With her deceased husband as her dowry, would Your Highness dare to marry her?

"It's alright, I'll go with you." Lin Ci smiled slightly.

The young eunuch was overjoyed at being granted a pardon and bowed repeatedly.

Lin Ci followed behind him, secretly yawning while covering her mouth with her sleeve.

Pei Jinxuan saw this and thought she must be tired, so he turned to the little eunuch and said, "It's a long way to Fengzao Palace, prepare a sedan chair."

A short while later, the sedan chair arrived.

Pei Jinxuan lifted the sedan curtain, turned his head to look at Lin Ci, and invited her to get into the sedan.

The young eunuch hurriedly said, "Your Highness, this is improper."

Pei Jinxuan turned her head and stared at him with wide eyes.

The little eunuch blinked blankly, and after being stared at for a while, he finally understood and hurriedly bowed to invite Lin Ci to get into the sedan chair.

Lin Ci felt embarrassed by their back-and-forth and took a step back, saying, "No need to trouble yourself, we can just walk around."

Pei Jinxuan was so angry at the little eunuch that he laughed. He raised his foot and gave him a light kick in the butt: "Hurry up and lead the way."

The little eunuch nodded repeatedly and ran ahead in a flash.

Upon arriving at Fengzao Palace, the Empress sat solemnly on her phoenix throne.

The Crown Prince stood close to her, his eyes large and round. As soon as he saw Pei Jinxuan enter, he took off running over, calling out, "Royal Uncle~~ Royal Uncle~~"

Pei Jinxuan smiled, bent down, picked up the Crown Prince, and lifted him above his head.

The prince chuckled.

The Empress's expression changed drastically. She abruptly stood up and said sternly, "Quickly put the Crown Prince down, don't frighten him!"

Pei Jinxuan did as instructed and put the crown prince back on the ground.

The prince pouted, tugging at his clothes and refusing to let go: "Uncle, let's play a little longer."

Pei Jinxuan squatted down, patted his head, and said gently, "Your Highness should start your studies."

Upon hearing the word "homework," the little prince grinned and turned to run away.

Lin Ci lowered her head and covered her mouth with her sleeve, secretly laughing. When she caught the Empress looking over out of the corner of her eye, she immediately straightened her posture, composed herself, and bowed.

"Please take a seat." The Empress turned and sat back on the phoenix chair, looking very tired.

Pei Jinxuan knew perfectly well that the Empress had summoned him because of the matter entrusted to him that day.

He got straight to the point: "Your Majesty, I have already examined it. It is merely a calming substance, and although it is a bit brightly colored, there is nothing wrong with it. Your Majesty can rest assured."

Lin Ci immediately understood his meaning and quickly replied, "I just checked Her Majesty's pulse, and it was stable with nothing wrong."

The Empress remained silent for a long while before slowly saying, "But today, Physician Liu said that I have kidney deficiency."

Lin Ci smiled slightly, "A little bit of internal heat is nothing to worry about. Just eat more yams and fox nuts regularly, there's no need to take medicine. All medicines have some toxicity, and taking too much is not good."

Upon hearing this, the Empress frowned even more deeply and remained silent for a long time.

Pei Jinxuan sighed inwardly and said softly, "Your Majesty, Physician Lin can even stabilize His Majesty's incurable illness. All the imperial physicians in the palace are helpless, but she is the only one who can save him. Don't you trust her?"

"It's not that I don't believe you." The Empress raised her eyes, her gaze falling on Pei Jinxuan's face. "If that substance is soothing, why do I still not sleep well at night?"

Lin Ci said frankly, "A mental illness requires a mental cure. Your Majesty tends to overthink things, which naturally makes it difficult for you to sleep soundly. If you trust me, I will devise a calming prescription for you to take on time."

The Empress pondered deeply, but did not reply.

"Let Physician Liu devise a plan," Pei Jinxuan said with a smile. "Physician Liu has served Her Majesty for many years and knows Her Majesty's constitution well. If Physician Liu has no solution, it's not too late to ask Physician Lin."

As he spoke, he winked at Lin Ci very quickly.

