The room was finally quiet.

The Emperor clapped his hands lightly and stood up.

“Your… Your Majesty…” Cai Zhong called out in a trembling voice.

“Want to go take a look?” the Emperor asked him.

Cai Zhong shook his head, his face pale.

“Your Majesty, with all that blood and knives, it’s inauspicious…” Cai Zhong said tremblingly.

“Look how scared you are. The things your subordinates do are probably more frightening than this, aren’t they?” the Emperor laughed.

Cai Zhong raised his hand to wipe sweat and swallowed.

The dark guards and spies raised by the Emperor naturally employed various methods—there was nothing they couldn’t do, only things you couldn’t imagine.

“This servant never watched with his own eyes…” he muttered quietly.

The Emperor laughed.

“So you’re saying you watched just now?” he asked quietly, turning slightly.

Cai Zhong was stunned.

“Didn’t Your Majesty watch?” he asked stammering.

The Emperor smiled slightly.

“What this Emperor saw was rather different from what you all saw,” he said, looking over again.

A disciple was reaching out to wipe sweat for that woman.

The woman tilted her head slightly up, allowing the disciple to wipe more thoroughly.

With her head and face wrapped up, only half her forehead, a pair of eyes, and half her nose bridge visible, the woman looked completely different from usual.

Following the Emperor’s gaze, Cai Zhong finally understood.

“Your Majesty is still the smartest…” he couldn’t help laughing.

The Emperor also smiled, watching that woman finish having her sweat wiped and lower her head again.

The Emperor hesitated.

Was it really that… frightening?

He had seen pigs and cattle being slaughtered, had observed group fights, and blood and wounds were just that, nothing more.

His gaze moved from that woman’s face to her arms, from her arms to her hands…

Those hands reaching into someone’s belly…

Two strange metal pieces held open the wound on the belly, exposing what was inside…

The Emperor turned his head and covered his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Oh oh, found it,” Qi Yue said, reaching out her hand.

A disciple beside her handed over forceps.

“Let me see, let me see,” Zhou Maochun was the first to step forward, but was blocked by A’Ru.

“Old Master, please wait a moment,” she said quietly. “No unauthorized personnel are allowed near the operating table.”

Because he wasn’t an assistant, though Zhou Maochun was allowed to observe closely, he still couldn’t watch to his satisfaction. His hands were truly itching, but there was no help for it—having never been on an operating table, Qi Yue absolutely wouldn’t allow him to help, not even with retraction.

“Retraction? When I first went into surgery, I just watched for a whole year, only doing things like laying out drapes,” Qi Yue laughed. “Now there’s no choice—I can’t be that strict, or else I’d have to complete this surgery all by myself…”

As she spoke, she clamped out a piece of bone and placed it on a porcelain plate beside her, making a crisp clinking sound.

“Free bone fragment found in abdominal cavity…” Qi Yue said.

A’Ru glanced at the bone and hurriedly made notes.

“…V-shaped, with arms approximately 3cm and 2cm long…” Qi Yue continued, looking at the bone again and giving Old Physician An a thumbs up. “Awesome!”

Old Physician An was amused by her, and his constantly anxious heart finally relaxed somewhat.

After completing the final suture, Liu Pucheng used scissors to cut the thread and applied cotton dressing and bandages.

Another disciple had already organized the records and checked all instruments.

Qi Yue no longer worried about these things. She moved her stiff neck and glanced at the blood pressure monitor.

“Surgery complete,” she announced.

The disciples responded in unison, then said together, “Thank you for your hard work.”

Qi Yue moved her neck while looking at the bone in the plate.

“What kind of bone is this?” she asked.

“Chicken bone,” Zhou Maochun said, looking at Little Prince Sima, who was still under anesthesia, and muttering, “Such a grown man, eating so hastily—be careful you don’t really become a dead horse.”

Qi Yue smiled and reached for the plate.

“Let them take a look,” she said, turning and walking a few steps before stopping and looking toward the great hall with a surprised expression.

Eh?

Everyone had fled!

When night fell, the imperial palace was dotted with lights like stars.

The Empress Dowager was fed two sips of ginseng soup by palace maids and somewhat recovered her composure.

“Mother, how are you? Do you need an imperial physician…” the Emperor asked with concern beside her.

The Empress Dowager’s face turned pale again.

“Don’t mention that word to this dowager,” she said.

“Which word?” the Emperor asked in confusion.

The Empress Dowager closed her eyes, then suddenly opened them and looked around.

The surrounding palace maids and female officials stood crowded throughout the room, with bright lights and full of life.

Only then did the Empress Dowager breathe a sigh of relief and lean against the pillow.

“This dowager is fine, Your Majesty need not worry,” she said.

A eunuch entered from outside at this moment.

“Your Majesty,” he said in a high, thin voice, “the imperial physician asks where to send the chicken bone taken from Little Prince Sima’s belly?”

From the belly… taken out… bone…

That terrifying scene floated before the Empress Dowager’s eyes again.

She pressed her hand to her chest, and a palace maid beside her quickly brought over a spittoon as the Empress Dowager began dry heaving.

“Get out quickly!” the Emperor shouted angrily.

The little eunuch immediately scrambled out.

The Emperor called for imperial physicians and urged the palace’s female physicians to come.

Hearing the words “female physician,” that woman appeared before the Empress Dowager’s eyes again—that woman in white clothes, holding a knife!

“This commoner woman’s medical skills are not quite suitable for treating nobles in the palace.”

That woman had said this calmly.

At the time, hearing and seeing this was unbearably annoying, but now thinking of it…

It was even more annoying!

Along with the annoyance came fear!

