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The Emperor only calmed down and sank into slumber in the latter half of the night.
Nevertheless, even in his dreams, he could faintly hear someone calling him 'Hong’er'.
Voice after voice, they seemed to enter his ears.
He could even feel a warm hand tightly holding his.
When the Emperor finally woke up slowly, the sky had already brightened.
The Emperor was a bit confused, uncertain whether it was a dream or reality.
The familiar voice calling 'Hong’er' sounded again.
The Emperor slowly opened his eyes, and a figure appeared in his hazy vision. The owner of the figure sat by the bed, clasping his hand and looking at him with an incredibly tender gaze.
Why does this person look so much like the younger brother of the little miracle physician?
Little Jing Kong patted the Emperor's hand with his little hand and called out, "Hong'er~", in the gentle voice of Zhao Xiaobao's great-grandmother when coaxing her great-grandson.
The Emperor was instantly awakened completely, his body jolting with alertness.
After spending seven days in Bishui Alley, the Emperor's stitches had been removed and his wounds had healed well.
Eunuch Wei's injuries had also recovered. He was of an advanced age, so the speed at which his fractures heal was slower than that of younger people, but the other injuries in his body had little to no negative effects.
The days spent in Bishui Alley were the most relaxed of the Emperor's life. Ever since he could remember, he had known he was a low-born prince, and while his imperial concubine mother had been incredibly kind to him, he could never shake away the shadow of his birth.
After he had been relegated to a separate prince residence, he was constantly under the pressure of Imperial Consort Liu and his elder brother, the Crown Prince, and was always walking on thin ice.
He had a hard time getting to the throne, and he also had an Empress Dowager Zhuang who ruled behind the curtain.
He never slackened for a moment.
This time, it could be said he was blessed by misfortune and enjoyed a few days of leisure.
But he could not remain in Bishui Alley for the rest of his life as an idle housemate, for he was a monarch of a country and was responsible for the fate of the State of Zhao.
That evening after dinner, the Emperor decided to set off and return to the palace.
The Emperor announced that he was taking his rest at the temporary imperial residence, and in order to confuse the enemy, he had specially ordered the imperial experts to be dispatched to the temporary imperial residence and had the residence guarded tightly.
Nobody could guarantee that the assassination would not happen again, so caution was to be taken.
At the same time the Emperor was leaving Bishui Alley, Eunuch Wei stealthily headed to the temporary imperial residence and he would accompany the Emperor back to the palace in a grand manner when the time came.
Just before the Emperor was about to board the carriage, Aunt Liu bashfully ran over all of a sudden and handed him a purse before dashing away with her face covered!
Emperor: "..."
Gu Changqing escorted the Emperor back to the palace.
Sitting in the carriage on their way back, the Emperor felt something was amiss, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.
That feeling remained until he entered the imperial study and Eunuch He reported to him, "The Empress Dowager has fallen ill; she has been ill for several days, but still insisted on attending court. Today, she finally succumbed to the sickness, fainting inside the phoenix palanquin while on her way back to Renshou Palace."
The Emperor suddenly realized what had been strange; he hadn’t seen that vicious woman go to Bishui Alley to monitor him for days.
The Emperor's first reaction was one of elation; he knew that that poisonous woman would have fallen down too one day.
But his second reaction was one of worry; an attempted assassination and the Empress Dowager's fainting would cause a lot of turmoil when they happened separately, let alone when they occurred together. It would easily cause unrest to the public and panic to the court.
"It hasn't leaked out, has it?" The Emperor asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
Eunuch He answered, "No, the Renshou Palace had kept the news tightly under wraps, only saying that the Empress Dowager was reviewing memorandums and managing court affairs, not allowing anyone to disturb her. The Empress Dowager had fainted on the way, and it was only because this servant had been covertly observing her that this servant discovered the incident. If she had fainted within the Renshou Palace, even this servant wouldn’t have known.”
Renshou Palace was originally like an iron wall. After the Empress Dowager contracted leprosy, the people inside were all replaced by new ones, and now not even a fly could enter.
The Emperor had a poor impression of Empress Dowager Zhuang and was filled with prejudice against her. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel sorry for her, but suspicion took up the majority of his emotion, “How convenient is this? I had just returned to the palace when she coincidentally fell ill? Could she be trying to deceive me?”
That… Eunuch He had no way of knowing.
The Emperor sneered coldly, “Having just returned to the palace, I should go and ask after the Empress Dowager’s well-being.”
The Emperor headed to Renshou Palace.
Eunuch He was the Emperor's secret subordinate. In order not to let anyone see the two of them having anything to do with each other, the Emperor sent him away.
Regarding Eunuch Wei, his arm was injured so the Emperor allowed him to return to his quarters to rest, taking only a junior eunuch with him.
This attitude indicated that the Emperor had little regard for Empress Dowager Zhuang.
As soon as the Emperor arrived at the entrance of the Renshou Palace, he was blocked by a powerful imperial expert of Renshou Palace.
"The Empress Dowager has ordered that no one may enter." The imperial expert said.
The Emperor sneered and responded, "Does this 'no one' include the sovereign of this country? I wonder when there has been a place in the palace that I cannot enter?"
The imperial expert looked at him suspiciously and thought, hasn't it always been like this? Are you only finding it out today, Your Majesty?
Emperor: "..."
The Emperor felt his tooth ache!
That poisonous woman had too much power; even the ruler of the country could not forcefully enter her place!
Just as the Emperor's face was about to blacken into charcoal, Eunuch Qin came out with a horsetail whisk in hand.
He saluted the Emperor and said, "May Your Majesty pardon our people. Empress Dowager is Your Majesty’s mother, naturally she can't see anyone but you. Your Majesty, please, this way."
Eunuch Qin gestured for the Emperor to come inside.
Eunuch Qin was the confidant of Empress Dowager Zhuang and his every action represented the will of the Empress Dowager. The imperial expert thought that Empress Dowager Zhuang had really woken up and wanted to see the Emperor, so he stepped aside to let them pass.
Eunuch Qin led the way forward, taking the Emperor to Empress Dowager Zhuang's bedchamber.
The Emperor thought that Empress Dowager Zhuang was fine, and was just playing around, but when he saw the tightly closed curtains of the phoenix bed, a feeling of unease surged in his heart.
Eunuch Qin came to the bedside, gently drawing back the curtain to reveal the pallid Empress Dowager Zhuang on the phoenix bed.
Such a sight of Empress Dowager Zhuang was too unfamiliar.
She had always been suffused with an awe-inspiring aura in front of people. Even when she was clad in coarse fabric in Bishui Alley, the sternness in her eyes could not be concealed.
But now she was lying there quietly, her breath drifting away like strands. She was indeed gravely ill.
“How... did this happen?" The Emperor was surprised.
Eunuch Qin sighed, "Your Majesty, do you not have the slightest bit of understanding in your heart as to why Empress Dowager is like this?"
This remark was a little bit rebellious.
But the Emperor was so shocked that he did not go into the details for the time being, and simply thought about the implied meaning of Eunuch Qin’s remarks, which meant… Empress Dowager Zhuang's illness had something to do with him?
Raz P.'s Thoughts
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