Chapter 21: Empress Zhangsun’s Qi Illness Flares Up, Xiao Sizi Seeks Help!

Over the past few days, the weather in Chang’an City had been like a giant, unvented steamer.

Cicadas wailed endlessly in the treetops, grating on everyone’s nerves.

Not a breath of wind stirred, and the flowers and plants in the Imperial Garden drooped their heads, looking half-dead.

Inside Lizheng Hall, the doors and windows were tightly shut.

The old men from the Imperial Medical Bureau said the Empress was suffering from “qi illness^[1]” and could not bear any wind or cold.

In the sweltering heat, benzoin incense still burned in the room, mingling with the perennial, bitter stench of herbal medicine until the air was suffocating.

“Cough… cough, cough, cough!”

A bout of heart-wrenching coughing came from the bed.

Empress Zhangsun curled into a ball, her body trembling violently with every cough. Her face was flushed crimson, and the veins on her neck bulged.

Li Shimin sat by the bedside, rubbing her back with one hand while clenching the other into a tight fist, his knuckles turning white.

“Guanyinbi^[2], hold on. The medicine is here.”

Wang Dequan knelt before the bed holding a bowl of pitch-black herbal medicine, his hands shaking slightly. The medicine was still steaming, sending a pungent, bitter reek straight to the head.

Empress Zhangsun managed to suppress her cough. Looking at the bowl of medicine, her throat convulsed instinctively.

Day after day, meal after meal, she had been forced to drink it.

Her stomach had long been ruined by these bitter brews; just catching a whiff made her bile rise.

“Erlang… I really…”

Empress Zhangsun waved her hand weakly, her voice terribly hoarse. “I can’t drink it…”

“You have to drink it even if you can’t!”

Li Shimin was frantic, his eyes rimmed with red. Taking the medicine bowl, he scooped up a spoonful, blew on it, and held it to his wife’s lips. “The imperial physicians said these herbs will restore your vital energy and strengthen your constitution. Once you drink it, you won’t cough anymore.”

Empress Zhangsun did not want to disappoint her husband. Forcing down her nausea, she parted her lips and took a small sip.

Bitter!

It was an agonizing bitterness that seared from the back of her tongue all the way down into her stomach.

“Urgh!”

Before she could even swallow the medicine, her stomach churned violently.

Empress Zhangsun shoved Li Shimin’s hand aside and leaned over the edge of the bed, retching. That single sip of medicine, along with the little rice soup she had forced down that morning, came spilling out completely.

“Mama!”

Xiao Sizi, who had been curled up in the corner the whole time, burst into loud wails.

She saw that her mother had vomited, and that face, usually so gentle and beautiful, was now terrifyingly pale.

Half the medicine in her father’s bowl had spilled, the pitch-black broth splashing across his bright yellow dragon robe, looking glaringly stark.

The imperial physicians knelt across the floor, kowtowing like pounding garlic, mumbling nothing but “This subject is incompetent” and “Your Majesty, please quell your anger.”

Xiao Sizi wiped away her tears and pumped her short little legs, bolting out of Lizheng Hall.

The sun outside was scorching, baking the stone floor tiles until they were scalding hot.

She didn’t care about the heat. One of her silk slippers even slipped off, but with one little foot bare, she stumbled along as fast as she could toward the Imperial Kitchen.

The physician grandpas were useless.

Father couldn’t do anything either.

Only the big bwother who made glowing food!

Big bwother was so amazing, he would definitely have a way to save Mama!

*

In the back courtyard of the Imperial Kitchen.

Bare-chested, Su Mu had dragged his homemade recliner into the shade beneath the base of the wall. He held a slice of chilled watermelon, eating messily as the juice dripped down.

In this damned weather, only watermelon could keep him alive.

“Big bwother-!”

A shrill cry shattered the afternoon stillness.

Su Mu’s hand twitched, nearly dropping the black-seeded, red-fleshed slice of watermelon onto the ground.

He looked up, his heart skipping a beat.

Xiao Sizi was dripping with sweat, her disheveled hair plastered to her face, and her once-rosy little cheeks were streaked with tears.

One foot was bare, the sole scalded bright red from running across the scalding floor tiles.

Though this little ancestor was prone to crying on ordinary days, it was mostly fake crying just to get food.