How could there be such a woman!

How could there be such a physician!

How could there be such terrifying medical skills!

She understood now, she knew, she comprehended.

“Make her leave, make her leave, don’t let her enter the palace again! Don’t let her enter the palace again!” the Empress Dowager grabbed the Emperor’s sleeve and shouted loudly.

When walking out of the Empress Dowager’s palace gates, the evening wind had risen.

The Emperor stopped and looked at the brightly lit palace, couldn’t help but smile.

“Find an imperial physician to attend here. I estimate Mother won’t sleep well for the next few days,” he said.

“Not just the Empress Dowager—probably all the consorts in the palace won’t sleep well,” Cai Zhong said.

Speaking of this, he couldn’t help laughing again.

“However, none of the consorts have requested imperial physicians…” he said.

The noble ladies who used to be so delicate that eating one grain of rice less would make them want to summon the entire Imperial Medical Academy and ensure the Emperor knew about it—this time, whether they had fainted or vomited bile, none of them mentioned requesting imperial physicians.

“They only requested extra candles and incense from the storehouse,” Cai Zhong continued.

The Emperor couldn’t help laughing, but quickly restrained himself.

His gaze swept around, and indeed the layer upon layer of palaces seemed much brighter than usual.

A eunuch walked toward them.

“Your Majesty, Jingren Palace has been cleaned up. Lady Qi says they can move at any time,” he said with a bow.

The Emperor smiled.

“No need to move. Let them stay there. I estimate Mother will never set foot in Jingren Palace again in her lifetime,” he said, waving his hand and stepping forward, the evening wind lifting his robe.

Seeing the Emperor walking in the wrong direction, Cai Zhong couldn’t help reminding him that it was getting late.

“Little Sima is in such a state, and you can still sleep?” the Emperor frowned.

Cai Zhong lowered his head and suppressed a laugh.

Whatever state Little Sima was in probably wouldn’t affect the Emperor’s sleep.

He just wanted to see someone. Why put it that way?

When they walked over, that woman was standing outside Jingren Palace. The lights here were as usual—not increased nor brightened—soft, gentle lamplight mixed with starlight fell on the woman who was talking with several eunuchs.

In the shadows, the Emperor could see that woman taking out some money and stuffing it into the eunuchs’ hands. He laughed with a snort.

“This Lady Qi is indeed wealthy,” he said.

Cai Zhong made a sound and quickened his steps.

The people over there were startled and only then saw the Emperor approaching. They immediately bowed in salute.

“What do you want?” the Emperor asked directly, looking at the woman’s hand hiding behind her back.

“Nothing much,” Qi Yue knew she had been discovered and said with a frank smile. “Your Majesty, this commoner woman was hoping to trouble these gentlemen to run an errand.”

The Emperor smiled and stepped toward the palace gate.

Cai Zhong coughed lightly.

Qi Yue looked at him. Cai Zhong shook his head at her.

Qi Yue understood and hurriedly followed the Emperor.

But Cai Zhong didn’t follow. Instead, he stood at the palace gate and began lecturing the eunuchs.

“Your Majesty, this commoner woman wants to report safety to my family so they won’t worry,” Qi Yue said.

The Emperor climbed several steps first, then turned back to look down at her.

“What’s there to worry about? Isn’t it just treating illness?” he said.

Qi Yue smiled and rubbed her hands together.

“I don’t know why, but every time this commoner woman treats patients, it causes quite a… um, quite a commotion,” she said.

“What kind of commotion?” the Emperor asked.

“Well, quite frightening,” Qi Yue said.

This time the Emperor couldn’t help laughing heartily.

“Indeed quite frightening,” he said, turning to continue walking.

Qi Yue hurried to follow.

“Actually, I don’t mean to,” she said. “It’s just that my specialty is like this—surgical procedures always look very frightening.”

“So this is what you meant when you said you weren’t suitable to be a female physician in the palace?” the Emperor asked, turning his head.

Qi Yue nodded.

“Your Majesty, I know that your bodies and skin are supremely precious. I specialize in external injuries, severe trauma, or internal organ exploration. First, Your Majesty and the consorts wouldn’t have such injuries, and second, using knives on the skin would be greatly disrespectful to Your Majesty and the consorts,” she said with lowered head.

Thinking of that concubine at Marquis Dingxi’s mansion who preferred death to cesarean section, the imperial palace was far more noble than Marquis Dingxi’s mansion, and these consorts were far more noble than that small concubine. But the same thing was that they were all women, all serving with their beauty. If scars were left on their skin, everyone’s choice would probably be the same.

Better to die than live ugly.

Her medical skills could only be demonstrated on those who wanted to live, who sought survival no matter what.

So this time, all these people in the palace would understand, and she could also avoid being this so-called female physician.

Qi Yue showed some joy and looked up at the Emperor ahead.

The Emperor was turning back to look at her.

“Are you going to report safety to Chen Shi?” the Emperor asked.

Had the topic changed? Or rather, had it jumped back to the original topic?

Qi Yue was stunned for a moment, then quickly nodded.

The Emperor hummed and turned his head.

“Anyone else you need to tell?” he suddenly turned back to ask.

Qi Yue blinked.

“Yes,” she nodded without hesitation. “Chang Yuncheng of Marquis Dingxi’s mansion—I boldly request Your Majesty to have the eunuchs inform him as well.”

She smiled and bowed as she spoke.

The Emperor looked at her.

“Want to invite him in to see for himself?” he asked.

Qi Yue’s eyes lit up.

“Is that possible?” she asked.

“No,” the Emperor said, then turned and entered the palace gate.

Qi Yue was left speechless.

No! Then why ask!