Miraculous healing
Since that day, Xu Ruoyan has stayed in the Guo residence, never leaving Madam Guo's side. Guo Yuan even found her a small room in the residence to rest in. Since Xu Ruoyan arrived, Guo Yuan has been somewhat relieved and finally went to court.
Pei An also frequently found time to visit her. He would usually sneak into her room while Xu Ruoyan was resting to discuss their next plan.
"Sister-in-law, how is Madam Guo?"
Xu Ruoyan took a sip of tea to moisten her throat: "I'm feeling better now, and the chances of recovery are high."
Pei An breathed a sigh of relief, then gave Xu Ruoyan a thumbs up: "As expected of my sister-in-law, you're amazing!"
Xu Ruoyan smiled slightly, put down her teacup, and began to massage her aching shoulders and neck.
"Let me do it, let me do it!" Pei An hurriedly dropped what he was holding and went behind Xu Ruoyan to massage her shoulders.
Xu Ruoyan glanced at the scroll that Pei An had thrown onto the table: "What is this?"
“Oh, this is the information I’ve gathered about the imperial examination,” Pei An said, his hands still moving. “Sister-in-law, take a look.”
Xu Ruoyan reached out and hooked the scroll over, then leaned back in her chair and hit the hand that was massaging her shoulder with the scroll: "Use a little more force."
"Okay, okay." Pei An grinned like a lackey and increased the pressure.
Xu Ruoyan unfolded the scroll and saw that it was covered with Pei An's handwriting.
"You're quite serious about it," she casually complimented, then began to look at it seriously.
The scroll has the words "President" written in large characters at the far right, followed by five names with their titles.
"Guo Yuan, Minister of Personnel; Yu Yue, Minister of Rites; Qu Yanwu, Vice Minister of War; and two other Censors."
Pei An explained from behind, "The Ministry of Rites is in charge of organizing the imperial examinations, with the Ministry of Personnel assisting. Fortunately, the Minister of Rites, Yu Yue, is on good terms with Guo Yuan. If we can take down Guo Yuan, then dealing with Yu Yue will be much easier. The Vice Minister of War, Qu Yanwu, is Qi Feng's man and is also a chief examiner, so we must be wary of him. The other two censors are sent by higher authorities to supervise various aspects of the examination process, but since they are from higher authorities, they are probably Qi Feng's men as well. So, dealing with the three of them will be quite difficult for us."
"Why weren't Guo Yuan and Yu Yue replaced by Qi Feng?"
Pei An immediately realized what was going on and said, "The Chief Executive and the others were all chosen by drawing lots. Everyone was watching, so Qi Feng couldn't make a move. But perhaps he also felt that the court was now under his control, so there was no need for this."
Xu Ruoyan continued reading and found that everything Pei An had just mentioned was clearly marked on the scroll.
He then described the various stages of the imperial examination: the search, the three-day examination, sealing, copying, grading, review, and announcement of results.
She pondered for a moment, then ordered Pei An to bring a brush and vermilion ink. After dipping the brush in the ink, she circled a few words on the scroll.
“Collecting papers, transcribing, writing in red ink, and reviewing are all places where problems can easily arise,” Xu Ruoyan said, resting her chin on her pen and glancing between the words. “If what you’re saying is true, and if all the officials involved in the examination process are chosen by drawing lots, then there’s a certain probability that they’re not Qi Feng’s people.”
“The sealing,” she tapped the words on the scroll with the tip of her pen, “is carried out by officials from the Ministry of Rites. If Yu Yue can pull some strings, there shouldn’t be any problems.”
Pei An nodded in agreement.
She continued:
"The transcription is done by scribes from various places. These scribes are very easy to bribe, so it depends on whether Qi Feng is willing to do it. But if I were him, I would think there would be plenty of opportunities to engage in favoritism and corruption later, so there is no need to waste money on this step."
Pei An nodded in strong agreement.
"Next comes the review."
Pei An raised his hand to answer: "It is jointly managed by the chief examiner and the examiners, which is the part of the exam paper that is most easily switched."
"Smart," Xu Ruoyan patted his head, "Who were the other examiners?"
Pei An thought for a moment and replied, "There are people from the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy. The Ministry of Rites is easy to deal with, but Li Wen, the Grand Secretary of the Hanlin Academy... is Qi Feng's mortal enemy."
Xu Ruoyan was somewhat surprised: "Since he is Qi Feng's mortal enemy, how could Qi Feng allow him to continue sitting in this position?"
Pei An shrugged upon hearing this: "Although Li Wen is his mortal enemy, he doesn't have many men under his command, and he's too old to retire in two years. He doesn't pose a threat to Qi Feng. Besides, he's a respected elder in the court. Qi Feng can't just kill all these elders, can he? He has to leave some behind."
According to the laws of the Daqing Dynasty, officials should retire when they reach the age of seventy. Thinking about it this way, Li Wen is indeed old enough that it would be difficult for him to cause trouble in the court. Given Qi Feng's personality, he would naturally not take him seriously.
Xu Ruoyan nodded: "That makes things easier. In any case, he won't help Qi Feng. All that's left is the review."
"The personnel involved in the review were all appointed by the Emperor, so..."
After hearing Pei An's words, Xu Ruoyan sighed and understood what he meant.
