“Isn’t it nice?” The old maid laughed and continued with relief, “You personally told Beautiful Lady Nuan why the empress kept her in the Palace of Xuanming. She didn’t summon Beautiful Lady Nuan in the past two days but suddenly looked for her then. What is the reason except that His Majesty’s condition changed or she made up her mind to take actions?”
She added casually, “So if there is something wrong as soon as Beautiful Lady Nuan went back, we don’t need to worry so much. Just spread the news outside the imperial palace and ask Prime Minister Gu to summon all the officials to enter the palace following the crown prince…I don’t need to say more about what will happen next, right?”
The old emperor had been critically ill for several days, and all the officials suddenly followed the crown prince to enter the imperial palace. Of course he was prepared to take the throne, or rather take the throne in front of the emperor’s coffin.
Consor
Many people couldn’t sleep well this night.Not only in the imperial palace, the side hall of the back yard in the mansion of Duke of Yan was still brightly lit at this hour.Song Yixiao received the rose syrup from Jinxun and took a sip. After she wiped her lips with her handkerchief, she asked with a frown, “The crown princess changed the plan all of a sudden? Was she fooled by the subordinates?”“The crown princess can even cause the crown prince to become unconscious easily in the Eastern Palace. Who can fool her in something so significant?” Yuan Xuepei shook his head slightly and added, “I am afraid that she got suspicious. On top of that, she got suspicious at this time, not earlier or later, and we were caught off guard.”Song Yixiao was surprised to hear that. “She got suspicious? Why?”“If I knew it, why would I come to see you at night?” Yuan Xuepei smiled. “Even Prime Minister Gu is confused. After t
What made Song Yixiao at a loss whether to feel disappointed or to sigh with relief was that Gu Shao didn’t tell them a solution. In fact, he had seen Jin Suke and the others yesterday, while he just listened and talked a little. When Jin Suke asked for his opinion in the end, he just spoke civilities casually and told them to continue to investigate. While speaking, Yuan Xuepei couldn’t help but furrow his brows. “Prime Minster Gu’s action is really confusing, yet I think it’s impossible that he will harm the crown prince. After all, not to mention that it was His Majesty who suggested that Commandery Prince Zhongling acknowledge Prime Minister Gu as a teacher, both Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao have several talented assistants. If the crown prince doesn’t take the throne, it’s uncertain whether Prime Minister Gu can keep his position of prime minister in the future.”Prince of Zhao had the Su Family and Qiu Shuxia, while Prince of Wei had Grand Princess Daig
Su Shaoge turned pale after hearing that. After a while, he suddenly got up and walked to the empress, kneeling down in front of her respectfully.The empress was surprised. “Shaoge?”“Aunt, this time we probably…” While speaking, Su Shaoge closed his eyes as he couldn’t bear the blow. Then he continued, “Perhaps we will be done.”Empress Su was astonished. “What?”“Gu Shao and Minister Qiu had an agreement of three days.” Su Shaoge bent over in front of his aunt’s knees and whispered, “Yesterday was the first day. The officials didn’t know what happened in the Palace of Xuanming, so Gu Shao wouldn’t give too many instructions to Jin Suke and the others but would tell them to observe mainly and report to him about what they saw and heard in the Palace of Xuanming and how you coped with them this day after they came out of the imperial palace. Then Gu Shao would tell them what to do next.”It meant, “In the norma
“Your Highness.” At night, the crown prince finally woke up in the Eastern Palace. As soon as he opened his eyes, the crown princess’s surprised and joyful voice appeared beside the bed. “Your Highness, you are finally awake.”Before the crown prince answered, the crown princess turned her head and ordered, “Hurry up and go to tell the royal doctor to come and check His Highness’s pulse at once.”The crown prince opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but he felt thirsty. As soon as he made a sound, he felt scorching pain in his throat. The crown princess hurriedly turned to pour a cup of warm water on the table and served him cautiously to drink it. The crown prince coughed several times and then asked feebly, “How is Father?”“He is safe and sound.” Noticing that his tone was flat yet he looked at her with disgust, the crown princess thought that he must detest her because she had poisoned him to be in a coma. She restrained her
When Empress Su got the message that the crown prince asked to visit Emperor Xianjia in the Palace of Xuanming, she was twisting a towel out of the basin in person and planning to wipe the emperor’s face. Hearing that, she suddenly stopped and her lips trembled for a moment. Then she asked in a hoarse voice, “Wasn’t the crown prince poisoned and laid up for a few days? Can he get up now?”Fangyu lowered her head and replied, “I don’t know, but the crown princess came with him. I am afraid that he hasn’t fully recovered.”“Where are they?” The empress stared at the towel in her hands for quite a while and then asked.“At the gate of the palace...”“What have you done? You know that the crown prince hasn’t fully recovered, but you told him to stay in the wind at the gate?” Empress Su rebuked in a hoarse voice and closed her eyes with a sigh. “Tell them to come in. His Majesty...is in such a condition...”Before th
Before leaving, Grand Princess Daiguo didn’t say if she would send somebody to enter the imperial palace to confirm Emperor Xianjia’s illness. Empress Su felt disappointed, but she could do nothing.After all, the empress doubted that Emperor Xianjia would really become a vegetable, while she urged Grand Princess Daiguo to check. How would the grand princess not be suspicious?“Should I tell Beautiful Lady Nuan to come back to the Palace of Xuanming?” After seeing Grand Princess Daiguo off, Empress Su told Fangyu to bring the crown princess to talk with her. Before the crown princess arrived, the empress seriously thought about the next plan. She was unclear that Grand Princess Daiguo had known that Emperor Xianjia was pretending to be ill to lure the sinners out, and she still considered making her sister-in-law the scapegoat of this treason.So the empress thought that after she told Beautiful Lady Nuan to return to the Palace of Xuanm
When Emperor Xianjia woke up, the crown prince had stayed beside his bed for a whole day, so Empress Su persuaded him to have a rest in the warm chamber in the east. She was physically and mentally exhausted, but she gently walked her husband’s eldest son to the gate and then returned to the bedroom. In only ten minutes, coughs came from the half-hung bed-curtain suddenly...“Your Majesty?” After Empress Su heard her nephew Su Shaoge’s analysis, she chose to believe him on the spot, yet she still thought that she might be lucky and wouldn’t be exposed as he thought too much.Fortunately, she was not influenced by sentiment in handling things. These two days, she had practiced more than once what she would look like when Emperor Xianjia woke up, so she wouldn’t be exposed. As she heard the coughs, her heart sank because she wouldn’t be lucky to get away with it, but she showed an overjoyed expression on her face without hesitation. She rushed into the
At four o’clock in the morning, the crown prince served the exhausted Emperor Xianjia going to bed and then walked out of the bedroom cautiously without any noise.Outside the bedroom, the eunuch Xun Ying who had served Emperor Xianjia for more than thirty years quietly stepped forward and let his hands hang by the sides. “Your Highness.”“Father has fallen asleep.” The crown prince pinched his brows and gestured for Xun Ying to follow him out.Xun Ying winked and ordered two young eunuchs to enter the bedroom to serve the emperor. Then he followed the crown prince.The two came to the winding corridor outside. The crown prince didn’t speak at once but swallowed continuously. After a while, he said, “Lord Xun...”“Your Highness, please restrain your grief.” Xun Ying’s flat and simple words made the crown prince breathe deeply all of a sudden.The mistress of the Xifu Palace, Consort Cui, his biologi