Commander An let out a breath and said, "There are two patients here you need to see...The Emperor asked for you to see them." He swiftly added when Doctor Lou frowned.

As Commander An expected, Doctor Lou's face immediately lit up at the Emperor's mention and he happily went, "Of course, lead the way~"

Since Madam Chen's current condition was more serious, he took Doctor Lou to see her first. As soon as they entered, Chen You who was sitting on the floor by her mother looked up with bloodshot eyes.

Commander An quickly explained, "This is a renowned Doctor. The Emperor asked me to bring him..."

Chen You immediately got up and shifted to the side to give Doctor Lou better access. But Doctor Lou just stood where he was at the center of the room, not moving and leisurely scrutinizing the woman on bloodsoaked sheets.

"Doctor, please go ahead and ch-check on her..." Chen You shakily said, thinking that Doctor Lou was waiting for her to give permission.

Doctor Lou glanced at Chen You and then sighed and finally said, "There is nothing I can do...It is her time. You should pre-"

"What?! You didn't even check her! How can you say that?! What sort of doctor did you bring?!" Chen You barked in annoyance, glaring at Commander An.

Commander An tried to mediate the situation and so he said to Doctor Lou, "At least check her condition. You won't know until y-"

"I don't need to check, I can already see it. She has always been frail and so her body cannot handle an injury like this. The bleeding will continue which means the wound won't close. Eventually, it will fester and become infected. If she does make it that far then she will die in immense pain..." Chen You became even paler as Doctor Lou went on.

Doctor Lou then sighed, "If she were a bit stronger perhaps..." Doctor Lou paused and knit his brows.

"Perhaps?" Chen You swiftly asked, seeing hope. All the other doctors who came were useless and completely bleak but he said "perhaps" so maybe he had something.

When Doctor Lou still did not respond, she fell on her knees and pleaded, "Please, please. if there's any way, I'll try...wh-whatever it is, I'll give it to you - I a-apologize about just now, I didn't mean to be disrespectful. She's my mother so please save her, whatever you want! Please -"

Doctor Lou raised a hand up and Chen You immediately closed her mouth and looked up at him with teary pleading eyes.

"As I said, her time has come. I can't save her. But I can give something to ease her pain and make her wake her up for you so you can have a few more moments with her...It will only be a few more days at most. That is all I can do." Doctor Lou said, calmly looking down at Chen You.

"Whatever it is! We'll try. She'll wake up...Thank you!" Chen You said as she kowtowed. All the other doctors had said she won't wake up and that she would expire by the next day, but he said a few days. There was still hope, she would get better.

"I'll have it sent over." Doctor Lou said and then swiftly turned and left the room, with Commander An promptly followed behind him.

Commander An curiously looked Doctor Lou over with new respect. He was truly skilled to be able to decipher a patient's condition just with a glance.

When they got outside, Doctor Lou suddenly stopped and sighed as he looked up at the sky.

Commander An stopped next to him and asked, "Is there really nothing that can be done?... The idea of her death weighs heavy on the Emperor's mind." He said trying to see if mentioning the Emperor's suffering would propel Doctor Lou to be interested in saving the woman.

Doctor Lou squinted at him, "I already said it is her time...I can't interfere, too troublesome...Where's the next patient? You said there were two."

"This way..." Commander An said and then went about leading the way as he thought over Doctor Lou's response, "interfere" was an odd word to use. But in the end, he said the same thing as the other physicians. Nothing could be done for her but at least he offered to ease her pain.

When they got to the prisoner's room, Doctor Lou did the same thing. He simply looked at the man and said that he will be fine and should be awake by the next morning. He also agreed to send over some medication to aid the man's recovery. After that, they had a carriage prepared and some men escorted Doctor Lou.

As soon as he arrived, Doctor Lou seemingly leisurely threw together random herbs without even thinking or looking at them as the guards watched him with skepticism. He quickly packaged the medication, gave the guards instructions, and quickly waved them away. Then promptly sat at his desk and plopped his head down, apparently going to sleep.

The guards looked at each other, shrugged, and then left the pharmacy. As the guards raced off, another visitor entered the pharmacy.

Doctor Lou immediately raised his head a little and squinted at Prince Yi as he stepped his foot into the pharmacy.

