Chapter 4: Do you like kneeling?
The antidote for Gelsemium elegans contained an ingredient that was used in the palace to treat colds, so she lied and said, "There's no need to take my pulse. It's been very cold lately, and I have a bit of a cold. I'll just take some medicine to clear away heat and eliminate fire."
Huo Mingyue insisted: "No, we have to follow the rules."
As he said that, he went over and pulled up Ye Lanzhou's sleeve, saying that he wanted to take her pulse, but in fact he wanted to look at the toad blood on her forearm.
Ye Lanzhou was grabbed by her sleeve tightly, and the toad blood on his right arm was about to be exposed. In a hurry, Ye Lanzhou raised his hand and a crisp slap sounded, which fell squarely on Huo Mingyue's face, causing a burning pain.
"You dare to hit me?!"
Huo Mingyue exclaimed in shock. Seeing her resistance, she was even more certain that Ye Lanzhou was still a virgin, so she roared, "You are deceiving the emperor! You dare not show me your virginity! It's clear that your virgin blood is still there!"
Seeing this, Ye Lanzhou was about to lose control. If she had been more assertive, she might have had a chance to survive. So she steeled herself: "Shut up! How can you touch my body? If the dragon fetus is in trouble, the lives of all nine of your clans cannot be saved!"
This really scared everyone present. Xie Chengyan, who had just arrived at Shang Pharmacy, saw this farce. The guards behind him were about to speak but were stopped by him. He wanted to see how good this person who had traded his life with her was at taking advantage of the situation.
"Listen up, I came to Yongshou Palace to take care of my pregnancy, not to let you people talk nonsense. If you have any complaints, go and tell the Ministry of Internal Affairs, don't act like a fool in front of me!"
Huo Mingyue covered the side of her face that had been hit, her chest heaving violently. She raised her eyes and glared at Ye Lanzhou, but did not dare to say anything. She had heard before that the new noble lady Ye was a weakling, but she did not expect her to be so strong.
The female official standing on the other side was the first to notice Xie Chengyan standing at the door of Shang Pharmacy. Everyone fell silent. They saw the man with a black brocade belt on his face, standing at the door with a stern expression, and a sword at his waist, giving off an invisible sense of oppression.
Everyone was shocked when they saw the newcomer and knelt down one after another. Huo Mingyue lowered her head and trembled as she said in a trembling voice, "Your Highness!"
Xie Chengyan ignored her and walked straight towards Ye Lanzhou, raised his hand to support her. Ye Lanzhou lowered her eyes, placed her slender white hand on his, and slowly stood up.
This action seemed extremely ambiguous to everyone, and there was a long silence in the air. Huo Mingyue, who had been showing off just now, didn't even dare to breathe.
Xie Chengyan said, "I didn't know that Shang Pharmacy was actually superior to Longtai?"
Huo Mingyue's forehead was covered in cold sweat. She knelt on the ground and said, "Your Highness, please calm down. I'm just worried that you've taken the wrong medicine and that...it might harm your health..."
Seeing this, Ye Lanzhou curled her lips slightly, and tears immediately squeezed out of her eyes. Her eyes were filled with tears but she didn't let them flow, which made her look quite pitiful. "Your Highness, I caught a cold yesterday and came to the Shang Pharmacy to get some medicine. Unexpectedly, Huo Siyao gave me a bag of Uncaria rhynchophylla. I come from a family of doctors, how could I not know the effects of Uncaria rhynchophylla? It's a taboo for pregnant women! I just wanted Siyao to change the medicine, so she said I was faking my pregnancy..."
Xie Chengyan looked at Ye Lanzhou coldly through the brocade cloth. It was obvious that the two had already made a deal. He knew everything about her. Saying these things in front of everyone was nothing more than giving him a reason to get rid of the doctor of Shang Pharmacy.
Oh, what a scheming person.
But who could have prepared the antidote?
Xie Chengyan slowly walked in front of Huo Mingyue. Everyone couldn't see his expression, but they knew that his face was terribly gloomy at the moment.
