Chapter 41: The Ploy of Feigning Illness

Seeing this scene, Li Jiancheng flew into a rage on the spot. "Didn't I instruct Lady Zheng to send someone to fetch the medicine? Why are you still feeding him plain water?"

Cui Yingying pointed toward the medicine in the room. "It is not that your daughter-in-law refuses to use medicine, but rather that the remedies brought back by the servants are entirely useless. Even if we decocted all of them, it would be of no avail."

Li Jiancheng cast a gloomy look at Zheng Fei, the trusted confidant of Lady Zheng who had been in charge of procuring the medicine. "Zheng Fei, do you care to explain?"

"Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince, it is not that this humble servant was unwilling to give his utmost, but truly, there was no medicine for treating colds to be found in that apothecary."

"Do you take this Crown Prince for a deaf-mute or a blind man? Once the imperial physician has examined him, I shall settle accounts with you!"

With that, Li Jiancheng turned his gaze to Imperial Physician Chu. "Physician Chu, I must trouble you."

Imperial Physician Chu cupped his hands, stepped forward to check Li Chengche's pulse, and then nodded. "The Grand Imperial Grandson's Consort speaks the truth. His Royal Highness the Grand Imperial Grandson's illness indeed has no use for such concoctions."

Without needing to guess, Li Jiancheng knew this was the handiwork of Lady Zheng. At that moment, he genuinely began to wonder whether this Crown Prince's Consort ought to be replaced.

A consort possessed of such intense jealousy boded no good for the current Eastern Palace.

Just look at the Prince of Qin's Mansion, where Consort Yang and the Prince of Qin's Consort were as deeply devoted to each other as a harmonious couple. And look at his own side? What kind of chaotic mess was this?

"It would seem that the Crown Prince's Consort has not taken a single word of mine to heart... So be it."

Li Jiancheng cast a cold glance at Zheng Fei. "Go and fetch the medicine immediately! If you bring back even a single useless remedy this time, I will have you beaten to death with cudgels on the spot!"

Zheng Fei hurriedly acknowledged the order. "This subordinate obeys! I am going right now, right now!"

After dismissing Zheng Fei, Li Jiancheng immediately issued another decree. "The Crown Prince's Consort, Lady Zheng, is malicious and excessively jealous. Effective immediately, she is confined to quarters for three days. During these three days, without my personal written seal, the Crown Prince's Consort is not permitted to step out of her bedchamber by even a single step!"

He had no desire to take such a step, but Lady Zheng's actions this time had simply gone too far.

Having issued the command, Li Jiancheng turned his attention back to Imperial Physician Chu. "Sir, how is the constitution of this child of mine?"

"Replying to Your Highness, the Imperial Grandson's illness is exceedingly acute. It requires potent remedies to supplement his constitution, and once his health improves, he will still need three months of quiet recuperation before he can fully recover."

Only upon hearing this did Li Jiancheng let out a sigh of relief. Putting everything else aside, as long as the boy didn't die, it was fine.

If the Grand Imperial Grandson were to truly perish like this, the Prince of Qin's Mansion would inevitably seize the opportunity to make a great fuss over it. His Imperial Father would fly into a rage, and his position as Crown Prince would truly become indefensible.

He had heard that when his great-uncle by marriage, Yang Jian, was on his deathbed, he had cried out, "Dugu has ruined me!" Today, Li Jiancheng felt a sudden urge to cry out, "Consort Zheng has ruined me!"

He had originally assumed that Consort Zheng merely disliked Li Chengche, but he never expected her methods to be so ruthless. Today, she had even dared to attempt taking Li Chengche's life directly by exploiting his grave illness!

What she was taking was not merely Li Chengche's life, but his own position as Crown Prince!

After completing his examination and leaving behind a new medicinal prescription, Imperial Physician Chu took his leave.

Once the imperial physician had departed, Li Jiancheng issued a stern, life-or-death order to the gathered servants. "All of you are to fetch the medicine strictly according to the prescription written by Physician Chu. If there is even one extra or one missing ingredient, do not blame me for turning hostile and forgetting past relations!"

The numerous servants hastily cupped their hands in assent and rushed off to purchase the medicine.

Li Jiancheng was not particularly fond of Li Chengche, but the most fatal aspect of the current situation was that if Li Chengche truly suffered any misfortune, he himself would be ruined along with him.

