With her deceased husband as her dowry, would Your Highness dare to marry her?

Pei Jinxuan was so angry that he was fuming. He broke out in a sweat, but now that his head was no longer heavy and his fever had subsided, he still had the energy to settle scores with her.

"What do you think?!" He gritted his teeth, his peach blossom eyes no longer smiling, and stared fiercely at Lin Ci, wishing he could tear her apart on the spot.

Lin Ci, on the other hand, remained calm and composed, slowly fanning away the smoke from the stove with a palm-leaf fan.

How would I know about your affairs?

Pei Jinxuan's face darkened. "You...come in!"

As he spoke, he grabbed Lin Ci's hand and pulled her into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Let go!"

Lin Ci got impatient and raised the palm-leaf fan in her hand to slap him in the face.

Caught off guard, Pei Jinxuan instinctively raised his hand to cover his face, but instead took two solid blows.

He was in pain from the slap and had to let go.

Lin Ci took two steps back, rubbing her wrist which he had pinched red, feeling extremely aggrieved.

Seeing her utterly unrepentant attitude, Pei Jinxuan grew increasingly angry. He lowered his voice and demanded sharply, "You let her in, didn't you?"

"Yes." Lin Ci nodded, her tone casual and nonchalant, as if it were a trivial matter and she had handled it perfectly.

"This is the royal palace!"

"So what?"

"She is Consort Chang!"

"Don't you know each other?"

"..."

Pei Jinxuan put a hand to his forehead, choked by her words and unable to utter a single word.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the anger that surged to his head, and patiently taught each word slowly and deliberately, as if he were teaching a three-year-old child.

"Do you know that if Consort Chang were to enter my room late at night, she would lose her head?"

"Oh." Lin Ci blinked. "Don't worry, I'm watching from outside."

"Is this something to watch?!" Pei Jinxuan's anger, which she had barely managed to suppress, was reignited by her nonchalant remark, and her voice rose several decibels. "Why did you let her in?"

"She said she was going to bring some porridge." Lin Ci glanced at the white jade porcelain bowl on the table; the apricot porridge was still steaming warmly. "Apricot porridge. You certainly know how to pick something; you really should nourish your lungs."

Pei Jinxuan's face turned green. Without saying a word, he strode to the table, grabbed the porcelain bowl, and threw it out the door.

The white porridge was sprinkled on the snow, and a wisp of steam rose up. The porcelain bowl rolled twice and came to rest at the bottom of the stone steps.

Lin Ci tried to stop her but didn't have time. She said anxiously, "What are you doing? Such good food is something ordinary people can't even get their hands on."

"Yes. Ordinary people just can't afford it, but if I tried, I would die!"

"But weren't you and her childhood sweethearts?"

"So what if it is?" Pei Jinxuan turned around, his gaze pressing down heavily. "She is already my brother's concubine. How can I have any further involvement with her? Lin Ci, your medical skills are indeed superb, but you are truly clueless about human relationships and the rules of this deep palace."

Lin Ci opened her mouth, intending to argue, but swallowed the words back.

He was right. She and Song Xuan had lived in seclusion in the mountains with their master since childhood, practicing medicine and cultivating their skills. The farthest and largest place they had ever been was the small town at the foot of the mountain.

There's a market in town on the fifteenth of every month. Her only knowledge of the world came from the food and goods at the market, and the candied hawthorns her master always gave her to coax her into having sex. Nothing else mattered to her.

As she grew older, her master taught her principles, but most of it was theoretical and not practical for women. Song Xuan was much more insightful; he grasped social etiquette quickly, while she couldn't learn anything and always complained that he made simple things complicated.

Pei Jinxuan noticed something amiss in her bewildered gaze. He also guessed that Lin Ci, having grown up in the mountains, would not understand the intricacies of the palace walls.

He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, his anger subsiding by about 70-80%.

"Forget it. You wouldn't understand even if I told you."

Lin Ci curled her lips and stopped talking.

Pei Jinxuan added, "Remember this. From now on, if any woman comes to see me, do not let her in. If anything happens, a eunuch will inform me. I'm protecting myself, and I'm protecting you too. Understand?"

Lin Ci nodded.

After a moment of silence, she seemed to realize something, and her eyes showed worry.

"I just saw Consort Chang leave looking distraught. I hope nothing bad has happened to her?"

Pei Jinxuan lowered his eyes in thought, feeling uneasy. After weighing his options, he said, "Didn't you take her pulse before? Draw up a prescription and have Pearl make sure she takes the medicine on time."

"That reminds me of something." Lin Ci walked to the desk, picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, and said, "The prescription should have been sent long ago, but it's been delayed."

After finishing writing, she put down her pen, blew on the ink, folded the prescription, and put it into her sleeve.

Pei Jinxuan watched her movements and added, "Come back as soon as you're done. Don't linger. Understand?"

"I know." Lin Ci glared at him. "You're so long-winded."

She walked to the door, then turned back and pointed to a medicine bowl on the table: "I've brewed the medicine. Drink it while it's hot."

Pei Jinxuan snorted, "Why are you still drinking? Your fever has already gone down."

Lin Ci refused to believe it. She turned back and touched his forehead.

His forehead was covered in cool sweat; the scorching heat from before had indeed subsided.

She frowned and took his pulse again. Although his pulse was still rapid and weak, it was much more stable than before.

It really scared them away.

"You're such a coward."

Lin Ci looked down on people, muttered something, and left.

Pei Jinxuan's mouth was half open, unable to defend himself. He was so anxious that his head felt heavy again.

**

"Your Majesty, you're finally back! Just now..."

Pearl stood guard at the crescent-shaped gate and, upon seeing Consort Chang's figure in the distance, hurriedly went to greet her. Before she could finish speaking, Consort Chang had already swept past her and pushed open the door to enter the inner palace.

Pearl stood frozen in place. She stared at the closed door, unsure whether to go in or back out, and could only pace back and forth in the corridor.

After hesitating for a moment, she gently knocked on the door.

"Your Highness? Are you alright?"

There was no answer; only intermittent sobs leaked from the crack in the door, faint as a whisper.

Consort Chang lay on the phoenix couch, biting a corner of a pillow, silently sobbing.

She's had enough.

What good is it for the Emperor of Yan to favor her so much?!

He was still suppressed by the Empress and bullied every day.

Back then, she and Pei Jinxuan were a perfect couple. She thought he was the one for her. But her father and brothers threatened her with their lives, so she had no choice but to put on her wedding dress and enter this cage in exchange for her father and brothers' wealth and glory.

After entering the palace, everyone said she was lucky to be favored by the Yan Emperor. What was so lucky about her?

Now that the Emperor of Yan is seriously ill and the Prince of Liang is eyeing her covetously, who can protect a concubine who has no foundation or support?

If the Emperor of Yan were to pass away one day, where would she find a way to survive!

Consort Chang became increasingly heartbroken, her grief seemingly endless, as if her heart was being crushed in someone's hands.

She raised her teary eyes and saw a bolt of brocade bestowed upon her by the Yan Emperor.

Let's just end it here.

Once you're dead, you'll no longer have to be afraid, nor will you be bullied, suspected, or treated as a thorn in someone's side.

She wiped away her tears fiercely with her sleeve, stood up as if possessed, took a brocade ribbon, tied one end to the beam, and made a knot in the other...

"Is the Imperial Concubine here?"