Chapter 40
She did not know in her heart whether she was terrified of the cold or she was suddenly feeling reluctant to teach this little girl a lesson. She just pretended to reprimand Lin Feilu with a few words, only to sneeze just as she was about to leave. As soon as she sneezed, Lin Feilu looked up with her cute little face full of worry.
The little girl suddenly took out a small hand stove from inside her sleeve and handed it to her obediently as she said, "Eldest Sister, here, this is for you."
The hand stove had been with Lin Feilu for a long time, so it had a slightly milky fragrance of youth on it. Lin Nianzhi gave it a look and took the hand stove from her in an arrogant manner. Although she did not show any expression on her face, she was actually so relieved that she wanted to scream for joy now that her fingers were finally warm.
Lin Feilu's little face was flushed from the cold, but this did not prevent her from smiling sincerely. She put her little hand over her mouth and gasped before obediently waving at her, "Goodbye, Eldest Sister."
Lin Nianzhi slightly nodded, "Go."
She then turned around and left. After only walking a few steps, she once again turned around and tried to peek at the older girl secretly. Seeing that Lin Nianzhi was still looking in her direction, she turned her head away in embarrassment and ran away with her little figure wrapped in the cloak.
Lin Nianzhi was speechless.
It was... oddly cute.
♠♠♠
A true 'Green Tea' can convert an enemy into a friend without much effort.
It had always been Lin Feilu's principle to not make enemies unnecessarily.
The eldest princess had a reputation for being unruly. She originally thought that it would be difficult to handle her. In the end, she decided to test the waters by throwing a 'sugar-coated cannonball' but she did not expect that the other party would take such a critical hit.
It was easy to understand why. All the princes and princesses in the Imperial Palace had a tendency to think that everything under the heavens revolved around them at all times. Since it was their mothers who did all the hard work, from the scheming to the bullying to the suffering; the children had never seen the real evils of the world. They only learn to have bad tempers, with no sense of self awareness or introspection.
Moreover, this eldest princess was still young. She was only about eleven years old. In modern times, she would still be a primary school student.
It was simply child's play for her to dupe an elementary school student.
Lin Feilu felt guilty in her heart for two seconds. She then took off her warm cloak and walked all the way back to Mingyue Palace in the cold wind.
Her physical constitution was weak. She immediately fell ill that afternoon after being exposed to such relentless cold wind. By evening, she was lying in bed with a fever.
Xiao Lan hurriedly asked Yunyou to bring an imperial doctor. Now the Imperial Hospital could not ignore Mingyue Palace as they had before and immediately sent people to see the fifth princess. After a thorough checkup, they found that she had only caught a cold. The imperial doctor wrote a prescription and instructed Xiao Lan to leave the furnace burning a little hotter than usual so that the princess could sweat out her fever.
(T/N: In traditional practice, when one catches a fever, they are often advised to put on more layers or to increase the room temperature just so they can 'sweat out their fever'. The idea was to jumpstart your body's cooling system, i.e. sweating, so the more you sweat, the faster your fever will break. It is still common practice in some parts of the world, despite there being no scientific evidence backing it.)
Yunyou followed the imperial doctor back to the Imperial Hospital to pick up the medicine. When she arrived, she happened to encounter one of Consort Xian's palace maid, who was there to pick up Consort Xian's prescription to treat her sleep restlessness. The palace maids often communicated with each other so they naturally knew who the other was. While they were chatting, Suiyu, Consort Xian's personal maid, learned that the fifth princess was ill and she immediately told Consort Xian about the matter after returning to the Changming Palace.
Consort Xian asked, "Who was the imperial doctor that served the Fifth Princess?"
Suiyu recalled, "A young man. He seems to have only recently entered the Imperial Hospital. I have never seen him before."