BLPSG Chapter 19: Xie Bufeng's indifference

A piece of skin fell off the third prince’s elbow, and there was a lot of dust on it, making him look quite pitiful.

In this era, most people didn’t have the concept of “disinfection,” but Wen Qingci was particularly concerned about it.

He took out a bottle of special medicinal wine from his medicine box, soaked some cotton in it, and then gently disinfected the area around the third prince’s wound.

“Sss… Ouch, it hurts!” The young prince’s eyes were filled with tears, and his arm trembled along with his voice, lacking confidence, “What is this?! Wen, Wen Qingci, are you deliberately trying to harm me?!”

After the previous incident, the third prince harbored both hatred and fear towards Wen Qingci.

As he spoke, he subconsciously avoided the other’s movements.

“If the wound is not cleaned in time, it is very likely to become infected,” Wen Qingci continued to clean the wound for the third prince as if he had not noticed the prince’s reaction, explaining lightly.

The third prince was stunned. “…What did you say?”

Wen Qingci realized only after speaking that the concept of “infection” didn’t exist in traditional medicine.

He didn’t know how to explain, so he simply smiled gently and didn’t say anything.

Seeing this, the third prince became even more convinced that Wen Qingci was harboring resentment and deliberately targeting him.

“…Where is Imperial Physician Yu Guanlin? Bring him over to treat my wound,” the young prince looked around, searching for the figure of the old imperial physician.

In the end, he even tried to salvage his dignity: “I… I just want to find someone familiar with my injuries to come over.”

At these words, the people around them all changed their expressions.

Changing physicians at this point was undoubtedly humiliating for the imperial physician. Could Wen Qingci tolerate it?

As the young prince stubbornly spoke, Wen Qingci accidentally touched him, and the prince felt as if the other party was going to kill him with just a touch, trembling uncontrollably here.

Wen Qingci pretended not to see and smiled lightly, saying, “Such a minor injury doesn’t require bothering Physician Yu.”

“I want to change the imperial physician, do I need other people’s permission?” The third prince was disgusted and frightened, and as he spoke, his voice became a little louder.

The second prince, who had been standing by, didn’t know when he had looked over. Hearing this, he, who was already impatient, finally glared at Xie Yinshang fiercely, warning through gritted teeth, “Stop making a fuss, be quiet!”

“Oh… okay…” The third prince seemed to finally remember where he was, and closed his mouth awkwardly, even his screams of pain were a little quieter.

Wen Qingci has always been a person who is too lazy to argue with children.

Moreover, after the third prince’s fall, he had just been rescued from Ge Dejiao’s clutches. He was grateful and had no time for resentment.

After the third prince calmed down, Wen Qingci applied medicine to his wound and then wrapped a bandage around the young prince’s arm.

His movements were skilled and extremely careful, without any intention of personal revenge.

Focused on treating the wound, Wen Qingci didn’t notice.

Standing nearby, the second prince, Xie Bufeng, was also observing himself.

The eunuchs around Xie Bufeng were always ready to comply with his requests, holding this prince high in their hands.

After meeting in the Ninghe Hall that day, the people around the second prince had collected all the rumors about Wen Qingci, true or false, and told him all about it.

Whether it was the common rumors like “using medicine and poison together” and “a demonic face,” or the outrageous rumors like dissecting corpses at the mass grave, the second prince had heard them all.

During this time, Wen Qingci had presented the Fuxuan Flower Pill to the Emperor and became the highest Imperial Physician.

Everyone in Yongdu praised him as a divine physician.

…So what kind of person was he?

Unconsciously, the second prince became interested in those rumors.

“Alright, Your Highness,” Wen Qingci stood up straight again, putting the remaining bandages back in the medicine box while patiently instructing, “It’s just a superficial wound. Remember not to get the wound wet.”

The third prince immediately pulled his hand back, wishing to be as far away from this court physician as possible.

Wen Qingci smiled lightly, seeming indifferent.

“By the way, during the recovery period, remember to remind Your Highness to eat less spicy and stimulating food,” as he left, he reminded the little eunuch next to the third prince before returning to his original position.

The people around silently assessed Wen Qingci, finally withdrawing their gaze.

“…The third prince brought a trap into the palace and caused a big mess, even His Majesty is disgusted with him, yet Wen Qingci still treated his wound so carefully?” Some people whispered among themselves, “Didn’t Physician Yu Guanlin, that old fox, refuse to come over even pretending to be someone else?”

“Not to mention, the third prince’s attitude is simply looking for trouble. If I were Wen Qingci, I would just refuse to treat him and wouldn’t care if he was injured or not!”

“…I heard that Wen Qingci is also quite good to the Crown Prince.”

“So what does he really want?”

The person across shrugged and casually replied, “Who knows? Probably he just doesn’t care about these things at all.”

The voices of the few people were not loud, but they all fell into Xie Bufeng’s ears.

