When the Empress Dowager passed away, Emperor Xuanzhi ordered princes, officials of the fourth rank and above, princesses, princesses and other women of lower ranks to enter the palace to mourn.
An imperial decree was issued that members of the royal family, civil and military officials must wear plain clothes for 100 days, that slaughtering animals must be prohibited for 49 days, and that no banquets or weddings should be held within a year.
Emperor Xuanzhi followed the Qin system and gave the empress dowager a posthumous title: Empress Dowager Xiaoding Zhenchun Qinren Duansu Bitian Zuosheng.
He also declared, "The Empress Dowager, my biological mother, has been gradually becoming unwell since the autumn of this year. She has repeatedly taken herbal medicines to treat her condition, but none of them worked. She suddenly passed away at midnight on October 21. I, in accordance with her will, will wear mourning clothes for 100 days and plain clothes for 27 months to express my deepest sorrow."
Emperor Xuanzhi stopped attending court for five days and stayed in front of the coffin with Jiang Changning.
In just a few days, the grief-stricken Emperor Xuanzhi looked extremely haggard. What worried Jiang Changning the most was that he had not drunk a drop of water in the past few days.
Jiang Changning personally went to the kitchen and cooked a bowl of Changchun noodles for Emperor Xuanzhi. "I burned my hands cooking this bowl of noodles. Your Majesty, please consider my hard work and eat a little bit, okay?"
"Where are you hurt?" Emperor Xuanzhi took the bowl, put it aside, grabbed Jiang Changning's hand and looked at it carefully.
"It hurts here." Jiang Changning said it was a burn, but it was just an excuse. However, Emperor Xuanzhi wanted to see the injury, so she had to show him the small red spot that was caused by the sparks from the hand warmer yesterday.
Emperor Xuanzhi saw the little red dot on the back of her hand and frowned, "You are not used to doing the stove work, why bother to do it? It hurts yourself and makes me sad."
"Your Majesty has neglected his meals and damaged his health. I am not only distressed, but also worried."
Emperor Xuanzhi was silent for a moment, "Eat noodles with me."
Jiang Changning nodded, took out a small bowl and scooped out half a bowl, "Your Majesty, eat."
The couple quietly finished the bowl of noodles, rinsed their mouths, and went to burn paper in front of the coffin.
The empress dowager's mourning hall was set up for twenty-seven days. It was not because Emperor Xuanzhi did not want to keep it open longer, but the weather was getting colder and colder, and it was too painful to hold a funeral in the cold winter.
The day before the funeral, at the beginning of the third hour, the empress dowager's body was put into coffin.
According to ritual system, the empress dowager's coffin had an inner coffin and an outer outer coffin, and the outer coffin was painted with colorful phoenixes.
After sending the empress dowager into the underground palace, on the way back, Emperor Xuanzhi leaned on the brocade cushion with his eyes slightly closed.
Jiang Changning thought he was resting with his eyes closed, so she didn't disturb him. She was also very tired, so she leaned to one side, staring blankly.
After a while, Jiang Changning heard that Emperor Xuanzhi's breathing was very heavy. Looking more closely, he saw that his cheeks were abnormally flushed.
"Your Majesty." Jiang Changning called softly, but Emperor Xuanzhi did not respond.
Jiang Changning reached out and touched his forehead. She was startled by the touch because his forehead was burning hot.
"Stop the car, stop the car quickly." Jiang Changning shouted loudly.
After shouting, he looked back and saw that Emperor Xuanzhi still had his eyes closed and looked like he had fainted.
"Mother, what happened?" The shipping king was near the Luan carriage. Hearing the sound, he rode his horse over quickly.
"Your father is ill, quickly call the imperial physician over." Jiang Changning pulled over the window and said anxiously.
"Don't panic, mother. I will go find the imperial physician right away."
Just as the shipping king was about to dismount, Chang Youzhong said, "Your Majesty, stay with His Majesty and His Majesty, I will go find the imperial physician."
"Okay." The shipping magnate agreed.
The carriage carrying the imperial physicians followed behind. As soon as Chang Youzhong came to summon them, the two imperial physicians came crawling over.
