Doctor Hu hurried into the Fourth Prince's courtyard. A palace servant immediately led him into the inner room and said loudly, "Madam, Doctor Hu is here."
The Imperial Concubine was wearing a thick, dark green Manchu dress, which made her pale face seem almost transparent.
She turned sideways to look at Yinzhen on the bed, waved her hands, and her face showed undisguised anxiety: "Stop being polite! Go and take a look at the Fourth Prince, don't delay, his forehead is hot..."
Doctor Hu was old and had been through a lot of traveling, so he quickly agreed and took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off his face.
He had a bad premonition at first, because the palace maid of Chengqian Palace who came to the Imperial Hospital to report the illness was too anxious and only revealed one meaning in her words, that the Fourth Prince not only caught a cold, but also had a fever all over his body, which was very serious. This made Doctor Hu extremely frightened.
Colds can be mild or severe, but the Fourth Prince is only six or seven years old, and one careless move could lead to unpredictable consequences.
To be disrespectful, weren't there many princes who died young in the palace in the early years?
In addition, the Imperial Noble Consort was so anxious that Doctor Hu felt very depressed. He thought he could not leave, so he took a deep breath and walked forward tremblingly to take the patient's pulse.
The Fourth Prince's wet nurse, Madam Xu, added: "Last night, the Fourth Prince kicked off the quilt. This has never happened before! The person on duty discovered it after a while. It was less than two quarters of an hour... This morning, the Prince caught a cold. Not only did he sneeze, but he was also groggy..."
It is the coldest time of the year now. Not to mention being frozen for a quarter of an hour, even a stick of incense would be uncomfortable.
It was just a common cold, nothing serious. After understanding the cause and effect, Doctor Hu felt relieved.
After observing, smelling, asking and feeling the patient, he completely put his worries aside. Fortunately, it was not serious.
He cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, please be at ease. The Fourth Prince only has a slight fever. I have prescribed a good and convenient medicine that will reduce the fever immediately. After he has a good sleep and sweats, the cold will be gone in less than half a day. It will not affect the Prince's health at all."
In an instant, the stagnant atmosphere began to flow slowly, dispelling the long-lasting anxiety and heaviness in the air.
The Imperial Concubine heaved a sigh of relief, revealed a slight smile, paused, as if she remembered something, and then quickly disappeared.
"Ahem." The cough that had been suppressed for a long time rose to her throat. She covered her mouth with a handkerchief and said in a hoarse voice, "Please ask Doctor Hu to speed up the decoction of medicine so that Yinzhen can get better..."
"I dare not, I dare not. I will go get the medicine right away." Doctor Hu was startled by the word "please". He thought that what his colleague said was not a rumor. The imperial concubine's temper was really much better than before.
When this lady was pregnant, her mood was unstable and Doctor Liu was tormented by her. These old men all felt sympathetic.
Thinking of the Imperial Concubine's difficult labor, Doctor Hu's heart sank. He sighed and whispered as he stepped over the threshold, "Madam, do you need a bowl of medicine to relieve your cough?"
Relieve cough...
The Imperial Concubine looked at him deeply, then retracted her gaze and said calmly, "With my broken body, what would happen if I drank it? No need, you can go now."
Seeing the back of Doctor Hu disappearing in the distance, Nanny Zhen tucked the quilt around the sleeping Fourth Prince and hesitated to speak: "Madam."
"I know what you want to say, but I... can't bear to do it." The Imperial Concubine sat quietly for a long time, waved away the servants, then smiled bitterly and touched Yinzhen's forehead with her cold hand, "No matter what, Yinzhen will be remembered under my name... it's just a matter of time."
She only has Yinzhen to depend on, so how could she bear to hurt him?
"This time he was naughty and kicked the quilt at night. You couldn't have expected it, and neither could I." The Imperial Concubine looked at Yinzhen's sleeping face lovingly, "Didn't you hear what Doctor Hu said? It's just a slight cold. He'll be fine after a good night's sleep. This is a blessing in disguise. Besides, I don't know if he can be fully recovered tomorrow..."
Hearing the disapproval in the Imperial Concubine's words, Nanny Zhen fell silent.
The imperial physician said that it would take only half a day to fully recover!
The words circled in his throat and he finally swallowed them.
Although the Fourth Prince was ill, this was a perfect opportunity. Not only could it win the Emperor's sympathy, it could also fulfill the Empress's long-cherished wish. How could the Empress let it go so easily?
