[Red Chamber] Daiyu Reborn

Ningkang Palace, the residence of the Empress Dowager.

Xiao Ruofan carefully put away the golden needle and wrapped it in the yellow silk cloth, and then she cupped her hands to the old woman on the soft couch of the bright yellow flying Danfeng: "Empress Dowager, You just suffered some wind and cold, it’s not serious, it’s just because your lungs have an old disease, and the cold stagnates in your heart, so you will have a slight pain. With the typhoid prescription from the Taiyuan Hospital, you can take a little more Sanqicao , helps in promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis."

The Empress Dowager Xiao is over eighty years old, her hair is full of silver threads, she wears a bright yellow dress, and there is a trace of unspeakable fatigue in the shining.No matter how clever the holy medicine of health care is, it can't take back the youth that has long since passed away. Besides, for the sake of the country and the court, she has been worrying about it for decades.

Under the wind, knife and frost sword, the scars were carved into deep wrinkles on the old face, only those eyes were still as calm as before, hiding the sharpness of killing and decisiveness, and hiding in their wisdom the courage to dare others The courage not to dare.As long as she is still sitting in the palace, whether it is the emperor or the supreme emperor, or even the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, their hearts will be at least half stable.

"Sanqi grass..." Xiao's hand slightly dragged his forehead, his eyes gradually softened, as elegant as before, but with a bit of exploration, "It is said that you have been getting very close to that kid from the Lin family recently. ?”

Xiao Ruofan returned with a perfect smile, and the reason was also perfect: "After all, he is my cousin, his parents died early, and he has suffered a lot because he has been living outside these years... As an elder brother, I take good care of him." Second, it should be."

Xiao smiled slightly: "Although it's beating around the bush, you are the only one who dares to mention the past in front of me." When the emperor overturned the case for the Lin family, the imperial decree was written in an extremely cryptic manner.

Xiao Ruofan cupped his hands and saluted: "Forgive me for offending you."

Xiao shook her head again, closed her eyes slightly, and seemed to be taking a nap, but after a while, she breathed a sigh of relief, and raised her eyes again: "The order of Ai's family will be read with Princess Nongyue, The little girl from the Lin family was 'confined' in Ningkang Palace, and no one is allowed to have contact with her until the matter of her cousin is investigated."

Xiao Ruofan was startled, and immediately bowed: "I thank the Empress Dowager on behalf of Cousin Lin."

At this moment, Cao Mama, who had been serving the Empress Dowager all the year round, came back from outside the palace, hurriedly took off her thick squirrel fur coat, saluted Xiao Ruofan, then hurriedly stood behind Xiao Shi, and gently helped her. She tapped her back.

"Where have you been lazy, you old bastard... After all these years, you are the most comfortable knocking..." Xiao narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he was raving.

Mammy Cao showed a rather playful smile, continued to tap her hands gently, quietly approached Xiao's ear, and whispered a few words.

Xiao slowly opened her eyes, and also smiled: "Oh? That little girl from the Lin family begged Princess Yue and sent some things out of the palace?"

A trace of nervousness flashed across Xiao Ruofan's face, but Mrs. Xiao slowly sat up straight, and told Madam Cao: "Write it down? Tell Ruofan about it."

Grandma Cao recited it with her mouth open, Xiao Ruofan naturally did not dare to doubt this grandma who is said to have a photographic memory, but what she recounted... Xiao Ruofan became more suspicious the more she listened, and even the corners of her mouth twitched faintly: "These are all Is it a recipe for medicinal food?" According to Madam Cao's description and pause, then a bunch of medicinal ingredients can be used to make Fuling cake, almond cake, three ear soup, tangerine peel wolfberry tea, sand ginseng lily old duck soup... What is Daiyu writing these for?

Xiao reminded: "Didn't your cousin Lin send a lot of medicinal recipes to the palace a while ago?"

Xiao Ruofan paused her hands, and then suddenly realized: "The news was kept secret, Miss Lin only got the general idea from the princess, and didn't know why Lin Jifeng was imprisoned, so I suspected that there was something wrong with the medicinal recipe that I paid tribute to... ..."

That's right, so far, even he doesn't know what the so-called "problem with the imperial medicine" refers to, and Daiyu naturally has no reason to know. If you don't know, you will be suspicious and afraid, which is normal.

