Poison Genius Consort

Gu Beiyue told Qin Min about the Qin Clan Head's request to meet her. She bowed and replied, "I'll listen to Academy Head's arrangements."

An indescribable feeling of alienation swept over him as if they'd gone back to the first time they met. Qin Min had not only been courteous there, but very respectful. Gu Beiyue didn't realize he had already started creasing his brows.

He said, "Eldest Miss Qin, it's perfectly justified to go meet your own father."

"Thank you, Academy Head," Qin Min rose and added, "Father is only going to ask me to plea mercy. Academy Head doesn't need to worry, Qin Min knows what to do."

Gu Beiyue fell silent before he intoned, "Since you know what's appropriate, go ahead."

Qin Min bowed again before bidding farewell. She was ruthless even with intimate relations, to say nothing of him and her who weren't close at all. He turned his back to the door while she headed for the exit and brushed past him. Qin Min didn't look back, but Gu Beiyue did. He watched her retreating figure and sighed softly.

They hadn't met since the last time at the study. She lived in the compound while he busied himself until late at night, sleeping in the study. Today she was more polite than before and even a little aloof. He knew she was still angry. But anger could turn to forgiveness or despair. He was waiting for the latter to happen...

It was easy for Qin Min to order others about in the medical academy's prison with the identity of Madam to the Academy Head. She had someone change her father to a more comfortable prison cell and deliver a hot meal. She thought her useless little brother might drop by the prison. Even if he couldn't bail their father out, he could at least make him comfortable. Unfortunately, the little brother never showed up, nor did her other sisters. If she remembered correctly, just yesterday her sisters had been pleading at the door before Shaoyao blocked them.

She sat on the wheelchair and silently watched her father devour his meal. The prison did serve three meals a day, but her father had been pampered since childhood and wasn't used to the food. She felt stifled, but didn't show her emotions. After Qin Fengli filled his stomach, he said, "Min-er, father has no regrets in my life since you're willing to see me."

After all, when Gu Beiyue had sent someone to propose marriage, he had required her to do this and that; when his daughter was married off, he kept sending her secret missives. He wanted Qin Min to win more benefits for the Qin Clan in front of Gu Beiyue and even birth a son for him quickly to secure her position in the family.

Unfortunately, his daughter never acknowledged him. Even when he went to Ningzhou after news of her miscarriage, she refused to see him. He assumed his daughter would never pay attention to him in this lifetime again.

"What has father found daughter for?"Qin Min asked simply.

"You still resent father, right?" Qin Fengli waited but got no answer, so went on, "In the past, father let you down. Your acupuncture skills...did the Academy Head teach you?"

After his daughter's legs were crippled, he stopped caring about her altogether. All of the learning opportunities were given to the other daughters. To marry them off, he even forced her to marry an old man. When Gu Beiyue proposed, he was so shocked he didn't sleep for three days and three nights. He had once asked his daughter the reasons, but she didn't say a thing. Now his daughter had displayed such outstanding medical skills. Who else but Gu Beiyue could have taught her?

Qin Min didn't answer but said lightly, "Father, if there's nothing else, I'm leaving."

Qin Fengli's heart seized before he blurted out, "Min-er, you must be wary of Fourth Miss Ren!"

Qin Min gave a start and finally looked at her father in earnest.

"Min-er, Fourth Miss Ren's medical skills were taught by Gu Beiyue too! Otherwise, how could she have such skills at a young age?" Qin Fengli said.

Qin Min knew this much already and remained silent.

"Min-er, the Ren Clan is different from us! Think carefully, since Gu Beiyue could marry you, why can't he marry Fourth Miss Ren as well?" When he saw his daughter's indifference, he began to analyze the situation carefully for her sake.

In his eyes, Gu Beiyue married Qin Min just to use the Qin Clan against the Ren Clan. But now the Qin and Ren Clans had both heads behind bars, so the power of the two families would be left to its heirs. From the Qin Clan's perspective, the big sister Qin Min would definitely support her younger brother. In other words, Qin Min would control the Qin Clan behind the scenes. On the Ren Clan's side, Eldest Young Master Ren was capable to take up the leadership position, but his position in the medical academy couldn't compare with Fourth Miss Ren. In other words, the eldest young master would still have to defer to Fourth Miss Ren in the future. Like Qin Min, she would also become the true power behind the scenes.

"Min-er, if Fourth Miss Ren takes the Ren Clan as...heheh, her dowry to marry Gu Beiyue, what will you do then?" Qin Fengli asked.

Qin Min remained mute.

