The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

"I did not intend to damage your book."

Tang Xixue watched him put away the pill formula, her voice calm, her gaze shifting to the sandalwood bookshelf that occupied the entire wall behind her.

"I have some other medical books here, would you like to take a look?"

She knew that this Divine Physician Zheyue was unpredictable, and rather than making such a powerful enemy and being on guard against a venomous snake lurking in the shadows day and night, it would be better to seek a way to coexist peacefully.

After all, being constantly on the mind of a mad, eccentric doctor who is an expert in medicine and poisons is not a pleasant experience.

"What decent things could you possibly have...?"

Si Xingxuan's habitual sarcasm had just reached his lips when the last syllable abruptly stopped.

Tang Xixue did not flip through the books; relying solely on her memory and intuition, her slender white fingers, like butterflies perched on flower branches, deftly swept across the layers of shelves, effortlessly pulling out four or five heavy ancient books.

The pages are yellowed with age, the binding is simple and unadorned, and the covers of two books are even made of rare silk and gold thread.

These are all rare medical texts that are hard to find elsewhere, and some are even thought to have been lost to time.

"This! This is the 'Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold,' the 'Qing Nang Jing,' and even the lost 'Thirteen Ghost Needles Manual'..."

Si Xingxuan leaned forward almost instinctively to take the heavy stack of books, his movements carrying a rare hint of urgency.

When his fingertips touched the unique rough texture of the ancient paper, an undisguised look of amazement and fascination flashed across his eyes.

He had assumed that the shelves full of books were merely a royal affectation, and that the princess, who was rumored to be spoiled, probably didn't even recognize all the book titles.

Unexpectedly, she was so familiar with it.

A sense of almost absurd dislocation quietly rose in my mind.

Perhaps, for a long time, preconceived prejudices have truly blinded him.

Today's her is almost unrecognizable from the willful, arrogant figure in my memory who destroyed the inheritance of his Medicine Valley.

"The medical texts in her study are probably more complete than the library inherited by your Medicine Valley."

The young general, who had been silently observing, suddenly spoke.

Seeing that Si Xingxuan's chilling killing intent had dissipated by more than half, Feng Zhuo's tense shoulders and back also relaxed slightly, and his voice returned to its usual clear and bright tone.

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the vast wall of books, his tone carrying a complex sigh:

"It was all His Majesty's doing... searching the entire Nine Provinces at any cost to find it for her."

"She does have a good elder brother."

Si Xingxuan recalled the young emperor who had begged him to save his sister back then, sparing no expense; he truly doted on her to the bone.

"Ranzhi, would you like to read some storybooks?"

Tang Xixue's voice sounded particularly gentle in the flickering candlelight. She turned around, her fingertips reaching into an inconspicuous corner deep within the bookshelf, and gently pulled out a book carefully wrapped in plain blue brocade.

The brocade fell away, revealing the slightly faded indigo cover underneath.

She acquired it by chance five years ago, thinking that Feng Zhuo would like it, so she kept it.

But later... there was no more chance to hand it to him.

Upon hearing this, Feng Zhuo's profile was etched with a stubborn curve in the candlelight.

He looked away, his gaze falling on the deep night outside the window. His voice was deliberately raised, carrying a forced, barely concealed bravado from the young man:

"Who, who still watches that kind of stuff that's just for little kids..."

"I'm no longer the little shadow you used to pester me with storybooks to practice calligraphy..."

Before he finished speaking, Tang Xixue had already walked up to him, gently placed the old book on the small table next to the soft couch, and brushed her fingertips over the few faded gold words on the cover.

Her eyelids were slightly lowered, and her voice carried a hint of gentle laughter:

"It's this book, 'The Sword in the Clouds.' Didn't you always say you wanted to read the second volume? I searched for a long time before finally finding it in a pile of old papers in an old bookstore in Yunzhou."

As her fingertips left the book, a faint scent of ink and the aroma of bygone days seemed to waft out.

Feng Zhuo's gaze involuntarily fell on the familiar book title.

In that instant, it felt as if something gently bumped into my heart.

Those images, buried in the dust and scattered in the cracks of time, surged up.

