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Chapter 72
The palace in Kyoto.
When Ye King saw the secret letter sent by Minister Li, he was shocked, angry, and disappointed.
Since he took the throne more than ten years ago, he had worked painstakingly to enable his people to live and work in peace.
Now among his several sons, someone was actually secretly communicating with people from other kingdoms’ palaces.
What was he trying to do? Rebel and seize the position of crown prince? Eventually hand over the Da Ye Dynasty to another kingdom?
"Secretly monitor every move of the princes. Report immediately if there is anything unusual."
In the hall, there was no one except Ye King. Yet a reply came from midair: "Yes, Your Majesty." Then the voice disappeared.
After the incident between Lin Yueru and the Sixth Prince, the King had granted her marriage to the Sixth Prince after a wrestling competition.
Since it was an oral decree of the King, it could not be made public. So among the common people, no bad rumors spread.
It was only known that the King had granted a new marriage because Young Master Qin and Young Lady Lin each had someone else they admired, so they requested the King to bless their own affection.
Of course for the upper class, they just saw through it but did not talk about it.
And the power of the Lin family also surrendered to the Sixth Prince after the King’s marriage decree.
Today was the first day of the final match of the wrestling competition.
Lin Yueru went with the Third Prince's Consort to watch the competition in the suburbs as promised.
The mother of the Third Prince was originally a palace maid. She was unintentionally favored by the drunk King and gave birth to the Third Prince.
Now she was granted the title of a sixth-rank Beauty, called Beauty Xu.
By principle, as the mother of the Third Prince, her title should not just be a sixth-rank Beauty. It was only because the Third Prince's birth was intentionally concealed by Beauty Xu.
Beauty Xu was disgusted by the King, so the Third Prince was also not valued by the King. His principal consort, Zhang, was only the daughter of a fourth-rank minister.
In the palace, Beauty Xu relied on Wu Zhaoyi, who was the birth mother of the Sixth Prince.
Wu Zhaoyi's status was second only to the Queen. She was deeply favored by the King.
The Third Prince and Sixth Prince were close on the surface as brothers with the same father. But in fact, the Third Prince was just a follower of the Sixth Prince.
The Third Prince's Consort asked Lin Yueru to watch the match with her, just to get along well with Lin Yueru per the Third Prince’s order.
Otherwise, why would she demean herself to invite Lin Yueru, who was still the daughter of a minister?
Scene of the final match of the wrestling competition.
The contestants this time came from thirty-six prefectures of Daye and ten from the capital, three hundred seventy in total. The top thirty would be selected.
There were two from the Ministry of Justice. Minister Lin looked at his two subordinates in front of him, Yang Shu and Li General.
Then he thought of Gong Xiaohua, who was away assisting the Prime Minister. Grinding his teeth, such good seedlings. Otherwise there would definitely be spots from the Ministry of Justice among the top three.
However, after a period of hard training, Yang Shu and Li General had practiced the Crippling Blade Palm passed down by Gong Xiaohua to seventy percent mastery. So Minister Lin felt slightly better.
Back in the preliminary, they had only practiced it to fifty percent mastery.
"The glory of our Ministry of Justice depends on this competition. It also concerns your personal future and career, so I hope you do your best."
"Yes, sir!"
The spectators' stand for noble ladies.
Zhou Yao gathered with ladies from other prestigious families. At this moment, everyone was looking up and down at Zhou Yao.
Her face was no longer caked with thick lead powder, nor were her hair adorned with layers of veils.
Just light, natural makeup. It could be seen that her skin was now smooth, delicate and lustrous.
"Zhou Yao, the acne on your face is gone and your skin has become better too." One lady asked.
“Yeah, your skin is even better than ours now. I wonder which divine doctor your family found?”
“My face was not cured by any divine doctor. Someone specially formulated a method for me to remove the acne on my face.”
“Quick, tell us what method you used. Let us try it too.”
“I’m afraid that won’t work. That method was tailored specifically for me. I dare not let you try it casually.”
“Then can you at least tell us who formulated the method for you?”
“Well...” Zhou Yao hesitated.
“Still no. Without her consent, I cannot reveal it or else I would cause trouble for her. Then I would be doing more harm than good and become ungrateful.”
The “she” Zhou Yao referred to was naturally Gong Xiaohua.
After she returned home from the palace, soon her face broke out in acne over a large area as Gong Xiaohua had expected. Some even started oozing pus and blood.
Her family had found many doctors for her, even witch doctors, to no avail.
She was so scared that her face would rot away. Only then did she recall Gong Xiaohua said she could cure her face. But people sent to the Gong residence returned saying Gong Xiaohua was away on business.
Just as she despaired, her sister-in-law gave her a letter. It was from Gong Xiaohua, prescribing a treatment plan tailored specially for her acne, as well as skincare methods. She could decide whether to try it or not.
It turned out that when Gong Xiaohua went on her business trip, she had Qin Chuqin deliver the letter to his elder sister intended for Zhou Yao’s condition.
This could also be considered repaying Qin Chuqin’s favor for inviting her onto his carriage.
She had heard her uncle say that Qin Chuqin's sister did not have an easy time at the Zhou residence, though he did not tell her the specifics. But she guessed it likely had to do with having children.
Because Qin Chuqin had been married for years without any children. Not to mention in modern times being humiliated by in-laws for infertility, even in ancient times it was unthinkable.
Therefore, she wanted to take the opportunity when Qin Chuqin was returning home to detail a treatment plan that could cure Zhou Yao, as well as skincare methods, and have him pass it to Qin Chuqin.
She hoped Zhou Yao could repay Qin Chuqin’s kindness and have someone who could speak for her at the Zhou residence in the future if needed.
To tell the truth, when Qin Chuqin first received Gong Xiaohua’s letter and understood her intention, he was deeply moved.
He did not expect that just a small act of kindness on his part would prompt the girl he had only met briefly to consider his sister’s situation so thoughtfully.
"Has that girl really cured the face of your sister-in-law?" Third Madam Qin called Qin Chuqin out from the Zhou family's spectators' stand and asked.
Just now, she also heard from the maidservant of Eldest Young Master Qin Chuhan say that the pockmarked face of the Zhou girl was cured. She wondered if the doctor could also take a look at her daughter’s condition.
"Yes, cured."
"Who cured it? Ask around if that doctor can also take a look at you," Third Madam Qin asked hesitantly, thinking she had misheard.
"It was Xiaohua."
Third Madam Qin was stunned.