Goddess Atlas, Starting from the Queen

Chapter 30 Qingyun, you are already 24 this year, right?

Looking at the beautiful lady in front of her, the maid sighed slightly and said, "Miss Xiao, don't come tomorrow."

Hearing this, Xiao Qingyun was startled and her expression was slightly dazed.

The maid continued, "My master said that he can't cure Prince Xiaoyao's illness. Even the imperial physician in the palace said that he doesn't have much time left. It would be a waste of time for him to go to the capital."

"And even if he leaves for the capital now, it might be too late. You should go back."

Xiao Qingyun quickly said, "As long as Senior Dugu goes to Xiaoyao Palace, our Xiao family is willing to give us ten thousand taels of gold!"

The Xiaoyao Palace may not have money, but as the Xiao family is the richest family in Jiangnan, ten thousand taels of gold is nothing.

After hearing Xiao Qingyun's words, the maid continued, "Miss Xiao, my master said that no matter how much silver you offer, he will never go with you to the capital to see King Xiaoyao. You'd better not waste your time. If you rush back to the capital now, you might be able to see King Xiaoyao one last time."

As soon as she finished speaking, the maid turned around and went back to Dugu Mansion. Seeing the maid's leaving back, Xiao Qingyun was hesitant to speak.

After the maid left, Xiao Qingyun stood outside the Dugu Mansion for a long time.

After a long time, Xiao Qingyun sighed and said to herself: "I have tried my best. This is your fate. Don't blame me."

In order to cure Lu Ming's illness, she has traveled far and wide over the past year and looked for famous doctors all over the world, but no doctor can treat Lu Ming's illness.

Not to mention curing Lu Ming, those famous doctors couldn't even figure out what disease Lu Ming had.

Later, the imperial doctors from the palace also came to Xiaoyao Palace to see Lu Ming, but they also could not find out what was wrong with Lu Ming.

However, the imperial physician of the palace discovered that Lu Ming's vitality was gradually weakening, and the rate of weakening was getting faster and faster with each passing day. The imperial physician deduced that Lu Ming had less than two months left to live.

After hearing that Lu Ming only had two months left to live, Xiao Qingyun suddenly thought of Dugu Ran, the most famous poison doctor in Jiangnan.

It is rumored that Dugu Ran is a master of poison. Dugu Ran uses poison not to kill people, but to cure diseases. He has cured many illnesses of masters from aristocratic families with poison, and he has become famous in the Jiangnan area because of this.

The Xiao family behind Xiao Qingyun is a prominent family in Jiangnan. She has always known about the existence of Dugu Ran, but because Dugu Ran used poison to treat diseases, Xiao Qingyun has always been hesitant.

But now Lu Ming is almost dead, she can't care about so many things, she can only try her best.

As a result, after she returned to Jiangnan, she visited the Dugu Mansion many times, but did not see Dugu Ran. According to the servants of the Dugu Mansion, Dugu Ran was in seclusion recently, researching new poisons and would not see anyone.

She had no choice but to come every day, trying her luck to see if Dugu Ran had come out.

However, after waiting for so many days, Dugu Ran refused to treat King Xiaoyao.

If even Dugu Ran can’t do anything about it, then there’s really nothing we can do.

Unlike Su Wanyun, although she would be sad about Lu Ming's death, she would not be as sad as Su Wanyun.

For her, she has been able to stay in Xiaoyao Palace for more than ten years and take care of Lu Ming as he grew up. She has already done her best for Xiaoyao Palace and for Lu Ming's second brother.

At this time, Xiao Qingyun turned around and got into the carriage at the gate of Dugu Mansion and went directly back to the Xiao family. Since the last hope was gone, it was indeed time to return to Xiaoyao Palace to see Lu Ming for the last time.

……

Inside Dugu Mansion.

In a dark and gloomy secret room, a hunched old man with white hair was holding a scorpion in his hand and was using a knife to remove its stinger.

The old man was very old, his skin was like dry bark, the wrinkles on his face were very obvious, and his eye sockets were sunken, making him look like a mummy.

At this moment, a maid trembled as she entered the secret room. "Master, Miss Xiao has left."

After Dugu Ran finished dealing with the scorpion in his hand, he casually grabbed the poisonous snake in the carbon canister beside him. While doing his work, he said, "Got it, get out."

Hearing Dugu Ran's words, the maid was relieved and said quickly, "Yes, Master."

Then the maid left the secret room as if she was escaping.

After the maid left the secret room, Dugu Ran muttered to himself, "The poisons of the Death Grass and Nether Flower were developed by me, and now they come to me to treat them. The Xiaoyao Palace is really desperate."

Dugu Ran's voice was hoarse and torn. His voice echoed throughout the secret room, making it look even more eerie and terrifying.

