Chapter 38: This Journey Will Not Be Peaceful

Shen Yingjue’s expression remained as indifferent as ever, but within, Tan Qingjiu was deeply unsettled. What did Shen Yingjue mean by those words? Could it be that the one who poisoned him was within the palace itself?

It was entirely possible. From her previous diagnosis, the poison in Shen Yingjue’s body had been there for over a decade at least. Over ten years ago, Shen Yingjue was not yet ten years old, most likely still living in the palace. So who was the one who poisoned him?

While Tan Qingjiu silently speculated, the carriage soon came to a stop. She followed after Shen Yingjue as he disembarked.

Outside, several palace attendants were waiting. “Greetings to the prince.”

The head eunuch looked up. “The Fifth Prince heard that Your Highness would be entering the palace today. He told us early this morning that he misses you and insisted you must visit him when you arrive.”

Shen Yingjue lazily lifted his eyelids. “Where is he now?”

“He should be at the Hall of Learning, Your Highness. I heard he forgot to complete the assignments set by the Grand Tutor yesterday, so the Grand Tutor kept him behind today.”

Shen Yingjue gave a short laugh, his tone casual and unconcerned. “He doesn’t miss me—he just wants me to bail him out, doesn’t he? I’ll go have a look.”

With that, he strode off without sparing Tan Qingjiu a glance.

Tan Qingjiu’s expression faltered—he was not going to accompany her to the audience? Was she to face the emperor alone? She had a nagging feeling that the eunuch was deliberately sending Shen Yingjue away.

Clearly, this visit would not go smoothly.

While she mulled this over, the eunuch’s gaze swept over to her. “This must be Divine Physician Tan? Allow me to lead you inside. This way, please.”

“Yes.” Tan Qingjiu lowered her head, having no heart to admire the splendor of the palace. Her eyes were fixed only on the jade-carved steps beneath her feet.

The eunuch guided her into a side hall. “His Majesty is still in council with his ministers. Please wait here for a moment and enjoy some tea.”

“Very well.”

The eunuch had just stepped aside when voices sounded from outside the door. “Greetings to Her Majesty the Empress.”

The Empress?

Tan Qingjiu’s eyelids fluttered, a single thought flashing through her mind—the troublemaker had arrived.

She rose, following the palace attendants in paying respects. “This humble woman greets Your Majesty, may you live for thousands and thousands of years.”

She sensed someone approach, a delicate fragrance wafting over, followed by a gentle yet commanding voice. “So this is the famed divine physician?”

Tan Qingjiu was about to reply, but the Empress continued, “Is this the woman Prince Duan says he wishes to marry?”

Tan Qingjiu’s eyelids twitched sharply. That was not what Shen Yingjue had told her. According to him, it was the emperor’s informant in the Prince’s residence who had reported the events of that day. The emperor, long troubled by the prince’s marital affairs, had on a whim decided to bestow a marriage between her and the prince.

Yet the Empress claimed it was Prince Duan who had made such a request?

So who was lying?

“Raise your head and let me take a look at you.”

Tan Qingjiu lifted her gaze, meeting the Empress’s eyes and for the first time clearly seeing her face. She was surprised—her sources had said the Empress was over forty, but her appearance was that of a woman barely past thirty, her features well maintained, her skin radiant and her demeanor elegant.

“No wonder even Prince Duan has been moved. Such a beauty is truly striking.”

“Yet I’ve heard you are the daughter of Tan Yunzhi, and six years ago, you were drowned for bearing children out of wedlock? Now you return to the capital with two children in tow?”

Before Tan Qingjiu could respond, the Empress sneered, “It’s plain to see that you’re a practiced seductress. You couldn’t restrain yourself even before marriage. Now, with two children already, you remain so wanton.”

“It’s no wonder you’re tempted—after all, though Prince Duan is ill, he is still a prince. But do you know he once had a wife? On their wedding night, he fell ill and tore out his bride’s heart with his bare hands, killing her.”

Tan Qingjiu’s brows knit together. At the Empress’s mention of the prince’s ill-fated first wife, she recalled what Qingdai had specifically investigated. That bride had been someone from the Empress’s own retinue.

If so, the Empress’s current hostility made sense. Most likely, she had arranged for her own attendant to marry into Prince Duan’s household. On the wedding night, the prince had suffered an attack, killing his new bride—an affront the Empress could not forgive.

Yet the prince’s illness absolved him of blame, leaving the Empress powerless to pursue the matter.

Now, hearing rumors that the prince wished to marry Tan Qingjiu—or that the emperor intended to grant her to him—the Empress had come specifically to belittle her, to pick a fight.

But such cutting words were nothing new to Tan Qingjiu. She had heard plenty of them of late and remained utterly calm.

Besides, there was nothing a skilled physician could not handle.

And no one she could not conquer with her art.

Tan Qingjiu raised her eyes, studying the Empress’s face with a composed expression. “Your Majesty is mistaken. Prince Duan has made no such request. I am merely his physician. It is true I have two children, but I have never considered marrying anyone else.”

A trace of hesitation flickered in her eyes. “But, Your Majesty, there is something I wish to say, if I may?”

“What is it?” The Empress grew more annoyed by Tan Qingjiu’s unruffled demeanor.

“I have noticed something about Your Majesty’s complexion. Have you been taking tonic medicines recently?”

“If I am not wrong, Your Majesty has been using fertility medicines, is that so?”

The Empress’s face changed, her gaze turning cold as she stepped closer, her voice low and threatening. “Do you realize what you are implying?”

Tan Qingjiu blinked. “It was Your Majesty who permitted me to speak. What I truly wish to say is this: did your doctor claim the reason for your difficulty in conceiving was ‘palace cold’ and prescribe medicine to treat it?”

“If so, that physician’s skills are lacking. Without finding the true cause, they have prescribed blindly, resulting not in increased fertility, but in rising internal heat.”

“Have you recently felt irritable, dry-mouthed, prone to ulcers, with excessive and frequent menstruation?”

The Empress’s brows drew together, her gaze toward Tan Qingjiu full of suspicion. She sincerely disliked this woman—too beautiful, too much trouble. Yet the symptoms she described matched her own exactly.

And they had never met before.

Tan Qingjiu had never even taken her pulse.