Chapter 74 Chapter 74 Just throw it away after use?

After eating roasted whole lamb together that day, Li Shuyao was like a small drop of water, instantly merging into the vast ocean of the harem.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye it is a new year again.

At the beginning of February in the seventeenth year of the Kangxi reign, news suddenly came from Kunning Palace that the Empress's condition had suddenly worsened.

Hearing that all the concubines in the palace had gone to visit and tend to the queen, Li Shuyao wondered if she should also go over and take a look to express her concern for the queen's illness.

...Otherwise, it would be too outrageous, right?

She has a baby in her belly now, so it should not be her responsibility to take care of the sick.

It's just a matter of going to Kunning Palace to deliver some gifts and medicinal herbs, and to express a few words of concern.

Li Shuyao felt that she could still do it.

Thinking of this, she got up from the couch and called Tian Jiarou in from outside, asking her to open the small warehouse and take out two ginsengs or some other supplements. She would deliver them to the Queen personally later.

A trace of worry suddenly appeared on Tian Jiarou's pretty face. "Your Majesty, Kunning Palace..."

Before she finished speaking, Li Shuyao had already cleverly guessed what she was going to say.

It's nothing more than persuading myself not to go.

But now the Empress Dowager is seriously ill, but she is still hiding in her Changchun Palace and living a leisurely life. If the news gets out, those ministers of the previous dynasty who supported the Empress will definitely submit memorials to report her!

Li Shuyao explained the reason to Tian Jiarou with a serious expression.

Tian Jiarou thought about it and felt that there seemed to be some truth in it.

So he obediently went to get the key to open the warehouse.

After a while, he brought two ginsengs and some tonics to the room to ask Li Shuyao's opinion.

When Nanny Yan learned about this, she immediately returned to her room and took out some tools. She carefully checked the tonics in Tian Jiarou's hand. After confirming that there was no problem, she put them all into a wooden box with brightly carved patterns and a unique shape. In front of Li Shuyao and Tian Jiarou, she sealed the wooden box on all sides.

While pasting it, she also introduced to Li Shuyao that the sealing paper in her hand was specially made by her from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It had unique patterns on both sides and could not be imitated by outsiders.

Li Shuyao exclaimed "Wow" when she heard it.

Then she praised with a smile, saying that Nanny Yan was experienced and very thoughtful in her work and considerations.

It is said that an old person in the family is like a treasure.

She is now very grateful to the two ancestors for giving her two big treasures!

——The praise was so intense that both Nanny Yan and Nanny Zhao blushed.

I've been in the palace for so many years, but I've never seen a master who praises others so directly...

What's the "baby" or "not baby" thing...

It's so embarrassing.

After Nanny Yan put the seal on, she put on a stern face and helped Li Shuyao, who had already put on her cloak, into the sedan chair. She also coldly ordered the palace servants who were carrying the sedan chair to be careful not to bump her queen.

Watching the sedan chair gradually go away.

Nanny Yan stood at the gate of Changchun Palace, looking out anxiously, until she could no longer see Li Shuyao's sedan chair, then she slowly revealed a relieved smile.

*

The smell of Chinese medicine in Kunning Palace was several times stronger than the last time Li Shuyao came.

When Li Shuyao arrived, she found that there were many people standing at the entrance of Kunning Palace.

There were people she knew, such as Concubine Hui and Concubine An, who had eaten roasted whole lamb with her, and there were also some unfamiliar people, probably Chang Zaiying and the like.

Seeing Li Shuyao coming, several high-ranking concubines looked at each other and walked towards her with anxious expressions.

Without waiting for Li Shuyao to salute, Concubine An reached out her hand and straightened her up, then said to her in a somewhat fierce tone, "You are still pregnant, what are you doing here?"

Li Shuyao was not afraid of her now. Upon hearing this, she curved her delicate eyebrows and gave her a lovely smile. Then she said in a sweet voice, "I heard that the Queen was seriously ill, so I came to visit her and bring her some medicinal herbs. I'll also see if there's anything I can do for her."

After she finished speaking, she looked around again and asked, "Why don't I see the Imperial Concubine?"

Huipin clutched her handkerchief and said, "After learning that the Empress was seriously ill, the Imperial Concubine locked herself in the small Buddhist temple in Chengqian Palace, saying that she wanted to chant sutras and pray for the Empress."

Li Shuyao: "..."

She quietly approached Huipin and asked her in a low voice, "Your Highness, are you really praying for blessings?"

The anxious look on Huipin's face paused, and a hint of unnaturalness quickly passed through her.

Li Shuyao felt that she seemed to understand something.

The next moment, Huipin's expression returned to normal, and she glared at her with a sidelong glance, "Your Highness said you were praying for blessings, so you must be praying for blessings."

Li Shuyao asked, "Has the Imperial Concubine never come here once?"

