During the lunch, the little prince Huanan Lin showed symptoms of panic. First, he vomited up milk, refused to eat, and then his whole body got fever.

Concubine Xu sent a palace maid to invite an imperial doctor to come over. Later, Emperor Jing Xiao and Empress Qian were informed and hurried to Chuxiu Palace to visit.

Everyone in the small kitchen was busy. Gu Yunxi made the sweet juice to cool the little prince down, and deliberately added mint leaves, lilies, and other ingredients.

After the sweet juice was boiled, it was poured into a small porcelain bowl and quickly cooled with ice cubes, and then was put into a food box. Gu Yunxi took it to the side palace hall and gave it to the female slave of the palace.

"Where is Tu Muxue? I want to see her."

The food box was passed in, and soon a clear male voice came out from inside. The low voice sounded like rubbing against sand, revealing an undisguised impatience. Gu Yunxi was slightly shocked under the corridor after hearing that.

The Emperor wanted to see me?

Gu Yunxi frowned secretly. A feeling of bad omen spontaneously emerged.

When she heard the footsteps, she looked up and saw Yan Gui walk out of the side palace hall with a depressed expression.

He took a few steps towards Gu Yunxi and whispered to her.

"His Majesty calls you. Go in and be careful with your reply later."

Gu Yunxi nodded, "Lord, thanks for your lecture."

Gu Yunxi raised her foot to enter the door with a heart beating, and walked quickly into the cabinet behind Yan Gui.

The room was packed with people.

The nannies, eunuchs, and maids crowded around a middle-aged man in a yellow dragon robe in front of the bed. He held the porcelain bowl filled with sweet juice.

Along with him, there was a woman in a beautiful phoenix robe, Concubine Xu, and the two most experienced imperial doctors in the Imperial Hospital.

The little prince Huanan Lin was lying on the bed with his half-open eyes, sleepy as if he had almost fallen asleep.

There was no need to look up. Gu Yunxi knew that the man in the dragon robe and woman in the phoenix robe must be Emperor Jingxiao and his wife, Empress Qian.

Gu Yunxi stopped at the most suitable position away from the Emperor, knelt down, and kowtowed. Her voice was clear and respectful.

"Tu Muxue met His Majesty, Your Grace. May His Majesty and Your Grace are in good health."

Feeling a cold and coercive gaze above her head, Gu Yunxi's scalp was suddenly numb.

"Are you Tu Muxue, the rank-fifth chief maid of Chuxiu Palace's small kitchen?"

The same icy question sounded, with a gloomy and uncomfortable tone.

Gu Yunxi hurriedly answered in a slightly trembling voice.

"Yes, I am. His Majesty."

Was the Emperor upset? Suddenly, he called her to come over. If she did something wrong to upset him?

Gu Yunxi lowered her head and thought.

The first time she met with the Emperor and the Empress was at the Spring Banquet two years ago, when she was dressed as a man.

Now she had a different face, so it was also the "first time" to meet them in the woman dress with the new identity. She really couldn’t figure out why she had offended the Emperor. She was just such a humble female slave of the palace.

"Hum!"

With the sharp gaze fixing at Gu Yunxi, Emperor Jingxiao looked down for a while in a condescending manner. He coldly snorted, and said in a cold voice again.

"I ask you that whether you made Lin's juice?"

Gu Yunxi's heart trembled as she tried her best to maintain the calmness she should have, and replied.

"Yes, I did. His Majesty."

"What did you put inside and how to make it? Talk to me!"

Emperor Jingxiao's tone was bland, but his eyes were sharp like a knife, cutting people's flesh coldly and bleeding blood in every inch.

Gu Yunxi folded her hands and bowed, replying clearly.

"His Majesty, I put a pear and an apple, boiled them in the water for half an hour, added red plums, gardenia, rock sugar, fresh mint leaves and tender lilies and boiled again. Finally, let them cool down."

"In the early autumn, the little prince was occasionally panic and felt uncomfortable in the liver. Red plums and lilies could help concentrate the attention. The gardenias and mint leaves could calm him down, so I..."

"Enough..."

Emperor Jingxiao suddenly raised his voice and roughly interrupted Gu Yunxi. Then he threw the sleeve of his robe unhappily and threw the porcelain bowl in his hand to the ground.

All the people in the room then knelt on the ground.

With the sharp eyes sweeping towards Gu Yunxi, the Emperor sternly rebuked.

"Look! What a bold little girl!"

After a sneer, Emperor Jingxiao spoke unhurriedly.

"Tu Muxue, are you an imperial doctor or a medical officer in this Palace? How can you understand the medical knowledge and replace the imperial doctor to diagnose the prince? Panic? Liver ill? You made all these diagnoses by feeling the pulses, or your pure imagination?"

