"Please, Your Majesty, have mercy! Please, Your Majesty, spare this servant this time! Waaah..."
Ruolan's cries, shrill and desperate, echoed in the silent inner room.
She collapsed to the ground, limp like a lump of mud, completely losing her usual composure and competence. Fear, like an invisible hand, gripped her throat, leaving her unable to do anything but kowtow and cry.
However, Lin Wanwan remained unmoved by her cries and pleas for mercy.
There was no sympathy or smugness on her face.
She just looked down at her quietly, her eyes as cold as a block of ice that had never melted.
Lin Wan-wan finally spoke slowly after Ruolan had cried until her voice was hoarse and her forehead was bleeding.
Her voice was soft and flat, yet it was like a sharp scalpel, precisely and mercilessly dissecting the last vestige of pitiful fantasy in Ruolan's heart.
"Spare you?" Lin Wanwan's lips curled into a mocking smile. "Ruolan, aren't you being too naive?"
Ruolan's crying stopped abruptly, and she raised her head somewhat blankly.
“Do you think,” Lin Wanwan said, looking at her tear-streaked face, “that after you did this huge dirty thing for the Empress Dowager, she will keep her promise to treat your ailing mother and let your whole family go?”
Ruolan's pupils suddenly contracted.
"Wrong."
Lin Wanwan's voice carried a cruel clarity.
"Completely wrong."
“You and I both know very well what you are doing. It is treason, it is regicide! This is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family! Do you think that after it is done, the Empress Dowager will leave you alive, someone who knows all the inside stories and holds her biggest weakness?”
“No,” Lin Wanwan shook her head, a hint of pity in her eyes, “She won’t. Not only will she not save your mother, she will also personally send you and your entire family to the underworld. Because only the dead can keep secrets forever.”
"From the moment you agreed to work for her, your life was no longer your own. You were nothing more than a pawn in her hands, a disposable piece that could be sacrificed at any time."
Every word Lin Wanwan said was like a heavy hammer, striking Ruolan's heart hard.
It shattered her pitiful, self-deceiving last glimmer of hope.
yes……
How could she be so stupid?
How could she be so naive as to think that she could protect her family and escape unscathed from this massive conspiracy?
Ruolan's face turned deathly pale.
A despair more terrifying than death, a bottomless abyss, engulfed her completely like an icy tide.
She looked at Lin Wan-wan, her lips trembling, but she couldn't utter a single word.
Seeing her utterly despondent expression, Lin Wanwan knew that the time was almost right.
Destroying a person is for the purpose of rebuilding her better.
Lin Wanwan leaned forward slightly, and her voice softened, carrying a strange and alluring power.
“If you follow the Empress Dowager, you and your whole family will only face death.”
She paused, then abruptly changed the subject.
“But… it’s different if you follow me.”
A faint, incredulous glimmer suddenly flashed in Ruolan's already dim eyes.
Lin Wanwan didn't give her much time to think.
She stood up, looked towards the door, and loudly ordered, "Chuntao, go to the Imperial Hospital and 'invite' the attending physician Liu to come here. Tell him that I have urgent business."
Chun Tao responded from outside the door and immediately left quickly.
Ruolan looked at Lin Wanwan with some confusion, not understanding what she was up to.
She knew Physician Liu. He was a well-known "medical fanatic" in the Imperial Hospital, with superb medical skills, but he was upright and honest and not good at scheming, so he had always been frustrated in the Imperial Hospital.
Why did the Empress summon such a royal physician late at night?
Soon, Physician Liu was "invited" over. He was clearly flattered and immediately began to perform a grand ceremony upon entering.
"Physician Liu, there's no need for such formalities." Lin Wanwan waved her hand and went straight to the point, "I summoned you here today because I have a private matter to entrust to you."
She took out a small waist token, representing her status as empress, from her makeup box and handed it to Physician Liu.
"I command you to leave the palace immediately and go to this address in the south of the city," she said, handing him a pre-written address along with his waist tag. "There, the family of one of my trusted maids lives. Her mother is seriously ill and beyond medical help. You must use all your knowledge to treat her."
Physician Liu was stunned.
Ruolan, who was kneeling on the ground, was completely stunned!
South of the city... that address...
That's her house!
