When a Withered Body Meets Spring

The current Chief Minister is a vision of celestial elegance, a peerless beauty who commands every gaze in the court. She assisted the Empress in ascending the throne, wielded power both within and beyond the court, and enjoyed the Empress' deepest trust, reigning supreme for a time. Yet fate is cruel to brilliance. Within a few years, she passed away abruptly, plunging the nation into mourning. Few knew that in her lowest days, she was forcibly wed by the notorious wastrel of the capital, the Marquis's heir, Xie Qingqi. Xie Qingqi subjected her to relentless torment—forcing her to kneel for days in the snow, clad only in thin garments—leaving her with an incurable ailment. After Li Huaiyin's death, the enraged Empress locked Xie Qingqi in a dungeon, where he endured excruciating torture before having his kneecaps gouged out. Thrown onto the streets as a beggar, he died miserably with no one to collect his corpse. When Xie Qingqi transmigrated into this world, the future Chief Minister was being beaten by her subordinates, covered in footprints and whip marks, wounds still bleeding, her face deathly pale. Xie Qingqi: Why do my knees feel so chilly… --- Now, Xie Qingqi just wants to kowtow to her ancestors—thank heavens her family's generations of medical expertise give her a chance to cure Li Huaiyin's illness and save her own neck. But the Chief Minister won’t even glance her way, let alone allow her to take her pulse! Later, after Li Huaiyin helps the Empress secure the throne and rises to unparalleled power, Xie Qingqi flees the Marquis’s estate in the dead of night—only to be surrounded by imperial guards at the city gates and hauled to the Chief Minister’s residence. Shaking like a leaf, Xie Qingqi wonders: Am I about to be flayed alive? The door opens, but the Chief Minister, who rushed over in haste, gently takes her hand, pressing her wrist against Xie Qingqi's, eyes shimmering with tears: "Ah Qi… won’t you heal me anymore?" --- CP Theater: Deep into the night, the dim glow of red candles fills the room, the air sweet with the scent of pear blossoms. Behind the crimson bed curtains, Li Huaiyin, eyes tinged pink, ink-black hair spilled beneath her, presses a hand to Xie Qingqi’s throat, her voice hoarse: "It’s late. Don’t you physicians preach moderation? Overindulgence… isn’t good." Xie Qingqi gazes at her, a smirk playing at her lips as she leans in: *"No worries. We physicians know how to recover." The candles burn until dawn. Before Li Huaiyin succumbs to exhaustion, she faintly sees the first light of daybreak through the window.