The Lucky Farmgirl-Chapter 1917 - 1892: Leave of Absence

The Emperor walked with a steady and upright stride as he left the court. He did not go to his study nor did he summon Wei Zhi and others for a discussion, but instead, he instructed Gu Zhong to move the memorials to the Central Palace.

Upon entering the Central Palace, the Emperor let out a sigh of relief. The Empress approached him and helped him remove his outer robe and headpiece, then guided him to sit on the couch.

The Emperor still felt a bit embarrassed, but the Empress was considerate, so he could only put on a stern face and pretend not to care as he sat on the wooden couch.

Gu Zhong and the eunuch arranged the small low table on the couch with nimble hands, neatly placing the memorials on the table.

The Emperor supported his waist and sat cross-legged, and the Empress appeared worried, "Should we summon an imperial physician to have a look?"

The Emperor replied with a stern face, "No need, I’m fine."

The Empress knew he was proud and definitely did not want anyone to know about him falling off the bed last night.

After some thought, she dismissed the servants, brought a basin of warm water, and first assisted him in washing his face and hands. Then she took out a bottle of ointment, saying, "Allow me to apply some ointment on Your Majesty."

The Emperor was doubtful, "Can this be applied on the face?"

Many ointments sting when applied to the face, and his injury was near the eye. Last night, he applied a bit of ointment and immediately washed it off, feeling as if his eyes were going blind.

This morning, the Empress used powder to cover it up for him, but it still looked somewhat odd. Fortunately, only those attending closely by his side could notice it.

However, the Empress felt that the injury on the face was not serious; what mattered was that he accidentally twisted his waist when he fell off the bed. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

She softly advised again, "Perhaps it’s best to call an imperial physician."

The Emperor lost his temper, saying, "I said there’s no need. It’s not a major injury."

The Empress could only drop the subject and asked, "Will you visit Sanlang today?"

"No," the Emperor, with a twisted waist, didn’t feel like moving around. At this moment, his mood was somewhat agitated, so he didn’t really want to go, "Just have someone send some things to him, tell him not to dwell on it, and focus on healing his leg first."

The Empress nodded.

Asking Prince Gong not to overthink was impossible. He had received the imperial decree for several days, and the Emperor had only visited him once. Today was the day to change his dressing, and though it was agreed that his father would come see him, he didn’t show up.

Prince Gong couldn’t help but overthink.

Director Xiao removed the splints, cleaned the injured leg, and applied the mending ointment again. Seeing Prince Gong about to move his leg, he gently lifted it up and warned, "Your Highness, you must not move this leg. Otherwise, the bones might heal misaligned, and if they grow crooked, the leg will be lame."

Prince Gong glanced at his injured leg, and after a moment of stiffness, he did not move.

Director Xiao continued to apply the medication.

Prince Gong asked, "If the leg grows crooked, can it be healed properly again?"

Director Xiao smiled, "Rebreaking it and setting it again is possible."

But rebreaking it would be extremely painful, and mainly, who’s capable enough to precisely hit the original fracture to break it again?

Therefore, this kind of thing only exists in medical theory, and no successful cases have been recorded yet.

Under the covers, Prince Gong’s hand slightly trembled. He wanted to clench his fist, but then slowly relaxed it. He asked Director Xiao without changing his expression, "When will my leg be fully healed?"

Director Xiao replied, "Your Highness has been recovering well this period, after a few more dressings, about a month or so, you should be able to start getting out of bed to practice walking. After daily exercises, in a month or two, you should be back to normal."

Director Xiao paused and added, "However, avoid running fast and climbing mountains in the future..."

After all, Prince Gong was too heavy; even walking was a burden, let alone running fast and climbing, which would cause greater damage to the injured leg in a short time.

Prince Gong pressed his lips together and gloomily agreed.

The Crown Prince agreed to let Zhou Man take a leave to visit Shangzhou, so before her next scheduled break, Manbao submitted a leave request, asking for about seven days off.

This way, including her two-day leave this time and the next two-day leave, she would have an eleven-day vacation. Since Shangzhou was not far, she estimated that seven to eight days would be enough to find her maternal family and settle things.

The Crown Prince had almost forgotten about this matter, but when she brought it up, he remembered, and without even looking at how many days Zhou Man was asking for on her request, he directly asked someone to inform the Imperial Hospital and notified Libationer Kong.

Indeed, Manbao had two immediate superiors, one was Director Xiao, and the other was Libationer Kong.

Libationer Kong originally did not want to approve it, but hearing that she was going to seek her kin, and considering the Confucian emphasis on filial piety, he approved it, then casually looked at the leave requests from Bai Shan and Bai Erlang, furrowing his brows, "Zhou Man is going to seek her kin, what are these two going for?"

Mr. Zhuang, who also submitted a leave request, cleared his throat awkwardly and said, "They are worried their Senior Sister won’t find her relatives, so they are going to assist her."

Mr. Zhuang continued, "Libationer may not know, but Zhou Man only found out about her background after she grew up. She never knew she had a maternal uncle’s family. Her father had entered the Xia Family by marriage, and when her maternal grandparents passed away, he brought his wife and daughter back to their hometown. That was fourteen years ago, so likely everything and everyone in Shangzhou has changed."

Libationer Kong frowned, "Though that may be the case, they are students, and students should prioritize their studies."

Mr. Zhuang quickly agreed and then took out his own leave request, saying, "Therefore, I have decided to accompany them, supervising the journey, to ensure they do not neglect their studies."

Libationer Kong: ...

He glanced at Zhuang Xun, then lowered his head to look at the leave request handed to him. He vaguely understood why Bai Shan and the others were like this.

As they say, a disciple resembles their master, and a child resembles their father...

Libationer Kong reached out to accept the request, opened it, and asked, "The Crown Prince agreed?"

Zhuang Xun only had three classes in a ten-day period, but he also had to give the Crown Prince two small classes. Libationer Kong had to admit, Zhuang Xun had a certain knack for teaching students, at least the Crown Prince listened to his lessons and advice.

Zhuang Xun smiled, "I mentioned it to His Highness, and he said it is a matter of the Chongwen Pavilion’s internal affairs, so it should be brought to the Libationer."

Libationer Kong felt a bit more comfortable and, after pondering for a moment, approved it, then set the requests aside, saying, "Go early and return early."

Mr. Zhuang gratefully bowed and replied, "Yes."

In addition to the leave requests of Bai Shan and Bai Erlang, the requests from Zhuang Xun and Zhou Man still needed to be filed with the Ministry of Personnel.

As they were not taking leave during the holidays and family visit days stipulated by the court, their corresponding salaries would be deducted.

Knowing the definite approval, Manbao ran to Mingda, saying, "I won’t be entering the palace late this month. If you have any matters, just write to my family. If it’s urgent, my family will send a message to me."

Given it was barely over ten days, Mingda did not think she would need to write to her. However, she agreed with a smile.

Manbao took out a box from her pocket and said, "This is a crystal bead strand I made for Her Majesty the Empress, take it to present to her."

Mingda accepted it and noticed that the crystals were white, but the black stone in the middle was identical to hers, so she realized that the most important part should not be the crystal, but the stone.

She nodded, promising Manbao she would not mention her.

Manbao suggested, "How about you offer it in front of Laozi’s image for seven weeks and forty-nine days before presenting it to Her Majesty?"

Mingda nodded with a smile, "Sure."