Nong Nu Jiao

Yan Chenghui swayed slightly.

Cen Lingyi noticed something was wrong with him almost immediately and took his arm, asking, "Are you alright?"

"It's alright."

Yan Chenghui comforted her.

In reality, he was in severe pain in his back.

He had been on a rollercoaster of emotions just now, and had only managed to stay upright through sheer willpower. Now that things had settled down, he was starting to feel the strain.

"Summon the imperial physician!"

Emperor Shengwu gave the order.

"No need, Father." Yan Chenghui refused. "I'm just tired. I'll just go back to the Eastern Palace to rest."

He led Cen Lingyi around and walked towards the horses.

"You can no longer ride a horse!"

Cen Lingyi blurted it out.

"Send him back to the Eastern Palace in my imperial carriage."

Emperor Shengwu gave the order.

Xiao Yulou glanced at him.

This tyrannical ruler has finally had a change of heart.

Throughout the journey, Yan Chenghui was drenched in cold sweat.

Cen Lingyi said anxiously, "Yun Que, send a message back in advance to tell Courtyard Gu to be waiting in Mingde Hall."

"I'm fine, don't worry."

Yan Chenghui held her hand.

Cen Lingyi couldn't help but have tears welling up in her eyes again.

He was always like that; no matter when or where, no matter what situation he was in, he would always comfort her immediately.

Back at Mingde Hall, Gu Meishu was already waiting there.

Supported by Cen Lingyi and Yun Que on either side, Yan Chenghui quickly entered the inner hall and lay down on the bed.

He was still panting, and his strength was almost completely exhausted.

"Director Gu, please take a look at him quickly."

Cen Lingyi stepped aside, her heart pounding with anxiety.

Gu Meishu stepped forward and bent down to carefully examine the arrow wound on his shoulder. He gently pressed around the arrow shaft to confirm that the arrow had not hit any vital organs.

Immediately afterward, he checked Yan Chenghui's pulse, his expression serious, and said to Cen Lingyi, "Fortunately, the arrow did not penetrate further, and the wound did not reopen."

Cen Lingyi breathed a sigh of relief, but then asked worriedly, "Why does his injury look a little swollen?"

"Arrows are, after all, external objects. How could Your Highness not be injured after all this moving around?" Gu Meishu turned to look at Yan Chenghui. "Your Highness has exhausted too much energy today, and you've been pulling on your shoulders and back, causing your blood and qi to fluctuate greatly. You absolutely must not exert yourself any further now."

"I've got it." Cen Lingyi nodded, then asked, "Will this affect the removal of the arrow?"

"Your Highness's health has not yet recovered enough to remove the arrow," Gu Meishu said. "The matter of removing the arrow must be postponed. We must not act hastily before we find the dragon bone powder."

Cen Lingyi responded with a sound of agreement, her mind preoccupied.

The dragon bone powder is still nowhere to be found. Just as Gu Meishu said, arrows are, after all, external objects. We can't just let it go like this forever, can we?

"Yan Chenghui?"

After seeing Gu Meishu off, Cen Lingyi returned to the inner hall and called out.

She wanted to ask him if he wanted anything to eat, and if he wanted to wash himself since he was sweating.

But Yan Chenghui did not respond.

She leaned closer and saw that he had fallen into a deep sleep. He was exhausted, both physically and mentally, and had been working hard all day. His body couldn't take it anymore.

She fetched some warm water, wrung out a towel to wipe his body, covered him with a blanket, and stood by his side watching him.

*

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, and Yan Chenghui's health recovered. Compared to before, he needed to sleep much less and was able to get out of bed and walk around.

As Cen Lingyi watched him recover, her anxiety grew even stronger.

If this arrow is not removed, it will always be a problem.

But even after the notice has been posted for so long, there has been no response from outside.

On the contrary, Yan Chenghui kept reassuring her, saying that he was in good health and that even if he pulled her up like that, his life would not be in danger.

