Inside the grand hall, only the Imperial Physicians seated in rows could be seen, and the startled Empress Dowager, covering her lips, sat in the principal seat, her laughter trembling like the branches of flowers.
"This servant has seen the Empress Dowager, and I wish peace to Your Highness," Zhang Lanyi entered the hall, and instantly it fell silent as a crypt.
From the principal seat, the woman gave Zhang Lanyi a light glance.
"Are you the Empress? Why are you covered in blood in my chambers?"
"This servant was worried about Your Highness’s health. I just ca from the Imperial Consort’s birthing room and went straight here to see where exactly you felt unwell that required so many Imperial Physicians to keep you company," Zhang Lanyi boldly began.
The Empress Dowager hadn’t expected the reputedly versatile Empress to be so fiery in temper.
"Empress, you are being insolent," the Empress Dowager said with a displeased expression.
"Speaking of being insolent, wouldn’t that be you? The child in the Noble Consort’s womb is the dragon heir, the Emperor’s lineage— are you not afraid of the emperor’s wrath by detaining so many Imperial Physicians?"
As Zhang Lanyi spoke, her gaze drifted across each Imperial Physician.
The Empress Dowager, covering her lips, actually laughed out, "What a big accusation the Empress has placed upon . How could I possibly respond?"
"Why not ask them yourself, Empress. It’s only thanks to these Imperial Physicians staying here to comfort that I am able to sit here at all,"
Looking at the radiant and unfrightened expression of the Empress Dowager.
"After the great fire, I didn’t expect that the Empress Dowager wouldn’t even pretend anymore. Currently, the realm is still the Emperor’s, but this action of yours, Empress Dowager, might implicate your brother far away in the Capital City, the Pri Minister of Dawei."
Zhang Lanyi sneered.
As if stepped on the tail, the Empress Dowager’s expression which had been gentle, turned dark in an instant: "Insolence!"
"The greater insolence is yet to co," Zhang Lanyi imdiately retorted, "This palace gives you one last chance. Now take your dicine chests and follow to Noble Consort’s place. If you are shown rcy by His Majesty tomorrow, I might speak for you. But if you remain deluded, I can charge you with grave disrespect right now!"
The Imperial Physicians could no longer sit still.
"Let’s see who dares to stand up!" the Empress Dowager shrieked.
"Empress, Empress Dowager, spare our lives, two Highnesses!" The Imperial Physicians knelt on the ground, bewildered.
Zhang Lanyi snorted coldly: "Lai Fu, lead the Imperial Physicians over first."
Watching as Lai Fu pulled the Imperial Physicians out of the hall door, the Empress Dowager couldn’t help standing up.
She raised her hand and smashed a vase beside her.
The fragnts of the vase scattered, and one grazed the Empress’s cheek, leaving a bloody mark on her delicate skin.
Zhang Lanyi touched the bloodstain with her hand and looked at the blood on her fingertip.
"Back then, the Imperial dical Bureau’s Imperial Physicians also crowded Your Highness’s chambers. I wonder if you still rember,"
The previously angry Empress Dowager’s expression suddenly beca inscrutable.
"What? The Empress has too much leisure ti these days and even starts to drag back down mory lane?" she leaned back in her chair with a crossed leg.
Zhang Lanyi was about to blurt out her inner thoughts but swallowed them at the last mont.
"It’s getting late, Empress Dowager. You should rest early. I will co to greet you tomorrow."
The Empress Dowager watched Zhang Lanyi’s figure leave, a scornful smile on her lips.
Once everyone had left, the grand hall returned to its usual eerie silence.
She then spoke softly.
"I really wonder what this commotion is all about."
She placed a piece of letter paper under the candlelight, and the words "...delay..." were faintly visible on it.
Sighing deeply, the Empress Dowager burned the letter.
Speaking sorrowfully.
"No matter where I go, I am the villain."
...
The Emperor lay unconscious, and the Imperial Consort gave birth prematurely, while the Empress and the Empress Dowager openly confronted each other....
Each and every matter hinted at the instability within the Imperial City.
Everyone wanted to know if the child Noble Consort Sun had given birth to was a Princess or a Prince, but the Empress’s people had surrounded the hall so tightly, not a single piece of news could slip out.
She even imitated the Empress Dowager’s tyranny, detaining all the imperial physicians from the Imperial dical Bureau.
"It was fortunate that Empress acted decisively at that ti; otherwise, my sister the Imperial Consort would have been in danger," Yan Lingzhen couldn’t help but sigh when she thought about that mont.
If it had been a mont later, it would have been a loss of two lives.
Fortunately, she was outside the Imperial City at that ti; after seeing the fireworks, she imdiately entered the palace, everything was just right.
"It’s all because the little prince has his own blessed fate," Lai Fu said from the side.
Consort Sun, lying on the couch, had bled profusely after giving birth and was extrely weak at this mont.
Yan Lingzhen had employed many ans to snatch her back from the clutches of death, but ultimately this was the ancient tis without modern advanced equipnt, and everything had to proceed in an orderly progression.
"Nursemaid, keep watch. I will go and see how the dicine is coming along," Yan Lingzhen teased the little prince for a while and then went out to check on the dicine.
Yan Lingzhen added so more firewood and stretched in the courtyard.
The physicians from the Imperial dical Bureau aimlessly paced back and forth in front of her.
Seeing their faces full of distress, Yan Lingzhen rolled her eyes and went directly inside.
Served them right!
Being dical practitioners, yet they leaned toward power and montum.
The punishnt ted out by the Empress to them was considered mild for now.
Once the Emperor woke up, it was likely that the Imperial dical Bureau would have to undergo a thorough overhaul by then, and at that ti, it would be possible to fill so positions from the doctors at Tongren Hall.
Yan Lingzhen calculated her moves and walked into the house.
She then found Lai Fu passed out on the ground.
The cradle that had held the little prince was now empty!
She hurriedly woke Lai Fu.
"Nursemaid, wake up! Where is the little prince?"
Lai Fu opened his eyes, feeling pain in the back of his neck, "This servant only felt soone approaching, hadn’t even made out who it was before passing out."
"This is terrible. We must urgently report to the Empress," Yan Lingzhen said anxiously.
Who would have thought that despite such tight security, soone could still manage to abduct the little prince.
"This is utterly outrageous!" Zhang Lanyi, who had gone back to her chamber to change her clothes, saw Lai Fu’s panicked return and instantly knew sothing was terribly wrong.
In the Imperial City, those who were more skilled than Lai Fu—
Who could it be?
"Right now the Imperial Consort has yet to regain consciousness; if she wakes up and finds the prince missing, she probably won’t make it," Zhang Lanyi said worriedly.
"What about His Majesty?" Zhang Lanyi asked anxiously.
Lai Fu shook his head, "The Imperial Physician in charge of His Majesty said that the Emperor was conscious for a while today but then quickly lapsed back into unconsciousness. Miss Yan Liu also went to see him, only to say that the Emperor was ntally damaged, and his current unconsciousness is a form of self-healing."
"Everything is in chaos," Zhang Lanyi couldn’t help saying.
Just then, the window was abruptly closed.
A strong wind suddenly arose.
"Your Highness, what should we do now?" Lai Fu asked, confused.
Zhang Lanyi smiled wryly, "We’ll take it one step at a ti, continue to deploy more people to search for the whereabouts of the little prince, I don’t believe it, the Imperial City is only so big, where can that person hide with the little prince!"
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