Physician, Not A Consort

"His Majesty?" Li Junyue looked towards Lin Haihai. Do I really have to kneel? Lin Haihai read the underlying message in his gaze and shrugged helplessly in response.

"This peasant, Li Junyue, pays his respects to Your Majesty!" Li Junyue imitated what the actors did in period dramas and made a very deep bow. He really couldn't bring himself down onto his knees! Lin Haihai, do you really dare to not come to my defence? He shot a glare at Lin Haihai.

"Who are you?" Yang Shaolun felt a stifling feeling in his heart as he observed the glances between the two.

"My name is Li Junyue, I'm her childhood sweetheart," claimed Li Junyue, as he looked at Yang Shaolun with provocation and pulled Lin Haihai over to stand beside him. 

Lin Haihai struggled and replied sheepishly, "What nonsense are you spouting!?" Yang Shaolun's face had darkened and she lowered her head in guilt.

"Let go of her, she's my princess consort!" Yang Hanlun wrangled Lin Haihai's arm out of Li Junyue's grasp and pulled her back towards his side.

Li Junyue folded his arms across his chest and looked at Yang Hanlun with a calm countenance, "Hmph. Ask her, who's the shameless one who cried and begged for me to marry her?"

"Are you seeking death! Stop spouting nonsense!" Lin Haihai's face flushed instantly. She looked at Yang Shaolun with embarrassment; the latter was staring at her, his face full of disbelief.

"I still remember that it was a bright and sunny day. You held a bouquet of flowers and came running to me saying, 'Brother Junyue, can I marry you?' I said no and you started to bawl and wail saying that if I don't marry you, you will not marry anyone else in this lifetime. Say, did that happen or did it not?" Li Junyue teasingly recalled.

"Zheng Feng, let's go," Yang Shaolun ordered placidly. He gave a nod in Chen Qingluo's direction before walking out directly, and didn't even spare Lin Haihai a glance when he walked past her.

Li Junyue watched Yang Shaolun's cold and aloof rear view, and the corner of his lips raised into a faint smile. The Emperor likes his own sister-in-law!

Yang Hanlun glared at Li Junyue, fuming. He then turned to look at Lin Haihai, her face filled with guilt and not speaking a single word. He suddenly felt as though a huge boulder was weighing down on his heart and he couldn't breathe.

Chen Luoqing pondered all the events before him. A strange yet elated expression crept up onto his face, but a few moments later, he let out a heavy sigh.

"Li Junyue, if you dare bring up what happened when I was eight, I'm gonna behead you!" Lin Haihai threatened out of embarrassment. Has Brother Yang misunderstood? 

"Yo, yo, yo. Your temper has grown after being a princess consort for a few days, huh? I'm soooo scared, I shall zip my mouth now, alright? Wifey!" Li Junyue disregarded Lin Haihai's warning with his sarcasm. This was how they got along when they were in the modern world. Li Junyue often spent his time overseas, and was hence more carefree and unrestrained. In the first place, he was contemptuous of the ancient Chinese monarchy. On top of that, he had found out that Lin Haihai had a way to send him out of this space and time, so he wasn't afraid of offending the people here. He just wanted to be certain who was sincere towards Haihai and help her find a good husband. At least then he wouldn't have to be so worried about her when he went back.

The emperor liked her, but he had an imperial harem; based on Lin Haihai's character, she wouldn't want to stay in such a household, so the emperor was out. As for the ex-husband of hers standing before him with an infuriated expression, he had a childhood sweetheart and Haihai wouldn't be able to compete with their years of relationship - so, ex-husband, out! Now, the general… he didn't seem to be jealous, but that strange expression surfaced when he was acting intimate with Haihai. Hmph, pending observation. 

Naturally, Lin Haihai didn't know of the thoughts running through Li Junyue's head. She just thought of it as how they always used to bicker. But she felt embarrassed when he brought up all those old stories, and furthermore, in front of so many others. She felt too ashamed to even glance at everyone with all their eyes on her.

With a flushed face, she explained, "That happened very long ago. I was too blind then, to mistake a wolf for Wolffy[1]…" She tried but found herself at a loss of words after she blabbered on for a while. What's there to explain? This happened when I was young and innocent. Li Junyue was so cute looking then. Adults and children alike adored him. It was normal for her to have been temporarily infatuated with him. But those feelings only lasted during that year. After they got to know each other, she realized how wrong she was. This black-bellied kid kept bullying her ever since she swore to only marry him. He tugged her pigtails, placed a lizard in her backpack, placed a cockroach in her pencil case, and many other such horrible pranks.

Li Junyue rolled his eyes at her before turning to exit the room. Lin Haihai hesitated briefly before following after him. Chen Qingluo was deep in thought as he watched the two backs disappearing into the distance; he turned to Yang Hanlun, asking, "Is she really your princess consort?"

"Kind of," Yang Hanlun answered with feeble interest.

