She thought of everyone except herself.
She didn’t skyrocket to power.
She only took the position of a Seventh-Rank Inner Court Physician.
She still lived in the remote, humble courtyard of Mu’en Hall, drawing a salary of no more than forty taels a year…
When treating commoners, her consultation fee was only two copper plates.
Why two copper plates?
Because charging only one would have her colleagues cursing her for taking away their livelihoods…
She even thought of her colleagues who cursed her, refusing to insist on a low fee and cut off their income.
A person like this, a living Buddha descended to earth, was targeted for assassination by the noble families in league with the Fenglin Guards!?
Marquis Wuding and Marquis Dingyuan didn’t dare imagine what kind of storm would erupt when His Majesty found out.
The three noble families Shen Yu had named wouldn’t escape no matter what.
Under normal circumstances, these noble families could still use their connections with various factions to maneuver.
Even if they were left with no retreat, they could cut off a limb to survive, at least sparing their foundations.
But now, Shen Yu was lying here covered in blood.
She had faced danger twice in just a few days, and this time her fate was unknown.
Right now, even if Shen Yu pointed her finger at a dog, that dog would be minced into meat paste by the Empress and thrown into the sea to feed the fish.
“Yun Wei… Yun Wei… the vaccine… the vaccine… save the people…”
Shen Yu’s voice grew weaker and weaker, her consciousness seeming to grow more and more muddled.
She could only tremble her lips and repeat those words.
“Shen Yu! Shen Yu!”
“Yun Wei…”
“Imperial Physician! Someone call an Imperial Physician! If anything happens to Shen Yu…”
Suddenly, a figure in a vermilion dragon robe appeared at the entrance of Mu’en Hall.
The crowd was startled at the sight of the figure, then immediately knelt in unison.
“Your Majesty!”
“Where is Minister Shen? How is she?”
The Empress’s usually calm and stern face was filled with anxiety.
Her dragon robe bore traces of rain.
Her imperial carriage had just stopped outside Mu’en Hall’s small courtyard, and she had rushed in without even waiting for a eunuch to hold an umbrella for her.
As soon as she entered, she saw Shen Yu unconscious in Yun Wei’s arms.
But she was still mechanically repeating a single sentence:
“Vaccine… vaccine… save the people…”
Though her voice was weak, in the deathly silent Mu’en Hall, everyone present heard it clearly.
“Your Majesty…”
Yun Wei was in tears, her voice full of grievance.
Her cry struck the Empress like a bolt of lightning.
“Call the Imperial Physicians! Get them here right now! If they can’t cure Minister Shen, I’ll have the entire Imperial Academy of Medicine buried with her!”
“Who did this? Have you found out?”
In truth, the Empress had seen the Fenglin Guards lying in a pool of blood the moment she entered.
But she suppressed her rage and listened to the two marquises explain the chain of events.
And the words Shen Yu had uttered before losing consciousness, especially the names of those three noble families.
“This is an outrage! Yao Huan! Get in here!”
“Yes! Your Majesty!”
Yao Huan rushed in as soon as she heard, ignoring the debris and broken porcelain scattered on the floor.
Her legs gave way, and she fell to her knees with a thud.
“Yao Huan, here is an order for you. Investigate the Fenglin Guards thoroughly. Anyone with even the slightest connection to those three families, or who has taken their silver… will have their entire family executed and their head hung at the city gate!”
“Yes! Your servant understands! I will go immediately!”
Yao Huan pressed her forehead to the ground, her voice trembling.
Traitors appearing within the Fenglin Guards who colluded with the noble families was an insult to Imperial Power and a desecration of the Fenglin Guard identity.
Yao Huan could only pray that the Fenglin Guards who had colluded with the noble families weren’t under her command, or His Majesty would pin the charge of negligence on her.
“Your Majesty, there is also… Marquis Wuding and Marquis Dingyuan here, requesting permission to lead the Capital Garrison to surround those three families’ mansions and have them submit to justice.”
“If they resist, they will be beheaded on the spot. Show no mercy.”
The Empress’s voice was cold.
She did not even call Yao Huan to her feet.
The Emperor who normally kept her temper hidden now seemed like a long-dormant dragon suddenly awakened, and by the most offensive way imaginable…
That seething rage was enough to incinerate everything in the world.
This net-pulling Morning Duty Roll Call, bought by Shen Yu with her life, was enough to drag these three noble families into the abyss, from which they would never, ever recover.
***
When Shen Yu opened her eyes, the sky was already growing light.
Her body was wrapped in bandages.
Yin Qiu was sleeping soundly beside her bed, her little hand still gripping Shen Yu’s thumb tightly, as if afraid Shen Yu would disappear.
Shen Yu looked around.
This place looked familiar, like a side hall of the Yangxin Hall, the Empress’s favorite retreat.
The decor was luxurious, exuding an air of opulence everywhere.
It was the Emperor’s favorite place, after all.
A bit of luxury was normal.
“It still hurts quite a bit.”
Shen Yu touched her bloodstained bandages.
The wound on her shoulder was especially obvious.
There were several other wounds, large and small, looking quite shocking.
But she wasn’t as weak as she had been when she was lying in Yun Wei’s arms.
