Chapter 42: Secret Medicine

Chapter 42: Secret Medicine

"Requesting an audience with me?" Jiang Hui repeated.

"Yes." Feng Shi lowered his head, extending his hand to reveal a rolled-up piece of paper, which he handed to Jiang Hui. "A young monk slipped it into my hand when I was outside. I didn’t get a good look at the person."

"Midnight, second watch, under the locust tree on the back hill, Jing'an."

"I understand," Jiang Hui said, glancing at the note. Despite her words, she showed no intention of going out to meet.

The fact that they sought her out as soon as she arrived at Proluo Temple indicated that it was they who were in a hurry, not her.

After rising and freshening up briefly, she had a simple vegetarian meal. It was almost the hour of Wei (1-3 PM).

Shan Zha went out and returned with Master Jingyuan from Proluo Temple. This female monk, known for her medical expertise, had already been consulted by many palace ladies for pulse diagnosis before Shan Zha.

Jingyuan, dressed in a grey-black monk’s robe and wearing a monk's hat, pressed three fingers on Jiang Hui's pulse point. Her plain face furrowed with concern.

"Master Jingyuan, is there a problem?" Wan Song, seeing her expression, asked worriedly.

"Amitabha," Jingyuan folded her hands in prayer and bowed, "There's no serious issue. The lady is just a bit weak and has been affected by the summer heat. There’s a special soup in the temple for pilgrims to dispel heat. It would be good for the girl to fetch a bowl."

Though she said this, her expression suggested otherwise. Wan Song was about to inquire further when Jiang Hui interrupted.

"Alright, Wan Song, take Shan Zha and go fetch the soup. I would like to have a word with the master."

Upon hearing this, Wan Song bowed and left the chamber with Shan Zha, standing guard outside while sending Shan Zha to fetch the soup.

Inside the chamber, Jiang Hui spoke calmly, "Master Jingyuan, please speak frankly."

"Amitabha," Jingyuan bowed again, this time not addressing Jiang Hui with the monastic term for laypeople, "tan yu," but simply said, "Your Highness, the Noble Consort, is wise. I am merely fulfilling someone’s request."

She then took a small exquisite celadon octagonal bottle and a letter from her sleeve and handed them to Jiang Hui.

"Is this from Jing'an laywoman?" Jiang Hui didn’t reach out to take them immediately but instead asked.

She didn't take them, and Jingyuan didn't retract her offer, casually placing both items on the square table. Her eyes, imbued with a sense of Zen, rested quietly on Jiang Hui.

"The Noble Consort will understand once she reads it. I must now attend to Min Jieyu's pulse reading. I take my leave."

Having said this, without waiting for Jiang Hui's reaction, she chanted a Buddhist invocation and left the room.

Wan Song entered, closed the door, and asked in confusion, "My lady, about Master Jingyuan…?"

She lowered her voice, seeing Jiang Hui frowning at the letter.

"Wan Song, light a candle for me."

"Yes."

Despite the bright daylight outside and the room not being dim, it seemed an unusual time to need a candle. However, Wan Song didn't question and quickly found a candlestick, lighting a candle and placing it on the table.

Jiang Hui rolled up the letter and burned it with the candle, along with the envelope. As the last bit of paper was licked up by the flame, she instructed Wan Song, "Clean this up."

The next morning, after the morning bell, Jiang Hui accompanied the Dowager Empress to the main hall for incense offering and Buddha worship.

Although named a temple, Proluo Temple housed mostly nuns and catered primarily to female devotees, making it a popular place of worship for the noblewomen of the capital.

With many female visitors, the most popular spot in the main hall was the shrine of the Goddess of Childbearing.

Holding three lit rose-red incense sticks, Jiang Hui performed the ritual bows and followed the Dowager Empress and the Empress, placing her incense in the censer.

The slightly pungent scent of incense and candles filled the hall as a nun in robes brought a rosewood divination cylinder to the Dowager Empress. The Dowager Empress took the cylinder, shaking it back and forth with closed eyes in devout prayer.

Soon, a bamboo stick fell to the ground. The Dowager Empress didn't let the palace maids assist her; she picked it up herself, holding it with both hands and handed it back to the robed nun.

"On Kunlun's peak, meeting the immortal Lu… Master, what is the interpretation of this divination?"

The nun chanted a Buddhist invocation and replied, "Please follow me, Dowager Empress, to the quiet chamber where Abbess Hui'an awaits."

The Empress assisted the Dowager Empress to the quiet chamber for the interpretation of the divination, while the other consorts, eager for their own fortunes, remained in the hall, queuing for the divination cylinder.

Jiang Hui stood up and walked out of the hall, only to see a middle-aged woman in plain dark robes approaching, followed by an old nanny.

The old nanny, though appearing as a servant, seemed more like a watchful guardian. Her sharp eyes glanced at Jiang Hui from behind the middle-aged woman before lowering her gaze.

These days, Proluo Temple wasn't entertaining lay visitors. The woman, her neck and wrists adorned with Buddhist beads and without any hairpins or rings in her hair, exhibited the serene demeanor of a resident devotee.

The only resident devotee of Proluo Temple was the late emperor's consort.

Upon seeing Jiang Hui, the woman chanted "Amitabha" and said, "Jing'an greets the Noble Consort."

Jiang Hui stepped aside, returning the greeting, "Madame, you flatter me."

"Jing'an is now a Buddhist disciple; there's no need for such formalities, Noble Consort." Ning Taifei pressed her palms together in prayer and added, "I heard the Dowager Empress was here to worship, and I was on my way to see her. I shall take my leave now."

Without waiting for Jiang Hui's response, she entered the temple.

Back in her chamber, Shan Zha remarked, "It's surprising to see Ning Taifei so transformed in her spiritual practice. Prince Jin really doesn’t resemble her."

Prince Jin was known for his carefree and uninvolved demeanor, a stark contrast to the current Ning Taifei.

"Unalike?" Jiang Hui smiled faintly, saying no more.

The consorts couldn't stay outside the palace for long, so after another day, the Dowager Empress led everyone back to the palace the same way they came.

Perhaps due to the heat and her frail constitution, Jiang Hui felt increasingly drowsy on the return journey. The accompanying imperial physician attributed it to exhaustion and heatstroke, administering a life-reviving potion en route, but it had little effect.

By the time she finally returned to Yaohua Palace, Jiang Hui had lost consciousness.

Wan Song, with tears in her eyes, sent Feng Shi to fetch Imperial Physician Liu once more, while she and Autumn Okra arranged for Jiang Hui to rest on the inner chamber's step bed.

Imperial Physician Liu, well advanced in years, was rushed to Qionghua Hall by Feng Shi, running into the Emperor who had hurried over in concern.

As he was about to bow, the Emperor pulled him up, "Imperial Physician Liu, please, quickly see what has happened to the Noble Consort."

Without even daring to wipe the sweat from his forehead, Liu wiped his hands on his official robe and extended three fingers to feel Jiang Hui's weak pulse.

Emperor Xiao Sheng had rushed from Liangyi Hall, not even stopping to see the Dowager Empress who had just returned to the palace, his anxiety evident.

Seeing Imperial Physician Liu's sweaty face and his expression of grave concern mixed with confusion, the Emperor asked, "What exactly is wrong with the Noble Consort?"