Concubine An said, "I did come here, actually. I came the first day the news broke, but I didn't even get to see the Empress. I was sent back by the maids in Kunning Palace."

Oh, I see.

Li Shuyao nodded again.

He continued to ask: "Where are the others?"

She was referring to Concubine Xi, Concubine Duan and Concubine Jing.

And Qingyao.

This time, it was Concubine Rong who answered her. She sighed first, "They stayed at Kunning Palace all night yesterday. This morning, they couldn't hold on any longer, so they went back to rest."

"Now, it's our turn to come and take care of the patient."

Consorts above the rank of concubine could still take turns to attend to the sick in shifts.

However, the noble ladies and maids below did not receive this treatment.

While Li Shuyao was talking to Huipin and the others, a concubine who was either a maid or a concubine was shaking weakly because she was too cold and sleepy. Soon, she was carried away by the palace servants of Kunning Palace as the palace maids around her kept calling her "Young Master" and "Young Master".

Li Shuyao was so scared that she trembled.

Huipin, Anpin and Rongpin hurried to support her.

Li Shuyao smiled at them and said that she was fine and was just accidentally scared.

Huipin lowered her eyes to look at her slightly bulging belly and said, "You are almost five months pregnant now, right?"

Li Shuyao nodded. "It will be five months by the end of the month."

The five-month-old baby is already as big as a small pumpkin. It seems that his hands and feet have grown out as well, right?

Sometimes when Li Shuyao was sleeping at night, she could still faintly feel a very small and weak heartbeat coming from inside her body, but it did not belong to her.

It was also the first time I knew what it was like to have a "mother-child bond".

It's quite magical.

When Concubine An heard their conversation, a hint of envy flashed in her eyes.

Rongpin didn't bother to talk to them. She walked straight to the door of Kunning Palace, looked inside for a few times, then turned around and told the palace servants something. After the palace servants turned around and left, she returned to Li Shuyao and the others.

Facing Li Shuyao's curious gaze, she said calmly, "The Empress won't allow us to enter the palace to attend to the sick, so this is the only option."

ah?

Li Shuyao was a little surprised.

Not knowing what he was thinking of, he stuttered and asked again, "Yesterday, last night, Qingyao was also like this, guarding outside the Kunning Palace, guarding the whole night?"

Huipin shook her head and said, "That's not the case."

"Although the Empress is wary of us, she is not a harsh person. If she really dares to let Concubine Yi and others guard outside the palace to take care of the patient..."

She didn't finish the rest of the sentence.

But Li Shuyao already understood what she meant.

In the cold winter, if the Empress really dared to let Qingyao and the others guard outside Kunning Palace...

Not to mention Qingyao and the others, I'm afraid even the palace maids serving them would not agree.

Not to mention their families outside the palace.

That is, only when the sun was shining during the day did he dare to ask Huipin and others to guard outside the palace and take care of the patient.

Li Shuyao thought about it, walked forward and touched their fingers, and found that although they were not frozen as hard as carrots, the backs of their hands and finger joints were a little blue and white, and felt very cold to the touch.

Li Shuyao quickly handed over the hot water bottle in her hand.

But she was pushed back by Huipin and the others. Huipin smiled and said, "We are used to it and don't feel cold anymore. You are still pregnant, so you should hold the baby yourself."

Li Shuyao shook her head and said, "I came here today to serve the Empress."

"Why are you needed here?" Huipin said.

Li Shuyao was very stubborn: "I won't go back. I will stay here with my sisters."

She now felt that the queen was a little too overbearing. Kunning Palace was so big, there was no place she couldn't stay.

Why do Huipin and the others have to guard outside the palace?

After Li Shuyao finished speaking, she gathered her cloak around her shoulders, stuffed the hot water bottle in her hand into Tian Jiarou's arms, and walked straight to the door of Kunning Palace. She said to the palace maid guarding outside, "Go and tell them that I'm here to attend to the Empress."

Huipin and Anpin came to their senses and hurried over to pull her.

But Li Shuyao dodged them one by one.

As she hid, she said to the stunned maids, "Either I will stay outside Kunning Palace with you sisters, or please ask the Empress to find a side hall with a floor heating system and a charcoal basin for you sisters."

As soon as she finished speaking, Huipin and the others stopped grabbing her at the same time.

Then the palace maid came back to her senses with a pale face and ran hurriedly into Kunning Palace.

Not long after, she came out again, followed by an old lady with a ferocious-looking expression.

When the old nanny came out and saw Li Shuyao, she frowned and glared at her with her cloudy eyes, "Why is Concubine Ling here?"

Li Shuyao was suddenly frightened by her stare and quietly hid behind Huipin.

Huipin couldn't help laughing, but she still stood there without moving.

By now, they had understood Li Shuyao's intention.

——This is to speak up for them.

