“What do you think, then?”
“Huh? Your Majesty… this humble minister believes Your Majesty is sagacious!”
Shen Yu hadn’t heard a thing.
She was spacing out, but couldn’t say so directly, so she just went along with the Emperor.
She shifted her legs with some difficulty.
A pain like an electric shock made her frown.
The Empress naturally noticed Shen Yu’s discomfort.
“Beloved Physician, you… you called Mom?”
“Huh?”
“What? Your Majesty, when did… let me call you mom?”
‘Is that right? She wants me to call her mom?’
But… this was His Majesty’s golden decree.
As her subject, how could Shen Yu disobey?
Even if it felt bizarre no matter how she thought about it.
Nevertheless, Shen Yu subconsciously glanced at the Empress’s gracefully reclining figure and her slender jade-like feet dangling over the edge of the bed.
She involuntarily swallowed.
At the same time…
Shen Yu took a deep breath.
Under the Empress’s shocked gaze, she slowly opened her mouth.
Amidst this weird atmosphere, even she, with her thick skin, couldn’t help blushing.
Of course, the Empress was also…
“Huh…”
Now it was the Empress’s turn to be at a loss.
Shen Yu, seeing the Empress’s stunned expression, couldn’t help cursing inwardly.
‘You dog Emperor, what kind of look is that? Didn’t you tell me to call you mom?’
‘Now that I actually called you, you’re not happy?’
“Beloved Physician, what are you… I didn’t tell you to call me… Ugh, forget it. I won’t hold it against you. But what I’ve entrusted to you, Minister Shen, must be carried out.”
Only then did it dawn on Shen Yu.
Her face grew even redder—not from shyness this time, but from burning embarrassment.
‘Damn dog Emperor, dog Emperor, dog Emperor! What have you made me say?’
“S-So that was it. Your Majesty, this humble minister misunderstood Your Majesty’s meaning. Please forgive me. Whatever Your Majesty entrusts to your subject, your subject will carry out with all her heart. If I fail, I am willing to present my head to Your Majesty!”
Despite the turmoil inside, Shen Yu managed to maintain a calm exterior on the surface.
“Excellent!”
The Empress stood up excitedly, looking at Shen Yu with eyes full of admiration, as if to say…
‘I knew I could count on you.’
“With such determination from my beloved minister, I am deeply gratified. Then the matter of settling the Female Dependents of Disgraced Officials, having them enter your Huimin Hall to serve the Imperial Court and Redeem through Meritorious Service—I leave it to you. My beloved minister has relieved me of a great burden!”
The Empress’s words left Shen Yu frozen on the spot.
No, what does that mean?
What Female Dependents of Disgraced Officials?
What entering Huimin Hall?
What Redeem through Meritorious Service?
Has Huimin Hall become a concentration camp?
What did I miss when I called ‘mom’… no, when my legs fell asleep?
Shen Yu really wanted to slap herself.
She had unknowingly jumped into the pit the Empress had dug for her!
“Your Majesty, this humble minister’s meaning was that even if this matter—”
“Alright, I bestow upon you one thousand taels of gold. I still have important matters to attend to. Have the Yun family’s little girl send you back to Huimin Hall later.”
The Empress didn’t give Shen Yu any chance to react.
She stood up as if relieved of a heavy burden, flicked her sleeves, and left.
Once outside the Hall of Nurturing the Heart, looking at the drizzling autumn rain outside and feeling the biting cold wind, the Empress felt extremely pleased inside.
Not only had she solved the problem of settling those Female Dependents of Disgraced Officials, but more than that…
“That ‘mom’ Shen Yu called was quite pleasant to hear.”
When Shen Yu left the Imperial Palace, she didn’t take the Empress’s arranged carriage.
Not long after, Yun Xiao and Yun Wei sent over a carriage.
By this time, Huimin Hall had already been tidied up by Yun Wei and her people.
The chaotic Huimin Hall was restored to its former state, as if nothing had happened.
On the way back, Shen Yu learned through Yinqiu what exactly she had agreed to while spacing out.
It went something like this: previously, Shen Yu had asked the Imperial Court for people to train a batch of Female Medical Officers, but the Empress didn’t approve, mainly because there were no suitable candidates to select for Shen Yu.
But this time, after confiscating the noble families’ properties, among the medical officers and pharmacies under the Cui Clan of Yanghe, there were many female physicians who met Shen Yu’s requirements.
Included among them was even that Cui Yuan’s great-great-granddaughter.
