Chapter 251 A Perfect Match

Lin Chuyao snorted coldly, her gaze filled with hostility. Her eyes seemed to be directed at Ye Wanning, yet also at Pei Zhi.

Ye Wanning clenched her hands, about to argue, when Pei Zhi suddenly walked over.

He stood in front of Lin Chuyao and said coldly, "Chuyao, watch your words. Doctor Ye is one of the country's top doctors, and he doesn't match the image you're describing."

"Pei Lang, I really didn't mean any harm!" Lin Chuyao said, her voice trembling with grievance, tears welling up in her eyes. "I was just worried about her. But we've been together for so many years, are you really going to abandon me?"

Pei Zhi frowned, about to reply, when Lin Chuyao suddenly clutched her chest, her face turning deathly pale.

"Achoo... Oh, my heart really hurts... Pei Lang, I'm worried my old ailment is about to flare up!"

Pei Zhi and Ye Wanning were completely dumbfounded and didn't know what to do. They could only send Lin Chuyao home first.

As he was leaving, Pei Zhi turned around and gave Ye Wanning a cold glare. There seemed to be some apology in his eyes, but it was also mixed with some unspeakable secret.

As Ye Wanning watched the two figures gradually disappear, her heart felt as if it were being pricked by needles, aching terribly.

She knew she shouldn't overthink things, but Pei Zhi and Lin Chuyao's intimate actions were simply too much for her to bear.

From then on, Ye Wanning began to deliberately avoid Pei Zhi. Whenever he entered the Heritage Hall, she would use feeling unwell as an excuse not to see patients.

Pei Zhi wanted to take her to the provincial capital, but she said she had things to take care of and refused to go with him...

The two met again at a banquet in the palace. After a brief exchange of greetings, Ye Wanning turned and left without looking back.

Pei Zhi tried to explain to her privately more than once, but Lin Chuyao interrupted him each time with an excuse.

They would either say they were feeling unwell and needed Pei Zhi to serve them, or they would send palace maids and eunuchs to deliver messages, never giving the two of them a chance to talk alone.

Before long, rumors began to circulate that Lord Pei was to marry Miss Lin from the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, and everyone said that the two were a match made in heaven.

Upon hearing this, Ye Wanning felt an even stronger pang of sorrow in her heart, and she lost all interest in preparing medicine for Pei Zhi.

At yet another palace banquet, she encountered Lin Chuyao again. The other woman deliberately spilled a glass of wine on the hem of her dress.

Ye Wanning was wearing a plain dress, making the red wine stains stand out. Just as she was about to get up to wipe them off, Pei Zhi rushed over.

He took off his cloak and draped it over her shoulders, saying, "Don't catch a cold. Don't listen to those rumors; Miss Lin and I are just old acquaintances."

The faint fragrance emanating from the cloak was a familiar scent to Ye Wanning, warming her heart. She looked up at Pei Zhi; his eyes were sincere yet tinged with urgency.

Lin Chuyao was watching from a short distance away, surrounded by many court officials and nobles. Ye Wanning didn't dare to think too much about it and said softly, "Thank you, Lord Pei."

She added, "Lord Pei and Miss Lin are a perfect match, and I don't want to disturb you."

After saying that, she released Pei Zhi's hand, quickly turned around, and hurried towards her residence. Her cloak slipped off her shoulders, but she didn't look back.

Even as the rich scent of ink brushed past her nose and her pulse pounded wildly, she did not stop walking.

After the banquet, Ye Wanning returned to the Heritage Hall alone from the palace, her heart filled with mixed feelings.

As soon as I reached the door, I saw Li Dequan standing there, carrying a small cloth bag in his hand.

"Dr. Ye, this is what my family asked me to give you," Li Dequan said.

"Okay." Ye Wanning took the cloth bag and slowly opened it. Inside were osmanthus candies wrapped in oil paper, the kind she loved to eat most when she was a child.

There was also a note hidden in the cloth bag, which contained only one sentence: "The matter concerning the Lin family is purely a matter of old friendship and has nothing to do with personal feelings."

