"Huh? Is someone coming?" Yun Duoduo looked outside, but the palace maid had raised her arm, so she couldn't see her face clearly.
Moreover, there were chattering and whispering sounds outside the palace.
Ah Xiang glanced at Granny Liu, and Granny Liu nodded at Ah Xiang.
Granny Liu peeked out and saw several young eunuchs outside Fu Shuang Palace, peering through the door.
Granny Liu rolled up her sleeves, grabbed a broom, and came out, shouting, "Go away, go away! What are you all watching this commotion for!"
Driven away by Granny Liu's broom, the eunuchs who had been hiding at the door and in the corners spying on Fu Shuang Palace all ran away in a flash.
After all the eunuchs who had been watching the commotion outside had run away, Granny Liu closed the gate of Fushuang Palace and would reopen it after the palace maid had finished her examination.
"Sit down," Ah Xiang gestured for the palace maid to sit on the stool in front of Yun Duoduo.
"Thank you, Auntie."
"This servant greets Your Highness." After bowing, the palace maid sat down on the stool.
"You're covering your face, is something bothering you?" Yun Duoduo asked her with concern.
"Could it be a rash on your face?"
The palace maid slowly lowered her hand from her face, her expression one of sorrow.
Yun Duoduo looked at her face. Although she looked a bit haggard, she didn't have any rashes or scars on her face. It seemed that she just didn't want people to know that she had come to Fu Shuang Palace to see her for treatment.
She looked at Yun Duoduo with a pitiful expression, "Ninth Princess, I was originally in Consort Ling's palace, but after my mistress had an accident, I was sent to work in the Xin Zhe Ku."
As she spoke, the palace maid began to sob, “A while ago, I was washing clothes for the noble ladies. There were so many clothes that I couldn’t finish washing them all night. Who knew that I disturbed the two ladies’ rest, so they beat me.”
As she spoke, the palace maid rolled up her sleeves, revealing welts that looked like whip marks.
"They beat the servants with willow branches, and the servants could only endure the pain."
"But with the new wounds and the old ones combined, I can't sleep at night because of the pain!"
"Come, let me see." Yun Duoduo pulled her arm over and looked at it. The scars were indeed shocking, and her hands were very rough, unlike what a palace maid of this age should look like.
"Aunt Xiang, is there any cooling balm left in the palace?"
"I'll go get it." Ah Xiang returned to the bedroom and took out the cooling balm from the cabinet.
Yun Duoduo opened the lid of the cooling balm and applied it to the palace maid's arm.
"Ninth Princess, let me do it myself. I am just a lowly servant, how can I trouble the Ninth Princess?" The palace maid made a move to pull her arm back, but Yun Duoduo grabbed her arm.
"It'll be better soon. Applying this will relieve the pain."
"Thank you, Ninth Princess."
"Alas, it's all my fault for being so unlucky. If my mistress hadn't been used by others, she wouldn't have been sent to the Laundry Department." The palace maid wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"Your master?" Yun Duoduo was carefully examining the scars on her wrists and arms when she heard her keep mentioning her master. She couldn't help but wonder who this Ling Meiren was.
"Replying to Ninth Princess, my mistress is Consort Ling, originally the second young lady of the Zheng family. Although she is the second young lady, my mistress has had a hard life because she is an illegitimate daughter and has lived a very difficult life since childhood."
"If Consort Zheng hadn't been banished to the Cold Palace, the Zheng family wouldn't have married their daughter into the family."
"If Miss hadn't entered the palace, I wouldn't have had to accompany her as part of her dowry. Perhaps I would be married by now!" The palace maid became more and more agitated as she spoke, and finally burst into tears.
Yun Duoduo finally understood. This palace maid was part of Consort Ling's dowry. Consort Ling was a substitute for her sister, Consort Zheng, or you could say, a pawn.
After Consort Zheng lost power, Consort Ling was sent to the palace as a new pawn by the Zheng family.
"You said your master was being used, what's going on?" Ah Xiang sensed something was off about the tone of the conversation; there might be a conspiracy or scheming involved.
"My master..." The palace maid was about to speak when she suddenly realized that some of her words were inappropriate and might even cost her her life.
"Speak freely, everyone in Fu Shuang Palace is one of our own," Ah Xiang gently advised.
The palace maid shook her head, pursed her lips tightly, and remained silent, only looking gratefully at Yun Duoduo and A Xiang.
My mistress has always been manipulated by Consort Zheng, both in the Zheng household and in the palace.
[It was Consort Zheng who devised all the plans, but in the end, Miss always seemed to be under a spell, obeying Consort Zheng's every word.]
Although my master's Fanghua Palace is very close to the Buddhist hall, he wasn't the mastermind behind that incident!
My master was nothing more than someone pushed out to take the fall.
Yun Duoduo listened intently to the palace maid's innermost thoughts.
So, it seems Consort Ling is just a scapegoat, and Consort Zheng is the real mastermind?
[She mentioned the Buddhist temple; could it be related to the fire there? Did she start it?!]
Good heavens, it seems I'll have to find an opportunity to meet this Consort Zheng sometime in the future.
"Alright, stop crying."
"Let me check your pulse." Yun Duoduo placed her hand on the palace maid's wrist, and sighed after a moment.
“You not only have scars, but you are also physically weak.”
"I'll prescribe a formula for you to regulate your Qi and blood. Go back and take the medicine on time, and remember to rest."
"Thank you, Ninth Princess!" The palace maid looked at Yun Duoduo with reverence.
Looking into the palace maid's eyes, Yun Duoduo felt as if she had returned to the medical academy for a moment.
At the medical academy, newly admitted medical students would also look at her with that kind of gaze.
"May I have your name?"
"My humble name is Hui'er."
Ah Xiang handed the written prescription to the palace maid, and as usual, she recorded the illness, medication, and prescription in a small booklet, and had the palace maid put her fingerprint on it.
Looking at A Xiang's neat handwriting, Yun Duoduo smiled. She remembered when she was little, when she went to see a doctor, the doctors' cursive handwriting was so flamboyant that she couldn't understand it at all.
Unlike now, when imperial physicians and doctors write prescriptions in regular script, the handwriting is clear and easy to understand.
"Take this cooling balm; it can relieve the pain in your wound."
"Thank you, Ninth Princess! Thank you, Aunt Xiang!"
...
Inside the Yiqin Palace in Beiliang, Miao Nanyan tidied her clothes and picked up a small jar, preparing to go out.
"Your Majesty, are you going to see the King?" Yun Jin asked from the side, not wanting her mistress to go see the King.
The king never gave the queen a pleasant look whenever he saw her.
"Yes, I'll be right back. Xiangling will come with me, and Yunjin will stay in the palace."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After passing through the clear pond in the palace and going around several palace gates, you will arrive at the main hall.
Miao Nanyan brewed tea with hot water and carried the teapot and teacups into the main hall.
"Your Majesty, have some water." Miao Nanyan handed over a cup of freshly brewed Biluochun tea.
Baili Yingfeng glanced at Miao Nanyan suspiciously.
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