The Imperial Doctress Episode 47 Recap
> The Imperial Doctress Recap
Knowing that the Retired Emperor had deliberately issued a last-minute decree through Yu Dongyang in court to protect Yunxian, Qiyu grew even more resentful towards her. After escorting the Empress Dowager, Qiyu told Yunxian, "You seem to be very special to him," before ordering her confinement to Wan'an Palace. An announcement was made that Noble Consort Hang was ordered to reflect upon her actions in Wan'an Palace.
Wang Meilin, hearing this, remarked to her maid that Yunxian must practice black magic to still be alive, but then deduced that Qiyu was likely tired of Yunxian, which was even better than killing her. Meanwhile, the Retired Emperor, still confined, reflected on a debt he owed Zheng Qi, knowing it could not be repaid in this lifetime. Soon after, a plague struck the capital following floods in Nanjing, spreading rapidly and severely.
Citizens frantically sought help from physicians, describing symptoms of fever, coughing, spitting blood, and bodies turning black, but many doctors, unable to cure them, turned them away. Ministers, including Yu Dongyang, reported to Qiyu that prominent officials were dying within three days of contracting the disease and warned that Beijing would become a dead city if not controlled. Qiyu tasked Duke Wang, Wang Meilin's father, with managing the crisis.
However, Cao Jixiang subtly suggested to Qiyu that this chaos presented an opportunity to eliminate the Empress Dowager Sun's confidants, such as Bai Jin, Du Fulai, and Zhou Jiang, all of whom held important positions. Qiyu agreed, placing Cao Jixiang in charge of this scheme. Cao Jixiang later gloated to Shi Heng about his new power, boasting that "When the Emperor changes, his court of ministers also has to change," and that he sought to become a Head Eunuch.
Shi Heng, however, warned Cao Jixiang to be careful. As the situation worsened, supervisor Cheng Cunxia tried to set up relief stalls and distribute mungbean soup, but Bai Jin's soldiers stormed through, smashing their medicine pots. Bai Jin, anticipating Qiyu's attempt to eliminate him, had taken most of the capital's troops and locked the city gates from the outside, preventing the burial of plague victims and declaring he would "die together" with the city.
Yu Dongyang reported this dire situation to Qiyu, revealing that thousands had died and even an eunuch in the outer palace had contracted the disease, with the Empress Dowager Sun hearing the people's cries from inside the palace. Wang Meilin proposed that Qiyu and the Empress Dowager seek refuge on an island in the Taiye Pond, where supplies could be delivered by boat.
Yu Dongyang urged Qiyu to remain in Qianqing Palace to maintain control, but Qiyu, supported by the Empress Dowager Sun, refused, delegating all plague matters to Minister Yu. Qiyu then told Wang Meilin he would leave Yunxian to her to be brought to the island, before departing with the Empress Dowager. However, Wang Meilin's intentions were sinister.
She sent Yunxian and her maid Luxiang on a small boat, but the eunuch rowing it, under Wang Meilin's secret orders, refused Yunxian's request to go back for other medicine women. Instead, he stopped the boat in the middle of the lake and began to drill holes in the bottom. Yunxian struck him with a wooden board, but both she and Luxiang fell into the water as the boat sank.
Fortunately, two medical women from the Imperial Pharmacy, passing by, threw ropes and rescued them. Yunxian, realizing "Someone on the island doesn't want me there," decided against going to the island. Instead, she resolved to go to the Imperial Faculty of Medicine and then into the city to directly confront the plague.
At the Imperial Faculty of Medicine, Yunxian and the medical women observed a corpse with a deep purple, almost black discoloration, recognizing it as the "black neck sickness" or "black death" a physician had once described to her in Oirat. She suggested that rhubarb, which the Mongols called Zhumusa, could be an effective antidote, though the imperial physicians were initially skeptical, fearing its detoxifying effect might worsen the patients' diarrhea.
Cheng Cunxia, however, agreed to try it, and instructed Wan Ning to add sweet flag and honeysuckle to the decoction. Since distributing medicine from stalls was impossible due to Bai Jin's actions, they decided to deliver medicine door-to-door. Yu Dongyang and Hang Gang brought men from the Ministry of Justice, equipped with sulphur-covered clothes and moist facial cloths for protection, to assist in the distribution. Yunxian rallied everyone to do their best to control the epidemic.
Meanwhile, Qiyu ordered Cao Jixiang to return to the mainland to control the palace, burn all boats, and prevent anyone from entering the island, granting him the titles of Head Eunuch and Director of the Eastern Depot and Imperial Guards. Wang Meilin, hearing Yunxian was missing and finding her shoes by the lake, assumed she had drowned and that the eunuch had fled. In the city, Yunxian and the medical women personally boiled medicine.
When an old man choked on phlegm, Yunxian attempted to suck it out, but the Retired Emperor, who had escaped from the South Palace with Li San after the guards fled due to the plague, stopped her. He pointed out the risk of spreading the disease through spit and instead used his fingers to clear the man's throat.
He revealed he had come to find Yunxian and refused to return to the South Palace, declaring, "This time, even if I die, I will die with you." Yunxian then implemented a system of colored ribbons to categorize patients for more efficient medicine distribution. The Retired Emperor, now a figure of authority and popular support, took charge of the relief efforts.
He instructed Yu Dongyang to issue bulletins on plague prevention under his own name, ordered the extermination of rats (which Yunxian suggested caused the plague), secured Bai Jin's capture with the help of Abbess Jingci, and assigned Shi Heng to suppress looting. As they tirelessly worked into the night, the Retired Emperor gently draped his coat over a sleeping Yunxian, who awoke from a nightmare of everyone, including him, her godfather, and father, dying.
He comforted her, reassuring her that hundreds had already shown improvement and they would surely prevail. As the epidemic came under control, a child recovered, leading grateful citizens to hail Yunxian as the "Living Guanyin." Yunxian, on a whim, proposed a friendly competition between her medical women and the Imperial Academy of Medicine, led by her senior brother Cheng Cunxia, to see who could cure more patients.
Yu Dongyang sent a memorial to Qiyu, informing him of the controlled epidemic and requesting his return to the capital. Qiyu, upon hearing about the Retired Emperor and Yunxian's popular efforts and harmonious cooperation from Wang Meilin, decided to leave the island. While assessing patients, Yunxian suddenly felt unwell and, fearing she had contracted the plague, warned everyone to stay away. The Retired Emperor immediately touched her forehead to check for a fever.
Just then, Qiyu arrived, witnessing the intimate gesture and pulling the Retired Emperor away. Qiyu angrily confronted the Retired Emperor for leaving the South Palace without permission and Yunxian for leaving the palace as a Noble Consort. Yunxian again warned him of her suspected plague, but Qiyu insisted on having Cheng Cunxia examine her. When Qiyu ordered guards to escort the Retired Emperor back to the South Palace, the grateful citizens protested, asserting he had saved them all.
The Retired Emperor, however, instructed the crowd to disperse, acknowledging Qiyu as the current Emperor. Cheng Cunxia, after examining Yunxian, happily announced that she had not contracted the plague, but was, in fact, two months pregnant. Qiyu and the people rejoiced at the news.