"It's either yes or no. What do you mean by kind of?"

"She is indeed my princess consort!" Yang Hanlun looked Chen Qingluo in the eyes and declared solemnly. But more so, he was making this statement for his own ears. And yet, after he made the declaration, he was stunned by his own outburst.

"Oh." Chen Qingluo didn't say anything more but the corners of his lips raised into a smile; no one knew what he was thinking.

Half a month later… 

The planting of medicinal herbs was in full swing. Lin Haihai arranged for the hospital's idle personnel to help out at the planting field. The thirteen men in black were there too. She appointed Xiao as the supervisor to oversee the personnel deployment.

She planted a wide range of herbs. Most of the hills were full of common herbs, and only one was left to be used to cultivate rare herbs, including thorn apples. But to plant thorn apples, she would need to enter the palace and look for Empress Chen, as she was lacking the seeds and planting methodology.

As soon as Lin Haihai arrived at the palace gates and was about to show proof of her identity, a strong gust of force came rushing at her from behind. She subconsciously tilted her body away, and turned her head back, as a monk with a straight face stood just around five meters away. The monk dressed in yellow robes had a scowl on his face, a bowl in his left hand and a string of Buddha beads in his right hand.

Lin Haihai was perplexed. When did I ever provoke someone like him? Just as she was about to open her mouth to ask, the monk parted his lips and spoke in a loud and harsh tone, "Demoness! I will enforce justice on the behalf of the Heavens today and have your soul disintegrated into the air!"

Lin Haihai looked left and looked right. There's no one else? Where is this demoness he spoke of? Is he talking about me? Lin Haihai took a step forward, cupped her hands together and said, "Reverend, are you talking to me?"

"Cut the nonsense. Demoness, come at me!" The monk put his alms bowl into his sleeve as the Buddha beads on his right hand came flying towards Lin Haihai like bullets.

Dang. Dang. Dang. The Buddha beads hit against the body of a sharp sword and scattered over the ground. It was Zheng Feng.

Zheng Feng had his sword pointed at the monk. With an icy frown, he lashed out, "Who are you? How dare you assassinate the Sixth Princess Consort!"

"Hmph. She is the Sixth Princess Consort? She is not Lin Yuguan, she is a demoness who possessed Lin Yuguan's body and is posing as her. Speak. What are your intentions? What scheme are you plotting by pretending to be Sixth Princess Consort?" The monk stared at Lin Haihai and interrogated her.

Lin Haihai was secretly amazed by the monk, for he did have some ability to even sense that she had taken over this dead body. However, he only knew a fragment of the truth. She was just a soul from modern times and not the demoness that he spoke of. Besides, her aura fitted in with the aura of this body and there wasn't any repulsion, not to mention even the slightest Yin energy. Even if she had the snake demon's spirit pearl in her, both her flesh and spirit were truly human without a tinge of demon aura. With neither demon aura nor Yin energy, this monk was just too reckless to come to such a conclusion.

"Nonsense! She is the Sixth Princess Consort. If you dare to spout any more nonsense, don't blame my sword for not letting you off," Zheng Feng remarked icily. "How absurd. How can there be a demoness in broad daylight?"

"Hmph, if we don't get rid of this demoness, she will bring us endless troubles. You must not protect her. Else, it will all be too late when trouble comes." The monk tried to persuade Zheng Feng. After all, human beings were ignorant.

"Reverend, I'm not some demoness. I believe you have got the wrong person. Go back. Benefit the people by doing something meaningful," Lin Haihai replied solemnly.

"Consort Lin, don't get yourself involved with him. Please head on in, I will deal with him." Zheng Feng replied to Lin Haihai deferentially. Lin Haihai nodded. She really had no time to spare to be caught up with this. She had to go in to look for Empress Chen.

Seeing that Lin Haihai wanted to leave, the monk moved, wanting to go up to intercept her, but Zheng Feng was faster and already had his sword against the monk's neck. The monk stamped his feet in anxiety and said, "This is bad. If we let her into the imperial palace, there will be mishaps!"

Zheng Feng turned back and saw that Lin Haihai's silhouette had disappeared beyond the palace gates before he immediately placed his sword down and whispered, "Reverend, let's talk somewhere else."

The monk understood instantly and brought Zheng Feng with him straight out of the city, to the mountain where he ran into Lin Haihai that day.

"That day, this old monk was chasing a fox demon and lost track of it here. I was looking around and was close to giving up when I saw that woman just now flying down the mountain. Though I may not be a martial arts master, I know for a fact that such weightless skill was definitely not qinggong. I recognized that woman to be Physician Lin of Linhai Hospital and hence went around gathering information and found out that the Sixth Princess Consort had committed suicide before after her marriage…"

"What? Sixth Princess Consort has committed suicide before?" Zheng Feng was startled and interrupted the monk before he could complete his sentence.

1. https://xyy.fandom.com/wiki/Wolffy