In front of a palace gate in the north of the palace, the lights flickered. Ah Mao escorted Mu Fulan out of the palace gate. "Queen, please go back. I will take good care of the Queen Mother here."
Mu Fulan told the eunuchs to arrange the people on night duty and to call her at any time if there was anything. She gently held Ah Mao's hand and told her to go and rest as well.
The palace servants were holding lanterns in front of them, and the dark red light illuminated Mu Fulan's way back to Ziwei Palace. But further ahead, at the end of her sight, was the dark and boundless night. The night had swallowed up all the red roofs and green tiles and jade towers and golden palaces in the palace under the sunlight during the day. Walking in this palace that was as desolate as the netherworld, the ridge beasts squatting in the shadows of the roofs above her head were like dark eyes, coldly looking down at the living beings passing by their feet.
Mu Fulan quickened her pace and walked over. As soon as she entered the Ziwei Palace, she closed the door tightly, as if she had locked away everything behind her.
The moon gradually rose to the zenith, and the pure white moonlight quietly poured into the room where she had lived in her childhood through the window. It was like something far away in a dream, looming and luring her to find it. But when she set out on her way, the tower was lost in the fog, and the moon was lost in the ferry. It was always out of reach.
She woke up from her dream, sweating profusely, and felt so thirsty that her throat was about to catch fire.
She lifted the curtain, got off the bed, stepped barefoot on the cool and smooth floor, walked over, picked up the teapot, and drank a few sips of water from the pot without using a cup.
The cool water flowed into her body through her mouth and throat, just like a piece of dry and nearly cracked soil being moistened by nectar. She exhaled a long breath, stood in the night for a moment, and came to the living room.
She sat in front of the south window where she usually worked, without lighting a light. Wrapped in the gentle night, she was like a silent ghost, quietly facing the moonlight coming through the window.
Xie Changgeng had left Shangjing three days ago and headed to Hexi to lead the army in person.
Three days ago, she had read the diaries and records sent by the Imperial Hospital regarding his treatment and medication. His internal injuries had not yet healed, and he was about to leave the capital again. In order to ensure the best results in treatment and medication, she also asked for all the records of his injuries and treatment during marches and battles recorded by military doctors in the previous few years.
This time he went to Hexi, he was accompanied by an imperial physician. On the eve of his departure, Mu Fulan had already given the imperial physician the new prescription.
Three days had passed, and he should have left the capital by now. But for some reason, during these three days, Mu Fulan always felt as if he had missed something.
Her intuition told her that this thing was important and she had to remember it, but no matter how hard she thought, she just couldn't figure out what she had missed.
She sat still, and the sighing sound that she made when she lay there with her eyes closed seemed to still echo in her ears.
She was getting more and more confused, and had no idea that Xie Changgeng had left the capital. Mu Fulan naturally had no feelings for this old woman, but she didn't hate her either. A life that was one less day in this world, an ordinary person who couldn't be called good, but also not evil, just like her and many people she knew. It was enough for her to fulfill her dual duties as a doctor and to be filial to her nominal husband Xie Changgeng.
In front of her eyes, she couldn't help but recall the image of Xie Changgeng three days ago, the night before his departure, when he stayed up all night in the imperial study to handle the last batch of government affairs after returning from the Empress Dowager's Palace.
Silent and solemn. Compared with the gorgeous figure who left the capital after dawn amidst the glory and admiration of the crowd, it seemed so lonely and desolate.
Mu Fulan raised her eyes and her sight fell on the medical records piled on the desk again. The moonlight outlined a haloed outline. She looked at it, lost in thought. Suddenly, in the depths of her memory, a flash of light seemed to pass by. The light was vague, far and near. She slowly closed her eyes and did not move, as if she was afraid that if she moved, this sudden feeling would leave her and disappear without a trace.
At some lightning-fast moment, she finally remembered!
She suddenly opened her eyes, lit the lamp on the table, picked up the medical records, found one of the volumes, and began to flip through it quickly.
She kept turning the pages, from the title page to the last page, turning them once, then again, her hand stopped for a moment, then she suddenly stood up and hurried out.
All around was quiet. A palace maid was leaning against a palace pillar, dozing off secretly with her head down. Suddenly, she heard a burst of hurried footsteps. She was startled and looked up. She saw the queen rushing out of the living room with a strange look on her face, as if something had happened. She was startled and her sleepiness disappeared immediately.
"Go and invite the head of the Imperial Hospital into the palace immediately!" Mu Fulan ordered.
The palace maid responded and turned to leave, but was stopped again. She went into the bedroom, changed her clothes, hurried out of the palace, took a carriage to the outside of the courtyard head's residence, and asked someone to knock on the door.
The head of the courtyard was awakened from his sleep, and when he heard that the queen was coming overnight, he hurried out to greet her.
Mu Fulan pointed at the medical records in her hand and asked, "Are you sure that all the records of your Majesty's injuries and treatments while away from home in the past three years are all in it, without any omissions?"