Cen Lingyi always remembered the imperial physician's words: without dragon bone powder to stop the bleeding, Taiyi only had a 30% chance of success.

How could she dare let him take such a risk?

Finally, on this day, Yun Que happily ran into the palace to report.

"Your Highness, Miss, there is a female physician outside who claims to have dragon bone powder and requests an audience with you."

"Really? Quickly, invite her in."

Upon hearing this, Cen Lingyi's dark eyes lit up immediately. She put down what she was holding, got up, and walked over.

"Jiaojiao, I'm going too."

Yan Chenghui propped himself up on the bed.

Cen Lingyi turned to help him, and the two of them went out of the inner hall and walked to the desk.

A woman walked in from outside.

She was thin but energetic, carrying a backpack and dressed simply and neatly.

She curtsied, neither servile nor arrogant: "This humble woman greets Your Highness the Crown Prince and the young lady."

"Yang Ziyun?"

Cen Lingyi opened her eyes wide in surprise.

She recognized the female doctor!

"You recognize her?"

Yan Chenghui was helped to sit down on the soft couch.

"I recognize her." Cen Lingyi turned to him and said, "She was the one who delivered my baby."

As she spoke, she walked over and took Yang Ziyun's hand: "Come and sit down. Where have you been all these years? I haven't seen you since."

After giving birth to Huai Jiao, Huai Jiao was taken away by the Second Prince, and she began searching for her child, becoming extremely anxious about the matter.

I stopped paying attention to Yang Ziyun.

"I went on a journey," Yang Ziyun said. "From a thousand miles away, I saw a notice that His Highness the Crown Prince needed dragon bone powder. Thinking of your relationship with her, I thought I would come to the capital to see if I could help. I didn't expect you two to be together."

Yang Ziyun looked at her, then at Yan Chenghui.

These two look like a perfect match.

How did you know about us...?

Cen Lingyi turned her head to look at Yan Chenghui.

She met Yang Ziyun when she was six months pregnant. Although they were good friends, she never told Yang Ziyun about her relationship with Yan Chenghui.

She was certain that she had never mentioned Yan Chenghui in front of Yang Ziyun.

Yang Ziyun didn't answer his question; instead, she asked her, "What about the child in the Crown Prince's palace?"

Which child are you referring to?

Cen Lingyi became suspicious and exchanged a glance with Yan Chenghui.

That sounds like it has a hidden meaning.

"Which other child could it be? The one you gave birth to, right? It should be registered under the Crown Princess's name, right? I forgot, His Highness the Crown Prince should have many children, the one he brought with him back then."

Yang Ziyun was not afraid and spoke directly.

"Did you know that Huai Jiao was brought to the Eastern Palace as a child?"

Cen Lingyi was greatly surprised.

Xia Qinghe handled this matter in secret, and few people knew about it.

How did Yang Ziyun find out?

"Bring that child out so I can see him first, and then I'll tell you."

Yang Ziyun deliberately kept everyone in suspense.

Cen Lingyi smiled and instructed, "Yun Gong, go to the side hall and have Lingzhi bring Huai Jiao over."

Yun Gong responded and hurried away.

Soon, Lingzhi arrived with Yan Huaijiao by the hand.

"Father, Mother."

Yan Huaijiao entered and bowed.

"Huaijiao, come here." Cen Lingyi led him to Yang Ziyun and said with a smile, "Call her aunt. She's the one who carried you out of your mother's womb when you were little."

"aunt."

Yan Huaijiao obediently bowed.

"You've grown so much." Yang Ziyun pulled Yan Huaijiao over and looked him up and down. "You were beautiful when you were born, and now you're getting more and more beautiful."

Yan Huaijiao looked at her with a shy smile, pursing her lips.

"He was only this big when I brought him out of the house."

Yang Ziyun raised her hand to gesture.

"Now you can tell me, how did you know about us?"

