In mid-August, a chill of late autumn swept across the imperial city.
　　Dong Lingjiu personally supervised and watched Zheng Yuheng recover from his injuries. During this period, the Empress Dowager's closeness to the young doctor Zheng was limited to caressing and hugging. She also did not allow him to do anything that might involve his injuries.
　　This was the Empress Dowager's mercy on him. She was always so careful and gentle.
　　During this period, the emperor and him only had very vague confrontations. Even though the two had some unacceptable edges, when they were with Dong Lingjiu, these confrontations were covered and extinguished by the cold wind.
　　More often, it was Zheng Yuheng who took the initiative to give in so that His Majesty would not get angry, and only then was the current situation maintained.
　　In the autumn, Wei Que, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, came to the palace for an audience.
　　He stopped outside the pearl curtain, his expression respectful: "...This is roughly the news reported by Fuzhou. The local governor has already opened the granaries to release grain. Although Your Majesty has exempted this year's taxes, there are still more refugees due to the famine and relief is needed. Please give your instructions."
　　Dong Lingjiu flipped through the documents on the table: "The autumn harvest is the time we fear the most. Although it is a disaster in one state, we can use the granaries of several neighboring states for relief. There will be no one in the local area who does not gossip, or they will fabricate some difficulties and ask for grain from the national treasury. Even if it is allocated from the national treasury, there are not many people who are honest enough not to be greedy... To release the grain, we have to choose an imperial envoy, otherwise the money will not reach the hands of the people."
　　She changed her sitting position and said, "What did the emperor say during the court meeting?"
　　Wei Que said, "Your Majesty has approved the release of grain from several neighboring states, and allocated it from the national treasury to relieve the victims."
　　"Where is the imperial envoy?" Dong Lingjiu asked.
　　"Your Majesty hasn't mentioned it yet. The six departments have discussed it for several rounds, but nothing has been decided yet."
　　Dong Lingjiu nodded and said, "Minister Xu has restrained himself a lot recently. Land, household registration, taxes, and appeasing refugees... these are all his responsibilities, but although this person is talented, he has no literary talent. He will not take on such a job."
　　Wei Que said, "The old ministers are old and tired from the long journey, so it's normal for them to not want to go to the south."
　　Dong Lingjiu glanced at him and said, "Who do you think is suitable, Wei Qing?"
　　Wei Que folded his sleeves and bowed, bowed his head and said respectfully, "Your humble servant is willing to share your worries."
　　Dong Lingjiu looked at him in surprise: "Wei Shuman, this is not a good job. If you want to take bribes and kickbacks from the locals and join forces with them to defraud the country's relief money and grain, I will exterminate your three clans."
　　Her words were light and mostly meant to intimidate. Dong Lingjiu has not received the imperial decree to exterminate the three clans. Even when they rebelled and plotted treason, she only proposed the execution of the entire family. Emperor Mingde would sometimes tell her that Tan Niang had a kind temperament since she was young, but she did not eat vegetarian food and never chanted Buddhist scriptures. That trace of Buddha nature only remained in her from time to time.
　　But more often, she was still a cruel ruler.
　　Wei Que, whose courtesy name was Shuman. Hearing that the Empress Dowager called him by his courtesy name, he was quite flattered and replied, "I will not give Your Majesty the opportunity to impose such a severe punishment. I will do my best."
　　Dong Lingjiu smiled when he heard this and shook his head, saying, "What is it for?"
　　Wei Que said, "My ancestral home is in Fuzhou. I have many relatives in my hometown in Fuzhou. Since I heard about the famine and chaos, my family has been worried about them day and night, so..."
　　Dong Lingjiu understood and said, "If we let other people go, do you doubt their sincerity in serving the people?"
　　Wei Que said, "I dare not."
　　Dong Lingjiu said, "In that case, I can let you go. But the Ministry of Revenue also needs someone to assist you. You must listen to their advice, lest you do not understand the relief and cause trouble instead. "
　　Wei Que was delighted and bowed his head to salute: "I kowtow to thank the queen for her kindness."
　　Dong Lingjiu exempted him from the salute, and before Wei Que could leave, she remembered something else: "Your wife... I heard the queen mentioned a few days ago that she is five months pregnant?"
　　Wei Que replied: "Yes, thank you for your concern, the queen mother."
　　Queen Wang and Wei Que's wife, according to their relationship, are cousins. Queen Wang has always wanted her cousin to come to the palace to take care of the baby. It happened that Wei Que took the responsibility of an imperial envoy and traveled to Fuzhou. This would not only prevent Mrs. Wei from being harassed by the elders of her husband's family, but also put his mind at ease.
