She seemed to want to drink some tea, and when she saw him in the air, she put it down again, looked Zheng Yuheng up and down, and stopped her sight on his forehead. She didn't ask why in a hurry, but just whispered: "Does it hurt?"
　　Zheng Yuheng's eyes were hot, and he tried his best to bear it back, but his skin was very thin, and the corners of his eyes and the tip of his nose showed signs of endurance. His voice paused briefly, and he spoke quickly: "It doesn't hurt."
　　Dong Lingjiu nodded and called a female doctor: "Cui Ling."
　　The female doctor named Cui Ling stepped forward from the side. She had been helping Zheng Yuheng for several months and was very familiar with the young doctor Zheng. She was also skilled in medicine and careful.
　　"Take the doctor to the East Warm Pavilion to treat the wound."
　　Cui Ling bowed her head and said yes.
　　Zheng Yuheng was panicked at this time. He realized that he was impulsive and reckless, and might have caused trouble for the queen.
　　But if it happened again, he would still do it. People can tolerate things and cannot tolerate things. If he could tolerate that, he would not be Zheng Yuheng.
　　Dong Lingjiu put the tea on the table and lost her appetite. She waited for a while, and was escorted to her by He Yun, who was tied up. Several eunuchs pressed him to the ground.
　　He was beaten so badly that his face was swollen and disfigured that Dong Lingjiu did not recognize him at first sight. She first confirmed the identity of the little eunuch, and then, in a rare confusion, glanced in the direction where Zheng Yuheng left.
　　...Does this child have such great strength?
　　He was a civil servant in the examination, right?
　　He Yun was wailing on the ground. Xuan Jingyun, who came over after hearing the news, kicked him and said, "Why don't you pay your respects to the Empress?"
　　The little eunuch fell to the ground as if his bones were broken. He kowtowed and wailed, "Please forgive the Empress Dowager, please show mercy."
　　Dong Lingjiu said, "The voice sounds familiar. Have you served the emperor before?"
　　He Yun seemed to have grabbed a life-saving straw and hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, I am Shang Daban's servant and have guarded the gate of Guiyuan Palace!"
　　Dong Lingjiu said to Xuan Jingyun, "Call Shang Kai."
　　Xuan Jingyun agreed. Not long after, Shang Daban hurried over. He hadn't changed his palace uniform yet and was sweating all over his head. When he arrived at the Cining Palace, he bowed, "I wish the Empress Dowager Kun's good health."
　　Dong Lingjiu glanced at him and said, "Please take a seat."
　　Ruixue brought a chair and personally asked Shang Kai to sit down. Shang Kai refused again and again, but he couldn't refuse in the end. Sweat was pouring down his face.
　　Before Shang Kai sat down, he heard the Queen Mother say, "A eunuch from Guiyuan Palace went to Cining Palace to argue and fight with the imperial physician who was accompanying him, and even injured an official appointed by the court."
　　She stopped here and asked casually, "According to Shang Daban's opinion, how should we deal with it?"
　　Shang Kai was about to stand up and answer, but his shoulder was pressed down by Aunt Ruixue, and he did not stand up, but sat back on the chair. His butt felt like it was on fire, but he did not dare to neglect it, so he could only reply quickly, "Reply to the Queen Mother, according to the palace rules, he will be caned 80 times and expelled from the palace. In serious
　　cases, he can be caned to death." He was also cursing in his heart. This useless thing, even if he couldn't persuade him, shouldn't make such a big fuss. How can His Majesty trust him more? How can he not be beaten to death? There is no evidence.
　　"Okay." Dong Lingjiu said, "Drag him out, let's start."
　　She lowered her eyes, without even looking at the eunuch who was dragged out, but stretched out her hand and beckoned the white cat next to her to come up. Ai Ai tilted her head, wagged her tail, and jumped lightly to occupy the most comfortable position in Dong Lingjiu's arms.
　　The howling outside the palace was sometimes louder and sometimes weaker.
　　Inside the palace, Shang Kai's lips were slightly pale, and he showed a respectful smile on his face. He apologized: "I didn't control them well and disturbed the queen, but this matter..."
　　He paused cleverly and waited for Dong Lingjiu to ask, but the queen mother just stroked the cat and ignored him. He had to continue awkwardly: "Your Majesty also knows."
　　Dong Lingjiu smiled and asked casually: "The emperor asked the eunuchs to beat the imperial physician?"
