The cold emperor reigns supreme, the arrogant empress begs for a truce.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Proving Yourself

Five days have passed since the wedding, and every day all the concubines come to pay their respects to her, but the Imperial Concubine Ma Zhiyun, whom Leng Yuling has been longing to see, has yet to appear.

That day, after all the concubines had left, Leng Yuling secretly summoned Ziyan. Only after seeing Rong Mama leave the palace did she whisper to Ziyan, "I have something to ask you."

"Your Highness, if you want to ask me something, just ask directly. Why are you being so sneaky?" Seeing Leng Yuling's sneaky manner, Ziyan found it very funny, but she held it in.

Leng Yuling looked warily toward the door. Seeing this, Ziyan could easily guess that Leng Yuling was worried that Rong Mama would suddenly come in.

I guessed that Leng Yuling's question was probably related to Rong Momo or something Rong Momo wouldn't allow me to ask.

"I'm asking you, is Consort Ma really sick?" She was simply curious about Ma Zhiyun, with a kind of obsession that even she herself couldn't explain.

Upon hearing Leng Yuling's question, Ziyan was taken aback at first, then nodded and said, "Your Highness, you forgot, on the first day when the ladies of the palace came to pay their respects to you, Consort Ma didn't come. So you asked me to go and see her."

Before Leng Yuling could speak, Ziyan continued, "Consort Ma is indeed ill. Consort Ma's health has always been weak, and she recently caught a cold. She is still bedridden today."

It was clear that Ziyan's worry was genuine, and it was also clear that she wasn't lying. But why was Mozhen still able to appear in Consort Ma's palace every day after she had been sick for so many days?

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but say, "Then shouldn't Mo Zhen go and see her? After all, her father is a general of the Southern Chu Kingdom. Mo Zhen's actions don't seem appropriate."

She said thoughtfully.

As soon as she finished speaking, Rong Momo's voice rang out from not far away. Rong Momo said, "Your Majesty need not worry about these matters. The Emperor has his own way of weighing things."

"You're involved in everything." Leng Yuling muttered under her breath. Rong Momo was a typical 'housekeeper' and very talkative, able to chatter on and on, so Leng Yuling didn't intend to argue with her.

"You said Consort Ma is ill, what did the doctor say?" Suddenly remembering something, Leng Yuling asked again.

"Your Majesty need not worry, Your Highness..."

As soon as Leng Yuling finished speaking, Rong Mama continued, but before Rong Mama could finish, Leng Yuling interrupted her, directly retorting, "Are you the doctor or am I the doctor?"

Leng Yuling's single sentence left Rong Mama speechless. Ziyan, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but laugh when she heard it, but she managed to suppress it after being glared at by Rong Mama.

"Ziyan, go and see how Consort Ma is doing. If all the imperial physicians in your Southern Chu Kingdom are quacks, then I wouldn't mind treating her myself."

With the compassion of a healer, even though she had never met Consort Ma and was unsure whether she was friend or foe, she couldn't help but want to know how Consort Ma was doing.

Of course, she had another purpose, because she could tell that Rong Momo seemed to like Consort Ma very much, so she wanted to show Rong Momo her powerful side.

She wanted to prove to Rong Momo that she could not only cure Mo Zhen's strange illness, but that Consort Ma's illness might also be a piece of cake for her.

Furthermore, Consort Ma only caught a cold, so why hasn't she recovered in five or six days? This shows that the imperial physicians of the Southern Chu Kingdom are truly quacks.