　　Dong Lingjiu briefly mentioned this matter, and Wei Shilang agreed without hesitation and thanked her again and again.
　　After the meeting, Wei Que was sent out of the Cining Palace. Dong Lingjiu also drank a sip of tea, leaned back in the chair, and let Ruixue massage her shoulders. She closed her eyes for a while and felt the force on her shoulders change slightly. She didn't even need to look to know that it was the young doctor Zheng who came up.
　　Zheng Yuheng's hands were very strong. I don't know why. He was young and talented, but he seemed to be born strong. He was thin, but he was a person who could not be defeated. Dong Lingjiu suspected that if he had been a military officer and served as a general under General Geng, he would probably be a Confucian general who was familiar with the art of war... Maybe he would be on par with the prince.
　　But in this way, his hands would not be so slender, white and beautiful.
　　Dong Lingjiu thought of this and felt that he also had some bad habits of "judging people by appearance". He couldn't help but reflect on himself while smiling silently. He raised his hand and pressed his fingertips, and said softly: "Are you fully healed?"
　　Zheng Yuheng said: "This is the fourth time the Queen Mother has asked this month."
　　Dong Lingjiu raised his eyebrows: "Have I asked so many times?"
　　He nodded behind the Queen Mother, and said: "Every time I answered that I have recovered from my injuries, the Queen Mother didn't believe it."
　　Dong Lingjiu said: "That's because you are too arrogant. When you shouldn't fight with others, you fight with others, and when you should recuperate, you fight without thinking about your own life."
　　Zheng Yuheng couldn't refute it. He paused and gently pushed away the hairpin that hung on her neck. He whispered: "This is my nature. Didn't the Queen know it all the time?"
　　Dong Lingjiu turned his head and glanced at him.
　　When he said this, he felt that the dagger was revealed. She nodded to her side, and Zheng Yuheng came around knowingly.
　　Dong Lingjiu put her hand on his cheek and sighed softly, "Yes, this is Heng'er's nature. Mencius said that wealth and honor cannot corrupt, poverty and humbleness cannot move, and power and force cannot bend... You are still young, and I hope you can keep such beautiful qualities for a little longer."
　　For some reason, Zheng Yuheng heard a sense of "no expectations" in her words, as if there would be no disappointment if there were no expectations. So even if Zheng Yuheng would lose such qualities one day, she would not blame him.
　　His desire for Dong Lingjiu was suppressed to a very low level during the cleansing and self-reflection during these days. Such a peaceful time made him feel a sense of peace of mind.
　　But his need for "touching" was so strong that it could not be ignored, and even Zheng Yuheng himself could feel that something was wrong.
　　He reached out and pressed Dong Lingjiu's wrist, gently rubbed her palm, and said, "Sometimes I really don't understand you."
　　Dong Lingjiu supported her chin with a gentle smile on her lips, and said softly, "Tell me."
　　Zheng Yuheng said bluntly, "Although you have been inseparable from me these days, your behavior is distant, mostly out of emotion and restrained by etiquette, as if you have lost interest in... me."
　　He didn't want to say "in my body", this description was too disrespectful, and it almost had a scent of eroticism.
　　"I originally thought that you distanced yourself from me because of the rift between me and His Majesty the Emperor, and that you thought I was so arrogant and deliberately causing trouble. But you are still as warm and compassionate as before, and I can't see any signs of anger at all..."
　　Dong Lingjiu listened quietly and saw many signs of thinking in his expression.
　　"So these days, I have been wondering why you are so distant. You clearly see my nature very clearly, and you don't hate me."
　　He paused, and then said, "On the contrary, I... always have some offensive and dirty thoughts."
　　"That's not dirty." Dong Lingjiu finally spoke, "There are emotions that start from emotions and end with etiquette, and there are also food, sex, and men and women, which are the greatest desires of human beings. As long as you are pure and yearning, it is not a dirty thing. As for defilement, it is even more wrong."
　　She did not explain why it was wrong, her fingertips slid down and stroked the back of his neck, her posture was very much like rubbing a docile cat: "Yuheng, I just want to remind you that no matter how young your body is--"
　　Her hand slid down and almost went into the collar. The Queen Mother laughed a few times, with a little teasing: "You can't waste it like this, you should heal your injuries when you need to, and rest when you need to, otherwise you will be ignorant."
　　Zheng Yuheng was stunned. He didn't expect it to be such a simple reason.
