When dawn was breaking, Qi Yue received word that the Emperor had summoned her.

These past days would finally yield a result, wouldn’t they?

Qi Yue took a deep breath.

“Don’t fidget,” Chen Shi said, tapping her head.

Qi Yue came back to her senses and saw in the mirror the complex hairstyle being completed by A’Hao and a servant woman working together.

“Aunt, I’m still technically under charges. Isn’t it inappropriate to dress up like this?” she said with a bitter smile.

Chen Shi had already moved to the other side to select clothes. Fortunately, the clothes she chose weren’t too luxurious—a simple crimson gold-embroidered front-opening old jacket.

After hurriedly getting ready, without even time to eat breakfast, Chen Shi personally escorted her to the carriage.

“I won’t accompany you,” Chen Shi said, supporting Cai Qing with a smile.

Qi Yue paused and looked at Chen Shi seriously in the morning light, extending her hand.

Chen Shi didn’t understand, thinking she was afraid, so she reached out to take her hand.

Qi Yue’s hand slipped down to Chen Shi’s pulse.

“Hey,” Chen Shi finally realized what she was doing, slapped her hand away, and laughed while covering her mouth. “What are you thinking? I know going to the palace will definitely be fine, that’s why I’m not accompanying you. Well then, I’ll go with you.”

She said this and made a motion to get in the carriage.

Qi Yue quickly smiled and stopped her, swiftly getting into the carriage herself.

A’Ru and A’Hao hurried to carefully follow. They couldn’t enter the palace, but they still had to wait outside the palace gates.

The eunuchs from the palace had received instructions and courteously bowed to Chen Shi before turning the carriage around.

Chen Shi watched the direction the carriage had gone until she couldn’t see even a trace of it, still not moving.

Cai Qing supported her, sensing Chen Shi’s slight trembling, and couldn’t help but feel her eyes grow moist.

“Madam, let’s go back,” she said.

Only then did Chen Shi come to her senses.

“Yes, let’s go back. I can feel somewhat at ease now,” she said. Her face wore a smile, but her body was shaking violently. Finally, her legs gave way and she began to slide toward the ground.

Cai Qing was frightened and called for help with tears in her voice. The servants and gatekeepers rushed over and together helped Chen Shi inside. The door was closed, and the morning quiet was restored.

Before getting out of the carriage to enter the palace, Qi Yue ultimately removed those ornaments.

“Miss Qi, this way please,” a eunuch said with some indifference, then led the way without saying another word.

Qi Yue followed with her head down, walking for a long time through winding paths before stopping.

This was a different great hall from the one she had entered that day. It looked somewhat smaller.

“Qianjin Hall’s Miss Qi requests an audience,” the eunuch standing outside the door announced.

No one spoke, and the door was gently opened.

The eunuch gestured for Qi Yue to enter.

This meant she should go in?

Qi Yue quickly lowered her head and walked in with small steps, immediately encountering a familiar person.

“Miss Qi,” Li Tong bowed his head in greeting.

Was it appropriate to exchange greetings in front of the Emperor?

No one had taught her this. Qi Yue felt slightly flustered but still nodded in return. She didn’t speak.

Li Tong also didn’t speak further and walked past.

The tension in Qi Yue’s heart dissipated somewhat, because Li Tong had just given her a smile and discretely nodded.

“This humble woman pays respects to Your Majesty,” she said after walking a few steps and vaguely determining the Emperor’s direction before kneeling down.

The rustling sound of papers being turned came from ahead.

“…Why did you originally want to go to the rear of the battlefield?” the Emperor’s voice also came.

Qi Yue hesitated for a moment.

“Because, because I made a bet,” she finally said in a low voice.

There seemed to be light laughter.

The Emperor threw the book in his hands down on the desk with a slap, gently shaking his head to relieve the soreness in his neck, then looked at the woman kneeling obediently before him.

This outfit looked somewhat familiar.

“Were you wearing this outfit that day?” he asked casually.

Qi Yue was stunned by the question.

“Ah?” she instinctively looked up to inquire, then saw the Emperor gesture with his hand around his mouth, drawing two strokes left and right.

“Oh, that. It seemed to be,” she quickly said.

“Hey, how did you cure Elder Li that day?” the Emperor asked with some interest. “Wasn’t it said that he was beyond saving?”

“Well, actually Elder Li wasn’t that serious. He just had free gas in his abdomen. Drawing it out would fix it,” Qi Yue said.

“How do you draw it out?” the Emperor continued asking.

“Just use a syringe to pierce in,” Qi Yue said, habitually gesturing with her hand.

The Emperor made an “oh” sound.

“When you made that bet, didn’t you think you might lose?” he asked.

Qi Yue was stunned again.

“Which time?” she couldn’t help asking.

The Emperor laughed heartily.

Qi Yue felt somewhat at a loss from his laughter.

“Your Majesty also knows that I’ve made many bets with people,” she simply said.

The Emperor nodded with a smile.

“Were you so certain you’d win every time?” he asked. “What if you lost?”

“I’ll deal with losing when it happens,” Qi Yue said.

The Emperor laughed heartily again.

“Your Majesty, this humble woman is guilty. My actions this time were indeed rash,” Qi Yue lowered her head and kowtowed again.

“Would you dare to do it again next time?” the Emperor asked.

“I wouldn’t dare,” Qi Yue said readily, prostrating on the ground.

“Are you truly not daring, or is it ‘we’ll see when the time comes’?” the Emperor asked.

This Emperor’s way of speaking was really quite peculiar…

“This humble woman will listen to Your Majesty,” Qi Yue simply said.

The Emperor laughed again and waved his hand.

