Chapter 48 — The Medicine Bearer Through the Chaos

Cracks in Prescription

Nearly two weeks after the night of poisoning, Tinh Tan was able to sit up on his own, walk a few steps around the room with the help of the palace maids, and his voice was almost back to normal. Kinh Ba Van gradually reduced the frequency of being on duty, only keeping the check-up regime twice a day, considering the most dangerous period had passed. The tense atmosphere that had surrounded the Thai Medical Institute for the past two weeks had also begun to calm down, and the medical students were gradually returning to their daily work routine.

But right when everyone was starting to breathe a sigh of relief, one afternoon, Tinh Tan suddenly had a high fever, accompanied by new signs of arrhythmia - a development that was not predicted by any treatment regimen being applied.

"What's going on?" Kinh Ba Van asked urgently, when he was summoned immediately after the maid on duty discovered an unusual situation.

"I don't know, Lord Chancellor." Au Ba Tuong, the person on duty, replied, his voice somewhat panicked. "All doses of medicine are prescribed according to the agreed regimen, nothing has changed."

Tinh Yen hastily checked all medication records in recent days, comparing each medicine and each dosage with the current symptoms. She stopped at a detail that made her heart ache slightly - in the latest prescription for blood tonic medicine, prescribed to support recovery, there appeared a medicinal herb called pear lotus, which was not in the original regimen agreed upon by herself and Kinh Ba Van.

"This pear flavor, who added it to the prescription?" She asked, her voice urgent, pointing to the words in the file.

Au Ba Tuong bent down to look, his face changed color. "I... I don't remember adding this. Maybe it was an impulsive mistake when copying the prescription, or..." He hesitated, not daring to finish his sentence.

"Le lotus has the effect of causing vomiting and clearing heat in some ancient remedies, but it seriously conflicts with the blood-boosting herbs being used for Lady Qin, especially when combined with ginseng and dong quai in high doses as at present." Tinh Yen spoke quickly, trying to keep her voice calm even though extreme anxiety was rising in her heart. "This incompatibility can cause heart arrhythmia and sudden high fever, exactly like what Lady Qin is experiencing."

Kinh Ba Van immediately ordered the drug he was using to be stopped and replaced with a new emergency antidote. The entire medical team rushed into the emergency room for many hours, using every possible measure to stabilize Tinh Tan's heart rate and reduce his fever, while the question of the origin of the error in the prescription still hung in the air, with no clear answer.

"Who copied this prescription and who checked it one last time before sending it to the Pharmacy to prepare?" Kinh Ba Van asked harshly. After Tinh Tan's condition temporarily stabilized at midnight, his face stiffened with anger and worry.

"Sir, the original prescription was agreed upon by the Chancellor himself and Doctor Do, then I copied it and sent it to the Pharmacy according to the correct procedure." Au Ba Tuong replied, his voice trembling but still trying to remain calm. "I don't understand why there are discrepancies. Maybe we need to recheck the entire copying and preparation process."

Tinh Yen stood still, a vague but persistent sense of insecurity arose in her heart. She clearly remembered that the original prescription was discussed by herself and Kinh Ba Van, and there was no pear flavor in it - so at what stage did this error occur, by whom, and more importantly, was this an accidental mistake or an intentional act cleverly disguised under the guise of a common administrative error?

"I would like to ask permission to re-check all the books at the Pharmacy, comparing the writing on the copied prescription with other recent prescriptions." She spoke to Kinh Ba Van, her voice cautious. "If this really is just a mistake, careful checking will also help avoid similar mistakes in the future. But if it is not a mistake..."

"What are you implying?" Kinh Ba Van asked, his eyes looked straight at her, sharper than ever.

"I don't dare confirm anything right now, I just feel like there are too many unusual coincidences, Lord Chancellor." Tinh Yen replied, carefully choosing each word. "From the poisoning incident in the bird's nest soup, to the error in the prescription this time, all happened at sensitive times, when Lady Qin's condition was showing a tendency to improve."

Kinh Ba Van was silent for a long time, his face flashed with many complex emotions before returning to his usual serious look. "I understand your concern, but right now, the most important thing is to stabilize Lady Qin's condition first. I will leave the matter of checking the books to the person in charge of the Pharmacy to handle according to the correct procedure. You do not need to intervene deeply in this matter yourself." He said, his voice somewhat decisive, closing her proposal.

Tinh Yen bowed her head to obey, although inside she couldn't help but feel disappointed at that refusal. She understood that, while the situation was still chaotic and all eyes were on this palace, it was difficult for a cautious Chancellor like Kinh Ba Van to allow a young medical student like her to arbitrarily investigate deeply into the Pharmacy Department - but at the same time, she also clearly felt that such caution might be unintentionally concealing an important truth, a truth that, if not revealed soon, could cause much more serious consequences in the future. close.

Ngan Ba Thuyen, who had just finished her shift, happened to pass by, saw Tinh Yen sitting alone with a thoughtful expression, and immediately stopped. He looked around, made sure there was no one else within earshot, then lowered his voice.

"I heard about the prescription." He said, his voice hoarse. "What do you suspect?"

"I suspect someone intentionally sabotaged it, but there is no evidence to confirm, nor is the motive clear." Tinh Yen answered honestly. "Senior, do you think this is related to the power conflicts surrounding Lady Qin's family?"

Ngan Ba Thuyen pondered for a long time, his old eyes looking far into the dark garden as if pondering something heavy. "Twenty years ago, I witnessed a similar thing - a high-ranking official in the court suddenly became seriously ill after taking a seemingly harmless medicine, and he was wrongly blamed for that mistake, later..." He stopped suddenly, as if he had just realized he was about to say too much, his face flashed with a barely concealed fear. "I shouldn't say anything more. Just be careful, record everything carefully, that's the only thing I can advise you right now."

He hurriedly walked away before Tinh Yen could ask more, leaving her sitting there with a haunting unfinished story - apparently, the scenario that was repeating before her eyes was not the first time it happened in the history of this Thai Medical Institute, and the person who was wrongly framed twenty years ago was, most likely, part of the secret that Ngan Ba Thuyen was trying to hide.

She sat quietly for a while longer, holding the copy of the prescription containing the wrong pear flavor, looking over and over again at each stroke, trying to find some clue that could distinguish whether this was hastily written by an accidental mistake, or a stroke of the pen deliberately written differently to hide the identity of the person who actually added that dangerous medicine. The handwriting on the prescription was quite neat, with no signs of trembling or unusual haste — if this was indeed a mistake, it was one made in a completely calm state of mind, a detail that made her even more suspicious that this was not accidental.

She couldn't find a definite answer that night. She only knew that a new feeling of insecurity had begun to take root deep in her heart - the feeling that someone, very close to her, was secretly trying to make all the medical team's efforts to save her useless, and that, if she didn't find that person before it was too late, the next consequence might no longer stop at a high fever that could be cured.

Before returning to the room to rest, she stopped by the small makeshift kitchen near the royal palace, where medicinal herbs were specially prepared for Tinh Tan every day. She carefully examined each remaining bottle of medicinal herbs and compared the labels with the inventory book. Everything seemed neat and orderly, with no unusual signs showing on the outside - which, instead of making her feel secure, made her even more wary, because someone sophisticated enough to bypass a strict control system like the Royal Hospital was definitely not someone who left loopholes easily for others to detect.