C256 I Am Quite at Ease with You
C256 I Am Quite at Ease with You
Yan Chenglee stayed at the Palace every day, fed the Emperor medicine and scrubbed his body, doing his best to serve those who came to visit him. He looked at them without sadness, and secretly asked the Emperor if he thought that he would wake up if he did, with a cold smile on his face, that they were all very hypocritical.
The empress also came frequently, but because the emperor had suddenly fallen ill and caused chaos in the imperial harem, requiring her to take charge of the situation, she did not come every day, but every few days for most of the day.
The empress and the emperor had been husband and wife for decades, and their relationship was not very good, but they treated each other with respect and respect, so when the emperor vomited blood and fainted, she was so frightened that she forgot her manners, lifted the hem of her royal gown, and ran over to kneel beside the emperor, shaking him, and called out to him.
She did hate him, hated him for forgetting the old people when he had a new one, hated him for treating her son like that back then, but they were still young married couples after all. She had married him, a prince, at the age of fifteen, and had supported him all the way until today.
The empress sat by the bed and used a handkerchief to wipe the emperor's face and hands. She turned to the palace maid and said, "Pour out this dirty water, and bring in a basin of warm water."
"Yes, Empress." The palace maid agreed, then carried the basin of dirty water out.
Yan Chenglee who was sound asleep at the side woke up and opened his eyes to see the empress wiping the emperor's hands. Seemingly hearing his voice, Yan Chenglee laughed bitterly and said in a helpless tone, "I married your royal father when I was barely old. At that time, he was still a little prince.
The empress recalled the past, her lowered eyes carried a gentle light, causing Yan Chenglee's heart to ache. How many years has it been since he saw his mother look so gentle? For his sake, for the sake of his maternal grandfather's family, the Queen Mother had used a hard mask to hide her weakness, forever maintaining her majestic image as a matriarch in front of outsiders.
"At that time, I also did not expect that one day, he would …" A smile rose on the empress's face as she carefully wiped the emperor's hands, not letting go of even the gaps of his fingers. She then tucked him into the quilt, and after seeing that he was still frowning in his sickness and looked preoccupied, she reached out her hand to stroke his wrinkled brow. It was quite strange, but as she stroked his hand, the emperor's frown actually relaxed, and the corners of his mouth seemed to rise slightly.
Seeing that, the Queen also smiled, a smile that came from the bottom of her heart, causing her to look radiant and spirited. She turned her head, and said to Yan Chenglee: "If your royal father is unable to endure, and you can ascend to the throne, I will go with him."
"Muhou!" Yan Chenglee stood up in shock, "Muhou, I can't let go of this joke."
The empress was not the least bit surprised by his reaction. She stood up, poured a glass of water, and carefully fed it to the emperor to drink. In a soft voice, she said, "I'm not joking. If His Majesty goes, I'll be buried alive." The empress gazed at the emperor affectionately. "All of you have grown up. I have nothing to worry about, but your father was different. He loved to be lively when he was alive. How lonely would he be if he didn't have me by his side on his journey to the Yellow Springs?"
"Muhou!" Yan Chenglee had a lot of things he wanted to say, but in the end, he shouted out these two words. He had always thought that his mother didn't have any deep feelings for his royal father, after all, they had always respected each other as if they were friends, unlike his father and the other concubines he loved and dearly, but he didn't want to show it on the surface.
After the palace maid brought in the warm water, the empress stood up and took the water basin. She placed it on a shelf and placed the towel inside for washing. Lee Dehai hurried in and reported, "Empress, Noble Consort Zheng, Jiang Shuangfei and a group of concubines are outside requesting to see the emperor."
The empress finished washing the towels, hung them on a shelf to dry, then washed her hands. "Let them in." Turning his head, he said to Yan Chenglee: "Yongming, go back to your residence first, I'll take care of this place."
Yong Ming was Yan Chenglee. He raised his head and looked at the Queen seriously, as if trying to imprint her appearance into his mind forever.
"Go back. Another day, bring Lin'er into the palace to see me and the empress dowager." The empress patted his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Pay attention to your royal brothers. It's the new year, don't let them cause trouble when your father is sick."
Yan Chenglee nodded and turned to leave. As he was walking out, he coincidentally saw Noble Consort Zheng leading a group of concubines in majestically.
When Noble Consort Zheng entered, he saw that the emperor was lying on the bed with a blanket covering his body. His face looked pale, but his breathing was still strong, as if he had fallen asleep.
She immediately put on an appearance of utter grief, threw herself on the bed, and began to cry with all her might, "Your Majesty, how did you fall ill? "For the past few days, chenqie has been unable to eat or sleep well. She has been praying for Buddha to bless Your Majesty's recovery. Your Majesty …"
The voice was mournful and mournful. It was like the one who heard it would be heartbroken and tearful. The empress sat by the side, watching her crying act while holding a teacup with a smile that was not a smile.
