The Son of Heaven remained calm, his gaze falling on Li Ying. He casually retorted, "Relieving the monarch's worries?"
Li Ying replied softly, "Yes, exactly to relieve the monarch's worries."
The Son of Heaven sized her up with a rather thought - provoking look, then suddenly raised his voice a few notches and sneered, "What a fine phrase, relieving the monarch's worries!"
"I thoroughly investigated the old case and cleared the Lu family of their grievances. Lu Xunguang kept saying that he would relieve my worries, be loyal to the core, and only hoped to repay my kindness of recognition. I trusted him because of his apparent sincerity, but he played tricks and made that nine - roasted bamboo salt, trying to poison me!"
This sudden outburst of the Son of Heaven's anger even made the Princess Royal beside him tremble. She hurriedly knelt on the ground, not daring to meet his gaze.
But Li Ying was not afraid.
She straightened her back, and her bright eyes looked frankly at the supreme emperor on the high throne.
"Your Majesty, please calm your anger."
"Although I'm just a woman, I've heard the common people in the streets praise the current Son of Heaven as an unparalleled benevolent and wise emperor through the ages. That's why our entire Lu family has been loyal and has never had any thought of disloyalty."
"Please listen to me, Your Majesty, before you punish me!"
This compliment pleased the Son of Heaven greatly. If he arrested her without discrimination, it would only make him seem tyrannical.
Seeing that he had calmed down a bit, Li Ying quickly explained, "I heard that Your Majesty has not been feeling well recently and has had a poor appetite. The Princess Royal is very worried, so she asked me to take a bold try. I wonder how Your Majesty feels now?"
Reminded by her, the Son of Heaven then realized that he had eaten quite a lot of food today, but there was no sense of nausea as in the past. Instead, he still felt a bit unsatisfied.
This was really strange.
As the supreme emperor, what rare delicacies had he not seen?
But today, this simple meal of porridge and pickles seemed to be better than the elaborate dishes cooked by the imperial kitchen!
He raised his eyebrows, a bit of interest rising in his heart. "I do feel much more comfortable. Tell me, what kind of prescription did you use, and what's the root cause of my illness?"
Li Ying let out a sigh of relief. When she looked up again, her eyes were filled with confidence.
"Your Majesty has no real illness. It's just that you've lived a life of luxury and had indigestion and qi stagnation. Please allow me to explain one by one."
The Son of Heaven remained silent. Li Ying understood his look and became even bolder. She then carefully explained the effects of all the green vegetables on the table one by one.
"Is that all?"
After hearing her words, a look of suspicion appeared on the Son of Heaven's face.
His illness had dragged on for several days. The imperial physicians had prescribed one bowl of tonics after another, but there was no sign of improvement. Could it be that this country girl's few plates of wild vegetables had really cured him?
"Your Majesty, do you still remember the cup of tea the Princess Royal served you personally?"
Li Ying took out a white porcelain cup from her bosom with a smile and held it in both hands in front of the emperor.
The ointment in the porcelain cup was bright red, like a piece of blood - jade, emitting a faint luster.
Taking a deep breath, a faint medicinal fragrance wafted over. It was not bitter but had a unique herbal fragrance.
"Your Majesty, this is the Double - Gold Four - Divine Ointment I made myself. The tea was brewed with this."
The so - called "Double - Gold" referred to chicken gizzard membrane and lance asiabell herb.
After Mianmian got her teeth and was weaned, she had a surprisingly good appetite. As a child, it was inevitable that her spleen and stomach were weak and she might have indigestion. Whenever that happened, Granny Sun would secretly shed tears, and Li Ying felt heartache for her.
For this reason, she collected all the gizzards of the free - range chickens on the island, took out the chicken gizzard membranes, and dried them carefully for future use.
The chicken gizzard membrane was a good ingredient that was both food and medicine for relieving indigestion, whether brewed into tea or made into small cakes.
As for the lance asiabell herb, it was brought back by Maomao when it went out to play. It was also a good medicine for strengthening the stomach and promoting digestion.
Perhaps due to the cat's spirituality, the lance asiabell herb it brought back was thick and strong. Although the stems were short, the medicinal effect was extremely strong.
The washed Double - Gold was put into a pot together with the dried hawthorn slices and Chinese yam that Granny Sun had made by herself. Appropriate amounts of poria cocos, stir - fried malt, and dried tangerine peel were added. The mixture was first boiled on high heat to extract the juice, and then the heat was turned down to simmer until it thickened into an ointment.
This Four - Divine Ointment was a manifestation of the whole family's deep love for Mianmian. Li Ying specially added some rock sugar. Every day when she brewed it for Mianmian, it was sweet and sour, and the little girl would wriggle and dance with joy, loving it very much.
Just now, she had taken two spoons of the Four - Divine Ointment to whet the appetite of this pampered Son of Heaven. If it weren't for the Double - Gold to regulate indigestion and the hawthorn to stimulate the appetite, he probably wouldn't have had such a good appetite.
After hearing Li Ying's explanation, the Son of Heaven was still skeptical. The Princess Royal quickly summoned the imperial physicians.
The two senior physicians carefully examined the ointment for a while and then exclaimed in delight, "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Most of the stagnation in your abdomen has disappeared! The medicinal effect of this Four - Divine Ointment is extremely powerful but gentle and does not harm the body. It is truly an excellent medicine!"
After hearing the physicians' words, the Son of Heaven finally showed a bit of a smile on his face. He waved his hand, indicating the Princess Royal to rise.
Without his order, although Li Ying's knees and waist were already sore from kneeling, she still had to obediently wait in place.
After a long time, he washed his hands and finally slowly asked, "My illness was caused by the nine - roasted bamboo salt presented by your Lu family. Since you understand medicine, why didn't you notice something wrong with the bamboo salt?"
Li Ying's heart skipped a beat. Here it comes!
The nine - roasted bamboo salt was the crux of the matter!
She raised her head and said word by word in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, please investigate clearly. The Lu family has never had the intention of harming Your Majesty! The nine - roasted bamboo salt is indeed an excellent thing for nourishing the body. Your Majesty's illness is probably caused by someone with ulterior motives who is secretly scheming!"
Although she didn't mention Hu Maolin's name, the emperor narrowed his eyes, a glint of light in them, lost in thought.
The Princess Royal understood his meaning and also softly said, "Your Highness, I didn't mention to anyone about arranging Li Ying to prepare meals for you. As for the rumor that I placed people in the imperial kitchen, it's completely unfounded! Who on earth is spreading rumors in front of Your Majesty? It's clearly an attempt to sow discord between us siblings!"
Li Ying read the slight anger in his eyes and seriously said, "If one wants to frame someone, there's always a pretext! I don't know who is jealous of the Lu family's favor in front of Your Majesty and wants to suppress and wipe us out. Please have mercy on me, Your Majesty, and give me justice!"
"Your Majesty, the Lu family still has many strategies for nourishing Your Majesty's body but hasn't had the chance to present them all. This person is scheming for personal gain, forming cliques, and ignoring Your Majesty's health!"
She spoke so confidently, and the Princess Royal also supported her. The Son of Heaven pondered for a moment and then sternly ordered, "Go and summon Hu Maolin. I have something to ask him!"