Lin Ci understood and nodded slightly: "Alright."

Suddenly, the Empress slammed her hand on the table, causing the teacups to jump.

"I didn't call you two here to hear this meaningless nonsense!"

Her voice was so sharp and shrill that it made the palace lanterns in the corner of the hall sway twice.

All the palace servants knelt down, heads bowed, holding their breath, not daring to utter a sound.

The Empress gritted her teeth and said, enunciating each word clearly, "I've already said it, you must find out what's wrong with me!"

Pei Jinxuan, however, seemed unfazed. He did not kneel, but merely lowered his eyes slightly, waiting for the Empress's anger to subside before speaking slowly and deliberately, "Give me some more time. In that time, I will surely relieve Your Majesty's urgent crisis."

The Empress's chest heaved violently. She looked down at Pei Jinxuan, then slowly calmed down.

"Thank you very much, Prince Jing'an."

The Empress sat back on her phoenix chair, her eyes, which had been burning with fire just moments before, suddenly becoming empty. Her fingers unconsciously dug into the armrests of the chair, her nails scraping against the gold lacquer, making an extremely faint sound.

"They all want to toy with my son and me." Her voice suddenly lowered, as if she were muttering to herself, "I won't let you succeed. Absolutely not."

Seeing that she was completely different before and after, Lin Ci's expression became serious. She stood up, bowed to the Empress, and said, "Your Majesty, may I take your pulse again?"

The Empress listened and silently extended her hand.

Lin Ci walked up to her and placed three fingers on her wrist to check her pulse. After a moment of concentration, his brow relaxed, and he said, "Your Majesty's pulse is indeed somewhat weak, a symptom of long-term sleep deprivation and excessive thinking. It's not due to insufficient medicine, but rather to restlessness of mind. I'll leave you a calming tea recipe; you can drink it at any time, just like water."

The Empress paused for a moment, then asked, "Just tea?"

Lin Ci nodded: "Medicine heals the body, tea nourishes the mind. Mental ailments must be treated slowly."

Upon hearing this, the Empress's expression relaxed.

She asked Lin Ci to leave the tea recipe before letting them go home.

As they approached the palace gate, the Empress pulled Pei Jinxuan aside and whispered something to him.

Lin Ci was standing far away and could only vaguely hear a few intermittent words.

Pei Jinxuan didn't say anything, but nodded solemnly.

After leaving Fengzao Palace, Pei Jinxuan remained silent the entire way. Only after turning a corner on the palace path, when no one was around, did he let out a soft breath and whisper, "The Empress keeps saying that there are villains trying to harm her, and she's suspicious all the time."

Lin Ci glanced at him sideways and said, "When I took the Empress's pulse earlier, it was steady and there was nothing unusual. But just now, she had a pulse that was overflowing."

"Overflowing pulse?"

"Hmm, this pulse is unusual. The pulse can cross the wrist crease and reach the thenar eminence of the palm, hence it is also called the anxiety pulse. It seems that Your Majesty has been troubled by heart disease for a long time."

Pei Jinxuan sighed helplessly as he listened, "Your Majesty must be afraid that if His Majesty passes away and the Prince of Liang usurps the throne, her life and the Crown Prince's life will be in danger."

She was also worried about Consort Chang.

"Consort Chang?" Pei Jinxuan asked, puzzled. "Consort Chang and I grew up together. I know her best. She would never do anything immoral."

"Oh? Then why did she sneak off to see you?"

Hearing Lin Ci say this, Pei Jinxuan felt inexplicably guilty. He hadn't done anything with Consort Chang, but being stared at by her made it seem as if he had really done something wrong.

Seeing his stammering manner, Lin Ci smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Pei Jinxuan became even more anxious and quickly took two steps forward, turning around to block her.

"There's nothing between us..."

"I'm hungry," Lin Ci said as she walked past him. "I want to eat kueh."

She deliberately cut off the conversation, not wanting to continue the discussion with Pei Jinxuan.

The less she asked, the more frustrated Pei Jinxuan became. He really didn't want her to misunderstand, so he followed her and said directly: ...