Chapter 3 This is too domineering!

Yun Kui did indeed manage to slip away by taking advantage of a loophole.

She followed Qingdai down to receive her reward. Seeing that the Empress had no further instructions and the Crown Prince had already woken up, she figured he could take his medicine on his own. With so many palace servants in the hall, she probably didn't need her. So she took the opportunity to return to the kitchen.

Holding the gold ingot in her hand, Yun Kui was still in shock.

Fortune truly does come from danger.

Her wrist, which the Crown Prince was gripping, was still red and swollen, and she gasped in pain. She couldn't understand where he, a seriously injured and unconscious man, got so much strength; he was about to break her bones!

Fortunately, she had the foresight to blindfold the Crown Prince beforehand, and with the Empress protecting her life, today's matter should be considered over, right? His Highness the Crown Prince is busy with affairs of state and probably won't remember her.

Not long after, Dan Gui returned from Chengguang Hall, trembling all over, and went to bed.

Yun Kui quietly leaned closer and asked her, "Does His Highness the Crown Prince look scary? Why are you so frightened?"

"How could I dare to look!" Dan Gui said in a low voice, her face pale. "But just now the Crown Prince said that if Physician Chen cannot cure him within a month, his family will be raided and he will be beheaded."

This is outrageous! They'll kill you if you can't cure me?

However, this Crown Prince must be very afraid of his life, otherwise he would not have threatened the imperial physician's life and fortune. So, her stepping forward to serve the medicine today can actually be considered a meritorious act.

Regardless, Yun Kui's already limited courage had been fully displayed today. After being so frightened by the Crown Prince, she would never dare to approach him again.

Recalling what had just happened in the palace, Dan Gui felt a wave of fear. "How could you be so bold as to step forward and serve the medicine?"

Yun Kui shrank her shoulders. "I'm scared too."

She never expected that His Highness the Crown Prince would wake up so suddenly. Wasn't he riddled with arrows and on the verge of death? Wasn't he unconscious the whole time? How could he wake up just when she was feeding him medicine! What incredible luck!

Although she loves money and believes in the principle that "the bolder you are, the more you can make," it doesn't mean she's not afraid of death. This ten-tael gold transaction can only be done once; if she does it again, she'll really lose her life.

Dan Gui asked curiously, "How did you come up with that method? I've never seen anyone use sheep intestines to administer medicine before."

Yun Kui thought for a moment and said, "I think this is how my uncle feeds my aunt."

Once, my aunt was lying in bed, looking sickly and refusing to take her medicine. She secretly saw my uncle using sheep intestines to fill her with medicine and feed it to her. My aunt shook her head and refused to drink it, but in the end, my uncle forced her to drink it.

When my aunt came out of the house, her complexion was visibly much rosier, showing that this trick really worked.

"I see," Dan Gui nodded. "By the way, I've never heard you mention your uncle's family before?"

Yun Kui lay back on the bed and sighed, "I've been in the palace for six or seven years. I haven't seen them for so long. I guess they're all dead."

She lost her parents at a young age and was fostered in her uncle's house. However, her uncle was a lecher, her aunt was greedy, and her cousin was a gambler. No one in the family liked her.

Seeing that she was somewhat pretty, her aunt gritted her teeth and raised her, thinking that when she grew up, she would give her to those wealthy old men as a concubine so that she could ask for a large dowry.

She had met that rich man Zhu once. Whenever he saw her, he was always lecherous, his face was as fat as a pig's head, and he had a strange smell that could make people vomit.

She was less than ten years old at the time!

That night, she dreamed that Master Zhu came and touched her hand with a smile. She woke up in fright. At that time, she did not know that she had the ability to enter people's dreams. She was just feeling scared, so she ran away from her uncle's house that night.

After many twists and turns, I finally entered the palace as a maid, and so many years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Yun Kui took a deep breath, banishing those unhappy thoughts from her mind. Before going to sleep, she couldn't help but pray, "Your Highness, please forget what happened tonight, please forget about me! Please don't cause me any trouble, please!"

I drifted into a dream, and before me was an indistinct human face, dressed in a long, dark gold robe, tall and imposing.

Even more terrifying, this man was holding a girl by the neck in mid-air, the girl whose neck he was strangling was whimpering and begging for mercy, her legs kicking wildly in the air as she made her last struggle.

Yun Kui had never dreamed of such a brutal scene before. It was far more terrifying than misstepping down the stairs or being chased. She felt as if an invisible hand was tightly gripping her neck, and a suffocating pain shot through her chest.

Upon closer inspection, um... the girl being choked is none other than herself!

Startled awake, Yun Kui gasped for breath.

That was close, I almost died.

No, she has no grudge against anyone, so why would anyone want to kill her!

