Forensic Imperial Concubine

Chapter 11 An Unlucky Day (Part One)

After six days, Harper recovered. But as Mavis fussed over her, anxiety and anger took a toll on Mavis and she caught a cold. It was a good thing that Harper was a physician and knew how to treat her. She wrote out a prescription and went out to collect some herbs.

With much time on her hands, Harper came to realize and accepted her fate. She was not the forensic expert anymore, but the second daughter of Charles, the prime minister in the Bright Dynasty. She wasn't favored by her father, and her mother was dead. With this acceptance, she decided to be a physician in this secluded place.

There was a mountain near the country house with plenty of herbs. The villagers would often go up the mountain to collect herbs and trade them for a living. In order to find herbs that could help Mavis, Harper went on a hike up the mountain.

"I found it!" After half a day of hiking and foraging, Harper finally found the Heavenly Spirit Herb. The rare plant grew on the edge of a cliff. To reach it, Harper tied a rope around a tree, the other end wrapped around her waist. Before going down, she sprinkled some poisonous powder on the ground. She then lowered herself before finally picking out the herb she had been looking for.

The herb would help Mavis, who had been suffering from depression and emotional disturbance. The Heavenly Spirit Herb was so hard to find. Harper had to take a chance that it was growing in the mountain. It was good luck that the herb was truly available. But it was bad luck that it was growing on the edge of a cliff.

As Harper went to pick the Heavenly Spirit Herb, she wasn't aware that a stranger found the tree she looped her rope around. He took out a knife and cut off the rope. As he did so, he suddenly felt dizzy. He immediately fell to the ground. It was only then that he realized there was something on the ground. He struggled to leave this place by crawling.

Meanwhile, Harper was on her way back when the roped suddenly gave. She dropped off cliff. Listening to the wind howling her ears, she felt like weeping. But no tears came out of her. 'Is God punishing me right now? I almost died several times before. And now I'm about to die again while picking up the herb!' she thought to herself.

"Aaaaargh!" Fortunately, she fell into a hot spring. Coughing out several mouthfuls of water, she emerged soaked to the bone. As soon as she broke free of the water, someone grabbed her by her neck. Frightened, she choked on water. She struggled to escape as she lifted her leg and kicked the stranger's crotch. As her captor loosened his grip, freeing her from the struggle, she climbed up the bank.

"Don't move or I'll kill you!" he shouted as he placed a sword on her neck.

Harper wanted to cry but she couldn't. It was such a horrible day for her. First, she fell off the damn cliff. Then, she almost drowned to death. Third, she had almost choked to death by a stranger after clawing her way out of the water. At the rate things were going, she was going to be dead meat in a few seconds.

"Master, are you alright?" Hearing a cry from behind her, Harper wanted to turn and take a look. But she was hit at certain acupuncture points, and now she was unable to move. Someone carried her into a room and placed her in the middle where a group of people stared at her curiously.

"Physician Denny, how is our master?"

"How do I know?" Denny spat. "I've told him not to exercise internal force but he didn't listen. I just asked him to take a medicated bath. It didn't occur to me that such a thing would happen to him. He is really making me worry!"

"Sorry, it's our fault. We didn't protect our master well."

Denny grumbled as he put the needles into the patient's body. Harper observed carefully how the acupuncture was done and felt a little strange.

"Physician, since the patient has been poisoned, why did you use the needles to block the poison?" Harper asked. She was afraid that the patient would die if she didn't speak out.

"You know anything about medicine?" Denny turned around. It surprised Harper to find that he was very young. Although he tried to sound casual, he was obviously curious about her.

"A little bit."

Denny squinted at the man who held Harper. The man suddenly understood what was going on. He hit her acupuncture points and threw her basket on the floor. The herbs in the basket poured out.

Denny raised his eyebrows. He tied the poisoned man's wrist with his golden thread and flicked the other end of the thread to Harper. "Then you should know what is going on with him."

'He is able to use the gold thread to feel the patient's pulse, ' Harper thought to herself. Frowning, she still put her fingers on the thread. When she felt the pulse of the patient, she couldn't help but shiver.

"How is he?" Denny caught Harper's reaction. She seemed to have reached a conclusion.

"The toxins have spread all over his internal organs for a long time. He doesn't have much time left. Logically, he should have died of the toxins long ago. I guess the reason why he is still alive now is that you used the needles to block the toxins from getting into his heart. But I'm afraid that you can't block the toxins for long now. He will die within a month."

"That's bullshit! I'll kill you!" a guard shouted.

"Stop!" Denny stood up and walked to Harper. "Do you have any antidote?"

"No, I don't have any." Harper shook her head. "He has a variety of toxins in his body. If he only has one, he will be cured. Unfortunately, the toxins in his body are complicated. It has already affected most of his internal organs. It will not take a day for the toxins to affect the rest. All of our efforts will be for nothing. We can only prepare for the funeral." All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.