Chapter 246: A Doctor's Kindness

At nightfall, the palace gates were locked, and the moonlight poured down like water, illuminating the majestic palace, yet making the long night seem even more lonely.

In the east wing of the Imperial Hospital, Xiahou Yu, wearing a black cloak, stood in front of the bookshelf, silent.

Behind him on the ground was an open bamboo box. Inside it were a few neatly folded clothes and three or four medical books, and nothing else.

Starting tomorrow, he will leave this imperial city.

The Empress issued an imperial decree and the Imperial Medical Bureau issued a transfer order, and he left the palace to take charge of the work of the folk medical clinics.

His colleagues in the Imperial Hospital had been laughing at him behind his back for the past few days, which offended the Empress and led to him being banished from the palace.

Xiahou Yu didn't care about these things. He was not attached to the glory and power in the palace. He just regretted that he could no longer be by her side.

Sister Yan did not allow him to stay in the palace, and even refused to give him the right to wait silently.

Thinking of this, Xiahou Yu felt a dull pain in his chest. He couldn't understand why Sister Yan was so angry about him, even though they hadn't seen each other for many years and even though they had different identities.

Qingjun's thin face tightened unconsciously, and the candlelight cast his shadow on the wall, stretching it out long and thin.

Looking at the dazzling array of books in front of him, Xiahou Yu felt bored and annoyed. Among these books, there were many classics that doctors all over the world would be willing to spend all their wealth just to read, but in his eyes, they were just boring.

Since he couldn't take away what he wanted most, he didn't want anything anymore.

Just as he was lost in thought, someone knocked on the door three times.

Xiahou Yu came back to his senses, feeling somewhat puzzled. It was already curfew, so who would come?

"Who?"

A woman outside the door whispered back, "Mr. Xiahou, I am a palace maid from Changchun Palace."

Is this... the person sent by Sister Yan?

Xiahou Yu was slightly delighted, walked quickly to the door, and raised his hand to pull out the door handle.

The woman on the other side suddenly spoke again, "It's late at night and there's no one around. I'm afraid of causing trouble, so it's better not to see you."

Xia Houyu calmed himself down and asked in a low voice, "Your Majesty...what are your instructions?"

Did she change her mind? Did she...want to keep me here?

The woman on the other end spoke slowly, "The Empress has instructed me to convey a message to you, Master. You are gifted and intelligent, having been a precocious child, a true master of medicine. All doctors in the world aspire to benefit all living beings. You are no ordinary person. Are you willing to be trapped in this shallow pond of the Imperial Palace for the rest of your life? The world outside is vast, and you can freely display your skills and give back to the people with your life's knowledge."

Xia Houyu remained silent upon hearing this, his face as gloomy as water. After a moment, he said, "The Queen... is this what she meant?"

The woman continued, "The Queen has asked me to ask you a question: Do you still remember the great aspirations you made under the shade of the pear blossoms in the past?"

When Xiahou Yu heard this, he was struck by lightning and remained speechless for a long time.

Does she remember?

She still remembers!

Joy instantly filled his chest, making him almost cheer out loud.

Back then, when sister Yan was still staying in his house, he once said to her under the shade of pear blossoms... He said that when he grew up, he would travel all over the mountains and rivers, search for herbs in the world, and cure all the difficult and complicated diseases in the world. He would become a great doctor!

The ambitions I set in my youth were almost lost in the mundane world...

He had almost forgotten it, but she still remembered it for him!

The woman outside the door continued, "The Queen has also sent me a letter. Please take it away, sir. I'm leaving now."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xiahou Yu saw a piece of letter slipping in through the gap under the door.

There were footsteps outside the door, and the woman had already gone away.

Xiahou Yu didn't care about anything else and hurriedly picked up the letter and started reading.

On the snow-white letter paper, there were four big words written in beautiful small characters: A doctor has a kind heart.

The haze in Xiahou Yu's heart was immediately swept away. Yes, he was the descendant of the medical saint Xiahou family. His lifelong ambition should be to study hard and save the world. How could he be trapped in this emotional maze and buried within these red walls?

Besides, he understood Meng Yan's thoughts...

He is a doctor, Meng Yan is also a doctor, and all doctors have the same kind heart.

Meng Yan has been trapped in the palace and will never be able to leave. Her wishes can only be fulfilled by others.

In this respect, they are like-minded.

Since we cannot be together in this life, let us be close friends.

Ruizhu walked on the long palace road, the night wind caressing her face and drying her tears.

This mystery of hers would never be resolved in this life, but she was still grateful to the Queen for giving her the last chance to send him away.

When I returned to Changchun Palace, it was already time to turn off the lights and the courtyard was silent.

