Zheng Yuheng was stunned for a moment, staring into her eyes: "What did you say?"
　　His voice had a hint of unbelief, and his tone was very light, like the lava flowing slowly under the ice. Under the calmness, wisps of white smoke and heat emerged very secretly.
　　Dong Lingjiu realized that he had misunderstood something: "Otherwise? Who else, Meng Zhen?"
　　He couldn't call Emperor Mingde by name, even though this name buried in the soil was no different from a love rival to him, no different from an opponent too strong to ignore and avoid. It was precisely because he had passed away that Zheng Yuheng had no determination to win against this imaginary enemy.
　　His breathing suddenly quickened, and he asked hurriedly: "Isn't it because... because I look a bit like the ancient saints that you favor me?"
　　Dong Lingjiu pondered, "I have heard this idea from the ministers. I don't want to clarify it because such remarks can protect you. So you think so too."
　　Zheng Yuheng's Adam's apple moved slightly, and his hands holding her waist tightened again. Their breaths were close to each other, and the slightest tremor and expression could not escape each other's eyes. He confirmed sincerely: "It's not like that, right?"
　　"Yes." Dong Lingjiu looked at him and said, "I just simply think you are very good, and it has nothing to do with other people." As
　　soon as the voice fell, Dong Lingjiu felt his breath suddenly disordered, and suddenly he picked her up horizontally in an extremely offensive way. The gold and jade decorations jingled, and her skirt poured like a stream, dangling in the air.
　　Zheng Yuheng carried her into the bed curtain, put his hand behind Dong Lingjiu's head, leaned over and pressed her down on the soft couch.
　　His body has always been young and strong, with tight muscles. In the process of transforming into a young man, the tenderness slowly faded from him, leaving behind an admirable youthful beauty. He used his body as a cage, and his fingers moved from Dong Lingjiu's wrist, crossing with her knuckles and clasping them together.
　　"...Yuheng?" she called softly.
　　Zheng Yuheng did not answer, or rather, he wanted to answer but could not make a sound immediately. Dong Lingjiu felt a little wet tear falling on his ear, with his hesitant and relieved long breath.
　　He became hoarse and said, "You just like me, right?"
　　Dong Lingjiu gently affirmed again, "Yes."
　　Zheng Yuheng pressed her down, not letting her get up, not letting her see her current appearance, but her tears fell even harder. When he was blamed and embarrassed by his biological father, when he was framed and wronged, when he was isolated and ridiculed by everyone in the Ministry of Revenue, he did not shed tears easily. For him, this was an embarrassing time, so that his empathy was very high, but he suppressed his ability to vent, and swallowed all the hidden pain in his stomach.
　　Dong Lingjiu felt it, and she waited patiently, because she knew that this was a very important thing for Zheng Yuheng.
　　After a while, Zheng Yuheng finally propped up his body a little, his eyelashes still wet, he looked at her reluctantly, and said to her: "Please say it again, I want to hear it again."
　　Dong Lingjiu reached out and touched his cheek, and said: "I have never regarded you as someone's shadow. As for the late emperor... I have no love between him and me for a long time." Zheng Yuheng nodded with
　　red eyes.
　　He lowered his head and rubbed her palm, whispering, "Please, please always like me."
　　Dong Lingjiu was not used to giving answers that she could not foresee. "Forever" and "always" were full of sweetness and hypocrisy from the moment they came out of people's mouths. Therefore, Dong Lingjiu always refused such requests. But the other party
　　was Zheng Yuheng. The eyes of the young doctor Zheng were red from crying.
　　Dong Lingjiu looked at him and thought for a while. This was not about her love for him, but about the current situation and the future. In this silence, Zheng Yuheng's expression became more and more anxious and pitiful. He really needed such a promise to satisfy his lack of security. Except for the empress
　　, his current situation was almost alone. The teacher left Kyoto, the family was ruined and split, and all his former classmates and friends abandoned him after the imperial examination case. The past was like flowing water and falling flowers, drifting away one by one.
　　Zheng Yuheng could say to himself that he didn't care about these. But at this moment, the thing he cared about most was right in front of him.
　　Dong Lingjiu replied softly, "Okay."