Holding the still-warm osmanthus candy, Ye Wanning suddenly burst into tears. She knew that Pei Zhi had always understood her feelings and remembered the food she loved as a child.

He remembered that she was saddened by Lin Chuyao's words, and he also remembered that she had feelings for him.

Ye Wanning did not write a reply, but carefully put the osmanthus candy into her inner pocket.

When the night grew quiet, she would take out the candy and smell its faint floral fragrance. The bitterness in her heart would lessen, replaced by an indescribable sweetness.

Soon after, the Empress Dowager held a grand banquet.

Lin Chuyao stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, let me make you some soup. Don't worry, I certainly won't be careless."

She raised her head again, with a hint of pride: "Besides, I've specifically studied medicinal cuisine. I know which herbs can be cooked together, and which combinations can replenish qi and blood. I would never eat the palace food for nothing..."

She kept talking about medicinal herbs like angelica and rehmannia, saying that they could replenish blood when taken alone, but she didn't know that taking these herbs together for a long time could damage the spleen and stomach.

Ye Wanning listened intently from the side and was about to speak when Pei Zhi spoke first: "Miss Lin has lived away from home for a long time, so I'm afraid her understanding of medicinal cuisine is not thorough enough."

"If Angelica sinensis and Rehmannia glutinosa are cooked together for a long time, it may damage the stomach. The Empress Dowager is of noble health, so it is better to be cautious."

After Pei Zhi finished speaking, Ye Wanning took out relevant records from the ancient books of the Imperial Medical Academy that she carried with her and said to Lin Chuyao, "Miss Lin, it is written very clearly here that Angelica sinensis is hot in nature and Rehmannia glutinosa is cold in nature."

"Long-term use can easily cause discomfort to people with weak spleen and stomach, and in the long run it will be more harmful than beneficial."

The Empress Dowager took the ancient book and glanced at it. Her face changed instantly, and she angrily rebuked, "Lin, how dare you! How dare you joke about my health!"

Pei Zhi ignored Lin Chuyao, who was slumped on the ground trembling, and didn't even bother to look at her.

Lin Chuyao was punished by copying "Medical Principles" one hundred times, confined to her residence, and forbidden from attending palace banquets.

Ye Wanning felt no joy at Lin Chuyao's disheveled appearance. She turned to look at Pei Zhi and found him looking at her with approval in his eyes, as if to say, "Well done."

Ye Wanning nodded gently in response. Just as she was about to speak, Su Ning from the Heritage Hall rushed into the inner hall, her hair disheveled and her sleeves still covered in mud.

"Sir, something terrible has happened! My senior colleague from the neighboring city branch has been injured!"

"What? Who did this? How badly are you hurt?" Ye Wanning slammed the ledger in her hand onto the table. She stood up abruptly and strode over to help Su Ning.

"Don't cry, tell me slowly."

Su Ning choked up as she said, "It was Zhou Hu! He brought more than a dozen people and caused trouble as soon as he entered the branch. When the senior brothers tried to stop him, he ordered his men to beat people up."

"The eldest brother's leg was kicked and injured, and the second brother's forehead was cut and bleeding a lot..."

Ye Wanning's face instantly darkened. Zhou Hu was always looking for trouble, and now he had actually attacked someone, even injuring her fellow disciples. This was absolutely intolerable.

"Prepare the car, we're going to the neighboring city!" She turned around quickly, grabbed the medicine box, and hurriedly packed wound medicine, elderberry, and hemostatic powder inside.

Su Ning followed closely behind, saying urgently, "Zhou Hu is too arrogant! He warned us that if we don't pay protection money, he'll burn down the branch and drive us out of the neighboring city!"

Ye Wanning didn't speak, but her heart was burning with anger. She opened the heritage center simply to make medical care more affordable for ordinary people, and never thought about gaining fame or profit, but there were always people who bullied her.

The carriage bumped along the way, and when they arrived at the branch in the neighboring city, Ye Wanning immediately noticed that the branch's gate was crooked and the entrance was badly damaged.