Fields of Gold

After Yu Xiaocao calmed her nerves down, she emerged out of Zhu Junyang's arms and addressed the serious looking eldest imperial prince, "Your Imperial Highness, you don't need to take this episode to heart. I also did this to save my own life. Just think about it, if something happened to you in front of this official, and I just stayed on the sidelines, running away for my own life, how could the emperor possibly spare me?"

Zhu Hanwen revealed a slight smile and his expression relaxed a bit. He shook his head and said, "However, I still need to thank you because not everyone would be able to sacrifice their own safety to save another person in the face of immense danger. Although Official Yu is a woman, your actions and bravery are above most men! Imperial Father was right. The world has so many women of distinction who are buried in the inner courtyards, forbidden to go outside. We need to release them and give them their freedom to reach their true potential!"

By the time the group of them reached the edge of the campgrounds, the emperor had already gotten a full report of what had happened. The empress pulled the eldest imperial prince aside and inspected him carefully from head to toe before she was finally convinced that not a hair had been harmed on him.

She pulled her son into her arms. Currently, she was only an ordinary mother who was concerned about her son's safety. She haltingly stated in a voice choked with emotion, "My child, why couldn't you just obediently stay next to Imperial Father's and Imperial Mother's side? Yet you insisted on going out to hunt! If something terrible had happened to you, how would Imperial Mother feel then?"

Zhu Junfan looked at Yu Xiaocao for a minute and then looked back to address the mother-son pair, "Don't cry, isn't our imperial son fine? A pine tree raised in a greenhouse will be unable to reach the skies. As the heir to the throne, if Wen'er can't even handle the slightest bit of trouble, then we will truly be worried about the throne in the future."

"Imperial Father, the appearance of this tiger was a bit strange…" Zhu Hanwen wriggled out of his mother's arms and his pair of round eyes held a hint of seriousness. The appearance of the tiger was too coincidental. Why did it not appear in a different area and instead showed up right where he was at? If this wasn't fishy, then he...would eat this entire tiger!!

Zhu Junfan narrowed his eyes, which had a bit of resemblance to Imperial Prince Jing's eyes, and raised a hand to stop the eldest imperial prince from stating his next thoughts. He had a solemn look on his face, "Wen'er, you've been frightened, so you should go back to the temporary residence to rest a bit. Tonight, we still have a bonfire and banquet to participate in! Don't worry, we have our own suspicions about this. Someone come...take this tiger away!"

"My tiger pelt…" Yu Xiaocao was very interested in this tiger pelt but she had to stare blankly as servants took it away. She revealed a reluctant expression on her face which was very obvious to everyone that was present. However, when she saw the faint look of amus.e.m.e.nt on the emperor's face, she shrank back in fright. She didn't dare to bring up the topic of the tiger pelt again.

Sigh…the little lass had a bunch of regret within her heart. In her previous life, Amur tigers had been classified as a grade one state protected species. It was said that the country only had around a few dozen wild tigers. She could only see tigers in zoos, but the animals there had been raised as if they were giant house cats and had no wildness left in them. It'd be impossible in that time period to get her hands on a tiger pelt even if she wanted to!

Even after transmigrating over, it wasn't as if a tiger could be hunted whenever one wanted to. In Yu Xiaocao's eyes, if she was able to have a tiger pelt to be used as a mattress, that would be incredibly awesome. However…the tiger pelt that had appeared before her eyes had been shamelessly snatched away by someone who had way more power than she did. She could only grit her teeth and twist her handkerchief as she blankly watched as the tiger pelt was taken further and further away from her.

"Beloved Official Yu, we will gladly receive this game that you have offered as tribute!" The same shameless bandit was shoving another dagger into her heart. Who sent this up as tribute ah? Clearly it was you snatching it away from me!

"Our imperial father has had a weak body for quite some time and cannot tolerate the deep cold during the winter. This tiger pelt will be a sign of our filial respect for him. We will not take this pelt for free from you and will definitely compensate you fairly with treasures." Zhu Junfan deigned to give an explanation to her.