　　After getting the answer, Zheng Yuheng was stunned and didn't come back to his senses for a long time.
　　Dong Lingjiu had to respond to him in detail again: "Except for you, I will not consider anyone else, there is no other choice."
　　Zheng Yuheng hugged her again, buried in her shoulders and refused to let go. He was always easily controlled by her mood. With just one sentence, Zheng Yuheng could feel a great shock and emotion from it. The moment he first felt that the Queen Mother was as high as the sun and the moon, he never expected that there would be today.
　　Fate would play with gains and losses like this. In the constant losses from childhood to adulthood, he could only often comfort himself to be open-minded, but all the comfort was not as effective as her practical affirmation.
　　Zheng Yuheng even felt that if these were in exchange for his future ups and downs, then he could suffer more in order to make Dong Lingjiu like him more. After all, suffering is not comparable to falling out of favor. He really likes the Empress Dowager. She is the only person he loves from beginning to end in his life.
　　He is only nineteen years old, but he can make a firm assertion for his life. Such a secret, strong, and endurable emotion has already exhausted the enthusiasm of his remaining life. He will never arouse such joy and pain for anyone else.
　　Dong Lingjiu hugged him back and said in a very gentle tone: "Did you think so before? Am I the villain who is looking for a substitute in you?"
　　He raised his head, his voice still hoarse, and whispered: "Tan Niang is not a villain."
　　Dong Lingjiu smiled and repeated: "Tan Niang? This has gone so far." Zheng Yuheng
　　avoided her sight, but suddenly became righteous and didn't want to change his words. He just rubbed her coquettishly, kissed her fingers, and pretended to brush the matter off.
　　Dong Lingjiu did not pursue the matter and indulged him in his excessive address, and continued: "If I want to miss him, I have countless objects and poems and books to allow me to miss him. There is no need to place my hopes on another person. What's more... Zheng Yuheng is Zheng Yuheng, you are unique."
　　The young imperial physician Zheng looked at her with shining eyes: "Please say more."
　　"Uh..." Dong Lingjiu paused, "How about we stop praising him today?"
　　He fell silent, paused for a while and asked quietly: "Don't I have any other advantages to say?"
　　Dong Lingjiu deliberately teased him, pretended to frown and think hard for a while, then raised his hand and placed it lightly on his waist, turned around slowly and irresistibly, brought him to his side, and regained the initiative.
　　She said slowly, "Yes, your waist is very strong, tough and beautiful, neither showing the roughness of a man nor being too soft. It also has some special advantages."
　　Zheng Yuheng blushed, but he couldn't suppress his curiosity. As if an invisible tail was rising, he asked, "What advantages?"
　　Dong Lingjiu began to untie his belt neatly.
　　"Eh? Madam..."
　　Her grip was never strong, and the force was just right. Her skin was as delicate as jade. Even if she held him, he felt shy and sensitive.
　　Zheng Yuheng didn't dare to move. He bit his lip and wanted to do something offensive. So he rubbed against her and whispered, "I like the queen, and the queen likes me too. We are a perfect match, so we should be...hiss."
　　Dong Lingjiu pinched him.
　　Zheng Yuheng looked at her pitifully, not daring to speak nonsense, and complained in a low voice with grievance: "I'm not wrong..."
　　Dong Lingjiu said: "Then you have to take good care of your strengths, otherwise you can't serve me, I will..."
　　When she said this, she suddenly felt that she was also led astray by the other party. She paused and asked him, "Am I too obscene to say this?"
　　Zheng Yuheng had already blushed from the roots of her ears to her neck, but she still lied with her eyes open, saying seriously: "No, the Queen Mother is the most virtuous and solemn person in the world. A gentleman loves a beautiful lady, and the relationship between men and women is the most important thing in life, which is not out of the ordinary."
　　"Really?"
　　"Really." He came over, touched Dong Lingjiu's forehead, and whispered, "I'll help you go to bed."
　　...
　　Being a pure imperial physician is indeed much easier than being a low-level corrupt official. For Zheng Yuheng, accompanying the Queen Mother every day is already a comfort and rest for him.
