The King's Saint Doctor

Episode 1 Death and Rumours

During the Qin dynasty, the king, Qin Zhushang's death was mourned by the whole country, by his subjects, his advisors, his wife and his 5 sons. While mourning for 3 years (Chinese tradition), even his wife and his sons weeped buckets until their eyes were red and swollen, but the 3rd son didn't weep, much less produce even a drop of tear. The maids around the Grand Empress and Empress Dowager were shocked that the youngest child of age 10 can hold back his emotions.

The youngest child, Qin Xiuyan, was the most cheerful and playful kid who often sneaked out of the palace to play with Empress Dowager, his grandmother and even the maids when his mother was not present. However, now his expression has changed from happy-go-lucky to so gloomy and serious that it was the opposite of his character. During the 3 years of mourning in front of his father's tomb in the temple, Qin Xiuyan knelt continously for months without resting. Even when it was his time to eat, he only ate a bit before going back to kneeling again. Rather than being worried about the King who was going to heaven, the Grand Empress decided to care more about the living after seeing how Qin Xiuyan was doing. His head hanged low, his misty eyes covered by his hair, he was still kneeling in a proper posture. His grandmother, looking at him with gentle eyes, couldn't bear to look at him and decided on spot that she should protect him when the period of mourning was over even from the crown prince or other enemies.

His 4 brothers were jealous even though they were older because ever since they grew up, their mothers gave them strict education and wasn't allowed to play outside or slack off. Qin Xiuyan, on the other hand, was received plenty of love even from the king although he was not the crown prince. The crown prince, Qin Liqiang was enraged by the fact and grew his hatred for him over time. Some times he would prank the little one to fall into the water or blame it on Qin Xiuyan every time he does something bad. It always worked. As for the other 3 brothers, they envied him but never dared to bully him directly as they don't have enough power in the court as Qin Liqiang. They would swear and say bad words at him. They thought even if he didn't get physical wounds at least they should give him mental scars.

It really is strange. As optimistic and smart as Qin Xiuyan was, there was no way he couldn't understand what they said to him. But he continued to ignore them and went away happily. The boys were surprised. This time at the mourning hall brought them another shock as they watched traces of smiling youngest brother disappeared in their mind replaced by a frowning one in front of them. They got chills down their spine as they imagined what he would be like over the next few years and decided there uniformly to be neutral. The crown prince, blinded by his years of envy and hatred, didn't care about the young rabbit that was about to turn into a beast.

5 years later

"The emperor is here!" The eunuch exclaimed with excitement, if you look at his face you wouldn't see a trace of it on his visage. Although others feared His Majesty, Qin Xiuyan, because of uncertain rumours, the handsome young eunuch, standing beside the throne and his senior advisers, standing at the end of the court all trusted in him.

"Long live, long live, His Majesty!"

It could be heard in their voices, some were trembling with fear, some were trembling with excitement. Why?

Because 2 years ago, after he was crowned King by the current Empress Dowager with the approval of Grand Empress. The imperial jade seal on the imperial edict proved he was the rightful king. The crown prince lost all words as he stared at the edict and his face twisted from anger to confusion, to envy and fear. Qiu Xiuyan's coutenance remained calm as if he wasn't listening to it and didn't have a care for it. Seeing his reaction, Qin Liqiang was apoplectic with rage and attempted to hit him with a blunt object. The Empress Dowager, shouting in rage, ordered the guards to arrest him and imprison him in Qin Luan Palace. Because his sin wasn't serious, his grandmother put Qin Liqiang under house arrest.

Qin Xiuyan glared at Qin Liqiang with eyes of a monster that seemed to say he would be keeping an eye on him for now without his grandmother noticing. Qin Liqiang had never seen this side of him before and was silenced with just a glare. Then, he was taken away by the guards, not resisting anymore.

Another rumours circled around the storytellers that right after the King won his first victory in the battle against the Wei state, he found something wrong with his spy network which was established across the country a year ago. The King was very angry when he found out who the traitor was. The traitor was Wu Leiming. After all, he was one of the orphans he helped in the street and entrusted the job to. They said that the king couldn't tolerate the traitor and killed him mercilessly. First, he beheaded Wu Leiming and then before he lost consciousness, he was tortured by several sharp gadgets. The methods were unclear. The ending might have been changed by story tellers to a happy ending to show that the king was benevolent.

However, people tend to gossip whichever one is pleasing to the ears and ignore the rest. The ruthless rumours about the king spread like endless fire across the country. The government could no longer control the exaggerated rumours and was too tired to handle it after passing the buck to the other ministers. They let the rumours be, thinking that it would do good for a king to be feared so that he could have his subjects under control. But he was wrong reassurance and profits can also control the crowd. So what happened to the king these years? Who knows? Only the king himself knows.