Su Qing felt the pulse transmitted back through the silver threads... and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow slightly.
A moment later, she let out a cold sneer in her heart.
She felt like she was truly wasting her time. She should have known it would be like this!
The Emperor’s pulse was exactly as she had expected—perfect. In fact, it was much better than she had anticipated.
His pulse was exceptionally steady and powerful. He didn't look like he was suffering from any illness at all. Not only was he healthy, but he was also healthy to an almost absurd degree, possessing the pulse of someone who had cultivated the martial arts.
This was why Su Qing sneered inwardly.
However, despite her utter speechlessness, she wasn't particularly surprised. This was a result she had long foreseen.
The Emperor’s complexion looked excellent, showing no signs of being tormented by pain or disease. Furthermore, when asked to describe his symptoms, the man had been unwilling to speak. Su Qing had already anticipated this outcome.
Still, she was frustrated. She was vexed about how to deal with this emperor who clearly had a mental screw loose.
After all, this Emperor was quite difficult to handle.
Su Qing pondered for a moment, then shifted her gaze toward the Rat Prime Minister.
Since the Prime Minister was unwilling to make enemies with those in the clinic and was capable of controlling this brainless Emperor, perhaps she could apply pressure to him instead.
Compared to the Emperor, the Prime Minister actually had a brain. Talking to the Prime Minister was far more tolerable than dealing with the Emperor.
Su Qing really didn't want to waste any more time on this Emperor; it was exhausting, time-consuming, and mentally draining.
Having reached this conclusion, she made her decision.
After considering how to phrase it, she sent a Sound Transmission to the Rat Prime Minister: "Fellow Daoist, are you perhaps dissatisfied with us? If you are, just say so directly. Why send a brainless emperor here to disgust us? I am not a petty person; I can handle a bit of criticism."
Su Qing’s transmission was sudden, and the Prime Minister was visibly startled.
However, the Rat Prime Minister was a seasoned veteran of the world. He quickly regained his composure and replied, "Fellow Daoist, you misunderstand... this truly has nothing to do with me."
"This Emperor is clearly your puppet, yet you say it has nothing to do with you?" Su Qing ignored his explanation and continued to apply pressure.
Of course, Su Qing acted with a sense of proportion. She wanted to exert pressure, but she wouldn't push him so far that he felt forced to fight her.
The Rat Prime Minister’s lip twitched. He didn't harbor any resentment toward Su Qing; he knew exactly how irritating the Emperor could be.
However, seeing that Su Qing had gone as far as to question him via Sound Transmission, he became even more speechless toward the Emperor.
"Fellow Daoist, you truly misunderstand... this really has nothing to do with me; it was all the Emperor’s own idea. Although I do control him, I haven't directly replaced his soul. He is still himself. I have merely gained his trust so that he listens to me as much as possible. Moreover, on the surface, I still have to obey him... after all, he is the Emperor, and I am merely the Prime Minister."
The Rat Demon felt quite helpless as he briefly explained his relationship with the Emperor to prove he wasn't intentionally trying to disgust Su Qing.
It was simply that the Emperor’s own brain was faulty.
Hearing this, Su Qing said, "Since it’s not your doing, I won't blame you. But I hope you can make this Emperor show some restraint. Don't let this continue."
Seeing that he had explained himself, Su Qing eased the pressure slightly while clearly stating her requirements.
The Rat Prime Minister replied, "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist. Leave this to me. To be honest, I am also having a massive headache over his behavior... I am truly sorry for the trouble he has caused you."
The Rat Demon was telling the truth; he was beyond frustrated. He had worked so hard to avoid letting this guy provoke Su Qing, yet the Emperor insisted on finding ways to incense her.
He truly didn't know what the man was thinking.
Seeing this, Su Qing said, "Very well. In that case, I shall believe you this once. But since you didn't come here intentionally to disgust me, what exactly was the reason you and he came to my clinic?"
