Granny Song exclaimed in surprise, "So Doctor Wei knows these two candidates for the Imperial Concubine Selection?"
Wei Caiwei replied, "I met Shang Qinglan during the selection at the Baoding Prefecture office, and Li Jiubao is my neighbor." She added, "Li Jiubao was the one who repaired the tiles on my roof."
As she spoke, Caiwei set down her medicine bag and first examined Shang Qinglan's vomit. The sheer volume of it couldn't even be contained in a single spittoon!
Wei Caiwei asked Li Jiubao, "Does she have diarrhea?"
Li Jiubao shook her head, "She only vomits, no diarrhea."
Granny Song chimed in, "During yesterday's etiquette lessons, she frequently asked to be excused to use the toilet. Among all the candidates in the Storage of Elegance Palace, she has the most need for relieving herself. Today has been better though."
With Granny Song present, Li Jiubao couldn't reveal to Wei Caiwei that Shang Qinglan had been using toilet breaks as an excuse to rest yesterday.
However, having shared a room with Shang Qinglan in her previous life, Wei Caiwei knew exactly what she was like - simply lazy. Now that she was only vomiting without diarrhea, it probably wasn't food poisoning but rather overeating.
Wei Caiwei took her pulse and asked, "What have you eaten since this morning?"
Shang Qinglan said weakly, "This morning I had cow's milk, goose oil rose cakes, fermented shad fish, pigeon eggs, stir-fried spring vegetables, egg pancakes, and two buns - one meat and one vegetarian."
Wei Caiwei asked, "And after that?"
Shang Qinglan said, "During etiquette practice breaks, I had some snacks and drank some tea."
Li Jiubao added, "They sent over a dozen different plates of pastries - she sampled every single one. And the tea - the palace has so many varieties. She drank melon seed tea with plum sauce, osmanthus sesame bamboo shoot tea, walnut pine nut tea, honeyed kumquat tea, and coriander sesame pine nut chestnut tea."
Ming Dynasty brewed tea was like modern milk tea five hundred years later loaded with various nuts and preserves. Shang Qinglan had essentially consumed five servings of fully-loaded milk tea.
Shang Qinglan said, "After all that eating and drinking, I felt somewhat greasy, so I drank a cup of Lu'an tea to settle my stomach. But it didn't work - everything kept rising up. I couldn't hold it back anymore and vomited."
Just hearing Li Jiubao list all the food items made Wei Caiwei feel stuffed herself, confirming her diagnosis. She said, "There's nothing else wrong with you - you're just overfull. Vomiting is actually good. I'll give you some acupuncture, no need for medicine. Granny Song, don't bring her any lunch or dinner today. Just have the imperial kitchen send a pot of hot rice porridge to nourish her stomach."
Granny Song asked, "What about tomorrow?"
Wei Caiwei said, "I'll come check her pulse tomorrow morning and examine her tongue to assess her recovery. However, Qinglan must not overeat like this anymore - it's harmful to your health."
Upon hearing that she could only drink rice porridge today with no solid food, Shang Qinglan felt as if struck by lightning. "I don't usually eat like this. I just wanted to taste all the imperial delicacies so that after I'm eliminated from the selection, I can boast about it for the rest of my life."
Wei Caiwei thought to herself: Silly girl, from the moment you stepped through the palace gates, your fate was sealed - you're not going back.
Wei Caiwei said, "Even so, you need to know your limits. Eat according to your capacity, otherwise you'll be stuck drinking rice porridge. Li Jiubao, keep an eye on her normally."
Both of them agreed.
Wei Caiwei lit moxa sticks and applied moxibustion to Shang Qinglan's upper, middle, and lower gastric points, as well as the left and right food gates. After the treatment, Shang Qinglan immediately stopped vomiting and spent the entire day consuming only rice porridge for both food and drink.Granny Song said, "We need to conduct a follow-up examination for Shang Qinglan early tomorrow morning. Given the travel fatigue, I'll speak with the supervising eunuch to arrange for you to stay overnight in the palace and leave tomorrow. How does that sound?"
Wei Caiwei agreed.
The palace maintained considerable respect for female physicians. The supervising eunuch arranged for her to stay in a quiet room at the Palace of Gathered Elegance. That same day, several imperial consort candidates who had sprained their ankles during etiquette practice or developed sudden acne due to anxiety came seeking treatment, all of whom Wei Caiwei attended to methodically.
Observing that despite her youth she worked efficiently with competent medical skills, the supervising eunuch decided to retain her at the Palace of Gathered Elegance specifically to treat the imperial consort candidates until the Imperial Concubine Selection concluded.
Though Wei Caiwei's palace pass permitted movement within the palace grounds, staying in the inner court for ten to fifteen days required going through elaborate procedures. As palace female physicians answered summons from the Directorate of Ceremonial, Wei Caiwei visited the Directorate to exchange her pass.
While at the Directorate, Wei Caiwei deliberately lingered. By the time she completed all registration forms, dusk had fallen—precisely when the young eunuchs from the Inner Study Hall were dismissed.
The Inner Study Hall's instructors were all Hanlin Academy scholars, proper jinshi degree holders selected through imperial examinations. The most outstanding jinshi were further chosen for academic work at the Hanlin Academy, while many instructors at the Guozijian—the Ming dynasty's highest institution—merely held provincial or county-level degrees. Thus, every young eunuch selected to study at the Inner Study Hall possessed exceptional qualities.
The three-year curriculum required cramming classics, legal codes, and other knowledge into the young eunuchs' minds through rigorous instruction. With almost no days off throughout the year, the intensity rivaled modern Hengshui High School.
Even at dusk after dismissal, the young eunuchs had to queue outside the Inner Study Hall while Hanlin scholars tested their poetry skills.