The speaker had no intention, but the listener did.

The young prince clenched his lips tightly, and a rare sense of confusion appeared in his amber eyes.

Wen Qingci was always full of pity, without resentment or anger.

His gentleness was somewhat excessive.

Even in the face of Xie Yinshang’s almost blatant provocations, he remained indifferent.

…Such excessive gentleness, isn’t it also a form of indifference and danger?

He had almost been captivated by him, sinking into this icy cold pond filled with surging undercurrents.

“In this era of saintly reign, we build altars with soil to worship the heavens, to repay the heavens’ grace! To comfort the sages and express kindness…” The voice of the Minister of Rites echoed throughout the Yishan.

The auspicious time for the ground worship had not yet arrived. According to the arrangements of the Ministry of Rites, the group first went to the “Zhongxian Temple” at the foot of the mountain to pay homage to the meritorious officials and scholars.

Unlike the worship of the heavens, concubines and noblewomen also went there together.

The ceremony was held in the temple, with Wen Qingci and Yu Guanlin following behind and entering together.

《Supporting the Ming Hall》 had briefly mentioned the Zhongxian Temple, but Wen Qingci only learned upon arrival that it was not an ordinary building, but a giant group of grottoes carved out of the mountains.

Zhongxian Temple began construction in the tenth year of Tianchu and was completed only last year, with a construction period of fifteen years.

The caves were about ten meters high, filled with murals and sculptures.

The sound of bells and drums reverberated in the grottoes.

The place where Wen Qingci stood was filled with turbulent waves.

A burst of blue surged towards him, and for a moment, he felt as if he would be swallowed by the tide in the next second.

The overall style of the Zhongxian Temple was magnificent and bold, unlike any other building in this era.

If it weren’t for coming here, Wen Qingci wouldn’t have known that the current emperor still had such artistic pursuits.

In a few thousand years, the Zhongxian Temple would definitely become a famous attraction in this world.

Thinking of this, Wen Qingci couldn’t help but look up a few more times.

“This mural depicts the Yinchuan Grand Canal, physician Wen should be familiar with it,” seeing him looking up, Yu Guanlin enthusiastically introduced, “Oh, right. The statues in front are the father and brother of Empress Lan, and behind them are the workers from that year.”

Having said this, the old physician still sighed with emotion: “These are all the heroes who built the canal——”

Wen Qingci quickly moved his eyes away from the mural, followed what Yu Guanlin pointed, and looked towards the statue.

Consort Lan’s father and brother?

Hearing that the statue was related to the heroine, Wen Qingci immediately became energetic.

No wonder these two characters are not mentioned in “Supporting the Ming Hall”… It turns out that they have died long ago!

Wen Qingci now feels that traveling with a talkative person is quite meaningful.

After speaking, he followed the crowd and continued to move forward slowly.

Wait a minute, he hadn’t said how they died yet!

Wen Qingci paused and couldn’t help but ask, “So these two gentlemen…”

As if guessing what Wen Qingci wanted to ask, Yu Guanlin smiled and interrupted him, “Empress Lan’s father was originally the Minister of Works, and he was in charge of the initial design and construction of the Yinchuan Grand Canal. As for her brother…” Yu Guanlin sighed slightly with regret, “He was mainly responsible for building the Chen Mausoleum and died from overwork, unrelated to the canal.”

“So…” Wen Qingci nodded lightly.

He saw from a distance that Empress Lan, dressed in luxurious attire, bowed deeply to the two sculptures with the support of her eunuch.

Her expression was solemn, with a hint of sadness.

“Consort Lan, my lord and young master have already ascended to paradise early, you must not be too sad…” Ming Liu comforted softly, reminding her, “Today’s Feng Shan, you must not show too much grief in front of His Majesty.”

The fire in the temple was dimly lit, casting a shadow over her eyes, and for a moment, the colorful murals behind her seemed to have a somewhat eerie feeling.

Empress Lan looked deeply at the sculptures, gritted her teeth, and said, “Let’s go.” Only then did she allow Ming Liu to support her as she bowed her head and walked away.

This scene happened to fall into Wen Qingci’s eyes.

He paused for a moment and looked away.

…What did Empress Lan just think of that made her show such a gaze?

Xie Bufeng’s eyes were inherited from Empress Lan.

Her gaze, which had never been cold, made Wen Qingci subconsciously think of Xie Bufeng and search for the young man’s figure in the crowd.

Through the curling purple smoke of the incense burner.

Their eyes met in mid-air.

Wen Qingci paused for a moment, then slowly smiled at Xie Bufeng, as if greeting him.

But he didn’t expect that the next moment, the young man would coldly avert his gaze, completely ignoring his existence.

Xie Bufeng was full of guard and indifference, even more so than when they first met.

The author has something to say:

The northwest wind is cool today, all the tears shed will be laughter tomorrow.