As she turned the corner and passed a two-story building, that familiar sensation washed over her once more. Every cell in Song Jinzhao's body was vibrating with rapid intensity.
She quickly lifted her head, her gaze shooting like a sharp arrow toward the direction the malice emanated from.
A flowerpot fell from the sky, completely blocking Song Jinzhao's line of sight.
Tapping her toes lightly on the ground, she spun around and swiftly darted away from the spot, the hem of her fluttering skirt billowing out like a dancing, blooming pink lotus.
"Crash." The flowerpot smashed onto the ground, shattering into pieces. Dirt, branches, and leaves were scattered all over in a messy heap.
Before Liao Xiwen could react, Song Jinzhao dashed into the adjacent eatery in the blink of an eye.
"Guest, what would you like to... eat?" Before the approaching waiter could finish his words, Song Jinzhao turned into a phantom-like blur and disappeared up the staircase leading to the second floor.
He stopped in his tracks, blinking at the empty staircase. Did someone just pass by?
Song Jinzhao stood at the top of the stairs on the second floor. There were only six tables up there; three were empty, and the other three were occupied.
Faced with the girl who had suddenly rushed up, the dining guests looked over at her in confusion.
How did she shoot up here so fast? It was as if she had appeared out of thin air.
Her sharp eyes locked onto the person sitting at the very last table wearing a bamboo hat. He did not even take it off while eating and kept his head lowered. Very suspicious.
Song Jinzhao stepped forward and walked toward him.
The man swallowed uneasily. His hands, hidden beneath the table, were clenched tightly into fists. His palms began to sweat, and it was so quiet in his ears that he could only hear his own breathing and heartbeat.
How was her reaction so fast? She was not hurt either time, and she even discovered his presence.
Fair, slender yet strong fingers landed on the tabletop. The man suppressed his pounding heartbeat and looked up at Song Jinzhao.
Feigning astonishment, he blurted out, "Miss Song, is there something the matter?"
Song Jinzhao raised her eyebrows, increasingly certain that the man before her was the one who had been spying on her all along and had just tried to smash her with the flowerpot.
"How do you know my surname is Song?"
A drop of cold sweat slid down the man's temple.
He scratched his head with his hand and offered an unnatural compliment, "Miss Song's medical skills are famous throughout the entire Anyang Prefecture. Everyone knows you."
"Are you here to eat, Miss? There is an empty table right next to me," he said, pointing to the adjacent vacant table.
"Wang Zhong, why are you here?"
Liao Xiwen, who had caught up, walked to Song Jinzhao's side and stared at the man in surprise.
The man hastily stood up, stepped out, bowed his head respectfully, and called out, "Eldest Miss."
Song Jinzhao turned to look at her. "Miss Liao knows him?"
Liao Xiwen nodded. "Wang Zhong is a guard from my family."
"Why aren't you in the manor at this hour? What are you doing here?" she asked, staring at Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong replied, "Concubine Su ordered me to come out and buy roasted squab. I had just sat down when Dr. Song arrived."
Liao Xiwen looked around, frowning in confusion.
"You came here to buy roasted squab? Why didn't you go to the Haoyue Restaurant?"
Such a simple eatery definitely could not match the delicious flavors of the Haoyue Restaurant.
Wang Zhong: "Concubine Su said she was tired of eating from the Haoyue Restaurant and told me to buy from somewhere else, so I came here."
Song Jinzhao stared at the two of them with deep, dark eyes, a hidden gleam flickering in the depths of her pupils.
Haoyue Restaurant was the most famous restaurant in Anyang Prefecture. To be able to say she was tired of eating there meant this Concubine Su must have sent people out to buy food quite often.
With the legal wife still alive, a concubine could so easily dispatch the manor's guards, yet Liao Xiwen did not find it inappropriate at all. Concubine Su's status in the Liao manor must be quite extraordinary.