Nanny Zhen sighed softly, feeling conflicted. She wanted the Fourth Prince to recover from his cold more slowly, but she couldn't bear to let the child she had watched grow up suffer. She could only sigh and said, "This old servant's thoughts are the same as yours."
The room returned to silence. After a while, a palace maid knocked on the door and said softly, "Your Majesty, I have something important to report."
The Imperial Concubine said tiredly, "Come in."
"Empress Hui... Master Fulu and Master Quinn... were born with supernatural powers..." The maid described everything that had just happened in the martial arts arena in full, paused, and then held her breath, "... Manager Liu asked me to confess my crime to the queen."
As she listened, the Imperial Concubine's face gradually turned pale. She simply couldn't believe such a sudden turn of events.
"Is this Liu Qin's self-determination?" She coughed heavily and laughed out of anger, "Fool! How did he promise me that? He wanted to suppress Liang Jiugong's arrogance and return to serve the emperor. I agreed. Considering his hard work and great contributions, I let him go and do it. Who knew it would be such a bad idea!"
Starting with the eldest prince, with the intention of sowing discord between Concubine Hui and Concubine Yi, there was nothing wrong with this starting point.
Liang Jiugong has always been biased towards the Yikun Palace, so Liu Qin is right to want to bring him down.
If everything goes well, not only will the prestige of the Guoluo family be gone, but the reputation of the Nara family will also plummet. One is overestimating his own ability and being arrogant, while the other is bullying the weak and winning unfairly. Who is better than the other?
Now, the result has been counterproductive, and it has brought Fulu fame and won him the emperor's favor.
Fulu was going to be the Fifth Prince's study companion, and the Fifth Prince was very close to the Crown Prince... Liu Qin sent a message saying that when the Crown Prince heard about Fulu's competition, he rushed to the martial arts arena in a hurry, and defended him in every word.
Thinking of this, the imperial concubine's eyes became fierce and her breathing quickened.
After finally sending Suo Etu away, Fu Lu, who was born with supernatural powers, came. The Empress Dowager bestowed many rewards, and the Emperor even invited Tu Yue's family to have a meal. He praised Fu Lu generously, and it seemed that he wanted to train him vigorously and train him to be an invincible general!
If Fulu became a general, it goes without saying who his right-hand man would be in the future.
She could see that among the harem, Concubine Yi actually had good intentions towards the prince. If she succeeded in winning over Fulu, with the help of Guo Luoluo, Yinreng would be even more powerful. In the long run, how could her Yinzhen have a foothold?
Waving her hand to let the maid leave, the imperial concubine closed her eyes and said harshly: "Liu Qin..."
She wished she could cut this dog into pieces because he was incapable of doing anything and always caused trouble!
Seeing her master like this, Nanny Zhen felt very uncomfortable.
She could no longer care about anything else, she knelt straight on the ground, kowtowed, and her eyes slowly turned red: "Your Majesty! Forgive me for being so talkative, it's really... It can't be delayed any longer! Seeing that the prince escaped the identification of Wu Ya family, won the pity of the emperor, and his favor has risen to a higher level; because of Concubine Yi, and with the Queen Mother as a shield, the fifth prince has been in the limelight recently..."
As she spoke, she gritted her teeth and continued, "Even Guo Luoluo Fulu is favored by the emperor. If...if the fourth prince's favor is not as good as that of a foreign minister's son, doesn't the queen care?!"
"How dare you!" The Imperial Concubine stood up suddenly, shocked and angry, "Shut up—"
Halfway through her speech, she covered her mouth and coughed, then remembered something, quickly stopped talking, and looked stiffly at the bed.
Seeing that Yinzhen's breathing was steady, the Imperial Concubine turned around and fell weakly to the side of the couch as if all her energy had been drained.
She looked like she was laughing and crying at the same time. After a while she said, "Mammy, you are right."
If Yinzhen could not stand out and attract the emperor's pity and favor, how could he inherit the throne? Anyone could surpass him.
"My queen, I will punish you if you want me to. But what if the emperor has no intention of changing the imperial edict?" Nanny Zhen has now made up her mind. "When the Fourth Prince becomes your child, no one will dare to look down on him just because of his status. This is a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. It couldn't be more rare... With this old slave watching over him, the Fourth Prince will be fine. Please think twice, my queen!"
Before she finished speaking, the imperial concubine slowly said "OK".
Nanny Zhen looked up in astonishment, and saw her lips trembling as she lifted the thick quilt covering Yinzhen. As she spoke, she seemed to have used up all her strength: "... Bring me a towel and a basin of cold water."
