The Imperial Doctress Episode 16 Recap
> The Imperial Doctress Recap
Having excelled in her medical studies with Wang Taoist, Yunxian's skills in medicated diets had grown remarkably. She inquired about her grandmother and father, learning that, contrary to earlier news, they had not returned to their hometown in Wuxi. Wang Taoist also informed her that Qiyu had fallen gravely ill because of her. To lift Yunxian's spirits, Wang Taoist shared his own painful past, explaining why he became a priest and wandered the land.
He recounted falling in love with a noble lady and setting an engagement. However, her family later told him she was marrying someone of higher status, leading him to believe she had betrayed him. Out of anger, he stayed with distant relatives to calm down. Later, he heard that on the very night she was to be wed, she committed suicide, clutching his marriage proposal.
Overwhelmed with regret for doubting her and wishing it had been her who lied so she might still be alive, he decided to become a priest. Moved by her teacher's story and determined not to let regret define her life, Yunxian resolved to return to the capital to find Qiyu. They bid a tearful farewell, with Wang Taoist expressing his belief that Yunxian would surpass him in medicine and achieve things many others could not.
Meanwhile, the Empress Dowager had not fully recovered from her illness, allowing the Emperor to reclaim military authority. Having tolerated Annam's aggression for too long, especially after they killed his ambassador, the Emperor decided to dispatch 20,000 troops to attack them. When Duke Wang objected, citing the Empress Dowager's decree that troop deployments exceeding 10,000 required her approval, the Emperor retorted that with the Empress Dowager unwell, he would make all military decisions.
He then ordered all memorials to be sent to Qianqing Palace instead of Renshou Palace. Later, the Emperor instructed Qiyu to move into the Palace in the name of attending to the Empress Dowager, arranging a hall in the North Five Places for him and his mother, Consort Dowager Wu.
Qiyu, still grieving Yunxian, expressed his wish to leave the capital, but the Emperor insisted he stay, believing Qiyu would no longer have to curry favor with the Empress Dowager now that political power was back in his hands. Upon hearing that the Emperor had already dispatched troops to Annam and stripped her of political influence, the Empress Dowager flew into a rage and fainted.
When she awoke, she angrily lashed out at her maid and refused to see the Emperor, who, though previously resentful of her, felt conflicted due to her nurturing of him. Imperial Physician Liu Pingan reported to the Empress that the Empress Dowager's liver qi had stagnated, causing severe headaches and tremors, a condition worsened by her recent anger over the Annam situation.
Upon returning to the capital, Yunxian found that her father and grandmother were no longer at their former residence. She learned that they had been taken in by her godfather, Yu Dongyang, who had since been appointed governor of Henan and moved there with her family. Qiyu, she discovered, was residing in the Palace. Outside the Palace, Yunxian noticed an imperial bulletin offering a reward of five thousand taels of silver for a physician who could cure the Empress Dowager.
She learned that entry required a recommendation from an official of the third rank or higher. Torn by her grandfather's death, which she attributed to the Empress Dowager, Yunxian debated whether to help her. Ultimately, she decided to proceed, viewing the Empress Dowager as a patient and herself as a physician, hoping that if she succeeded, she might also clear her grandfather's name and see Qiyu.
Disguising herself as a Daoist nun, Yunxian sought out Duke Zheng, whose young son was suffering from anorexia that no physician could cure. Physician Liu Pingan, who was also at the Duke's residence, initially dismissed Yunxian's methods as mere deception. However, Yunxian eloquently defended Zhu You, a branch of medicine that focuses on diverting attention and transferring vitality, citing its mention in the "Inner Canon of Huangdi."
She then diagnosed Duke Zheng's son with "love sickness," explaining that it wasn't limited to romantic feelings but could include any profound yearning. She deduced that the young boy was missing his wet nurse, whose sudden disappearance had caused his lack of appetite and misery. When the wet nurse was brought back, the child immediately began to eat, proving Yunxian's diagnosis correct.
Instead of a monetary reward, Yunxian requested a recommendation letter from Duke Zheng to enter the Palace and treat the Empress Dowager. She confessed her ambition to become the first female physician in the Ming Dynasty, acknowledging the societal challenges but expressing her belief that it was possible. Impressed by her skills and resolve, Physician Liu Pingan, wishing to make amends for his earlier skepticism, offered to be her referee and bear any punishment if she failed.
Together, he and Duke Zheng arranged for Yunxian to enter the Palace as a "medicine woman," as proper physicians were typically male, and medicine women were often married. Yunxian agreed, reasoning that if she cured the Empress Dowager, her marital status or original identity wouldn't matter. Inside Renshou Palace, Yunxian joined the other recommended physicians.
During their discussion on the Empress Dowager's condition, which involved toxic heat in the liver, low yin levels, and coagulated phlegm, some male doctors mocked Yunxian, dismissing her as a mere "Aunt" who should "go back and take care of your children." Despite their derision, Yunxian quietly approached a palace maid, asking for help to contact her older cousin, who served Prince Cheng, or to be led to him, as she heard Qiyu was recuperating with him.
The maid explained that Prince Cheng's quarters were far from Renshou Palace, and without a pass, Yunxian, as a medicine woman, could not freely wander the Palace. Later, when the assembled physicians presented their medicine, the Empress Dowager found it unbearably bitter. Enraged, she ordered all the doctors to be dragged out, beaten twenty times, and expelled from the Palace. Yunxian swiftly intervened, claiming she could prepare medicine that was not bitter.
