Learning to Make Medicine

No sooner had Cen Yongning finished speaking than a flicker of anger flashed in the Elder Princess's eyes. "I need no advice from you on how to conduct myself!" After saying this, the Elder Princess thought for a moment, then looked at Cen Yongning and continued, "Can Jiang Xin be won over?"

Cen Yongning shook his head. Seeing that the Elder Princess was about to grow angry, he immediately sighed and said, "The Jiang family specializes in children's ailments. All these years, he has kept a very low profile at the Imperial Medical Academy. Now, I'm afraid he has attached himself to Minister Lin because he saw no chance of getting ahead." After a moment's thought, Cen Yongning continued, "There's no need for you to worry, though. The drug is still effective. He hasn't fathered a child in all these years, so presumably it won't be that easy now, either."

Although the Elder Princess understood that Cen Yongning was telling the truth, she did not know why her heart had been gripped by panic ever since the Hua family's daughter entered the palace.

In particular, every time the Elder Princess thought of how fearless she had looked at the Empress Dowager's palace last time, her heart panicked.

To date, she had felt this way only three times.

The first was when she was a child, when her imperial father had joyfully told her that another woman in the palace was pregnant and that the child was very likely a prince, so she might soon have another younger brother.

The second was when her imperial father had suddenly coughed up blood at morning court that year. Her heart had panicked so badly that she had rushed into the palace, but she had still missed his last rally before death.

The third was some time ago, when she had seen the Hua family's daughter in the palace and her heart had panicked again.

"I have my own arrangements to make, but you must also be careful on your end." The Elder Princess did not want to think about Hua Meng anymore. After saying this, she paused before adding, "Do your best to buy Jiang Xin over. If you can't, get rid of him!"

Cen Yongning was not surprised by the Elder Princess's words. He nodded, then took his leave.

Emperor Jing'an did not yet know what had happened at the Princess Royal's Residence.

But since he already knew that something was wrong with his health, and that the Elder Princess was very likely responsible, how could he fail to take precautions?

Hua Meng, however, knew none of this yet.

After a good night's sleep, Hua Meng still felt weak when she woke the next day, but she insisted on getting up to wait for Emperor Jing'an to summon her after court.

When she saw Emperor Jing'an, Hua Meng asked him in detail how he had slept the night before. Only then did she bring up something she had been considering for a long time.

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask you to grant me a female physician. I wish to learn how to make medicine from her."

Hua Meng had long had this idea, but if she had proposed learning to make medicine from a female physician for no apparent reason, her family would certainly not have agreed.

After all, aside from families who had practiced medicine for generations, few daughters of respectable families studied medicine.

But without studying medicine, she had no way to give the Spirit Spring in her possession to her family openly. Only by adding it when she made medicine could she give it to her family to take under the pretext of granting them medicine.

After Hua Meng spoke, Emperor Jing'an set down the teacup in his hand and looked up at her. "What made you think of learning this?"

Hearing Emperor Jing'an's question, Hua Meng smiled somewhat sheepishly before explaining, "I'm bored in the palace. I'm not good at needlework, and I don't much like reading. If I could learn to make medicine, it would help pass the time." After saying this, Hua Meng added, "Besides, I've found that taking medicinal decoctions is far too troublesome. If all medicines could be made into pills, they would be much more convenient to take."

When Hua Meng finished, her bright almond-shaped eyes were shy, but she looked straight at Emperor Jing'an.

Emperor Jing'an's heart trembled for an instant at Hua Meng's words. Then he smiled and nodded. "That's a good idea."

Hua Meng knew Emperor Jing'an thought she wanted to learn to make medicine for his sake. She did not explain, but continued on the same subject. "I was thinking that the weather is growing hotter. If I could get some pills to ward off heatstroke, it would be convenient to carry them around."

After all Hua Meng had said, Emperor Jing'an naturally would not refuse.

When Emperor Jing'an agreed, Hua Meng was completely relieved.

With a female physician, she could openly add Spirit Spring to the pills.

Hua Meng had originally thought that, after she made the request, it would take Emperor Jing'an at least three days to find someone. To her surprise, Xiao Jiangzi brought a woman in the very next day.

"Your Highness, this is Imperial Physician Jiang's younger sister, Jiang Chan."

After introducing Jiang Chan to Hua Meng, Xiao Jiangzi withdrew from the bedchamber and went outside to find Qiu Die. Inside, Jiang Chan also introduced herself in a few brief words.

"I come from the Jiang family and studied medicine under my father and elder brother from a young age. I married ten years ago, and my husband passed away six years ago. As I had only two daughters, I returned to my maiden family with them and have lived there as a widow. Yesterday, my eldest brother mentioned this matter when he came home, so I begged him to let me enter the palace to serve Your Highness, so that I might also secure a future for my two daughters."