Cen Lingyi was genuinely curious.

"Simple," Yang Ziyun said with a smile. "Do you remember when you hadn't had children yet, I lived next door to you. Once, I saw your husband acting suspiciously, talking to the Second Prince. I was curious, so I went over and overheard their conversation."

At that moment, she held her breath and hid, and overheard Lu Huaiyou and the Second Prince's secret plot clearly.

It was around that time that she learned that the child in Cen Lingyi's belly was actually the Crown Prince's child.

They discussed secretly abandoning the child.

Cen Lingyi is stubborn and will surely miss her child, and will spend her whole life searching for him.

They will then use this to their advantage, manipulating Cen Lingyi and forcing her to enter the Eastern Palace.

Once she enters the Eastern Palace, the Crown Prince will still have feelings for her. At that time, she can secretly spy on the Crown Prince's movements, and even pass on various messages to monitor his every move.

"Later, after your child was born, I took him out. The Second Prince ordered his men to kill him in front of me." Yang Ziyun continued, "I told him that I had a medicinal pill that required the heart and liver of such a child as a medicinal ingredient, and asked him to give me the child. The Second Prince agreed without much hesitation."

"They are truly wicked." Cen Lingyi listened, her heart pounding. "Then why did you later send the child to the Crown Prince's Palace?"

"I was holding this child, not knowing where to go, so I thought of sending him to the orphanage. Even if life there is not good, at least he would have a place to live and food to eat, so he wouldn't starve to death on the streets." Yang Ziyun said, "When I got to the orphanage, there were people there picking out children, saying they wanted to adopt them, and even revealed that they were wanted by the Crown Prince's palace."

"At that time, I thought, isn't this the Crown Prince's child? It's perfect for the Crown Prince to raise, so I squeezed forward with the child in my arms."

"It's all thanks to his good looks that the old woman took a liking to him at first sight and even gave me two ingots of gold."

"So that's how Huai Jiao entered the Eastern Palace."

Cen Lingyi couldn't help but look at Yan Chenghui.

Neither of them knew how Huai Jiao got to the East Palace.

She always felt that there was no such coincidence in the world, how could Yan Chenghui need a child and end up with Huai Jiao?

It turns out that Yang Ziyun did a good deed here and saved the child.

"Huaijiao, quickly thank this aunt. Without her, you wouldn't be where you are today."

Yan Chenghui pulled Xiao Huaijiao over and patted his little head.

Yan Huaijiao was about to kneel down.

"Don't do this, I saved you because your mother saved me."

Yang Ziyun stepped forward to support him, smiling as she spoke.

When Cen Lingyi heard her say that, she remembered that old incident.

Yang Ziyun is skilled in gynecology, specializing in leukorrhea and childbirth.

Several years ago, while practicing medicine, she encountered a woman who had been forcibly taken as a concubine by a powerful man. She was being bullied and was pregnant with an unborn child, unable to live or die.

Yang Ziyun, a doctor, was kind-hearted and couldn't bear to see her suffer, so she secretly performed an abortion for her to help her out of her predicament.

This move naturally angered the powerful and influential.

The other side, taking advantage of its power, exerted pressure and sent people everywhere to arrest and kill him.

Yang Ziyun fled in all directions, almost to the point of having nowhere to go.

At that time, Cen Lingyi was six months pregnant and had a fake marriage with Lu Huaiyou, so her situation was not good.

But upon hearing that Yang Ziyun had ended up in such a predicament after saving someone, he felt compassion and secretly hid Yang Ziyun by his side.

Lu Huaiyou was, after all, a court official, and no powerful figure dared to search his house, which is why Yang Ziyun was spared.

"So, I saved this little guy as a way of returning a favor." Yang Ziyun touched Yan Huaijiao's little face. "Let's not talk about the past. Tell me about His Highness the Crown Prince's situation?"

She straightened up and looked towards Yan Chenghui.