Therefore, he had to harden his resolve and save Li Chengche's life first.

That very day, upon learning that she had been placed under house arrest for three days, Lady Zheng felt not a shred of remorse. Instead, she inwardly cursed Li Chengche for failing to die that day.

"Li Chengche, it matters not that you lived today; another day, I shall make you wish you were dead!"

This time, Lady Zheng completely disregarded the nonexistent bond between stepmother and stepson; she only wanted Li Chengche to meet his end sooner rather than later.

On the other side, after Li Jiancheng departed, Li Chengche slowly opened his eyes.

Indeed, he was not sick at all. This was the scheme he had devised last night after conversing with Su Qingyue.

He intended to rely on feigning illness to evade the impending series of overt and covert struggles between the Prince of Qin's Mansion and the Crown Prince's Mansion.

He would dodge them for as long as possible. After all, when immortals like Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng fought, why should a mortal like him suffer the fallout?

What did any of that have to do with him?

As soon as Li Chengche opened his eyes, he saw Cui Yingying gazing at him with an expression of utter helplessness.

"Your Highness, was it truly necessary to go to such lengths just to fake an illness?"

Li Chengche nodded earnestly. "Of course it was necessary. Do you think that imperial physician is so easily fooled?"

Although Li Chengche was in perfect health, he had searched high and low through medical texts to find a combination of various Chinese herbs that should never be consumed together.

Then he had ingested the entire concoction at once, which produced his current sickly appearance—a state of decline capable of deceiving even a learned imperial physician.

Cui Yingying handed a bowl of warm water to Li Chengche. "Your Highness, this concubine has already looked over the prescription Physician Chu wrote. They are all heavy tonics. If a perfectly healthy person consumes such medicine, your body will suffer from over-supplementation and collapse."

"That works out well. Being truly ill is still better than faking it."

Cui Yingying gave Li Chengche a speechless look. "This wife still does not understand why Your Highness insists on feigning illness."

"My father and second uncle are locked in a power struggle. Aside from faking illness, what else can I do? Should I offer strategies and plans to my own father to help him destroy my second uncle and second aunt?"

"But..." Cui Yingying could not bear to voice the truth: because of this feigned illness today, Lady Zheng had immediately bared her fangs, attempting to take his life while he was vulnerable.

Had Li Jiancheng not kept his wits about him, there was a strong likelihood he would have breathed his last today.

"I know what you are about to say. I was not born to the principal wife, so she naturally holds no affection for me. Now that I have become the Grand Imperial Grandson, she naturally hates me to the bone."

"With an opportunity like this to claim my life while I am gravely ill, naturally she would seize it."

"Even so, Your Highness, this illness of yours can only help you evade things for a moment, not for a lifetime. If the struggle between the Prince of Qin and the Crown Prince never ceases, do you intend to pretend to be sick forever?"

Cui Yingying spoke in a low voice, her brow laden with worry.

Li Chengche propped himself up against the pillows, stretched lazily, and a cold sneer tugged at the corner of his lips. "I'll hide for as long as I can. Siding with either faction is completely inappropriate for me."

Cui Yingying murmured softly, "So that is why Your Highness feigned illness to avoid these matters? Then... could Lady Zheng's behavior today also be within Your Highness's calculations?"

"Of course. I know my stepmother all too well; she wishes nothing more than for the black and white impermanence spirits to haul me off sooner rather than later."

"Therefore, once I fell ill, it would be strange if she didn't make a move. What I wanted was precisely for her to act. In that way, the news of my grave illness will undoubtedly be known to all and believed by all. Thus, I shall have days of leisure and peace, and never need to worry about either side coming to harass me again."

[Ding! Detected that the host possesses deep foresight, using feigned illness to evade multiple major events. Judged as top-tier slacking behavior. Points +100. Current points: 1820. Upgrade and unlock contents are now viewable.]

What was he waiting for? Check it out!

[After the system upgrade, the skill draw function, disaster prediction function, and passive health self-regulation skill will be unlocked. The host can use this function to freely adjust their level of health.]

Splendid, splendid! Setting aside the former for now, the last one was the exact passive skill he urgently needed. With this skill, he would no longer need to fake an illness!