Physician, Not A Consort

Lin Haihai slowly came to. She opened her eyes and saw Baizi’s handsome face. She immediately sat up. Television, lamp, telephone… Everything she saw was of the modern day. She had returned!

She grabbed onto Baizi’s sleeve and asked in a scared voice, “Now that I’m back, what will happen to my child?”

Would the child be able to survive without the mother?

“Don’t worry, your child will be fine,” Baizi reassured her. “The pill I gave you would keep them alive until they are born!”

That eased Lin Haihai’s mind briefly, but another question came to her mind. “Didn’t you say the pill would only last for a year? Could I leave my spiritual pearl to my child?”

“The spiritual pearl is still in your body,” explained Baizi. “Only your soul came back. The child will absorb the power of the spiritual pearl when they’re born. Do not worry!”

“How about your queen?” Lin Haihai asked. She was a little worried about the old woman.

“She ascended. She said that she would do everything in her power to send you back to your loved ones!” Baizi helped her up. Lin Haihai could see her reflection in the sliding glass door. It was a face she didn’t recognize.

“Would I be able to go back?” Lin Haihai grew hopeful. Would she be able to return to that man?

“I’m not sure yet.” Baizi looked up at the clock on the wall and continued, “I’ve called your parents here. It’s about time that they arrive!”

“Would they recognize me?” Lin Haihai asked in a trembling voice. Her appearance had changed. Would they still know who she was?

“How could we not recognize our own daughter?” a woman’s voice choked out. “Xiao’hai, how could your mother not recognize you?”

Lin Haihai whirled around and stared at the three people standing outside the door. Her knees went weak and she dropped down to the floor with a thud, breaking into silent wails. When she was in ancient times, she always silently cried on her own when she missed home. Now that she had reunited with the family she had missed so much, she could no longer contain her sorrow, and she bawled.

Professor Lin went up to help his granddaughter up. Although she looked different now, familial love ran deeper than the skin, and their memory would never fade. Their love for her had been burned into their very souls.

Lin Haihai held her family tight. She suddenly saw how selfish she had been when she saw their tears of joy. Perhaps it was the right thing to do for her to return. She would be able to take care of them properly as they grew old.

I may never see him again! Lin Haihai’s heart prickled with pain. She was now a thousand years apart from those in Daxing. It would be impossible for them to meet again in her lifetime. She wouldn’t find any evidence of their existence. That made it difficult for her to even breathe.

However, she had to put on a smile for her family. Although her heart was filled with a bitterness greater than goldthread[1], her smile was sweeter than jujube!

After three days of absence from the morning meetings, Yang Shaolun issued the decree to pass the throne to the sixth prince, while he stayed with Lin Haihai in her room at the Linhai Hospital.

Everything in the room reminded him of her. Journals she kept while she was busy at work, books scattered all over the desk, some simple clothes, and the pot of clove by the window. Its flower had wilted, painting a desolate picture.

Wangchen and Zheng Feng had returned to the hospital to take care of its day-to-day affairs and learn medicine from the imperial physicians in the evening. The empress and Wenxuan now oversaw the plantation together. Chu Zijun had been stationed to the border with Chen Luoqing, while Mother Qin was assigned to Chu Zijun’s troop as a servant.

Everyone seemed to have found their place in the world. The empress dowager had been leading a peaceful life as well, doing physical therapy every day. Yu Qing had become the new empress, but she still worked at the Linhai Hospital, serving the people despite her newfound status.

The next few months flew by for some and crawled one second at a time for others. When Yu Qing determined that the child was ready to be delivered through surgery, Yang Shaolun lost it completely. He would not let anyone touch Lin Haihai’s body. He knew once the child was taken out, she would lose all her vitals and die for real!

“The child has to be born now!” Yu Qing glared at the mad man. They couldn’t even get near Lin Haihai.

“I don’t believe you! You told me to place her in an ice coffin like she’s dead! Get out, get out now! I’ll rather not have her child!” Yang Shaolun held onto Lin Haihai. Her gentle face hadn’t changed at all. She was as beautiful as ever.

“You’re spouting nonsense!” Yu Qing pushed aside her own pain to persuade him. “She’d protected her child with her own life, and yet you are going to make her sacrifice a pointless one. She would blame you if she knew!”

“I won’t let you touch her, I won’t! Get out!” Yang Shaolun cried for the first time after Lin Haihai passed away. Panic seized his heart, but he couldn’t find help anywhere. He was able to rule over the nation, and yet he couldn’t keep his woman in this world!

“Give him some time, Yu Qing!” Li Junyue glanced at Yang Shaolun. They had all seen how much pain he was in over the past couple months, and yet he never cried. Him crying now was a sign that he was finally coming to terms with reality. He would come around; he just needed time!

Two days later, Yang Shaolun opened the door. Yu Qing peered over at him. The thick sorrow in his deep gaze was difficult to look at.

A few disciples carried Lin Haihai out with a grieving look on their faces. Yang Shaolun watched them go. It felt like his heart had been hollowed. How was he going to keep living?

He sat at the door, feeling chilling winds sweeping over him. He had never felt so cold. The coldness came from deep in his bones. He couldn’t stop trembling.

How long had it been? He wasn’t sure. When he broke out of his reverie, a soft body was put into his arms. He looked down, dazed. The baby’s little face resembled Lin Haihai, and she was now looking at him with big, watery eyes. Even her gaze reminded him of Lin Haihai!

Yang Shaolun held the child gingerly and walked back into the room. He would be living with this child from now on!

Lin Haihai had said that she had a feeling the child would be a boy, but she turned out to be wrong. Perhaps heaven had heard his plea and gifted him with a daughter who looked like Lin Haihai. She would keep his loneliness at bay.

He named her Yang Ruhai. Ruhai, like the ocean. She would be like the woman he held dear in his heart.

Remembering Lin Haihai’s ambition, Yang Shaolun established orphanages and treatment centers all over the nation. With his daughter by his side, he moved around, never staying in a place for long.

In the blink of an eye, the child had turned two. After absorbing the power of the spiritual pearl, she had gained the abilities Lin Haihai had.

It was Mid-Autumn Day. Yang Shaolun took the child back to the Linhai Hospital. Lamps and decorations hung all over the streets. People were bustling with celebratory energy.

“You’re hungry, Dad!” Ruhai widened her clear, sharp eyes at the candied hawthorn stand next to her.

“You are hungry.” Yang Shaolun bought a skewer and handed it to her.

“I’m not a fan of children’s sweets!” Ruhai huffed, but she stuck the hawthorns into her mouth with satisfaction in her eyes.

“Put it down. Children your age have sensitive teeth. Do you want to have cavities?” The owner of the voice looked at the father and daughter with gentle eyes.

Yang Shaolun looked up in shock, his eyes brimming with sudden tears, and a prickling feeling spread from his nose to his heart to all over his body.

“I’m back!” The figure walked up to the pair. Fireworks had been lit to celebrate the holiday. A lively atmosphere washed over them.

“Physician Lin!” someone cried out. A group of people rushed toward the woman, blocking Yang Shaolun’s vision.

He felt his heart settle back into place as he followed the gentle gaze. He knew, he knew at that moment that she would never leave him again!

1. Chinese medicine known for its extreme bitterness.