Mrs. Xiao nodded, with a deep meaning: "Miss Lin is calm and considerate when things happen, and she has nothing to do with Lin Jifeng's affairs. Let the princess look up to her; The face of the eldest princess is still full of words."

Xiao Ruofan thought in his mind: Lin Daiyu's "inexplicable" recipe should be able to attract more than half of the other party's attention, and it will take at least half the night; This time... That's right, Daiyu's move saved herself, and also helped Lin Jifeng divert the tiger away from the mountain.

But I didn't realize that Daiyu was such a transparent girl.

"Do you know what happened to the truth of the Royal Pharmacy?" Xiao Shi suddenly closed the door.

Xiao Ruofan replied honestly: "I really don't know." He tried his best to find out, but those who knew the matter would either be put in jail or keep their mouths shut.

"The reason is that Su Liren, Jiang Cairen, and Gu Shaoshi in the harem all had strange rashes on their faces." Xiao Shi took it easy.

"Red rash?" Xiao Ruofan was slightly surprised, "Why doesn't this minister know?"

"Even if you are also an imperial physician... How can you know about the harem matter." Xiao shook her head, "After the diagnosis and treatment, the imperial physicians Song and Zhu found that all three of them had blood deficiency and had been taking the panax notoginseng that Lin Jifeng paid tribute to. Grass."

"But you are also using Panax notoginseng..." Xiao Ruofan was taken aback, as if he had figured out something.

"The ones used by Ai's family are the same as those used by them?" Xiao continued, "The imperial doctor said that even if the rashes on the faces of the three concubines are cured, they will leave scars..."

It was only then that Xiao Ruofan understood why this matter could be concealed so strictly: involving concubines in the harem, at worst, even disfigurement, how can the royal family, who loves the most face, open such a mouth to the court and the whole world?I had no choice but to say that there was something wrong with the medicinal materials that this batch of tribute paid, and first detained Lin Jifeng and the officials in charge of the medicine, and waited to find out the truth before trying to find a solution.

In terms of medicinal properties, Panax notoginseng does have a [-]/[-] chance of irritating the skin, but is it really so serious?Now, the only thing I can be thankful for is that these three low-ranking concubines are all servant girls before the emperor ascended the throne, and they have no family background. The Lin family will never die.

"However, if there is a problem with the Panax notoginseng that was tributed before, then the pharmacists in charge of inspection at the Imperial Pharmacy will also..."

"Of course they can't run away... Ruofan, Aijia is tired, you go back first." Xiao closed her eyes and motioned for Mammy Cao to continue rubbing her shoulders.

"The empress dowager rests in comfort, and I will leave." Seeing that the empress dowager was unwilling to say more, Xiao Ruofan had no choice but to resign.

It was night, and the various palace people sent by Nongyue took all kinds of medicinal and dietary recipes written by Daiyu and distributed them to Lin Jifeng's pharmacies in the capital, even the most remote ones in the suburbs of Beijing. The palace people knocked on the pharmacy overnight At the door, there was a list of the princess's envoys. Without any explanation, let the pharmacy from the shopkeeper to the staff cook overnight, prepare all the silver needle powder, and test the medicine and poison all night!

Half of the pharmacies in the capital have been tossing around for a whole night. Of course, they are doing white jobs. Except for eating one by one, there is no gain. There is no toxic reaction; even the various foods that may be incompatible are listed in detail by the experienced pharmacy shopkeepers, and they come to the conclusion that the medicinal materials used in the medicinal diet are less than one-tenth of a pair of traditional Chinese medicines. It is absolutely impossible to harm people with drugs or food, unless the cumulative effect is more than a few decades.

This is of course, if there is even a little problem with the prescription of the medicinal diet, the Tai Hospital has raised objections a long time ago—it just doesn’t know how many people are secretly working for nothing.

In the palace, Princess Nongyue accidentally contracted a cold and fell ill because of chanting scriptures and praying for blessings all day long; Concubine Zhou personally decreed that, except for the imperial physician, Qinfang Courtyard prohibited anyone from entering or leaving, almost like martial law. generally.

Lin Jifeng was imprisoned in Dali Temple, and Lin Daiyu was detained in Qinfang Courtyard. They were both imprisoned as if isolated from the world.

However, people from the Lin family in the capital had already passed the news to Lin Rui in the dark; Princess Roulan's mansion also had many visitors. Haven't asked to enter the palace yet.