Prince Yi raised an eyebrow at the old man but continued his approach. He stopped in front of the desk, looked off to the side, and dignifiedly said, "I am here to purchase medicine..."

When Doctor Lou did not respond or even bother to sit up, Prince Yi knit his brows and looked down his nose at the old man and irritatedly asked, "Are you not open for business?"

If not for the fact that this was important and that Prince Yi wanted the most effective medication to guarantee a swift victory, he would not have brought himself here to deal with this rude old man. He had not forgotten their last encounter in the palace...and obviously the old man had not forgotten either.

He had discovered Doctor Lou's skill in this department after that irritating encounter in the palace a few months ago. Out of anger, he had ordered people to investigate the so-called friendship the old man claimed to have with the Emperor.

Naturally, he discovered no such friendship. The doctor had been at the palace for the Empress dowager, who apparently wanted to hire him for his renowned skills. And that was how he found out about the old man's reputation and was the reason he was here.

"It depends on what you want...we could be closed." Doctor Lou mumbled with a disgruntled pout, finally sitting up and folding his arms as he continued squinting at Prince Yi.

Prince Yi let out a breath, ignored Doctor Lou's words, and got to the point of his visit, "I heard you are most proficient when it comes to...matters of childbearing..."

Doctor Lou's eyes went wide and his mouth fell open and then his face bloomed into a full grin as he excitedly asked, "You want to have a child? Why didn't you say so? Wait! You wouldn't be thinking of Xin- No, no, that's impossible - Forget that! A child is good! You came to the right place! You know they say I have the w.o.m.b's touch hehehe~" Doctor Lou finished with a chuckle as he stroked his beard, nodding as he appraised Prince Yi.

Prince Yi looked at the old man skeptically, taken aback by the old man's sudden excitement. He shrugged off his apprehension and then said, "I want the most effective thing you have..."

"Of course!" Doctor Lou jumped off and scurried off to the back and then came back with a few bright leaves that almost appeared to be glistening. He put them a pack and wrapped them up as he explained, "Just put one of this in the wine when you and your- hehe~ just drink and go about your merry business. You only need one, but I gave you the extras because I like you hehe~ I guarantee you an adorable, beautiful, strong, brave and brilliant little one, just like mine, that will light up your li-"

"So many guarantees on just a leaf" Prince Yi commented with a slight frown. He came here expecting an expert, but the old man sounded like one of those useless street vendors who exaggerated their nonsense products all to make a profit. He was beginning to doubt the old man's reputation.

Doctor Lou frowned, "Not just a leaf! This leaf has been filled with all the good things in the world that children like, it attracts only the good babies lingering in the air too~...What? You don't believe me? Fine, if it doesn't work you can come have my head~" Doctor Lou assured with a happy smile, chuckling again as he handed over the wrapped up leaves.

This sounded like nonsense to Prince but he had heard of the old man's prowess in this area, people apparently came from all over the country to find him. He was very stubborn and finicky about things, and he only helped those he felt inclined to. Although his behavior was strange, all he helped were successful. This was important and he needed quick results and so Prince Yi knit his brows, took the package, and asked, "How much?"

"For you~ It's no charge. You just happily enjoying yourself is enough~" Doctor Lou said with a chuckle.

"What do you mean by that?" Prince Yi asked with an unamused eyebrow. Feeling somewhat insulted that the old man felt that he needed charity and what did his enjoyment have to do with the old man?

"Well, children are a happy affair so it simply doesn't feel right to charge you..." Doctor Lou responded with a pout and then he went, "Well, if you don't want a child, you can give it back!" as he reached for the package.

Prince Yi promptly moved the package out of the old man's reach and then lightly nodded, "You have my thanks then..."

Doctor Lou nodded with a smile and when Prince Yi moved to turn to leave, Doctor Lou went, "Ah, wait...there is something that I would like~"

Prince Yi turned back to the old man with a raised eyebrow.

{...Of course, there is something...there is always something...}

"You can call me Shifu~ I can teach you a lot of things, I'm brilliant and I'm generally just the better person, a lot more fun too~...So, what do you say? Will you become my student? You know I don't do this often, you know~"

Prince Yi knit his brows at Doctor Lou in confusion, "What?"