　　It was already the twelfth lunar month, and at the end of the year, the capital was filled with the festive atmosphere of preparing for the New Year. There was a bustling flow of people and cars, and there were all kinds of food, playthings, and things to see and use.
　　It was during this bustling time that Wen Shilang, who had been quietly staying in the mansion, finally reaped the rewards. He followed the instructions of Empress Dowager Dong, and after returning from the Cining Palace, he never ran around to ask for help for his brother's affairs, nor did he visit the Ministry of Justice many times. Under his sudden calmness, the snake that had been watching the situation slowly came out of the hole. On the
　　tenth night of the twelfth lunar month in the second year of Huining, it was a north windy day. In the Wen Mansion, which was slack on the surface but full of confidants inside, the plainclothes Qilin Guards he personally invited captured an ordinary-looking middle-aged man. This man dressed as a commoner in a brown coat and short jacket, sneaked into the backyard of the Wen Mansion, and buried a wooden box in the mansion.
　　Wen Haolan came upon hearing the news, not even dressed properly. He was wearing a cloak and holding a lantern to supervise the guards in the mansion to dig out the wooden box. When the golden lock on the outside of the box was smashed, a layer of broken gold that stung the eyes was spread inside, and underneath was a pile of silver bills. The
　　silver bills of this dynasty are called "Da Yin Baochao". The amount of Baochao exchanged by gold and silver here is so huge that it can be confiscated and beheaded. Wen Haolan immediately realized that this was a ruthless frame-up. Once he relaxed his vigilance, the big fish in front of him would immediately turn into a poisonous snake that put him to death.
　　The case has been delayed until now, firstly, the Queen Mother and His Majesty have not urged him, and he relied on his reputation and status in the six ministries, so the Ministry of Justice was willing to postpone it within the permissible range, and secondly, Wen Haocheng, as the only suspect in the Ministry of Revenue, has never confessed his guilt... Once his confession changes slightly, the Wen Mansion will face the dilemma of confiscation, and these things buried in the backyard will become irrefutable evidence as long as someone "reminds" them. When
　　Wen Haolan figured this out, he felt a chill in his feet. He quickly turned around and ordered: "Tie him up, gag him and don't let him commit suicide, and send him to the government office tonight. By the way, ask how the young master in the Ministry of Justice is doing."
　　As he spoke, he rubbed his fingers vigorously, took a deep breath, clenched his teeth, and said: "I want to see who is the person who wants to kill me."
　　After saying this, Wen Haolan remembered that this was a fishing strategy hinted by the Empress Dowager. He was grateful and quickly told the servant: "After I finish my court tomorrow, I will submit a letter of thanks to the Cining Palace. If the Empress is willing to see it, I can thank the Empress Dowager in person. Go and prepare everything. ...What's the name of the most favored cat in the palace...Oh, yes, it's the Prince Zhaoye under the Queen's lap. I have to prepare some fresh and delicious fish for it, which may please the Queen even more. "
　　He paused here, thinking secretly in his heart, "This matter started from the Ministry of Revenue. It is said that the Qilin Guards were able to know about this matter so quickly based on the secret report of the new head of the Ministry of Revenue. This person may be the Queen Mother's man...I have to find a way to promote him and put him under my nose, and see clearly whether this person is clear or turbid, good or bad. "
　　Author's words:
　　Lord Wen: White cat Aiai, Prince Zhaoye, can he be loved by the Queen Mother?
　　Xiao Zheng: Aiai is soft, but he is spoiled and willful, not worthy of favor.
　　Lord Wen: General Geng Zhe, who is both civil and military, can he be loved by the Queen Mother?
　　Xiao Zheng: He is brave and reckless, has no feelings/interests, and is not worthy of favor.
　　Lord Wen: Assistant Minister Wei Shuman, gentle and elegant, with great talent.
　　Xiao Zheng: He also has a wife and children, he is not perfect, why should we be afraid of him.
　　Lord Wen: What about Xu Xiang, Xuan Jingyun and others?
　　Xiao Zheng: They are all people who cannot serve in bed.
　　Lord Wen: Apart from them, I really don’t know.
　　Xiao Zheng (tail raised): I am the only one favored by the Queen Mother now.
　　(Adapted from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Discussing Heroes over Wine")