She had inherited all the essence of the Cui Clan’s pharmacology.
That girl wasn’t sentenced to death, but though death was avoided, punishment couldn’t be escaped.
As a female physician who had inherited most of the Cui Clan’s medical knowledge, she was not only on the Medical Recruitment Exam list but also, on the same day as Shen Fu, was appointed by the Empress as an eighth-rank Medical Graduate.
Only, Shen Yu became an eighth-rank Medical Attendant and went to Huimin Hall, and later transferred to Huimin Hall’s current location.
Meanwhile, the other girl had relied on her family background from the start to enter the Imperial Academy of Medicine, becoming a Female Medical Officer, and was on the verge of becoming an Imperial Physician…
But after the noble families were purged, the girl’s path through the Medical Recruitment Exam was ruined.
Still, the Empress recognized her skills, and she met Shen Yu’s requirements for Female Medical Officers.
So the Empress specially assigned her to Shen Yu, along with other female physicians from the Cui Clan who had medical experience, stuffing them all into Shen Yu’s hands for her to use as standardized training cattle.
This solved Shen Yu’s problem of lacking manpower, but these were all Female Dependents of Disgraced Officials.
In other words, they were half criminals, and on ordinary days they had to go about their business wearing heavy Cangues.
Giving Shen Yu such a group of people—how was she supposed to manage them?
Was this a medical clinic or a prison?
Moreover, this batch of people had fallen to their current state entirely because of Shen Yu, especially that great-great-granddaughter of Cui Yuan—a genuine daughter of heaven.
Her ancestor was a renowned Imperial Physician, she had learned all the essences of the family’s passed-down medical knowledge, climbed the Medical Recruitment Exam smoothly, and had a boundless future at a young age.
But now, in one thought heaven, in the next hell—she had become a Female Dependent of Disgraced Officials.
Now, she would either be Branded and sent to the Entertainment Bureau, or wear heavy Cangues and become standardized training cattle under her enemy Shen Yu, or… die.
Shen Yu truly didn’t know how to face such a person.
Having her stay at Huimin Hall—Shen Yu was afraid the girl would wait until she was asleep at night, find a rope, and strangle her to death.
Was it still possible to learn the crane-style body technique to defend herself?
Shen Yu was genuinely scared of having her neck strangled in the middle of the night.
“Sister seems troubled?”
Yinqiu noticed Shen Yu’s expression was off and couldn’t help asking softly, full of concern.
“It’s nothing… Sister is just a little tired. Little Yinqiu, don’t worry.”
Shen Yu patted Yinqiu’s head, reining in her emotions a bit.
No matter what, she shouldn’t show weakness in front of the child.
This incident had already scared Yinqiu enough.
Shen Yu didn’t want to add to her burden.
“Is sister worried about those Female Dependents of Disgraced Officials?”
Yinqiu was smart and quickly guessed what was troubling Shen Yu.
“Not at all. Sister is worried about the Vaccine Promotion. Don’t overthink it. I’m hungry. Let’s go back, and I’ll make you some noodles, okay?”
“Okay! Then I’ll make sister the tomato sauce noodles sister taught me, and I’ll add two poached eggs to help sister recover!”
Yinqiu nodded, smoothly distracted by Shen Yu.
“Shen Yu! You’re back! Great, you’re okay.”
The carriage had just stopped at the entrance of the alley leading to Huimin Hall, not even fully settled, when Yun Xiang, with a worried face, rushed over holding an oil-paper umbrella.
Beside her were countless gifts prepared for Shen Yu, all personally arranged by Yun Xiang to visit her.
Shen Yu glanced briefly and immediately saw something conspicuous and familiar… half a pig.
“Shen Yu!”
Yun Xiang hugged Shen Yu tightly into her arms.
Shen Yu’s face was buried in that magnificent bosom.
The hug was so tight that Shen Yu even felt she was suffocating for a moment.
So painful… yet so blissful, so painful… yet so blissful, so painful… yet so blissful.
‘Sister Yun Xiang is so soft, so fragrant. Sob, sob.’
“It’s so wonderful you’re okay. You scared your sister to death. Do you know how worried I was? Let me see, where are you hurt?”
Yun Xiang held Shen Yu’s pretty face with a heartbroken expression, looking at the bandages wrapped around her body.
The more she looked, the more it pained her.
Without even realizing it, big teardrops rolled down the corners of her eyes.
“I’m fine. Thanks to Yun Wei arriving in time, I managed to scrape by. Sister, don’t talk here. Let’s go inside.”
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