Chapter 48

Since Xuanyuan Lie was “awake”, Doctor Liu was summoned to take his pulse again.

“How is it going?”

“His Majesty is not very well. What he needs most now is a rest-cure. If he keeps working himself, he may suffer a stroke.”

Doctor Liu looked worried but he actually thought otherwise.

“Prince Zhan, it’s not that I want to lie to you. His Majesty asks me to say so. You should blame him,” he thought.

So serious?

Xuanyuan Mo frowned, his eyes glistening with worry.

“Mo…”

Xuanyuan Mo heard Xuanyuan Lie’s weak voice and immediately went forward, “Father.”

Xuanyuan Lie felt so happy to hear that. Pretending sickness was such a good idea.

“Mo, am I severely ill?”

“No. Father, rest assured. Doctor Liu said you just needed some rest.”

Xuanyuan Mo comforted him awkwardly. Obviously, he didn’t do this kind of thing often.

“That’s great. Eunuch Hu, help me sit up.”

Hearing the summon, Eunuch Hu immediately went forward to help the emperor sit up carefully. Meanwhile, he also didn’t forget to cooperate with the emperor.

“Your Majesty, you are still sick now. You had better stay in bed.”

Xuanyuan Lie cast a look at Eunuch Hu to praise him for his good acting performance. Then, he said feebly, “I must go to review the memorials and deal with the state affairs.”

“Your Majesty, you shouldn’t. Doctor Liu asked you to rest in recuperation. You had better not worry about the state affairs.”

While persuading the emperor, Eunuch Hu stared at Xuanyuan Mo with imploring eyes.

Xuanyuan Mo also frowned heavily.

“Father, what you need to do now is rest well.”

“If I don’t deal with the state affairs well, how can I rest well?”

Helped by Eunuch Hu, Xuanyuan Lie insisted on getting off the bed. However, before he got off the bed, he leaned backward with his hand placed on his forehead.

“Your Majesty…”

Eunuch Hu screamed and couldn’t help praising the emperor for his acting skills inwardly.

“Father…”

Xuanyuan Mo rushed forward and supported Xuanyuan Lie.

“It’s okay. I’m fine,” Xuanyuan Lie steadied himself and said feebly, “I still need to review the memorials.”

“Your Highness, your health matters more. You may as well leave the state affairs to Prince Zhan.”

Eunuch Hu felt that it was about time so he hastened to propose.

Xuanyuan Lie felt elated. What a good proposal Eunuch Hu raised!

“I’ll be relieved if the state affairs are left to Mo but he…”

Xuanyuan Mo’s frown deepened, “Father, you can hand over the state affairs to the eldest brother.”

“I had better do it myself. Come on. Eunuch Hu, help me walk over there.” Xuanyuan Lie sighed and struggled to rise.

Eunuch Hu directly knelt before Xuanyuan Mo.

“Your Highness, please. Please help His Majesty. He cannot work himself anymore.”

Faced with Eunuch Hu’s begging, Xuanyuan Mo’s fists in the sleeves clenched with blue veins standing out on the back of his hands.

In the end, Xuanyuan Mo returned to Prince Zhan’s mansion with the memorials.

In the Wisteria Yard half a month later.

Duanmu Xi was sitting under the wisteria pergola, handling the herbs.

The yard was specially prepared for her by her master, where precious and rare herbs were planted. Only with one glance, she just fell in love with the yard.

Her master had left.

Before leaving, he said, “Xi, I’ve taught you what I should teach. As a saying goes, the master teaches the trade, but the apprentice’s skill is self-made. You are on your own then.”

Her master was right. She had learned more or less about medicine refining. Her following progress depended on her comprehension and practice.

Phoenix Five was stunned to look at Duanmu Xi under the wisteria flowers.

The wisteria flowers were beautiful. Her Highness was even more beautiful. Viewing from the distance, the scene looked like a pretty painting.

“Your Highness, it is sunny today. Let’s go out for a walk.”

Seeing Phoenix Five’s expectant expression, Duanmu Xi felt amused and nodded her head.

“Okay.”

It had been half a month since she entered the academy. Yet, she had never gone out.

In Yunlai Inn of Zhongzhou City.

“Congratulations on becoming a student of Shengjin Academy.”

The manager of the inn was very happy to see the two of them. While ushering them to the table, he asked the waiter to serve the dishes.

Looking at the manager, Duanmu Xi nodded and didn’t respond.

Phoenix Five twitched her mouth. The manager was so enthusiastic as always.

“Ladies, you are out for the auction at Myriad Treasure Pavilion today?”

“The auction?” Duanmu Xi raised her eyebrows.

As Duanmu Xi finally replied, the manager introduced it more warmly.

“Yeah. An auction will be held in Myriad Treasure Pavilion this afternoon. If you are free, you can go and take a look. It is said that a treasure will be auctioned today.”

A treasure? What kind of treasure was it?

“Ladies, all the dishes have been served. Please help yourselves.”

After helping the waiter serve the dishes, the manager bowed out.

“Your Highness, let’s go to the auction after dinner. Maybe there will be medicinal materials we need.”

Phoenix Five was interested in the auction. As the phoenix guard of Duanmu Xue, she had no chance of attending such kind of event.