A scholar randomly picked up a fallen leaf from the ground. "Take this as today's theme. Compose a poem focusing solely on parallel structure and rhyme scheme, regardless of metaphorical meaning or diction."
The young eunuchs improvised poems on the spot. Those who failed to produce one stepped out of line, then paired up to slap each other's faces—the established discipline method at the Inner Study Hall that required no physical punishment from the scholars themselves.
Both slappers and the slapped maintained expressionless composure, evidently accustomed to the ritual.
After the sharp slapping sounds subsided, they silently returned to formation and filed out of the Directorate of Ceremonial.
They happened to encounter Huang Jin—the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, Supervising Eunuch and the palace's highest-ranking eunuch—returning along the same path.
While the students maintained their orderly procession, Huang Jin yielded the way, standing beside the corridor with cupped hands in deference. Only after all Inner Study Hall students had passed did Huang Jin proceed.
This followed palace convention: though holding no official positions, Inner Study Hall students commanded respect because nearly all grand eunuchs across the palace's twenty-four directorates—including the Eastern Depot—were Inner Study Hall alumni. Particularly at the Directorate of Ceremonial that assisted the emperor in governance, everyone from the supervising eunuch down to ordinary clerks conventionally hailed from the Inner Study Hall.
Yielding to Inner Study Hall students was established practice. Having received the same courtesy during his own student days there, Huang Jin naturally offered this deference.The students filed out of the Directorate of Ceremonial and dispersed. Wei Caiwei stood at the entrance, carefully observing each student until she finally spotted an old acquaintance among them. After the crowd dispersed, he pulled a scroll of books from his wide sleeve and began reading intently while walking.
Wei Caiwei quickly caught up with small steps and called out, "Chen the Agent."
Chen Jingji paused as if awakening from a distant dream. Back outside the palace, he had made a living through his family's brokerage business, and everyone called him Chen the Agent—no one even knew his real name. But since entering the palace, he had been addressed by his given name Chen Ju, and never again heard "Chen the Agent."
"Doctor Wei?" Chen Jingji promptly led Wei Caiwei to a secluded spot to talk. "How did you enter the palace? Has something happened to Li Jiubao?"
Since entering the palace, Chen Jingji had been recommended by his godfather Huang Jin to study at the Inner Study Hall. Once passing through the palace gates, it was like entering an abyss—especially in the strictly regulated Inner Study Hall. Students had to pass examinations after three years to graduate; otherwise, they would be expelled to perform menial chores in the palace with no hope of advancement. Only through study could one ascend the ladder of success.
Thus, Chen Jingji had been wholly focused on his studies, oblivious to outside matters. He didn't know that Wei Caiwei had passed the exams to become a palace female physician, let alone that Li Jiubao had stolen her family's Household Certificate to enter the Imperial Concubine Selection.
Wei Caiwei briefly explained the current situation: "...That's how things stand. Shuntian Prefecture Governor Wang Niqiu has high hopes for Li Jiubao. I think there's an eighty percent chance she'll be selected. You should prepare yourself mentally."
In her previous life, Li Jiubao had entered the palace eighty percent to climb the social ladder and seek revenge for Chen Jingji's tragic death. During the selection process back then, Wei Caiwei hadn't known Li Jiubao at all, nor did she understand how Li Jiubao passed the selection or was sent to Prince Yu's residence the following year. She had been constantly with Shang Qinglan at the time, the two nearly inseparable.
This lifetime, with Chen Jingji still alive, Li Jiubao's reason for entering the palace was likely eighty percent for him—to be closer to him. This created variables. Wei Caiwei couldn't predict what would happen, but she was certain that given Chen Jingji and Li Jiubao's past relationship, if either of them rose to prominence and blocked someone else's path, their former romance would become a huge vulnerability if discovered, something opponents would exploit.
Therefore, Wei Caiwei had to find a way to meet Chen Jingji, inform him of the situation, and urge him to be cautious.
Upon hearing that Li Jiubao had stolen the Household Certificate to enter the palace, Chen Jingji tightly clenched the book in his hands, veins bulging on the back of his hands.
After his castration, his beard had disappeared and his Adam's apple had shrunk. Studying daily in the Inner Study Hall—unlike his previous brokerage days running around with clients to view properties under sun and wind—his skin had become fair and delicate, giving him an androgynous quality reminiscent of Wang Daxia in her previous life.
After a moment of silence, Chen Jingji said, "Thank you for telling me this, Doctor Wei. I understand everything now. I entered the palace for her, and she entered for me. This palace wall traps us both here. Please convey to her that since things have come to this, I respect her choice. No matter what happens in the future, I will support her and never betray her. Though fate hasn't destined us to be married, within these palace walls we can watch over each other."Chen the Agent sketched a simple map on the ground. "I live in this row of houses west of the Longevity Palace. If you need anything from me, don't hesitate to come find me. I'd go through fire and water without hesitation."
Wei Caiwei acknowledged this and hurried back to the Palace of Gathered Elegance.
The next day, at the Imperial Guard Office.
After the morning roll call, Lu Ying led her subordinates in practicing martial arts from Yu Dayou's "Classic of Swordsmanship," pairing them off for sparring. Wang Daxia was distracted and got tripped twice in a row by Wu Xiaoqi's staff.
Exasperated by his lack of progress, Lu Ying called him aside. "What's wrong with you? You can't even beat Wu Xiaoqi, a newcomer. Didn't you sleep last night?"
With dark circles under his eyes, Wang Daxia nodded. "Doctor Wei was summoned to the palace by the Directorate of Ceremonial and didn't return all night. I don't know what happened. I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Commander Lu, you have far-reaching connections—can you get me into the palace? I want to check on her."
Author's note: Shedding a tear for Chen the Agent.
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