"Excuse me, everyone. We have to wait for an hour, right? It was originally arranged that before noon today, the old doctor would come to check the pulse of the Empress Dowager. Unfortunately, Queen Wang accompanied our queen to have dinner and listen to music, and she hasn't returned yet. Oh, what do you think..."
　　An elegantly dressed eunuch pulled the curtain and came in, went to the warm room of the side hall of the Cining Palace, and while talking to the doctors, he sent away the young eunuchs who were serving him. He first saluted the head of the Imperial Hospital, bowed and said, "Sir Liu."
　　Liu Tong immediately said, "Excuse me, my lady. It's okay for us to wait."
　　"What are you talking about? Originally, only Sir Liu was needed. It was our Queen Mother who specifically promised Sir Liu that he didn't have to be on duty in the palace, so you asked Sir to bring the other doctors of the Imperial Hospital to serve our queen." The eunuch explained the matter, "I sympathize with your hard work. How can I bear to let Sir Liu wait like this? I will go to find the female minister now."
　　The female minister is a reward and honorific for female officials. In fact, it refers to Aunt Ruixue, the head female official of the Cining Palace.
　　Liu Tong was over sixty years old and was indeed old, but he didn't want to cause trouble. Just as he was about to call the eunuch, he heard footsteps again. Not long after, Aunt Ruixue stood outside the door and saluted from a distance: "Sirs, please follow me."
　　Everyone followed Liu Tong and followed Aunt Ruixue and the old imperial physician.
　　A new stage was built in the back hall of the Cining Palace. The red building with golden tiles was singing "The Match of Snow and Wind". The tone of the play came from far away and slowly filled my mind. When I walked to the other side of the door, I could faintly hear a very calm and gentle female voice.
　　It seemed to say, "The queen has just recovered from a cold... an old headache... please come in..." and so on. Then they were allowed to enter.
　　After paying their respects, Liu Tong stepped forward to take the pulse of the Empress Dowager.
　　The voice on the stage did not stop. I think someone reminded her. The Empress remembered this matter and was worried about the health of Doctor Liu, so she summoned them temporarily.
　　Liu Tong felt grateful and felt the pulse for a while. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Queen Wang, who was sitting beside him, say with a smile: "Your Majesty mother is in her prime, and with the care and nursing of old Imperial Physician Liu for so many years, she will surely live a long and blessed life."
　　"That's right." Liu Tong said, "Your Majesty the Queen Mother is in good health. As for your old headache, you can still use the old prescription."
　　Queen Mother Dong was holding a snow-white cat in her arms, with mandarin duck eyes. It was resting its head on her dark sleeve, lazily raising its head and licking the Queen Mother's fingertips.
　　Dong Lingjiu stroked the furry head of the white cat, and her dark eyes looked over: "Liu the
　　Imperial Physician is going back to his hometown. I wonder which wise doctor you recommended for me?" Liu Tong bowed his head: "I am old, and I have told the Empress last year that I want to return home. After investigation until today, I have indeed selected several people who can take on this task, and they can be selected by the Empress Dowager..."
　　When Liu the Imperial Physician was speaking with his head down, he did not see the white cat turn its head. Its round eyes moved slightly, as if it saw something that excited the cat, such as birds, crickets, swaying lines, etc., and it propped up its front legs and moved its tail slightly, revealing a hunting posture.
　　Dong Lingjiu was listening to Liu Tong's words, thinking carefully, but did not notice. While the two were talking, the obedient white cat suddenly jumped down from her arms, like a bowstring that was fully drawn, and suddenly continued to burst out, and quickly pounced into the middle of the imperial doctors.
　　For a moment, some people carefully dodged, some could not help shouting to stop, and some even stepped back quickly, so that they bumped into each other. But this momentary panic only existed for a short moment, and soon, a white, slender hand with distinct bones caught the white cat.
　　When the white cat was caught, its claws were still hooked on the light yellow tassels on the man's body, a perfect impromptu crime. It shook its tail and meowed loudly.
　　There was silence all around.
　　The others could not help but distance themselves from this person.
