Cui Jintang patted his head. "Zhu San, Zhu San."
Luo Xiang bowed obsequiously and kept saying yes.
The chief eunuch was quite satisfied with her attitude. He proudly took the money - pouch prepared by Luo Xiang for him.
He weighed it in his hand and was very satisfied with its weight.
"Princess, please stay."
Luo Xiang stood in front of the mansion, smiling. "Take your time on the way,公公."
The moment Luo Xiang turned around, Qi Xutao grabbed Cui Jintang and hid behind a thick tree.
They walked around the tree trunk twice to avoid the chief eunuch's searching gaze.
Qi Xutao asked hesitantly, "Did you hear just now? What did that eunuch say the emperor gave Luo Xiang?"
Cui Jintang's heart was pounding fast. She always felt that something bad was about to happen.
---
The fetus in Xie Rou's belly was already seven months old. Everyone in the Fengyi Palace treated her like a delicate porcelain, regarding her as precious as the apple of their eye.
Cui Jintang looked at Zhu San, who stubbornly refused to leave her mansion, feeling confused.
"Why do you stay in the mansion every day instead of being in the Fengyi Palace?"
Her eyelids had been twitching wildly these days, which made her unable to sleep well.
Zhu San squatted on the threshold, looking at the boundless blue sky. Suddenly, he let out a long sigh.
He turned his head and looked at Cui Jintang resentfully. "Miss, it's not that I don't want to enter the palace. There have been people looking for my whereabouts recently."
"If it weren't for Zhu Er smearing his face with charcoal and pretending to be me wandering outside these two days, I might have been captured by now!"
Cui Jintang was used to this.
Zhu San was so famous that there were always people trying their best to find him for help.
Cui Jintang stuffed a sweet cake into her mouth and stood up.
"No one will suspect me. Come on, get in my carriage and enter the palace with me."
Hearing this, Zhu San, who didn't want to work, looked even more resentful.
Before entering the palace, Cui Jintang went to each of her shops.
She casually selected several snacks that Zhu San nodded in approval of.
Zhu San carried a heavy medicine chest in one hand and an oily snack in the other.
He looked up in confusion at Cui Jintang, who was munching on a bunch of candied haws, feeling even more depressed. "Miss, didn't you say these were for the imperial concubine?"
Cui Jintang bit off half of a haw and chewed it. Her voice was muffled. "There are still so many. Sister Rou can't eat them all."
As soon as the mistress and her servant turned the corner towards the Fengyi Palace, they were shocked by the sea of heads in front of them.
Cui Jintang stopped chewing. When she was locked in by countless pairs of eyes, she couldn't help but take two steps back.
She stretched her neck and swallowed the haw, then forced a smile.
The old Lady Pei tapped her walking - stick on the floor tiles, making a thumping sound. Supported by Pei Ying, she was quite surprised when she saw Cui Jintang.
"Tang'er? Why are you in the palace?"
Facing the old Lady Pei's confused look, Cui Jintang lowered her head slightly.
Cui Jintang remained calm. She coughed and lied without hesitation. "Back to the old lady, the princess summoned me to the palace to play leaf - card games with her today."
In this urgent situation, Cui Jintang mercilessly threw Qi Xutao under the bus.
Seeing her embarrassment, Zhu San beside her grinned and tried hard not to laugh, his shoulders shaking like a sieve.
Pei Su squinted her eyes and asked in confusion, "But I heard that the princess went to the drill ground with that Prince Xue today. How could she be playing leaf - card games in the palace?"
Cui Jintang's heart skipped a beat. "That's because..."
A few inexpressible words flashed through her mind.
Suddenly, Fu Li, who had been kneeling on the ground, suddenly brightened up.
He immediately locked his eyes on Zhu San, who was hiding behind Cui Jintang. He was so excited that his voice trembled. "Divine doctor! Old lady, this is the divine doctor!"
The old Lady Pei squinted her presbyopic eyes and looked at Zhu San's black - smeared face. She always felt that he looked familiar.
--- He looked very much like the doctor that Tang'er always brought to treat her...
In an instant, Zhu San, who was still chuckling, attracted everyone's attention.
Pei Su rushed over in a hurry and eagerly grabbed Zhu San's hand.
"Divine doctor Chou San, my elder brother is seriously ill. He's almost coughing up his lungs. Please save my elder brother quickly!"
Then Pei Su's hand slipped, and the hand that was holding Zhu San just dropped like that.
Everyone's eyes silently fell on Zhu San's oily snack, and they all got stuck.
Zhu San. "Uh..."
He held the snack and tried to stuff it into his medicine chest.
In the strange silence of the crowd, Cui Jintang silently took all the snacks.
Zhu San was not used to being surrounded like this. Memories of the past immediately came to his mind.
The smile on his face suddenly faded.
Zhu San stared closely at Cui Jintang, who was sneaking into the Fengyi Palace. Panicking, he closed his eyes and shouted at the top of his voice.
"Miss!! Don't leave me!!!"
Zhu San's ear - piercing screams were so loud that it seemed as if one's ears would burst.
It even startled Xie Rou, who was taking an afternoon nap. She quickly got up and lifted the curtain.
"What's going on? What happened?"
Zhu San, carrying the heavy medicine chest, nimbly avoided all the hands reaching out to him. He shrank his neck and shivered as he hid behind Cui Jintang.
He kept repeating, "Don't leave me, don't leave me."
Cui Jintang, who was forced to face everyone's gazes. "... " It was over.
Xie Rou coughed.
The old Lady Pei immediately came to her senses. Leaning on her walking - stick, she knelt down in front of Xie Rou.
Tears streaming down her face, she said, "Please, Your Highness, save my grandson for the sake of the Pei family's loyalty to the emperor!"
Xie Rou was inconvenient to help the old lady up because of her big belly, so Cui Jintang quickly stepped forward to stop the old lady.
Zhu San, covering his ears with both hands, followed closely, with a hint of fear in his eyes.
The old Lady Pei looked at Zhu San eagerly, with a pleading look in her eyes.
Before she could say anything, she heard Xie Rou say, "Lord Pei is a pillar of the country. Whether for public or private reasons, this should be done. Zhu San, go with the old lady this time."
Zhu San always covered his ears with both hands and kept his head down, repeating, "Don't leave me, don't leave me."
The old Lady Pei was extremely anxious, but every time she reached out her hand, Zhu San quickly dodged it.
Zhu San looked as if he was in a nightmare.
There was really no other way. Cui Jintang gritted her teeth and patted Zhu San's black - smeared head. "Zhu San, Zhu San."
Under everyone's incredulous gazes, Zhu San relaxed his shoulders.
He actually calmed down like this?!!
What was the relationship between this divine doctor and Miss Cui?
Their words and attitudes were so intimate!
Everyone was shocked. Their gazes at Cui Jintang were like looking at a living savior, becoming even more eager.
Zhu San carried the medicine chest and bowed formally. "Yes, Your Highness."
He seemed completely fine, without a trace of the panic he had shown before.
The Pei family looked back three times at every step, while Cui Jintang just wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide in.
Xie Rou looked at her, shook her head, and sighed. "It's rare to see you so at a loss."