The Empress... she not only knows about her family's situation, she also wants to... send the imperial physician to treat her mother?!
"This...Your Majesty, this is against palace rules! Your humble servant..." Imperial Physician Liu was somewhat troubled. Imperial physicians are not allowed to leave the palace to treat people outside the palace without authorization; this is an ironclad rule.
"With my token, the rules apply." Lin Wanwan's tone brooked no argument. "Just go. If you cure him, I will reward you handsomely. If anything goes wrong, I will take full responsibility."
Looking into the Empress's unwavering eyes and then at the heavy waist token in his hand, Imperial Physician Liu finally gritted his teeth, bowed, and accepted the order: "Your humble servant... obeys the decree!"
After saying that, he took the token and address and left in a hurry.
Inside the room, only Lin Wanwan and the completely dumbfounded Ruolan remained.
Lin Wanwan slowly walked back to Ruolan.
She took out a heavy money bag from her sleeve and threw it at Ruolan's feet with a "thud".
The money bag fell to the ground, making a crisp sound as the silver coins clattered together.
"Here is one hundred taels of silver," Lin Wanwan said calmly but firmly. "It's for your mother's medicine and for settling your family. If it's not enough, come and ask me for more."
She crouched down, looking directly into Ruolan's eyes, which were filled with shock, confusion, and emotion, and said clearly, word by word:
"Ruolan, look carefully."
"The Empress Dowager is threatening you with the lives of your family members, controlling you with fear, and forcing you onto a dead end."
"And I will now give you hope, give you money, and give you a royal physician who can save your mother. I will give you a way out."
"Now, make your choice."
"Is it to continue serving her, only to end up with a destroyed family and no trace of your remains? Or... from now on, be my person, be my sharpest knife and my most secretive pair of eyes in this deep palace?"
"I'm only giving you this one chance."
...
The night grew deeper.
An hour later, Physician Liu returned in a hurry.
As soon as he entered, he bowed deeply to Lin Wanwan, his face showing some fatigue, but also a hint of excitement unique to a doctor.
"Your Majesty! Your humble servant has already treated that old lady!"
Ruolan, kneeling to the side, was so nervous she could barely breathe.
"How...how is she?" Lin Wanwan asked on her behalf.
"The old lady's illness is indeed very serious. It's chronic tuberculosis, compounded by worry and depression, and she's on the verge of death. The doctors in the city are all at a loss," said Physician Liu. "However..."
He then changed the subject: "However, it's not entirely hopeless! I just administered acupuncture to her and temporarily stabilized her heart. As long as we can keep her alive with some rare medicinal herbs and supplement her with my acupuncture skills and careful treatment, although she may not be fully cured, extending her life by another three to five years should not be a problem!"
"Really?! Physician Liu! Are you telling the truth?!"
Upon hearing this, Ruolan could no longer control herself. She abruptly raised her head and asked in a trembling voice.
"Absolutely true." Physician Liu nodded affirmatively.
"Wow--!"
Ruolan could no longer hold back; the emotions she had suppressed for so long finally erupted at this moment. She didn't just cry; she wailed and sobbed, her heart breaking, like a child who had been lost for a long time and had finally found her way home.
hope!
The Empress truly gave her hope! She gave her mother a glimmer of hope!
Beside her was a heavy bag of silver, enough to buy life-saving medicine.
In her ear, she heard the imperial physician's own diagnosis that there was still hope for her.
All the kindness, all the emotion, all the miraculous escapes, at this moment, all transformed into the most primal and unwavering loyalty.
She turned around abruptly and, facing the serene woman on the soft couch, kowtowed repeatedly, one thud after another.
The floorboards thumped loudly as she slammed her foot on the floor.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty's great kindness and virtue, this servant...this servant will never forget!"
Her forehead was already covered in blood, but she seemed to feel no pain at all.
She lifted her face, which was soaked with tears and blood, her eyes burning with an unprecedented, intense light.
She made the most solemn blood oath to Lin Wanwan.
"From this day forward, my lowly life, Ruolan's life, belongs to Your Highness!"
"I will go through fire and water, I am at Your Majesty's command!"
"If I utter even the slightest lie, or harbor any disloyalty, may I be struck by lightning and my entire family suffer a terrible death!"
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