It is impossible for Lin Rui's reply to reach the capital so quickly. From the imperial pharmacy to the officials in charge of pharmacy, there are indeed many people anxiously trying to find a way to prove Lin Jifeng's crime; but the strange thing is that there is nothing wrong with the Zhou family. In particular, King Su even took the initiative to ask Ying to go out of Beijing for patrols - it seems that this is an ordinary imperial medicine case, and it does not deserve the attention of those who hold important positions.

Regarding this, the emperor Yun Shuo in the imperial study lowered his eyes and said indifferently: "They are all old foxes—but fortunately, they are not stupid."

Suddenly, a young eunuch came to report: "Your Majesty, the imperial concubine requested an immediate trial of Lin Jifeng's matter. She said that half a month is the New Year. It is unprecedented and unlucky to delay this matter."

Yun Shuo's hand holding the pen moved slightly, but he showed a rather playful expression, his voice was low and amused: "It should be said that most of them are not stupid."

"Your Majesty?" The little eunuch couldn't help raising his head boldly when he couldn't get a reply.

Yun Shuo sneered: "The Dali Temple and the palace are so busy that they don't touch the ground, isn't it under trial? Although the imperial medicine is a matter in the palace, most of the officials who administer the medicine are court officials. What is the princess in a hurry for?"

The little eunuch is a little confused, the emperor is an absolutely forbearing person, if he hadn't been able to bend and stretch, he would never have sat on the throne.But today's words... Could it be that Mr. Lin made the emperor "righteously indignant" so far?

Yun Shuo lowered his head, regardless of whether his words had reached the eyes and ears of the Supreme Emperor, he calmly and bluntly reviewed the papers until he finished the thick stack, before casually saying: "Since the imperial concubine is afraid of disturbing the New Year, Just pass the decree, let Dali Temple hurry up."

"Yes..." The little eunuch didn't dare to speculate, and quickly stepped back.

Yun Shuo seemed to be tired. After finishing the papers, he thought of resting on the couch behind the imperial study room. When the golden dragon robe brushed against the huge golden and jade screen, it might be because the golden light was too dazzling, or it might be because of the The snowy light was too glaring, a faint smile seemed to appear on the corner of Yun Shuo's lips, like a dream, fleeting.

Perhaps it was God's wish to fulfill the wish of the imperial concubine of Zhou. On the third day after Lin Jifeng was thrown into Dali Temple, there was a turning point: under the careful inspection of the imperial physicians and guards, it was found that the three concubines were decocting medicine. The number of medicinal residues in the hospital is slightly different from the records of the imperial pharmacy. Although it is common for medicinal residues to differ, each person's difference is so subtle that it is very suspicious.

Yun Shuo came in person, and under strict examination, he finally found out that Jiang Cairen's family also practiced medicine for many generations, but they were not skilled in medicine. She only remembered a folk prescription for beautification, which used few herbs, but was quite useful.Although they are low-ranking concubines, because Yun Shuo's harem is pitiful, and Yun Shuo has no prince, under the order of the Supreme Emperor, each of them can receive a lot of tonic every month, Jiang Cairen Privately using folk remedies for beauty—because the low-ranking concubine lived with three people, Jiang Cairen couldn't hide it, so he "generously" shared the folk remedies with the two sisters.

After examining the remedies, the imperial physicians were dumbfounded: it was indeed effective, but the toxicity was high enough, and it was likely to cause itchy rashes on the skin.Compared with it, Panax notoginseng is simply a non-toxic and harmless fairy grass.

It seems that Lin Jifeng has been wronged -- it is indeed far-fetched, and Lin Rui's reply letter has been sent to the capital -- even though Zhou Huanggui's concubine was full of anger, Yun Shuo still ordered Lin Jifeng and innocent All the medical officers were released, and Taishang Huang Yunluo had no objection to this, and even gave Zhou Huanggui a warning look.

Lin Jifeng was taken back to his home to recuperate, and Xiao Ruofan came to condolences on behalf of the Empress Dowager in private; Nongyue finally lifted Daiyu's foot restraint order, and he was "healed"—seems like a calm ending.

The only thing that is miserable is the three concubines who failed to maintain their beauty but were disfigured. The instigator Jiang Cairen was expelled from the palace, and Su Liren and Gu Shaoshi were sent to the palace outside the capital to recuperate when the new year was approaching. Will the emperor still miss her woman?