Chapter 99 Like It or Not 2

As soon as it got dark the next day, Xie Junyao went to Concubine Zheng's Fuyao Palace.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you." As soon as he reached the courtyard, Concubine Zheng came to greet him. Hearing this mixed voice, Xie Junyao subconsciously frowned. Concubine Zheng climbed onto his arm and said, "Your Majesty, it's been a long time since you last visited me."

Xie Junyao pulled his arm off with an indifferent expression.

He didn't know why, but he didn't like being touched.

After washing up, he went straight to the bed and walked to the inner side of the bed, saying, "I'm tired. Let's go to bed early."

Concubine Zheng was very disappointed after her repeated attempts to flirt with him failed. This was a great blow to Concubine Zheng. She was a beautiful woman with a graceful figure and a beautiful appearance, but she stood in front of the emperor, and the emperor did not respond.

Concubine Zheng was unwilling to accept this. She didn't believe that the emperor would have no reaction.

After pulling down the curtain, she lay down beside the emperor, pulled down her clothes in front of her chest under the brocade quilt, and covered Xie Junyao with her hands, revealing her chest. She spoke in a charming voice, with a dark light in her eyes: "Your Majesty~"

Xie Junyao saw it, but neither his mind nor his body reacted at all. He even felt... disgusted.

He grabbed her hand and swung it mercilessly. Concubine Zheng felt as if her arm was about to break and she held her arm in pain.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the emperor stand up, wearing only an outer robe, and left a sentence "I am returning to Chengqian Palace." He strode out of Fuyao Palace.

Concubine Zheng lay flat on the bed. The disgust in the emperor's eyes made her unable to recover for a long time. Tears rolled down her temples.

A few days later, Xie Junyao summoned Concubine An, Concubine Jin, and Lin Fenyi to sleep with him and asked them the same question: Are you willing to have children for the royal family?

When they heard this, they were all surprised by the prospect of such a good thing. They hadn't even seen the Emperor for three months, let alone the prospect of having children for the royal family. Without giving it a second thought, they all replied in unison: "Yes, your servants (concubines) hope that the Emperor will give birth to a prince or princess."

Xie Junyao felt even more upset.

The women who could enter the palace as concubines were all of superb appearance and figure. They were full of vigor and vitality, and even if they were stripped down to their bellybands, Xie Junyao still had no reaction to them.

Xie Junyao was depressed. He had a hard mouth and a hard heart, but his body was honest.

Li Dexian was eavesdropping in the corner. For several days, there was no movement in the room. He muttered, "Looks like the emperor needs to be nourished."

After a few days, the meals in Chengqian Palace became nutritious foods such as "Stir-fried deer and chicken", "Purple ginseng and pheasant soup", "Wild mushroom and sea cucumber", and "Dragon whip soup".

After eating it for a few days, Xie Junyao finally realized that something was wrong and "rewarded" Li Dexian with thirty strokes of the cane.

Li Dexian went to receive the beating crying, thinking: He was doing this for the emperor's own good, why did the emperor still punish him?

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There were only thirteen days left until New Year's Eve, and the palace was decorated with joy. However, bad news came from Shoukang Palace: the Empress Dowager had been poisoned by the same poison as Concubine Zheng.

The Empress Dowager would sometimes become unconscious and sometimes faint, and the doctors in the Imperial Medical Bureau were helpless.

Xie Junyao grew more haggard day by day. Although his mother had always favored his seventh brother since his birth, the bond between mother and son had grown increasingly distant over the years. Xie Junyao still felt bad. After all, his mother had endured the exhaustion of ten months of pregnancy and the pain of childbirth.

Xie Junyao asked, "What did the imperial physician say? How is the Queen Mother?"

Nanny Liu wiped away her tears and said, "In reply to the Emperor, the Imperial Physician said that the Empress Dowager will wake up, but we don't know when. After waking up, I'm afraid she will be unconscious and hurt herself and others."

"When did mother start to feel unwell?" Xie Junyao asked.

"Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager was somewhat delirious yesterday. She thought she was just too tired, and we servants didn't take it too seriously." Madam Liu knelt on the ground. "We are guilty, Your Majesty, please punish us."

Xie Junyao sighed. Nanny Liu had always been following the Queen Mother. Nanny Liu didn't want the Queen Mother to be like this.

"Madam Liu, please get up. You know the Queen Mother best. She still needs your care. Don't let yourself get hurt."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

After getting up, Madam Liu said, "Your Majesty, the eldest princess has cried to me several times since she learned that the empress dowager is ill, and she keeps asking when the empress dowager will wake up. I suspect the eldest princess is frightened. With the empress dowager like this, we are afraid we won't be able to take care of her properly."

Xie Junyao pondered.

Matron Liu knew the Emperor was struggling with the choice of temporary caregiver for the eldest princess. Personally, she favored Ling Zhaoyuan, since the eldest princess at least liked her. Concubine Zheng, despite being the eldest princess's biological mother, showed less concern for her than her own family.

"Your Majesty, I dare to send the eldest princess to Changlixuan."

Xie Junyao naturally wanted to. But if he sent her to Chang Lixuan, it would be another kind of torture for him. Besides, the Queen Mother didn't like her, so it was better not to cause trouble for her.

"Let's send it to Concubine Hui." Xie Junyao said.

Concubine Hui is also a good place to go. Madam Liu nodded: "Yes. I will give the order right away."

On this day, Xie Junyao went to Shoukang Palace to visit the empress dowager as usual.

He didn't send anyone to inform them. The door to the bedroom was ajar. Just as Xie Junyao was about to push it open, he heard the empress dowager say, "When Concubine Xian died in childbirth, the late emperor, seeing I had no children, gave the emperor to me to raise and ordered that no one should mention Concubine Xian. Although the emperor's biological mother, Concubine Xian, was kind to me, the emperor is not my biological son. After all, we can't be close to each other."

"The emperor is very concerned about you. He visits you in Shoukang Palace every day. The empress dowager might as well try to get closer to the emperor." said Nanny Liu.

The Queen Mother sighed, "Let's talk about it later."

Xie Junyao left with an expressionless face.

It turned out that the Queen Mother favored the seventh brother and denied him because he was not her biological son.

Thinking about it now, it’s really ridiculous.

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Happy Winter Solstice~ Kawenka went crazy, posted it as soon as I finished writing it, and there should be another chapter tonight~]