A deathly silence fell over the pavilion.
Li Bikuan’s eyes went wide, his mouth hanging open in an unsightly gape. He looked as if he were caught in the middle of a fever dream. Lin Ruyan was equally stunned. It felt as though she had been dragged up to the heavens just as she was falling into an abyss; her heart pounded against her chest—not from pain, but from sheer, overwhelming excitement.
How could this be? Why would the Prince of Zhendnan be pleading with Xiao Chen?
Lin Ruyan whipped her head around to look at Xiao Chen, her expression one of disbelief. Had she missed something? Was there something she didn’t know?
"Your Highness, do not be deceived by him!" Li Bikuan, sensing the situation turning against them, cried out in a panic, his face twisted with feigned distress. "This Xiao Chen is a notorious fool in the Capital City. How could a fool like him possibly save the Princess?!"
Xiao Chen alone offered a faint smile, as if he had anticipated this all along. He stepped forward calmly and took the man by the forearms. "Your Highness, there is no need for such a grand gesture."
The Prince of Zhendnan was a tall, burly man, his unkempt beard adding to his rugged, heroic appearance. Upon reaching Xiao Chen, he had bowed low in a gesture of profound respect. Now, instead of straightening up at Xiao Chen’s prompting, he gripped Xiao Chen’s arms even tighter, as if clinging to a lifeline. "Doctor Xiao! Sir Xiao! Divine Doctor Xiao!"
"I have spent my life on the battlefield. I have lost all three of my sons to the war. She is my only daughter! I beg you, you must save her! I will grant you anything you ask!"
The battle-hardened hero was now weeping, his powerful voice trembling with emotion. Even Xiao Chen was deeply moved. He was a hero of the realm, honored with a title despite not being of the royal bloodline, and the loss of his sons at the frontier commanded nothing but the utmost respect.
"Rest assured, Your Highness. I have no harsh demands. I have only one wish." As he spoke, Xiao Chen cast a sharp gaze toward the men who had followed the Prince of Zhendnan—the ones who had brought the guards along.
Li Cuntian was among them. At that moment, his face was contorted with fury, and he glared at Xiao Chen, gritting his teeth.
Xiao Chen acted as if he hadn't noticed at all. He sighed. "Your Highness, you may not know this, but my wife and I traveled a great distance to the Capital City simply to attend this banquet at the Ministry of Works Estate. Yet, ever since we arrived, my wife and I have been repeatedly accused of being the ones who attempted to murder the Princess..."
The Prince of Zhendnan understood immediately. "Divine Doctor Xiao, have no fear. With me here, let us see who dares to slander you."
He cast a sharp, piercing glare around the room. "Divine Doctor Xiao is my guest of honor. Since someone has dared to slander him, I shall certainly conduct a thorough investigation into this Ministry of Works Estate and clear his name!"
At these words, the expressions of the Li father and son soured instantly.
"Then I thank you, Your Highness," Xiao Chen said with a polite nod and a smile.
Beside them, Li Cuntian felt a chill of panic. The Princess hadn't even been saved yet, and the Prince of Zhendnan was already treating Xiao Chen with such high regard. If the girl were truly saved, the Prince would certainly demand retribution for the humiliation Xiao Chen had suffered today. Would the Ministry of Works Estate even survive that?
Xiao Chen knew exactly what was on his mind. A slight smirk touched his lips, and just as he began to walk away, Li Cuntian shouted out to stop him.
"Your Highness, please reconsider! This Xiao Chen has ulterior motives. Do not let him fool you!"
He hurried over to the Prince with an expression of feigned worry. "You have been fighting on the battlefield, Your Highness, so you do not understand the wicked hearts in the Capital. This Xiao Chen married into the Lin Family and has always been an idiot. How could he possibly have the skill to cure anyone?"
"An idiot?" The Prince of Zhendnan did not believe a word of it. He retorted bluntly, "Divine Doctor Xiao looks far more intelligent than you! Just now, I heard with my own ears that it was Divine Doctor Xiao who brought my daughter back from the brink!"
Li Cuntian shook his head vigorously, attempting to persuade him further. "You don't understand, Your Highness. A gemstone missing from her bracelet just happened to appear in the Princess's throat, and then the Princess was saved by her husband. Can such a coincidence really exist?"
