Zheng Yuheng lowered his eyes quickly as if he was exposed for his guilt.
　　He said, "I was wrong, please don't be angry, Your Majesty."
　　Thanks to the harsh and extreme family environment since childhood, the young doctor Zheng was forced to admit his mistakes many times, but in front of the Empress Dowager, he admitted his mistakes sincerely.
　　Dong Lingjiu stared at the wound on his forehead and whispered, "Where is the mistake? Tell me."
　　Zheng Yuheng didn't know for a moment whether she was asking about the wound or the distraction just now. He hesitated for a moment and said, "I shouldn't have beaten the eunuchs in the inner court, causing such a big commotion and disturbing your rest..."
　　When he said this, he felt very guilty and lowered his voice: "I have caused trouble for Your Majesty."
　　Dong Lingjiu didn't answer. She put away the ointment, took out a handkerchief to wipe her hands, and asked him, "Did that man insult you?"
　　This is the direction everyone guessed. Zheng Yuheng was born into a family of scholars and poets. He was promoted to serve the inner court and spent most of his time in the Cining Palace. He was favored by the Empress Dowager. Others could not help but speculate and criticize him. The
　　young doctor Zheng was still young, and it was normal for him to be uncomfortable with such insults. It was worth his anger.
　　However, what surprised Dong Lingjiu was that Zheng Yuheng shook his head.
　　Since he was not insulted, what kind of conversation could make Zheng Yuheng, who was always gentle, respectful, and polite, lose his composure? Even Dong Lingjiu could not think of the answer. She said, "Then what are you doing for..."
　　Zheng Yuheng did not know how to describe his anger at the time, so he could only say, "This person... was disrespectful to the Empress."
　　"Disrespectful to me?" Dong Lingjiu repeated, smiling, "There are many people in the world who curse me behind my back."
　　As early as when Meng Zhen was seriously ill and she issued the imperial edict on his behalf, there were a lot of hen-crowing-at-dawn proclamations, and the pile was half a person high. A "fearless" court official would stand up at any time, worried that she had the ambition to usurp the throne and be disloyal, and almost all the crimes of women who had brought disaster to the country in history were imposed on her alone. On the surface, they were righteous and scolded her to pieces.
　　Under such heavy pressure, Dong Lingjiu was still able to suppress the criticism, manage the internal and external affairs in an orderly manner, and make the people prosperous and the world peaceful. He would not care about these rumors and accusations now.
　　"How can that be?"
　　But Zheng Yuheng couldn't listen. He raised his head suddenly, his eyes were clear, and there was even a hint of seriousness. "Some people don't understand your painstaking efforts at all. Even if my words offend the current saint and I risk a great crime, I still think that Great Yin can be without an emperor, but it cannot be without a queen mother."
　　Dong Lingjiu did not accuse him of being disrespectful to the emperor, but listened attentively with a serious expression.
　　Zheng Yuheng was moved by her gesture, and this courage continued: "This is also the reason why I don't want to leave you. If the queen is ill, I can't serve you, then... I will regret it to death."
　　The second half of his sentence was a little bit of Zheng Yuheng's own emotions.
　　Dong Lingjiu reached out and touched his face.
　　She touched him comfortingly, her fingertips pressed against Zheng Yuheng's ears, and gently stopped there. At a certain moment of lightning and lightning, Zheng Yuheng suddenly felt that the touch at this time was not comfort, but a deeper and more gentle meaning.
　　But he couldn't understand it for the time being.
　　Dong Lingjiu whispered: "I haven't finished my words. There are too many people who secretly wish I would die early. I am really in their way when I am alive. But what are those people? Are they worthy of you getting hurt and bleeding?" Zheng Yuheng's Adam's apple rolled
　　, and he lowered his eyes, revealing a meek and gullible expression. But his hands were clenched on the corners of his clothes, and his finger bones were tense, which showed that his heart was not calm.
　　Dong Lingjiu liked his obedience very much. She reached out her hand and covered the back of the hand of the young doctor Zheng with her wide sleeves. At the moment when her palms touched the back of his hands, she clearly felt Zheng Yuheng's fingers twitching.
　　His hands were very cold.
　　Young men often have a strong temper, but he was not like that. He was frost-shaped and snow-sculpted, with a clear and lonely coolness. On the contrary, Dong Lingjiu was weak and never wore thin clothes, so he kept his body warm and his palms were warm and soft.
　　"Your Majesty..." Zheng Yuheng paused, pursed his lips, and lowered his eyes completely, not daring to look Dong Lingjiu in the eye.
　　He seemed to be struggling.
　　Dong Lingjiu admired his expression a little, but then felt that it was not good to treat such a pure child like this, so he lowered his head slightly and said in a gentle voice: "Your heart for me is just the heart for the country and the people?"
　　Zheng Yuheng bit his lip and dared not answer.
　　It was only one of his hands that was covered, but it seemed as if his whole body and soul were held in her palm, like a kite in her hand. This ambiguous, vague, and sometimes strange relationship was the thread connecting him and the Queen Mother.
　　"For the Queen Mother's heart, whether it is for the country or the people, I am... willing to die."
　　He could only say this, his tone was dry, as if there was really no other way to answer, showing a pale sincerity.
　　Dong Lingjiu didn't want to push him too hard, so he didn't continue to ask, but said: "Don't fight with others easily in the future. It's painful to see if you get hurt or broken."
　　Zheng Yuheng said: "Yes."
　　He lowered his eyes and kept quietly looking at the hand of the Queen Mother covering the back of his hand. Even though he had seen it many times, he always stared at it absent-mindedly, thinking in his heart: "Even if I behaved intimately with the Queen Mother, she treated me... treated me very well. As long as I stick to the bottom line of being a minister, I will have a clear conscience... no..." After
　　thinking for a long time, the word after the word "no" didn't pop out. The tassels on Dong Lingjiu's hair rustled beside her ears. She was a little tired, so she sat with Zheng Yuheng and held him gently with her hands, using it as a support for a nap.
