“Is there anything wrong with the princess’s medicine?” Shao Wanru’s heart skipped a beat, and she asked.

Since Infanta Yuan’an wasn’t willing to let anyone wash it, she must have attached great importance to the medicine on her face. Infanta Yuan’an valued the medicine so much that she could even ignore the suggestion of the imperial physicians. The doctor who prescribed the treatment must have occupied an important position in her heart.

“The medicine on her face is a little too strong. We all think that the wound on her face is not serious. Since a flawless face is quite important for women, we’ve agreed to use mild medicine and slowly heal her face with nourishment. In our view, we’d better avoid any radical measures. Such a measure can produce an instant effect, but it isn’t a permanent cure and is error-prone.”

The imperial physician said with the force of justice.

“What do you mean by saying it is error-prone?” From his words, the Empress Dowager learned he was hinting at something.

“If we forcibly accelerate the treatment, there might be some complications, which may weaken Infanta Yuan’an’s physical endurance. In the future…” The imperial physician thought for a moment and replied directly in case Empress Dowager wouldn’t understand. “Infanta Yuan’an will be more likely to become ill. She might easily have small lumps on her face or suffer in other aspects. Similar cases are numerous. Anyway, these are bad side effects!”

“Then why don’t you remove the medicine and replace it with a gentler one?” The Empress Dowager understood this time. He meant that Infanta Yuan’an had overused the medication. If that were the case, the previous treatment would produce adverse side effects for her.

Back then, some doctors had proposed to use strong medicine on Chu Liuchen, who had a fragile body, but Empress Dowager didn’t dare to agree because his body was too delicate to bear any strong medicine. Therefore, Empress Dowager had an aversion to quick treatments with powerful medicines.

The imperial physician breathed a sigh of relief and frowned deeply. “We all tried to persuade her with these reasons, but Infanta Yuan’an simply refused, saying that her grand wedding was coming soon and she didn’t want her face to be perfect. However, even when it’s time for her great wedding soon, we might heal her would.”

The Empress Dowager’s approval largely diminished the Imperial Institute of Medicine’s responsibility. In the future, even if anything wrong happened to Infanta Yuan’an, the Imperial Institute of Medicine was not to blame for that.

“Nonsense!” The Empress Dowager said unhappily. She was about to issue an imperial edict, ordering the Imperial Institute of Medicine to wash away the medicine and apply their prescribed medicine to her face. However, when she saw Ruiping Great Elder Princess coming out of the side hall in a hurry, the Empress Dowager closed her mouth and waited for her to explain.

“Your Majesty, Yuan’an has made up her mind. Please let her do what she wishes!” Ruiping Great Elder Princess came up, bowed to Empress Dowager, and said helplessly.

At first, she didn’t take it seriously. Unexpectedly, these imperial physicians of the Imperial Institute of Medicine were very serious with their work. They made a big deal out of a trivial.

“Yuan’an may be young and ignorant, but how could you speak for her?” The Empress Dowager scolded.

“It’s not that Ruiping is immature. The doctor with outstanding medical skills has cured Hong’er. His medical skills have proved to be excellent. Yuan’an said his medicine was pretty good and praised its fast and significant effect. If she chooses a different treatment, she is afraid that there will still be injuries on her face. We all know that a girl has only one wedding in her lifetime.”

Ruiping Great Elder Princess explained.

“But the imperial physician said there might not be any traces left before the wedding if she adopted their treatment,” the Empress Dowager said.

“Yes, they said there might be a chance. But the previous doctor had promised to completely cure her face.” Ruiping Great Elder Princess took a deep breath and said.

The imperial physician had a chance to restore her appearance, but the doctor would fully recover her face. By comparison of the two methods, Infanta Yuan’an would choose the latter.

At this time, Shao Wanru had understood something, her eyes falling on Ruiping Great Elder Princess, but she just listened quietly without saying a word.

At this time, whoever intended to argue would make a mistake. With Empress Dowager’s distinguished status, she had the final say.

Since Ruiping Great Elder Princess talked about it with certainty, the Empress Dowager thought for a moment and said, “You’ve made your decision, then do as you like!”

Infanta Yuan’an and Ruiping Great Elder Princess had all agreed on this, so Empress Dowager didn’t feel like interfering.

Although she said it casually, she was a little displeased because Ruiping Great Elder Princess went against her good intentions. With a wave of her hand, she said, “Yuan’an doesn’t feel well. Let her go back and rest early.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Ruiping Great Elder Princess could see the Empress Dowager was unhappy, so she whispered a response and left.

She had completed none of her plans, but Shao Wanru reaped the benefits. Thus, Ruiping Great Elder Princess was not willing to reconcile herself to failure, but what could she do about it? The Empress Dowager’s decision could not be violated.

Ruiping Great Elder Princess had withdrawn. Everyone in the hall could see Empress Dowager was upset. Ruiping Great Elder Princess told her that Infanta Yuan’an would come over to say goodbye to her, but Empress Dowager refused to see her again.

The hall quieted down. Shao Wanru had already figured out who the doctor that Infanta Yuan’an thought highly of was. It was Doctor Qiu! It must be fate that brought them together again!

There seemed to be an amazing connection between Doctor Qiu and her. Nearly all the things that happened to her were related to him, whether in her previous life or this life. Doctor Qiu was everywhere.

“Is it really a coincidence to come across Doctor Qiu?”

