Time Travel: The Best Doctor in Ancient Times

Chapter 95: Chapter 52 Zhou Mu: King’s Decree_2

“Just because it’s written down, people will believe it?” Gu Changsheng was skeptical. “If a few written words could make people believe, then that really would be seeing a ghost!”

Zhou Mu nodded lightly, signaling her to write.

People were still kneeling down the entire street; Eunuch Yuan Bao was standing there, representing the Imperial Family as an Imperial Attendant. They dared not look directly at him and could only kneel. That an issue today had summoned the Commandery Prince’s Attendant proved that Lady Changsheng was not to be trifled with!

This beating was doomed to be endured in vain, but what about justice?

When an official speaks, it is naturally whatever Eunuch Yuan Bao says that counts!

Gu Changsheng clutched the Wolf Brush that Zhou Mu had thrust into her hand and didn’t know how to begin writing; she could only turn around for help, “Do I really need to write?”

...

“Think about Gu Ze in the back courtyard. It’s not good for him if people keep causing trouble like this once or twice,” Zhou Mu, forsaking his usual reticence, was surprisingly talkative today. “Write it as domineering as you like, however it pleases you.”

“You talk as if what I write will be like an imperial edict, truly scaring people or whatever…” Gu Changsheng muttered unhappily and lowered her head in thought, “I saw the stone lions at the entrance of Li Mansion in the Capital City, mighty and domineering, enough to intimidate the cowardly. Why don’t you just fetch those stone lions to protect our house? They’d be much stronger than a few words I might write…”

Xiao Cui, who returned just then, overheard this conversation and couldn’t help covering her face, realizing that her mistress still remembered that affair…

“I could give you a pair of Suan Ni Beast Stone Carvings to protect the house, far more impressive than those stone lions from Li Mansion.”

“Really?” Gu Changsheng turned around gripping the brush, clearly incredulous, “Isn’t there a regulation? Suan Ni is one of the dragon’s nine progeny, what kind of regulation would allow their use?”

“The regulation for a Prince of the Blood.” Zhou Mu replied.

“Pfft… Bragging!” Gu Changsheng snorted with the brush in her mouth, “You’re just a Commandery Prince, even you can’t use them according to the Prince of the Blood regulation. Are you trying to get me into trouble?”

“The Commandery Prince’s unsurpassed military achievements have long earned him the title of a First-Grade Prince of the Blood. Apart from the Emperor, no one surpasses him. The Suan Ni Beast Stone Carvings are nothing to fuss over,” Eunuch Yuan Bao explained just in time, his eyes filled with proud complacency.

Gu Changsheng froze for a moment, still biting on the brush handle, “Usually those whose merits surpass the sovereign don’t meet good ends.”

“Historical experience tells me that those with greater achievements than the ruler either don’t come to a good end or aspire to the throne. Which will you be?”

Eunuch Yuan Bao bowed his head and wiped away another bout of cold sweat; there really was nothing this woman dared not say. If these words spread, what a calamity it would be!

Fortunately, they all spoke softly, and the people outside the door were too far away to hear, so only those in the room could hear.

“I’m not afraid of not meeting a good end. If you wish me to aspire to the supreme throne, it’s not out of the question,” Zhou Mu glanced at her and replied.

Gu Changsheng promptly shook her head, “Would I be out of my mind to wish you to aspire to the throne? What’s so good about being an emperor? Ever heard of ‘the higher you climb, the colder it gets’?”

Zhou Mu’s lips curved slightly, pointing at the dried ink, “These matters require time to ponder. Have you decided what to write yet?”

“Not yet…” Gu Changsheng turned around, “Even if I write, what use would it be? Our household’s walls are low, and the eaves are short; any cat or dog could climb over them…”

Resentment filled her; this evildoer Zhou Mu, with his pet Yuan Bao, never used the proper entrance!

“Then rebuild it.”

“Easy for you to say; where’s the silver?” Gu Changsheng protested, not that she hadn’t considered it. But building a house was a major undertaking, she had to plan carefully.

“The 180,000 taels of silver from Master Hei are enough to build two County Prince’s Mansions,” Zhou Mu glanced at her miserly demeanor, truly not understanding what she would do with so much silver.

“But there are no good craftsmen…” Gu Changsheng lamented, her aspirations for her dwelling had never changed, but even Uncle Song, whom she’d sent to search in Liuzhou, hadn’t found many decent craftsmen.

“The County Prince’s Mansion keeps craftsmen skilled in construction; Yuan Bao will bring some to you.”

“Zhou Mu, I’ve noticed you’re very talkative today, and strangely agreeable… Something’s not right…” Gu Changsheng eyed Zhou Mu up and down in confusion and incomprehension.

Zhou Mu glanced at the people kneeling outside the door, shook his head, “Just write ‘Those who intrude upon the Medical hall, choose death over life.’

Gu Changsheng also glanced outside the door and nodded, “Indeed very domineering. I like it!”

Sandpaper, Wolf Fang Brush, Qingtai Inkstone.

Gu Changsheng, dressed in red, turned back with a faint smile, poised her brush, and began to write, her strokes firm as if carved in iron and etched in silver.

The powerful and vibrant characters sprang to life on the paper, conveying an unrestrained wild spirit within the fluidity of her strokes, her calligraphy bold and strong, like a steed galloping across ice.

“Exquisite writing!” Eunuch Yuan Bao was the first to express his admiration. Had he not witnessed it with his own eyes, he would never have believed that such superb calligraphy came from the hand of Lady Changsheng.

Such was her writing, dignified and majestic; even the great calligraphers of this era would struggle to match her. It was truly splendid writing!

Gu Changsheng looked at the characters on the paper with satisfaction, then became lost in thought.

Her grandfather had taken to practicing calligraphy in his later years, with a questionable pretense of elegance, but he was extremely dedicated. She had benefited from his practice, if only a little.

“What are you thinking about?” Zhou Mu looked at the writing and then at the change in her expression.

“It’s nothing.” Gu Changsheng shook her head.

Zhou Mu nodded, not pressing further, and waved at Eunuch Yuan Bao.

Eunuch Yuan Bao, looking as though he had been greatly wronged, reluctantly fumbled in his bosom and squeezed his way to Gu Changsheng’s side.

“What are you doing?” Gu Changsheng asked, puzzled by Yuan Bao squeezing next to her.

“I’m just here to stamp it…” As he spoke, his hand swiftly stamped, and a bright red seal appeared below Gu Changsheng’s writing.

The seal wasn’t very large, but the lettering was clear and distinct, drafting in strong, upright small seal script. Gu Changsheng murmured softly, “Zhou… Mu… Royal… Seal!”