Chapter 432: Chapter 432: Let’s Get Married

The white-haired Sima Han was brought into the hall. Before he could even pay his respects, the Emperor urged him to quickly examine the Ninth Prince.

The crowd held its breath, gathering around Sima Han and the Ninth Prince.

The Divine Doctor took the prince’s pulse, stroking his white beard in contemplation.

The Ninth Prince continued to cry out in pain, groaning softly as cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

Mo Lingwei stood at the head of the officials, a cold, mocking smile playing on his thin lips.

"Your Majesty, the Ninth Prince is not ill. If we must force an explanation for his pain, I’m afraid it’s merely indigestion from overeating. With a few needles from this humble commoner, he will be cured in an instant."

As he spoke, Sima Han unrolled the acupuncture kit he carried with him.

When he took out a silver needle, perhaps it was the Ninth Prince’s guilty conscience playing tricks on him, but he felt the tip was incredibly sharp.

He swallowed imperceptibly.

Sima Han, his beard streaked with white, smiled. "Ninth Prince, this humble commoner will now perform acupuncture to improve your circulation. One of the needles must go into a pain-related acupoint, so I must ask you to bear with it."

Then, his large, rough hand firmly gripped the Ninth Prince’s own.

The sharp tip of the needle was just about to pierce the veins in the Ninth Prince’s wrist!

"Wait!" the Ninth Prince finally cried out in terror. He snatched his hand back, his face ashen. "What kind of quack are you? How dare you spout such nonsense! Do I not know my own body? Is it your place, you old beggar, to treat me?"

He looked at the Emperor and pleaded, "Imperial Father, don’t let a wandering charlatan like this examine your son! His origins are unknown. Who knows what his intentions are!"

The Emperor’s expression darkened. He immediately reprimanded him, "Nonsense! Hurry up and apologize to the Divine Doctor! If it weren’t for him, your mother consort’s hair still wouldn’t be growing back!"

The officials concealed their mocking expressions, all lowering their heads and struggling to hold back their laughter.

Only the Ninth Prince stood frozen in place.

When Princess Consort Qi was sent to the Cold Palace years ago, he too was shunned. He spent all his time hiding in his own palace, rarely venturing out, and had no desire to hear about events in the outside world.

So, while he had heard the name of the Divine Doctor, Sima Han, once or twice, he didn’t know the man and had certainly never met him.

Furthermore, after his mother, Princess Consort Qi, was struck by lightning, she went bald. Her appearance became so grotesque and frightening that she had long forbidden him from coming near her palace.

He had even less of an opportunity to meet the so-called Divine Doctor.

However, he had heard a palace maid who served Princess Consort Qi mention that the Emperor had found a skilled doctor to treat her "barren scalp" problem.

He never expected... it was this old man!

Sima Han didn’t say a single harsh word. He simply refused to spare the Ninth Prince another glance.

He cupped his hands in a salute to the Emperor. "Your Majesty, this humble commoner has never enjoyed meddling in others’ affairs. I am old now and merely lodge with a few old friends. If you had not contacted General Xie and requested that I enter the palace to treat Princess Consort Qi’s hair, I would never have come. I have no desire for the power and influence of the court."

"But now, since Princess Consort Qi’s own son believes I am incompetent, then for the matter of her hair... Your Majesty had best find someone more qualified!"

With that, Sima Han flicked his robes and turned to leave.

The brothers Xie Suzhi and Xie Dizhi rushed to stop him. "Divine Doctor, sir! Please wait, sir!"

Sima Han didn’t look back.

Xie Mingxu sighed, his gaze heavy. "The good doctor is a free spirit, but he has his principles and a temper to match. It was difficult enough to persuade him to enter the palace to treat Princess Consort Qi. After what the Ninth Prince has said, I fear it will be nearly impossible to invite him back."

The Ninth Prince’s face was a mask of stunned disbelief.

’I actually drove away the very doctor treating my mother!’

The Emperor’s expression was terrifyingly grim.

"Your stomach doesn’t hurt anymore?" Mo Lingwei scoffed.

Only then did the Ninth Prince snap back to his senses, his face deathly pale. He clutched his stomach. "I..."