Shao Wanru pulled the handkerchief in her hand and lowered her head to recall her memory of Doctor Qiu. He had something to do with the Mansion of the Prime Minister and the Marquis Xing’s Mansion. Currently, he was related to the Prince Zhou’s Mansion and Ruiping Great Elder Princess.

Such a doctor was insignificant, but he appeared so frequently that Shao Wanru couldn’t help suspecting him.

There seemed to be an invisible line connected to her on Doctor Qiu. Shao Wanru had learned something about his background from Mingqiu Nun.

Doctor Qiu’s teacher was Mingqiu Nun’s father, but because of different opinions, he was finally driven out by his master. After that, he practiced medicine everywhere. As for the details, Mingqiu Nun was not clear. Speaking of which, Doctor Qiu was Mingqiu Nun’s eldest senior fellow apprentice, who caused Mingqiu Nun and the miracle-working Doctor Qi to miss each other for so many years. However, Mingqiu Nun didn’t mention these private matters.

She knew nothing about other specific things.

Initially, this person was insignificant, as if he was just a nobody with no command over himself. However, in Shao Wanru’s previous life, he was almost as well-hidden as Shao Yanru. “Could such a person only appear by chance…”

“Zhuozhuo, Her Majesty asked you a question!” Shao Wanru felt her sleeves were pulled twice. Then she looked up and saw Empress Dowager and her grandmother staring at her. Almost immediately, she woke up from her thoughts.

“Imperial Grandmother, I’ve just thought of Prince Chen. I didn’t know how he was outside the capital city, so I was a little…” While saying this, Shao Wanru blushed, too embarrassed to finish her words.

This newly-married couple had to separate from each other shortly after their wedding. Surely Shao Wanru would miss her husband terribly. When Empress Dowager learned she was thinking about her grandson, she looked relaxed and happy. “Chen’er sent me a letter. I suppose you have also received one letter from him, right?”

“Yes, he also sent me one, but there were only a few words saying everything was okay.” Shao Wanru lowered her head, and her face turned a little red.

“He wrote a lot of trivial things in the letter to me, but they were all nonsense. I guess he had nothing important to share with you and just told me some little things in his life.” The Empress Dowager burst out laughing.

Shao Wanru twisted her handkerchief and pouted slightly. It was hard to tell if she was happy.

She didn’t want Empress Dowager to see through her, so she pursed her rosy lips to hide her conflicting emotions, which made her suppressed feelings more visible.

The Empress Dowager and Rui’an Great Elder Princess both laughed.

“Look at her. She is displeased because she is jealous of me!” The Empress Dowager pointed to Shao Wanru with a bright smile and said to Rui’an Great Elder Princess

“Prince Chen wrote her a few words but sent you a letter full of words. I guess she must be unhappy. But she was afraid you would be disappointed, so she had to put up a smile. After separating from Prince Chen for such a long time, a letter from him must be worth ten thousand pieces of gold in her heart!” Rui’an Great Elder Princess shook her head with a smile.

“Zhuozhuo, Prince Chen went out on a business trip for our state. Of course, he can’t be distracted at this time. You’ve just married into Prince Chen’s Mansion, so you don’t know that it was Her Majesty who raised Prince Chen. His affection toward Her Majesty is certainly different from his feelings to you.”

Rui’an Great Elder Princess spoke out her bashful thoughts so undisguisedly that Shao Wanru couldn’t help blushing scarlet, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Suddenly, she stood up and said, “Grandma, Imperial Grandmother, please don’t make fun of me!”

After saying that, she secretly rolled her eyes at Rui’an Great Elder Princess, but the Empress Dowager happened to see it and laughed again. “Oh, you lost your temper from embarrassment!”

“That’s right. If Her Majesty didn’t mention it, I would still be kept in the dark.” Rui’an Great Elder Princess chimed in.

Her words made Shao Wanru’s face turn red again. She stamped her feet, looking annoyed.

Her lovely look made the Empress Dowager and Rui’an Great Elder Princess grin from ear to ear.

Seeing that Empress Dowager was in a good mood, Rui’an Great Elder Princess and Shao Wanru chatted with her for a while before leaving together.

When they left the main hall, the smile on Empress Dowager’s face gradually faded. She leaned back and looked at the main hall’s door with a solemn look.

“What if I let Chen’er marry a secondary legal wife?” The Empress Dowager said faintly.

Nanny Wei, who had been serving by the side, frowned and whispered, “I’m afraid Prince Chen won’t agree!”

“But as a prince, he has to agree to this kind of thing, even if he doesn’t want to do it!” The Empress Dowager sighed with an unreadable expression.

“The common people can get a secondary legal wife, but he is a royal family member. If he marries a secondary legal wife, will there be two legitimate branches? Besides…” Nanny Wei wanted to say something but stopped on second thought.

Any other family, for example, an ordinary people’s family, an official’s family, or even an aristocratic family, could receive a secondary legal wife. But in the royal family, it might not be a blessing. The royal family would get two legitimate branches with a legal wife and a secondary legal wife. Even if their positions were slightly different, so what? In the end, their children were legitimate, weren’t they?

If he were just an ordinary prince, it would be fine. But Prince Chen was destined to be unique when he was born. It was inappropriate to make him marry a secondary legal wife.

“But the Xu State princess wants to marry someone with distinguished status. Commandery Prince Qing is not a good candidate. Though he is also the deceased emperor’s son, Commandery Prince Qing is just… too inferior…” The Empress Dowager sighed. She did not like this difficult position, but the Xu State had sent over a national letter to the Emperor declaring they wanted to marry their princess to Chu Liuchen…