The fourth day after the flower-viewing banquet.
After Empress Xu rose in the morning, several palace maids attended to her washing, dressing, and grooming in an orderly fashion.
Rui Lian attended at her side with a smiling face, saying cheerfully, “Empress, this pot of Luoyang Brocade has bloomed completely. With it set in the bedchamber, the fragrance fills the air—it smells better than any incense you could burn.”
Empress Xu nodded with a smile. “Indeed! Jingshu’s skill at growing peonies truly surpasses everyone else’s. I enjoy admiring peonies every year, and this pot this year suits my taste especially well.”
The fragrance of this particular pot of Luoyang Brocade was especially rich and intoxicating, refreshing to the senses. After only a few days in the bedchamber, the scent had spread everywhere—even her own robes carried a faint, lingering perfume.
Furthermore, since Ling Jingshu had entered the palace, she had behaved with consistent modesty and restraint, and Wei Yan had shown no excessive closeness toward her either. As a result, Empress Xu’s guard against Ling Jingshu had gradually lessened.
After breakfast, as was customary, the consorts came to pay their respects. After some idle conversation, they each took their leave.
Next, it should have been time for the female officials and the chief eunuch to report on the day’s affairs. But this was delayed because Wei Yan had come to take Empress Xu’s routine pulse.
“Physician Wei is inside taking the Empress’s routine pulse. Let’s wait outside the hall for a moment,” Qiu Shuang said in a low voice.
Ling Jingshu nodded and gave a soft hum of agreement, though her mind was quietly turning something over. The flower-viewing banquet had already passed, and that pot of Luoyang Brocade now sat safely placed in Empress Xu’s bedchamber.
What exactly was Wei Yan planning to do?
Spring had brought warmth and blossoms, and the weather was gradually growing hotter. Wearing heavy official robes, it was hard not to feel a little stifled.
A faint sheen of sweat showed on Wei Yan’s forehead, though his expression remained as gentle as ever. After paying his respects to Empress Xu, he stepped forward to take her pulse.
The routine pulse check, held once every five days, had long since become an established custom over the years. For Empress Xu, it was also one of her rare opportunities to summon Wei Yan openly and without suspicion.
Empress Xu extended her right hand. Wei Yan sat beside her, reaching out his fingers to rest lightly on her wrist.
The two of them were no more than a foot apart.
Wei Yan could even catch the faint, almost imperceptible scent of peonies drifting from Empress Xu’s robes.
Wei Yan lowered his eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting in a way too slight to notice.
Empress Xu’s gaze fixed intently on Wei Yan’s youthful, handsome face. That gaze was bright and hungry, as though Wei Yan were a piece of fresh, succulent meat, the kind that made one’s mouth water.
Wei Yan paid it no heed, his expression composed. After checking her pulse for a while, he withdrew his hand, rose, stepped back a few paces, and bowed with cupped hands. “Your Majesty’s health is reasonably stable, with nothing seriously wrong. It’s only that the dryness of spring easily brings on excess heat. This humble physician will write Your Majesty a prescription to clear the heat and calm the spirit. Five or six days of it should suffice.”
The consorts of the palace, when nothing else was wrong, would either drink tonics to nourish their health or take prescriptions meant to calm the heart and steady the spirit.
Empress Xu did not think much of it either, saying with an easy smile, “I trust whatever prescription Physician Wei writes. Someone, bring brush and ink.”
Wei Yan responded respectfully, and once a maid brought the brush and ink, he immediately picked up the brush and wrote out the prescription.
According to palace regulations, this prescription would need to be reviewed jointly by two physicians from the Imperial Medical Academy. Only once they confirmed there was no problem with it could the medicine be prepared and decocted accordingly. After that, a eunuch specially assigned to taste-test medicine would drink it first, and only after waiting a quarter hour with no abnormal reaction could the medicine finally be brought before Empress Xu.
Both the prescription and the medicinal dregs were kept in storage by designated staff, so that if anything went wrong with the decoction, a thorough investigation could be carried out at any time.
