bestfiction Chapter 109: Injury is hard to hide
Chapter 109: Injury is hard to hide
Yes, Your Majesty is already furious, and knowing that Prince Ningyuan is feigning illness will surely make things more effective. Although making last-minute arrangements is extremely difficult, this opportunity is rare, so we must give it a try no matter what.
Concubine Song asked, "Where is His Majesty?"
The head maid, Yunmeng, said, "Let's go back to the Qinzheng Palace."
Inside the Qinzheng Hall, the emperor was a little dazed when he saw Concubine Song coming in: "Why are you here?"
Concubine Song said, "I am worried about your Majesty's health."
"You are the only one who truly cares about me!"
The emperor had just experienced a quarrel and was exhausted. He asked Concubine Song to sit next to him, held her hand, and said a lot of words to her incoherently.
His words were filled with helplessness and accusations of partiality towards the late emperor and the empress dowager. But when he spoke of the Prince of Jin, he seemed to be on the verge of tears.
Concubine Song was unsure of the emperor's thoughts for a moment. She leaned weakly in his arms and whispered softly, "Hui'er and I will always be together, Your Majesty."
The emperor hugged Concubine Song tightly and gently stroked the woman's cheek.
Eunuch Su came in with hot tea. Concubine Song took it and offered it to him personally, then asked tentatively, "Your Majesty, the concubines and royal family ladies are still guarding outside Wenhua Hall. Should we let them go back?"
"No!" the emperor put down his teacup and said angrily, "I must make him get married today."
"He's so disobedient today, he has no respect for his king or his father. Even if he's demoted to a commoner, it wouldn't be too much. Alas..." Concubine Song sighed and said with heartache, "Your Majesty is too lenient with him."
The emperor said, "Prince Jin has just passed away. As long as he admits his mistake and gets married, I will not argue with him."
Concubine Song had a plan in mind and asked, "What if Prince Ningyuan is unwilling to wake up, or seems too ill to attend the ceremony?"
As expected, the emperor frowned. If he remained unconscious, he couldn't keep the relatives and ministers who were watching the ceremony detained.
"Your Majesty is always soft-hearted. In the end, nothing is done and you suffer the consequences."
Concubine Song complained, then continued, "Although the Imperial Hospital's medical skills are excellent, they are overly cautious, use mild medications, and tend to exaggerate. Father wasn't feeling well a few days ago, and the medicine the Imperial Physician prescribed wasn't effective. So my brother found a famous doctor for him, and he recovered in just two days. Why not ask him to come and see Prince Ningyuan? It would be better than the Imperial Hospital's hesitant and unclear explanations."
Yes! With the Empress Dowager around, the Imperial Physician couldn't help but smooth things over. If he were to follow the Empress Dowager's lead and exaggerate, it would only make him appear unkind.
"My beloved concubine can only share my worries." The emperor suddenly realized that he even regretted letting the empress dowager go alone. He pulled Concubine Song out of the Qinzheng Hall.
The eunuch who delivered the imperial edict left in a hurry.
Concubine Song withdrew her gaze and sat in the imperial sedan chair with the emperor, unable to hide her excitement.
The imperial sedan chair traveled all the way to Wenhua Gate, bypassed Wenhua Hall, and stopped in front of the stone steps of the rear hall. The courtyard was filled with imperial physicians, who knelt in greeting.
I'm just treating Prince Ningyuan, why are all the doctors from the Imperial Medical Bureau here?
Concubine Song was surprised and helped the emperor in. Suddenly, she heard the empress dowager crying excitedly.
"My Sui'er has appeared in heaven."
What does that mean? Concubine Song looked at the emperor in confusion. The emperor was also puzzled and pointed at a doctor and asked, "What's going on?"
The imperial physician said timidly, "Your Majesty, I cannot confirm the diagnosis yet. Your Excellency, the Director of the Court is currently making the final diagnosis!"
The emperor's voice reached the hall. The director of the Imperial Hospital wiped his sweat, walked out of the hall, walked in front of His Majesty, and knelt down to pay his respects.
