At the moment Consort Shu collapsed, Wei Yanqing panicked and overlooked the fact that there was a palace maid beside Consort Shu.

She originally planned that as long as Consort Shu died, she would tell Hongli that Consort Shu had accidentally fallen. Since there was not enough evidence to prove that she had pushed Consort Shu, she could get away with it.

Unexpectedly, the palace maid outside the door witnessed what she had done, which made her want to kill again.

"You lowly servant, how dare you deliberately contradict me and disturb Consort Shu's childbirth! Drag her away and have her beaten to death!" Wei Yanqing shouted.

The palace maid did not beg for mercy, but glared angrily at Wei Yanqing and cursed, "You poisonous woman, Consort Ling, if anything happens to Her Majesty today, you will surely be punished by Heaven in the future."

Hearing this, Wei Yanqing's anger intensified. She slapped the palace maid, who immediately knelt on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

"Guards, drag this vile woman out and beat her to death," Wei Yanqing ordered again.

Two eunuchs immediately stepped forward, grabbed the maid's arms, and dragged her out.

The palace maid struggled desperately. She wasn't afraid of dying, but she was afraid that if she died, Consort Shu inside would be truly beyond saving.

Seeing how loyal she was, Qingyu decided to help her out.

"Wait!"

As her voice rang out, the eunuchs turned their heads and stopped what they were doing.

The palace maid looked at her with eyes full of hope, as if Guanyin Bodhisattva had descended to earth. She knew that as long as the lady before her was willing to lend a helping hand, Consort Shu might have a chance to live.

"Your Majesty, what brings you here?" Wei Yanqing asked Qingyu, her expression somewhat flustered.

"What, can't I come over for such a big event as Consort Shu giving birth?" Qingyu raised an eyebrow and asked.

“No…” Wei Yanqing shook her head, “I am just worried about Your Majesty the Empress. Your headache is so severe, yet you still came here.”

“Headaches don’t last forever; they’ll eventually subside,” Qingyu said with a smile.

In terms of debate, few people can currently out-argue Qingyu; Wei Yanqing was defeated in just a few sentences.

"By the way, why did you decide to have this palace maid beaten to death?" Qingyu walked slowly in front of Wei Yanqing and asked expressionlessly.

"She...brought people to disturb Consort Shu's childbirth. Shouldn't such an unruly person be beaten to death?" Wei Yanqing pinned a fabricated charge on the palace maid.

Qingyu smiled and said, "But I stood at the door for quite a while and didn't see her disturb Consort Shu."

"When...did you arrive?" Wei Yanqing asked nervously.

"You don't need to worry about this!" Qingyu waved her hand, then instructed the imperial physicians who were about to leave, "None of you are allowed to leave. I want you to use all your knowledge to save Consort Shu."

Qingyu had no choice but to do this. Whether Consort Shu could survive depended on her fate.

"Thank you, Your Majesty the Empress!" The palace maid forcefully shook off the eunuch's restraints, bowed deeply to Qingyu, and her eyes reddened.

Qingyu was, after all, the Empress. No matter how much she was out of favor, her rank was still higher than Wei Yanqing's, so the imperial physicians naturally obeyed Qingyu's orders.

Watching the three imperial physicians go in as a group to treat Consort Shu, Wei Yanqing's heart was in her throat, and she blamed Qingyu for meddling.

What can be done? She's not the empress, after all.

Time passed second by second, and the sky began to darken, but Consort Shu still showed no signs of giving birth, and the only sound in the entire palace was her painful cries.

Seeing this, Wei Yanqing felt much relieved, because the imperial physician had told her that if the child did not come out in another hour, both mother and child might not survive.

She prayed silently in her heart, hoping that Hongli would wake up in an hour.

But you can't just make any wish you want to come true.

She had just finished praying in her heart when she saw Hongli running over in a panic, which made her panic as well.

Originally, Hongli was supposed to wake up in an hour, but Qingyu was afraid that something else might happen, so she secretly asked Rongyun to disguise herself as a eunuch and go to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to insert needles into Hongli's body. After seeing that he showed signs of waking up, she quickly left.

The whole movement was done without anyone noticing.

"How could this happen? There's still a month left!" Hongli's anxiety grew as he listened to the shrill screams.

Wei Yanqing stammered, unsure how to answer, until the palace maid finally explained the whole story.

Upon hearing this, Hongli immediately raised his hand high and slapped Wei Yanqing across the face.

With a "slap," Wei Yanqing's face swelled up instantly.

"You knew Ziyan was pregnant, yet you still argued with her. What were you thinking?" Hongli said through gritted teeth.

As expected, this man never truly loves anyone. One second he might fight Qingyu for Wei Yanqing, and the next he might fight Wei Yanqing for another woman.

"No... I didn't mean to. It was Consort Shu who tried to hit me. I instinctively dodged, and that's why she fell to the ground," Wei Yanqing said with a mournful face. She was more adept at turning black into white than anyone else.

"You're talking nonsense! You deliberately pushed my lady down!" The palace maid was almost in tears, having never seen such a good actor before.

The palace maid was clumsy with words, and Qingyu knew that if she continued, things would only get worse and allow Wei Yanqing to escape, so she interrupted, saying, "These are all secondary. The most important thing now is that Consort Shu and her child are safe."

Hearing her say this, everyone fell silent and all looked toward the palace.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a midwife came over, knelt on the ground, and said, "The fetus is not healthy; I'm afraid we can only save one of the mother and the child."

She was so nervous that her whole body was trembling, afraid that Hongli would take his anger out on her.

Upon hearing this, Hongli's face turned ashen. "They're all a bunch of useless bastards. Can't we protect both of them?"

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger. This servant has done her best," the midwife said, kowtowing.

Hongli's face turned even more ashen as a result.

Upon seeing this, Wei Yanqing quickly said, "There are no parents in the world who do not love their children. I have also given birth. At that time, I thought that if I could only save one child, I would definitely save the child. So I think that Consort Shu should feel the same way."

Faced with Wei Yanqing's fallacious reasoning, Qingyu simply smiled and did not refute it. She looked at Hongli, wanting to know how he would choose.

As expected, this man was heartless; he only thought for a second before choosing to save the child.

The palace maid felt utterly disheartened upon seeing this, truly feeling sorry for her mistress.

"Your Majesty, have you considered that if we really save the mother, the little prince will be born without a mother? Your Majesty is busy with state affairs, and I'm afraid those heartless wet nurses and eunuchs won't take good care of the little prince!" Qingyu didn't directly say to save the mother, but rather talked about what might happen if the child was saved.

"No, they wouldn't dare," Hongli said confidently.

"Is this confidence something Liang Jingru gave you?" Qingyu thought to herself with a hint of sarcasm.