Yun Kui tried hard to recall what the person in her dream looked like. She couldn't see the face clearly, but the exposed skin was eerily white. She could see the bulging blue veins and the prominent Adam's apple on the neck. The black robe was embroidered with gorgeous and intricate gold patterns, which looked like python patterns... python patterns!

Could it be... His Highness the Crown Prince?!

The dangerous thought took root in her mind and instantly took her breath away.

Yun Kui can see other people's dreams after falling asleep, but this absurd and bizarre ability has not been definitively verified. For example, she only knows that if she thinks about a certain person frequently before going to sleep, she may be able to enter their dream. However, not everyone can enter dreams. Noble people like His Majesty and Empress are completely beyond her understanding. She has no chance to see them on ordinary days, let alone enter their dreams.

Could it be that she prayed before going to sleep that the Crown Prince wouldn't come looking for her, which is why she entered his dream?

Is His Highness now planning to... take her life?

No! Help...

If His Highness the Crown Prince is an upright and kind prince, there should be no possibility that he would strangle her.

But the problem now is that the man is a complete devil, killing people like slicing melons, and he doesn't care whether she is innocent or not.

What a blunder! She was blinded by the ten taels of gold and, fearing someone else would beat her to it, acted rashly.

Yun Kui hugged her knees and let out a desperate sigh.

Yun Kui lived in constant fear all day, and only breathed a sigh of relief when no summons came by evening. From afar, she saw a young palace maid covered in blood being carried out of Chengguang Hall.

The wind in the corridor was biting cold. Yun Kui shivered and felt the hairs on her body stand on end. Her hands and feet were so cold that she couldn't feel them.

The Crown Prince did not touch the food delivered to the palace. The head eunuch of the kitchen returned timidly, and someone leaned in and whispered, "What did that palace maid do that the Crown Prince beat to death?"

The chief eunuch dared not inquire about these matters. He had only vaguely heard the Crown Prince say, "Who sent you?" in the palace. The woman refused to answer and was dragged outside and beaten to death.

When he returned just now, he happened to pass by the scene of the caning. The blood had flowed into the cracks in the rocks, and even two large water vats couldn't wash it clean. The smell of blood made his stomach churn, and he wished he could vomit up his dinner from the night before.

He made a gesture that said "nothing is allowed," and no one dared to ask any more questions. From then on, they all had to live with their heads on the line.

Yun Kui was filled with unease and was so distracted that she could hardly concentrate on anything. Only when she slept at night, clutching the ten taels of gold, did her fear begin to dissipate.

Late at night, Kunning Palace.

Emperor Chunming is resting here today. When the Empress was helping him change his clothes, she hesitated and said, "The Crown Prince... seems to be in poor condition. I don't know if he can make it through this."

Emperor Chunming sighed, "Tomorrow I will issue a general decree throughout the land to see if we can invite some more extraordinary people into the palace to treat the Crown Prince."

The Empress glanced at him discreetly, "The folk healers we invited last time couldn't cure him, and some even fell ill from fear after returning home because they were afraid of the Crown Prince's tyranny."

Emperor Chunming gazed at the auspicious dragon and phoenix patterns on the tent ceiling, remained silent for a long time, and then said, "No matter what, let's do our best."

The Empress nodded: "Yes."

Emperor Chunming ascended the throne through succession from his brother to his brother, and the current crown prince is the son of the late Emperor Jingyou.

When the late emperor personally led an expedition to the northern border, he returned severely wounded. At the same time, several powerful vassal kings staged a coup and rebelled. It was Empress Huigong, who was heavily pregnant at the time, who came up with a plan to sow discord among the vassal kings, thus stabilizing the situation. However, Empress Huigong's pregnancy was weakened by the exertion she had been doing for days.

To ensure the continuation of the Zhao dynasty, Empress Huigong gave birth to the crown prince with great difficulty, but died on the delivery bed. The late emperor, who was already seriously injured and unable to recover, also passed away due to the overwhelming grief of losing his wife.

The court and the country were in turmoil, and the regional princes were restless. Only the Empress Dowager, who had been ill and out of the public eye for a long time, could take charge of the situation.

A country without a ruler is in chaos. At that time, two factions formed in the court. One faction supported the crown prince to ascend the throne and asked the empress dowager to rule from behind the curtain. The other faction believed that the crown prince was too young and inexperienced, and the empress dowager was old and frail. However, the Great Zhao was surrounded by powerful enemies from the outside and had rebellions by vassal kings from the inside. It was difficult for the grandfather and grandson to sit firmly in the court. It would be better to choose another person with both virtue and talent from the imperial clan to ascend the throne.

At that time, someone recommended Prince Rui, who was known for his virtue in the capital, who is now Emperor Chunming.