Qin Fengli paused for a bit before finally revealing his true intentions. "Min-er, you can't cast aside the Qin Clan. Without us, how will you fight against Fourth Miss Ren in the future?"

Qin Min finally understood her father's motives. He said all this just so she could support her idiotic little brother and prevent the Qin Clan from falling into second uncle's hands. She could only sigh internally. Why couldn't her father say things directly? What was the point of dragging in Fourth Miss Ren too? In the end, father didn't understand Gu Beiyue at all. He hadn't wed her for the sake of using the Qin Clan against the Ren Clan, nor would he marry Fourth Miss Ren to rope in the Ren Clan. He had plenty of ways to control Medical City. If he was willing to be cruel, no family could escape his clutches.

As for marriage.

At present, she only knew why he wouldn't marry, not why he did. Just like how she knew his dislikes, but not his likes. But if father saw Gu Beiyue in this light, the Ren Clan probably did too. Gu Beiyue's current goals weren't to pull anyone to his side, but to abolish all the clan privileges and break the medical academy's monopoly on the medical world. In other words, Gu Beiyue was handing over Medical City to royal rule and Long Feiye!

Gu Beiyue didn't deal with the Council of Elders publicly that day but delayed things. Now he had already started secretly sending people to spread gossip that reforms were coming to all systems in the medical academy. The right to teach and rank doctors, as well as granting doctors qualifications to practice medicine, would be moved to the imperial court instead. These rumors were meant to gauge public opinion. Father was locked up and naturally knew nothing, but Qin Min didn't elaborate either.

She only said, "Father, no matter who heads the Qin Clan, the best way to be worthy of our ancestors is to carry forth our Qin Clan's acupuncture skills, save the dying, and heal the hurt. The Academy Head is an intelligent man and won't treat us poorly."

"Min-er!" Qin Fengli was agitated.

Qin Min just laughed. "Father, daughter will keep you fed and clothed in prison. If you want any medical texts, tell the jailer and he'll find them for you. As father's medical skills are excellent and capable of curing countless ills, I hope you can keep your ambitions at bay and stop vying for pointless things. Min-er is married now and cannot shoulder heavy responsibilities; my younger brother is still improving his craft and will need father's personal instruction as he grows. May father take care." Qin Min called for Shaoyao after she was finished and left. Qin Fengli was left reeling in place.

He had no idea whether her words came from Qin Min herself or was a message from Gu Beiyue. Yet he heard the principle in them. After losing his position as clan head, Medical Sage, and all sorts of glory and wealth, he still retained his medical skills. He could still cure patients and pass down his skills. The best bargaining chip of the Qin Clan were his own medical techniques!

—

Once Qin Min left the prisons, she didn't immediately return but went to the south of the city to enter an inn. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before she was completely surrounded. Before she married Gu Beiyue, she used to slip out of the Qin Estate secretly and treat patients with a mask over her face. There were plenty of ailing patients in the inns of Medical City, so she'd visit three to four a day and treat a dozen or more. Today she was wearing a face veil as usual, but the bystanders had noticed her before she entered the inn because they recognized her servant girl Shaoyao.

Everyone crowded around her. Some were simply fans who wanted to see her, others asked questions nonstop, and still more wanted to take her as their teacher. Still others begged her to treat their ailments. Ever since she saved that old man's life, she was famous throughout the city. Everyone admired and respected her, even turning her deeds into a nursery rhyme to spread among the children. The song praised her for not succumbing to fate despite her disability and staying determined instead.

When she first married Gu Beiyue with her crippled legs, half of Medical City had been cursing her instead!

They said she was a schemer, a seducer, unmarried yet pregnant; in short, she was all but a vixen in their eyes. Rather than making a name for herself in Medical City this time, it was more accurate to say she'd restored her own reputation.

Shaoyao was the happiest one of all, but all this was pointless for Qin Min. She was a person who could amuse herself and live happily all alone, not caring what others thought nor letting them affect her. When she saw the crowd around her grow bigger and bigger, Qin Min muttered, "Shaoyao, where's the carriage?"

"Right in the alley up ahead," Shaoyao replied hastily.

"Then hurry up," Qin Min retorted unhappily. She didn't like being surrounded like some sort of monkey. Moreover, after Gu Beiyue spread those rumors, many people in Medical City were left dissatisfied. As his wife, she'd be implicated in that dislike too. The more people there were around her, the more dangerous it'd be.

"Make way, make way!"

"Please get out of the way. We have urgent business, don't block the road!"

"If you need medical treatment, find the medical academy. They'll arrange a time for you. All of you, move aside!"

Shaoyao hadn't thought much at the start, but when the crowds grew bigger, she became afraid.