When he woke up again, it was already daybreak. Judging from the sunlight shining in through the window, it should be around a quarter past four. Emperor Jingren opened his eyes and saw the empress standing by the window. The sunlight reflected on her, making her whole body seem to be enveloped in golden light, as if the god of war had descended.
Emperor Jingren was once again hurt by the adjectives that arose in his mind. He held his forehead silently and realized that the symptoms of dizziness had eased a lot compared to last night. It seemed that what Doctor Chen said was right. He just needed to rest more.
The empress standing by the window saw that Emperor Jingren had woken up. She immediately walked over and touched his forehead naturally. Then she looked at Emperor Jingren's ears and asked, "Your Majesty, are you still feeling dizzy?"
With the Queen present, the eunuchs and palace maids serving in the room did not dare to speak. Only Doctor Chen stepped forward and looked at the Queen with a little hostility.
Due to the overly strange atmosphere between the two, Emperor Jingren just observed silently without saying a word.
However, this strange atmosphere was obviously directed at the Queen by Doctor Chen. However, the Queen did not seem to notice the hostility at all and still said politely: "Please ask Doctor Chen to check on Your Majesty."
This attitude made Emperor Jingren think that the empress was tolerant and generous. As long as it did not involve issues of principle, she would only fine the monthly salary if someone around her made a small mistake, and would not easily punish them. Although Doctor Chen's attitude was obvious, it was not directly shown after all. In this case, the empress would not blame Doctor Chen.
His queen was good in every way, except that she was too kind. A mere imperial physician dared to look down upon the queen, which left the queen with no dignity.
Emperor Jingren silently took note of this matter and would deal with it after confirming the identity of the queen.
After Imperial Physician Chen examined Emperor Jingren's pulse, what he said was no different from what he had said the night before. Emperor Jingren also knew that he was fine, so he nodded to the Empress, indicating that he was indeed feeling much better.
The queen gave a relaxed smile and called Xia He, asking her to invite the empress dowager.
If the empress dowager was sick, the emperor would visit her no matter how busy he was, and personally feed her medicine as a token of filial piety. But when the emperor was sick, there was no empress dowager to serve him. If the empress dowager really did this, the words of the censors would break the spine of Emperor Jingren, an unfilial son. So even though the empress dowager wanted to sleep on her son's bed to take care of him, she still had to sit upright in her own palace, pray for Emperor Jingren in the Buddhist temple, and wait for news from the empress.
When Emperor Jingren woke up last night, the Empress sent someone to report the news, but it was already late at night, and the maid who reported the news had been waiting outside the door until the Empress Dowager woke up in the morning before telling her the news. The Empress Dowager also knew that the Emperor fell asleep again after waking up, so it was not appropriate to visit him, but she had already made preparations to go out. When Xia He's news arrived, the Empress Dowager immediately got on the sedan chair and came.
When the Queen Mother arrived, Emperor Jingren had already gotten up, dealt with his urgent affairs, washed up, and was having a meal. He had not taken a drop of water for two days, and his stomach was weak, so he could only drink porridge.
Seeing the Queen Mother coming, Emperor Jingren slowly stood up and supported the Queen Mother. Looking at the Queen Mother's concerned face, Emperor Jingren's heart finally settled down.
Fortunately, he still remembered his biological mother's appearance and had not forgotten it completely like others.
"My son..." The Queen Mother touched Emperor Jingren's face distressedly, tears falling down, showing that she was very worried. Emperor Jingren hurriedly comforted him, and with the Queen's comfort and Chen Taiyi's words that there was nothing wrong, the Queen Mother's tears stopped.
After the meal, the empress dowager wanted to talk to Emperor Jingren, and everyone in the room left. Even the empress was ordered by Emperor Jingren to go back and rest. After taking care of him for two days and three nights, the empress also needed rest.
"I heard that the palace maid who hurt you was trying to plead for mercy for a eunuch he was on good terms with. If you wanted to plead, why didn't you ask the Sixth Bureau for mercy? Even if the Sixth Bureau couldn't make the decision, you could let the Sixth Bureau report to the Queen and let the Queen deal with it. Unexpectedly, she actually offended the Emperor directly. Such a woman must not be allowed to stay!" The Queen Mother said hatefully.
Before the emperor was in a coma, the maid was convicted of the crime of assassinating the emperor and was imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison, where she could not be easily dealt with without the emperor's personal order. Now that Emperor Jingren has woken up, the empress dowager wants the emperor to transfer the maid from the Heavenly Prison back to the inner palace and beat her to death in public to serve as a warning to others.
"It may not be that simple now," Emperor Jingren simply told the Queen Mother his guess, "If it is true, I am afraid we have to investigate it secretly. A woman with such high martial arts skills has sneaked into the harem, the Queen..."
Of course, he had no intention of punishing the Queen, he just wanted to use this as an excuse to find out the Queen Mother's attitude towards the Queen.
"If it's true as you said, the Queen is in charge of the harem, so she can't escape blame." The Queen Mother sighed, her tone softened, and continued, "But it's ultimately because the people below didn't supervise properly, so we can't punish the Queen for that."