　　She closed her eyes and silently soothed her spirit. The strange fragrance was extremely lingering.
　　Zheng Yuheng forgot all the previous words. He looked at her in a daze, motionlessly acting as an object and toy in her hand, supporting her temporary residence.
　　I have a guilty conscience.
　　He muttered to himself in his heart.
　　...
　　In the summer of the second year of Huining, at the end of June, the prince of Lin'an returned to Beijing.
　　This time, the prince of Lin'an Palace was married by imperial decree, so he was able to return to Beijing to meet Mu Xuehua. At the same time, Princess Zhaoyang Meng Zhaiyue was also able to successfully divorce her husband.
　　The princess's husband was sued in court by his mistress who lived in Changping Street. In addition, the censor specifically reported him. He had no room for bargaining. Not only did he divorce the princess, but he also became the one who was reviled and despised in this short relationship. In addition, the career of this number one scholar was doomed to be bumpy.
　　Princess Zhaoyang successfully divorced. She knew that her mother had helped her. She was in a very good mood these days. It happened that her second cousin returned to Beijing to get married, so she held a banquet early and entertained the princess in the princess's mansion to welcome her second cousin.
　　Meng Shen returned from the army with a more polished and slightly restrained temperament. He went to the banquet with his mother. Before he went to his in-laws' house, he met this sister first.
　　The princess was naturally a daughter of a rich family, plump and delicate. Her complexion was visibly good, and she joked to her second cousin: "My cousin is so much older than me, it's a pity that Yingying's marriage failed, but my cousin's good fortune is coming."
　　Meng Shen said: "I was stopped by Your Highness just after entering the capital. I should go to the palace immediately to thank the Queen Mother for her grace."
　　"What's the point of the king coming and the minister going," the princess waved her hand, and in front of her was a stream of wine flowing. Not far away, in the corridor, there sat two Pingtan artists from Suzhou, one male and one female, with rosy cheeks and green hair, speaking in a soft Wu dialect. The tune was so soft that it could linger in the air for three days. She supported her face and listened for a while, "My second cousin has been training in the army for so many years, and my mother misses him very much. If he becomes thin and tanned due to hunger, wouldn't my mother feel uncomfortable? Yingying has to check on my mother first."
　　Mu Xuehua said: "Your Highness Yingying doesn't know what kind of temper he has . "You are so old-fashioned. Let him go."
　　Meng Zhaiyue nodded first, then shook her head: "I also want to go to the palace to visit my mother. Why don't I go with my cousin?"
　　Princess Lin'an had no objection and said with a smile: "That's great. I'm not afraid that your cousin will be reckless and break the palace rules."
　　The relationship between the cousins ​​was relatively pure, because Meng Zhaiyue was not the heir of Dayin, and there was no need to be too wary of these relatives. So after noon, they agreed to go to the palace together to pay respects to the empress dowager.
　　However, after entering the palace, Meng Zhaiyue was in a playful mood. Seeing a few butterflies in the flowers, it seemed that it was not far from the Cining Palace. She forgot about Meng Shen and asked the eunuchs to lead the prince there. She went to catch butterflies, saying, "Second cousin, go first. I will catch a butterfly for my mother to make her happy. I will come later."
　　Meng Shen was as his name suggested. He knew that the princess was late, which was excusable. However, he was different from her in status and could not delay the time of paying respects and leaving the palace, so he agreed.
　　Because butterflies are difficult to catch, it would be bad if there were too many people. Meng Zhaiyue asked the maids and eunuchs to wait far away and went straight into the depths of the flowers.
　　In the midsummer, the fragrance of flowers filled her nose. She stared at a faint blue butterfly intently. She tried several times but failed. The sweat slightly penetrated her thin shirt. When the butterfly landed on a blue stone, she quietly approached and the round fan in her hand caught the butterfly like the wind.
　　As soon as Meng Zhaiyue smiled, a blue butterfly slipped out from the gap of the round fan. She raised her head anxiously and saw that the butterfly did not fly away, but landed on a dark blue shirt, and the other party seemed to be about to salute her.
　　"Don't move!" She shouted to stop the salute, carefully reached out her hand, and caught the butterfly from his shoulder. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief and raised her eyes to see a man dressed in the uniform of an inner court eunuch.
　　Xu Xiang bowed his head to salute her.
　　Meng Zhaiyue was stunned at just a quick glance. She recalled the scenery just now, and suddenly said: "No need to salute, stand up."
　　He raised his head and stood up.
　　The princess looked at his face for a long time without saying anything. After a short while, she took two steps, quietly leaned against his side, pressed the eunuch's shoulder, and whispered: "Which palace are you from? I'll ask the head to take you out, and you can go to the princess's mansion to serve, okay? I... I'm short of manpower... By the way, this matter must not be known to the Cining Palace. This palace... Well, this palace appreciates you very much."
　　She said it shyly and her face blushed.
　　Xu Xiang looked at her deeply and said respectfully: "I am Xu Xiang, the governor of the rear province, and I am also the scribe of the inner prison."
　　Xu Xiang... The scribe of the inner prison...
　　Meng Zhaiyue looked at the road very close to the Cining Palace, and then looked at the roll of documents in his hand. The legendary iron-faced and ruthless judge emerged in her mind, who was said to have the power of interrogation in the inner court for her mother.
　　Her heart trembled, and she took a step back: "Ahem... I was just joking..."
　　As she spoke, her fingers loosened, and the butterfly flew away.