He turned a vicious glare toward Lin Ruyan, his tone absolute. "Furthermore, the fact that Xiao Chen suddenly appears so clever is even more suspicious! It must be that Lin Ruyan used some trick to make Xiao Chen appear normal. The two of them are singing from the same hymn sheet to deceive Your Highness!"
Having been pelted with filth time and again, Lin Ruyan could no longer hold her tongue. She retorted loudly, "If things were as the Minister suggests, what possible benefit would I gain from this?"
"Ha!" Li Cuntian gave a cold laugh. "The benefit is obvious! Are you not trying to use this scheme to trick the Prince into believing you are the saviors of the Princess? How could that possibly hold no benefit for you?"
"You..." Lin Ruyan, unable to find a retort, flushed red with fury.
Xiao Chen reached out and patted Lin Ruyan’s shoulder in a soothing gesture. He stepped forward, unhurriedly. "If things were as you describe, the risk would be far too great. One small mistake and we would become the executioners of a young girl. Only a man of your caliber, Minister, could conceive of such a malicious plot."
"You lie!" Li Cuntian tried to argue, but the Prince of Zhendnan cut him off.
"Enough! Do not slander the Divine Doctor again! I will report the truth of this matter to the Ministry of Justice and have them send someone to investigate thoroughly!"
Saving his daughter was his only priority now; the Prince had no interest in wasting time with Li Cuntian. He turned to Xiao Chen. "Divine Doctor Xiao, I leave it to you."
"You are too kind, Your Highness." Xiao Chen threw a fleeting, mocking glance at Li Cuntian, a half-smile playing on his face, before striding toward the room where Chai Keqing lay.
The Prince of Zhendnan followed closely behind.
Li Cuntian’s face drained of color. The arrogance of this Xiao Chen, and the sheer trust the Prince of Zhendnan placed in him! No, he had to think of a way to protect the Ministry of Works Estate once this was all over.
"Father! Father..." Li Bikuan had finally come to his senses. He hurried to Li Cuntian’s side and whispered the truth of what had happened. "Xiao Chen didn't just suddenly become capable—he also... he put something into my head..."
"What?!"
Upon learning that his son had been needled by Xiao Chen and that his life could be ended at a whim, Li Cuntian’s courage vanished completely. All thoughts of revenge evaporated.
Just as Xiao Chen was about to step into the room, Li Cuntian’s panicked voice rang out from behind him.
"Divine Doctor Xiao! I was wrong! Please, I beg you, do not hold this against me!"
Before Xiao Chen could even turn around, he heard two sharp slaps. Li Cuntian was actually smacking his own face.
"Is this old man losing his mind?" Xiao Chen raised an eyebrow, unable to stop himself from whispering to his wife.
Beside him, Lin Ruyan glanced at him, her eyes wide with surprise.
"What are you saying?" The Prince of Zhendnan, desperate to save his daughter and annoyed by the interruption, barked at Li Cuntian with growing impatience.
"Your Highness, Divine Doctor Xiao, it was my own greed and blindness that made me doubt you! The guards have just discovered that a servant in my estate made a grave error! He stole a gemstone from Miss Lin for his own gain, and somehow, the Princess swallowed the stone..."
"What did you say?" The Prince of Zhendnan flew into a rage. "Li Cuntian, I believed you to be a man of integrity, a trusted official of the Emperor! Yet you allow your servants to commit such atrocities, and then you have the audacity to shift the blame onto others!"
"It is all this humble servant’s fault..." Li Cuntian bowed repeatedly to the Prince, his face a mask of remorse.
Xiao Chen, however, let out a cold, sharp laugh. "Your Highness, the Princess isn't as foolish as I was rumored to be, is she?" He deliberately used the word 'foolish' that Li Cuntian had used earlier to mock him.
"A grown person—not a toddler of three or five—how could she just idly swallow a gemstone? Even if it were mixed into food, such a large stone would be impossible to swallow!"
He looked at Li Cuntian with a sneer. "It seems your guards didn't investigate very carefully. If you ask me, that servant might have had a different agenda after stealing the item! Who knows? Perhaps there was someone behind him, pulling the strings?"
"You... I..." Li Cuntian trembled with rage. It was clear that Xiao Chen was using this opportunity to pin the entire disaster on him.
Before he could explain, the Prince of Zhendnan’s face darkened. "Li Cuntian, do you take me for a fool? I will report this and get to the bottom of it! You just wait!"