Physician, Not A Consort

“Hmph! A dog trying to catch mice - so meddlesome! You are nothing good either!” Imperial Consort Li said with hatred.

Lin Haihai was angry. Empress Chen was standing up for her; it was okay to scold her, but not Empress Chen. She went up and asked with a smile, "You must be Imperial Consort Li?"

Imperial Consort Li looked at Lin Haihai with disdain and refused to answer. Lin Haihai didn't mind and spoke again. "In fact, I wonder why His Majesty likes such a brainless woman as you. I heard that you were the Grand Councillor's daughter. How did your father educate you and where is your upbringing?"

All people heard was the clear and crisp sound of a slap, a woman's cry of surprise, and the sound of tables and chairs crashing. It was as if someone had fallen.

Everyone turned to stare and found the sixth princess consort collapsed on the floor, her hand covering her face. Imperial Consort Li glared at Lin Haihai angrily. All the people present stood up to watch. They all looked at each other with silent gazes, trying to guess what was going on. Yang Hanlun immediately stood up. However, Chen Birou feigned falling to the ground, and so Yang Hanlun had to help her up first.

Empress Chen helped Lin Haihai up quickly. Lin Haihai leaned on Empress Chen's shoulder. Yang Shaolun rushed forward and saw Lin Haihai's swollen cheeks and tear-stained eyes. Feeling both heartache and anger, he backhanded Imperial Consort Li in the face. Imperial Consort Li couldn't keep her balance, and the palace maid behind her reached out hastily to catch her.

Lin Haihai yelled, "Don't!" She didn't want Imperial Consort Li to be beaten. She’d just wanted Yang Shaolun to ground Imperial Consort Li as punishment. Anyway, Imperial Consort Li was a pregnant woman. Lin Haihai found herself to be despicable and mean. At this moment, her tears streamed down due to her own malicious intentions.

Imperial Consort Li stood up straight and pushed the palace maid holding her away. She looked at Yang Shaolun in disbelief. Her big eyes brimmed with sadness and tears. She covered her face and cried, "Your Majesty, you hit me for her? Do you know what she said?”

Yang Shaolun didn't look at her. His face was cold and frosty. He turned towards Lin Haihai, telling Empress Chen, "Take her back to your place and give her some medicine. If necessary, send the imperial physician. Take good care of her.”

Empress Chen looked at Yang Shaolun with a complicated expression. "I know. Don't worry, Your Majesty!”

Yang Shaolun nodded and cast a profound glance at Lin Haihai. Lin Haihai was anxious to explain to him, but she couldn't form her words despite various attempts.

"Imperial Consort Li will be stripped of her imperial consort status and reduced to an Honourable Lady from now on. She will live in the Leng'yue Palace Hall to reflect. You can't walk out of Leng'yue Palace Hall without my orders,” Yang Shaolun commanded coldly.

Imperial Consort Li was stupefied. She looked at Yang Shaolun in disbelief, looking around the crowd frantically, and shouted without any regard for her image. Her tears fell like raindrops. "Father, you have to do me justice!"

A man in a black official robe trotted out with an ashen face. He kowtowed while convulsing in fear, begging Yang Shaolun, "Your Majesty, please grant your pardon. It's this official's poor teaching that led to my daughter's arrogance and willfulness. Please grant your pardon, Your Majesty!" He wiped his sweat while speaking.

Lin Haihai looked on with endless guilt. She felt very regretful. She knelt for the first time after she had come to the ancient era. "Your Majesty, I provoked her first. The fault isn't on her. If you had to punish someone, please punish me!" Lin Haihai then knocked her head against the ground heavily like Grand Councillor Yan. She held her forehead due to the pain and looked at Grand Councillor Yan. The latter's forehead was all red and swollen. She felt even guiltier and then knocked her head against the ground heavily again.

Yang Shaolun was extremely distressed. He disregarded any ambiguity and bent down to help Lin Haihai up. However, she remained motionless. Lin Haihai stooped down and kowtowed heavily. "Your Majesty, please spare Her Highness Imperial Consort! Otherwise, I dare not get up, it's all my fault!"