There's a high chance something will go wrong in this stage, and they can't intervene.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Xu Ruoyan suddenly had a flash of inspiration and pointed at Pei An, shouting.
Pei An was startled and, with a trembling heart, slowly pulled down the finger that Xu Ruoyan was pointing at him, saying, "Sister-in-law, don't scare me."
Xu Ruoyan stepped forward, put her hands on his shoulders, and her joy was almost overflowing: "You can go to the emperor to ask for permission to participate in the evaluation of the imperial examination. This way, you can not only guard the examination papers throughout the process, but also keep an eye on the actions of those people during the review, so that they will not dare to make any mistakes."
Pei An's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, "Great idea! Sister-in-law, you're so clever!"
Xu Ruoyan patted his shoulder solemnly: "Then I'll leave this matter to you."
Pei An clenched his fist and pounded it on his chest: "Don't worry, sister-in-law, I will definitely live up to your expectations."
Xu Ruoyan smiled with satisfaction and then asked, "How has Guo Yuan treated you these past few days?"
Pei An thought for a moment: "Hmm... He hasn't been very energetic in court these past few days, and he doesn't say anything, just stands to the side. But he bows when he sees me now, whereas before he would ignore me."
Indeed, Pei An, as Pei Huai's younger brother, did not openly side with Pei Huai. Although Pei Huai seemed indifferent to whether his brother was on his side, many people in the court were still afraid to associate with Pei An, fearing that they might get involved in any future conflicts between the two brothers.
Now that Guo Yuan's attitude towards Pei An has improved, it means that the chances of successfully winning him over have increased.
Another day passed, and when Pei An came to see Xu Ruoyan again, he brought a letter with him.
"Sister-in-law!" he called from afar, "My brother has sent a message!"
Xu Ruoyan was taken aback, then quickly stepped forward to take it.
"Sister-in-law, what did my brother say?" Pei An asked curiously, peeking out.
Xu Ruoyan's gaze quickly swept over the yellowed paper, then she carefully folded the letter and put it away: "It's nothing serious, just that everything is fine and they should arrive in Yangzhou around the beginning of February. They told us not to worry."
Pei An pursed his lips: "I thought something serious had happened."
Xu Ruoyan gave him a roasted chestnut and then said, "Let's go see how Madam Guo is doing."
The two had only gone halfway when they suddenly saw someone rushing towards them.
Pei An squinted and looked at it: "It looks like a lotus."
Xu Ruoyan felt a pang of anxiety, fearing that something bad had happened.
Before Lianhua could catch her breath, she rushed up to them and blurted out, "Lord Pei, Doctor Xu, our lady has woken up!"
"She's awake?!" Pei An was overjoyed and immediately turned to look at Xu Ruoyan. "Sister-in-law, does this mean that Madam Guo has been saved?"
Xu Ruoyan's heart skipped a beat, but she knew it was too early to draw conclusions; it might just be a final burst of energy before death. So she instructed Pei An to inform Guo Yuan, and then hurried back with Lianhua.
By the time Pei An arrived with Guo Yuan, Xu Ruoyan had already come out of the house.
Guo Yuan rushed forward and grabbed Xu Ruoyan's arm: "Doctor, how is my wife?"
Xu Ruoyan breathed a sigh of relief and said solemnly, "They are out of danger, but we still need to continue to observe them and not let our guard down."
Guo Yuan listened blankly to Xu Ruoyan's words, repeatedly chewing on the words "out of danger," before large tears suddenly welled up and fell to the ground with a pattering sound.
"That's wonderful, that's wonderful!" he exclaimed excitedly, gesturing wildly like a child with delirium. He circled around in front of Xu Ruoyan, then suddenly knelt down in front of her with a thud. "Thank you, Dr. Xu, thank you for saving my wife's life!"
Xu Ruoyan quickly squatted down to help him up, and gave Pei An a look that signaled him to come over as well. Pei An immediately understood Xu Ruoyan's meaning, and ran over to help Guo Yuan up, one on each side.
"Lord Guo, there's no need for that. Saving lives is simply my duty."
Xu Ruoyan hesitated for a moment, then said, "You should still be careful not to enter Madam's room these few days. Let Lianhua take care of her until she recovers, in order to prevent reinfection."
Guo Yuan was so excited that his lips trembled, and he couldn't say a word; he could only nod repeatedly.
Xu Ruoyan took a step back and bowed to Guo Yuan: "Now that your lady is safe, I will take my leave. There are still many things waiting for me at the pharmacy, so let Pei An stay here with you."
She raised an eyebrow at Pei An, who immediately said, "Let's go, Lord Guo, let's sit down for a while. It's not good for your health to be so excited."
Guo Yuan waved his hand and staggered forward, saying, "My benefactor, let me see you off."
“Lord Guo, there’s no need for such formalities,” Xu Ruoyan said, pressing his hand down. “You haven’t had a good rest these past few days, so please go and get some rest.”
Pei An also said, "Don't worry, Lord Guo, Doctor Xu doesn't stand on ceremony. Let me take you to rest."
Then, without saying a word, they carried Guo Yuan to the east wing.
Xu Ruoyan grinned as she watched Guo Yuan staggering with each step and Pei An poised to pounce.
Pei An's demeanor is exactly the same as Pei Jue's; they truly are family.
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