Mo Jiuye pulled He Zhiran with him into the room.
Consort De had indeed woken up, but she didn't look to have much energy.
When Mo Jiuye was young, he would often go into the palace and had met Consort De a few times, so the two weren't complete strangers.
Consort De narrowed her eyes slightly to size up the newcomers, and said with difficulty: "You are Young Master Mo Jiuye, right?"
Mo Jiuye didn't have any bad impressions towards Consort De, so he clasped his hands in salute towards her: "Greetings to Consort Mother."
Consort De slowly raised her hand: "There is no Consort anymore, from now on I'm just an ordinary woman. If Young Master Mo doesn't look down on me, just call me Aunt Mei!"
Mei was Consort De's maiden name. She and her son would be living ordinary lives under assumed names from then on, so she didn't want to reveal her surname and had Mo Jiuye address her as Aunt Mei instead.
Mo Jiuye didn't refuse, and spoke again calling her: "Aunt Mei."
Consort De blinked showing that she was very happy, then looked towards He Zhiran.
"This is the young master's wife?"
Mo Jiuye pulled He Zhiran to his side: "That's right, my wife."
He Zhiran also properly performed a blessing gesture towards Consort De, while carefully observing her condition.
Consort De's complexion was a little more rosy compared to when they had first met, and the corners of her lips still showed some signs of dryness.
"Aunt Mei, I learned some medical skills since I was young. Why don't I take your pulse and have a look?"
Consort De sized up He Zhiran for a while, then softly said: "Alright, I'll have to trouble the young mistress then."
Hearing someone so much older address herself as young mistress, He Zhiran felt a little embarrassed.
"Aunt Mei, just call me by my given name." Given Consort De's current condition, she estimated that she and Nan Rui would be staying here for a while. An elderly shouldn't have to keep addressing her as young mistress.
Mo Jiuye added: "Aunt Mei, I usually call my wife Rangrang, you can call her that too."
Consort De lightly nodded: "Alright, Rangrang it is then."
The original owner had attended banquets at the palace with her family before getting married. She was known as one of the top great beauties in the capital.
If Consort De hadn't heard that she was engaged to Mo Jiuye since young, she even thought of asking for an imperial decree to make her the Consort to Prince Rui.
Although Nan Rui was quite a bit older, he didn't have an official consort yet at that time and only had two concubines living in his residence.
It was a pity that his son didn't have such good fortune.
He Zhiran didn't know what Consort De was thinking. She picked up Consort De's wrist to take her pulse.
The results were better than she had imagined. Although Consort De had been eroded by gu worms for many years, possibly due to recuperating treatments at the palace, her health was recovering quite well.
Based on the current situation, eating some supplemental medicinal dishes on a regular basis would be good.
Her aged complexion would also gradually recover somewhat as her health improved.
Seeing her get up, Nan Rui asked: "Young Mistress Jiu, how is my Imperial Mother's health?"
He Zhiran smiled and said: "Aunt Mei's condition is not bad. As long as she recuperates slowly, her health will definitely recover."
Nan Rui didn't know how skilled He Zhiran's medical techniques were. In any case, since someone said the Imperial Mother was in good health, he felt much more relieved.
The room was quite small to begin with. Nan Rui asked about his mother's condition, so Consort De could naturally hear it too.
No matter ancient or modern times, elderly people feared death. Consort De was no exception.
After waking up and finding out the gu worms in her body were gone, she had thought her health would immediately recover. But other than not feeling that bone-gnawing pain, things were still the same.
She started worrying that her end was near, feeling heartache that her son would have no kin by his side in the future.
Just now when she heard He Zhiran say there was nothing major wrong with her health, she suddenly felt relieved all over.
With this sense of relief, when He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye were about to leave, Consort De actually sat up wanting to go out to see them off.
He Zhiran knew that part of it was Consort De's mentality. It was probably because she had just said her health was fine which uplifted Consort De's spirits, giving her the energy to sit up.
Even so, she couldn't let Consort De get out of bed to send them off.
"Aunt Mei, your health is still a little weak. You should be resting in bed."
Seeing his mother get up, Nan Rui felt happy but was also worried for her.
"Mother is right, you just rest here. I'll go send Young Master Jiu off."
Ever since leaving the palace, Nan Rui had switched to calling her Mother instead of Imperial Mother! From then on, there would no longer be any Consort in this world!
After getting Consort De to settle back in, Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran took their leave.
It was very easy for them to buy supplies for Nan Rui. He Zhiran's online shopping tools and personal space could get it done, providing anything they needed.
On the way back to the village, He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye entered her space. She first wrote out a few medicinal diet recipes to help Consort De recuperate. Ingredients that were already in her space warehouse were directly taken out, those that weren't purchased online.
Aside from these, there was also grain and some food for Nan Rui to eat.
After preparing all of this, the two then headed back home.
While no one else was around, He Zhiran put all of the ingredients into the carriage. Mo Jiuye just had to go to Yucheng to bring Consort De's personal palace maid over.
With Mo Jiuye gone, she was bored by herself and went into her space to study that homing pigeon. Just now when she and Mo Jiuye were together, Rice Ball had behaved very obediently.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she entered her space, she discovered the little guy closely inspecting the cage with the homing pigeon.
That homing pigeon really seemed to have some spiritual nature, constantly flapping its wings to protest at Rice Ball.
He Zhiran was afraid Rice Ball might accidentally play this homing pigeon to death. She hurriedly used her mind to take out some fresh bamboo shoots to exchange for the cage.
But Rice Ball was being stubborn today. Usually when seeing the tender and delicious bamboo shoots, it would be shaking its butt eagerly to find its owner begging for a treat.
Yet now it was different. Rice Ball didn't have any interest stirred up by the bamboo shoots at all. It kept staring fixedly at the homing pigeon, and even more peculiarly, it didn't make any sounds towards the animal like it normally would with other creatures.
He Zhiran quickly picked up on Rice Ball's abnormal behavior, and hastily snatched the cage back from its embrace.
"Rice Ball, don't be naughty."
Unhappy at having its toy taken away, Rice Ball turned its butt towards its owner, persisting in trying to hug that cage back.
Rice Ball would always put its owner as the first priority, yet today it was only interested in this homing pigeon.
Since the little guy was acting abnormally, He Zhiran didn't dare be too harsh and stood by to observe Rice Ball's condition.
She then saw that after Rice Ball got the cage as it wished, it continued staring fixedly at the 'unidentified creature' puffing itself up inside.
The homing pigeon also refused to back down with both eyes tightly fixed on the black and white furball in front of it.
As she was observing, she noticed the homing pigeon's beak suddenly transform.
Its originally pointed beak gradually changed shape into a curved blade, and its originally black eyes also turned crimson.
How was this still some homing pigeon!
It was clearly a miniature snow sculpture!
Except He Zhiran had never heard of snow sculptures existing in such a tiny size before.
Just then, Rice Ball finally reacted. It let out a few wolf howls towards the 'unidentified creature' in the cage.
"Awoo..."
She then saw the previously ruffled up unidentified creature immediately fold its wings close. Its eyes and beak also reverted back to their original appearances.