A memorial was thrown over, sliding down in front of Qi Yue.

“Take it,” he said.

Only then did Qi Yue raise herself and look at the bright yellow sealed booklet before her.

“You spoke so eloquently and enthusiastically, so let me see what great fortune these military physicians can have following your rules,” the Emperor said.

Ah?

Qi Yue was greatly surprised, then greatly delighted.

“Really?” she asked, looking up.

This woman!

The Emperor looked at her with an ambiguous smile.

“How old are you this year?” he suddenly asked.

This topic jump was really…

An ordinary person truly couldn’t keep up with this rhythm, but fortunately, Qi Yue wasn’t an ordinary person.

However, this Emperor seemed quite interesting.

“Your Majesty guessed correctly,” Qi Yue kowtowed again.

This time it was the Emperor who was stunned.

Guessed correctly? His joking guess of around thirty?

Don’t be ridiculous, she was clearly around twenty.

What did that mean?

This afternoon was the Imperial Medical Academy’s monthly routine medical case exchange meeting. As the Medical Director managing the entire academy, he not only had to inquire about the physicians’ recent consultations but also oversee medicinal supplies and medical student education, among other matters.

This moment was when the Medical Director’s status was most prominently displayed. It was also Medical Director Cai’s favorite moment.

When he entered, the room was already full of imperial physicians and officials responsible for various bureaus and storehouses. Seeing him enter, they all stood up respectfully to greet him.

“Thank you all for your hard work,” he greeted them one by one. “The old lady’s chronic illness has flared up again? Please take extra care of her.”

He was speaking and laughing when the door was suddenly kicked open with a bang. Everyone in the room was startled, and when they saw who it was, they were even more shocked.

“Director Zhou!” several nearby people hurriedly bowed.

Zhou Maochun paid no attention to them and went straight for Medical Director Cai.

“Director Zhou, you’ve come. I was just about to send someone to fetch you,” Medical Director Cai said with a forced smile.

Before he finished speaking, Zhou Maochun spat.

Medical Director Cai’s face immediately turned iron-blue.

“Director Zhou, what do you mean by this?” he shouted.

Although Zhou Maochun held significant status before the Emperor, he was still a court-appointed Fifth Rank Medical Director. To show such disrespect publicly was simply too much!

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Maochun spat again, this time spraying saliva on his face.

“What do I mean? I should be asking you what you mean!” Zhou Maochun shouted, pointing at Medical Director Cai. “Am I not an imperial physician?”

Medical Director Cai’s face darkened.

“Of course you are, of course you are,” the imperial physicians nearby quickly tried to mediate.

“Then are you not the Medical Director?” Zhou Maochun asked again.

Nonsense!

“Director Zhou just came out of prison and his mental state isn’t good. He needs more rest…” he said coldly.

“I think the one who needs more rest is you,” Zhou Maochun shouted. “Starting today, you don’t need to work anymore. Go back and rest well.”

At these words, everyone in the room was shocked, and Medical Director Cai was even more incredulous.

“Zhou Maochun, what do you mean?” he shouted.

“What I mean is that you’re no longer the Medical Director,” Zhou Maochun said coldly.

“On what grounds?” Medical Director Cai shouted in alarm.

“On the grounds that you’re not worthy,” Zhou Maochun said coldly. “What does Medical Director mean? To direct with medicine, to be correct with direction, to lead medical and pharmaceutical affairs. To uphold the physician’s duty. I am an imperial physician. When something happened, you as the Medical Director didn’t come forward to defend me first, but instead colluded with those censors to impeach and criticize me. I hadn’t even admitted fault, but you first admitted fault on behalf of the Imperial Medical Academy. Setting aside whether there was evidence proving I was truly wrong, even if I was truly wrong, anyone could criticize, scold, and impeach me, but you couldn’t, the Imperial Medical Academy couldn’t. It’s like when your own child gets into trouble, you as the parent, without distinguishing right from wrong, first push your own child out, not only failing to defend them but personally wanting to send them to their death. Do you still deserve to be this parent? With you as Medical Director, who would dare to be an imperial physician?”

Medical Director Cai’s face was iron-blue.

“You, you, you’re talking nonsense. Your words violate medical ethics. Don’t tell me that just because I’m the Medical Director and you’re an imperial physician, if others say your shit stinks, I must say it’s fragrant?” he shouted.

Zhou Maochun snorted coldly.

“Though the words are crude, that’s exactly the principle,” he said, raising his head to look coldly at Medical Director Cai. “Especially when my shit is clearly fragrant, if you can’t say it, no problem—then we’ll find someone who can to be Medical Director.”

As he said this, he slapped a memorial down on the table.

“From now on, I am the Medical Director of the Imperial Medical Academy,” he said.

Looking at the bright red document from the Ministry of Personnel, Medical Director Cai finally had to accept this reality.

“I don’t accept this! I’m going to see His Majesty!” he shouted.

Zhou Maochun raised his hand.

“Don’t go to His Majesty yet. The Censorate wants to ask you about a batch of medicines from the pharmaceutical storehouse. After you’re done with that, then you can go see His Majesty,” he said.

At these words, Medical Director Cai’s face immediately turned ashen.

“Sir, sir, please listen to me…” he suddenly realized what was happening and grabbed Zhou Maochun’s hand, shouting.

Zhou Maochun shook him off. Two constables who had followed behind now held Medical Director Cai by his left and right arms.

“Director Cai, please come with us,” they said coldly.

At the same time, Dong Lin stumbled into Liu Pucheng’s quarters, rushed over to embrace him, and began crying loudly.

“Senior Brother, you must save me,” he shouted.