Chapter 436: Lifting a Rock to Smash One’s Own Foot

Chapter 436: Chapter 436: Lifting a Rock to Smash One’s Own Foot

Upon hearing this, Sima Han said, "If a woman has difficulty conceiving, it’s typically due to an internal deficiency with blockages causing stagnation and impeding the flow of her qi. After practicing medicine for many years, I do have a prescription that can aid in conception, but..."

When Princess Shu heard there was hope, her eyes lit up.

"Please, Divine Doctor, speak frankly. Whatever the difficulty, I will do my utmost to resolve it."

Sima Han sighed. "Recently, locusts have been running rampant, devouring crops and medicinal herb fields. The prescription requires a rare ingredient called ’Pu Liangzi.’ It has a lustrous, yellow, jade-like appearance and blooms with a single, delicate white flower just as winter approaches. This flower is the part used for medicine. It typically takes three hundred flowers to produce just two taels of Pu Liangzi."

"However, it is not winter right now, and I have none in stock. I’ve heard that the Pu Liangzi cultivated in the medicinal fields have also been all but destroyed by the locusts. If the Princess Consort truly wishes to try, I can write down the prescription for you. As for this ingredient... forgive me, but I am powerless to help."

Princess Shu looked troubled.

’This herb is so rare and precious that even the Divine Doctor is at a loss. How could I possibly find it?’

’Or will I have to wait until next winter?’

’But I can’t wait that long. I’ll be forty-five after this year.’

Shen Ningning blinked her large eyes from the side, understanding the situation perfectly.

’The old Divine Doctor must not want to get involved.’

’Otherwise, he wouldn’t have claimed he was powerless without even taking her pulse.’

Shen Ningning had previously heard her brother, Xie Mingxu, say that the Divine Doctor Sima Han enjoyed a free and untethered life, unwilling to enter the service of any noble.

The only reason he had agreed to reside at the Xie Mansion and serve as its doctor was because her mother, Shen Siyi, had shown him a great kindness many years ago.

That was why Sima Han didn’t want to get involved in Princess Shu’s quest for a child and had tactfully refused.

Shen Ningning saw Princess Shu’s sorrowful expression and heard her murmur, "Am I truly destined to never bear the Prince a single child in this life?"

The little girl hesitated.

Mo Lingwei cared deeply for his uncle and aunt, and in Shen Ningning’s eyes, Princess Shu was a pitiful woman being kept in the dark by King Shu.

Princess Shu’s mind was in turmoil. Not wishing to impose, the Divine Doctor and Shen Ningning prepared to take their leave.

However, as she started to leave, Shen Ningning hesitated. She kept looking back at Princess Shu, who was pressing her temples and leaning on the stone table with her head bowed, looking utterly devastated.

The little girl’s heart went out to her.

Sima Han noticed and said in a low voice, "Ningning, my dear girl, it’s best if you stay out of this. Princess Shu’s infertility is most likely connected to someone within the Prince Mansion. It’s a complicated affair. Why wade into these muddy waters?"

After a moment of thought, Shen Ningning decided to stay.

"Grandfather Doctor, you can go on ahead. Princess Shu is a relative my brother cares about, so I have to help her."

’I have that herb, Pu Liangzi, in my Immortal Realm. I don’t think I have much, but it should be enough for Princess Shu.’

Sima Han sighed, shook his head, and departed with resignation.

Princess Shu was shielding her eyes with her hand, weeping silently.

Just then, she saw a pair of pink, butterfly-embroidered slippers stop before her. When she lifted her blurry, tear-filled eyes, she was surprised to see that Shen Ningning had returned.

"Ningning, why didn’t you go back?" Princess Shu quickly turned aside to wipe away her tears.

Shen Ningning’s voice was sweet and gentle. Standing in the spring breeze, her pale green dress made her look like a freshly opened flower bud.

"Aunt, please don’t be sad. I just remembered, I might have some of that herb, Pu Liangzi, in storage. It’s not a lot, and I’ll have to go back and look for it, but if I find any, I’ll have it sent to you."

’I can’t just produce a large amount at once, and I can’t let Princess Shu think it was easy for me to get.’

Hearing this, Princess Shu was overjoyed. Her tears turned to a smile as she took both of Shen Ningning’s hands and showered her with praise.

"Ningning, you’re truly a little Fuxing. Now that you’ve said that, this aunt can rest easy."