It was not her turn to work at night today, so she tiptoed back to her residence.

In the Changchun Palace bedroom, Yunxiang quietly walked to the bedside and whispered through the curtains, "Your Majesty, she's back."

"knew."

Meng Yan's eyes were slightly closed, but she was not asleep. She responded faintly and said nothing more.

Yunxiang thought the queen was asleep, so she sat on a footstool outside.

Meng Yan turned around and stared at the two crimson goldfish embroidered on the curtain.

She really couldn't remember what kind of past she and Xiahou Yu had, but there were some vague scenes in her mind recently: under the shade of pear blossoms, a young man told a little girl about his life aspirations.

No matter what kind of interactions they had in the past, she is now married. It is of no benefit to Xiahou Yu to be stuck in this maze and unable to get out.

By sending him away from this mysterious city, she also let go of all the grudges she had with him in past and present lives.

As for Ruizhu, Xiahou Yu is not her ideal man, she has her own destiny.

Two days later, Meng Yan heard a message from someone in the palace that the daughter of the Li family was confined to her room by her old lady herself, punished to copy the women's rules three hundred times, and fined two months' salary.

Everyone in Changchun Palace applauded, but Meng Yan didn't care. The Zhang and Li families were people and things that were about to become a thing of the past.

The long day passes by quickly like water.

A little over a month later, in late July, Lu Haozhi saw the time was ripe, and the old ministers' clamor for the emperor to grant him the throne grew increasingly loud. On July 20th, the emperor announced that to ensure the Empress's pregnancy, all six palaces would be opened, releasing the concubines and 162 maids over 20.

At the same time, Meng Yan also issued an imperial decree in the harem, releasing all the concubines who had not served the emperor in bed and the older palace maids who were willing to return home.

The palace maids were fine, but among all the concubines in the palace, except her, Meng Yan, no one slept with the emperor. Once this decree was issued, the six palaces were abolished.

Upon hearing this news, the concubines were quite calm. They had no hope of ever returning to favor, so they decided to leave the palace early and find a suitable partner to avoid being buried in the imperial city. A few, whose families had fallen on hard times and who had nowhere else to go, were reluctant to leave the palace and were willing to retire to the Nangong Palace.

Compared with the peace in the harem, the group of men in the previous dynasty stirred up a huge uproar and made a mess.

Those old ministers had hoped to send their daughters to the palace to secure another hundred years of future for their family, but they did not expect that Lu Haozhi would ruin everything.

Two elders from both dynasties erupted in fury. One loudly denounced Lu Haozhi as a foolish ruler who had listened to women's slander, while the other cursed Meng Yan as a sycophantic monarch and a scoundrel queen who brought disaster upon the nation. The rest of the sycophants followed suit, their chatter swirling and clamoring, turning the Great Zhou court into a tumultuous scene resembling a market outside the capital's north gate. These pillars of the dynasty, each one akin to a street vendor, engaged in a verbal battle.

This scene naturally fell into the calculations of Lu Haozhi and Meng Yan.

After Lu Haozhi had finished cursing them, he feigned rage and shouted, "Old bastards! I didn't bother with you, but you've become even more aggressive! You're roaring in the court, insulting me with foul language. Do you even take me, the late emperor, or even the Great Zhou seriously?! I see you've been harboring rebellion for a long time! Come, arrest these traitors, throw them into the Ministry of Justice, and have them interrogated strictly by the three courts!"

This scene had been rehearsed countless times. Zhenyuan Marquis Liu Zhengfeng personally led his personal guards into the palace and immediately apprehended the minister who was cursing the king.

Originally, this task should have been done by the Duke of Protectorate Meng Changyuan.

However, because he was the elder brother of Queen Meng Yan, and fearing the subsequent discussion among the court and the public, Lu Haozhi replaced Liu Zhengfeng as the commander of the Imperial City's inner guards three days ago.

Anyway, he is about to become Meng Changyuan's brother-in-law, and they are all family members.

Those two veterans of two dynasties, along with a group of veteran officials, were imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice, puffing their beards and glaring, thinking that the young emperor, still wet behind the ears, would never dare to do anything to them. He only threw them into prison in a fit of rage. When his anger subsided and he thought about the consequences, he would be so frightened that he would come to ask them to leave in person. His Great Zhou Dynasty still depended on these noble families to protect it!

They were bragging and dreaming in prison, but they didn't know that Lu Haozhi had sent a group of newly promoted trusted ministers to raid their homes.

This group of newly rising nobles in the imperial court were either from humble backgrounds or promising young men whose families had fallen on hard times. They were young and hardworking, and had no worries, so they were always clean and efficient in doing things.