The Empress Dowager's cough gradually subsided.
On the sixth day of taking medicine, I no longer coughed day and night.
The emperor praised Gu Jin several more times.
The Empress Dowager also pulled her along, and since she didn't even call out to Qiong Lou Hall, she directly let her rest in Kun Ning Palace.
Every day before Empress Dowager Taohua went to sleep, Gu Jinzhi would massage her palms and soles.
She slept exceptionally soundly every night from then on.
The Empress Dowager said to the Emperor, "Your Majesty doesn't have to get up at four watches from now on. Sleep for another watch and get up at the beginning of the fifth watch to attend court. I've been sleeping well these past few days...I'll be able to wake up after you finish your morning court..."
Her tone was filled with cheerfulness and joy, still holding onto Gu Zhen's hand who sat beside her.
Apart from himself when he was young and his younger brother Zhao Ji, the Emperor had never seen Empress Dowager care for anyone like this.
He was also happy and said yes.
It's been a long time, and I've gotten used to the four watches of the night. When it's time, I wake up on my own and can't sleep no matter what. The Emperor gets dressed, has breakfast, and heads to the Kun Ning Palace.
The Empress Dowager hasn't woken up yet, but Gu Jinzhi has gotten up to decoct medicine.
The emperor then said a few words to her.
She replied with due respect, but the emperor did not feel the usual trembling or cautiousness. Unconsciously, he also spoke more casually.
He felt very relaxed chatting with Gu Jin.
The emperor wanted to have an easy conversation, it's a very difficult thing.
He wants to be approachable, but others won't forget that he's high above, holding the power of life and death in his hands. The closer he gets, the more others will speculate about his ulterior motives.
In the end, all conversations were dull and uninteresting.
It was Gu Jinzhi who made the emperor feel this way instead.
Being young also has its advantages, the emperor thought.
At a young age, with limited exposure to worldly matters, she preserved the most natural and innocent heart, unaware of what it means to be an emperor, so she only treated the emperor as an ordinary person.
Everyone will have their own ambitions and desires.
It's really making the emperor become an ordinary person. He must be unwilling.
When he was the Son of Heaven, Gu Jin saw him as an ordinary person, and his heart was actually delighted.
"... how long?" He stood beside the medicine stove, looking at Gu Jin who was squatting to examine the medicine, and asked her when she started learning medicine.
Gu Jinzhi said, from a very young age.
The emperor looked at her and couldn't help but laugh, asking how small she was when she was very young.
Gu Jin thought for a moment and said, "After turning ten years old. Before the age of ten, I studied at home. After turning ten, I was no longer allowed to study at home, so I had to come back and study with my grandfather."
The emperor was slightly taken aback.
He smiled and said: "How old are you now?"
"Twelve is full, this year August 15th will be thirteen." said Gu Jinzhi.
The emperor looked at her with a mixture of surprise and scrutiny.
At that time, when he was still the crown prince, Empress Tan and the previous empress entered his palace together. The two sisters were both just thirteen years old. But at that time, the emperor did not think they were young either, with a glance, they were two delicate and charming women.
Later, Zhang Fei, Su Pin, Dong Guiren and Lu Guiren all entered his mansion at the age of 14 or 15.
There isn't anyone like Gu Jin...
So small.
Like a child!
The emperor was still treating her as if she were under ten years old.
Gu Jin finished adjusting the medicine stove and stood up. The Emperor was right beside her. Suddenly, she felt a hairpin entering her line of sight.
He didn't lower his head.
Gu Jinzhi's head was actually within the emperor's line of sight.
The emperor was of medium build and slightly on the tall side.
Looking at it this way, Gu Jin's son is quite tall!
The emperor stretched out his hand and drew a line above her head, and she was actually as tall as the emperor's ear.
Is this considered relatively high among women?
Gu Jin raised her eyes and looked at him in confusion.
The emperor smiled slightly.
The eunuch outside announced that it's time for the imperial court session.
