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Empress Dowager Zhuang returned to Renshou Palace.
Little Jing Kong didn't have classes today, but he went to find Qin Chuyu, so Renshou Palace was tranquil for the time being, except that Empress Dowager Zhuang's flowers and plants were once again ruined by the little monk.
Empress Dowager Zhuang was very upset.
Gu Jiao came out from inside, holding a watering can she made herself. "Grandaunt."
"Humph." Empress Dowager Zhuang snorted and reached out her hand. "Give Aijia the candied fruits!"
Gu Jiao put down the watering can, opened her pouch, and took out a box of candied fruits, counting out five pieces for Grandaunt.
Empress Dowager Zhuang said with a black face, "You’re supposed to add one more."
Otherwise, how could she be willing to go and compete with Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing for the task of feeding the Emperor the medicine?
"Okay." Gu Jiao searched through the box and found the smallest candied fruit to give to Empress Dowager Zhuang.
Hmm?
This action seemed strangely familiar.
She felt she had seen the same action somewhere before.
But Gu Jiao couldn't remember for a moment.
Seeing her give the smallest piece, Empress Dowager Zhuang was so angry that her eyelids were twitching!
JiaoJiao, you've changed! You've become a miser! You actually gave Aijia such a small piece of candied fruit!
Empress Dowager Zhuang was so heartbroken that she couldn't breathe properly. She took the candied fruits and angrily went back to her study!
She closed the door and took out her own stash of candied fruits. Fortunately, she still had her secret stash.
"Young Miss Gu." Outside the hall, Eunuch Qin asked about the situation in Huaqing Palace, "Why did Empress Dowager have to compete with Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing over the task of feeding medicine? Empress Dowager's relationship with the Emperor has recently been improving; she doesn't really need to do that to gain people's trust."
Gu Jiao went into the palace early in the morning and hadn't had a chance to explain about the black and white medicine yet when she heard from the spies in Huaqing Palace that the Emperor had fainted and Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing had gone to Huaqing Palace overnight.
This was the perfect opportunity to take action. Gu Jiao guessed that Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing would not let this opportunity pass, so she quickly sent Grandaunt to Huaqing Palace as well.
"It's not necessary to fight over the task of feeding medicine." In Gu Jiao's view, it wasn’t important whether Grandaunt fed the Emperor the medicine or not. What was important was to stop Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing from drugging the Emperor.
Gu Jiao asked, "Did she spill the medicine she was holding?"
Eunuch Qin was surprised and asked, "Yes! How did Young Miss Gu know? Did the spies report it?"
"No." Gu Jiao shook her head.
Eunuch Qin was even more confused.
Eunuch Qin was a trustworthy person, and there was nothing he couldn't be told. So Gu Jiao explained everything she had discovered about the black and white medicine, as well as the medicine guide found on Eunuch Wei's body the day before.
Eunuch Qin was extremely shocked and it took him a while to recover his senses. "Young Miss Gu means… The relationship between His Majesty and Empress Dowager became so strained all of a sudden because Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing drugged His Majesty? And the reason why the Emperor always listens to Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing is also because he was drugged? This...this is too unbelievable."
It was too shocking.
That there could be such terrible medicine in the world. No, that Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing would do such a terrible thing to the Emperor.
He was her son, whom she had raised and cared for as if he were her own flesh and blood, despite the fact that he was not born of her own womb. Besides, the Emperor did indeed regard her as his own mother.
She had no reason to do such a thing...
This was also the point where Gu Jiao felt puzzled.
Why did Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing give the Emperor two different medicines at the same time? Giving the Emperor the black medicine to make him dislike Grandaunt and sow discord between them seemed reasonable.
But this didn’t really make much sense either.
Grandaunt ruled from behind the curtain, dominating the court and exceeding the Emperor's bottom line from every perspective. Therefore, even if she didn’t drug him, the Emperor wouldn’t be able to tolerate her.
As for the white medicine, there was even less reason for it.
The Emperor was a devoted person. He even took care of Eunuch Wei meticulously, not to mention his imperial concubine mother who raised him?
The Emperor would certainly treat Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing well and be very close to her.
Gu Jiao murmured, "Did something else happen between them?"
Eunuch Qin appeared to be in deep thought and asked, "Them? Are you referring to His Majesty and the Empress Dowager?"
Gu Jiao replied, "And also Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing. I feel that this incident is not that simple. With Grandaunt ruling from behind the curtain, it is impossible for there not to be any conflict between His Majesty and Grandaunt. Using drugs to incite conflict is simply unnecessary, unless..."
"Unless what?" Eunuch Qin asked anxiously.
Gu Jiao spoke seriously, "Unless something happened that made Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing feel that the relationship between His Majesty and Grandaunt is unbreakable, that even if Grandaunt is in power, His Majesty would still not break away from her."
What kind of relationship could be that strong?
Gu Jiao was a person abandoned in a corner by her biological parents. In her understanding, no relationship could be that strong, and trust between people didn’t come from the relationship itself.
Her world, where everything was either black or white, was very simple. All her convictions stemmed from mutual affection and strength of the heart.
However, she also understood that not everyone was like her. Perhaps the majority of people were different from her.
They had their own standards of judgment, mixed with the complexity of human nature and weighing of interests.
Gu Jiao furrowed her thin eyebrows.
Eunuch Qin keenly noticed her slight expression and couldn't help but ask, "Young Miss Gu, what's wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"
"No." Gu Jiao shook her head, "This question is beyond my level, I cannot answer it."
Eunuch Qin: "..."
Anyway, even if she couldn't answer the question, it didn't affect her further plans.
Not everything in the world must have a clear reason. Take curing a disease as an example, if a patient was suffering from a cold, even if she didn’t know how they caught it, she could still cure them.
It was the same for Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing.
No matter what factors led her to drug the Emperor, Gu Jiao would not allow her to succeed again.
She probably didn't buy only one pair of the medicine. She spilled the medicine so smoothly that it was clear she had a backup plan.
Gu Jiao went to the study to bid farewell to Grandaunt and then left the palace.
She didn't deliberately conceal her whereabouts, to the extent that the Emperor quickly received the news. He thought she had entered the palace to treat him and eagerly waited for her, but instead he received the news that she had already left the palace.
The Emperor's face turned green.
Eunuch Wei returned from the nunnery and came up to the dragon bed to report to the Emperor, "Your Majesty, the imperial physician has examined the imperial concubine dowager, and it's just her old ailment acting up again. It's not very serious, she just needs to rest."
The Emperor, however, wasn’t satisfied with this report, "Imperial concubine mother's hands are scalded, how could she be okay?"
Eunuch Wei replied, "She's not injured, it's just a slight redness. The imperial physician has already prescribed medicine, and she will be able to recover in a few days."
Raz P.'s Thoughts
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