He looked at the Emperor. "Imperial Father, it’s true... I was faking the stomachache. But it was only because your son feared the locusts might harm your sacred health! I had no choice but to use this method to prevent everyone from eating them."

The Ninth Prince was terrified of being punished and shunned once more.

"Imperial Father, heaven and earth can witness my sincerity! I had absolutely no intention of deceiving you!"

The moment these sanctimonious words were spoken, looks of contempt flashed across the faces of many officials.

For all his lofty talk, the Ninth Prince was clearly just trying to oppose the solution Princess Funing had come up with.

He truly had no sense of the bigger picture.

The Emperor was livid. He slapped the Ninth Prince across the face. "Scoundrel!"

"We were thinking of your mother consort, yet you only care for your own selfish desires! You have utterly disgraced Us in front of all these officials! What right do you have to call yourself Our son?"

The Emperor waved a large sleeve. "Guards! Take the Ninth Prince away! He is to face a wall in reflection for one month. No one is to visit him without Our permission!"

"Imperial Father! I was wrong, Imperial Father!" the Ninth Prince wailed, still begging for mercy as the imperial guards dragged him away.

Xie Mingxu watched coolly as the Ninth Prince was taken away, his thin lips curving into a faint, detached smile.

’My little sister is really the clever one.’

’Shen Ningning predicted that someone would object to today’s locust banquet by feigning illness.’

’That’s why she had me bring the Divine Doctor to the palace beforehand.’

’This time, the Ninth Prince really shot himself in the foot.’

...

The Emperor issued an imperial decree, calling for the people to serve locusts on their dining tables.

A trend of eating deep-fried locusts swept through the Capital City.

However, the idea was still horrifying to most people.

Thus, the locust problem did not improve much.

Every day, vast swathes of crops were still being destroyed.

Shen Ningning sought out Lu Shaoyuan’s mother, Mrs. Meng, asking her to leverage the power of her merchant guild to invest in and create a business buying and selling locusts.

She wanted to turn deep-fried locusts into a culinary business.

Mrs. Meng, truly a formidable woman, saw eye to eye with Shen Ningning immediately.

She immediately seized the business opportunity, first partnering with several restaurants in the Capital City to introduce locusts to the commoners’ tables.

Next, she promoted the medicinal properties of locusts, highlighting that they were filling. Combined with their extremely low price and delicious, savory flavor, everyone who tried them sang their praises. Soon, they became a delicacy on every family’s table.

Mrs. Meng made a fortune and was overjoyed. She planned to give a portion of the silver she earned to Shen Ningning.

Seeing the opportunity, wealthy merchants in the city quickly followed her lead. In no time, nets for catching locusts could be seen everywhere.

Soon, there were hardly any locusts left to cause trouble. Everyone was now eagerly on the lookout, either to catch locusts to sell or to roast them for themselves.

One day, the weather was bright and clear, with white clouds drifting lazily across the sky.

Shen Ningning arranged to meet Lu Shaoyuan in a private room at a restaurant.

"Here," he said. "My mother told me to give this to you. Five thousand taels of silver. It’s what you’ve earned. You helped her make a fortune."

Shen Ningning accepted the thick stack of silver notes without ceremony and tucked them into her satchel.

She smiled sweetly. "Mrs. Meng and I both got what we wanted. My mother’s notebook says this is called a ’win-win’."

"By the way, Lu Shaoyuan, I asked you here today because I need your help with something."

Lu Shaoyuan picked up his teacup and raised an eyebrow. "What is it? Does the great and powerful Princess Funing actually need my help?"

Shen Ningning blinked her large, round eyes and said with a perfectly straight face:

"Let’s get married tomorrow."

"PFFFT—!!!" Lu Shaoyuan sprayed out the mouthful of tea he had just taken.

Shen Ningning covered her mouth and nose with a small handkerchief, looking slightly disgusted.

’Ugh, how can he be so improper, just spraying his tea like that? Oh well. It’s just a pretend marriage to make Grandma happy. I’ll just have to tolerate it.’

So the little girl thought to herself.

"What did you say?! Marry you?! Tomorrow?!" For the first time, Lu Shaoyuan’s expression was one of complete shock, a mixture of ecstatic joy and utter confusion.

A loud THUD came from the next room, but Shen Ningning paid it no mind.

"That’s right. Are you willing?"

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