　　The white cat was held by the back of the neck, revealing a miserable and pitiful expression. It twitched its ears, its eyes were moist, and it wanted to struggle, but it was held tightly by these hands, not allowing it to escape again.
　　Dong Lingjiu glanced at the cat, and his eyes moved up along the hand that caught the cat, and saw a very handsome young man with a pine-like figure.
　　A string of swaying tassels hung on his waist, adorned under the jade pendant. This was the culprit who seduced the imperial cat.
　　Liu Tong also saw this scene. He didn't expect that it was Zheng Yuheng who caught the cat. This was the "Prince Zhaoye" that the Empress Dowager kept by her side. Ordinary palace servants served it like serving their ancestors, but he just reached out and caught the cat, and held it so generously!
　　Liu Tong was surprised and hurried, lowering his voice and scolding: "Why don't you give it back to the Empress!"
　　Zheng Yuheng just restrained it and didn't hurt the cat. Hearing what the teacher said, he turned to hand the white cat to the female official beside the Empress Dowager. However, as soon as Aunt Ruixue took a step, she saw Dong Lingjiu slightly raised her hand.
　　Ruixue understood and retreated to a distance, watching her nose and heart, and kept silent.
　　Dong Lingjiu lowered her hand, and the armor inlaid with pearls and jade gently knocked on the armrest of the seat, colliding with the texture of the wood, making a very light "da da" sound. She raised her other hand, bent her fingers against her chin, and said: "Good boy, come here."
　　Everyone's heart tightened.
　　Is this referring to a person? Or a cat? Is the queen calling this disobedient white cat, or the person who touched her property?
　　The hot tea on the table rose up, emitting a hazy white mist.
　　After the queen mother finished speaking, she casually pointed to her knees.
　　That is where the cat often sleeps on her knees.
　　The play on the stage was clearly not over, but at this moment, it was no longer important whether it was beautiful or noisy, and everyone's eyes were fixed on this young man.
　　But Zheng Yuheng was not aware of the tension. He naturally felt that this was not calling the cat at all, but the queen mother calling him. He was often praised by female elders in this way, and he had long been accustomed to it. So he did not hesitate to change the posture of the white cat and hugged it. He walked forward and lifted his robe, knelt politely at the lap of the queen mother Dong, and returned the royal cat.
　　"Meow--" The white cat cried loudly again. When it returned to the empress dowager's arms, its tail stood up proudly, as if showing off. But before it could show off for a while, it was gently slapped on the back. "
　　Little beast." Dong Lingjiu scolded it, and then laughed, "How can you be so powerful? You run into the crowd. Aren't you afraid that the imperial doctors will step on you to death?"
　　The white cat was still unconvinced, and it bared its teeth and claws at Zheng Yuheng who was looking at it level. Before its claws touched his face, Dong Lingjiu pinched his neck and dragged it back.
　　Zheng Yuheng breathed a sigh of relief. At the closest time, the sharp cat claws were about to poke his eyelashes.
　　He knelt down to salute and answered, but his back was very straight, like a brand new bamboo. From Dong Lingjiu's perspective, the easiest thing to see was Zheng Yuheng's long eyelashes, which were black and straight. His long hair was tied in his official hat, without any messy hair, revealing his shiny ears, everything was so clean and clear.
　　And he was very young, he looked only... seventeen? Or eighteen. In short, he seemed to be young, with phoenix eyes and thin lips, handsome and handsome. But he had been very calm since just now, and finally became a little nervous because of the Queen Mother's long silence.
　　Dong Lingjiu stared at him silently, raised his hand to take the tea brought by Ruixue, took a sip, and when he raised his eyes, he happened to meet the cautious gaze of the boy beside his knees.
　　That look seemed to be just to judge whether she was in a good mood or angry. It only met Dong Lingjiu for a moment before it hurriedly fled back, as if it had never thought of spying on the Queen Mother's thoughts.
　　He even pursed his lips and knelt straighter. The hand that was pinching the sleeve just now was completely curled up, and even the edge of the nail was not exposed. He was still
　　struggling with the cat just now.