"Don't kowtow, get up!" Yang Shaolun was angry. Her forehead was bruised, yet she is still knocking her head on the ground heavily. Lin Haihai kept knocking her head on the ground, as if she didn't hear him. Yang Hanlun couldn't stand looking anymore. He walked over and pulled Lin Haihai up, but she remained where she was. Her body seemed to be nailed to the ground. She kowtowed constantly, and Imperial Consort Li's resentful eyes gradually showed some gratitude.

Yang Hanlun, however, was furious. He picked Lin Haihai up and carried her out. Lin Haihai struggled and hammered at Yang Hanlun constantly, but he remained unmoved and kept walking without any expression on his face.

The empress dowager walked up and looked at Imperial Consort Li with dissatisfaction apparent in her eyes, before turning to the sullen Yang Shaolun. "Forget it. For the sake of Yuguan's pleading and my grandson, just let her off and ground her for a month!"

Yang Shaolun looked at the direction in which Lin Haihai had left and felt dispirited. "Imperial Mother, please take charge of everything! I'm tired. Empress, I'll leave the matter to you." With a flick of his sleeve, Yang Shaolun turned around and left, with Xiao Yuan following after him quickly.

“What are you doing? Let me down!” Lin Haihai struggled. She really wanted to throw Yang Hanlun off with a sweep of her sleeve. Yang Hanlun was gloomy-faced and silent. He couldn't form any words. It was as if his heart were filled to the brim with bitter Chinese goldthread. His mouth was full of bitterness! He increased the strength in his arms to hold on tightly to the woman who didn't belong to him.

Lin Haihai was anxious and worried about Imperial Consort Li's condition. Although the woman was arrogant and domineering, she wasn’t a treacherous person. Plus, she was pregnant. If things weren't handled properly, and she met a mishap, it would be difficult to right the wrong!

“Let me go. I'll go back and have a look." Lin Haihai hoped that it could be remedied. She had never framed anyone in her life. Unexpectedly, because of her jealousy, her heart had turned this malicious. Love was really not a good thing. Her eyes were red and there was a lump in her throat.

Her tears ignited the anger in Yang Hanlun's heart, which only burned more and more intensely and made him lose his mind. As a matter of fact, tonight, he had been watching her performance coldly. Her gaze had always fallen on his brother - accusing, reproaching, affectionate, and sad. Their gazes that had met in the air contained a thousand words. And he, like an outsider, had watched them communicate to each other about their feelings through their gazes. He had watched their love story from the sidelines like a fool.

He put her down and clenched his fist. A certain corner in his heart shrunk into a ball as he begged her bitterly, "Will you forget him? I won't marry Birou. Can we start over?"

Lin Haihai was so shocked that she looked at Yang Hanlun in disbelief. Chen Birou had always been his dream, the person he had most wanted to marry since he was a child. She was so moved that her heart swelled. She really seemed to be crying a lot tonight. Lin Haihai wiped his tears with both hands and smiled, but the tears fell again. She took a deep breath and fixed Yang Hanlun with her gaze. She saw tension, fear, bewilderment, and deep affection in Yang Hanlun's eyes. Why can't I fall in love with him? I should forget that person. There can be nothing between us; not before, not now, and certainly not in the future.

Tonight, it was the amorous Consort Lin who had accompanied him. Even if it wasn't Consort Lin, he had a large number of concubines. His feelings toward her were probably momentary infatuation, a momentary sinking into depravity. They must have been illusions after all. And this man before her, she could really feel his love. Give him up, Lin Haihai! She commanded her heart.

She put her arms around Yang Hanlun's trembling body and buried her face in his neck. This proud man, this overbearing man, this straightforward man, she had to learn to fall in love with him and stop blindly pursuing feelings that did not belong to her.

Yang Hanlun held her tightly and was silent for a long time.

Not far away, a pair of pitch-black eyes stared at them closely. The man's cold face was filled with unbearable heartbreak. Low whispers overflowed from his lips. "If we’ve indeed missed the right moment and missed each other, we can only continue to miss it in the future!"

Xiao Yuan was totally shaken. Is His Majesty's affection for the princess consort already so deep?

