The incident with Cui Mingyue before the New Year had left the Empress Dowager feeling irritated whenever she thought about it. However, Princess Rongyang held a special place in her heart, different from others, as she had grown up alongside Emperor Jingming.
Seeing the Empress Dowager nod, her trusted elderly maid signaled to the eunuch with her eyes.
The eunuch immediately invited Princess Rongyang to enter.
Soon, the pearl curtain rustled, and a beautiful woman walked in, carrying a brocade box in her hand.
“Mother Empress, are you feeling better?” Princess Rongyang, no matter how proud she might be in front of others, still behaved like a child before the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager barely lifted her eyelids and replied coolly, “I’m not dead yet.”
Princess Rongyang pressed her lips together.
The Empress Dowager was still angry. Angry at Mingyue for her indiscretion, and angry at her for not raising her daughter properly.
Princess Rongyang placed the brocade box on a nearby small table and smiled as she took Empress Dowager’s hand, “Mother Empress when you speak like that, it breaks Rongyang’s heart. You must live well, or what will become of Rongyang?”
The Empress Dowager glanced sideways at Princess Rongyang and chuckled without humor, “What do you mean, ‘what will become of you’? Your children are all grown and ready to start their own families. How can you still say such immature things? It’s unbecoming.”
Princess Rongyang lowered her gaze, her eyelashes trembling slightly, her expression suddenly forlorn, “Mother Empress, you know very well that Cui Xu… he has never cared for me. If you stop looking after me, then I truly…”
“Oh, you,” the Empress Dowager sighed, her anger quietly dissipating.
She had been childless all her life, and Princess Rongyang was no different from her flesh and blood in her heart.
Seeing that the moment was right, Princess Rongyang reached out to open the brocade box on the small table and took out a white porcelain bowl with a lid.
The Empress Dowager glanced at the bowl and asked, “What’s this?”
Princess Rongyang lifted the lid, revealing an amber-colored broth inside.
“Your daughter has consulted a renowned folk physician who prescribed a special remedy, said to have miraculous effects on Mother Empress’s illness. Would you like to try it?”
The Empress Dowager frowned as she looked at the bowl of medicine again.
Strangely enough, unlike the daily medicinal broths, this one emitted a faint fragrance.
“Mother Empress—” Princess Rongyang called out, her eyes filled with hope.
The Empress Dowager hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Immediately, a palace maid came forward, took a silver spoon, and tasted a small sip.
Princess Rongyang wasn’t surprised at all.
Even for those closest to the Empress Dowager, food brought in from outside the palace had to be tested for poison by a maid.
Bringing food into the palace from outside was a major taboo and hardly a way to curry favor, but for the sake of the Empress Dowager’s health, she had taken the risk.
After a while, the palace maid nodded slightly, and then two maids assisted the Empress Dowager in taking the medicine.
“How do you feel, Mother Empress?” Princess Rongyang asked carefully, her heart half-relieved now that the Empress Dowager had taken the medicine.
The Empress Dowager opened her eyes, a hint of a smile on her lips, “I seem to feel a bit more comfortable.”
Princess Rongyang was overjoyed, “That’s wonderful. The physician said you might feel drowsy after taking this medicine. Please rest well, and perhaps when you wake up, you’ll feel much better.”
The Empress Dowager didn’t believe it could be so miraculous, but she smiled and nodded, “You’re very thoughtful.”
Princess Rongyang stood up, “Then I won’t disturb Mother Empress’s rest.”
Just as Princess Rongyang had said, the Empress Dowager soon felt drowsy and slept until early the next morning.
Emperor Jingming was furious, “Summon Princess Rongyang to the palace immediately! How dare you feed the Empress Dowager something brought in from outside the palace!”
A group of palace maids knelt in Cining Palace, all pale-faced, not daring to breathe as they listened to Emperor Jingming’s outburst.
A palace maid rushed in, “The Empress Dowager is awake! The Empress Dowager is awake!”