　　Shang Kai's heart was in his throat: "It was this bastard who failed His Majesty. Our Majesty was thinking about the queen, and was afraid that the imperial physician Zheng who served day and night had bad intentions. The old servant asked someone to test the heart of the imperial physician Zheng and carefully planned for the queen. Who knew that the person he chose was such a bad person... Oh, my eyes are really blurry."
　　Dong Lingjiu looked at him quietly.
　　In this calm sight, Shang Kai was very sensitive to feel a slight chill from her eyes.
　　Dong Lingjiu said: "It seems that I have no reason to punish you. You are following the emperor's order."
　　Shang Kai bowed his head and flattered a few words.
　　Dong Lingjiu's hand brushed over the snowy back, and the cat comfortably softened on his knees and shook his ears.
　　"You are the emperor's great companion, different from others." She said, "After the late emperor ascended the throne, he dealt with a group of eunuchs who were in chaos, including the old eunuch Zhou who coaxed the late emperor to grow up. Do you still remember his fate when the eunuchs were eradicated?"
　　The smile on Shang Kai's face froze, as if he was on a thorn in his back, and he had to reply: "The evil eunuch was executed by slow slicing."
　　"Yes." Dong Lingjiu smiled at him, "It's a pity that Cheng'er is different from his father. He is soft-hearted and loyal. If you died, he would suffer for a long time. As a son of heaven, he actually gave you such a great honor."
　　This sentence was extremely relaxed, and the sunlight outside poured into the hall, full of dazzling golden light. But in this hot summer, Shang Kai felt as if he was in the coldest winter: "I am only thinking about-"
　　"Use the emperor as an excuse again," Dong Lingjiu glared at him, "I will peel off your skin."
　　Shang Kai swallowed his words suddenly, knelt down with a plop, and knocked his head to the ground, not daring to say anything.
　　Dong Lingjiu then drank a sip of tea to moisten his throat. At this time, the screams outside stopped. Xuan Jingyun was chilled by blood. Before entering the palace gate of Cining Palace, he bowed outside the threshold and said: "Your Majesty, the caning is over."
　　Dong Lingjiu said: "I know, kneel down."
　　She said this to Xuan Jingyun and Shang Kai.
　　Shang Kai did not dare to look up at first, until a maid moved the chair away, he raised his face slightly, and saw that the Empress Dowager had stood up and left. He breathed a sigh of relief, kept his back bent, and left Cining Palace.
　　When he walked out of the palace, Shang Kai saw the blood under the punishment bench outside. His heart sank, and he only hoped that He Yun could not bear the torture and die quickly, so as not to implicate him. He was even more angry that this man was so useless that he could not even handle such a small matter.
　　When Shang Kai walked over, he ran into Xuan Jingyun in front. Xuan Jingyun deliberately slowed down his pace, and when he came forward, he bowed and saluted: "Seal holder."
　　Shang Kai did not accept this salute as usual, but turned sideways to avoid it, and his words were very restrained: "Xuan Duzhi."
　　Xuan Jingyun said: "Seal holder, you are polite. It seems that I am not reliable in my work. I was beaten too lightly in the rear province. This young eunuch is so forgetful that he dares to touch the affairs of Doctor Zheng." As
　　he spoke, he looked him up and down.
　　Shang Kai pulled the corner of his mouth with a forced smile, and the sweat on his back had dried up: "Oh, what kind of master is that? He is like gold and jade, and you must pay with your life if you touch it?"
　　Xuan Jingyun knew that he was testing Zheng Yuheng's position in the Cining Palace, and said vaguely: "The Queen is a person of gold and jade. If you are disrespectful, you will pay with your life. Doctor Zheng serves the Queen, so he is naturally blessed by the Queen Mother."
　　Shang Kai laughed, turned a corner, and was about to return to the Yuan Palace, but Xuan Jingyun on the side suddenly said: "Raised him for five or six years, called godfather and godson, even a dog would be tamed."
　　Shang Kai turned his back to him and laughed: "Since there are people like your majesty and the Queen who are as precious as gold and jade, there are also cheap lives that rot in the mud. Xuan Duzhi, you should count your good days and live slowly!"
　　He walked away without waiting for Xuan Jingyun to reply.
　　...
　　The East Warm Pavilion of the Cining Palace.