The emperor frowned: "Why, Prince Ningyuan's condition has worsened?"
"No!" The director looked up and said tremblingly, "Congratulations, Your Majesty. His Royal Highness Prince Ningyuan is expected to recover."
"What?" The emperor frowned.
The hospital director shuddered with fear. He knew, of course, that the Emperor did not want His Royal Highness Prince Ningyuan to recover, but now it was not just their Imperial Hospital that was treating Prince Ningyuan. If that Doctor Leng were to claim credit for his work to the Empress Dowager, their Imperial Hospital would be humiliated.
At this moment, he began to hate the subordinate who had predicted the life span of King Ningyuan two years ago in order to seek credit from His Majesty, forcing them to tell the truth.
Now, it is really difficult to get off the tiger.
The director explained tremblingly, "Your Highness must have been experiencing excessive emotional fluctuations, which opened up the previously blocked heart pulse. With careful care, there's hope for recovery."
The emperor looked out the window, seeing his mother's faint smile, then looked away, gazing at the endless sky. It was a vast expanse of white, just like his state of mind.
Concubine Song clenched her fist and looked at Jiaoli.
There was no bed in the back hall. Chu Mingzheng lay on the couch, having changed into a clean white inner robe. The Queen Mother sat beside the couch, calling Chu Mingzheng's name over and over again.
"Zheng'er, Zheng'er..."
Perhaps because he was too sincere and heartfelt, the man on the bed slowly woke up.
The Queen Mother excitedly told her grandson the good news, but Chu Mingzheng just stared blankly at the ceiling of the bed, his eyes empty, his lips opening and closing, and he kept repeating a weak word.
"I want to go back to Jinyang."
The news that he could survive did not arouse his interest at all.
The Queen Mother looked at the face that looked so similar to her youngest son and choked up for a long time.
"Zheng'er, you..." Even if the emperor was not in the room, she could not say the word father. Apart from blood relationship, he really could not be considered the son of Prince Jin.
Who would want their son to be obsessed with someone else as his father? Thinking about it carefully, the emperor's anger was understandable.
The Queen Mother changed her address and continued, "Your uncle, Prince Jin, doesn't care about those empty formalities. He knows you're a good child. Listen to the Empress Dowager, drink the medicine, and let's complete the wedding, ah!"
"I don't!" Chu Mingzheng shook his head.
"Your father no longer blames you, so don't be angry anymore, do you hear me?" The empress dowager's voice became anxious.
Seeing the two about to quarrel, Lu Mingyang, who was standing beside the couch, became anxious. Just then, a palace maid came in with the boiled medicine. She hurriedly interrupted, "Empress Dowager, Your Highness is weak. You should drink the medicine first!"
"Okay!" The Queen Mother stood up and motioned for Lu Mingyang to sit down. Her body had already been exhausted by the series of ups and downs she had experienced today, so she sat down on a nearby mahogany chair to rest.
Lu Mingyang helped Chu Mingzheng half sit up, then sat beside the couch and fed him medicine.
Chu Mingzheng looked at her coldly. Lu Mingyang couldn't stand that murky look, so she lowered her head to avoid him and raised her hand to feed him the medicine.
With a "bang", the medicine bowl in her hand was knocked over, and she fell to the ground defenselessly.
"presumptuous!"
The emperor stood at the door, his wrath imminent.
In desperation, Lu Mingyang picked up a piece of broken porcelain and scratched her cheek. Blood gushed out instantly and she grimaced in pain.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. My hand slipped and I didn't hold the medicine bowl steadily." As she spoke, she deliberately turned her scratched cheek to show it to Your Majesty, and then kowtowed to apologize.
"I accidentally scratched my cheek. I beg Your Majesty to allow me and Your Highness to choose a date for our marriage."
As a royal consort, her appearance and behavior were a matter of great importance to the royal family. A person with a facial scar was not qualified to be a royal consort. Before the canonization ceremony, the aunt in the palace specifically reminded her that her face must be free of any damage before the wedding.
It is disrespectful to get married with scars.
Disrespectful to heaven and earth, disrespectful to the king and father.