"Your Imperial Majesty has an imperial father?" Yu Xiaocao couldn't help but blurt out the question that was twirling in her mind.

Zhu Junfan lightly chuckled and replied, "It's not as if we were born out of a crack in a rock like Monkey Sun. How could we not have an imperial father ah? However, Imperial Father's body has been weak and he has been recuperating in the south all this time. After thinking about it, it seems like it has been many years since we last saw our imperial father!"

The emperor's father was Imperial Prince Duan. In the past, during the chaos of war and the fight for the throne, in the middle of winter, he had harmed his body and constitution when he saved the emperor emeritus who had fallen into an icy river. His body's condition was sometimes good and sometimes bad, but he had been weak and sickly ever since that incident. As for the emperor emeritus, he had the halo of transmigration and hadn't even gotten a cold or cough after spending a copious amount of time in the icy water.

Yu Xiaocao had originally thought that the reason why the emperor emeritus had passed on the throne to his grandson was because the current emperor's father was no longer alive. She didn't expect that he had skipped a generation and directly transferred the throne to the grandson he looked the most highly upon.

"Imperial Father, this son acts for permission to go see imperial grandfather in Jiangnan so I can do one's filial duty for you." Zhu Hanwen's eyes glittered with the craftiness of a child as he butted into the conversation.

Zhu Junfan glared at him. Earlier the child had just mentioned that there was a plot against him and they hadn't even found out who the culprit was, yet this kid now wanted to go play in Jiangnan. Hmph! It looked like he needed to temper his son a bit more. In the future, he was adding more schoolwork to this brat!

"Your imperial grandfather's body has gotten a lot better after eating the warming pills made by Tongren Medicine Hall. We plan on bringing our imperial father back and have the imperial physicians take a look at him and see if there's any hope in healing his body back to normal." Zhu Junfan easily rejected the little brat's request.

Zhu Hanwen was a bit disappointed but continued to sincerely think of his grandfather, "Imperial Father, are you sure that bunch of charlatans in the imperial physician compound are up to it? If we're talking about healing the body, Official Yu should be the best expert here. Wasn't Princess Consort Jing's body healed by her?"

At that time, everyone in the capital knew that Princess Consort Jing was an invalid but now she seemed to have no problems at all. In fact, compared to people of the same age as her, she even looked healthier and livelier. This was truly all due to Official Yu's medicinal cuisine!

"Imperial Son, you must think before you speak!" What charlatans? If the imperial physicians accompanying them heard his son's words, what would they think? Why did this child have to speak to truth so candidly?

Ever since his son found out that his life had almost been lost by the ineffective treatments of the imperial physicians, he had always regarded the bunch of old men with disdain. In addition, the imperial physicians only knew how to prescribe incredibly bitter tonics that he hated to drink. Yu Xiaocao, on the other hand, knew how to make sweet and tasty medicine to treat his illnesses. This child now believed that all of the imperial physicians added together were not as skilled as Official Yu!

He couldn't have his son continue believing this! After all, Zhu Junfan knew what cards Yu Xiaocao had in her hands. Should the intelligent stone leave her one day, then all of her so-called medical expertise and ability to concoct astonishing medications would disappear. Although the old fellows at the imperial physician compound were a bit more conservative in their prescribing methods, they had all been born and raised in medicinal families, so they weren't all incompetent.

After getting scolded by his imperial father, Zhu Hanwen pouted his lips slightly in discontent. What good were the old men at the imperial physician compound if they couldn't even diagnose dysentery? Now, most of the imperial physicians had switched to using the pills and syrups that were made by Tongren Medicine Hall.

The efficacy and nature of these medications had all been proven. What sort of contributions did they have if they used someone else's medications to cure a patient? Furthermore, these pills and syrups had all been invented by Official Yu and were manufactured at workshops owned by her. Who was more skilled now? Wasn't the answer obvious?

