Wei Caiwei wanted to go back to sleep, but Wang Daxia wouldn't let her rest—and in turn, she refused to let him sleep either, leaving both wide awake.
Behind the hibiscus-patterned bed curtains, the married couple of three years had been apart for too long and needed to rediscover their rhythm.
Meanwhile, Lu Ying was seeing off her beloved Ding Wu. Having never taken a day off before, she astonishingly requested leave, shocking the Imperial Guard Office. Commander Zhu Xixiao, assuming she had fallen ill, sent nourishing gifts to the Lu residence to comfort his most capable subordinate, expressing warm concern.
Lu Ying had earned Zhu Xixiao's respect through sheer competence, making him overlook her gender. As one of the key figures behind crushing the White Lotus Sect and facilitating the Longqing Accord, the maintenance of eleven border markets and bilateral relations fell to her. Moreover, since San Niangzi of the Mongols was also a woman, communication between them would be smoother. Zhu Xixiao had already assigned Lu Ying to specialize in managing relations with the Mongol Tatar Tribe.
Li Yiren, the matriarch of the Lu household, was baffled upon receiving the gifts. Her daughter had left home as early as usual that morning—clearly not ill.
Suspicious, Li Yiren decided to question her daughter thoroughly upon her return.
Lu Ying had gone to Sweetwater Alley at dawn to bid Ding Wu farewell. Eager to fetch his father for their wedding, Ding Wu carried only the simplest luggage, with a sword case strapped to his back—the very token of love Lu Ying had given him.
Seeing how cherished her gift was, Lu Ying felt as if she had swallowed a jar of honey, her heart brimming with sweetness.
Lu Ying tied Ding Wu's bundle to her horse with her bare hands. "I'll see you out of the city."
She accompanied him to Chaoyang Gate, still reluctant to part. "I'll walk you to the pavilion ahead."
By the roadside pavilion, along the courier route, Lu Ying lingered. "Let me escort you to Sanlitun—I can pay respects to my father while we're at it." Lu Bing rested eternally in Sanlitun, beyond Chaoyang Gate.
For some reason, whenever he was with Lu Ying, the usually glib Ding Wu became tongue-tied, merely repeating her words: "I'll pay my respects too." Father-in-law above, please accept your son-in-law's bow!
After they both bowed before Lu Bing, it was time to separate. Yet Lu Ying remained unwilling to let go. "Since we've come this far, I might as well see you to Tongzhou to board the ship. The courier roads outside the city aren't safe—if bandits attack, I can protect you."
Ding Wu was more than willing, but he asked, "What about your duties with the Embroidered Uniform Guard?"
Lu Ying replied, "I took leave today. If anything urgent arises, Wang Daxia can handle it—he's reliable."
Meanwhile, at the Imperial Guard Office, Wang Daxia—who had arrived late—noticed Lu Ying's continued absence and simply slapped his thighs, deciding to head home.
Having resolved to leave the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Wang Daxia had reverted to his initial laziness and perfunctory attitude. He was now a clock-watcher, doing the bare minimum. Without Lu Ying's discipline, he not only arrived late but left early—once again becoming a slacker in the ranks.
"Commander Wang!" Hundred-Household Commander Wu galloped after him. "Wait!"
After the major victories over the White Lotus Sect and the success of the Longqing Accord, Wu had been promoted to fifth-rank commander, Wang Daxia had risen from commander to fourth-rank vice commissioner, and Lu Ying had been elevated to fourth-rank assistant commissioner. Each had advanced a rank.
Caught slacking off, Wang Daxia waved him away. "I've told you repeatedly—don't bother me unless it's important. Leave it for Commissioner Lu to handle when she returns. I'm going home. See you tomorrow."
Hundred-Household Commander Wu, fearing Wang Daxia would escape, grabbed his reins. "Commander Wang, have you forgotten? You're scheduled to teach everyone disguise and transformation techniques today."Wang Daxia slapped his forehead, "Oh dear, I really did forget. Just tell them to learn other things first—like shadowing and tracking techniques. I'll teach the art of disguise tomorrow."
Officer Wu refused to let go, "Commander Wang said the same thing yesterday, and you're repeating it today. 'Tomorrow and tomorrow, how many tomorrows are there?' We can't delay any longer."
Wang Daxia replied, "We'll talk about it tomorrow. Look, I'm already heading out."
Officer Wu pulled and dragged him, even bringing up Lu Ying to intimidate Wang Daxia, "If you delay again, I'll report to Commander Lu. We've been waiting for you for three days, and each day we've come up empty-handed."
If Wang Daxia were Sun Wukong, then Lu Ying was the golden headband—Officer Wu only needed to chant it once for it to work.
Wang Daxia had no choice but to turn his horse around and go back, "At most, I'll teach for half an hour. My wife is waiting at home to have dinner with me."
Officer Wu immediately exposed Wang Daxia's lie, "Doctor Wei entered the palace today. No one is waiting at home for Commander Wang to have dinner. After you finish teaching the art of disguise, I'll treat you to a drink—any place you choose."
