Shen Lingyun walked out of the Zichen Palace. Her gaze immediately fell on the lean figure still waiting outside the palace hall.
Wang Hengyong was still wearing the court robe of a third - rank official. His hair was neatly tied up under his official cap. However, there was a sense of leisure on his wrinkled face that didn't match his court robe.
Retracting her gaze, Shen Lingyun first said to Eunuch Wang, "Please, Eunuch Wang, clean up the side hall of the Zichen Palace. I'll be staying here for the next few days."
Eunuch Wang was secretly startled. He seemed not to have expected her to make such a decision. After regaining his senses, he quickly said, "Oh, this servant can't bear such politeness from Your Highness... Madam. With Madam taking care of His Majesty, this servant will be at ease."
Zi Yan and Zi Xi also exchanged a surprised look. A hint of relief flashed in both of their eyes.
Shen Lingyun then looked at the two of them. "Zi Xi, go and help Eunuch Wang. Zi Yan, go back to the Jiaofang Palace and tell Bi Wu about this. She'll pack the clothes you need for me."
The twin maids quickly replied, "Yes, Madam."
After making the arrangements, Shen Lingyun finally walked towards Wang Hengyong.
Hearing the sound, he looked towards her. He bowed politely without being over - humble or over - arrogant, with a hint of a smile on his face. "Miss Shen."
Shen Lingyun said gently, "Lord Wang, I'm no longer young. I can't bear the title of 'Miss'. You'd better call me Madam Shen like others do."
Wang Hengyong said indifferently, "The last time I saw you, you were still unmarried. What's wrong with calling you 'Miss'?"
His casualness and the relaxed tone in his voice made Shen Lingyun's tense shoulders relax slightly.
"In that case, Lord Wang and I haven't seen each other for more than twenty years. I wonder if Lord Wang would do me the honor of sitting down for a cup of tea and a chat?"
Wang Hengyong smiled. "It's my great honor."
After a while, the side hall was cleaned up. There were only Shen Lingyun and Wang Hengyong in the room. The teapot was on a small clay stove, boiling water. There was a steaming cup of tea in front of each of them.
Shen Lingyun looked at Wang Hengyong sitting opposite her.
Over the years, the man had aged a lot and was almost unrecognizable. Only his eyes were still full of energy, which meant that he had been living a fairly good life.
Back when the King of Chu was still alive, because the king was jealous of Xiao Tianchi's military talent, he had Wang Hengyong in charge of the Supreme Court. In a case, Xiao Tianchi discovered this extraordinary man.
He was just a doctor in a small clinic. Besides, he would secretly go to the yamen in disguise to perform autopsies. Due to the case, Xiao Tianchi got to know him well.
Recommended by Xiao Tianchi, Wang Hengyong stood out in the medical official selection and entered the Imperial Medical Bureau as a court physician. Because of his excellent medical skills and wide knowledge of various diseases, he became the most popular court physician in the palace for a while.
Before Shen Lingyun got married, her mother was ill once. The doctors in the mansion couldn't cure her, and several doctors invited from outside also failed. After Xiao Tianchi knew about it, he used his connections to invite Wang Hengyong to the Shen Mansion to treat Mrs. Shen. He also asked Wang to check Shen Lingyun's health. That was when they met.
Sure enough, Mrs. Shen recovered later, and no one knew that Wang Hengyong had come to the Shen Mansion to treat patients.
Wang Hengyong's medical skills were superb, and the number of times he was requested by the noble people in the palace to see patients increased sharply. However, as a popular figure, troubles also followed. There were many concubines in the King of Chu's harem, and they were divided into several factions. In order to make Wang Hengyong work for them, they all tried their best.
Wang Hengyong was framed by a concubine for refusing her solicitation. He was accused of causing chaos in the harem, and the King of Chu was extremely angry and ordered him to be torn apart by five horses.
His end was regrettable, but no one dared to plead for him, because the King of Chu was too crazy. Pleading might lead to being implicated. It was a minor thing to lose one's own life. Maybe the king would even order the execution of the whole family.
If she hadn't met him again in the palace this time, Shen Lingyun would really have thought that he was dead.
"I felt very sorry when I heard the news that Lord Wang was executed back then," Shen Lingyun said. "Lord Wang's medical skills were the most outstanding in the Imperial Medical Bureau. I didn't expect him to be framed by villains and end up like that."
"The things in the past are over. They're not worth mentioning," Wang Hengyong said. "Actually, I had a premonition that my personality was not suitable for working in the palace. Sooner or later, I would have such a disaster."
Wang Hengyong picked up his teacup, took a sip of the tea, and smiled calmly. "To be honest, if it weren't for Xiao Tianchi, I would have died long ago."
This statement confirmed Shen Lingyun's speculation.
Not only was Wang Hengyong still alive, but he also followed Xiao Tianchi and worked for him. Presumably, Xiao Tianchi had done something back then to deceive the King of Chu and save his life.
He owed Xiao Tianchi his life. So although he was not interested in power and authority, he was determined to stay by Xiao Tianchi's side to help him, just to repay his life - saving grace.
"Have you been living in Dongli Town all these years, Lord Wang?" Shen Lingyun asked.
"Not really," Wang Hengyong sighed lightly. "At first, I wanted to go to Luozhou to avoid the limelight. But unexpectedly, the entire Li family in Luozhou was exterminated, and Luozhou became a thorn in the King of Chu's eye. I had to turn south. After that, the Xiao family rebelled, and there were wars all over the world. I wandered from place to place. It was not until the Kingdom of Chu was on the verge of collapse and the Xiao family took over the world that I was able to find a peaceful place to settle down."
He looked at Shen Lingyun meaningfully and said, "If it weren't for the incident of the Crown Prince, I might have been an ordinary doctor in Dongli Town for the rest of my life."
The peace in Dongli Town was completely broken by the disappearance of the Crown Prince Xiao Jingcheng. When Xiao Tianchi came to Dongli Town with his men and invited all the doctors in the town to see a patient, Wang Hengyong knew that he might no longer be able to be an ordinary doctor in peace.
Shen Lingyun tightened her fingers. "I heard that when the fake corpse appeared in Dongli Town, it was Lord Wang who was in charge of the autopsy. Did you figure out at that time that the corpse was not the Crown Prince?"
Wang Hengyong nodded. "Yes. The corpse didn't die from falling off a cliff or drowning. Instead, the person's neck was broken, and then the body was soaked in stagnant water for several days. With the help of the weather, the body rotted, which made it difficult to determine the time and cause of death."
Shen Lingyun analyzed calmly in her mind. If the Crown Prince was really in their hands, they could have just killed him and thrown his body away. But they went to the trouble of using a fake corpse to forge the cause of death and confuse people's vision. This showed that they still had some scruples about the Crown Prince and didn't dare to kill him themselves.
Thinking of the yellow talismans that Xiao Tianchi had just asked someone to present, a ridiculous thought suddenly occurred to her.
— Could it be because of some unspeakable supernatural things?