His Rui

Chapter 569 Finding The Herb

The old physician as he saw that Li Rui was standing straight without cutting the plant from the pot.

”Hurry! Here dig it out.”

He said as he forwarded a pointy thing to Li Rui that could help her in digging out the plant. However, Li Rui shook her head and said in a low voice.

”They can’t be used. All of them are already rotten.”

There was so much heaviness in her voice. The old physician’s heart sank inside his chest. He looked at the plants and couldn’t help but ask

  “From where are they rotten?”

”Their roots.”

Li Rui answered again in a low voice as she stepped out from the grassy area. The old physician also bent down to check one of the plants and his face went red when he saw that it was indeed spoiled.

”It is my fault.”

The old physician couldn’t help but say to himself. After all, it was he who was taking care of these plants since Li Rui was pregnant.

When he looked at Li Rui’s lost eyes who didn’t know what she should do, the old physician cursed himself inside his heart.

Soon he saw Xi Ying and General Li entering the garden. Both of them had seen her entering the garden and hence they followed her after Xi Ying asked most of the servants to leave the courtyard.

Butler Shui Cao was asked to stand outside the Courtyard so that whenever there was something they needed, Li Hua or Liu Lan would be able to tell him right away.

”Rui, is everything alright?”

Xi Ying asked gently when he saw that his wife’s face didn’t look too good. His hand unconsciously went around his waist and his other handheld her hand as he caressed her knuckles to soothe down the sadness that was lingering in her eyes.

Her hands were still stained with soil but he didn’t care as he picked a cloth from the nearby table and started to wipe her hands. At the same time, he waited for her answer.

The old physician also stood up from his spot and came to stand beside Li Rui.

”Girl, I apologize. Those plants… they were my responsibility but because of me, you can’t use them now that you need them.”

Xi Ying frowned on hearing the old physician’s words and unconsciously looked toward the plants.

”What happened? “

He asked the old physician who told him with a heavy heart that the plant that Li Rui needed to treat her mother was rotten. General Li’s face didn’t look good after hearing this.

Panic filled his heart and he asked his daughter anxiously.

”Rui, what can we do now? Show the plant to Father. Father will try to arrange it as soon as possible.”

  Li Rui looked at her father. Her lips were pressed in a thin line. She wanted to tell her father that he wouldn’t be able to find the kind of plant she needed in the Imperial City or around Imperial City. Even if he went far to find this plant, they didn’t have much time. 

But seeing the panic as well as hope in her father’s eyes, Li Rui couldn’t bear to do so.

She freed her hands from Xi Ying’s hold and picked the book she had brought from her room from the table. Opening the book, Li Rui pointed her finger at the plant and said to General Li.

”This one, Father. I need this herb to treat Mother. 

General Li looked at the plant carefully and Li Rui could see the hope slowly dying down in his eyes. Her father must have already seen much more than her and she was sure that it was his first time seeing this plant.

Still, as if assuring himself, he said 

”It’s alright. Father will immediately ask the soldiers to look for this plant.”

Xi Ying was also looking at the plant. He was thinking of sending his shadow guards to look for when his eyes fell on the old physician who was wearing a complicated expression on his face.

Xi Ying’s eyes immediately sharpened and he stepped forward …just in front of the old physician.

”You know, right…where we can find this herb?”

Xi Ying’s question made Li Rui look at the old physician. Only now she remember that even when she had shown those plants to the old physician, he had a very complex expression on his face and had said again and again that she couldn’t grown these plants here in the Imperial City.

According to him, it needed a skill that a young girl like her could never possess.

Did it not mean that he had seen those plants before also?

The old physician swallowed when he heard Xi Ying’s question. He saw the way the three people were looking at him and sweat started to form behind his back.

”That…”

’I don’t know’. He had wanted to say but he couldn’t say it knowing that it was he because of whom they were at such a big loss today.

So he spoke the truth.

”I know.”

General Li’s eyes were filled with relief. Though the old physician was completely unknown to him, he said immediately.

”Can Old Master tell this General where I can find this herb? Is it far away from the Imperial Palace? Is it in Xin or somewhere else?”

The old physician looked at eager face of General Li and shook his head. General Li’s heart sank because he thought that the herb was not in Xin.

Xi Ying noticed it.

Just when he was about to comfort the middle aged General by saying that no matter how far it was, by using his highest speed, he would get it for Li Rui’s mother, he heard the old physician saying.

”It can be find in the Imperial City itself.”

  “Where?”

General Li asked again swiftly and Li Rui looked at the old physician with a confusion as well as suspicion filled gaze.

”This herb…I have seen it in the Imperial Palace.”

Xi Ying’s eyes narrowed as he suddenly understood everything. Of course, the old physician had lived in the Imperial Palace for a memorable amount of time, so it was possible for him to see this herb in the Imperial Palace. 

”Good.”

Xi Ying nodded his head and said to General Li.

”Don’t worry, General Li. This Lord will immediately ask An Si to bring the herb from the Imperial Palace.”

However, the old physician shook his head with a heavy sigh again and said

”No…it is not that easy.”

And the three people looked at him again.