Did the Empress want her to treat an illness?
Lin Ting knew that people in the palace were not simple, so she spoke cautiously, “Your servant is no hidden master of medicine, just an ordinary woman who enjoys reading miscellaneous books.”
The Empress didn’t question Lin Ting further and even granted her a seat and asked:
“You just came from North Long Street?”
Lin Ting sat upright but kept her head lowered and replied:
“Yes, I passed through North Long Street a few days ago and happened to encounter the Imperial Guards sealing off the street.”
In modern times, looking directly at someone while speaking was considered basic courtesy.
In ancient times, however, it depended on the situation.
The current scenario was similar to when she had visited the Crown Princess in the Eastern Palace-it was best to speak and look as little as possible.
At that moment, the imperial physician arrived to examine the Empress and waited outside the hall for summons.
She didn’t see him, instead instructing a palace maid to send him away.
She then asked Lin Ting, “Did you catch a fever yesterday?”
Lin Ting replied respectfully, “Yes, but I’ve already recovered today.”
“Youth is a blessing. You fell ill yesterday, yet today you’re back to normal.”
The Empress raised her hand, gently brushing the small wind chime hanging beside her daybed.
Even without wind, it chimed softly.
Lin Ting’s ability to adapt her words to the situation was still intact.
“Your servant believes Her Majesty the Empress will also recover soon.”
The Empress let out a faint laugh, her gaze distant as she murmured, “Recover? There’s no recovering… This is Heaven’s punishment for me. This is Heaven’s punishment for me.”
Lin Ting didn’t respond.
At this moment, she couldn’t contradict the Empress, nor could she agree with her words.
But Lin Ting couldn’t understand why the Empress would say such things about herself.
She had done much for Great Yan and was even more beloved by the people than the Emperor.
Why would Heaven punish her?
Had she done something wrong in secret?
As Lin Ting was lost in thought, the Empress spoke again, “Do you want to know how I found the cure for the plague?”
Lin Ting answered truthfully, “Yes.”
In truth, she was extremely curious about how the Empress had discovered the cure for the plague, but she couldn’t ask directly in case the Empress didn’t wish to discuss it.
Since the Empress had brought it up herself, Lin Ting decided to follow the lead.
The Empress dismissed the palace maids and eunuchs.
“Then I’ll tell only you. It’s because I’m an immortal, omniscient. Do you believe me?”
No, she didn’t.
Lin Ting didn’t show it, instead smiling and replying smoothly, “His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress are indeed extraordinary. It’s not wrong to say you’re immortals.”
“But even immortals cannot always reveal the secrets of Heaven. That’s why I’ve fallen gravely ill.”
Lin Ting couldn’t help but raise her eyes to look at the Empress, who was reclining on the daybed.
She was in her forties, severely ill, emaciated, and looked utterly haggard.
Even dressed in the resplendent robes befitting an Empress, she lacked any trace of vitality.
She looked like a skeleton draped in clothes.
Yet, despite her haggard appearance and extreme thinness, the Empress still carried an unusual aura, giving Lin Ting a strangely familiar feeling.
She realized she had been looking directly at the Empress without permission and quickly lowered her head again.
“Why did Your Majesty only tell me, Your humble servant?”
The Empress suddenly coughed violently, staining her handkerchief with blood.
She folded it up as usual, making sure Lin Ting didn’t see.
“I felt a connection with you, Miss Lin, so I chose to tell only you.”
Lin Ting was puzzled.
She had noticed that many people, when unable to explain their actions, would use this reason as an excuse.
Last time, the Crown Princess had sought out Duan Xinning, claiming they had hit it off immediately.
Duan Xinning, being naive, believed the Crown Princess.
But Lin Ting was not Duan Xinning, and she didn’t trust the Empress.
She admired the Empress for advocating women’s rights in ancient times and finding a cure for the plague she was indeed remarkable.
However, this didn’t mean Lin Ting believed what the Empress said today.
Lin Ting remained silent.
Seeing her silence, the Empress straightened up and said, “You actually believed me?!”
Lin Ting couldn’t quite grasp the Empress’s intentions.
“Your Majesty’s words are naturally trustworthy to me.”
She was diplomatic, and her response was flawless.
The Empress’s tone now resembled that of a teenage girl, as if she had deliberately deceived someone and was now revealing the truth.
“I lied to you. There’s no such thing as an immortal, nor any divine secrets. I’m just an ordinary person. I found the cure for the plague because I know medicine.”
“Your Majesty knows medicine?”
The Empress stopped touching the wind chime, listening as its sound faded into silence.
“I know medicine, but not many are aware of it. Unfortunately, a physician cannot heal themselves. I can only watch helplessly as my condition worsens.”
The bedchamber was stifling, and the strong medicinal smell made Lin Ting feel suffocated.
Somehow, the Empress noticed and called for a maid to open two windows.
She then gazed out through the open windows, resting her chin on her hand.
After a while, she fell asleep.
It wasn’t unusual for someone seriously ill to fall asleep at any moment.
The maid, accustomed to this, closed the windows and quietly led Lin Ting out without disturbing the Empress’s rest.
On her way out of the palace, Lin Ting encountered two people she somewhat knew and couldn’t avoid.
The first was the Princess, and the second was the Eastern Depot’s Ta Xuening.
Unlike the Imperial Guards, the Eastern Depot was composed of eunuchs who could enter the inner palace and sometimes even helped the Emperor monitor the concubines.
Upon seeing Lin Ting, the Princess first dismissed her maids and eunuchs, then anxiously asked if she had seen Jin Anazi recently and whether he had fallen ill.
Although the cure for the plague had been found, the Princess still didn’t want Jin Anazi to get sick.
These days, the Princess had been trying to gather information about Jin Anazi, but his whereabouts were unpredictable, and she couldn’t find out anything.
