The Regent Princess has run away again

A horse-drawn carriage was speeding along the street, scaring several people who were originally coming over for medical consultation so much that they all moved aside.

After the coachman stabilized the carriage, a tall man in the carriage ran up to Xue Zhiyu like a gust of wind.

"Princess, please help me check on my mother. She is in the carriage. Please come with me."

The man's tone was filled with anxiety, his brows were furrowed, and his handsome face was indescribably panicked.

Seeing the man in such a state, Xue Zhiyu knew that it must not be an ordinary illness. She did not dare to delay any longer, so she picked up the medicine box on the ground and followed the man into the carriage.

The carriage was very spacious, with a soft wool blanket on the floor and a faint scent of agarwood in the air.

Sitting on the couch was a middle-aged woman in her forties, wearing a dark green silk dress embroidered with silver-white auspicious cloud patterns, and a cloud belt of the same color around her waist. Her pretty face looked a little sickly.

"Are you Princess Kang Le?"

The middle-aged woman rubbed her temples, frowned, and looked at the woman who had just come up. She felt her head getting more and more uncomfortable.

"Yes ma'am, you haven't been sleeping well lately, have you?"

Xue Zhiyu looked at the middle-aged woman in front of her. Her eyes were dark and bloodshot, and she yawned from time to time.

"Well, I've seen several doctors and taken some medicine, but I still can't sleep well. I always go to bed at midnight and can only close my eyes completely at midnight."

Isn't this just insomnia? Taking medicine and diet therapy is not a big problem, but there are many reasons for insomnia, such as too much stress or excessive thinking.

"Madam, your insomnia is caused by liver fire disturbing the heart. You will feel headache, dizziness or irritability. I have a bottle of pills to take three times a day. I will need to give you acupuncture later to help you sleep better."

Xue Zhiyu said calmly.

The middle-aged woman nodded in agreement. Due to the severe headache, she could no longer think about anything and closed her eyes to rest for a while.

Xue Zhiyu opened the medicine box, blocked her view with her sleeves, and took out a bottle of Danzhi Xiaoyao Pills and a set of silver needles from the space.

The silver needles in the space are all sterilized, so they can be used directly.

Xue Zhiyu found the Neiguan, Shenmen, Sanyinjiao, Yintang and Fengchi acupoints according to her memory and inserted the silver needles into them.

After a while, the middle-aged woman's frown quickly relaxed and she fell asleep on the cushion behind her.

Xue Zhiyu lifted a corner of the curtain and looked outside. Her seat was still deserted. Only Zhen'er was sitting there, supporting her chin with her chubby little hands. She looked very cute.

The man who came to invite him stood outside the carriage, wanting to ask something but not daring to speak.

Xue Zhiyu walked over and lowered her voice, "I gave Madam an acupuncture, and this is the pill I prescribed for her. I have already told her the specific dosage."

"Then my mother..."

"She's asleep. I have a medicine bag here. Madam, you can hang it by the bed to help you sleep at night."

As Xue Zhiyu spoke, she took out a plain medicine bag from the medicine box and handed it over.

The man finally breathed a sigh of relief, but his brow was shrouded in worry. Although family disgrace should not be made public, he had kept it in his heart for too long. In addition, his intuition told him that the princess was not a gossipy person, so he couldn't help but pour out his heart.

"My mother has been having a very hard time, especially during this period. You must have heard about the serious illness of King Mu. The position of Crown Prince has been vacant. My half-brother and several concubines have resorted to all means to achieve this goal. As a result, my mother's headaches have become more severe, to the point where even medicine cannot heal her."

Xue Zhiyu was a little surprised. She didn't expect that the noble lady she rescued was actually Princess Mu.

The late emperor had a total of six princes and three princesses, and the current emperor was the late emperor's youngest son, also born to the empress dowager. Logically, it was not his turn to be the crown prince, but the eldest son had long disappeared as he had no interest in court, and the remaining princes were not talented, so the late emperor made the current emperor the crown prince and then ascended the throne.