The emperor instructed Gu Jin: "Take good care of the empress dowager."
The way of Gu Zhen is righteousness.
The Empress Dowager slept until the first moment of Chen and just woke up.
Woke up afterwards. Washed and dressed, had breakfast. Took medicine, lay on the bed and chatted with Gu Jinzi.
She asked Gu Jinzhi if Jiangnan was really as interesting and fun as the storytellers said.
"It's quite fun..." said Gu Jinzhi.
Although she doesn't go out much, Song Pan'er likes the excitement. Every time she comes back from a stroll, she has to tell the people around her about it for several days, and Gu Jingzhi is already familiar with it.
She told the Empress Dowager about the Lantern Festival in Jiangnan, the Spring Outing, the Qingming Festival outing, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Double Sixth Return to Peace, the Qixi Festival, the Mid-Autumn Moon Appreciation, and the winter day of gathering around the stove to taste tea.
The Empress Dowager was from Kyoto and had never been to Jiangnan, so she didn't know about these customs and entertainments.
Gu Jinzhi spoke in great detail and with interest, she was actually stunned, letting Gu Jinzhi speak for half a morning.
We had lunch together and took a nap in the afternoon.
After getting up, she coughed twice, which made Empress Dowager's heart greatly shocked, and asked: "Is it a relapse?"
Gu Jin smiled and said: "It shouldn't be. When I fell asleep, the room was filled with a thick layer of heat, which made my throat feel dry, but it's nothing serious."
The empress dowager was frightened and still had lingering fears.
Gu Jin said: "Let me take your pulse again."
The Empress Dowager nodded and stretched out her hand to Gu Jinzhi.
After taking the pulse, there was indeed no repeated evidence.
The Empress Dowager was still uneasy, but after coughing a few times, she did not relapse and finally felt at ease. In the afternoon, Gu Jinzi again told her about the customs and human feelings of Yanling Fu, until dinner time.
Two days later, the empress dowager no longer coughed.
The emperor knew it was a big deal, so he asked Gu Jin: "How much longer will the empress dowager's medicine take?"
"Use the above nine doses again, one dose per day, to protect and nourish the liver, so that the liver qi will not attack again." Gu's method.
The emperor and empress dowager both trusted her very much, nodded and said it was good.
Gu Jin said from the beginning that after taking medicine for seven days, the cough would stop. As a result, it was not different at all. She is different from other doctors, she can always affirm specific medicines with one mouth, and say them very accurately, without any difference in one dose.
This point made the emperor and empress dowager trust her extremely.
Although they still don't know where Gu Jinzhi's medical skills come from.
"After Empress Dowager, Consort Tan and Consort Zhang and others all wanted to come and pay their respects to the Empress Dowager." The Emperor saw that the Empress Dowager was much better and said, "My second brother and sixth brother also asked in a memorial when they could come again to visit the Empress Dowager. The several elder princes also want to come and pay their respects."
The emperor's first empress. She and Empress Dowager Cixi were twin sisters.
In the second year of Xin Di, the former emperor's weak and sickly empress passed away, leaving behind only one son, the eldest prince.
It was originally planned to seal the imperial edict after two more years. Who knew that half a year later, the Empress Dowager fell seriously ill, and all the trivial matters in the palace were delayed, with Consort Tan temporarily taking charge of the six palaces.
The empress dowager was ill and in a bad mood, feeling annoyed with people around her.
Those concubines, even those who came from afar like King Nanchang and King Luyang, could only meet once a month on the first day.
Not even in first grade yet.
The emperor was very happy and thought of family reunion. Everyone came to pay respects to the empress dowager.
The Empress Dowager thought for a moment and said: "Haven't Zhonglin and Zhongjun left yet?"
Nanchang Wang Zhonglin was not the birth mother of Empress Dowager, but was raised by her side since childhood; Luoyang Wang Zhongjun was the second son of Empress Dowager, who had been foolish and stupid since childhood.
