Yan Lingzhen was extremely anxious on the inside.
It was like being in class, called by the teacher to solve a problem on the blackboard, a problem she was unsure about.
She frantically repeated in her mind, don’t call me, don’t call me, please...
"Yan Lingzhen." Her sister’s beautiful voice came through.
Yan Lingzhen walked forward as if resigned to her fate, "Present!"
"Speak," Yan Wanqing said slowly.
Yan Lingzhen: "???" Really, sister? I’m your own sibling. If you are going to quiz me, at least give me a clue. What am I supposed to say with just these dry two words?
Yan Lingzhen racked her brain, nervously swallowed her saliva, feeling more tormented than taking a college entrance exam, her heart almost leaping out of her throat.
"Say... say what?" With no other choice, Yan Xiaoliu closed her eyes and, resigning to her fate, directly asked.
Yan Wanqing saw her look and wanted to laugh, yet she maintained an indifferent expression on her face.
"Just now, Princess Wuyang has already admitted her crime, but you went too far, directly causing a person’s death. We still need to give an explanation to the Chu Kingdom, and mainly it depends on what the King of Chu thinks."
Yan Lingzhen pursed her lips: "King of Chu, please see, I, Yan Xiaoliu, can do nothing but medicine. How about I sell you a few bottles of special medicine at a low price?"
"Yan Xiaoliu!" Yan Wanqing reproached, frustrated at her lack of steel.
Yan Lingzhen immediately corrected herself, "I’ll gift it to you!"
Her Red Buddha’s Hand medicine was indeed hard to come by, and her sister really didn’t recognize its value.
Usually, she was quite generous to her sister, fostering her extravagant ways, gifting it to everyone. Maybe she shouldn’t run Tongren Hall in the future, but rather a charity instead.
These thoughts, Yan Lingzhen dared only keep to herself.
Chu Qi, truly befitting a monarch, had already composed himself from the matter with Chu Yu. His turquoise eyes twinkled with a seductive glow, his curled red lips smiling like a demon that bewitched the land.
"Forget the special medicine, if the Ghost Doctor has time, just come over to the Chu Kingdom for a visit," he said.
Good gracious, that’s a huge demand.
A few bottles of special medicine would have settled this.
Now wanting her to visit Chu Kingdom... Yan Lingzhen instantly thought of all the social obligations, perhaps even needing to take apprentices, or give lessons to those foolish physicians on medical pharmacology, also having to treat various officials and noble people...
Deadly, just thinking about it feels deadly.
"This matter is not urgent. We will decide after the Ghost Doctor comes of age; I will give you a token that can ensure your unhindered passage in Chu Kingdom," said Chu Qi, pulling a token from his waist.
Yan Lingzhen, who had been internally lamenting her situation, perked up at the mention of a token that could grant her unhindered access in Chu Kingdom.
"This... this is rather embarrassing."
She feigned reluctance.
Chu Qi smiled slightly, "I give it to you, just take it"
"Then, thank you very much, King of Chu," said Yan Lingzhen, accepting the token from the eunuch’s hand. The peacock blue token bore a special logo of a budding lotus flower—the imperial representation.
Later, from her sister, she learned that the lotus was the national flower of Chu Kingdom, meant to be used only by the Imperial Family.
This token represented the privileges of royalty.
Chu Qi had indeed spent a great deal to invite her.
The matter with the aphrodisiac fragrance thus concluded; Yan Wanqing had Yan Lingzhen compensate the family of the maid who was kicked to death and arranged for a proper funeral.
Chu Qi, in front of everyone in the great hall, dealt a harsh punishment of twenty military strikes. Dawei could not say much after that.
After the matter concluded, Yan Lingzhen sat inside Yan Wanqing’s sleeping chamber, resting her chin in her hand.
"Sister, I think the mastermind is not Princess Wuyang."
Yan Wanqing raised her eyes from her book, "Go on."
Her expression calm, sunlight streaming in from the window outside, casting a tranquil atmosphere over her.
Yan Lingzhen admired the beauty of her own sister and slowly spoke.
"I don’t think Chu Yu has the brains for this," she added, "Not that she’s stupid, but this style of doing things doesn’t seem like her. Moreover, I always feel that Chu Yu is afraid that we might discover something. The way she confessed today seemed more like someone had leverage over her."
Yan Wanqing, upon hearing this, curled her red lips: "That’s progress."
"Did sister know this early on?" Yan Lingzhen leaned in: "Then, does sister have any thoughts?"
Yan Wanqing turned the page and freed a hand to touch her little head: "This matter is targeted at the Yan Family. Princess Wuyang was merely a sword wrongly given to others by Yin Changyang."
"The one who truly wants to doom us is someone else."
Hearing this, Yan Lingzhen’s expression instantly cooled: "Sister means, someone wants to harm our Yan Family!"
"From the moment we returned, more than half of the people in the Capital City have seen us as thorns in their sides. Thanks to the Crown Prince’s favor, my status and the child in my womb have inadvertently blocked some people’s paths upward, so it’s quite natural that we are targeted..."
Yan Wanqing sighed deeply, lifted her hand to touch Yan Lingzhen’s cheek, and her gaze softened: "It’s just that sister doesn’t want to put you all in danger. Therefore, after the ceremony, sister will arrange for you to leave the Capital City. Mother has always been saying she wants to retire in Xiangcheng. With Hongzhao preoccupied with military affairs and Yan Zizhuo still young, right now, sister can only rely on you."
Yan Lingzhen felt uneasy.
Her sister had always been a master strategist, when had she ever spoken about settling affairs as if preparing for the end?!
In novels and TV shows, whenever someone begins to settle affairs, things are going to go south.
Yan Lingzhen directly spat out thrice in denial.
"Sister, you mustn’t speak like that, making it sound like we’re parting by life and death. Xiaoliu will accompany mother, but he will only leave after sister has given birth. Xiaoliu doesn’t trust anyone else to assist in the delivery."
The more it was so, the more she wanted to stay by her sister’s side.
Yan Wanqing knew that Yan Lingzhen was also stubborn.
Once she made up her mind, it was not easy for anyone to change it.
And this child, there were many thoughts in her mind.
Unusual, unlike other children.
Seeing this, Yan Wanqing could only give a wry smile with a curve of her lips: "Alright, alright, alright."
She just worried that the person behind the scenes desired too much, so much that she could not bear it.
At that time, where should she go?
Recently, Yan Wanqing felt that this anxious and worried state was quite pitiful.
Perhaps it was because after the rebirth, having gained everything she never had before, she felt especially protective of it.
With every step after gaining possession, she walked on eggshells.
Fearful that the people she loved and the beautiful things she cherished might vanish with one careless mistake.
She wasn’t sure if she had the strength to bear the loss of everything once again.
That soul-deep agony she had experienced once was enough.
She would protect those she wanted to protect.
It was another two days of continuous light rain.
Qin Erya, listening to the messages coming in from outside, patiently pruned all the flowers and plants in the courtyard.
Until a Palace Maid named Yingtao knocked on the back door of the Qin Residence.
"My princess entrusted me with a message for Miss Qin."
Yingtao looked complexly at the woman in front of her, who looked like a fairy.
She didn’t seem like a person with deep schemes at all.
"What does the princess want to tell me?" Qin Erya’s eyes fixed on Yingtao, listening intently as she spoke.
Yingtao pursed her lips and relayed the message Princess Wuyang had given her.