Afterward, Princess Shu invited Shen Ningning to stay, and she accompanied the little girl on a stroll through the gardens to enjoy the scenery.

Listening to Shen Ningning’s consoling words, Princess Shu’s mood brightened considerably.

When Mo Zhirou returned to the Prince Mansion, she happened to see this harmonious scene, and her heart filled with bitter resentment.

She had just returned from the palace. Although she hadn’t explicitly asked the Emperor to make her a Commandery Princess, the Emperor had seen through her ambitions and dismissed her with just a few words.

Mo Zhirou had been planning to go to Princess Shu and pour out her grievances—the Princess Consort was the most soft-hearted and easiest to persuade—but instead, she found Princess Shu getting along so harmoniously with Shen Ningning.

She clenched her handkerchief, turned, and walked away with a dark expression.

「Half a month later.」

As promised, Shen Ningning arrived with a packet of Pu Liangzi. The amount inside was enough for a full month of treatment for Princess Shu!

Furthermore, to prevent Princess Shu from growing suspicious, Shen Ningning had ground the Pu Liangzi into a powder before arriving.

’When I see Princess Shu,’ she thought, ’I’ll just say it’s powdered Pu Liangzi that was dried in advance.’

The housekeeper led Shen Ningning toward the rear garden. As they crossed the garden’s arched, white stone bridge, Mo Zhirou suddenly approached from the opposite end.

She was walking hastily, calling out, "Hurry, or we’ll be too late."

Seeing that Mo Zhirou was about to run into her, Shen Ningning quickly sidestepped. But as Mo Zhirou passed by, seemingly rushing with her head down, she lifted a hand and gave the little girl a shove.

The bundle of Pu Liangzi in Shen Ningning’s hands instantly fell into the water below the bridge!

"Oh no!" The housekeeper’s face went pale. He, of course, knew what Shen Ningning was carrying and frantically leaped into the water to retrieve the bundle.

However, by the time he fished it out, the bundle had come undone, and the powder inside had already dissolved!

"It’s ruined! This was the medicine the Princess Consort has been waiting for!" the housekeeper cried, sinking to his knees with a look of despair.

Shen Ningning’s delicate brows had been furrowed the entire time. She watched as the precious Pu Liangzi was reduced to nothing.

She pursed her lips and confronted Mo Zhirou directly.

"Why did you push me just now?"

Mo Zhirou put on an innocent expression. "Princess Funing, you must be mistaken. How would I dare push you? The Earth Mother Temple in the city is offering three hundred blessed incense sticks today to pray for one’s mother. They’ll be gone if I’m late, which is why I was in such a hurry. I didn’t see you."

"In any case, it was an accident. To say that I pushed you... Princess, you are truly wronging me."

Shen Ningning saw her defiant refusal to confess, and more telling, the fleeting look of triumph in her eyes.

The little girl’s heart turned cold, and her eyes became frosty.

’Mo Zhirou has no idea how precious this Pu Liangzi is to the Princess Consort, does she?’

Just then, Princess Shu’s astonished voice came from a distance: "What’s going on?!"

Holding up her skirts, she hurried over with a panicked expression, King Shu and their servants trailing behind her.

When she reached the bridge and saw the bundle in the housekeeper’s hands—now containing nothing but a white, frothy mess—Princess Shu gasped.

Mo Zhirou was the first to speak, her voice filled with apology.

"Mother, it was my fault. I was being careless. I was rushing to the Earth Mother Temple to pray for you to have a son when I bumped into the Princess, causing this packet of some unknown medicinal powder to fall into the water..." She looked so wronged she seemed on the verge of tears.

King Shu glanced at the white froth in the bundle and frowned.

"My lady, what sort of medicine were you planning on taking now? I’ve told you before, most of those folk remedies from the back alleys are fraudulent. Not only do they fail to cure anything, but they can also harm your health!"

He gave Shen Ningning an inconspicuous, slightly blaming look. "It’s a good thing Zhirou knocked it out of your hands. If you had taken some unknown substance, wouldn’t you have made me worry sick?"

Mo Zhirou could barely suppress a triumphant smile.

’I really did the right thing,’ she thought. ’Shen Ningning is the one who encouraged everyone to eat locusts. What kind of good medicine could she possibly give to the Princess Consort?’

Shen Ningning offered no explanation, simply saying to Princess Shu, "Aunt, that was all the Pu Liangzi I had. To get more, we will have to wait until next winter."