klisemfg Chapter 96 Lin Shiming was furious and wished he could just draw his sword and kill the old woman!
Chapter 96 Lin Shiming was furious and wished he could just draw his sword and kill the old woman!
Fengyi Palace.
The usually warm and tranquil palace was now filled with a somber atmosphere.
The palace maids and eunuchs continued to come and go, but their usual smiling expressions were gone. Instead, they all had tense faces and worked quickly and silently on their tasks.
Inside the main hall, Emperor Longyun sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes red, watching intently as the imperial physician took the pulse of Bai Qiongzhu, who was still unconscious.
Lin Shiming and Lu Yuxi sat anxiously to the side, while everyone's eyes were focused on the head physician taking the pulse with his eyes closed by the bedside.
Only when the group of imperial physicians kneeling on the ground were drenched in cold sweat did the head physician finally slowly open his eyes and withdraw his hand from taking pulses.
"how?"
The head physician gently shook his head. "His Majesty already knows about the Empress's health; she was already showing signs of nearing the end of her life, and usually needs to take medicine and supplements daily. Today's incident has stirred up her last bit of vitality. I'm afraid..."
"What do you mean by 'I'm afraid'?"
The head of the hospital bowed his head and sighed, "I'm afraid it will only last two months, and he will have to stay in bed to recuperate, and he will no longer be able to move around as freely as before."
Emperor Longyun felt a sudden pain in his heart and almost fell backward.
Lin Shiming swiftly stepped forward to support Emperor Longyun, and the deputy head of the academy beside him also quickly stood up, "Quick! Get the red medicine pouch from my medicine box!"
A young apprentice kneeling on the ground quickly crawled two steps, took a medicine pouch from a maroon box, and handed it to Physician Fu. Physician Fu remained calm, quickly waved the medicine pouch under Emperor Longyun's nose, and then began to press on an acupoint on Emperor Longyun.
After a few breaths, Emperor Longyun felt the pain in his chest gradually subside, and he regained some strength.
"Never mind me, treat the Empress first."
"Your Majesty, the Empress's health has deteriorated..."
Emperor Longyun's eyes were red-rimmed, and his expression was agitated. "I said that the Empress should be treated first!"
Dr. Fu sighed and could only accept the paper and pen handed to him by Li An, and write a prescription for Bai Qiongzhu.
"His Majesty had already performed acupuncture and fed her some ginseng soup before he arrived. Now, if she takes this medicine, the Empress should wake up in an hour."
Zang Dong, a senior palace maid in Fengyi Palace who knew some medicine, stepped forward to take the prescription and personally went to get the medicine and prepare it.
Lu Yuxi concealed the pain in her eyes and walked to Emperor Longyun's side. "Father, let Chief Physician Fu examine your pulse. Mother is already in such a state. If you collapse as well, who will be able to shoulder the responsibility?"
Lin Shiming also chimed in with words of comfort, "Yes, Father, let Chief Physician Fu take a look."
"No need." Emperor Longyun raised his head and took a deep breath. "We haven't heard from them what happened today yet. Let's hear it before making a diagnosis."
Hearing this will only make me angrier, so it's better to take my pulse all at once at the last minute, which will save time.
Emperor Longyun did not give the others a chance to comfort him. With Lin Shiming's help, he got up and slowly walked towards the side hall outside.
"Leave a few imperial physicians and maids to look after the Empress; everyone else, come out."
*
In the side hall, Emperor Longyun looked at Lianqiu kneeling on the ground with a deep expression.
"Tell me, what exactly happened today?"
Lianqiu wiped away her tears and spoke with a choked voice.
"Today is the day the Empress Dowager has set for us to pay our respects. Just as dawn was breaking, Your Highness took us out to pay our respects to the Empress Dowager. Before leaving, we thought that the Empress Dowager would probably make things difficult for Your Highness, so we specially served Your Highness some chicken noodle soup before we left."
"When we arrived at Shou'an Palace, we found that in addition to the Empress and the concubines of the harem, there were also several noblewomen from outside the palace and the Princess Consort of Ding who came to pay their respects today."
Lin Shiming frowned, noticing the person Lian Qiu had singled out, "Princess Consort Ding?"
Lu Yuxi grasped Lin Shiming's hand, "She is my mother's cousin. The eldest daughter of my mother's uncle."
Lianqiu continued to explain, "Your Highness is right. This Princess Consort of Ding has been at odds with Her Majesty since childhood. Because she was born a few days later than Her Majesty, she was jealous of Her Majesty's status as the eldest daughter of the Bai family under the influence of her mother. Before Her Majesty was married, she often confronted Her Majesty by taking advantage of her grandmother's favor."