The Rat Prime Minister replied, "Please do not be angry when I tell you, Fellow Daoist."
"Just say it."
"Because the Emperor heard that a very impressive clinic had opened in Xingyang City, and that the doctors here were all first-rate fairies of the mortal world, he wanted to come and see for himself... actually, saying he wanted to 'see' was just an excuse; he wanted to draft you into his harem."
The Rat Prime Minister answered Su Qing’s question truthfully.
Then he added, "Ahem, I just didn't expect this to be your clinic, Fellow Daoist. Had I known, I certainly wouldn't have agreed to the Emperor coming here."
"However, you are truly too low-profile, Fellow Daoist. You’ve been here for so long, yet not a single word of your identity has leaked out. As a result, before I arrived, I only knew there was a powerful clinic here, but I had no idea you were the one behind it."
The Rat Demon was also somewhat frustrated with Su Qing.
Who told her to be so low-profile? She had been here for so long without making a single wave. Even the 'eyes' he had sent out were unable to discern the true situation of this clinic.
Consequently, he had no idea that such powerful beings were residing here.
If he had known even a little... there was absolutely no way the Emperor would have set foot here today.
Upon hearing his words, Su Qing’s brow twitched slightly.
This Emperor was indeed as expected! And clearly, this wasn't the first time he had done such a thing. He had simply run into someone like Su Qing for the first time.
After a moment of thought, Su Qing said, "I simply prefer to keep a low profile. Rather than flaunting my status as a Great Demon, I prefer to interact with mortals as a healer."
Of course, the primary reason was that this allowed her to conveniently accumulate Incense Power. Any other reasons were merely secondary. For Su Qing, the most important thing right now was gathering Incense Power.
Naturally, she couldn't tell this guy that. This was, after all, snatching food from right under his nose.
Although they were technically enemies, they were currently 'friends'—at the very least, they were both people who were speechless at the Emperor.
The Rat Prime Minister didn't know what Su Qing was thinking. He simply remarked, "Among our kind, those with thoughts like yours, Fellow Daoist, are rare indeed."
Su Qing chuckled inwardly, knowing this likely wasn't a sincere compliment. However, she didn't care.
At the same time, she didn't plan to continue chatting with the Rat Prime Minister. Everything that needed to be said had been said; continuing would only waste more time.
With that thought, Su Qing hooked her finger, pulling the silver threads back.
"Your Majesty’s body is very healthy. There are no ailments... so naturally, no treatment is required," Su Qing said, looking at the Emperor with a flat tone.
To be honest, the fact that her tone could be this calm was already a sign of great self-restraint. This Emperor was truly infuriating.
Hearing this, the Emperor put on a look of surprise and said, "The Goddess Doctor is indeed a genius. You actually saw that I wasn't sick..."
"..." Su Qing was speechless. For a moment, she felt her fists tightening.
How could this guy be so obnoxious?
However, Su Qing endured it, merely curling her lips into a stiff smile.
At that moment, the Prime Minister finally spoke up.
He said, "Your Majesty, it is getting late. We should return."
The Emperor frowned, seemingly displeased by the Prime Minister’s urging. However, after several rounds of persuasion from the Prime Minister, the Emperor finally became obedient and decided to return with him.
"Very well. Since the Prime Minister wishes to return, we shall go back for today!" The Emperor nodded and said, "Let’s go!"
Seeing this, the Rat Prime Minister nodded to Su Qing and sent a final transmission: "I have troubled you today, Fellow Daoist. I will certainly bring gifts to apologize another day."
To prevent Su Qing from holding a grudge over this matter, the Rat Prime Minister promised to come and apologize.
Su Qing didn't care. In her view, this so-called apology was just a figure of speech. How could he actually make a special trip to apologize?
Su Qing simply nodded and replied via Sound Transmission: "It’s fine, as long as you don't let the Emperor come to my shop again."
The Prime Minister’s lip twitched.