Seeing this, Huo Mingyue quickly refuted and explained, "I didn't do that! I dare not say such a thing!"
Halfway through her words, she thought of exposing Ye Lanzhou, so she said, "It's Concubine Ye! Concubine Ye's uterine seal is still there. She is deceiving the emperor. Please understand, Your Highness!"
There was only a "click" sound.
Xie Chengyan pinched Huo Mingyue's jaw corner and pulled it to the side with force. Huo Mingyue's jaw was twisted off. She opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but the sound could only be retained in her throat.
Everyone was in an uproar, including Ye Lanzhou.
Xie Chengyan said coldly, "Huo Siyao has committed insubordination. I hereby order you to take up your post at the laundry department starting today—"
He turned to look at Ye Lanzhou again, "The dragon fetus in Noble Lady Ye's belly is one of the few heirs of the late emperor. From now on, Noble Lady Ye can go in and out of the Imperial Pharmacy. If you need anything, feel free to go to the Imperial Pharmacy to get it. The Imperial Pharmacy cannot hide anything. If it delays the imperial heir, no one here can afford to do that."
Everyone responded, and Huo Mingyue was dragged away by several of Xie Chengyan's personal guards. She hung her chin, and stared at Ye Lanzhou with a pair of eyes full of hatred, as if they were about to bleed.
Looking at her eyes, Ye Lanzhou suddenly recalled that before Queen Xiao was dragged away, she was looking at her with the same eyes. Her beautiful face was full of unwillingness, which was completely different from the queen she saw on the day she entered the palace.
Her eyes were filled with hatred as she stared at Ye Lanzhou fiercely, roaring, "How dare you play tricks on me during a national mourning! Aren't you afraid of retribution?!"
Retribution? Retribution comes only when one is alive!
At that moment, Huo Mingyue's face almost overlapped with Queen Xiao's. Ye Lanzhou was not afraid of any retribution. There were people waiting for her outside the palace. She couldn't die in the palace like this.
Thinking of the toad's blood that almost exposed her today, she put her hand on her arm and touched the toad's blood through a layer of cloth. She could fake the slippery pulse with acupuncture, but the glaring toad's blood on her arm could not be hidden. As long as it existed, she could not rest.
Thinking this way, we have to solve it quickly.
It is definitely impossible to steal a man in the palace, so the only way is to find a way outside the palace.
After everyone dispersed, Xie Chengyan went to Yongshou Palace. Actually, he came to ask Ye Lanzhou about the antidote, but he called it a visit.
Xie Chengyan is the best at making unreasonable things sound reasonable. Just like this, as one of the few people who has a say in the Xie family, isn't it his duty to visit the emperor's sister-in-law who is pregnant with Xie's child?
Even though he knew Ye Lanzhou didn't.
After sending everyone away, Xie Chengyan spoke: "It seems that Concubine Ye is living a comfortable life in the palace thanks to the dragon fetus in her belly."
Seeing Xie Chengyan's questioning tone, Ye Lanzhou knelt down consciously. Before he could speak, Xie Chengyan chuckled, "Does Concubine Ye really like kneeling?"
Ye Lanzhou was speechless to hear this. In the past, although she was the master at home, she always had to kneel. Perhaps because of her mother's background, the mother and daughter had little say in the mansion. Even the matter of substitute marriage had not been asked for their opinion.
I've always been a passive person, so what right do I have to stand? "The emperor's sister-in-law is kneeling to me, is she trying to shorten my life?"
Ye Lanzhou thought it made sense. After all, he was her brother-in-law. Every family had the rule that the sister-in-law should kneel before her brother-in-law, even in the imperial family.
She was about to stand up with her arms, but just as she was about to straighten up, she heard Xie Chengyan suddenly say, "Did I tell you to get up?"
What does that mean? Neither kneeling nor standing is right. Isn't this deliberately making things difficult for her?
It would be better to let her prepare the medicine instead of this time!
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