After hearing Wang Zhong's words, Liao Xiwen nodded to show she understood, then turned her head to ask Song Jinzhao, "Did you find the person who knocked over the flowerpot?"
The flowerpots on the second floor of the eatery were placed right on the windowsill. If someone accidentally bumped into them, the pots could easily fall.
Song Jinzhao neither nodded nor shook her head. Instead, with a half-smile, she said, "I didn't see anyone else after coming up here. Wang Zhong, did you see who knocked the flowerpot down?"
Wang Zhong's back was already half-soaked in sweat. His mouth twitched unnaturally. "This servant just arrived and didn't see either."
Song Jinzhao turned and walked toward the other two tables of dining guests, politely asking, "Gentlemen, a flowerpot just fell from the windowsill. Did any of you happen to see who pushed it off?"
The eyes of the four men revealed sixty percent confusion and forty percent bewilderment. They shook their heads and replied, "No idea, we didn't notice."
The windowsill was behind them, and they were too busy keeping their heads down and eating to notice if anyone had passed by behind them.
Wang Zhong breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.
Liao Xiwen stomped her foot and frowned, saying, "They must have seen the flowerpot almost hit someone and ran away out of fear of taking responsibility."
Song Jinzhao rolled her eyes inwardly in speechlessness. From the moment the flowerpot fell to when she rushed up to the second floor, not even three seconds had passed. How could the other party run away that fast?
Even if they had run, she would have bumped into them on the stairs, but the stairs had been empty.
Unless someone jumped directly from the second floor, the perpetrator was undoubtedly Wang Zhong.
The question was, why did he attack her?
They had no grudges, no enmity, and had never even met before. Thinking of the accident that had just occurred at the wonton stall, Song Jinzhao could not help but connect the two incidents.
A concubine? A legal wife?
The only connection was probably that Liao Xiwen had invited her to the Liao manor today to examine her mother.
Twelve miscarriages, a mix of natural and accidental losses. It seemed the situation was far from as simple as she had described.
Song Jinzhao cast a meaningful glance at Wang Zhong, then spoke to Liao Xiwen, "If we can't find them, we'll leave it for now. It is getting late, so let's head to your manor as quickly as possible."
To be capable of injuring and killing someone just to prevent her from conducting a medical consultation, one could well imagine that there was definitely something suspicious about Liao Xiwen's mother's illness, and it was inextricably linked to Concubine Su.
Wang Zhong watched the three people walk away. His shoe soles felt glued to the spot, unable to move a single step for a long time.
Her gaze just now clearly showed she was suspicious. If he made another move, he would definitely be caught.
The mission was not completed. What should he do now?
Wang Zhong hurriedly called the waiter to pack a roasted squab, grabbed it, and hastily took a detour toward the back door of the Liao manor.
On the way, Song Jinzhao asked, "Does Concubine Su have any children?"
Liao Xiwen nodded, biting her lip as a trace of disappointment surfaced on her face. "My eldest brother, Liao Tingjun, was born to Concubine Su. He was born just a quarter of an hour before me. My mother has always been very disappointed that I am not a boy."
Song Jinzhao's grip on her medicine chest's shoulder strap tightened. "Does your father have any other children?"
Liao Xiwen shook her head. "Concubine Su is just like my mother. After giving birth to my eldest brother, she got pregnant three times and miscarried each time. After that, she never conceived again. The doctor said the three miscarriages damaged her body, making pregnancy difficult."
Song Jinzhao shifted her gaze forward. Adding them up, there had been a total of fifteen miscarriages in a single manor. Those who didn't know better would think this was the Emperor's inner palace, given the sheer number of miscarriages.
She continued to probe, "How many concubines does your father have in total, and have they ever miscarried?"
Liao Xiwen smiled and said, "My father only has one concubine, Concubine Su. She is my father's distant cousin. If it weren't for the fact that she was newly widowed and all her relatives had passed away, leaving her with no one to rely on, my father wouldn't have married her."