The third prince, now King Mu, accidentally fell off his horse while hunting in the suburbs a few days ago. He fell ill on the night he returned home. The emperor sent imperial physicians from the Imperial Hospital to treat him, but it was of no use.

"Are you Mr. Xia Chun?"

Xia Chun didn't expect the other party to recognize him and was stunned for a moment.

"The princess knows me?"

"King Mu has six sons. The eldest son, Xia Haoming, was born to a concubine. He has a violent temper and advocates the use of force. The second son, Xia Chun, and the third son, Xia Zhi, were born to King Mu's wife. Not to mention that the third son is still young, the other sons are not in the capital, and you will never be the eldest son. That leaves only the second son, Xia Chun."

Xue Zhiyu analyzed it slowly.

"The princess is really smart. At the beginning, my father was afraid that we would quarrel, so he drove all the brothers except me, my eldest brother and my third brother out to gain experience and told them not to return to the capital unless necessary. This time, they learned that my father was seriously ill, so they all rushed to the capital under the pretext of visiting him."

When Xia Chun said this, his eyes were full of annoyance. He rubbed his eyebrows, sighed, and did not continue the topic.

Although Xue Zhiyu wanted to ask more about King Mu's illness, seeing that Xia Chun was unwilling to talk about it, she turned around, put the silver needle away and put it back into the medicine box.

Seeing that the middle-aged woman showed no signs of waking up, Xue Zhiyu learned some political affairs in the court from Xia Chun.

"The drought in the south is severe. Many fertile fields are dry and cracked, making it impossible to plant crops. The court is divided into two factions. One faction is led by your father, Prime Minister Xue, who advocates summoning capable people to solve the drought. The other faction is led by the regent, who advocates reducing taxes to overcome the drought and opening granaries for relief."

Xue Zhiyu had a different feeling about this regent who only existed in legends and whom she had never met.

"We can send officers and soldiers to conduct on-site inspections. If droughts occur frequently, it will be unsuitable for the people to continue living there, and they will need to move to another place temporarily."

Xia Chun couldn't help but look at the woman in front of him again. He knew that this princess had never attended college for a day, so how could she know all this?

"What the princess said makes sense, but the population in the south is huge. If we are to relocate, where should we relocate to?"

"That's only temporary. As long as the drought prevention measures are implemented well, they can move back and continue to live there. Although the population in the south is large, the areas that are really suffering from drought are only a few thousand people. I remember that An Village in Yufeng City is large enough to accommodate these people."

Yufeng Cheng'an Village is located at the junction of the north and the south, and originally there were only two or three households living there.

When Xia Chun heard that there was a way to prevent drought, her pretty face flushed with excitement, and her eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

"Do you have any idea?"

Xue Zhiyu raised her eyebrows mysteriously, and under Xia Chun's earnest gaze, she slowly got off the carriage and walked towards her seat.

Xia Chun felt as if his heart was hooked. He was very interested in this method. When Xue Zhiyu didn't say anything more, he felt itchy.

Without caring about anything else, he glanced at Princess Mu who was still sleeping, asked the coachman to help watch her, and then he quickly caught up with her.

"Princess, I think you can report this method to His Majesty, and it will definitely solve the people's problems for many years."

Xia Chun caught up with him and talked a lot, all the while emphasizing the importance of the matter.

Xue Zhiyu felt a headache because of his nagging. Although she knew he was right, the thought of meeting the old fox emperor made her headache even worse.

"Princess, you have to think carefully and don't act on impulse."

Xia Chun's mouth was almost dry from persuading her, and Xue Zhiyu finally said, "Okay, I'll think it over carefully."

"Okay, tell me when you're going to see the emperor, and I'll go with you."

Xue Zhiyu glanced at him.

"Give me a reason."

"Let's see if the emperor will adopt your method," Xia Chun said seriously.

If it wasn't the wrong occasion, Xue Zhiyu would have wanted to roll her eyes. Does this guy have nothing to do? He is quite curious.