Slippery as a loach, Wang Daxia found all his escape routes blocked by Officer Wu, who was determined to catch him today. Wang Daxia had no choice but to return to the office and teach his apprentices.
Forbidden City, Palace of Celestial Favor.
Wei Caiwei was examining Consort Li Jiubao.
Li Jiubao remained as beautiful as ever, with an added air of authority in her brows and eyes that wasn't there before. However, she had grown thinner. After her illness, she had washed away all makeup, wearing no rouge or powder. Her face was as pale as paper, her lips bloodless. She wore no jewelry, only a plain silk forehead band, with her long hair flowing loose down to her waist.
Li Jiubao's body had been worn down by childbirth—she had given birth to five children in six years!
Two boys and three girls, each raised plump and healthy, a true miracle of royal fertility. Li Jiubao's body had nourished these five children, but like sugarcane chewed over and over, it was nearly drained dry.
After taking her pulse, Wei Caiwei said, "Your Highness has given birth to five children in succession. You suffer from both qi and blood deficiency—the situation is not optimistic."
Wei Caiwei had been away in the northwest for three years. Of course, the imperial physicians and female doctors were all exceptional and had done their best to carefully nurse Consort Li back to health. But childbirth had taken too great a toll on her body, like a pond where water is desperately channeled in from one end while an outlet constantly drains it from the other.
The draining outpaced the filling, until the pond was nearly dry.
Not even Wei Caiwei could change this—even a deity would be powerless.
At the end of last year, Li Jiubao gave birth to her fifth child, Princess Ruian. Postpartum lochia persisted intermittently for three months, only improving by the start of spring this year. It was as if all the blood in Li Jiubao's body had been replaced.
Li Jiubao lacked even the strength to leave the Palace of Celestial Favor and was unable to raise or educate her children. Apart from the Crown Prince, who had already moved out to study, the other four children were taken by Empress Chen to the Palace of Earthly Tranquility to be raised.
Li Jiubao was reluctant and had pleaded with the Longqing Emperor, but he agreed with Empress Chen's approach. He urged Li Jiubao to rest and recover peacefully, not to worry about the children. Once she recovered, she was expected to continue bearing children for the royal family.
Empress Chen was a virtuous and kind person who took meticulous care of the four children. The finest things in the palace were sent to the Palace of Celestial Favor, fearing that the great contributor Li Jiubao would be wronged, making it renowned as a paradise of wealth and luxury.
Li Jiubao had once eagerly anticipated pregnancy and childbirth, but now she trembled with fear at the mere mention of "bearing more children."She had resisted, but to no avail. With the Emperor and Empress pressing down, she had no choice but to obey. All her clever tricks were utterly powerless in the face of absolute authority.
Chen Jingji was also helpless. He had been promoted to a Hall Attendant of the Directorate of Ceremonial, a prominent eunuch who could participate in the Red Vermillion Endorsement of memorials and influence state affairs. Yet, when it came to Li Jiubao, aside from his heartache, there was nothing he could do.
Chen Jingji said, "Doctor Wei, in order to stop the lochia, the Noble Consort has been taking medicine for three months, practically drinking it like water. Last month, it finally stopped, but her body has remained weak and feeble. On ordinary days, she doesn't even step out of her palace doors. This month, she has no appetite for meals. After just a bite or two, she says she's tired and refuses to eat any more."
"If forced to eat a few more bites, she can't digest it, and then she won't eat a single bite at the next meal, only drinking some soups and broths. The imperial physicians and female doctors have all come to see her and prescribed medicine to aid digestion and stimulate appetite, but it hasn't had any effect. Reluctantly, despite Doctor Wei having just returned to the capital and being exhausted from the journey, we still summoned you to the palace to examine the Noble Consort."
Li Jiubao lay on the bed, only speaking the words "Rise, no need for formalities" when Wei Caiwei first entered and paid her respects. After that, she remained silent, too weak to even speak. Everything was conveyed on her behalf by Chen Jingji.
Wei Caiwei examined Li Jiubao's tongue coating but found nothing unusual. She then asked Chen Jingji to bring all the prescriptions, food, snacks, fruits, and even the teas she had consumed—everything that had entered her mouth—over the past six months since childbirth for her to review.
Fortunately, Chen Jingji had been extremely meticulous in his care and had kept records of everything. Wei Caiwei asked Li Jiubao to rest first while she moved to a side hall to examine the piles of prescriptions and dietary records. She did not leave the palace that day, working until midnight before resting, and rose early the next morning to continue.
Gradually, Wei Caiwei began to notice some clues. After childbirth, Li Jiubao's lochia had been excessive. At its peak, she had to discard two baskets of Chen Mama (modern sanitary pads) daily. After three months of such bleeding, even a strong man would be exhausted from continuous blood loss, let alone a woman who was already in poor health.
The prescriptions given to Li Jiubao were not problematic; they were all warming and nourishing, aimed at stopping bleeding. However, the food she consumed was quite intriguing.