Song Jinzhao blinked, a stunned expression crossing her face.
Newly widowed? Could she have killed her own husband?
Because of the detour, both parties entered the Liao manor almost right on each other's heels.
Liao Xiwen led Song Jinzhao straight to Madam Liao's courtyard in the backyard for a medical consultation, while Wang Zhong sprinted toward Concubine Su's courtyard, panting heavily.
Seeing him running over, the maidservant hastily stepped aside to let him into the room.
Reclining on an arhat bed covered with a sheepskin rug was a woman of rather bewitching beauty.
The corners of her eyes slanted upward slightly like a fox's tail, and her delicate oval face was powdered with bright red blush. A purple gauze sash accentuated her soft, seemingly boneless waist, making it look even more slender and alluring.
"Is the matter settled?" Even her voice carried a lilting upward inflection at the end.
Wang Zhong rested his hands on his knees and knelt before her. He kept his head bowed, but from the corners of his eyes, his upward gaze remained fixed on the woman.
"Song Jinzhao is agile and highly vigilant. This humble servant used a trick to spook the horse, but not only was she completely unharmed, she also saved the Eldest Miss. I almost got caught trying to smash her with a flower pot. Now, she has already entered the manor."
Concubine Su lowered her legs from the bed. As she stood up, a cold light glinted in her slender eyes.
"Is she currently with the Old Madam, or at the Spring Water Courtyard?"
Wang Zhong kept his head down and remained silent.
A maidservant walked into the room from outside. "To answer Concubine, the Eldest Miss took her directly to the Spring Water Courtyard."
"Useless trash!"
A teacup from the table was hurled at Wang Zhong's shoulder, bringing with it a strong, pungent fragrance.
Outside, the bright sun beat down in broad daylight, yet the Spring Water Courtyard felt like a pool of stagnant water. Upon entering, everyone kept their heads bowed in silence.
When they saw Liao Xiwen, they merely curtsied, breathed out a faint "Eldest Miss," and then silently retreated with their brooms and rags.
The doors to the main room and the two side chambers were shut tight. Two maidservants stood on either side of the entrance like ghosts, as if they were barely even breathing.
Liao Xiwen whispered, "Ever since my mother suffered a miscarriage, she hasn't been able to tolerate loud noises. She refuses to see anyone or leave her room. Over time, the servants in the courtyard have become like this."
Song Jinzhao scanned the tightly sealed room. It was so suffocating that even if someone didn't already harbor a death wish, they would be stifled to death by this oppressive environment.
It would be better to throw a massive tantrum and vent all those emotions.
Liao Xiwen waved her hand to dismiss the servants, slowly pushed the door open, and brought only Song Jinzhao inside.
A foul, bloody stench immediately assaulted their faces. Song Jinzhao furrowed her brows as she surveyed the lit candles in the room.
With the windows shut, no ventilation, and no sunlight, who knew how severe the bacteria buildup was. A person with a weak immune system could fall ill just by staying here for an extra day.
"Mother, I've brought Miss Song to see you," Liao Xiwen said softly to the woman lying in bed.
A face so pale it was almost transparent met Song Jinzhao's eyes. The blood vessels on her neck were clearly visible, as if she were merely draped in a layer of human skin.
Her dull, unfocused pupils didn't shift in the slightest at Liao Xiwen's call. She looked like a soulless zombie clinging to her last breath.
Seeing that Madam Liao remained unresponsive, Liao Xiwen signaled with her eyes for Song Jinzhao to approach.
Placing her medical box on the table and opening it, she took out a pulse pillow and walked toward the bed. The closer she got, the heavier the stench became.
The lochia from her miscarriage had likely never been fully cleared, and it had been over a month.
She reached out to take the woman's emaciated wrist. It was truly nothing but bone, with only the thinnest layer of skin left.
Her fragile neck turned mechanically outward, and her pale, unfocused eyes landed on Song Jinzhao. She lay motionless, allowing Song Jinzhao to do as she pleased.