The Emperor's words made Gu Yunxi sweat, and her wet and greasy back was pasted on her shirt, feeling very uncomfortable.

Gu Yunxi kowtowed nervously and explained.

"His Majesty, what I said was only some dietary therapies, which have something in common with the medical principles. There is no danger but only benefits for the little prince if he eats them..."

"Shut up..."

Emperor Jingxiao was furious and pointed with his finger.

"Those servants like you who relied on their little gift and became timeservers didn't serve their masters carefully, but only deliberately sowed discord everywhere!"

Deliberately sowed discord...

Gu Yunxi was shocked when she heard it. She really didn't understand Emperor Jingxiao was so angry that charged her with such a confusing crime?

Could it be that someone said to the Emperor?

"His Majesty..."

Concubine Xu reacted faster than Gu Yunxi. She took the lead before Gu Yunxi spoke.

"If Muxue hadn't been around at noon, Lin would have fallen and have serious problems..."

"Shut up!"

Emperor Jingxiao turned to Concubine Xu and scolded her angrily, and his tone was obviously much higher.

Hearing the roar of his Father, the little prince woke up blearily and started to cry.

Emperor Jingxiao quickly calmed down, patted his son's little body, and gave a signal to the two nannies ordering them to come and put Lin to sleep.

Afterwards, Emperor Jingxiao looked directly at Concubine Xu with cold eyes, and said with a serious face.

"Yuanjiao, since you have a good relationship with Zhaoyi Yu, you should know her poor health. She doesn't know how to hold a child because she has never had a child. Why did you give Lin to her? Fortunately, there was no danger this time. But you left those nosy servants a chance to do their best to egg their masters on fighting with others!"

While speaking, the Emperor's bitter eyes locked on Gu Yunxi again.

Gu Yunxi suddenly felt cold.

Obviously, she saved people's life first, but only because she said the truth in front of the concubines at noon, so she was a sinner instead? When the news was reported to the Emperor, she was portrayed as a pest who specialized in instigating Concubine Xu and other concubines?

This... How could Gu Yunxi explain herself?

"His Majesty!"

Concubine Xu raised her head suddenly without any expression. But there was always a suppressed trace of undisguised dissatisfaction.

When Empress Qian saw it, she hurriedly raised her eyebrows sending a signal to Concubine Xu and cut her off in time.

Sitting up, Empress Qian said with her hands folded together.

"His Majesty, there has been always a lot of confusion in the imperial harem. His Majesty has been occupied with so much things from the court all the day. His Majesty should not be disturbed by those girly trivial matters."

"Such a humble maid will be punished with a slap in her mouth and be taught by Sister Xu carefully in the future. His Majesty can no longer be upset for her, and your health is more important. "

The Emperor shook his head, sighed in annoyance, and waved to Gu Yunxi impatiently.

"I don't want to see you! Get out and slap your mouth thirty times. Only if you feel the pain, you will be careful with your word. Get out—"

"Thanks for His Majesty’s mercy."

Thanks for His Majesty’s mercy. Five sonorous words.

The Emperor's one sentence determined one's life or death. One sentence was an imperial edict.

Feeling sore in her nose, Gu Yunxi bit her lip to endure, and stood up weakly with a numb expression.

At the moment when the high-sounding words were uttered, Gu Yunxi remembered the scene when Master Leng, who was persecuted by some thugs, spoke these same five words to the man on the dragon chair in Baohe Palace that year.

She thought, at that time, the master’s feeling should be the same as hers at the moment. It was obvious that he had credit after accomplished the relief of Jiangan and the Feng Yunheng case. At the end, he was not rewarded but punished. How discouraged he should be!

Gu Yunxi turned around, walked out of the side palace hall, and knelt in the middle of the courtyard. And then she began to slap herself in the face.

The slapping sound was loudly and crispy. The eunuchs on both sides ensured that every slap was enough hard to be counted.

There was no cloud in the sky, but only repeated cold and arrogant feminine voices.

"One, two, three..."

...

Leng Qingtang got the notice and rushed to the outside of Chuxiu Palace with his people.

At the corner of the high red wall, he saw the yellow robe coming out and hurriedly leaving from Chuxiu Palace.

He asked people behind him coldly.

"Why did His Majesty find Tu Muxue's fault?"

A eunuch lowered his head.

"Master, I heard that the Imperial Noble Concubine had been to Qinming Hall at the lunch."

Wan Yuyao...

Leng Qingtang stood under the red wall with his hands clasped behind his back, watching the grand honor guards of Emperor Jingxiao go away. His face was calm and blank.

Ten fingers were clenched hard under the big sleeves...