Dugu Ran continued to talk to himself, "King Xiaoyao is truly blessed. The Saint Girl came to ask me if I have an antidote, and the eldest daughter of the Xiao family also came to ask me to treat her illness."

"It's a pity that the poison of my Nether Flower and Death Grass is incurable. The Xiaoyao Palace will be extinct. Hahahaha..."

……

As soon as Xiao Qingyun returned to the Xiao family, a pigeon with blood-red eyes appeared in front of her window. A bamboo tube the size of a pinky finger was tied to the pigeon's leg. Xiao Qingyun immediately grabbed the pigeon, removed the bamboo tube from its leg, and took out the letter from Su Wanyun from the bamboo tube.

Because the bamboo tube was small and the paper space was limited, the letter written by Su Wanyun only had a few words.

"Lu Ming is feeling better, come back soon!"

Seeing these words, Xiao Qingyun was a little bit unbelievable.

Feeling better?

How could he possibly get better?

Even the imperial physician in the palace said that he didn't have much time left, no more than two months. How could he suddenly get better now?
Xiao Qingyun looked at the handwriting carefully and found that it was indeed Su Wanyun's handwriting, and the signature was also Su Wanyun's name.

How strange.

When she left Xiaoyao Palace, Lu Ming was already lying on the bed and had fallen into a coma. She even thought that Lu Ming had died before she had even invited Dugu Ran to Xiaoyao Palace.

After thinking about it, Xiao Qingyun still couldn't understand why Lu Ming suddenly got better. She was too lazy to continue speculating. Anyway, she was about to return to Xiaoyao Palace, and she would soon know what was going on.

At this time, Xiao Qingyun said to the maid beside her: "Pack your things immediately, we will set off to return to the capital this afternoon."

As Xiao Qingyun finished speaking, a maid from the outer courtyard came up to her and said, "Miss, the master wants you to go to her study."

Xiao Qingyun frowned slightly. She had guessed what it was about. Then she said coldly, "I'll go right away."

Immediately afterwards, Xiao Qingyun came to the study of Xiao Yanchang, the head of the Xiao family. The door of the study was slightly open, and through the crack she could see a middle-aged man inside flipping through the account book.

Xiao Qingyun pushed the door of the study and went straight into the study, "Dad, are you looking for me?"

Xiao Yanchang stared at the account book in his hand and asked without raising his head, "Did you go to Dugu Mansion again today?"

Xiao Qingyun said: "Yeah."

Xiao Yanchang then asked, "Still haven't seen Divine Doctor Dugu?"

Xiao Qingyun said: "No, he didn't see him. He said he couldn't cure King Xiaoyao's illness."

Xiao Yanchang said, "It seems that King Xiaoyao is indeed dying."

As Xiao Yanchang spoke, he flipped through the account book, as if he didn't care at all about King Xiaoyao's death.

Xiao Qingyun asked directly: "Dad, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Xiao Yanchang did not answer, but instead asked: "Qingyun, you are already twenty-four this year, right?"

Seeing Xiao Yanchang mention her age, Xiao Qingyun's heart skipped a beat. It was exactly as she thought. Xiao Qingyun immediately said, "Dad, just say what you want to say."

Xiao Yanchang stopped flipping through the account book, looked up at Xiao Qingyun, and continued, "Among the women in Jiangnan, except you, there is no one who is over 20 years old and still unmarried."

Xiao Qingyun said calmly, "Dad, my engagement with Xiaoyao Palace was arranged by you and Lu Xianren, right?"

Xiao Yanchang said: "When Lu Wenhao died, this engagement became invalid."

"You didn't even marry into the Xiaoyao Palace. Your going there back then was not legitimate."

"If you hadn't said you wanted to learn immortal arts from Immortal Lu, I wouldn't have let a girl like you go to Xiaoyao Palace."

Running to the man's home before getting married is a huge taboo in this era. People will think that the woman is shameless.

When the old King Xiaoyao was still alive, Xiao Qingyun proposed to learn immortal arts, and Xiao Yanchang agreed to Xiao Qingyun.

After all, there are immortals here, so people dare not say anything.

Unexpectedly, not long after Xiao Qingyun arrived at the Prince Xiaoyao's Mansion, the old Prince Xiaoyao passed away.

It would have been fine if the old King Xiaoyao had died, but not long after, Xiao Qingyun's fiancé, Lu Ming's second brother, also died of illness.

After Lu Wenhao's death, Xiao Qingyun, a woman who had not yet married, had no reason to stay in Xiaoyao Palace.

However, some people in the Xiao family thought that since the old King Xiaoyao, Lu Hong, and Lu Wenhao were all dead, only the eight-year-old Lu Ming was left. Xiao Qingyun could take this opportunity to control the King Xiaoyao's Mansion and find the magic left by the old King Xiaoyao.

(End of this chapter)