Chapter 140: Is the Money Plenty? It Was Bought with a Life.

"Still testing? What do you take my brother for? Earlier, you said you needed to test for poison and drew my brother's blood. When that didn't reveal any poison, you wanted to pierce him with needles to test the venom. You've stuck at least a hundred needles into him, nearly turning him into a hedgehog, yet you still haven't found any poison. Then you came up with some absurd idea of testing for poison using feces, forcing my brother to eat, drink, and run to the latrine twice right after waking up, and it was still utterly useless. Then you said if drawing blood wouldn't work, you'd carve off some flesh instead. If we hadn't stopped you, a piece of my brother's flesh would be missing by now. And now, goodness knows what wretched method you've dreamed up, using my brother to test for gu-poison. How utterly competent you are; why don't you just fly up to the heavens?"

Xie Yuheng voiced the exact thoughts running through Shen Zhao's mind.

This elderly imperial physician no longer viewed her as a human being; he treated her entirely as a research subject.

Gu-poison was not something to be trifled with so casually. If anything went wrong, she could very well lose her life.

"If we don't try, how can this old man know whether the General is afflicted with gu-poison? Besides, you've already tried so many methods, one more won't hurt. General Chu won't feel any pain, trust me."

The old imperial physician looked at Shen Zhao with a gentle expression. If not for his blindingly fervent gaze, Shen Zhao might have actually believed him.

Had her father not once told her about the gu-poison of the Southern Frontier, she might genuinely have let the old physician experiment.

"Elderly physician, I am currently full of energy and brimming with strength. I clearly look like a person in perfect health. Thank you for your trouble." With that, Shen Zhao fished out a banknote from her robes, handed it to the old physician, and said, "This is a token of my appreciation. Please take this for you and your colleague to buy some tea. There are other pressing matters to attend to in the camp, so I won't see you out."

"Yuheng, escort the imperial physician back to the palace for me."

As if she would let this old man stay any longer; if she did, the old codger would undoubtedly insist on subjecting her to all sorts of other experiments.

Her stomach was still sloshing with water from earlier.

The old imperial physician had no desire to leave. Right now, he truly did not want to go.

His predecessor's hand-written notes recorded the entire process of testing for gu-poison. This was the first time in his life he had ever witnessed gu-poison firsthand.

Slipping off one of his boots, the old physician fished a one-thousand-liang banknote out from inside his sock. He handed it back to Shen Zhao and pleaded, "General Chu, please let this old man try. This is one thousand liang, my compensation to General Chu. From now on, whenever General Chu has need of this old man, I shall come at the sound of a call."

Fearing Shen Zhao would not believe him, he unclasped the jade pendant that symbolized his identity and said with utmost sincerity, "This is my personal jade tally. Seeing this tally is equivalent to seeing me in person. I am giving it to you now so that you may come directly to my residence with it in the future."

Shen Zhao felt a momentary ripple of temptation.

This elderly imperial physician enjoyed high moral standing and deep trust from the aging Emperor. Aside from the Head of the Imperial Medical Academy, he held the highest rank among the physicians.

She indeed needed a physician with supreme medical skills by her side.

This elderly physician who specialized in toxicology was certainly a suitable candidate.

Seeing that Shen Zhao ignored him, and noticing young Master Xie walking toward him with the posture of someone ready to toss him out, the old physician hurriedly explained, "General Chu, do not worry. Testing for gu is completely safe. According to my predecessor's records, we simply need a piece of raw meat and a small incision on General Chu's wrist to determine whether there are gu-worms inside the General's body."

That actually sounded harmless enough.

"You old scoundrel, you're raising a knife against my brother yet again, and now you try to humiliate him with your foul, stinking money! Take your reeking money and your jade pendant and get out of our camp immediately!" Xie Yuheng covered his nose in disgust.

This old fellow's feet smelled even worse than his own.

The old imperial physician didn't even blush. Stinky men were just stinky men—what man didn't have smelly feet? Besides, he suffered from sweating feet, and wearing boots all day long, how could they not smell?

And how could this be stinking money? This was a whole one thousand liang of silver! It smelled magnificent.

