“Wait, wait, wait! You hold on a second!”
The moment she entered the room, Shen Yu completely lost her composure on the spot.
The young lady before her had absolutely none of the airs of a well-bred young woman from a noble family.
Shen Yu had told her to take off her clothes and expose her arm, but this girl had only listened to half of the instruction.
Before Shen Yu could even close the door behind them, the girl instantly threw her clothes to the side.
Her body was now clad only in a bright yellow small bellyband, which accentuated her slightly developing curves, making her look utterly adorable.
Especially those slender, pale thighs that seemed to reflect the light were particularly eye-catching.
One could only say that this girl was indeed a young lady from a noble family, raised exceptionally well.
Her skin was flawless and porcelain-white from head to toe, without a single blemish.
“Didn’t you say I should take off my clothes? I’ve taken them all off now.”
As Xiao Yue spoke, her voice sweet and coquettish, she tried to burrow into Shen Yu’s embrace.
But Shen Yu, quick as lightning, pressed a hand against her forehead to stop her.
“You don’t need to go that far. Just exposing your arm is enough. Didn’t Xiao Tao say your family has many rules, that even the Imperial Physicians from the palace have to perform pulse diagnosis by silk thread when examining you?”
“If she knew you were like this, wouldn’t she be frantic with worry?”
Looking at Xiao Yue, who wore only the small bellyband, Shen Yu felt a headache coming on.
“She can’t see right now, can she? I’m not saying anything, so why should Physician Attendant Shen be afraid? Or perhaps… Physician Attendant Shen, are you feeling shy?”
“By the time we’re seen, it’ll be too late.”
Shen Yu prepared her instruments while meticulously washing her hands up and down with medicinal herb water.
“Then you take your clothes off too! That way we’ll be even!”
Xiao Yue’s train of thought was completely unfathomable to Shen Yu.
Sometimes she genuinely wondered who this girl had learned this from?
But upon second thought, perhaps it was due to her long-term suppression at home.
As the saying goes, it’s better to channel than to block.
When the concept of separation between men and women develops to a pathological extreme, someone like Xiao Yue, repressed for so long, would naturally undergo some unpredictable changes deep within.
After all, she was still a child, currently in the golden period for shaping her values.
Living in such a repressive family would indeed warp her, to some extent.
“Stop joking around. Come here, let me disinfect the area first.”
“Xiao Yue, is your family very powerful? You wouldn’t happen to be…”
As Shen Yu administered the vaccine to Xiao Yue, she made casual conversation.
“W-wouldn’t be what?”
Xiao Yue instinctively grew wary.
She was worried Shen Yu would discover her true identity.
If she learned she was the current Grand Princess, then she would never be able to interact with Shen Yu so casually again.
“…the daughter of a feudal lord, would you?”
The feudal lord of Wangzhou, the region closest to the Capital, seemed to have quite close ties with the royal family.
It was said the feudal lord of Wangzhou even attended court sessions from time to time.
Feudal lords attending court—that seemed to be a method employed by the former emperor to counter the increasingly powerful civil officials’ organization.
Otherwise, for a wealthy land like Wangzhou, just a stone’s throw from the Capital, the emperor himself would want to keep it in his own pocket.
How could he possibly enfeoff it to his own brothers?
But it seemed to have failed.
As for why it failed… Grandpa hadn’t told her.
“N-no, I’m not. My family is just a relatively wealthy merchant family. We might have some connections with feudal lords, but I’m not from the royal family. It’s just that our medicinal herbs business is quite large, so…”
Xiao Yue explained at length to Shen Yu, her core argument being that she had no relation whatsoever to the royal family.
Her family was simply wealthy.
“The Imperial Court isn’t actually that respectable. What’s truly respectable are us, the great aristocratic families. For the emperor, the power of the great families is enough to ensure the emperor’s decrees are only effective within the Imperial Palace.”
“Once outside the palace walls, they’re nothing but worthless paper.”
As Xiao Yue spoke, a shadow fell over her eyes, and her delicate, pale hands clenched into tight fists.
It was unclear whether it was from the pain in her arm or the hatred buried deep in her heart.
“If the great families act this way, wouldn’t the emperor purge them?”
By the time Shen Yu finished speaking, she had already completed administering the smallpox vaccine to Xiao Yue.
In Shen Yu’s impression, although the current Empress was the one Grandpa cursed the most, she was also the most capable and resolute ruler.
Otherwise, she could never have withstood societal pressure and ascended the throne as a woman.
She even endured the pressure from the entire court, forcefully changing the centuries-old crown prince inheritance system to one where a princess could also inherit the throne.
People outside said she was power-hungry, wanting her daughter to also experience the thrill of being emperor.
But Shen Yu, having been influenced by Grandpa all these years, understood best just how difficult that reform truly was.
“The will is there, but not the means. Because the great families control far too many resources. If you dare move against them openly, they can make you suffer greatly in the shadows, even force you to bow your head to them.”
“Including the refugees gathering outside the city walls this time.”
Xiao Yue let out a soft sigh, her expression softening slightly as she looked at the bandage on her arm.
“So this will prevent me from catching the hundred-year sore?”
Xiao Yue looked utterly astonished.
She couldn’t comprehend how just making two cuts on her arm could protect her from the worry of the great plague.
“The principles behind it are profound, just like the entanglements between the great families and the royal house. Just trust me on this.”
Shen Yu helped Xiao Yue get dressed, then called Yin Qiu in to tidy up her things.
Over this period, Yin Qiu had learned to cooperate with her very well.
Shen Yu planned to teach her complete modern hygiene knowledge a bit later.
Little Yin Qiu was diligent, capable, and very clever.
She wasn’t afraid of getting dirty or tired—born to be a little nurse.
“Then can we also give this… what’s it called? Vaccine… to the refugees outside the city?”
“We can, but only for those who haven’t yet been infected with the hundred-year sore. Once the disease has taken deep hold, this thing’s effectiveness is quite limited. However, I do have a prescription that could help those refugees outside…”
Just as Shen Yu was speaking, the door to the room was suddenly smashed open.
A middle-aged man, dressed with great opulence and with a portly figure, charged in.
His obese body heaved with each labored breath.
“This is Mu’en Hall, correct? Where is Shen Yu, the Physician Attendant?”
The fat man’s gaze quickly locked onto the three girls in the room.
He opened his small eyes wide, scrutinizing each of them in turn, but didn’t recognize which one was Shen Yu.
He only felt the young girl sitting opposite the consultation desk looked somewhat familiar, as if he’d seen her somewhere before.
But right now, he couldn’t afford to dwell on that.
“I am Shen Yu. And you are?”
Shen Yu glanced at the door, which had been kicked to pieces, suppressing the anger rising within her.
“It’s you I’m looking for. Come with me quietly. I’ll guarantee you return safe and sound in three days. Otherwise… I’ll bring men to burn your Mu’en Hall to the ground, with all of you inside. The next day, the entire Capital will know that Mu’en Hall caught fire, that heaven envied a talented individual, and the newly promoted eighth-rank Physician Attendant Shen Yu perished in the flames!”