It was during a quiet afternoon when they sat side by side under the crabapple tree. He snatched the first volume from her hand and became engrossed in reading it while the teacher was teaching. He was so absorbed that he couldn't find the second volume until school ended at dusk, which brought him great frustration.

When she saw him looking sullen, she pursed her lips and said, "I will definitely help you find it," her eyes reflected the light of the sunset.

He stared blankly at the old storybook, his lips moved, but no sound came out.

A strange heat suddenly shot up to my ears, quickly spreading into a scorching blush that was impossible to hide in the candlelight.

He abruptly turned his head, leaving Tang Xixue with only a profile view that was taut yet revealed a hint of panic and helplessness.

"Thanks……"

The night breeze slipped through the window cracks, ruffling a corner of the book's pages with a soft rustling sound, like time itself whispering.

The old book, which had spanned five years, was finally able to be handed over and lay quietly in his hands.

Deep within the palace, snow falls silently.

A palace maid from the Hall of Longevity, carrying a solitary lamp, hurriedly made her way to the royal medicinal garden deep within the warm courtyard, her robes fluttering as she shattered the precious jade ornaments.

The message traveled through numerous palaces and corridors, finally reaching the ears of the emperor in the Chengtian Hall, who was still awake at night.

Night had fallen, and frost and snow covered the eaves and brackets, with all things lying dormant.

However, the bright candlelight in the East Warm Pavilion of Chengtian Hall could not dispel the solitude of the room.

Emperor Tang Xiye, dressed in a black robe with cloud patterns, was not wearing a crown. His dark hair was loosely tied up with a simple jade hairpin. He was sitting alone at a long table by the window.

An unfinished memorial lay spread out on the desk, a vermilion brush resting to the side, but he did not review it. Instead, he gazed out the window at the hazy snowflakes illuminated by the palace lanterns, lost in thought.

The candlelight cast his tall, slightly aloof figure on the ground, exuding natural authority, yet also revealing an indescribable weariness.

Shen Cuo approached quietly, stopping three feet from the imperial desk. He bowed and whispered, his voice clearly audible in the silence:

"Your Majesty, the Hall of Longevity just sent someone to the medicinal garden in the Warm Garden."

Tang Xiye didn't turn around, only letting out a very faint single syllable: "Hmm?"

"It is on behalf of... Princess Mirror, requesting three Heavenly Frost Orchids."

Shen Cuo spoke at a steady pace, but paused slightly, almost imperceptibly, when mentioning the words "three plants".

Tang Xiye's hand, which was resting on her knee, tightened almost imperceptibly, and she finally slowly turned her face away.

The candlelight illuminated his exceptionally handsome face, his eyebrows like ink strokes, his eyes like cold stars. But at this moment, there was a hint of weariness beneath his deep eyes, and a faint line was furrowed between his brows.

The combined weight of his long reign as emperor and his current exhaustion made his aura even more somber and unpredictable.

"Heavenly Frost Orchid..."

He repeated it in a low voice, his tone revealing neither joy nor anger, only a cool curve passing across his lips.

"I planted them myself and tended to them carefully for five years before only five survived. Yet she immediately asked for most of them."

Shen Cuo lowered his head and lowered his voice even further:

"I heard from Fuyi that Princess Jing has inadvertently offended the Divine Physician Zheyue, who is temporarily residing in Lintai, and wishes to use this orchid to apologize."

He dared not speculate whether the princess still harbored feelings for that unpredictable divine physician, nor did he dare to say that the princess's actions were somewhat like using His Majesty's hard work to please a man outside the palace.

However, the slight resentment he felt for the emperor ultimately manifested as a fleeting darkness in his eyes, which he then perfectly concealed.

The warm pavilion was quiet for a moment, with only the occasional soft crackling of silver charcoal in the bronze incense burner with animal-shaped handles.

After a long while, Tang Xiye raised her hand, joined her slender index and middle fingers together, and pressed hard on her throbbing temples.

With my eyes closed, what comes to mind is the seemingly calm but actually desolate and cold eyes of the Divine Physician Si Xingxuan, and his unpredictable methods of deciding life and death with a few words.

He was already tired and even disappointed with his sister who had repeatedly acted willfully and hurt him deeply.

But... that is, after all, the Divine Physician Zheyue.

If she truly offended him deeply, given his personality, he probably... wouldn't let her off the hook.