Huipin and the others certainly wouldn't hold Li Shuyao back at this moment, so they said coldly, "Madam Ru, it seems you haven't paid your respects to Lingpin just now, have you?"

Like Mama?

Wow, so this is the Aunt Ru.

Li Shuyao's eyes suddenly widened.

Now she knew what was going on.

Ru Ma was the queen's wet nurse and also her most reliable military advisor and thug.

After the Queen entered the palace, everything she did was as if the nanny was secretly giving her advice.

This includes the last one, of course.

Inside Kunning Palace, the Queen should have already fallen into a coma by now.

Therefore, all matters, big or small, inside and outside Kunning Palace should be handled by Nanny Ru.

Ru Ma has always disliked the concubines in the harem. When she learned that her young lady was about to die, she probably wanted to drag everyone into hell.

So they falsely conveyed the Empress's decree, ordering the concubines who came to attend to the patient not to go near Kunning Palace, but to stay outside the palace all day long.

It is written in the novel that Concubine An injured her body in her early years because she could not bear the bitter cold. No matter how many tonics she drank afterwards, she was unable to get pregnant successfully.

...Is this probably the time?

It's no wonder that after the Queen's death, Nanny Ru was executed by the Emperor...

Li Shuyao thought for a moment, then boldly poked her head out and shouted at Ru Mama in a rather intimidating manner, "Yes, you haven't even saluted me, this palace!"

Nanny Ru paused, then reluctantly bent her knees towards Li Shuyao, then asked her, "Why is Concubine Ling here?"

"I have already said that I am here to attend to the Empress' illness."

"But I didn't know that this was the rule in Kunning Palace. I don't know if the Empress is kind but has a hard-working heart, or if someone was so audacious as to tamper with the Empress's decree, forcing so many sisters to wait in the snow and ice to care for the Empress."

As Li Shuyao spoke, she quietly pressed her hand against her chest.

Her heart is really disappointing.

How can it be so loud "dong dong dong" like beating a drum at this time?

Be imposing!

Do you know?

Thinking of this, Li Shuyao still plucked up the courage to move a small step out from behind Huipin.

Huipin and the others could hardly hold back the smiles on their faces.

Concubine An picked up a silk handkerchief, covered her lips, then smiled silently and quickly returned to her usual dignified and solemn appearance.

"Is what Lingpin said true?"

Concubine Ling?

Oh, I mean her.

Li Shuyao suddenly came to her senses and waved her hands in panic, "I didn't say that. I just guessed that the Queen wouldn't be so strict if she knew the sisters in the palace came to tend to her."

However, Concubine An ignored her and continued to stare at Nanny Ru coldly.

Rongpin beside her also had a rare bad look on her face. She also had a stern face and looked at Ru Ma without blinking.

Li Shuyao suddenly felt that she understood something.

Soon he formed a united front with Concubine An and the others.

With her hands on her waist, she glared fiercely at Nanny Ru who was standing at the gate of Kunning Palace.

Although Nanny Ru faced the four people's unfriendly looks, she did not show any fear on her face.

"Of course, it was said by the Empress herself. If you ladies don't believe it, you can go in and ask the Empress yourself."

"I just don't know if the ladies dare to go in?"

Huipin and the others didn't expect her to react like this, and they were stunned.

Nanny Ru readily gave up her place in front of the Kunning Palace gate, stretched out her hand as a "please come in" gesture, and then looked at them with a gloating expression.

This made Huipin and the others hesitate.

Could it be that the Queen really said that?

And what about Madam Ru's expectant look? Could it be that the Empress has contracted a contagious disease?

Among the people present, only Li Shuyao remained calm and composed.

After all, she had read the original novel, so she naturally knew that the Queen did not have an infectious disease.

That's cancer.

How can cancer be contagious?

So she walked out from behind Huipin, staring at Ru Ma with her almond-shaped eyes without blinking, "You said it yourself, let us go in and ask the Empress in person what she means, right?"

Ru Ma Ma's expression remained unchanged as she nodded, "That is indeed what the old servant said."

Li Shuyao thought for a moment, "The Queen is still in a coma, right?"

"But it's okay. The Empress will always wake up, right? Sister Huipin, and Sister Anpin and Rongpin, why don't we go in and wait for a while?"

As she spoke, she was about to walk into Kunning Palace.

How could Huipin and her companions dare to let her be the first to take action?

He immediately wanted to reach out and stop her.

But at the moment when Huipin made her move, Anpin noticed that Ru Ma's pupils changed rapidly.

It seems a bit guilty.

So Concubine An stretched out her hand towards Li Shuyao, then turned it around and placed it on Concubine Hui's hand.

Immediately, a smile appeared on his face, and he said to Huipin affectionately: "Lingpin is right. Let's go in and wait for the Queen to wake up."

Rongpin also nodded.