　　The room was cleaned up, and there was a smell of medicine. Cui Ling had just stopped his bleeding and stood beside him to prepare the ointment. The silver stick in his hand had been turning for a while, and his shoulder was gently pushed.
　　She raised her head and saw that it was Aunt Ruixue who came in with the Empress Dowager. Just as she was about to greet them, she saw Ruixue put her finger between her lips, so she quickly kept silent.
　　Dong Lingjiu's eyes passed through her and saw Zheng Yuheng sitting on a chair facing the door. He was not very energetic, exuding a depressed atmosphere, with his head down, and he didn't know what he was thinking.
　　The stirring sound stopped, and Zheng Yuheng's thoughts were pulled back a little: "Madam Cui, I will apply the medicine myself."
　　He raised his eyes, but it was not Madam Cui. Instead, he saw dense gold threads woven into auspicious cloud patterns, and complex patterns attached to the silk. An armored hand lifted his cheek, and the fingertips rested on his chin.
　　Dong Lingjiu lifted his cheek and looked at it carefully: "It's okay."
　　Zheng Yuheng was stunned for a long time, and his dark pupils trembled slightly. He couldn't help asking: "Madam..."
　　"I said your face is okay." Dong Lingjiu said lightly, "It doesn't hurt your eyes either." Is
　　his face so important? Zheng Yuheng thought a little frustrated.
　　This subtle change in expression could not escape Dong Lingjiu's eyes. Her mood was obviously not very bright, but seeing him so annoyed, so guilty, with a tangled and depressed face, she felt strangely relaxed and thought it was very interesting and cute.
　　Dong Lingjiu said, "You can go out first."
　　The two female officials bowed their heads and left.
　　The door of the East Warm Pavilion was closed by the snow, and the pearls and jade on the armor were cold against the skin.
　　Zheng Yuheng suddenly felt an urgent sense of crisis.
　　His heart was beating, his brain was working rapidly for this sense of crisis, and he was studying countermeasures. At the same time, he thought awkwardly that as a man, he actually had this sense of crisis of being forced, and the other party was the Empress Dowager. This... This is too shameless.
　　Zheng Yuheng was thin-skinned, but he always blushed from his ears, then his neck, and finally his face. So even if his ears were burning, the little doctor Zheng on the surface still kept a quiet and reserved attitude, and looked away, not looking at Dong Lingjiu.
　　The Queen Mother loosened her hand and took off the armor.
　　Zheng Yuheng became even more nervous.
　　She's not going to do anything to me, is she? The young doctor was thinking intensively, his youth and inexperience exposed, his expression kept changing, and he couldn't keep his composure at all.
　　The armor inlaid with jade was placed on the table, making a soft "ding" sound. Her warm hand fell on the left side of his cheek and held his face.
　　Zheng Yuheng's heart was beating so fast that it was about to jump out.
　　Will she bow her head? Will the Queen Mother bow her head for... for intimacy with someone? ...Should I resist? Chaste and virtuous men?
　　Zheng Yuheng's mind was filled with many male favorites and concubines in history, all of whom were traitors, without exception.
　　Although the young doctor thought so much in his mind, it was actually only a few short breaths. Just when he was stiff and was about to stick to his bottom line and refuse to obey, the cool and hot ointment was applied to the wound on his forehead.
　　Zheng Yuheng almost cried out in pain, and then he raised his eyelashes to take a look.
　　Dong Lingjiu was applying medicine to him personally.
　　This face was mature and beautiful to the point of being dazzling, like a peony that had bloomed to its final flowering period. As long as you get close, you can smell the strong fragrance that has reached the top and is about to decay. But even if this peony only has one last day on the branch, it seems that it will always stay on the branch upright.
　　Wanting to pick her is an unforgivable sin.
　　The years have not left festering scars on her body, but have accelerated this fragrance to the extreme.
　　Even if everyone can see at a glance that Empress Dowager Dong is no longer young, they cannot regard the prime of youth as their capital. On the contrary, the more inexperienced people are, the more childish, clumsy, and ashamed they will feel in front of her.
　　Zheng Yuheng was almost ashamed of his immaturity.
　　At this moment, the hand that applied medicine to him suddenly became heavy. The young doctor suddenly woke up and took a breath of cool air.
　　Dong Lingjiu retracted his finger and gave him an ambiguous look: "Are you distracted?"