The Empress Dowager fell ill, and after entering the palace, the King of Luoyang cried pitifully.
A thirteen-year-old prince, a seven-foot-tall young man, cried like that, the empress dowager was both distressed and heartbroken. She was even more afraid that her son's foolish reputation would spread further. While she was ill, she didn't have the energy to instruct him again, so she had the emperor send them back. Let the empress dowager recover before coming again.
Who knows, these two brothers refused to leave.
In fact, Empress Dowager had always been concerned about Prince Luoyang Zhongjun.
It's unclear where the rumors in the streets came from, but they say that Empress Dowager favors Prince Luoyang. If it weren't for Prince Luoyang being foolish back then, he would have already helped him ascend to the throne.
This is nonsense.
The Empress Dowager was afraid that the Emperor had a grudge against him. Believing it to be true, he would persecute King Luoyang. So she endured the heartache, distanced herself from King Luoyang, and demoted him to Anhui, far away from the capital.
In this way, the emperor's worries about him might be alleviated a bit.
The palm and the back of the hand are all flesh, the empress dowager is both fond of the emperor and Luoyang Wang. However, since ancient times, the imperial family has no affection. If not careful, it will bring fatal disaster to Luoyang Wang.
It was clear that Louyang Wang was in the capital, and Mingming missed his son terribly. The Empress Dowager only met with him as a matter of routine.
"Not yet." The emperor smiled and replied, "Both of them said that they would only be at ease returning to their fiefdoms after the empress dowager had recovered. For now, they are both residing in their respective palaces. I have given them special permission to return after the empress dowager has recovered."
Nanchang Wang and Luoyang Wang both have houses in the capital.
The empress dowager fell silent.
She didn't know whether the emperor was sincere or just testing her.
Because of those rumors in the streets, the empress dowager had no choice but to be cautious.
She said ruthlessly: "I'm fine now. Have the Emperor send someone to inform the King of Nanchang and the King of Luyang, let them return! What kind of dignity is it for a king with a fiefdom to stay in the capital without special permission? And they are also the brothers closest to the Emperor, how can other kings think about it? Send them away, have them set off back to their fiefs today!"
The emperor's eyes flickered slightly and said yes.
As soon as the emperor left, the empress dowager felt somewhat fatigued.
The royal family's maternal love and filial piety must maintain a normal baseline and balance.
Once someone betrays, they will be ruthless in the future.
The empress dowager had no choice but to be careful.
The emperor repeatedly said that he would let the two princes enter the palace, but when he heard that the empress dowager did not see them and instead sent them back to their fiefs, he indeed breathed a sigh of relief.
Even the most filial sons have times of testing.
Gu Jin gazed at the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, taking in their expressions, then slightly lowered her eyelids. It was as if she had seen her past life, and a wave of inexplicable fatigue surged up to her heart.
She knows this kind of tiredness.
The days passed slowly, and it was already February 1st.
Gu Jin has been in the palace for half a month now.
The Empress Dowager's chronic cough had also completely stabilized.
Gu Jinzhi then said to the Empress Dowager, "Your Majesty has already recovered and no longer needs the services of a commoner's daughter. The commoner's daughter wishes to return home, as in a few days it will be her elder brother's wedding."
The empress dowager was slightly stunned, she was somewhat reluctant to part with Gu Jinzhao.
After a pause, the empress dowager smiled and said, "These days, it's been hard on you serving our household. I still don't feel at ease, so stay with me for two more days, and return home on the third day of the new year, all right?"
The way of Gu Zhen is righteousness.
That evening, the Emperor came to pay his respects, and the Empress Dowager told him what Gu Jin had said about wanting to go back.
"At first, I agreed that once she cured me, I would make her a princess. But now it's not good to go back on my word." The empress dowager smiled and said, "Is it the emperor who issued an imperial edict or is it I who issued a benevolent edict?"
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Updated again, asking for pink tickets O(n_n)O~