*****
After Yunxiu returned to the palace, she immediately visited Concubine Niohuru's residence.
About an hour later, she held Nanny Dong's hand and walked out of Yongshou Palace with a smile on her face. When the emperor arrived that night, Yunxiu never mentioned what happened at noon, but only talked to the emperor about the funny things about Fulu, which made Kangxi very happy.
After laughing, Kangxi hugged her lovingly, sighed slightly, and said, "Baoqing is becoming more and more unreasonable."
Yun Xiu smiled and quickly changed the subject. From then on, the matter of Fulu and Quinn's competition in the martial arts arena seemed to have been turned over in the blink of an eye.
As the end of the year approached, the backlog of palace affairs on the Imperial Concubine's hands became increasingly heavy, so, with the saying "the more capable, the more work", Concubine Yi had no choice but to share her worries.
Before Yunxiu had time to deal with the Yanx Palace, the news that the Fourth Prince Yinzhen was suffering from a fever spread quickly throughout the Forbidden City.
According to the wet nurse, the Fourth Prince kicked off the quilt the night before and caught a slight cold, and he quickly got better after taking the prescription prescribed by the imperial physician. Unexpectedly, he caught a cold again that night, and when he got up the next day, he not only coughed, but his fever also worsened!
Now, it is the early morning of the third day.
When Ruizhu reported in a low voice, Yunxiu put down the teacup, opened her half-closed peach blossom eyes, and stared: "How could it be?"
Didn’t you say you’ll be fully recovered soon?
Ruizhu said, "The Emperor went to the prince's residence right after the court session. The two Empress Dowagers were also there. I heard that the Imperial Noble Consort stayed up all night to watch over the Fourth Prince for two days and two nights. She fainted beside the bed from exhaustion. The Grand Empress Dowager saw it with her own eyes and was deeply moved. She had the Imperial Noble Consort moved to the side room to rest..."
Yun Xiu shook her head gently and asked her, "Is the Imperial Concubine going?"
"Not only the Imperial Concubine, but also Concubine Hui and Concubine Rong have received the news and are leaving immediately."
The Imperial Concubine has already fainted. At this time, the Concubine in charge of the harem should be present.
"Prepare the sedan chair!" Yun Xiu said immediately, "Go to the prince's residence."
******
In the Fourth Prince’s courtyard.
The imperial concubine lay there for a while, sleeping very uneasily. After waking up with a start, she struggled to get up.
She coughed heart-wrenchingly, then clutched the corner of the quilt and said in a hoarse voice: "Where is Yinzhen? Is Yinzhen feeling better?"
"My queen, the imperial physician is here. The fourth prince has gotten better..." Nanny Zhen quickly supported her, wiped her eyes with one hand, and choked up, "Please take a rest! You haven't closed your eyes for a long time. If this continues, how can your body hold on?"
She caught a glimpse of the bright yellow figure from the corner of her eye. She paused and saluted in a rather flustered manner: "Your Majesty is here! This old servant pays respects to His Majesty."
Kangxi nodded silently. Seeing the Imperial Concubine struggling to hold on to the bed, he was about to bow and said in a deep voice, "No need for the formalities. If you are weak and still want to do this, how is it different from wasting yourself?"
This was the first words of concern the Imperial Noble Consort had heard since she fell from power, and they came from the Emperor’s mouth.
She covered her mouth and shed tears silently, "Cousin, Yinzhen doesn't have mother to look after him, ahem, how can I feel at ease?"
Kangxi looked at her for a long while, frowning slightly. Just as he was about to speak, Liang Jiugong called out softly from outside: "Your Highness, Your Highness? The Fourth Prince has woken up and wants to see the Imperial Concubine..."
The Imperial Concubine was startled, her tears flowed even more fiercely, and she murmured, "I will go right away, I will go right away."
Seeing that the Fourth Prince had opened his eyes, the Grand Empress Dowager twisted her Buddhist beads and said "Amitabha". The Empress Dowager beside her said, "She has a thoughtful heart."
Everyone knows who this "she" refers to.
The imperial concubine had just the right smile on her face. Rong Fei, who had arrived early, pinched her handkerchief and her expression changed rapidly.
She echoed with a hint of meaning: "What the old ancestor said is right. The Imperial Concubine takes care of the Fourth Prince day and night. Her motherly love is evident, and it cannot be fake at all..."
The double meaning of this remark made Concubine Hui, who had just arrived, suddenly turn pale!