The eldest princess left the empress dowager's Buddhist temple, boarded the sedan chair, and walked all the way to the Jianfu Gate of Penglai Palace. As soon as she got off the sedan chair in front of the palace gate, she saw a familiar figure coming towards her.
"Why are you here?" She looked at Prince Consort Cui, her nose felt sore and she almost cried.
Prince Consort Cui supported her, his expression still calm: "There is nothing to do in Taichung today. I heard that you went to the East Palace, so I asked for leave to come and see you."
The eldest princess nodded and said, "We have been married for many years and there are many things that don't need to be said."
Prince Consort Cui helped her onto the carriage, lowered the curtains, and said, "I'll take you home."
The princess buried her face in her hands, her shoulders trembling slightly, and she shook her head and said in a muffled voice, "I'm not going to Taiji Palace."
Prince Consort Cui said "OK", lifted the carriage curtain and gave an instruction to his attendants, and then the carriage driver drove the horses towards the Taiji Palace.
The princess slowly calmed down and looked up, and found a neatly folded white handkerchief being handed to her. The hand holding the handkerchief was also white and slender, with very short nails, and it was obvious that it was the hand of a painter.
The princess took it and wiped her tears: "Why don't you ask me what happened?"
Prince Cui said: "When you want to say it, you will say it naturally. If you don't want to say it, I will ask you. I will not be embarrassing myself. I never do things that will embarrass myself."
The princess felt as if a huge mountain was pressing down on her heart, but she was still amused by his serious look and smiled slightly: "I thought the prince consort had changed his personality."
She leaned closer and pretended to sniff: "Hmm, it's still that sour smell."
Prince Consort Cui wanted to say something, but when his eyes fell on her red and swollen eyelids, he held back.
The princess leaned back on the cushion and sighed softly, "My dear Prince Consort, I have encountered a problem and I don't know what to do."
Prince Consort Cui said: "With the princess's intelligence and talent, she will be able to come up with a solution."
The princess lowered her head, pursed her lips and said, "No one can have the best of both worlds in this matter."
Prince Consort Cui gently placed his hand on the back of her hand.
The princess smiled bitterly: "No matter which choice you make, it's wrong..."
Prince Consort Cui pondered for a moment and looked deeply into her eyes: "Princess will do the right thing in the future."
The princess asked, "Why does the prince consort trust me so much?"
Prince Consort Cui turned his head away; "Isn't this natural?"
"But I'm afraid I will let my husband down this time." The eldest princess said softly.
"The princess must have had a compelling reason," the prince consort shook her hand, "no matter what, I will accompany the princess."
Prince Consort Cui was introverted and a little awkward. He had never said a single word of sweetness in all his years of marriage. This was the first time he had said such words that were almost like a vow of eternal love. As soon as he finished speaking, his face had turned red all the way to his neck.
The eldest princess rarely laughed at him. She nodded silently and leaned lightly on his shoulder. The two of them stopped talking. The sound of horse hooves and wheels outside became distant. The small carriage seemed like a quiet corner of heaven and earth. Time seemed to have stood still.
However, time did not stand still, and it seemed to pass by very quickly. In the blink of an eye, the carriage of the Princess's Mansion stopped in front of the Taiji Palace.
Prince Consort Cui glanced at his wife and said gently, "Go ahead. I'll take care of you here."
From beginning to end, I never asked her what she was going to do.
The princess looked at her husband with gratitude, got off the carriage, waited for the sedan chair, and walked towards the Liangyi Palace.
As soon as she entered the hall, she smelled a strong scent of sandalwood. The sound of Buddhist bells and chanting lingered in her ears, but instead of calming her down, it made her feel more uneasy. The eldest princess couldn't help but put her hand on her lower abdomen.
The princess came forward to pay her respects, and asked, "How is your majesty today?"
Mai shook his head solemnly.
The princess was silent for a moment and asked, "Has your majesty woken up today?"
"Reporting to the noble lord, His Majesty woke up half an hour in the morning, took some detoxifying and calming medicine, and then fell asleep again."
The princess asked, "Is there a doctor here?"
Xi Mai said: "The two Feng Yu take turns waiting in front of the imperial bed. Zheng Feng Yu is guarding it now."
The princess nodded: "I'll go take a look."
