Qi Changyi caught a cold that night and had a high fever all night. Li Yu ordered people to find the imperial physician, but the Ninth Prince was not favored and even the servants dared not take him seriously.
The imperial physician summoned the patient for a long time but no one came, and everyone in the palace was at a loss as to what to do.
Li Yu could only take a wet cloth and wipe Qi Changyi's body little by little to reduce the fever.
After tossing and turning for a whole night, Qi Changyi's body temperature gradually returned to normal.
When I opened my eyes hazily, it was already bright outside.
**The little guy looked haggard, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness, with redness and swelling on his knees and wrists, and he looked very weak.
He struggled to get up, and Li Yu hurried over to help him up.
"Your Highness, you are still weak. Where are you going now?"
Qi Changyi's body was shaky. "I, I have to go and pay my respects to my mother."
The time for paying respects had long passed. Thinking of the Queen's strictness, Li Yu couldn't help but worry for his master.
Speaking of which, the biological mother of the Fourth Prince and the Prince had passed away a long time ago. The Queen Mother was kind and compassionate, and raised the two children since they were young.
However, the Fourth Prince gradually grew up to be a talented man, and won the emperor's favor for his outstanding performance. The incompetent princes were sent to a corner of the palace and ignored by others.
When Qi Changyi hurried to the queen's bedroom, he was stopped by the maid at the door.
The head maid took advantage of her position to bully others and said arrogantly, "Your Highness, the time for paying respects has passed. Why are you here just now?"
Qi Changyi spoke softly, "Good sister, let me go in and see mother."
The head maid pushed Qi Changyi who wanted to come forward and said, "Your Highness, it's not that I don't want you to come in, but the Queen has been feeling unwell recently and has already rested. It's really inconvenient for her to see you."
Qi Changyi was already standing unsteadily, and after being pushed by her, he staggered backwards and almost fell down.
Li Yu on the side couldn't stand it anymore. Even a maid in the palace dared to touch His Highness, so he slapped her.
"How dare you! You dare to push the prince? I think you don't want your hand anymore!"
The head maid usually relied on the queen's snobbery to look down on everyone in the palace. Now she was beaten by a low-ranking eunuch and she refused to give in.
Just as the two sides were about to fight, the door to the palace suddenly opened, and a dignified-looking maid walked out, shouting angrily, "Stop it, don't you see where you are? How can we allow you to be so presumptuous! The Queen has ordered that all those who are playing in front of the palace will be dragged down and beaten with fifty sticks, without any mistake!"
The few people suddenly quieted down, and the crying of the head maid was heard.
Fifty lashes of the cane would mean bedridden for several months at the least and death at the worst.
The guards dragged several people away for execution. Li Yu walked without looking around, and just smiled at Qi Changyi with a pale face. He didn't have much brains, but everything he did was always for His Highness.
Qi Changyi was so anxious that he wanted to rush into the palace to beg the Queen Mother to let Li Yu go, but the Queen Mother closed the door and sent people to carry him out of the bedroom.
Qi Changyi stood outside the door, clenched his fists, turned around and ran away.
He ran all the way to the outside of the court hall, where the emperor and military officials were holding court.
Qi Changyi ran so fast that he felt dizzy for a moment. He knelt outside the hall. The stone slabs were cold and hard, and the old injury on his knee was aching slightly. But for Li Yu whose life was hanging by a thread, he had no other choice.
Fortunately, the morning court session had just ended, the palace door opened, and the officials inside walked out one after another.
After seeing Qi Changyi kneeling upright outside the palace gate, they were all stunned for a moment, then pointed and whispered as they walked away.
The last ones to come out were Zhao Litang and Pei Zheng.
Just now, the two of them had a big quarrel in the court about the southwestern barbarians. In the end, as expected, the emperor listened to Pei Zheng's suggestion and asked the barbarians to send envoys to visit the Celestial Empire to discuss the marriage in detail.
When Qi Changyi saw Pei Zheng, a glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes, but the person who hurried towards him first was Zhao Litang with a nervous look.
"Your Highness, what happened? Why are you kneeling here?"
After Qi Changyi finished narrating the story in a halting manner, Zhao Litang looked at his pale little face, feeling so distressed that he stepped forward and helped him up.
"Don't worry, Your Highness. I can plead for you. The Emperor will definitely let Eunuch Li Yu go."
Qi Changyi nodded gently. He was dazed and felt as if his whole body was burning again. He was about to fall down.
Before falling, into an embrace filled with sandalwood.
Pei Zheng stood behind him, his arms tightly around his waist, and held the weak little guy in his arms in public.
Zhao Litang's eyes turned slightly red. He didn't dare to do anything intimate with Qi Changyi in front of so many people, but Pei Zheng actually dared to hug him directly!
Then a cold voice sounded, "General Zhao, you should pay more attention to the border when you have free time. The emperor ordered me to teach the prince, so I will naturally worry about what he needs."