Dingbei Hou's doctor brother

Chapter 125 Strange

Dongchang Prison.

A jailer carried food to the cell for the most seriously ill prisoners. Without opening the door, he threw the wilted vegetables and rice in through the cell bars.

"It's time to eat!"

After the jailer left, the man lying on the haystack in a dark corner slowly moved.

His hair was messy, and he stood up unsteadily and walked out of the dark corner.

It’s Lin Yi!

There were red marks on his face from being whipped. He squatted in front of the food to take a look and yelled at the people walking outside.

"Hey! This food is rotten. Is it suitable for human consumption?"

After a while, the sound of keys jingling approached, and the jailer came over and scolded.

"You're a death row inmate, so why would you care whether the food is rotten or not? It's good enough to have something to eat. You won't starve to death. If you want to eat good food, you'll be on the verge of death."

After he finished speaking, he gave Lin Yi a blank look and left. Lin Yi sat on the ground with his head down to eat.

After a while, footsteps were heard approaching from afar.

The person standing in front of the cell door was not the jailer in blue clothes, but a man in green official robes.

Lin Yi slowly looked up, "...Lu Ziqing!"

Lu Ziqing had no expression on his face as he stood outside the prison door and looked down at him.

"What are you doing here?" Lin Yi threw away the bowl and stood up suddenly, saying angrily: "I have no grudge against you, why are you trying to harm me?"

"No grudges or hatred?" Lu Ziqing tilted the corner of his mouth, smiled, and began to count them carefully.

"The entire Imperial Hospital teamed up to exclude me. It's all your fault, right? Knowing that the Concubine Chen was domineering and loved to make things difficult for the palace maids, they deliberately asked me to deliver the medicine. As expected, I got slapped twice."

"You borrowed my prescription to curry favor with Consort Chen, but you didn't forget to tell her about my close relationship with Marquis Dingbei, hoping to use her to kill me."

"But unfortunately, I didn't die even after spitting out those mouthfuls of blood. I grew up in a dirty mud pit, so I was born with a tough life."

He glanced at Lin Yi coldly.

"The Queen Mother's prescription. Wu Ji was framed and nearly killed. All of this was caused by you. How can there be no grudges or hatred?"

"You..." Lin Yi was panicked and suddenly took a step back, looking surprised: "How come you..."

"How should I know, right?" Lu Ziqing stared at him.

"Lord Lin is quite a clever man. He should choose the right place next time to plot something so important. There are so many people in the palace. Oh? No, there won't be a next time."

Lin Yi's thoughts flashed through his mind, and he remembered the conversation with Hongxiu in the corridor that day.

He immediately raised his eyelids with an expression of self-reproach and self-loathing.

"It was you that day? So you'd already discovered it and deliberately used the prescription to lure me in. You..."

He suddenly threw himself onto the railing, staring at Lu Ziqing with regret and unwillingness, and gnashed his teeth.

"I didn't expect that I would be trapped here and fall into your trap."

"It seems like I'm the one who should be saying this," Lu Ziqing said. "I'm new to the Imperial Hospital and have no grudge against you. Yet you hate me so much. I've been so sincere to you."

Lin Yi stopped pretending, staring at the cold face in front of him and laughing fiercely.

"Don't you see your true identity? A mere itinerant doctor, how can you climb up to the rich and powerful so easily? It took me more than ten years to go from a medical assistant to an imperial physician, and you..."

He gnashed his teeth and said, "In less than three months, you've already become a clerk. How did you manage to climb faster than me?"

"Just because..."

Lu Ziqing tilted his head, his eyes cold, and suddenly reached out to grab his neck, slowly exerting force, and spoke in a low voice.

"I'm more capable than you, but you can't compare to me in every way. You become jealous, and this is what happens."

The grip increased in strength, Lin Yi's face flushed red, he couldn't breathe, and he used both hands to dig hard at the hand on his neck.

At this moment, he suddenly felt as if he had never known this person before. He was completely different from the usual Lu Ziqing who was always smiling, humble and respectful.