She had wanted to ask Lin Ting but then learned that Lin Ting had been trapped on North Long Street and was in no position to help.
Lin Ting replied, “He’s fine.”
The heavy stone on the Princess’s heart finally lifted.
“What about you? You were trapped on North Long Street for days. Are you alright?”
She had eaten and rested well, though the days were a bit boring.
A minor fever had been a brief episode, but she recovered quickly.
“I’m fine too.”
The Princess’s mood improved significantly, and she smiled.
“Why did you come to the palace today?”
“Her Majesty the Empress wanted to see me.”
The Princess was about to ask more but then remembered Jin Anazi’s words, advising her not to seek out Lin Ting anymore.
So she didn’t press further and left after confirming Jin Anazi’s safety.
Not long after the princess left, Lin Ting encountered Ta Xuening.
His face was dark, and he walked with such urgency that it seemed as if someone had killed his entire family.
The attendant who had returned to Lin Ting’s side hurriedly bowed to Ta Xuening: “Director.”
In the capital, aside from the current emperor, the most dangerous people to offend were the Imperial Guards and the Eastern Depot.
Crossing them would result in either death or severe injury.
“Director.”
Lin Ting stepped aside to let Ta Xuening pass first, even though the path was wide.
However, Ta Xuening did not immediately walk past Lin Ting.
Instead, he stopped in front of her and said with a sarcastic tone, “Miss Lin Qi? I heard the Empress summoned you to the palace today?”
The Eastern Depot’s intelligence was more efficient than the princess’s.
They knew things even before she did.
Lin Ting remained calm.
This was the palace, after all; he couldn’t do anything to her here.
“Yes.”
He seemed even more irritable than usual today.
However, constrained by the palace environment where he couldn’t vent his anger by beating eunuchs, he suppressed his temper and casually asked, “Is it about the plague?”
Nowadays, everyone was curious about how the Empress had found the cure for the plague.
It was normal for Ta Xuening to be curious too; it wouldn’t reveal anything.
He had come to the palace today to investigate where the Empress had obtained the cure for the plague.
This plague was something he had spent years secretly developing with the help of hundreds of physicians, all of whom he had later killed to ensure no one else knew the cure-unless the court had also spent years researching it.
Yet, the plague hadn’t lasted long before the Empress had produced a cure.
If it weren’t for the fact that his secret guards were too loyal and had begged him not to release the cure to avoid ruining the plan, Ta Xuening would have suspected betrayal.
However, Ta Xuening was certain it wasn’t his secret guards who had betrayed him.
If they had, Emperor Jiade would already know who was behind the plague, and Ta Xuening wouldn’t be standing here unharmed.
He found the situation too bizarre.
How could a seriously ill Empress have found the cure?
The formula written by the hundreds of deceased physicians was still in Ta Xuening’s possession, yet the formula the Empress had produced was identical to his.
How could such a strange thing happen?
Lin Ting wasn’t foolish enough to reveal everything.
She simply said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t disclose that. If you wish to know, you can ask Her Majesty the Empress.”
Ta Xuening was infuriated.
Lin Ting truly lived up to her engagement with Duan Ling.
She loved using the emperor and empress to pressure others, which was irritating but impossible to resist.
Ta Xuening wanted to hit someone, but in the end, he just stomped his foot and walked past Lin Ting with a dark expression.
Lin Ting didn’t linger in the palace for long.
She quickly walked out and boarded the carriage waiting outside the palace gate.
Duan Ling was sitting inside, holding a scroll.
She sat beside him after entering, as the opposite seat was occupied by several scrolls.
Lin Ting had witnessed just how busy the Imperial Guards were-working during the day, overtime at night, and frequently traveling on assignments.
She even felt like asking Duan Ling how much his monthly salary was.
However, asking about someone’s salary was too intrusive, so Lin Ting suppressed her curiosity.
Duan Ling saw her return, put down the case file, and pushed the tea and pastries on the table toward her and asked:
“What did the Empress say to you?”
Lin Ting hadn’t eaten much for breakfast and was now hungry.
She picked up a pastry and ate it without hiding anything and replied:
“The Empress said that because I suggested you use indigo root to temporarily curb the plague, she thought I was a hidden master of medicine, which is why she wanted to meet me.”
“The Empress also mentioned that she knows medicine and that the prescription for treating the plague was written by her. But a doctor can’t heal themselves, so she couldn’t cure her own illness.”
Duan Ling didn’t ask further and sent her back.
When the carriage arrived at the Lin residence, Lin Ting didn’t wait for the coachman to set up the footstool and jumped down instead.
Li Jingqiu and Tao Zhu had originally planned to wait for her at the front gate, but later learned that the palace had summoned Lin Ting and didn’t know when she would return, so they went back to Tingling Courtyard to wait.
Now, there was no one at the gate.
After getting off the carriage, Lin Ting didn’t forget to thank Duan Ling.
After expressing her gratitude, she was about to run toward the gate when she saw Jin Anazi.
Her foot, which was about to step onto the stairs, stopped.
She made a turn and walked toward him.
After finding the cure for the plague, those trapped in East Street and North Long Street could leave after drinking a bowl of the medicine, and naturally, Jin Anazi could leave too.
Duan Ling, still standing by the carriage, watched as Lin Ting walked toward Jin Anazi without much reaction.
Lin Ting didn’t mind that Duan Ling was still there; after all, he knew she was acquainted with Jin Anazi.
She lowered her voice: “Why are you here?”
Jin Anazi rarely came to the Lin residence to find her.
Had something happened?
Jin Anazi hadn’t expected Duan Ling to escort Lin Ting back today.
He had left North Long Street and came by to deliver a letter to her, which had been entrusted by Xie Qinghe, who had already left the city, to be brought into the city.