The Empress Dowager looked at the two cousins who had once been small enough to hide behind her for protection but had now grown up to stand on their own and make their own decisions, and she was so angry her liver ached.
Watching one already hanging by a thread and the other still stubbornly refusing to see reason, both were lovesick fools, and both were scoundrels.
In the end, the Empress Dowager left a single remark: "Since you won't change, then kneel properly and clear your head. Get up when you've cleared it." With that, she stormed off in a fury, sweeping her sleeves behind her.
As for the other party involved, Zhu Qingyu, she was entirely ignored by the Empress Dowager. Clearly, the wishes of an insignificant ant like her didn’t matter and weren’t worth considering.
Zhu Qingyu had known Gu Zhao for so long, and in her eyes, he had always been a figure of high position, elevated power, like someone living in the clouds.
Now, witnessing Gu Zhao being struck by someone even higher up and then punished to kneel, Zhu Qingyu found the situation utterly awkward.
Beyond the sky, there was another sky; above the clouds, there were more clouds. So even someone as powerful and influential as Gu Zhao could be coerced by even greater authority.
This version of Vice Minister Gu seemed more down-to-earth, somehow closer.
The hall was left with only Zhu Qingyu, who was there to diagnose, Gu Zhao, who was kneeling in punishment, and the Emperor, who lay unconscious. In other words, it was just the two of them left to face each other in such an awkward situation.
Zhu Qingyu had no idea when the Empress Dowager’s anger would cool, nor did she know when Gu Zhao would be allowed to rise. They couldn’t just stay silent forever.
She was still thinking of how to find a suitable topic to ease the tension.
Gu Zhao glanced at her fidgeting and spoke first:
"Are you hungry? I brought you lunch. Go out and find Eunuch Qiu; it’s with him."
Zhu Qingyu felt like kneeling before Gu Zhao herself. Vice Minister Gu’s mental state was far too relaxed. At a time like this, instead of figuring out how to placate the Empress Dowager, he was still worrying about whether she was hungry and whether she could eat.
So that was why he had shown up—to personally deliver her lunch?
Why didn’t he reflect? If he hadn’t come, he wouldn’t have been caught in the Empress Dowager’s wrath and punished.
Seeing Zhu Qingyu silent, Gu Zhao tried to reassure her:
"Don’t worry. I checked—Eunuch Fu arranged Sichuan dishes this time. No sweets."
Zhu Qingyu looked at him like he might have lost his mind:
"Do you think I’m such a naive sweetheart that I’d be worried about that at a moment like this?"
Gu Zhao, the genuine naive sweetheart, blinked at her with an innocent face:
"Really, there are no sweets. I checked them all."
Zhu Qingyu was speechless. Fine, eating was acceptable. At least with food, the awkwardness might ease.
So she went out to find Eunuch Qiu. She picked up the food box, and under Eunuch Qiu’s astonished gaze, carried it back into the Emperor’s bedchamber.
Gu Zhao was even more stunned than Eunuch Qiu when he saw Zhu Qingyu return:
"You’re going to eat here?"
His expression was so obvious that Zhu Qingyu grew nervous:
"Is eating in the Emperor’s bedchamber not allowed? Is there such a rule?"
There was no such rule, but ordinary people wouldn’t dare to casually use the tables and chairs in the Emperor’s bedchamber.
As for how to eat without tables and chairs, Gu Zhao’s exalted status limited his imagination. He couldn’t picture it.
Gu Zhao offered her a suggestion:
"There are no tables or chairs here. How will you eat? Go to the tea room—there are tables and chairs there. That’s where the maids on duty usually eat."
Zhu Qingyu knelt beside Gu Zhao, opened the food box, and saw it was for two. She said:
"I’ll just eat like this. When I was busy before, I’d have patients with broken limbs and bleeding wounds wailing beside me, and I’d still have to eat whenever I could. No time for formality. And if I go to the tea room, what about you? You’re not going to follow me there and kneel while eating, are you?"
That wasn’t an option. Vice Minister Gu still had his dignity. Kneeling before the Emperor was one thing, but kneeling before servants was something he couldn’t stomach.
Zhu Qingyu handed the chopsticks to Gu Zhao:
"I can tell the Empress Dowager really cares for you. She punished you to kneel, but she didn’t forbid you from eating. You’re usually so talkative—why not go apologize to her and get this over with? Wow, Eunuch Fu really outdid himself! This food is amazing!"
Gu Zhao looked at the chopsticks she offered and realized she intended for him to eat like the stevedores he’d seen at the Yangzhou docks—holding a bowl and squatting on the ground.
What kind of sight would that be!
No, he couldn’t accept it. He’d rather starve than eat like that.
Absolutely not!
Gu Zhao turned his head away, refusing the chopsticks:
"I’m not hungry. You eat. And why should I apologize? I like you; I want to marry you. What’s wrong with that? I have to get past the Empress Dowager eventually. Better to face it now—it’s a good thing."
Zhu Qingyu picked up a piece of food with the chopsticks and held it to Gu Zhao’s lips:
"Come on, my lord. Eat up. How can you kneel with strength if you don’t fill your stomach?"
In principle, Gu Zhao refused to eat in such an undignified manner.
Kneeling without proper posture, eating without grace—like some rustic brute.
But then again, if someone begged and coaxed him, it wasn’t entirely out of the question.
Gu Zhao opened his mouth, took one bite, and immediately his eyes turned red, tears nearly spilling over.
Earlier, when the Empress Dowager had punished Vice Minister Gu, Eunuch Qiu had tactfully stayed outside.
Now that the Empress Dowager was gone and Zhu Qingyu had brought in the food box, Eunuch Qiu, knowing the bedchamber couldn’t be left unattended with the Emperor inside, entered silently to attend to him in case anything happened.
Once inside, he saw Vice Minister Gu and Doctor Zhu kneeling face-to-face, feeding each other like a couple bowing in a wedding ceremony. Eunuch Qiu acted as if he were blind, pretending not to notice.
He heard one voice, full of disbelief, say:
"Are you serious? My lord, has no one ever fed you before? You’re crying from being touched?"
The other voice gasped as if even breathing were difficult:
"Spicy—haah—so spicy—water."
Zhu Qingyu quickly fetched a cup of tea for Gu Zhao, saying:
"I really can’t with you. Day after day, how can you not tell Eunuch Fu to avoid spicy food when ordering meals?"
Gu Zhao was so overwhelmed by the spice that he abandoned all pretense of noble dignity. He gulped down the tea like a cow drinking water, tears streaming down his face, holding out the cup for more:
"More."
Zhu Qingyu simply brought him the whole teapot and poured cup after cup for him.
That single spicy mouthful cost Gu Zhao an entire pot of tea. He wept as if heartbroken, yet still couldn’t suppress the burning sensation.
At a loss, the rest of the meal saw Zhu Qingyu feasting on the spicy Sichuan dishes while Gu Zhao could only eat pitifully, occasionally fed a mouthful of plain rice by her.
Eunuch Qiu knelt by the Emperor’s bedside like a meditating monk, treating Vice Minister Gu’s rare loss of composure as floating clouds. He didn’t bat an eye, just stared blankly with the bedridden Emperor.
Stare blankly?!
Eunuch Qiu jumped up, both shocked and overjoyed:
"Your Majesty? Your Majesty is awake!"