It seems that the Queen Mother also trusts the Queen very much. She saw the Queen just now and did not show any surprise. So the Queen really looks like that? Emperor Jingren couldn't accept it. He always felt that there should be a Queen in his mind who looked different from the current one, but he just couldn't remember it. Instead, the appearance of the Queen in front of him was getting deeper and deeper in his mind and he couldn't forget it.
That’s right, I can’t forget it even if I want to.
Emperor Jingren told the empress dowager that he would personally handle the matter of the palace maid, and if there really was someone like this palace maid in the palace, he would never let her go.
But now, Emperor Jingren decided to cool down this matter and let the people behind the scenes feel uneasy and confused.
Emperor Jingren did not attend court for the next few days, but whenever he had time and was not so dizzy, he would deal with the backlog of government affairs. Fortunately, nothing major happened during these days, and farming and warfare in the south and north were very stable. This year has entered the dog days, and the weather in the southeast, northwest, and northeast of Xia State is good, which is really gratifying.
A few days later, after Imperial Physician Chen confirmed that he was no longer in serious condition, Emperor Jingren began to attend court. He worked overtime for several days and finally finished reviewing all the backlog of memorials. Only then was he ready to deal with the matter of the palace maid.
Soon after he woke up, he ordered the Royal Guards to investigate the background of the palace maid. After ten days of investigation, the Royal Guards came to the conclusion that the woman had a clean background and that her family had traces of her for five generations. The most incredible thing was that this woman named Su Huailing had no martial arts skills at all!
Yes, the Jinyiwei tried all kinds of methods from probing to bone touching, and they all agreed that Su Huailing had no skills at all, and she was also very weak, much less powerful than other palace maids. It could be said that she was truly powerless.
Emperor Jingren: “…”
Looking at the words "weak as a kitten" on the small note sent by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he inexplicably had the urge to overturn the desk.
So his previous thoughts were all wrong? Was he really pushed down by a "weak-armed" woman, unconscious for two days and three nights, and took ten days to recover
Emperor Jingren felt as if he was dizzy again.
He pinched his brows and calmed himself down, so that he could rethink the incident.
The Jinyiwei's ability to investigate is beyond doubt, and the maid was imprisoned in the Tianlao, so they would know if she had martial arts skills. If his palace guards and Jinyiwei couldn't even find out whether a person had martial arts skills, then the inner court of the imperial palace would be like the streets and alleys, and anyone could enter.
So the palace maid really had no martial arts skills, but was able to get in front of him despite the obstruction of a dozen guards
It's unbelievable.
Emperor Jingren felt that since he woke up, things around him were a little out of control, as if everything was on the track it should be, but it was out of control. He didn't like this feeling.
While he was deep in thought, Eunuch Lian came in and said, "Your Majesty, Concubine Shu wants to see you."
Emperor Jingren had no imperial concubines, but only four concubines, the virtuous, the good, and the virtuous. Among them, the virtuous concubine had the highest rank, but he liked the virtuous concubine the most. Emperor Jingren was also a man, and he also liked beautiful women. The virtuous concubine was born with a beauty that was the most beautiful among all the beauties. She had learned to dance since she was young, and her waist was so soft that it seemed as if she had no bones. When she danced, her posture was even more graceful and beautiful. Even if a woman like her sometimes let people see her little thoughts, as long as it was harmless, Emperor Jingren was willing to satisfy her.
But now... What does Concubine Shu look like
Since he really couldn't remember what Concubine Shu looked like, and Emperor Jingren was a little curious, he agreed. After a while, Concubine Shu came with a palace maid.
"Your Majesty, your health is good." Concubine Shu knelt down tenderly, and waited until Emperor Jingren said "stand up" before she raised her head. Her palm-sized face was full of concern. She blinked her crystal-clear eyes, and tears rolled in them. She looked so pitiful.
Emperor Jingren was not in the mood to be amazed at the moment. He just breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Concubine Shu's appearance was very normal, exactly the same as his evaluation of her.
"Your Majesty," Concubine Shu walked up to him with Emperor Jingren's permission and said in a tender voice, "I heard that Your Majesty was not feeling well these past few days. I have been going to Qifeng Palace to pay my respects every day. I just want to know if Your Majesty is well."
According to palace rules, when Emperor Jingren was ill, only the Empress was qualified to take care of him. The other concubines could only wait to know the news. Of course, most of the concubines had their sources of information, but Emperor Jingren had not left Chengqian Hall for these days to recuperate, and he did not summon the concubines, so the concubines needed the Empress's permission.
In the past, emperors rarely followed palace rules, and sometimes concubines were favored and their status in the harem was higher than that of the empress. However, Emperor Jingren was different. No matter how much he liked a concubine, he would never let her status surpass that of the empress.
The reason why Concubine Shu can come today is because Emperor Jingren has recovered. If she wants to see the Emperor in the inner hall, she only needs to get permission, and there is no need to go through the Empress.
Presumably, the previous visits were blocked by the Queen. Emperor Jingren did not hear Concubine Shu's dissatisfaction with the Queen and did not take the opportunity to complain. He directly said: "It is a palace custom to pay respects to the Queen every day. The Queen and the Queen Mother did not exempt you from paying respects, did they? You go to Qifeng Palace to pay respects every day these days. Didn't you go before?"
Concubine Shu: “…”