The Lucky Farmgirl-Chapter 1990 - 1965: Audience with the Emperor

The Emperor met with Old Master Bai and his wife at the Taiji Hall, naturally not using the pretext of discussing marriage proposals, but rather fabricating an excuse.

The Emperor said he hasn’t visited Longzhou for a long while and, coincidentally, Old Master Bai’s ancestral roots are also in Longzhou. Although his family has branched off for many years, the Emperor chose to ignore this detail, thus summoning him to inquire about the local customs and conditions.

Fortunately, due to Old Madam Liu’s influence, Old Master Bai was still familiar with Longzhou, and thus spoke with the Emperor about the changes and the constants of the region.

The topic of local customs was merely a pretext, and the Emperor soon steered the conversation towards the subject of their children, covering the difficulties of upbringing, the distress of disobedience, the challenges of marriage matchmaking, and the worries for their future, resulting in a profound exchange between the two.

Of course, the Emperor also inquired about the actions of the Bai Family in the locality, examining their conduct and character.

The conversation between the two lasted for a full hour. After taking medicine, acupuncture, and having her medicinal patches changed, the Empress, anxious over the prolonged silence from the front hall, instructed Aunt Shang to fetch someone, stating, "Tell them I wish to see Mrs. Bai."

Having just tidied up the medicine box, Manbao couldn’t help but raise her head and wink playfully at Mingda.

Mingda glanced at her briefly without speaking, while Changyu picked up on Manbao’s cue and nudged Mingda with her shoulder, giving her a subtle smile.

Initially unperturbed, Mingda began to feel somewhat anxious and embarrassed upon receiving smiles from both of them.

Aunt Shang proceeded to the front hall to invite them, and since the Emperor had not spoken a word to Mrs. Bai, he also wished for the Empress to assess her personality and character, to see if she was easy to get along with, thus waving Aunt Shang to lead her away while inviting Old Master Bai to play chess in the study.

Playing chess can reveal much about a person’s character and conduct.

Old Master Bai had played chess many times with Mr. Zhuang, but playing with the Emperor was a first, and he was unsure of the Emperor’s chess skills—if they were too advanced, it might highlight his inadequacies;

if poor, should he win against the Emperor or allow the Emperor a slight advantage?

Pondering these dilemmas, Old Master Bai went with the Emperor while Mrs. Bai nervously followed Aunt Shang to the rear section.

Upon entering the rear hall, Mrs. Bai was asked to wait outside while Aunt Shang went in to report. It wasn’t until the Empress had dressed and seated herself at the upper position that Mrs. Bai was summoned inside.

Mrs. Bai entered with her head bowed, dared not meet the Empress’s gaze, and simply observed her skirt before kneeling in respect, "Your humble servant pays homage to Your Majesty."

The Empress smiled and bid her to rise. Mrs. Bai stood, wiped her forehead’s sweat, and upon a slight lift of her head, finally noticed another was seated on a chair below, with Manbao at the lowest position giving her a smile and a wink upon catching her gaze.

She felt a subtle relief in her high-strung heart, and dared not make any unnecessary movements, thus standing honestly with her head bowed.

The Empress, very kindly, smiled and said, "Please sit and speak, someone, bring a seat."

Thus, someone brought a small stool to the center of the hall for Mrs. Bai to sit upon. The Empress reassured her, saying, "No need to be nervous, we are merely having a conversation. When did Mrs. Bai arrive in the capital?"

Mrs. Bai bowed and replied, "It has been four days now."

The Empress smiled and asked, "Was the journey peaceful?"

The questions were quite ordinary, allowing Mrs. Bai to gradually relax as she bowed again, "Thanks to His Majesty and Her Majesty, the journey was peaceful, taking only eight days to reach the capital."

The Empress chatted with Mrs. Bai about many things before finally pointing to Mingda and Changyu, saying: "These are my two daughters, Mingda and Changyu, whom Madam hasn’t met."