"Mr. Xia, why don't you stay in the capital? Why did you come to Penang?"

Xia Chun took the water handed to him by the waiter of Liuling Pavilion and drank it in big gulps without any image. When he heard Xue Zhiyu's question, he took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped his mouth.

"Of course, it was to see a doctor for my mother. I thought that since there are people from different countries coming and going in Penang, maybe someone could treat this disease, so I brought my mother here. It just so happened that we came across Junyi Clinic. It was really a coincidence."

Seeing that he didn't behave like a nobleman at all and was completely different from the image in the rumors, Xue Zhiyu almost suspected that the Xia Chun in front of her was someone else pretending to be her.

"It is said that the second son of King Mu is humble and polite, considerate to others, extremely particular about etiquette, and calm in the face of adversity. Now it seems that it is just a rumor."

Xue Zhiyu's beautiful peach blossom eyes slightly raised, and she spoke with a hint of joking in her tone.

In fact, Xia Chun himself didn't know why this happened. When he was in the capital, many people came to curry favor with him and make friends with him, but he never talked to anyone and was always a little distant when socializing.

When he met Xue Zhiyu today, it was as if they had known each other for a long time. He was not too defensive towards her and instead showed his truest side to her.

This is indeed not his style.

"I think the princess is kind, so I can't lie to you."

"Mr. Xia is also an interesting person. If you have such a good impression of me, then I will definitely not let you down."

The two chatted for a while, and then the coachman came over to report that the lady had woken up.

Xue Zhiyu got on the carriage again and saw Princess Mu who had just woken up from a nap. The tiredness on her face disappeared and the bloodshot in her eyes faded a little.

"Ma'am, how do you feel now?"

“Thanks to you, I can finally have a good sleep and my headache doesn’t hurt so much anymore,” Princess Mu was very happy with her current condition and she felt refreshed immediately.

"That's good. In addition to the pills I prescribed for you, you can also eat some foods that reduce liver fire, such as bitter melon, cucumber, and almonds. You can soak your feet at night to promote blood circulation and help you sleep. Of course, you can also drink a glass of milk before going to bed."

Princess Mu nodded, without any doubt about Xue Zhiyu, and wrote down everything.

"By the way, I wonder if the princess knows when the memorial service will be held?"

Xue Zhiyu shook her head truthfully. She knew that a memorial service would be held every year, but she was not sure when it would be held.

Seeing her confused look, Princess Mu felt a little amused and patiently explained, "The memorial ceremony is usually held in the summer, which means that in five days, a saint will be selected from among the noble ladies to perform the Heavenly Sacrifice Dance to pray for good weather, peace and prosperity in the coming year. Each family has two places, and in addition, they can be recommended by others. Tomorrow, the palace will send people to pick up these selected noble ladies and bring them into the palace for three days of Heavenly Sacrifice Dance training. The noble lady who passes the assessment on the last day will be this year's saint."

Xue Zhiyu couldn't help but become interested. This memorial ceremony felt quite interesting. She had never seen an ancient memorial ceremony in person.

"Thank you for telling me, ma'am. I wonder what this memorial dance is like?"

"You are a smart person, no wonder you can open such a good clinic like the Charity Hall. However, the memorial dance is not so easy to dance. Although the saints of the past few years have performed complete movements, there is always something missing."

The more Princess Mu looked at the woman who helped her cure her insomnia, the more she liked her. She wanted to help her and recalled something hidden in her mind.

"This memorial dance is an unusual dance. It's not about how difficult the technique is, but about the state of unity between man and dance. It is said that if you reach this state, you can see the gods from the sky descending to the earth, making Yan the leader of the three major countries. The leader of the Mandala Sect in the Western Region danced this dance to make the gods descend to the earth, so the Western Region should have become the leader of the three major countries at that time. But now the situation has changed. Since the disappearance of the leader, no one can dance the essence of this dance anymore."