From the looks of it today, she was genuinely heartbroken.

Su Mu tossed the watermelon aside, strode over in a few steps, scooped up the little chubby dumpling rushing toward him, and set her down on a wooden stump in the shade.

“What happened?”

Su Mu frowned, grabbing a damp cloth nearby to wipe her face. “Did someone bully you? Or did you take a fall?”

“Big bwother… save Mama…”

Xiao Sizi grabbed Su Mu’s hand tightly, her tiny fingernails digging into his flesh.

She wept so hard she could barely breathe, her little body shuddering with sobs.

“Mama cough-cough… threw up so much… that black water… Mama hurts lots…”

Su Mu understood.

Empress Zhangsun’s qi illness had flared up again.

Historical records showed that Empress Zhangsun died of qi illness.

Simply put, this illness was severe asthma compounded by a lung infection. In the sweltering, damp heat of summer, the burden on the respiratory tract became unbearable, making it especially deadly!

The remedies prescribed by the imperial physicians were mostly harsh formulas meant to clear the lungs and stop coughing. Being bitter and cold, they damaged the stomach, and in her current frail state, Empress Zhangsun simply could not handle such potent, aggressive medicines.

“Don’t cry.”

Su Mu’s voice grew steady and serious, stripped of his usual playful banter. “Drink some water first. I’ll make something for your mama.”

“Needs to be sweet…”

Xiao Sizi sniffled, her big eyes brimming with tears. “That black water is too bitter, Mama can’t dwink it… If big bwother makes it sweet, Mama will definitely love to eat it.”

Su Mu nodded and turned toward the stove.

If someone brought out another bowl of bitter medicine right now, the Empress would probably throw up just from the smell.

It had to be food.

And it had to be food that could treat an illness.

Su Mu closed his eyes, searching through his mind.

【Urgent dietary therapy need detected. Unlocking special ingredient storage: Premium Chuanbei^[3] Powder (50g)】

The system was actually sensible this time.

Su Mu opened his eyes and took out a purple clay stew pot from the cupboard that he rarely used. This thing had great breathability and heated evenly, making it ideal for slow simmering.

Main ingredient: Snow pear.

The Laiyang pears^[4] stored in his system inventory were large with thin skins, so juicy that the liquid practically burst forth.

Su Mu didn’t peel it; pear skin cleared heat and moistened the lungs, so it was good stuff.

Using the tip of his knife, he sliced a lid off the top of the pear and hollowed out the core, leaving a small cavity inside.

Secondary ingredient: Snow fungus.

This was not the yellowed, aged snow fungus found in the palace, but a top-grade variety as pure white as jade.

He soaked it in warm water, trimmed the base, and tore it into thumbnail-sized pieces. For snow fungus to release its rich collagen, it had to be torn into small shreds and simmered for a long time.

Su Mu stuffed the snow fungus into the hollowed-out pear, then added a few red dates and goji berries.

Finally came the most crucial step.

He took out a small paper packet.

It was the Chuanbei powder provided by the system.

The powder was ground extremely fine, pale yellow in color, carrying a faint, refreshing fragrance without any of the strange, harsh odor of medicinal herbs.

Chuanbei moistened the lungs, relieved coughs, dissolved phlegm, and dispersed nodules; it was a revered remedy for lung ailments.

However, if boiled directly in water, it tasted slightly bitter.

Su Mu added a large chunk of yellow rock sugar into the pear.

He had refined this rock sugar in his spare time a few days ago. Crystal-clear and translucent, it held the pure, crisp sweetness of sugarcane.

He put the lid back onto the pear, placed it into the stew pot, and filled the surrounding space with the remaining snow fungus and rock sugar water.

He lit the fire.

This time, high heat was not needed.

Su Mu pushed aside the firewood in the stove, leaving only a few slow-burning hardwood charcoals to maintain a gentle simmer.

His god-level heat control was put to full use at this moment.

He could feel every subtle shift in temperature within the stew pot.

The water came to a boil, the pear flesh began to soften, and the gelatinous essence of the snow fungus seeped out bit by bit. As the rock sugar melted, its sweet molecules merged seamlessly with the Chuanbei powder under the heat.

Time ticked by.

The stifling heat in the woodshed seemed to dissipate considerably, replaced by a refreshing, sweet aroma that gladdened the senses.