At that time, Prince Rui was the only prince who did not take up his fiefdom but lived in the capital. During the late emperor's serious injury, it was Prince Rui who served him with medicine and care. Over time, he earned a reputation for being a brotherly and respectful friend.

After several rounds of debate, the Empress Dowager finally made the decision: Prince Rui would temporarily assume the throne, while the Crown Prince would remain the Crown Prince. When Prince Rui passed away, the Great Zhao Dynasty would be returned to the bloodline of Emperor Jingyou.

More than twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Under the rule of Prince Rui, who is now Emperor Chunming, the Great Zhao Dynasty was peaceful for many years without any major achievements or mistakes. However, the crown prince left by the late emperor was born with a congenital deficiency and suffered from headaches since childhood. This caused him to be violent and unpredictable, and to act ruthlessly and extreme. For a time, everyone in the court and the country was in danger, and the people were full of complaints. He was notorious.

As the uncle, Emperor Chunming could not discipline the crown prince as he would his own son. He could neither punish him nor be harsh on him, and letting him run wild would cause dissatisfaction among the court officials and the people. So he had no choice but to turn a blind eye.

With the Crown Prince's return to the palace, there were even calls in the court to depose him and establish a new heir. Emperor Chunming, who ascended the throne halfway through his life, had sworn to the heavens before the Empress Dowager's death that he would return the throne to her. He had also been a loving uncle for so many years, so he naturally used reason and emotion to appease the court officials.

Another group of veteran ministers who firmly stood on the side of the Crown Prince also had something to say: the Crown Prince has been fighting on the frontier for many years, and now that he is over twenty, he should have married and had children to ensure the continuation of the bloodline of the Great Zhao Dynasty. He should not repeat the mistakes of Emperor Jingyou.

If Emperor Jingyou had not had few children, the rebellion of the princes would not have broken out, and his half-brother, Prince Rui, would have ultimately benefited.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chunming frowned deeply and sighed after a long while: "The Crown Prince's marriage can also be arranged now."

The couple exchanged a glance, a complex emotion flashing in their eyes simultaneously.

In order to have more sons and grandchildren, Emperor Chunming took in many concubines over the years, and they had nine sons and twelve daughters. The empress also had a good pregnancy, and two princes were born of the empress.

With her own son being equally outstanding, how could the Empress be willing to let him benefit someone else?

However, Emperor Chunming had sworn an oath before the late Empress Dowager, and with countless eyes watching from all levels of the court, he was bound to be branded as a usurper. Therefore, Emperor Chunming and his wife could only play the role of loving father and mother in front of the world, treating the crown prince as their own son.

Even if the Crown Prince is tyrannical and cruel, he is still of the bloodline of Emperor Jingyou, a more legitimate and noble royal bloodline than Emperor Chunming, who is only temporarily in power.

After a moment of silence, the Empress said gently, "Your Majesty, I understand. I will find a suitable candidate for the Crown Prince another day. However... as you know, Your Majesty, with the Crown Prince's temperament, I'm afraid even ordinary daughters of noble families..."

Emperor Chunming naturally understood that the Crown Prince's ruthless and cruel nature caused all the noble ladies in the capital to keep their distance. However, if the Crown Prince were to marry into a powerful minister's family, Emperor Chunming feared that it would only benefit the Crown Prince.

Caught in a dilemma, the Empress came up with a solution: "How about... for now, let the Imperial Household Department and the Music Bureau select a few good-looking concubines to serve the Crown Prince and take care of his daily life? Once the Crown Prince has recovered from his injuries, we can hold a grand selection of concubines to find suitable candidates for the Crown Prince's consorts."

The couple exchanged glances, each understanding the other's thoughts.

Arranging palace maids to serve the emperor served two purposes: firstly, it allowed the emperor to place his own people in the palace, ensuring that no one would leave behind any offspring.

Secondly, it could also silence public opinion. As the Crown Prince's uncle and aunt, the Emperor and Empress had been actively arranging his marriage and had no intention of usurping the throne.

Thirdly, it would facilitate creating trouble in the future, so that those powerful families who covet the position of Crown Princess would see clearly that the Crown Prince is violent and not a good match.

Yun Kui was filled with anxiety for several days, and only after the Crown Prince came to her door did she slowly breathe a sigh of relief.

Thinking about it carefully, how could such an insignificant little character be remembered by that big shot?

But just two days later, someone came to the Empress's palace. It was a familiar-looking nanny; Yun Kui remembered seeing her at Lan Yue Pavilion.

"Your Majesty requests that Miss Yun Kui come over."

Yun Kui stood there, stunned, with a bad feeling. "I wonder what the Empress has summoned me for?"

The old woman smiled and said, "Young lady, you are so beautiful. Her Majesty cannot bear to see such a gem go to waste and is willing to promote you. This is a joyous occasion."