The time went by, minute by minute, second by second.

The imperial physicians' faces went whiter and whiter, and sweat stood out on their foreheads in beads the size of soybeans.

They did not doubt a word of what Ning Chen had said.

The whole imperial city is in Ning Chen's hands now. Killing a few imperial physicians would be no more to him than a game.

But they truly had no way to bring His Majesty back.

They looked at Lin Wen, and there was pleading in their eyes.

Lin Wen was on good terms with Ning Chen, and they hoped Lin Wen might put in a word for them.

Lin Wen's brows drew into three hard lines. He was frightened himself — Ning Chen was a man who did what he said he would do.

Then, all at once, he seemed to remember something.

"My lord marquis, my elder brother in the craft has real standing in this line..."

"Are you joking with me? Elder Shang Lu has been gone for years—" Ning Chen stopped short. "You mean Zisu?"

Lin Wen nodded. "My elder brother has been going up and down this country, and the strange and stubborn cases he has seen are far beyond anything this old man could match... Miss Zisu was with him all those years and has seen and learned much. She may have a way."

Ning Chen's brows drew together. This old fellow isn't trying to drop Zisu in it, is he?

But he had no room to think it through now. "Wu Tiezhu, take men to the Ning residence at once and bring Zisu here for me... the faster the better."

"Yes!"

Wu Tiezhu turned and ran.

The imperial physicians quietly wiped the cold sweat off their foreheads.

Imperial Physician Lin has the better touch. The Master Director indeed — he has thrown the hard question straight at Ning Chen's woman.

In fact Lin Wen had nothing of the sort in mind. Everything he had said was said in earnest.

His elder brother in the craft, Shang Lu, had traveled the whole…