When the thirteen imperial concubines who came with Noble Consort Zheng heard how sad Noble Consort Zheng was crying, they couldn't help but take out their handkerchief and wipe the tears in their eyes.
Second brother had shared the current situation with her, and told her that if the emperor never woke up again, then the capital would definitely rise up, and the princes that had been secretly hiding all this while would take action as well. This would be detrimental to the injured Second Prince, but if the emperor woke up, the officials of the Wenwu officials would definitely request the emperor to establish the crown prince, and if the second brother failed to help her, then the emperor would either borrow the Emperor's body, or give him a fake order to pass on the order to the Second Prince.
"Big sister, don't cry anymore. If you cry until your body breaks, His Majesty will feel heartache." Beside her, Jiang Shuang Fei reached out to help Noble Consort Zheng. She then turned to the empress and bowed to her. "Chenqie greets the empress and the empress with great blessings."
The Queen looked at her with a smile, then looked at Noble Consort Zheng who was crying beside her with her eyes red and swollen, and said, "Stand up." She turned her head and asked Lee Dehai to prepare a chair for them. "Sit down, the imperial physician will come and treat His Majesty's illness later. I know that all of you are very worried about the condition of His Majesty, so I'll stay here and listen to the imperial physician's diagnosis."
With that, the empress raised her teacup again and took a sip of tea. Her expression was indifferent, her words unable to sound joyful, but it made all the imperial concubines present unsettled. They felt that there was something behind these words.
The concubines seated in front all revealed an awkward smile. You push me, I push you, they push each other to speak first.
The empress looked at them without batting an eyelid, a dignified, graceful smile on her face. She seemed concerned as she asked, "I heard that Jiang Shufei hasn't been feeling well these past few days. Have you invited the imperial physician to take a look?"
"It's just a small problem, nothing serious." Jiang Shufei lowered her head slightly. The empress's gaze seemed to be able to see through her inner secrets, causing her to almost suffocate.
"Small ailments, you have to treat them properly. Otherwise, if they become big problems, it will be troublesome." The empress was very concerned.
Jiang Shufei smiled again, not knowing how to reply. She turned to look at her other sisters for help. At this moment, a young eunuch led the imperial physician in.
"This old official pays his respects to the various ladies." The imperial physician bowed.
The empress stood up. "There's no need to be so courteous, Imperial Physician. Hurry and let His Majesty see. It's been so many days, why haven't you improved at all?"
The imperial physician calmly sat down, wiping the Han on his forehead as he gave the emperor a pulse. In front of so many esteemed emperors, he really did feel some pressure.
After checking the Emperor's pulse, he gave the Emperor needles. The abnormal silver needles pierced through the Emperor's body, causing those timid concubines to involuntarily turn their heads and close their eyes.
The empress and imperial concubines all wore looks of worry on their faces, but they didn't know how much of it was sincere.
Everyone revealed happy expressions when they saw it, especially the Noble Consort Zheng. They rushed over to grab the emperor's hand, but the emperor didn't even look at her as he said, "I'm fine, you all can leave. It's enough to have a queen here."
When Noble Consort Zheng heard that the emperor had left the empress behind, she was so angry that her face distorted for a moment. She raised her head and looked at the emperor with teary eyes.
"Get down." The emperor was still sick, his body was weak and his words were weak, but he still carried a great deal of power and influence. Noble Consort Zheng did not dare to anger him, so she saluted and left.
After everyone had left, the empress poured a cup of warm water and fed it to the emperor. After he finished drinking, she asked, "Your Majesty, how do you feel? Are you better? "
The Emperor stared at her for a moment. She still looked magnificent, but her face was haggard. In these years, she had also grown old. His heart was moved. He reached out to shake her hand.
The empress took her hand away and realized that it was inappropriate. She didn't regret it though. She smiled decently and placed the cup on the table, saying, "These days, ministers of the civil and military have been visiting His Majesty at the palace. They are very worried about his condition."
"They're being considerate." As for what his heart was, it was hard to say. The emperor retracted his hand bitterly and coughed a few times. He asked, "Have you found anything?"
After so many years of being husband and wife, he believed in the ability of the empress. After so many days, she must have discovered something.
The empress pursed her lips, her face filled with rage. Ever since she was sealed, the emperor had rarely seen the empress angry. Now that he saw her so angry, he couldn't help but be curious as to what was wrong with her.
The empress took a deep breath to calm her anger. She tried her best to remain calm as she said, "There's no problem with His Majesty's daily intake of medicinal herbs. It's just that the quantity has been tampered with."
Such formidable methods. If he were to use such a method, even the imperial physicians wouldn't be able to detect anything amiss.