Jiang Chan was a straightforward, capable woman, and she felt no embarrassment about mentioning her reason for entering the palace.

Hua Meng, for her part, greatly liked Jiang Chan's way of doing things.

"Then how about I call you 'Nanny Jiang' from now on?" Seeing Jiang Chan nod, Hua Meng smiled and continued, "I won't have you serve in the palace for the rest of your life. Once I've learned to make medicine, I'll let you leave."

Jiang Chan did not respond to Hua Meng's words beyond a simple "Yes."

With Jiang Chan there, Hua Meng had thought she would soon begin learning how to make medicine. To her surprise, the first step was actually learning to identify medicinal ingredients and memorizing prescriptions.

Jiang Chan was earnest, and Hua Meng could hardly break the rules and say she wanted to start making medicine directly. Fortunately, life in the palace was dull, and with something to do, she found that each day passed quickly.

The days went by one after another. Hua Meng prepared Emperor Jing'an's medicine and sent it to him on time every day. Seven days made a course of treatment, and after he finished seven days of medicine and stopped for two days, the day came for her to leave the palace again.

During that time, Emperor Jing'an had come to Sparrow Plume Palace once, but he had gone to see Consort Wan. Hua Meng knew, however, that Emperor Jing'an really had come to Sparrow Plume Palace simply to sleep.

Hua Meng, on the other hand, was summoned to Phoenix Approaches Palace to serve Emperor Jing'an every day or two. Though she went during the day, stayed for four to six hours, and accompanied him for one meal, this favor was hers alone in the harem.

Whether it was because of the medicinal decoctions he had taken over the past few days, or because he had not had any of his consorts serve him in that time, Emperor Jing'an's complexion looked much better than before.

That evening, Emperor Jing'an came to Sparrow Plume Palace again, but this time he went to Hua Meng's right side hall.

When he arrived at the right side hall and saw Jiang Chan about to withdraw, Emperor Jing'an hurriedly called her back. "Stay and tell me how your mistress has been progressing with her studies."

Emperor Jing'an's request was reasonable enough, but his real reason for keeping Jiang Chan there was to have her take his pulse.

Although Jiang Chan was not the Jiang family's eldest legitimate son, who could inherit all their medical knowledge, she was a legitimate daughter who had been doted on by her father and elder brother since childhood.

Because her husband had died young, Jiang Xin felt sorry for his sister, and during her years back at her maiden home, Jiang Chan had read no small number of the Jiang family's medical books.

Later, when Emperor Jing'an asked Jiang Xin whether there were any women in his family who had studied medicine and were willing to enter the palace to teach Consort Hua how to make medicine, Jiang Xin worried about his sister and told Jiang Chan in detail what the emperor's pulse had indicated.

Thus, although her medical skills were not as good as Jiang Xin's, she could still diagnose Emperor Jing'an's condition from his pulse.

As soon as she placed her fingers on his pulse, she discovered that Emperor Jing'an's pulse was much healthier today than the pulse her brother had described when he came home.

But remembering her brother's instructions, Jiang Chan finally said, "Your Majesty is in good health. I found nothing amiss."

Emperor Jing'an nodded at her words, unsurprised. "I heard your brother say that, from childhood, you mostly studied how to care for pregnant women and children." After saying this while looking at Jiang Chan, Emperor Jing'an asked, "How is Consort Hua progressing now?"

Since Emperor Jing'an had asked about Hua Meng, Jiang Chan could answer without concern.

"Her Highness is naturally clever. After I teach her twice, she can remember the medicinal properties of an ingredient."

After saying this, Jiang Chan thought to herself that Consort Hua merely seemed a little too lazy: every day, after studying for less than two hours, she would grow so drowsy that she wanted to sleep.

At this thought, something suddenly flashed through Jiang Chan's mind, but she failed to grasp it.

Hua Meng was sitting nearby. Hearing Jiang Chan say this, she said rather sheepishly, "I don't know if it's because spring has lasted too long this year, but lately I've been feeling very weak. Every day, after studying for less than two hours, I can barely keep my eyes open and only want to rest."

Emperor Jing'an had never expected Hua Meng to accomplish anything through her studies. Hearing this, he immediately smiled and looked at her. "If you're sleepy, then sleep. You're still young. You might even grow a little taller."

Hua Meng had been in the palace for nearly a month, but this was the first time Emperor Jing'an had said something like that to her in front of a third person.

Her cheeks grew hot, and her heart beat a little faster. Her almond-shaped eyes, which usually dared to look straight at Emperor Jing'an, darted away today, not daring to meet the gaze fixed on her.