Li Jin looked at the guard suspiciously.
"Where did you find this quack? Didn't I tell you to fetch a doctor?"
The guard found it hard to defend himself.
"Master Li, your subordinate went to the pharmacy to invite a doctor."
"Then how come he can't even tell that His Highness has caught a cold?"
"Can't you even tell the difference between a quack and a real doctor?"
Li Jin was getting a bit furious.
He had been tossing and turning all day and finally managed to get some sleep.
The early hours of the morning were naturally when one felt the most sleepy.
Being woken up was bad enough, but it turned out the person the guard brought back was a fraud!
The doctor was infuriated.
With a trembling hand, he pointed at Li Jin.
"You... you are making baseless accusations! You are slandering this old man!"
Li Jin waved his hand impatiently.
"Enough, sticking scallions in your nose to pretend you're an elephant? Go back to wherever you came from!"
The doctor trembled with anger.
"My family has practiced medicine for generations; reaching me, it has been over a dozen generations!"
"I have treated, if not thousands, at least hundreds of people."
"I have saved countless lives, and no one has ever dared to call me a quack!"
"You push people too far; I am going to the magistrate to sue you!"
Li Jin looked the doctor up and down.
"Make it up! Keep making it up! Saved countless lives? You can't even diagnose the simplest cold, and you have the nerve to boast?"
"Li Jin!"
The Prince of Pingyang spoke from the bed.
Li Jin turned his head and only then realized that the Prince of Pingyang had woken up at some point.
"Your Highness! You're awake? Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?"
Li Jin was very worried.
Originally, he thought the guard would bring back a doctor to examine the Prince of Pingyang.
As a result, he brought back a fraud!
"I am fine now. Send him back."
The Prince of Pingyang looked at the guard.
"Yes, Your Highness!"
The guard bowed.
The doctor on the side shivered in fear.
The "patient" on the bed was actually a prince?
Could it be that when he said to send him home, he meant for the guard to kill him?
Terrified, the doctor fell to his knees with a thud before the Prince of Pingyang.
"Spare my life, Your Highness! I am truly not a fraud!"
"I just checked your pulse. Your pulse is steady and strong, and your body is extremely healthy."
"In fact, you are healthier than an ordinary man!"
The doctor tried hard to prove that his diagnosis was not wrong.
"Enough! Keep your mouth shut! If you can't close it, I can help you!"
The Prince of Pingyang's tone was icy, making the doctor instantly lose his voice.
He kowtowed continuously, not even daring to beg for mercy anymore.
Seeing this, the guard hurriedly dragged the man out.
The doctor was so scared that he instantly wet his pants, and a foul smell spread through the room.
The Prince of Pingyang frowned.
Li Jin held his breath and walked out to tell the guards to clean it up.
The Prince of Pingyang looked down and saw Duoduo like a small animal.
She curled her legs up, pressing tightly against his side.
Her hands tightly hugged his waist, as if she was terrified of being abandoned by him.
The guards finished cleaning up and retreated.
Li Jin returned to the bedside.
"Li Jin, why did you and the Princess appear in the woods?"
The Prince of Pingyang looked at Li Jin with a piercing gaze.
Li Jin half-lay down on a chair, lazily spreading his limbs.
"The Princess said she dreamt that something happened to you and begged me to bring her out to find you."
"I didn't believe it, but the Princess said that if I didn't take her, she would come by herself."
"I saw she was very anxious, so I agreed."
"Later, it started raining heavily, and we didn't see your people, so I advised the Princess to go back."
"But the Princess was unwilling. Later, we saw the mountain collapse."
"We couldn't get through. I climbed over the mountain, but I couldn't find any trace of you, Your Highness, or the guards."
"I guessed that you might have hidden."
"So, I advised the Princess to return to the estate."
"Your Highness, guess what the Princess said?" Li Jin lazily turned his face to look at the Prince of Pingyang.
The Prince of Pingyang kept a straight face, expressionless.
"The Princess said that in her dream, she dreamt you were on the other side of the mountain, and she insisted on climbing over to take a look."
"Then, I carried the Princess on my back and climbed over."
"We saw the men in black chasing you. After they left, I went into the water and found you."
Li Jin stopped speaking at this point.
The room suddenly became quiet.
Li Jin felt sleepy and closed his eyes.
"Li Jin, do you believe people can dream of things that haven't happened yet?"
Suddenly, the voice of the Prince of Pingyang echoed in the room.
Li Jin was drowsy.
"What's there not to believe? Maybe it's just the bond between father and daughter, and the Princess has a connection with you!"
Li Jin shifted his body, finding a comfortable posture.
"Actually, Your Highness, I quite envy you."
"The Princess is very outstanding. She is kind-hearted and ambitious, able to endure hardship, obedient, and sensible."
"How much good karma did you accumulate in your past life to have her as your daughter!"
"If I were you, I would definitely cherish her in the palm of my hand!"
"Instead of guarding against her, alienating her, and hurting her!"
"No matter how the Princess came to your side, at the very least, she is innocent!"
"What she wants is also very simple, just a little bit of affection."
Duoduo's disappointment today made even Li Jin feel deeply heartbroken for her.
As for the entanglement between Duoduo and the Prince of Pingyang, Li Jin had heard a bit about it.
From the perspective of the Prince of Pingyang, he was not wrong.
For a child growing up in the imperial palace, having a defensive mindset is the foundation of survival.
However, from Duoduo's perspective, it was much more unjust.
She is just a four-year-old child. What could she possibly do?
How innocent she is!
Li Jin felt very indignant on Duoduo's behalf.
Therefore, Li Jin emboldened himself and spoke his mind.
Anyway, the Prince of Pingyang was sick now and couldn't do anything to him.
At worst, he would just run away at daybreak.
Li Jin prepared for the worst and then peacefully fell asleep.
The Prince of Pingyang on the bed fell into deep thought.
He remembered when he was three years old, because the Grand Tutor said he was mischievous, his imperial father punished him by not allowing him to eat.
Starving for a day and a night, he almost fainted.
A little palace maid serving him secretly slipped him a piece of pastry.
He was very grateful at the time and gave half to the little maid.
But the little maid refused it and urged him to eat quickly.
For some reason, the Prince of Pingyang grew wary and asked the maid to eat first.
The maid ran out in terror.
The Prince of Pingyang put the pastry on the ground, and a mouse ate it.
The Prince of Pingyang witnessed with his own eyes that after the mouse ate it, it bled from its seven orifices and died.
A motherless child is like a blade of grass.
Not to mention, in the man-eating palace.
He walked on thin ice, calculated every step, and finally managed to grow up and win his imperial father's appreciation.
However, he still let his guard down and suffered a tragic misfortune.
He originally thought he could reach the peak, but was suddenly trampled into the mud.
He had once sent people to investigate, but the investigation ultimately pointed toward his imperial father.
The Prince of Pingyang was disheartened, and moreover, the imperial physician had pronounced his "death sentence."
Only then did he return to his fiefdom in despair.
He trusted no one but himself.