"Imperial Majesty! Official Yu has gotten injured. This official will escort her back to the temporary imperial residence and ask one of the imperial physicians to take a look." Although Xiaocao had continued to emphasize that it was only a small flesh wound, the scr.a.p.e was still on her face and it was better to be extra cautious. Young maidens needed to be careful with their faces. After all, if it didn't heal right and left a scar, wouldn't that ruin her looks?

The imperial couple had been preoccupied with their son and only now discovered that there was a three inch gash on Yu Xiaocao's face. The empress stated in a slightly worried tone, "Xiaocao got injured? You mustn't be too cavalier about an injury to the face. Chunhong, give Miss Yu some of my 'Healing Jade Ointment' to use. Xiaocao, don't worry. The efficacy of Healing Jade Ointment is quite good."

"This official gratefully accepts Your Imperial Majesty's benevolence!" Yu Xiaocao kneeled to express her thanks.

After getting permission from the emperor and empress, Zhu Junyang rode with the lass on pillion to the temporary imperial residence. Before long, Chunhong appeared with a bottle of Healing Jade Ointment on hand.

"Miss Yu, the recipe for this Healing Jade Ointment has been passed down for generations by her imperial majesty's maternal family. It is only given to women and not men, daughters and not sons. The ingredients for this ointment are quite precious and rare. The empress herself only has three bottles on hand! The fact that the empress has given you one bottle for your injury truly shows how highly her imperial majesty regards you." Chunhong was the personal palace maid of the empress and knew how to drum up support for her mistress.

"Thank you, Miss Chunhong, for running this errand. Please make sure to express my gratitude to the empress!" Yu Xiaocao still wasn't very used to the winding and graceful speech that was required when speaking to the imperial family. However, the smile on her face was quite sincere.

Ever since Yu Xiaocao had used the empress's name to open 'Blossoming Beauty', the renowned beauty and cosmetics spa, the empress had more opportunities to leave the imperial palace. Chunhong had also interacted with the young girl a few times and had a decent understanding of her. The maid smiled and then left the room, leaving Xiaocao and Zhu Junyang alone again.

"Come here, this prince will spread the ointment on for you." Zhu Junyang took the bottle of ointment from Wutong's hands and scooted forward a few steps. He bent down and held her face in one hand as he carefully inspected the wound. Although it was only a minor, superficial wound like she said it was, he still revealed a tender expression.

Yu Xiaocao stopped him from continuing, "Wait a moment, I need to clean the wound first. Hm, use the water in my water pouch then. That'll save us a trip to get some water."

Zhu Junyang's phoenix eyes glanced briefly at the water pouch at her waist and a hint of a smile appeared, "How about we use the water in my water pouch instead? I've only had a few sips of it and there's still quite a lot left!

"That won't work!" Yu Xiaocao was very opposed to this idea. The water in the prince's pouch was only ordinary water while the water in her pouch was the multi-use mystic-stone water that could reduce swelling, relieve pain, and prevent inflammation. How could they be the same thing?

When she saw the look in Zhu Junyang's eyes, she carefully crafted a believable lie to explain, "You've already taken sips from your water pouch. A person's mouth has a lot of germs in it. If my wound got infected from that, wouldn't that make be causing a serious injury from a minor one?"

"Then…are you telling me you haven't taken a sip from your water pouch?" Zhu Junyang expressed that he was quite curious about the term 'germ'. The little lass often said some interesting phrases that he had never heard of before. He had already gotten used to this quirk of hers.

"I…I'm already immune to the germs that live in my mouth. Perhaps you don't understand what 'immune' means, but you should understand the term 'resistance' right? Therefore, I won't get infected!" Yu Xiaocao made a few leaps of logic and twisted her words to suit the situation.

"Then…how come this prince has heard of the fact that saliva can help wounds heal? Just look, many people lick their wounds when they get injured, so isn't that a valid thing to do?" Zhu Junyang knew that the water in the little lass's pouch as well as all of the water consumed by the Yu Family was different from ordinary water. However, he just wasn't making it known that he knew about this.