Imperial Physician Xue is old, and the two imperial physicians accompanying the emperor this time are Luo and Zhang.
Imperial Physician Zhang replaced Imperial Physician Xue. Jiang Changning was more familiar with him, so he asked him to diagnose Emperor Xuanzhi's pulse first.
Emperor Xuanzhi had always been in good health and had never been ill since he ascended the throne. He suddenly fell ill, and not only was Jiang Changning panicked, but even the imperial physician was terrified.
The Empress Dowager was buried only then. If something happens to the Emperor again, the sky will fall!
Doctor Zhang held his breath and took Emperor Xuanzhi's pulse for a long time before saying, "Empress, your Majesty has..."
"Your Majesty, don't you feel uncomfortable anywhere?" Jiang Changning supported him.
Emperor Xuanzhi felt dizzy. He knew he was ill, but he still said, "It's just a minor illness. Go back to the palace quickly. There's no need to waste time on the road."
Jiang Changning thought so too. He couldn't make medicine here. "Doctor Zhang, do you have any pills that His Majesty can take?"
"Yes." Doctor Zhang took out a small porcelain bottle from the medicine box and poured out three soybean-sized pills from it. "This is Zixue Dan, which can clear away heat and detoxify."
Jiang Changning personally poured the water and waited for Emperor Xuanzhi to drink it. "Hurry back to the city."
The convoy continued to move forward, but the sudden stop still caused the princes and ministers behind to speculate, "What happened?"
"It seems that the imperial physician has been summoned."
"Who's sick?"
"have no idea."
Even if I knew, I couldn't say it out loud.
In the carriage, Jiang Changning looked at Emperor Xuanzhi without blinking, and found that he was not getting better, so he quickly asked Chang Youzhong to get some cold water, soak a handkerchief with it, wrung it half dry, and applied it to his forehead.
The cold handkerchief stimulated Emperor Xuanzhi to open his eyes, and he saw Jiang Changning's worried eyes. He curled his lips and said, "Don't worry, I'm fine."
"Don't talk." Jiang Changning grabbed his hand and pressed his Hegu point. She remembered that Hegu point was one of the four major fever-reducing points.
The emperor was ill, and the phoenix carriage rushed all the way and soon entered the city.
Seeing Emperor Xuanzhi being carried into the palace, the princes were still calm, but Xiao Yuer was extremely nervous, "Mother, what happened to father?"
"Your father is fine, he's just too tired." Jiang Changning didn't have the energy to comfort his daughter and hurriedly followed her to Tiancheng Palace.
Doctor Zhang went to the imperial pharmacy and said, "Here is the prescription. Hurry up and get the medicine."
Emperor Xuanzhi was helped into the bedroom of Tiancheng Palace. Jiang Changning took off his outer clothes, Chang Youzhong took off his shoes and socks, helped him lie down, and covered him with a quilt.
"Let the prince and the others leave the palace and go back home. They must be tired after being busy for so many days. They should take a break and come back to replace me tomorrow." Jiang Changning said.
After Chang Youzhong said this, the prince and others were worried but had no choice but to obey.
After a while, the imperial pharmacy brought the medicine, and Jiang Changning called softly, "Your Majesty, wake up, it's time to take the medicine."
Emperor Xuanzhi woke up, drank the medicine, and frowned, "Did Coptis chinensis come into the medicine? Why is it so bitter?"
Jiang Changning smiled and took a small piece of sugar from the small plate and gave it to him. "Good medicine tastes bitter. Without coptis root, the medicine will still be bitter."
Emperor Xuanzhi swallowed the candy and took the warm water handed over by Jiang Changning. "Go back to the palace and have a good rest. You must be exhausted these days, right?"
"I'm not tired. I want to stay here with Your Majesty."
Emperor Xuanzhi held her hand and asked, "Did I scare you?"
"It's scary when someone who has never been sick suddenly gets sick." Jiang Changning touched his forehead again.
"I just took the medicine, the fever didn't go down that quickly. I'm in good health and will be fine tomorrow."
However, illness comes like a mountain falling and goes away like a thread being pulled out. Emperor Xuanzhi was ill for a full half month.
Just when he had recovered from his illness, Jiang Changning fell ill again.
(End of this chapter)