn’t handle it carefully, it would leave a lot of sequelae after the surgery! *Sigh* If only there were a neurologist here!

Qing Feng walked in while Lin Haihai was daydreaming. “Master, there is someone outside who seems to have a mental disorder. Senior Brother wants you to go over to take a look.”

Mental disorder? Even the imperial physicians couldn’t handle it? Lin Haihai quickly walked out to see a young man being pulled by a few sturdy men dressed as servants. The young man tried his best to struggle free, agitated by the current situation. He yelled out loud, “Let me go. I already said I’m not some young master. What are you guys dragging me for? If you guys continue, I’ll call the police.”

Lin Haihai’s heart thumped quickly and immediately stared at the young man. He had a flat-top and he was wearing sports shoes. She could faintly see him wearing denim jeans under the long robes. Lin Haihai walked over and asked, “What’s the matter?”

A middle-aged businessman walked over and said worriedly, “Physician Lin, this is my son. He went missing half a year ago and was found lying in the woods a few days ago. But after he woke up, he couldn't recognize any one of us. Physician, help me see if he hurt his brain. He is my only son,” sobbed the businessman.

Lin Haihai asked the young man calmly, “Where are you from?”

The young man struggled and Lin Haihai indicated for the servants to let him go. The young man regained his freedom and immediately stretched his body while saying, “Ah, I finally found a normal person. Where is this place? Why are you guys wearing these strange clothes? Could this be utopia?” the young man said with a self-deprecating laugh.

Lin Haihai smiled. “This is the Daxing Dynasty. You’re in the capital city now, not some utopia!”

The young man’s jaws dropped before stepping back unbelievably and asked, “What did you say? What dynasty is this? You’re saying that I transmigrated? You guys are ancient people?”

The crowd around him burst into fits of laughter. It seemed like he had really injured his brain. He appears to be quite a good man. What a pity.

Lin Haihai also softly chuckled. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him. The young man was a bit angry. “What are you laughing at? Isn’t this the hospital?”

“Yes, this is indeed the hospital. You’re here to get treated.”

“Damned if I’ll get treated. Wouldn’t I know if I’m sick or not? I’m a doctor myself. Is this really the ancient times?”

“In short, this is the Daxing Dynasty. I don’t know what ancient times you’re talking about, but I’m a little interested in what you were saying about calling the police. Can you explain that?” She hadn’t heard modern phrases in a long time and missed them a lot. Lin Haihai stared at him delightfully. Doctor? This will be easy then.

The young man stared at Lin Haihai in hysteria. His mind was gradually trying to process everything. He recalled that he was clearly hiking when he fell down a cliff. Could it be that instead of falling to my death, I transmigrated? He remembered how his little sister frequently read transmigration novels and even talked about transmigrating to snag a handsome guy all day long. Who would have thought that he would be the one to transmigrate, not his little sister! This was baffling!

1. A rank below concubine