　　"Moreover," Dong Lingjiu said, "not only have you not married, but because of the discord in your family, you haven't even had a maidservant - never mind how I know this. If I really soiled someone, it's you I soiled, right?"
　　Zheng Yuheng didn't react for a long time, hesitating: "Your Majesty..."
　　"Doctor Zheng, didn't you tell me to take care of your body and think about the future?" Dong Lingjiu asked him with a smile, "Why don't you care about yourself? Do you still want to have a future with me like this?"
　　As she spoke, she casually pulled her hand back, but failed to take it back in one go, and was subconsciously grasped by Zheng Yuheng. He tightened his palm at first, and then suddenly relaxed his strength.
　　The young doctor's Adam's apple moved slightly, and he got close to her, without deliberately showing off, and already had a kind of immature and pitiful: "I will change."
　　Dong Lingjiu pulled his hand back again.
　　Zheng Yuheng held it tighter, and was at a loss. After a long while, he couldn't help but reiterate in a low voice: "I will really change, and I will never act on my own again."
　　His Adam's apple moved slightly, and he said: "Please don't abandon me..."
　　Dong Lingjiu also softened her heart. She was tolerant, not to mention his expression and sincerity. Thinking of the word sincerity, she couldn't help but remember that stupid son and her ex-husband who died early.
　　Dong Lingjiu whispered: "Even if I am not here, you have to learn to cherish yourself. Do you understand?"
　　Zheng Yuheng looked into her eyes, nodded, and thought, the person who cherishes me the most in this world is you.
　　As for the assumption of "without her", it can't appear in Zheng Yuheng's life at all. He can't allow the moonlight falling on him to disappear, and can't allow anyone to make him leave Dong Lingjiu.
　　Dong Lingjiu knew that he was a little scared, probably because he was afraid that she would abandon him like his relatives, so she held his fingers and comforted him softly. At this time, a female doctor came forward to deliver the boiled medicine, and first handed it to Zheng Taiyi for verification.
　　Zheng Yuheng took the medicine bowl, verified the smell and the use of the medicine, then blew the medicine spoon to cool it down, and served the Queen Mother to take the medicine.
　　Dong Lingjiu joked with him: "You were so fancy when you served the wine that day, but today I have enlightened you, why are you so formal all of a sudden?"
　　She was actually thinking that this medicine was extremely bitter, and Zheng Yuheng could not tolerate bitterness on weekdays. It was definitely a tangled embarrassment for him to serve the medicine with his lips. Unexpectedly,
　　the little doctor just blushed, glanced at the medicine bowl, and drank a mouthful directly. His brows frowned tightly in an instant, and he endured the bitterness with great difficulty.
　　Dong Lingjiu was surprised, and only had time to say: "You——"
　　and then she was also bitter.
　　She usually let the medicine cool down and then drank it all in one gulp. When has it ever been so bitter, it was so sour and bitter to the root of the tongue. However, Zheng Yuheng was passionate and resolute. Her hand holding the medicine bowl was still steady, not a single drop spilled. She didn't know why her tongue was so flexible.
　　Dong Lingjiu's tongue was numb, but he was still so unbridled, as if he had lost his sense of taste.
　　She bit down.
　　Zheng Yuheng hissed, shrank back pitifully, her dark eyes moist, accusing: "My queen..."
　　Dong Lingjiu coughed in pain. She covered her lips, kicked him, and said angrily: "Kneel down."
　　Zheng Yuheng was silent for a moment, then knelt down slowly: "..."
　　There was still a sweet and fishy taste in his mouth from being bitten...
　　Dong Lingjiu was rarely so angry that she was so lively and fragrant. Her red lips were bright red, and she was extremely beautiful. She pointed at the bowl of medicine in Zheng Yuheng's hand, unable to speak, and suddenly stood up and left.
　　Zheng Yuheng looked at her longingly as she walked away in a huff. He lowered his head in grievance to reflect, but his hands were empty. He saw Aunt Ruixue take the medicine bowl from his hand, with a very complicated look in her eyes, wanting to say something but stopping.
　　Ruixue sorted out her words for a long time, and finally said, "Master Zheng is really a strange man."
　　Zheng Yuheng: "...I..."
　　Aunt Ruixue said, "You can actually annoy the Queen Mother. I have served in the palace for fifteen years, and I have only seen the Queen Mother lose her temper because of her emotions a few times...The Queen Mother is such an introverted person, but Doctor Zheng can actually be so angry..."
　　She left in disbelief.
　　Zheng Yuheng: "..."
　　Can, can you do it again? ...Give me a chance?