Before reaching the execution ground, he felt the fear of death in advance.

The cell was quiet.

From a distance, it looked like two people were whispering to each other with their heads close together. Everything was so quiet and there was no clue.

Lin Yi gritted his teeth, his eyes almost bleeding with hatred, staring at the person who was very close to him, only to hear a hint of ruthlessness in the seemingly calm voice.

"Don't worry, I don't have to kill you myself. I just want to tell you not to look down on people of lower status. If you're not careful, you might fall into the hands of such people. Wouldn't it make you hate them even more when you think about it?"

Lu Ziqing shook him off.

Lin Yi staggered a few steps, covered his neck and coughed several times.

After he recovered, he spat fiercely to the side and a sinister smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"There is one thing I really want to tell you. You must come on the day of my execution. Remember, bring a pot of wine with you."

Lu Ziqing walked out of the prison and saw Xiao Yan standing at the bottom of the stairs with his hands behind his back.

His face was as gentle as before, and he walked forward. Before he got close to anyone, Xiao Yan turned around.

"So fast?"

Lu Ziqing said "hmm", "Thank you, my Lord."

"It's a small matter." Xiao Yan said as he led the horse for him.

Too hospital.

As Lu Ziqing walked across the corridor, he met several old imperial doctors who greeted him with a smile.

"Oh, Doctor Lu is back." said Doctor Wang.

"Imperial Physician Lu has been incredibly busy these past few days," Imperial Physician Sun continued. "He's taking care of Concubine Chun's pregnancy, and he's also running around the palace. It's been incredibly tiring."

Imperial Physician Shen: "Imperial Physician Lu has been promoted repeatedly over the past six months. This is truly cause for celebration."

"........."

Such courtesy and hospitality had never happened before, but it started after Lu Ziqing was promoted to imperial physician.

"Thank you for your congratulations, sir." He smiled and said, "The emperor is busy with state affairs all day long, that's what we call hard work. As imperial physicians, we should do our best to serve our master, and we dare not say that we are tired."

Several people were embarrassed and speechless for a moment, only to hear Lu Ziqing continue speaking.

"I have things to do, so I won't chat with the adults for now."

He bowed politely and left, and then saw Doctor Wang scowl and curse in a low voice.

"What kind of person is this? You're so arrogant just because you were promoted to imperial physician?"

Doctor Sun: "That's right. Even if a pheasant is covered in the skin of a phoenix, it's still a pheasant inside. It's not presentable."

Doctor Shen: "However, this guy really should not be underestimated. Before, Lu Quan was eliminated, and now Lin Yi is gone."

"Speaking of Lin Yi, do you feel there is something strange?" Doctor Li asked suspiciously.

"How to say?"

Doctor Li stroked his beard. "That birthday night involved Consort Chen, and Lin Yi even pointed fingers at Lu Ziqing. He didn't look like he was faking it."

"What do you mean?" Doctor Shen asked, "Are you saying that this might have been a deliberate plot by Lu Ziqing?"

"What else?" Doctor Li analyzed.

"The Concubine pointed at Lin Yi, and Lin Yi pointed at Lu Ziqing. So, one was banished to the cold palace, and the other was sentenced to death. But Lu Ziqing was promoted, and suddenly both were demoted. This is too much of a coincidence."

"Hearing you put it, it seems to make sense." Doctor Shen glanced in the direction of the office and walked slowly with his hands behind his back.

"He's able to be on par with us in such a short time. This person is truly extraordinary."

Doctor Li: "What do you think? If he continues at this rate, will the position of the judge be lost?"

A few people were walking along the corridor, whispering to each other. The door on the side just happened to open, and Gou Dongxi walked out with a dark face.

As soon as Lu Ziqing entered the office, he saw Chi Musheng carrying a medicine box and talking to him.

"You're back just in time. The Duke's Mansion has sent someone to see me. I need to rush to the palace. Please go in my place."