“Okay.” Duanmu Xi nodded.

She also wanted to see what treasures there would be.

After dinner, they arrived at Myriad Treasure Pavilion.

Myriad Treasure Pavilion, situated in the most prosperous CBD of Zhongzhou City, was a three-story building. The three words–“Myriad Treasure Pavilion” were potently written. Evidently, the writer of these three words must have a high cultivation level.

When they arrived at Myriad Treasure Pavilion, it was already crowded at the gate.

“Your Highness, I’ve learned that Myriad Treasure Pavilion belongs to the Feng Family, the head of the four big families in Zhongzhou City.”

Phoenix Five squeezed through the crowd to Duanmu Xi and reported in a low voice.

Duanmu Xi frowned, “The four big families?”

“Yes, legend has it that the four big families–the Feng Family, the Hua Family, the Xue Family and the Yue Family are retainers sent by the four empires to monitor the chatelain of Zhongzhou City.”

“Oh?” Duanmu Xi raised her eyebrows with intrigue, “Which family is the retainer of the Zhuque Empire?”

The legend was quite interesting. She didn’t expect that the Zhuque Empire had a foothold in Zhongzhou City but she was not sure whether the legend was true.

“The Hua Family. It is said that the masters of the Hua Family over the ages are all female.”

“Then the legend does sound true.”

Since the Hua Family was also matriarchal, it probably came from the Zhuque Empire.

Phoenix Five nodded and also found that the legend was likely to be true. After all, only the Zhuque Empire was matriarchal among the four empires.

“Let’s go to the auction first.”

They entered the auction hall of Myriad Treasure Pavilion with the crowd. Now, the hall was full of people.

Duanmu Xi frowned. There were too many people. She disliked it.

“Let’s go to the rear.”

They arrived at the rear of Myriad Treasure Pavilion, where it was obviously quieter.

They had no sooner walked for two steps than a maid came forward and asked, “Ladies, what can I do for you?”

Duanmu Xi raised her head and saw a sweet girl.

“I’d like to reserve a booth.”

The maid saw clearly Duanmu Xi’s appearance and felt a bit dazed.

“Ahem. Ahem…”

Duanmu Xi was too gorgeous. Even Phoenix Five would be stunned by her appearance though she stayed with Duanmu Xi every day, let alone the maid.

Phoenix Five’s coughing made the maid come to her senses.

The maid composed herself and smiled apologetically at Duanmu Xi.

“I’m sorry. All the booths on the second floor were reserved the other day.”

They were all reserved the other day. This was insane!

After a momentary surprise, Phoenix Five quickly came to her senses.

“All the booths on the second floor are not available. How about the booths on the third floor?”

The maid shook her head. Phoenix Five felt delighted and wanted to take a booth on the third floor. Yet, the maid said, “We do have booths available on the third floor. May I ask whether you have a VIP card?”

What did she mean?

The maid saw their confused facial expressions and then explained, “Here is the thing. The third floor is our VIP area of Myriad Treasure Pavilion. Only the clients with VIP cards can access the VIP area on the third floor.”

They were both speechless.

“What else can I do for you? Like, do you need to auction off anything?” The maid asked with a sweet smile.

To have anything auctioned?

She had never thought of it but since they were here, she could auction off the elixirs she had refined before. She also wanted to find out how much the elixirs refined by her would be worth.

Duanmu Xi nodded at the maid.

The maid immediately said respectfully, “Please come with me.”

The maid ushered them to a room and then left.

Duanmu Xi looked up and saw the three words on the door–Treasure Evaluation Room.

They pushed open the door and only saw an old man in black was fiddling with the items on the table.

Having sensed someone entered the room, the old man in black directly said without raising his head, “Put the things to be evaluated on the table.”

Phoenix Five was a bit angry about the old man’s rudeness. She was about to go forward and scold him when she was stopped by Duanmu Xi.

Duanmu Xi directly took out the Styptic Powder, Heart Recovering Powder, Strength Restoring Pill, which she made a few days ago, and put them on the table. Rather than say anything, she just stood aside quietly.

The old man in black opened the first jade bottle casually and sniffed at it.

Then, he just widened his eyes in astonishment and quickly opened the several other jade bottles. After smelling them, he asked with excitement, “Are they all to be auctioned?”

“Yes.”

What a young voice! The old man in black finally looked up at Duanmu Xi.

“Are the elixirs made by you?”

Duanmu Xi was slightly dazed and then nodded her head lightly.

The old man in black was startled. He didn’t expect that these top-level elixirs were made by the young girl in front. Such a young girl turned out to be a refining pharmacist.

The refining pharmacist was the most prestigious career on the Hantian Continent. It was his lifelong dream. When he was young, he also learned medicine refining. Unfortunately, his talent was limited and he even couldn’t touch the threshold of being a refining pharmacist.

The old man in black got excited and immediately rose, saying with a bow, “Please wait for a moment. I’ll handle these for you soon.”

After saying that, the old man in black immediately left.

“Ladies.”

After ten minutes or so, a gentle voice suddenly came.

Duanmu Xi turned around and saw the old man in black had brought a young man here.

The young man was amazed to see Duanmu Xi’s appearance.

How could there be such a gorgeous girl in the world…