Instead, she seemed clear-headed and energetic.
It was just that moving her body pulled at her wounds, making her gasp.
Because only Shen Yu, who was skilled in surgical knowledge and had accumulated over a decade of clinical experience with Su Lianyue, understood that while these wounds looked gruesome, not a single one was fatal.
Some wounds were so cunningly placed that even a battle-hardened, veteran killer would gasp and declare, “This person is hopeless!”
Everything from last night had been a trap laid by Shen Yu.
She had aimed to achieve exactly this effect.
“The noble families want my life, and they even want Yin Qiu’s life. Those bastards absolutely cannot be allowed to live.”
Shen Yu looked at Yin Qiu, who was lying by her bed and had clearly fallen asleep from exhaustion after staying up all night to watch over her.
Her eyes were full of affection.
That little girl had been through so much yesterday.
To save her, she had not only gone to Marquis Wuding and Marquis Dingyuan for help, but also to the Shuntian Prefecture Office.
She had even gathered the courage to beat the Emperor’s Petition Drum.
Even Shen Yu was surprised.
Just how much courage and perseverance had this little girl unleashed to protect her?
This made Shen Yu love the little girl even more.
Shen Yu knew she was sacrificing herself into the game.
The Empress probably knew too.
The Grand Princess… was likely aware as well, right?
She must be hopping mad with worry right now.
After all, in her identity as Miss Xiaoyue, she couldn’t stay by Shen Yu’s bedside like Yin Qiu and wait for her to wake up.
When Shen Yu was pretending to be unconscious yesterday, she had heard her constantly asking the Imperial Physicians outside the hall, “Is Shen Yu awake? Is Shen Yu awake? Is Shen Yu awake yet?”
Her adorable reaction had nearly made Shen Yu break character several times.
Luckily, she had taken the medicine her mother gave her beforehand, entering a half-dead state, or she really would have laughed out loud.
That was why Shen Yu said she probably knew.
Only Yin Qiu, this poor little girl, truly thought her home was about to be broken.
Her reaction was something that caught Shen Yu completely off guard.
Even Shen Yu herself wondered if she could have been as brave as Yin Qiu in the same situation.
The Petition Drum was something established during the reigns of the Founding Emperor and Emperor Taizong, placed at the entrance of the Imperial Palace for commoners to beat directly and appeal to the Emperor.
It hadn’t been sounded in nearly two hundred years…
And now that it had rung, the news of Shen Yu’s assassination was naturally spreading through every street and alley in the capital.
The three noble families Shen Yu had named must be wishing they were dead at this very moment…
Kidnapping and killing the nation’s prestige, colluding with the Fenglin Guards, assassinating a high-ranking court official, assassinating the Medical Recruitment Exam top scholar, vandalizing the heart of the Son of Heaven’s domain—Mu’en Hall—twice.
Which one of these charges wouldn’t result in the execution of nine generations?
This was textbook rebellion!
As for how Shen Yu knew the ones who wanted to harm her were those three noble families?
Shen Yu actually didn’t know…
Her biological mother, Su Lian Yue’s spies, had told her.
They had also taught Shen Yu the method of sacrificing herself into the game, using an open conspiracy to completely wipe out the three noble families.
After all, if Shen Yu wanted to establish herself in the Imperial Court to cover for Qingfeng Village, the noble families standing in her way absolutely could not be left alive!
Both the Fenglin Guards and the noble families’ thugs had been killed by Su Lianyue’s spies.
To simulate the style of Shen Yu’s work, all of them had been killed with a single cut to the throat using Shen Yu’s surgical knives.
Then, the spies had collected the murder weapons, leaving absolutely no trace behind.
To an outside observer, it looked like Shen Yu had fought back, sustained severe injuries, and barely managed to kill her assailants using the sharp knives meant for healing.
This embellishment added a layer of dramatic color to the image of a good person whose time was not yet up.
As for the matter of the surgical knives, Marquis Wuding would testify to their sharpness and Shen Yu’s exquisite surgical skill.
With the scalpel Shen Yu had made herself, completing such a counter-kill in extreme danger was hardly an impossible task.
Everything made perfect sense.
And Shen Yu, sacrificing herself into the game, had stabbed herself dozens of times in non-vital areas with the surgical knife and swallowed the mildly toxic poison Su Weiyue had given her, perfectly completing the grand performance.
Spit it out.
That’s what Shen Yu wanted.
Shen Yu herself had never had a filter for the Emperor, let alone for those noble families.
Anyway, the ones who should be scared were scared.
The one who should be crying wasn’t her.
Time to cover up with the comforter and get some more sleep!
Thinking this, Shen Yu simply scooped up little Yinqiu, who was kneeling by her bed, onto the bed.
“Mmm… sister, don’t go… I’ll trade my life for my sister’s…”
Yin Qiu murmured in her sleep, having a nightmare.
“Silly girl, you’ve been through so much. Sister isn’t going anywhere. Don’t be afraid.”
After speaking to Yin Qiu, Shen Yu looked around the luxurious side hall.
This bed was much more comfortable than the hard cot in Mu’en Hall.
Shen Yu settled Yin Qiu beside her, gently hugged her, yawned, closed her eyes again, and drifted back to sleep.
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