　　After only a few breaths, the cat stopped making trouble. After being slapped, it fell into the Queen Mother's arms, limp like a glutinous rice dumpling, and the person was also out of spirit. It seemed to be a little slow and just felt afraid, as if his bold hands that caught the cat had been tortured in his mind more than a dozen times: this traitor who wanted to show off.
　　Dong Lingjiu looked him up and down at a glance and saw through everything.
　　She asked, "What's your name?" The
　　young doctor bowed his head and said, "Your Highness, Zheng Yuheng, is currently the chief physician of the Imperial Hospital. My father is Zheng Jie, the Imperial Censor in the Palace."
　　"The young master of the Zheng family." Dong Lingjiu reached out and took off the armor. "I think he is a very good doctor, otherwise why would you bring him here at such a young age?" The
　　new emperor has been on the throne for only a year, and the late emperor has been buried in the imperial mausoleum for only seven months. He is still in mourning. Originally, singing, dancing, opera, and gambling entertainment should have been banned during the national mourning period, but because of the late emperor's will, this ceremony was exempted, so that people all over the world could laugh as before, so this exception was made.
　　But in order to express her feelings for the late emperor, the empress dowager still called herself "I" instead of "this palace" during the mourning period, which was also to express her grief and in accordance with the system.
　　Zheng Yuheng was thinking about how to answer, and Liu Tong, who stood aside and watched quietly, knew that the people in power were difficult to tell whether they were happy or angry, and the dangers were in the process. He spoke at the right time. He was afraid that Zheng Yuheng was ignorant and would offend the queen, so he spoke before him: "Report to the queen mother, this boy is the disciple of the old minister, but he does not rely on the old minister, but on the family learning of the Zheng family. The late wife of Zheng Jie, the master, was the master who cured the wife of the Marquis of Nanping."
　　Liu Tong's implication was that Zheng Yuheng did have family learning, and it was not that he, as the imperial hospital, was promoting him out of favoritism.
　　Dong Lingjiu nodded slightly, but did not comment. Instead, he stretched out the hand without armor, touched the side line of Zheng Yuheng's cheek, raised his fingers and held up his face, and the two looked at each other.
　　Liu Tong was old and experienced, and he couldn't help but clench his fingers. Queen Wang, who had not been able to speak so far, took a deep breath and hurriedly drank tea to cover it up. The imperial doctors in the distance lowered their heads in a hurry, fearing that they would be implicated and blamed, or be asked to "shut up".
　　Dong Lingjiu had removed the armor, so the residual warmth on her fingers was hot, not as cold as imagined. Her hands were precious, naturally delicate and warm. Although the force was very light, it contained an irresistible oppression because it came from her, and people could almost smell the smell of power around her.
　　It was so sweet, heavy, and addictive.
　　Zheng Yuheng's Adam's apple moved slightly, and his cheek was lifted up to look at the queen mother. Until this moment, he saw the other person clearly with his own eyes - black hair like clouds, gold makeup and jade ornaments, and her luxury hid a very strange and elusive chill. He was just being watched, but he felt that this delicate and soft hand was holding his throat.
　　She only needed to nod or shake her head slightly, just a word, just move her fingers, and she could chop off other people's heads and pile more sacrifices on the sweet and bloody platform of power.
　　This pressure even exceeded her appearance, making people ignore that this noble widow actually possessed a mature beauty that was gorgeous to the point of decadence.
　　During the brief time when the two looked at each other, Zheng Yuheng felt that she must be thinking about how to retaliate against his offense and how to punish himself for being disrespectful to her cat. However, the next moment when this thought came to his mind, he immediately thought with annoyance that this was the Empress Dowager.
　　Dong Lingjiu saw through him again. She guessed the little doctor's worries and fantasies, and guessed any abnormal changes in him, but she still felt that this child was a little too pure, as clean as the tender buds that were pulled out after being rained on three times outside. If you pinch them tenderly, they will burst out with water.
　　She couldn't help laughing, let go of her hand, and slowly announced: "From now on, you and Doctor Liu will come to the Cining Palace together."
　　The author has something to say:
　　The Empress Dowager has found her new cat.