The head of the hospital knelt down hurriedly and said, "This matter is handled by this humble official. It concerns the health of His Majesty. How dare I neglect it? I can guarantee it with my life. I have asked the military doctor, and all the records of His Majesty's injuries in the past three years are listed, without any omissions!"
Mu Fulan froze.
She remembered it clearly. On that day, Xie Changgeng came to Fuzhou and asked her to come over. They met at Jiangkou. She asked him why he suddenly wanted to pass the throne to Xier. His answer at that time was that he was injured and could no longer have children, and he needed a prince.
However, there was no record of any injuries related to this in the medical history. Even if the military doctor received Xie Changgeng's order not to record it, the issue of offspring was so important that Xie Changgeng would definitely not have sought medical treatment elsewhere.
Yao Weng was a carefree man who had not appeared in public for a long time. She was worried before and had sent people to inquire everywhere, but there was no news. Apart from the inconvenient Yao Weng, in terms of medical skills, who in the world could be more trustworthy than the head of the Imperial Hospital in front of her
"Headmaster, has His Majesty really never asked you to see other injuries before? For example, hidden diseases?"
Mu Fulan stared at the dean with a serious tone.
"This is a serious matter. If there is any, you must tell me the truth without hiding anything!"
The head of the hospital immediately shook his head: "No!"
He hesitated, then asked carefully, "But what happened to your Majesty?"
Mu Fulan hesitated for a moment and shook her head: "Nothing."
On the way back to the palace, she fell into deep thought.
Judging from the president's response, there was absolutely no concealment, so the most likely possibility is that he was lying about what he said that day.
Why did he lie to himself like this, three years after they had separated? What was even more incredible was that his purpose in lying to himself was to help Xi'er become the crown prince.
This was totally illogical. He knew clearly that Xi'er in this life had no blood relationship with him. If there were no other reasons, no matter how much he liked this child in the past, how could a person who had ascended the throne do such a ridiculous thing
From the day they met in Fuzhou to when she went to the capital and became his queen, all his abnormal behaviors emerged in her mind one by one.
He told her that he would not force her to do anything she didn't want to do.
On the eve of the crown prince's coronation, he summoned his important ministers and said those words.
On that day, he was clearly seriously injured, but he still insisted on completing the ceremony, in order to show the world his destiny as the crown prince.
Even recently, he had done the ridiculous thing of arranging a private meeting between himself and Yuan Handing.
He seemed like a different person.
Xie Changgeng, this man, even in the past, when he begged her to reconcile, he could not hide his arrogance and aggressiveness.
But now, in front of her, he seemed to have peeled off his reverse scales and smoothed his edges. He had been trying to please her, carefully trying to please her with what he thought was his best effort.
She is not a piece of wood or stone, how could she be completely unconscious
Before they met in Fuzhou, what happened to him that she didn't know about
A thought suddenly popped up in Mu Fulan's mind.
She was frightened by her own horrible thought. Her palms were sweating and her heart was pounding. When she returned to the palace, she couldn't even wait until dawn and ordered someone to summon Liang Tuan immediately.
Liang Tuan is now a captain in the rank of commander, in command of the five armies in the capital and in charge of guarding the imperial capital. He bears a heavy responsibility, so Xie Changgeng did not let him go with him on this expedition.
He hurried into the palace and met the queen.
"Liang Duwei, you have been following His Majesty closely before he came to the capital. I want to ask you, before His Majesty came to Fuzhou to see me last year, apart from his usual routine, did he do anything unusual? Or did he go anywhere?"
Liang Tuan was summoned to the palace overnight. He was puzzled when the queen asked him such a question. But seeing her sitting upright with a solemn expression, he did not dare to be arrogant. He thought hard for a moment and remembered the incident that had impressed him deeply.
He said, "There is one thing that I still remember. It was the Qiongge Incident, when Empress Liu was removed. That night, we were all overjoyed, but Your Majesty stayed up all night and went out of the city to the Huguo Temple. Your Majesty left us outside the mountain gate and went into the temple. The next day, he did not come out. I was worried, so I went in to look for him. I saw Your Majesty in the pagoda forest behind the temple. I remember that when Your Majesty came out, I didn't know what happened last night. He was very weak and seemed to have a serious illness. Fortunately, he recovered quickly."
"Except for that one time, I don't remember Your Majesty doing anything out of the ordinary again."
Liang Tuan finished speaking and waited with bated breath for a long time. Finally, he heard a deep voice from the other side: "You go."
The elder of Huguo Temple passed away at the beginning of the year.
But at this moment, there is no need to see anyone or ask anything.
She still sat there, closed her eyes, and the scene of him coming to Ziwei Palace to say goodbye to her that afternoon reappeared in her mind.
Who is that man who stood at the entrance of the hall, sweat on his forehead, staring at her sadly
In the distance, from the direction of the bell and drum tower, a faint sound of the night watch came.
She dragged her heavy steps to the window and looked out at the endless night sky to the north. After a long while, she closed her eyes, turned around and walked out, saying to the palace servants, "Call the carriage and guards for me. I want to go on a long journey out of the city."