He bowed and said, "My lord, please follow me."
Several curtains and screens separated the inner hall from the outside. The sound of chanting gradually became weaker, and the scent of sandalwood also became much weaker, but the eldest princess' heart became more and more worried.
He asked, "Your Excellency, have you just come from your residence? Have you had breakfast?"
When the princess woke up, she went to Penglai Palace to see the Queen Mother, and then immediately rushed to Taiji Palace. She had no time to have breakfast. But she didn't have much appetite at the moment, so she nodded and said, "I came from Penglai Palace."
Mai's eyebrows twitched.
The princess knew that Huan Xuan trusted the eunuch, so she had no intention of hiding it from him: "The queen mother gave me the antidote."
Xi Mai was overjoyed, his lips trembled twice, and two lines of tears flowed down. He looked up to the sky and said, "God has eyes, Buddha bless you... Thanks to your lord for persuading the queen mother, your majesty and General Xiao are finally saved..."
The princess felt increasingly heavy-hearted, and she forced a smile, "We'll need to ask the doctor to check it out."
Mai wiped his tears with his sleeves: "Yes, yes... Your Excellency has thought of everything..."
The two walked to the bedside, and the princess took out a porcelain box containing the antidote from her sleeve and handed it to Zheng Fengyu: "Please take a look at this antidote."
Zheng Fengyu did not dare to be careless at all. He placed the porcelain box on the small table solemnly and opened the lid. He saw a sandalwood pill the size of a thumbnail inside.
He sniffed carefully and asked the eunuch to get a live fish from the pond.
The medicine boy fed the fish some poison. After the fish took the poison, its swimming speed slowed down significantly.
The medical officer then used a knife as thin as a willow leaf to scrape a small amount of powder from the pill, wrapped it in fish food and threw it into the water.
After Yu swallowed the antidote, Doctor Zheng waited patiently for half an hour. Seeing that Yu was still alive, he nodded and said, "Your Majesty can now take the medicine."
No matter how effective the antidote is, at least it must be ensured to be harmless. No matter what medicine is used, it must be tested on living things.
The eldest princess said, "I'll do it."
She washed her hands with scented water, picked up the porcelain box containing the pills and walked to the bed.
The eunuch lifted the bed curtain, and she saw her brother lying on the bed.
He had been in a coma most of the time since the poison took effect, relying only on some porridge and soup every day to stay alive. His cheeks were pale and his eye sockets were slightly sunken.
He was obviously in great pain, his brows were still slightly furrowed even in his sleep, and his forehead was wet with cold sweat.
The eldest princess felt bitter. There were four siblings, but now only two of them were left. Their father had passed away, and their mother had changed beyond recognition. Now it was just her and her third brother. If she couldn't save him...
She lowered her eyes and looked at the pills in the box. Everyone has selfish desires, so how could she be an exception? There was only one pill, and her own brother was in danger. How could she just watch him die
She gritted her teeth and took the pills out of the box.
Her hands were shaking so much that she could barely hold the pill, but she managed to hold it.
The eunuch had already gently lifted Huan Xuan's head, preparing to pry open his teeth with a jade plate.
The princess felt cold sweat running down her back.
She suddenly withdrew her hand, put the pills back into the box, and quickly closed the lid, as if she was afraid that she would regret it.
"I can't..." She dropped her hands helplessly.
She couldn't make the decision for Huan Xuan, as it was his life. If they were to switch places, only one of her and her husband could survive, and she would leave the chance of survival to her husband. If someone tried to stop her, it would only make her extremely miserable.
At this moment, the person on the couch slowly opened his eyes. His eyes looked weak, as if he had used up all his energy just to open his eyes, and would fall into a deep sleep the next moment.
The eldest princess was startled for a moment, then frowned: "You're awake?!"
A sly smile flashed across Huan Xuan's eyes.
The princess was annoyed and said, "You're still laughing! Why are you pretending to be asleep when you're awake?"
Huan Xuan said, "I'm happy for my sister."
The eldest princess's expression changed slightly: "..."
Huan Xuan asked, "Did the Queen Mother only give the medicine to you?"
The princess was surprised and asked, "How do you know? Could it be that she... But she swore by Dalang..."