Although Huipin didn't know what they were talking about, she thought that Anpin was always smart, so maybe she noticed some details that she didn't notice?

So after hesitating for a few seconds, he nodded and said, "Of course it should be so."

After saying this, he glanced at the pale-faced maids and concubines outside Kunning Palace, and ordered the palace maids around him to invite them in, so that they could go and greet the Empress together.

Nanny Ru finally couldn't maintain the calm expression on her face.

She looked at the few people in some surprise and doubt. When she saw that Li Shuyao was really walking towards Kunning Palace with a fearless look on her face, the string called "reason" in her mind suddenly broke.

Without thinking, he strode forward, opened his arms, and blocked Li Shuyao's way with his body.

"Kunning Palace is the residence of the Empress. Who would dare to enter without the Empress's summons?"

Li Shuyao was not afraid of her at this moment.

Ru Ma is just a paper tiger that will break with a single poke.

Could anything be more precious than the baby in her belly?

So Li Shuyao simply ignored her and slapped her raised arm down. She stepped lightly into the gate of Kunning Palace and stood inside, waving and shouting to Huipin and the others, "Sister Huipin, come in quickly."

“It’s so warm in there!”

——They spoke as if they came to tend to the Empress just to keep warm.

Huipin and the others followed suit, quickly pushing Ru Ma aside and walking into the main hall of Kunning Palace.

Li Shuyao stood inside, looking around, everything she saw seemed very strange to her.

Concubine An walked straight to the door of the Queen's bedroom without looking around, lifted the curtain and looked inside. She smelled a strong smell of medicine, which made her cough uncontrollably.

"Empress, cough cough, is the Empress recuperating in a room like this?" Concubine An asked the palace maids in Kunning Palace in a stern voice while coughing.

Before the palace maid could answer, Rongpin and Huipin quickly pulled Li Shuyao back and asked her to stand behind them, as if doing so could block the strong smell of medicine from reaching her.

Li Shuyao was pushed directly in front of several maids and maids.

They paused, put their hands on their waists, and knelt down to salute Li Shuyao.

Li Shuyao smiled at them and asked them their names and which palace they lived in in a very gentle manner.

Several attendants and waiters answered one by one.

Li Shuyao thought about it carefully and found that she did not find any roles for them in the original novel, which meant that they were not bad people, so she simply started chatting with them.

She first asked, "When did you guys come here?"

A baby-faced woman named Lin often replied in a low voice: "To answer Concubine Ling, we servants came here the night before yesterday."

"So you guys have been staying here the whole time, without going back to rest?"

"The Empress is in a bad condition. How can we servants dare to go back to rest? Basically, we guard outside during the day, and after nightfall, we follow the concubines to the side hall to guard." The one who answered this time was a young concubine named Zashuli, who had a pretty face and two dimples on her face.

Her name was really difficult to pronounce. Li Shuyao thought about it several times but couldn't call out her name. She could only smile at her again with a little embarrassment.

Then he continued to ask: "How do you eat these days?"

She wanted to know what kind of suffering Qingyao had endured in the past few days, so that she could complain to the emperor about it!

Several maids and servants saw that she wanted to know about the process of tending to the illness, so they answered her questions one by one very carefully, almost accurately describing what to do every quarter of an hour.

The more Li Shuyao listened, the more distressed she felt about Qingyao's experience over the past two days.

No wonder Qingyao kept the news from her.

Is Qingyao afraid that if she gets to know the news and comes to take care of the patient, she will suffer the same hardships as her?

But……

This stupid Qingyao doesn’t even think about the fact that she has a golden baby in her belly!

Even if Nanny tortured others, no one dared to torture her.

Wasn't that what happened just now? Seeing her reach out to hit her arm, Ru Ma didn't even dare to cry out in pain.

Didn't they finally break into the house openly?

He also said that it was the imperial decree issued by the Empress.

Humph, even if the Queen really said these words, so what?

She is becoming arrogant now!

Before the golden baby in her belly was born, even if she wanted to dismantle the Qianqing...

Oh no, the Qianqing Palace still cannot be demolished, replace it with another one.

Even if she wanted to go up to the roof and remove the tiles of Changchun Palace, the emperor would probably not say a word of objection!

On the other side, Concubine An and Concubine Hui had finished interrogating the palace maids in Kunning Palace.

Then he turned around and ordered people to go to the Imperial Hospital to invite all the imperial doctors over. They needed to confirm the queen's condition again.

When she turned around, she saw Li Shuyao still chatting with several maids. Concubine An frowned in surprise and said, "Okay, we don't need you here anymore. Go back to your Changchun Palace and stay well."

Li Shuyao only said half of her words, and she didn't even have time to retract the proud expression on her face.

He was caught off guard when he heard Concubine An's words to drive people away.

She was in disbelief.

ah?

Just throw it away after use?