-----

A few days later, Li Junyue appeared in Linhai Hospital with many packages, big and small. Lin Haihai was seeing patients and discussing pathology with the imperial physicians when Li Junyue shouted from the entrance, "Xiao'hai, come out and get your stuff!"

Lin Haihai was delighted and rushed out the door to see Li Junyue looking at her with a smile and making a cool pose. Lin Haihai hugged him, saying, "I was so scared that you wouldn't be able to come back."

Li Junyue patted her on the back and said with a smile, "Fool, I promised you." Lin Haihai nodded vigorously to show that she was moved.

"What are you doing?" A cold voice tainted with anger sounded from behind her. Lin Haihai's scalp stiffened. She immediately turned around with a smile and said, "Are you tired today? Thirsty? Come on, let's have a cup of tea. Ming Yue, quick, serve His Highness a cup of good tea!” With that, she pulled Yang Hanlun towards the room. Yang Hanlun looked back and stared at Li Junyue while walking away, making Li Junyue wonder if he had missed any updates.

"I forbid you to have any physical contact with him in the future. Don't smile at him. If it's not necessary, don't talk to him!" Yang Hanlun spoke with jealousy.

Lin Haihai rolled her eyes and whispered, "So overbearing!"

Yang Hanlun raised his voice and asked, "What did you say?"

"Nothing. I said I know!” Lin Haihai replied with a sweet smile. Yang Hanlun held her hand contentedly. His face overflowed with happiness.

Yang Hanlun spent the whole day keeping a close watch at the hospital. When Li Junyue approached within two meters of Lin Haihai, Yang Hanlun immediately raised his eyebrows and stood between them. Lin Haihai was very anxious. She wanted to know about her family immediately. However, seeing Li Junyue's relaxed look, she knew that her family should be safe. She glared at the nervous Yang Hanlun unhappily, then turned around and picked up the medicine box. She called Imperial Physician Chen and Ming Yue and went out. Yang Hanlun followed her immediately.

"Master, where are we going?” Ming Yue asked, perplexed.

“The Lin Residence!” Lin Haihai answered nonchalantly. Ming Yue didn't understand the reason, but seeing that Lin Haihai didn't want to elaborate, she didn't press further.

But Yang Hanlun secretly wondered. The Lin Residence? Wasn't that her maternal family's home? Why does she look so reluctant? But on second thought, that must be it. Perhaps the snobbish First Madam didn't give her any less suffering. She must have suffered a lot before, right? Yang Hanlun was distressed. No wonder she cared so much about money. It was probably because of her lack of security.

"Imperial Physician Chen, please diagnose and treat my father later. He had a stroke a few years ago and collapsed. Now, he can't walk. Please perform acupuncture and prescribe some drugs to promote blood circulation," Lin Haihai turned her head and told Imperial Physician Chen, feeling entangled. In fact, she really hadn’t wanted to come here, since she always felt an indescribable sadness when she stepped into the residence.

Perhaps it was the feelings left by her former host. This place was after all her home, where her cold and indifferent father lived. In addition, Li Junyue had gone home this time, so Lin Haihai could use the mood of a dead person to experience Lin Yuguan's feelings.

If Lin Yuguan had a spirit, she would have hoped that her family would be safe and sound. A lantern was extinguished when a person died. Many gratitudes and resentments should have been written off. But since she, Lin Haihai, had occupied another person's body and took on her identity, she ought to serve the host body's unfinished filial piety in her stead.

The door guard was still that snobbish old servant. The moment he saw the sixth prince and sixth princess consort coming together, he knelt down immediately. “This servant respectfully welcomes the Sixth Prince and the Sixth Princess Consort!”

Lin Haihai instructed with an indifferent expression, “Stand up, announce my arrival.”

“This humble one will go at once! Your Highnesses, please come in!” the old servant answered fawningly.

Lin Haihai didn't speak any more and walked in. Yang Hanlun went up, held her hand tenderly, and flashed her a warm smile. Lin Haihai looked at him, moved. Tender affection overflowed between them; Lin Haihai felt really blissful.