Seeing Song Jinzhao begin to check the pulse, Liao Xiwen parted her tightly pressed red lips and slowly exhaled the breath she had been holding in her chest.
She unclenched the fists hanging by her sides and wiped the sweat from her palms against her thighs.
Even though her mother hadn't said a word to refuse when she suggested bringing Song Jinzhao for a consultation, she had been terrified that her mother would chase the doctor out once she arrived.
Thankfully, she didn't lose her temper today and seemed fairly cooperative.
Song Jinzhao frowned. The situation was much more severe than she had anticipated.
Her limbs were freezing, her spleen and stomach were failing. Consumed by excessive grief, her liver and kidneys were congested, and her depletion of qi and blood was exceptionally critical.
Her pulse was extremely weak. Without careful touch, it seemed to vanish several times in between, barely there at all. It was the undeniable sign of a lamp running out of oil.
She looked up at Liao Xiwen. "Has the patient not been taking any of the medicine prescribed by the previous doctors?"
Liao Xiwen nodded. "She drank it for a few days at the beginning, but later..."
She squinted meaningfully. "...she stopped taking it."
All the doctors who came to see her said she could never bear children again. Since she no longer wanted her body to recover, she naturally stopped taking the medicine.
"What does she eat every day? A bowl of watery white congee?"
She was reduced to skin and bones; it was worse than being on an IV drip.
Liao Xiwen glanced toward the door.
The closed door blocked the view of the maidservants standing outside.
"Just the thin layer of rice water skimming the top of the congee. She can only manage half a bowl per meal."
Song Jinzhao stood up to fetch a pair of gloves from her medical box.
No wonder she was so weak. A bowl of rice water a day, let alone a grown adult, even an infant couldn't survive on that.
The fact that she hadn't starved to death was a testament to her sheer tenacity.
Putting on the gloves, Song Jinzhao walked back to the bed and said calmly, "Madam Liao, I am going to examine your lower body now. Tell me if it hurts anywhere."
She drew the bed curtains. Just as her hand grasped the blanket, Madam Liao's hand, as thin as a chicken claw, blocked Song Jinzhao's wrist.
Her throat sounded as if it had been half-severed by a knife, so hoarse it seemed to leak air.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Kong Wanru knew better than anyone the condition of her lower body hidden beneath the covers.
It was too filthy to be seen, and the stench disgusted even herself, it was practically no different from a cesspit.
Lifting the blanket meant exposing her most wretched state to another person, trampling her dignity. It was no different from dying on the spot.
Song Jinzhao did not let go. Holding her ground, she said in a deep voice, "Madam, you are not even afraid of death, yet you are afraid of being seen by me?"
"In the eyes of a healer, there is no distinction between men and women. Furthermore, I am a female doctor. You can set your mind at ease."
Kong Wanru stared into Song Jinzhao's eyes with a deathly pale face. The hand resting on her wrist trembled incessantly, as if she were about to use up whatever little strength she had left just to keep it raised.
"Can you cure my illness and allow me to conceive and safely give birth to a child?"
Song Jinzhao gritted her teeth. She desperately wanted to ask her: was a woman born solely for the purpose of bearing children?
Would she die if she didn't have a child?
Having one wasn't enough; she had to have another.
If she couldn't give birth to a son, would she keep trying until menopause, only stopping when she was completely bereft of the ability to reproduce?!
But she also knew there was no reasoning with these ancient people. Their mindsets had been rigidly molded since childhood. Especially for someone like Madam Liao, the toxic brainwashing ran too deep to ever be undone.
"If you don't let me examine you, Madam, how will I know if you can still be saved?"
Kong Wanru's gaze shifted to Liao Xiwen's face. "Xiwen, step outside."
Liao Xiwen bit her cherry-red lips until the skin peeled. After a moment of hesitation, she pulled the door open, stepped outside, and closed it behind her.