"Fine, let's try it." Shen Zhao took the banknote and jade pendant from the old physician's hand.

She tucked the jade pendant away, handed the banknote over to Shen Tianci, and instructed, "Go fetch a piece of raw meat. Keep this money; I know you emptied out your own coffers for the Northwest Army."

Shen Tianci refused to take the money from Shen Zhao's hand. Dragging his leg as he walked outward, he said with his back turned, "I won't take this money. I gave it to the Northwest Army of my own free will, and I don't need your pity." He hadn't fallen so low as to require charity from others.

Besides, the person surnamed Chu had far more places to spend money than he did; an extra penny meant one more potential path of survival.

"This money isn't for you, it's for the Northwest Army. You have no funds right now. If I'm not in the camp one day and the Northwest Army needs money, what will you do if you can't produce any? Take it quickly."

She would not let such a situation happen. Even if she were not stationed in the camp, she would secure a fallback for the soldiers under her command.

She spoke thus solely to force Shen Tianci to accept the one-thousand-liang note.

Right now, she truly wanted to get rid of this thousand liang—it felt like a burning coal in her hands.

No, make that a stinking hand!

The old imperial physician was practically dying of anxiety. It was just one thousand liang, merely a thousand liang! Did they really need to pass it back and forth like this?

He yanked off his other boot, pulled another banknote out from his other sock, hurried over to Shen Tianci, and shoved it straight into Shen Tianci's arms.

"Little brother, since General Chu told you to take it, just take it! A thousand liang for you, a thousand liang for the General, perfectly balanced. You mustn't refuse any longer, hurry off to get the meat."

The old physician shoved Shen Tianci toward the exit, terrified that anything might delay his gu-testing.

What if General Chu changed his mind after all the trouble he went through to secure this opportunity?

Shen Tianci wore a dark expression, wondering if he could refuse this money.

It really smelled awful!

When Shen Tianci returned with the raw meat, the old imperial physician began the procedure according to the steps recorded in the manuscript.

Xie Yuheng and Shen Tianci stood on either side of the bed, their eyes wide and unblinking, watching every single movement.

They were terrified something might happen to Shen Zhao.

This was gu-poison after all; facing something so mysterious and unknown, they had to be twelve times more vigilant.

"Eh? Why aren't there any little bugs wriggling inside General Chu's blood vessels?" The old physician let out a soft note of surprise, staring blankly and incomprehensibly at Shen Zhao's wrist.

There was only fresh blood continuously flowing outward; there was none of the bizarre phenomenon recorded in the manuscript.

He flipped through the manuscript again. The steps were correct, the method was right, and the incision site was utterly exact. The raw meat was fresh as well, still stained with reddish threads.

"General Chu, do you feel anything wriggling inside your flesh and blood?"

Whether anything was wriggling in her blood or not, she had no idea. She only knew that her vision was turning black and she was about to faint.

This wasn't an inexplicable loss of consciousness this time; she was fainting from excessive blood loss.

Her blood—it was almost running dry!

Following the old physician's words, Xie Yuheng kept his gaze locked intently on his brother's wrist, completely failing to notice his brother's strange condition.

Only Shen Tianci, who had been watching her closely the entire time, spotted the warning signs in Shen Zhao's demeanor.

He hurriedly called out, "Stop the bleeding for the General immediately! Since there is no phenomenon recorded in the manuscript, it proves the General is not afflicted with gu-poison. If you don't stop the bleeding now, the General won't be killed by poison, but bled to death by your gu test!"

"Yes, stop the bleeding quickly!" Shen Zhao forced the words out with great difficulty. This money was too hard to accept, and that jade pendant was too hard to keep.

This thing was going to cost her her life.

Outside the tent at that moment, a group of people were stirring restlessly. The deputy generals of the camp had all received harsh scoldings from their superiors, but they had heard reports from their subordinates that the person surnamed Chu had suddenly fallen unconscious, and young Master Xie had summoned two groups of imperial physicians from the palace. It seemed the fellow surnamed Chu was heavily poisoned.

A very heavy stench of blood drifted out from the Chu's tent. The deputy generals exchanged glances, the undisguised joy of triumph gleaming in each other's eyes.

It was time for them to go in.