On the tenth day of the eighth lunar month, Li Mai and his family arrived in the capital.

Yun Chang led Xu Changhuan and Fu Bao to the Shili Pavilion outside the city to welcome them.

Fu Bao wanted to see her older brothers and sisters as soon as possible.

"Brother, Sister Zhuzhu, Sister Yanbao!" Fubao ran happily towards the three siblings, Zhuzhu and her brother, when she saw them.

Worried that Fu Bao might bump into his younger siblings and hurt his teeth, Zhu Zhu ran ahead to catch Fu Bao as he rushed towards her, slowing him down before letting him go.

"Brother, sister, I can do light-body kung fu now! Shall we have a contest?" Fu Bao inherited his father's brave nature and hadn't seen Yan Bao and Yu Bao for more than half a year. He wanted to show them his light-body kung fu.

Yanbao and Yubao exchanged a glance and revealed a mischievous smile.

Li Mai saw this and quickly reminded them, "Yan Bao and Yu Bao, don't bully little brother Fu Bao."

These two little ones are clearly trying to tease Fu Bao.

"Okay, Mom!" the two children replied, and pulled Fu Bao along to run and play on the hillside.

Fearing something might happen to them, the guards quickly followed.

Zhou Quan and Yun Chang exchanged a glance and followed. They knew Fu Bao and Yu Bao's abilities better than anyone else.

They all went to play on the nearby hillside, leaving Li Mai and Xu Changhuan to quietly catch up.

They entered the city at sunset and rested at the Li residence. Yun Chang promised Fu Bao that she would take him to her aunt's house the next day before returning home with her wife and children.

Zhong Hui hasn't returned yet, but Yun Chang received news that he'll be back in the next couple of days.

His marriage was arranged by the Emperor after the Imperial Astronomical Bureau calculated the date. It was set for the 28th of August.

Chu Yan hasn't returned either. Li Mai estimated the time for him, and he should arrive in the capital in the next few days. He should be able to return for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Starting from the eleventh month, Xu Changhuan and Fu Baoyunchang came to the Li residence almost every day.

On the third day after Li Mai returned to the capital, she was summoned by a palace eunuch.

Yun Chang personally came to fetch her and led her into the palace.

This time, Zhou Quan was also allowed to accompany her into the palace, and the children, Li Mai, were sent directly to the Yun Prince's Mansion to be cared for by Xu Changhuan.

After entering the palace, Yun Chang led the two of them to pay their respects to the Emperor.

The Emperor and the Crown Prince waited for them in the Imperial Study. Both the Emperor and the Crown Prince were extremely grateful to Li Mai, their savior.

The emperor solemnly thanked Li Mai for his previous trip to Chen to treat the crown prince.

Li Mai said that she had already received a reward from the Emperor, so the Emperor didn't need to say thank you again.

The Emperor responded with a "good," and smiled as he sized up Zhou Quan a few times. He felt that this person seemed to have a weak presence, and he had only stood quietly behind Li Mai the whole time, but this person was hard to ignore.

Afterwards, the Crown Prince personally accompanied Li Mai to check the pulses of the Empress Dowager and the Empress.

The emperor kept Yun Chang and Zhou Quan to talk, waiting for them.

When the Empress Dowager saw Li Mai, she held her hand and expressed her gratitude many times, and also gave her many rewards.

The Queen was extremely grateful to Li Mai this time, as she had saved her son, and naturally, she gave her a great deal of reward.

When Li Mai followed the Crown Prince back to the Emperor's study, a group of people followed behind, bringing gifts from the Empress Dowager and the Empress to Li Mai and the children.

The gifts this time were more valuable than the last, perhaps because Li Mai now holds an official position in the court, and given her rescue of the Crown Prince, the Empress Dowager and Empress put more effort into bestowing them, clearly showing that they genuinely wanted to give them.

The emperor smiled and instructed the crown prince to arrange for a carriage to be sent to Li Mai's residence shortly.

The emperor had nothing else to do at the time, and accompanied by Yun Chang, he personally took them to the Imperial Hospital to see Li Mai, who had been specially assigned to the female physician Shu.

After reading it, Li Mai said, "Since His Majesty trusts me so much, I will do my best to establish the Shu Female Physician Association during my months in the capital."

"Then I have a request, I wonder if Your Majesty can grant it?" Li Mai thought for a moment, since the Emperor valued the female physician Shu, she might as well take this opportunity to fight for some status for women.

"Please speak, my dear minister!" The emperor was curious about what request she would make.

"Since we are going to establish the Women Physicians' Shu, it is naturally impossible for me to be the only female doctor there. I want to select outstanding female doctors from all over the country to establish this Women Physicians' Shu."

"Since the Imperial Medical Academy is a national medical institution established by the imperial court, those who can enter it must naturally be people with excellent medical skills and high moral character. As the head of the Women Physicians' Academy, I would also like to establish some mechanisms for selecting female physicians."

"The female physicians we select can come from princesses, princes' wives, palace maids and officials, young ladies and wives of noble families, or even from the common people. Therefore, the female physicians selected for the Female Physician Shu are chosen based solely on their medical skills and character, without considering their status or family background. Does Your Majesty think this is acceptable?"

The emperor thought for a moment, "It is possible, but wouldn't that affect the peace within the family of the chosen person? After all, married women face many limitations when it comes to doing things."

Li Mai nodded. "I have thought about this issue. If there are indeed ladies or young women with excellent medical skills who wish to join the Female Physicians' Association, their families must agree. If their families do not agree to sign a consent form, we will not accept them."

The emperor nodded, "That's acceptable!"

As they were talking, the imperial physicians from the neighboring Imperial Hospital came over to pay their respects to the emperor.

The emperor introduced them to Lemai.

Everyone came over to get to know Li Mai. They had known for the past year that they had a new female colleague, but because she was not from the capital and would not be able to work regular hours like the others, they had never seen Li Mai except for the head of the academy.

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