"Later, when the Empress was selected as the Crown Princess, the Princess Consort of Ding became even more jealous, believing that the Empress had stolen her wealth and status. She even tried to frame the Empress repeatedly."
Lu Yuxi had never heard Bai Qiongzhu talk about these things. He only knew that Bai Qiongzhu had a bad relationship with his maternal uncle's family, but he had never heard the details.
"Didn't the Empress Dowager discipline her?"
Lianqiu looked helpless. "Your Majesty wants to deal with this Princess Ding. But firstly, she is also a princess of the imperial family and has given birth to the heir of the Prince Ding. Secondly, you have to consider the Marquis Chengen. The Marquis Chengen was entrusted by the old lady to take care of his younger brother's family. Therefore, Your Majesty cannot take action against her."
No matter how rational and open-minded Bai Qiongzhu is, she is still just a typical young lady from a prominent family in this world, and she is inevitably burdened by these worldly concerns.
But these things are no problem for Lin Shiming.
"This matter is not urgent. You should finish telling me about today's events first."
Lianqiu nodded and continued her story.
"Everyone arrived and paid their respects. The Empress had planned to just get through the morning, or at least feign illness if necessary. But she hadn't expected the Empress Dowager to be so prepared. She said she missed her eldest grandson and was feeling uneasy, so she asked everyone to go to the Baohua Hall to chant sutras, which would also be a way to pray for Crown Prince Huamin."
"She's despicable!"
With a crash, Emperor Longyun smashed the teacup beside him on the ground, his body trembling with rage. The head of the academy rushed forward to smell the sachet and massage the acupoints for Emperor Longyun, but was pushed away by the furious Emperor Longyun.
"Go on, tell me, what exactly are her malicious intentions!"
Lianqiu gritted her teeth, her expression indignant. "When it comes to Crown Prince Huamin, Her Majesty will not refuse no matter what, not to mention there are other noblewomen present. Therefore, Her Majesty had no choice but to go to Baohua Hall with everyone to chant sutras and pray for blessings."
"Your Majesty's health is already weak. I wanted to advise Your Majesty to find a way to leave first, but the Empress Dowager and Princess Ding repeatedly stopped me, saying that Your Majesty is not a loving mother and is unwilling to even pray for her own son. Not to mention that Your Majesty herself is also saddened and depressed about the matter of Crown Prince Hua Min, so naturally she is unwilling to leave in advance and only focuses on praying for Crown Prince Hua Min."
"This servant originally thought that the Empress Dowager only intended to make Your Highness work hard, but I did not expect that after Your Highness insisted on not drinking a drop of water for a whole day, the Empress Dowager actually joined forces with the Princess Consort of Ding to bring up the matter of the assassination of Crown Prince Hua Min, saying that Crown Prince Hua Min died tragically and painfully. Every word was like tearing out Your Highness's heart, which caused Your Highness's emotions to surge, and she vomited blood and fainted!"
At this point, Lianqiu suddenly burst into tears, "They did it on purpose! They deliberately took advantage of the fact that His Majesty, the Crown Prince, and the Crown Princess were trapped in the Zhonghe Hall and unable to receive any news, so they set up this scheme."
"First, they exploited the Empress's inner turmoil, causing her to become exhausted and weak throughout the day. Then, they used the words of the Princess Consort to further provoke her, attempting to force the Empress to her death. Their actions were perfectly reasonable and beyond reproach, yet they were clearly aiming to destroy her spirit!"
Emperor Longyun braced himself on the table, his anger surging, his breathing labored. Chief Aide Fu, disregarding everything else, rushed forward to calm Emperor Longyun's agitated emotions.
Lu Yuxi gripped Lin Shiming's hand tightly, clearly furious.
This is the true tactic of the former Queen Mother of the Qin Dynasty, whom she carefully selected! She manipulates people's hearts to create a situation where they have no choice but to comply. She uses etiquette and her high status to ensure that her actions are within the bounds of propriety and rules, yet she kills people by destroying their spirit.
"Even though we and Father are not here, there are so many people present today. Isn't there anyone who will speak up for Mother?!"
Lianqiu wept uncontrollably. "She is the Empress Dowager, bound by propriety and filial piety. How could anyone dare to speak up at this time? They all thought that the law would not punish the masses, so they simply stood by and watched. Only Consort Yue spoke up for justice, but she was also rebuked and driven out of Baohua Palace. After that, no one dared to speak up again."
Very good, very good.
Lin Shiming was furious and wished he could just draw his sword and kill the old woman!