An Ning lived to be over ninety in this lifetime. Thanks to her unparalleled medical skills as a foundation, even decades later, she looked far younger than her peers, and everyone simply took it as perfectly normal.
Moreover, with a steady stream of fine goods sent continuously from the palace, by the time she passed away, not to mention the countless younger generations below her, the emperor in the palace had already changed twice over.
However, with the precedent of the previous two Grand Emperors living to such a venerable age, most of the later emperors would retire promptly once they reached a certain age or their bodies could no longer keep up.
Eventually, retirement even became an unspoken tradition within the Shangguan family.
No matter how attached one was to power, it was pointless to go against one’s natural lifespan, right?
Because of An Ning’s longevity and her status within the royal family, her biological elder sister Chen Daya also lived an extremely smooth life this generation. The elder of the Huang family was a wise man who only went to the capital during festivals to visit relatives; for the rest of the time, he mostly refrained from interfering in Daya’s and her husband’s simple life, even wisely forbidding other clan members who wanted to go to the capital to seek benefits.
He also repeatedly admonished his own son never to flirt or cause trouble outside...
Old Master Liang lived quite comfortably in Yangzhou, and though he still kept his irritatingly blunt temper that could drive anyone crazy, others could only respect him. When An Ning visited once, she personally heard the old man spiritedly pointing at his great-grandchildren and muttering nonstop:
"Why have they been carrying this for so long, yet they can’t even recognize a single herb? Back in the day, the Commandery Princess Consort was..."
Returning to her space decades later, this mission again earned full stars without surprise.
Speaking of which, except for the first few days as a little maid, An Ning’s later decades were quite smooth.
Even when An Ning died at around sixty, the reigning emperor who was just about to step down to rest looked worse than anyone else—almost comparable to her own younger generations.
Indeed, An Ning left behind countless medical books and prescriptions, among which one titled Medical Miscellany was nearly worn to tatters by later medical practitioners. Unfortunately, An Ning herself never intended to take disciples. Her younger generations had inquired about it before.
After some thought, An Ning flatly refused.
First, teaching disciples was mentally exhausting, and she was simply unwilling. More importantly, being an ancient physician, especially a renowned one, was no easy path. Choosing this route back then was extremely risky. If she hadn’t carefully considered the former emperor’s temperament for a long time and had the system mall as a backup, she would never have dared to expose her medical skills to those in power.
For her disciples, having a master meant they would be placed under excessively high expectations by the authorities. But in truth? Her medical skills were the accumulation of several lifetimes, and her true mastery was only achieved in the fourth lifetime.
Only then could she handle it with ease.
Ask yourself: how could ordinary people accomplish this?
Besides, as a lone orphan, she had no choice but to risk everything, while the younger generations, being of the Zong family, naturally enjoyed status and wealth and had no need to take such risks...
It was just a pity about the imperial nephew on the throne at that time. Rumor had it that he had even prepared his abdication edict in advance!
Setting aside the current timeline, An Ning didn’t hesitate to press the glowing button again.
1956, Zhang Family Village
"Waa... Little sister, little sister, wake up quickly!"
"It's all your fault, all your fault! If anything happens to little sister today, you... you people are all murderers!"
"...Little sister..."
"Dad, say something! If this family doesn’t separate soon, the entire family will be bullied to death by that old Yang family..."
"You foolish girl, what are you saying? Guoqing just stumbled and accidentally pushed once, who knew this foolish girl was so fragile!"
"Isn’t that right, Second Brother..."
"Exactly, Second Brother, you’re usually the most filial, yet you don’t even control this foolish girl. Everyone knows Guoqing is the apple of Mom’s eye. Listen to what this girl is saying; are you trying to make Mom die of anger?"
Amid the noisy commotion, An Ning woke up again on a slightly damp kang bed. The pain from the wound on her head and the grogginess in her brain all told her what had happened to this body before.
She summoned the system and secretly had it pour some Spirit Spring Water into her mouth. An Ning closed her eyes and quietly listened to the farcical scene unfolding before her.
The original body was only a little over six years old, with a pitifully scant memory, having barely lived to her teens in her previous life.
The one arguing fiercely just now was this body’s biological elder sister, Yang San Ya.
An unusual character. According to the original body’s memories, this sister used to be a quiet, reserved person, but one day, after being bullied and pushed into the water, she changed completely.
Not only did her personality shift drastically, but she often quarreled loudly with the old Yang matriarch and secretly stuffed bird eggs or unknown dried meat into this body’s mouth more than once.
The village where the original body lived was called Zhang Family Village. As the name suggests, most villagers shared the same surname. Even the village team leader and village head were Zhangs.
As an outsider, the old Yang family had a hard time living there.
It’s well known that a bad life often breeds trouble.
The Yang family where the original body lived was a typical example. The Yang family consisted of three branches, which wasn’t large for a rural population.
The original body and her sisters belonged to the second branch, which was not favored by the old Yang couple but should have still managed to get by.
The original body’s misfortune was that she ended up with Yang Second Brother, the so-called “most filial” father.
Speaking of how filial Yang Second Brother was, even though this was an era of collective rural families, most households could save some secret money for personal use.
Especially since Zhang Family Village backed onto a forest. Although private hunting was forbidden in this era, there was an unspoken understanding among the villagers not to make a fuss over minor things.
Occasional trips into the woods could save some secret funds.
But Yang Second Brother was different. Almost all the money he managed to gather was taken by Old Lady Yang through various means. Not only that, most of the household chores fell onto this poor scapegoat.
If that were all, it would be one thing, but in rural areas, if the father was powerless, the wife and daughters also suffered.
And the original body was unlucky enough to be his daughter. The other unfortunate one was Yang San Ya, who had just been arguing so fiercely for her little sister.
This injury the original body suffered was one of the triggers for San Ya’s outburst. Thinking of what happened afterward, An Ning’s eyes darkened slightly.
At that moment, the village barefoot doctor finally arrived, albeit late...