There is a belief in "nourishing like with like"—that what is deficient should be replenished with corresponding parts. In Li Jiubao's daily diet, hashima (the oviduct of female forest frogs) and ziheche (human placenta) were almost daily staples. Later, when Li Jiubao lost her appetite, foods like pig stomach (the stomach of a pig) and ox tripe were added—all highly nourishing and tonifying items.
Wei Caiwei had never believed that these foods, especially hashima and ziheche, could be of great use. However, because they were extremely rare, they had become precious tonics. As for the heavy, greasy foods like pig stomach, they did have nourishing properties, but Li Jiubao's body was too weak. Not only could she not digest them, but they also damaged her spleen and stomach. Her appetite worsened over time, to the point where she could only force down a bite or two per meal.
Yet, the imperial kitchen continued to send hashima, ziheche, pig stomach, lamb tripe, and other such "nourishing like with like," greasy, and heavy foods to the Palace of Celestial Favor. On the surface, it seemed that each meal cost several times more than those of the Emperor and Empress, making her the most meticulously fed person in the palace. No one could find fault with it, but in reality, it was a death warrant for Li Jiubao.Having identified the root of the problem, Wei Caiwei said to Chen Jingji, "Go to the imperial kitchen and select a few trustworthy people to set up a small private kitchen in the Palace of Celestial Favor. Aside from medicinal decoctions, all food, snacks, and treats for Consort Li must be prepared there. I've created dietary plans for Her Highness consisting of simple dishes - the private kitchen must follow them precisely."
Chen Jingji's face paled as he whispered, "Is someone trying to harm Her Highness? Tampering with her food?"
Wei Caiwei shook her head. "The ingredients themselves are fine, but excessively rich food isn't beneficial. Humans need grains, yet Her Highness lacks proper nourishment from basic staples. Those greasy and meaty dishes, especially placenta preparations - she must avoid such unnatural things even after recovery. She can only resume meat consumption after I've regulated her spleen and stomach."
Given Chen Jingji's current connections, arranging this proved effortless, and everything was implemented that very day.
According to Li Jiubao's physical condition, Wei Caiwei personally prepared Asafoetida Pills to relieve food stagnation. She mashed hawthorn, forsythia, banxia, and malt together with asafoetida into a paste, steamed it with vinegar, and formed it into pills. She supplemented this with Two Cures Decoction and Four Substances Decoction to regulate the body. After two days of treatment, Li Jiubao gradually regained her appetite, miraculously consuming a bowl of porridge with minced meat and pork liver. That evening, she ate fish without experiencing nausea or vomiting.
After meals, following brief rest periods, Wei Caiwei instructed palace maids to support the frail Li Jiubao for walks. Unless it was windy or rainy, she insisted Li Jiubao spend time in the small garden of the Palace of Celestial Favor to bask in sunlight, avoiding constant indoor confinement.
After half a month, Li Jiubao could eat half a bowl of rice per meal and walk independently without continuous assistance.
During this period, Wei Caiwei remained residing in the Palace of Celestial Favor, entrusting the renovation of the Ding residence to Wang Daxia.
Wang Daxia, having taught disguise techniques at the Imperial Guard Office, returned home excitedly only to find his wife absent again, facing another period of separation from Caiwei.
"When will this kind of life ever end!" Wang Daxia lamented helplessly, yet obediently visited his brother-in-law's house daily to supervise the construction work as his wife had instructed.
The private kitchen operation in the Palace of Celestial Favor caused a sensation throughout the Forbidden City, eventually reaching Empress Chen. With red-rimmed eyes, Empress Chen sought out the Longqing Emperor and complained:
"...I've devoted myself to caring for the consort. The palace's largest expenses all go to the Palace of Celestial Favor, and I've never been stingy with funds. Yet I cannot comprehend the consort's intentions - refusing food containers from the imperial kitchen and establishing a private kitchen. Not to mention how smoke and fire damage one's health, open flames are extremely dangerous. Remember when the late Imperial Consort Shang and the late Emperor played with fireworks in bed curtains and reduced Yu De Palace to ruins? We must not overlook this precedent. I only have the consort's best interests at heart."
Initially, the Longqing Emperor remained unconcerned. Consort Li had borne him five healthy children. Among all the palace consorts, despite his nightly efforts in sowing seeds, he had reaped no harvest from others. He still hoped Consort Li would recover fully so he could plant his dragon seed again.
He wouldn't have minded even if she moved the entire imperial kitchen to the Palace of Celestial Favor, let alone establishing a small private kitchen.
But when Empress Chen mentioned how the Jiajing Emperor and his favorite consort had burned down Yu De Palace by playing with fireworks in bed, she struck the Longqing Emperor's sore spot - he detested everything associated with the Jiajing Emperor's reign.
Just as the Longqing Emperor prepared to order Empress Chen to shut down the hazardous private kitchen, the eunuch Feng Bao rushed in to announce, "Your Majesty, Consort Li requests an audience."
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