He knew that Su Qing’s resentment toward the Emperor was not small. Of course, his own resentment toward the Emperor today was also significant.
This Emperor had caused him a lot of trouble and nearly brought him a formidable enemy. Fortunately, the other party’s temperament was relatively indifferent and easy to talk to; otherwise, if the misunderstanding had deepened, it would have been a disaster.
After the Emperor left, Su Qing’s clinic finally returned to normal.
The commoners could finally continue their consultations. Perhaps because Su Qing’s reputation was so well-established, even though the Emperor had just left, everyone immediately began lining up again, waiting for their diagnoses.
The Emperor was certainly terrifying... but no matter how terrifying an emperor was, it wasn't as scary as having an undiagnosed illness. Besides, the Emperor’s affairs had nothing to do with them. No matter what he did, all they cared about was their own safety.
Everything seemed to have returned to the right track.
Only Su Qing let out a long sigh, sat back in the chair behind the counter, and rubbed her brow.
"It looks like the plan needs to be implemented gradually."
Today, Su Qing was even more disappointed in this country and its king. She thought to herself: "I need to get the Commandery Princess into power as soon as possible. If this king is allowed to stay in power, who knows how many other women like me will be harmed? I have the strength to not fear these things, but those people don't! Moreover, this Emperor has a major mental illness and is being controlled by that Rat Prime Minister... this country is finished. No, this country is already on the road to ruin."
"But the problem is that no matter what the plan is, I have to wait for the Commandery Princess to arrive. She is the absolute protagonist of this plan. Without her, we can't move an inch!"
"The Commandery Princess is so slow! I wonder how much longer it will take for her to arrive. I just hope nothing went wrong on the road."
"Pah, pah, pah! Why am I being such a jinx?"
Su Qing’s thoughts were flying... the more she thought, the more her head ached.
But she soon shook her head, not intending to think about it further. Even if she kept thinking about it here, she wouldn't necessarily reach any meaningful conclusion.
It was better to put those thoughts aside and go confirm things in person later.
Thinking of this, she exhaled a breath of turbid air.
Now that the troublesome matters had come to a temporary close, it was time to go back to the backyard and continue teaching Su Qingyu martial arts.
"I wonder if that girl has been practicing seriously." With this thought, Su Qing stood up and headed toward the backyard.
There was nothing left here that required her help. Even if a patient arrived who needed her personal attention, someone would come to the backyard to call her, just as Hu Lin’er had done earlier.
In the backyard, Su Qingyu was currently practicing the few moves from before, looking very diligent.
However, in reality, she had only just started a short while ago. After all, she had only begun practicing after the Emperor had left.
Su Qing arrived in the backyard and, seeing Su Qingyu’s serious cultivation, raised an eyebrow and said, "You are quite dedicated... mm, not bad."
Seeing Su Qing praise her, Su Qingyu breathed a sigh of relief. She had been terrified that Su Qing would find out about her slacking and peeking. If she were caught, a spanking would surely be unavoidable.
So, seeing that Su Qing hadn't noticed, she finally felt at ease.
However, what Su Qingyu didn't know was that Su Qing had actually seen through her. There wasn't a single drop of sweat on the girl’s forehead; that didn't look like someone who had been practicing the whole time.
She had definitely slacked off during that period.
Su Qing simply didn't say anything and didn't scold her. Instead, she planned to quietly extend her practice time to make up for the time she had spent slacking off.
In any case, she was free right now and had plenty of time to accompany the girl in her training.
However, just as Su Qing sat down to supervise Su Qingyu’s practice, she suddenly felt a powerful prayer.
After sensing this prayer, Su Qing checked its source. But when she realized where it was coming from, she couldn't help but freeze.
Because this prayer didn't belong to anyone else; it was the prayer of the Commandery Princess.
At this, Su Qing’s brow furrowed and her lip twitched. She thought to herself, "Did my jinx really come true? It couldn't be that much of a coincidence, could it?"
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