A royal physician followed closely behind the maid, his expression peculiar.
“How is she?” Emperor Jingming asked as he walked inside.
The physician hurriedly replied, “Congratulations, Your Majesty. The Empress Dowager has made a full recovery.”
Emperor Jingming stopped abruptly, staring intently at the physician, “Is it true?”
The physician, feeling as if in a dream, nodded repeatedly, “This humble servant has just checked the Empress Dowager’s pulse. She has indeed fully recovered. Your Majesty’s fortune is boundless—”
Emperor Jingming, not bothering to listen to the physician’s ramblings, strode quickly inside.
The Empress Dowager was being helped off her bed by palace maids.
“Mother Empress, why are you getting up?” Emperor Jingming asked.
The Empress Dowager smiled with rare ease, “Your Majesty has arrived.”
Emperor Jingming hurried over to support the Empress Dowager.
After taking a few steps on the ground, the Empress Dowager sighed, “I thought this time I wouldn’t make it. Thankfully, because of Rongyang…”
Emperor Jingming smiled awkwardly and asked, “How do you feel now?”
The Empress Dowager slowly sat down, holding onto the armrest of the chair, “I feel much lighter all over as if all my meridians have been unblocked. By the way, where is Rongyang? Quickly summon her to the palace. I want to ask her about this miraculous physician she found, and the medicine that had such an incredible effect.”
Emperor Jingming nodded, “Indeed, such a skilled physician should be kept in the palace. Don’t worry, Rongyang will be here soon.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a eunuch announced loudly, “Princess Rongyang has arrived!”
“Let her in quickly!” Emperor Jingming and the Empress Dowager said in unison.
Princess Rongyang soon entered and immediately knelt before Emperor Jingming, pleading, “I don’t know what crime I have committed. Please, Royal Brother, enlighten me…”
The Empress Dowager looked at Emperor Jingming in confusion, “Your Majesty, what’s going on?”
Emperor Jingming coughed lightly and spoke to Princess Rongyang with great gentleness, “Please rise. No one said you committed any crime. I summoned you to the palace because Mother Empress has made a full recovery, reportedly due to the medicine you sent yesterday…”
Princess Rongyang, as if just noticing the seated Empress Dowager, exclaimed with joy, “Mother Empress, have you truly recovered?”
The Empress Dowager smiled, “Look how surprised you are. Isn’t it because of the medicine you sent that I’ve recovered?”
Princess Rongyang’s eyes immediately reddened, and she dabbed at the corners with her handkerchief.
“What’s the matter?” the Empress Dowager asked with concern.
With the Empress Dowager’s recovery, she looked upon Princess Rongyang even more fondly.
Princess Rongyang approached and knelt at Empress Dowager’s feet, saying with relief, “Now that Mother Empress has recovered, I can finally put my mind at ease. Although the physician said he could cure Mother Empress’s illness, my heart was constantly worried. I thought that if it backfired, I would willingly face death a hundred times over…”
As she spoke, Princess Rongyang began to choke up.
The Empress Dowager was increasingly moved by her words.
Her illness had come on suddenly, and despite countless medicines, she hadn’t improved. So many royal physicians had been at a loss. For Rongyang to take such a risk for her health at this time showed her filial piety.
“It’s all thanks to you. By the way, where is this physician? I must thank him properly.”
Emperor Jingming added, “Indeed, such a skilled physician deserves a grand reward from me!”
Princess Rongyang hesitated for a moment, then smiled, “If that’s the case, I’ll send someone to bring the physician to the palace right away.”
Before long, an old man with a white beard appeared before Emperor Jingming and the Empress Dowager.
Emperor Jingming was delighted and wanted to keep the physician in the Imperial Medical Office.
The old man declined, saying, “This humble one is accustomed to a life of freedom and is too old to take on the heavy responsibility of a royal physician. Besides, the Empress Dowager’s illness wasn’t difficult to treat. The key was a single rare herb.”
“What herb?” Emperor Jingming asked curiously.