Mrs. Bai immediately stood to greet the two princesses; Changyu sat and accepted the greeting with a nod, excusing her from ceremony, while Mingda slightly bowed in return, also excusing her ceremony.

After the conversation, the Empress invited Mrs. Bai to stay for a meal, and Manbao was also invited to join.

Having played two rounds of chess, the Emperor heard that the Empress had invited them for a meal, knowing she was quite pleased with Mrs. Bai, thus he took a glance at Old Master Bai.

Though seemingly not too bright, he was honest and kind-hearted, not remarkable at chess, but showed great respect to the Emperor, without being sycophantic like the Ren Family.

Though a branching family, they hailed from noble lineage, maintaining acceptable etiquette.

Thus, after some consideration, the Emperor decided to have Old Master Bai stay for a meal as well.

By the time they rose from the Taiji Hall, it was already past 1p.m-3p.m, Manbao also needed to report back to the Imperial Hospital, thus accompanied them to the palace gate along with the internal attendants.

Old Master Bai walked forward sweating while declining, "The palace gate is quite far, no need for you to escort us, hurry back."

Manbao, however, smiled and said, "It’s alright, the Imperial Hospital isn’t far from the palace gate, Old Master Bai, His Majesty has summoned three people lately, you are the only one kept for the meal."

Hearing this news, Old Master Bai’s heart immediately calmed down significantly, knowing their family now held the upper hand.

He discreetly glanced at the internal attendant leading the way ahead, and whispered to Manbao, "Manbao, you have a good relationship with Princess Mingda, when you see her, say some good words to your Junior Brother."

Manbao nodded, expressing her understanding.

Old Master Bai was entirely at ease now, having connections was truly beneficial. Allowing Erlang to follow Shanbao to learn from the master back then was indeed a brilliant move.

Old Master Bai, filled with satisfaction, stroked his beard, feeling refreshed and not bothered by the heat at all.

Manbao accompanied them to the palace gate before returning to the Imperial Hospital.

Today was a day off, and there were significantly fewer people at the Imperial Hospital, with Imperial Doctor Lu and Imperial Doctor Liu off, while Imperial Doctor Zheng was instructing Zheng Gu and the others on how to search archives and file pulse records.

When the Imperial Doctors were busy, these tasks required medical assistants to manage.

However, it was rare for medical assistants to learn these tasks immediately upon entering the palace; most had to start with managing the pharmacy, repeating the tasks they were particularly familiar with from before.

But Zheng Gu and his peers had connections—a grandfather, uncle, and mentor, all of whom were Imperial Doctors—having guidance, causing other medical assistants only to envy.

As Manbao carried the medicine box inside, Zheng Shao promptly came forward to take over the box, while Ms.Doctor Liu went to pour tea for the master, and Zheng Gu pulled out a chair for her to sit.

Imperial Doctor Zheng standing by: ...

After taking a sip of warm tea, Manbao asked Imperial Doctor Zheng, "Where is Director Xiao?"

"Went to see Prince Gong; you took quite a long time administering acupuncture and placing medicinal patches for the Empress?"

Manbao evaded the main point and replied, "The Empress invited me for a meal, which I could not refuse."

The Empress indeed had a closer relationship with Zhou Man, and Imperial Doctor Zheng did not question further, merely saying, "Then stay on duty in the courtyard, this afternoon I will take Ms.Doctor Liu to the Empress Dowager’s palace."

Manbao nodded, asked, "How is the Empress Dowager?"

"The same as always, the illnesses afflicting the Empress, Princess Mingda, and Prince Gong have not been informed to her." He added while flipping through a notebook, soon pulling out two pulse records to show her, "Yesterday’s pulse records."

Manbao glanced over and understood, she nodded to Zheng Gu, "Tonight, I need to attend to Prince Gong’s palace, you come with me, and rest for now."

Filled with enthusiasm, Zheng Gu agreed.