Such strict rules existed, naturally, to guard against any physician in the Imperial Medical Academy harboring ill intent, or against any mistake made by the eunuchs responsible for preparing and brewing the medicine.
Once the prescription was written, Wei Yan took his leave with a smile.
Empress Xu watched him go with a lingering, reluctant gaze, sighing quietly to herself.
She had coveted him for so many years now, and yet, regrettably, she had never gotten what she wanted.
This Wei Yan really did not know how to appreciate a good thing offered to him. Had it been anyone else, she would long since have shown them no mercy. But toward Wei Yan, she always held back a measure of caution, even a measure of wariness, and dared not press him too forcefully.
And so, once again, all she could do was watch helplessly as Wei Yan turned and walked away.
What Empress Xu did not see was that, with his back turned to her, Wei Yan’s lips curled, and an odd glint of light flashed through his eyes.
“Look, Physician Wei has come out,” Qiu Shuang nudged Ling Jingshu.
Even without Qiu Shuang’s prompting, Ling Jingshu had already seen Wei Yan.
Their gazes met in midair. Wei Yan suddenly gave Ling Jingshu a meaningful look.
Something stirred in Ling Jingshu’s heart, and a vague thought surfaced in her mind. Though she did not know exactly what scheme Wei Yan was setting in motion, it seemed he had already begun acting in secret.
“This servant greets Physician Wei,” Ling Jingshu said, bowing along with Qiu Shuang and the others.
Wei Yan was known throughout the palace for being gentle and courteous, while keeping a certain distance from the maids and female officials. This time was no exception, and he said to the group, “My visit today to check Her Majesty’s pulse has delayed all of you. I’m truly sorry for that.”
Qiu Shuang spoke up quickly, “It’s such a small matter, hardly worth mentioning. Physician Wei need not trouble himself over it.”
Wei Yan smiled, nodded to the group, and took his leave.
From start to finish, he had not exchanged a single extra word with Ling Jingshu.
Ling Jingshu restrained the urge to watch Wei Yan’s figure recede into the distance, and said with a smile to Qiu Shuang and the others, “Let’s all go in together and pay our respects to Her Majesty.”
The others agreed readily.
Once inside Jiaofang Palace, they found Empress Xu with a smile in her eyes and a face full of spring warmth.
Qiu Shuang, ever the most skilled at flattery, immediately said with a smile, “This servant can see that Your Majesty has been in good spirits these days, and your complexion looks even better for it!”
Luoyan, unwilling to be outdone, quickly chimed in with a smile, “Indeed, Your Majesty’s complexion is rosy, fair with a touch of pink, and there’s always a faint, lingering fragrance about you. Even from this far away, this servant can smell it! I wonder what incense Your Majesty uses to scent your robes—it’s enough to make this servant green with envy.”
Empress Xu laughed. “Speaking of fragrance, that’s all thanks to Jingshu. Ever since that pot of Luoyang Brocade was moved into my bedchamber, the scent has spread everywhere. I don’t even need to perfume my robes anymore—they carry the scent of peonies on their own.”
Ling Jingshu quickly demurred with a smile, “Your Majesty is too generous with praise. This servant is unworthy of such credit.”
“Nonsense, what’s there to be unworthy of? Credit that’s yours is yours—no one can take it from you.” Empress Xu said pleasantly. “I’ve already rewarded you with a hundred taels of gold, but mere gold and silver are such mundane things. Starting today, you shall serve at my side.”
The moment these words left her mouth, everyone present was startled.
Empress Xu had no shortage of female officials around her, but only Rui Lian and Qiu Shuang attended her personally each day. And now Ling Jingshu was being added as well!
Ling Jingshu had not even been in the palace for half a year, and already she was receiving such an extraordinary honor—it was truly astonishing.
Luoyan’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head with envy and resentment.
Ling Jingshu smiled faintly and calmly offered her thanks for the favor.
Being able to serve at Empress Xu’s side was, of course, a good thing for her. It meant she could draw even closer to Empress Xu, and gather even more, and more useful, information.