Huan Xuan curled his lips and said, "Why would a pregnant woman come to feed me medicine in person? What other reasons do you have?"
The eldest princess was speechless.
Huan Xuan said: "It doesn't matter whether it's true or not. Anyway, the Queen Mother can't come up with more antidotes."
The princess also understood that even if the queen mother had other antidotes, there were too many places in the palace where things could be hidden, and they simply did not have the time to dig deep to search. Besides, if she didn't want to give it to her, she could just burn or pour out the remaining antidote.
She took out a prescription from her sleeve: "This is the antidote Zhao Kun prepared before he died. Xiao Ling did not take the poison directly, so maybe the poisoning was not serious. The toxicity can be suppressed with medicine... She can still survive. But you are too seriously poisoned. Only the antidote can save you."
As she spoke, she handed the prescription to the eunuch and asked him to give it to Zheng Fengyu: "Go ask the doctor to take a look."
As soon as the eunuch left, Huan Xuan shook his head gently: "Suppress, it means it can't be solved."
The princess could only admit: "Maybe my body will become weaker, but you can take good care of her and live up to her for the rest of your life..."
Huan Xuan said: "I can."
If Xiao Ling is weak due to poisoning and is no longer suitable to lead troops, entering the palace as queen may be the safest way out.
She smiled and said, "But I don't want to. She should be on the battlefield, indulging herself in her passions, not trapped in the palace. Besides, she was implicated in the first place, and it is our family that has let her down."
The princess knew from his eyes that he had made up his mind, her eyes reddened, "If you were asleep when I came, maybe the medicine would have been administered."
Huan Xuan's eyes showed the same sly smile again: "If I fall asleep, sister will have no chance to feed me medicine."
Wang Mai wiped his tears and said, "His Majesty instructed this morning that no matter whether the Queen Mother or the Princess sent the antidote, they should give the one for me to General Xiao."
Huan Xuan said, "Give the medicine to Song Jiu and ask him to rush and deliver it to General Xiao. Ask him to bring more men and horses."
Mai carefully took the medicine from the princess and quickly retreated.
The princess was annoyed and said, "Then why did you pretend to be asleep to tease and test me?"
Huan Xuan said: "I am not testing my sister. I know you will not become the second Queen Mother."
The princess shuddered slightly upon hearing this, and immediately complained, "How good of you to dump such a heavy burden on me."
Huan Xuan said: "I am an emperor unwillingly and my life is short. At least I must hand over the country and the people to reliable people."
The eldest princess then realized that although he had been planning to take poison from the beginning, he still went with the flow and became the emperor, because only in this way could he draft the will and decide to whom to hand over power. Otherwise, when he was gone, the empress dowager could simply support a young illegitimate son to ascend the throne and rule the country from behind the curtain, and it would never be her turn as the eldest princess to be regent.
She sighed and said, "I've cried so much for you that my eyes are almost blind, and you have schemed against me clearly. How could you know that you would be at ease handing the country over to me? I think it would be a pity for you not to be the emperor with such deep scheming."
Huan Xuan shook his head: "You love the people and have a sense of justice in your heart. This alone makes you much better than me. Besides, you have your husband, the Imperial Censor, watching you. Why should I be worried?"
The princess was stunned. Her husband is still the Imperial Censor in the palace.
Huan Xuan said, "I have discussed with Prime Minister Zhang and have decided to promote Cui Fu Ma to the position of Imperial Censor. The imperial edict will be ready soon."
The princess didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Huan Ziheng, you are really trying to turn us against each other!"
Huan Xuan talked for a while and was obviously a little tired, blinking slower and slower.
The princess said, "Don't talk too much. Take a good rest. When the doctor checks the prescription and finds that there is nothing wrong with it, you must take the medicine well."
He has been asked to send the antidote away, and now all he can do is try it out.
Huan Xuan said, "Don't worry, sister. It would be good if I can survive for a few more days."
Hopefully it can be delayed until Xiao Ling recovers and returns to Heshuo.
He looked at his elder sister and said in a dreamy voice, "Sister, I want to go back to Shanchiyuan."
Although the identity is fake and the affection may also be fake, looking back on this life, the most happy and peaceful times were still spent there.
The princess was slightly startled, tears welling up in her eyes. She turned her face away so her brother wouldn't notice: "Okay..."