Chapter 626 Empress Dowager Cheng, who is unworthy of speaking human language

The midwife trembled with fear, "Her Majesty has stopped breathing; she can't give birth without pushing!"

Jiang Fenghua then checked their pulses and necks. When she touched Pan Nianru, her heart skipped a beat. She was really dead.

She checked Zhang Jingjing's pulse again; it was still beating. She pinched her philtrum and shouted at her, "Open your eyes and look! If you want to die, give birth to your child first..."

The palace maid, Zhang Jingjing's trusted servant, had swollen eyes from crying. "Your Highness, please wake up! Didn't you say you wanted to go back to Yuzhou? You can go home now that you're awake. I'll go back with you..."

Only then did Jiang Fenghua realize that she was Zhang Jingjing, the woman Wang Mama had mentioned, who had entered the palace to become the emperor's concubine for the sake of the people of Yuzhou.

Granny Wang told her everything. It turned out that she was Zhang Jingjing, the concubine she personally selected for Xie Shang to enter the palace. How could she be dying?

Jiang Fenghua grasped her hand and called her name. Zhang Jingjing's eyelids fluttered, and when she opened them, she saw Jiang Fenghua clearly and a slight smile appeared on her lips. "Your Majesty, you're back?"

“Zhang Jingjing, hang in there. As long as you give birth to the baby, you will live. Believe me, you can live. I have given birth to three children. Giving birth is not scary at all. Once you get through this, you will win.”

"Your Majesty, please don't comfort me. My child and I don't belong here. I want to take him back to Yuzhou. Your Majesty, I have one last request: please send me back..."

The person I love isn't the Emperor, but that day he was drunk and mistook me for the Empress. I've kept these thoughts to myself for a long time, and I've always wanted to explain to her, but she won't see me.

Jiang Fenghua had no recollection of any of what she said. How could she not see her? Perhaps it was because she had left the palace.

Jiang Fenghua said, "I haven't stopped seeing you. Don't overthink it. The Emperor must like you. You're so brave and kind; you're the kind of woman people like. Just talk less and try harder to give birth to the child." That was all she could do to comfort her.

"If the child can live, please, Your Majesty, save him. If neither of us can live, please, Your Majesty, let him go with me so that I can protect him on the road to the Yellow Springs." Zhang Jingjing had used up all her strength to say these words.

“Don’t talk nonsense, you all survived,” Jiang Fenghua said.

The midwife said, "Now the only thing I can do is cut open the wound with scissors... and forcibly deliver the baby. If we delay any longer, neither of them will survive. With my method, the baby will at least have a chance of survival."

The maidservant pleaded, "Your Majesty, please save Consort Jing and save her! His Majesty already has so many heirs."

"The mother is in grave danger," the midwife cried out urgently. "The empress's baby is already in an abnormal position, and the pregnancy has been disturbed. The cervix is ​​also dilating slowly. In my experience, if we don't save the baby, neither the mother nor the baby will survive."

Jiang Fenghua never imagined that she would one day face such a life-or-death choice. She shouted outside, "Has Xie Shang arrived? Go and fetch him! His concubines are giving birth to his children. Go and fetch the Emperor!"

She and Granny Wang sent Aoxue to find the Emperor as soon as they arrived from Kunning Palace, but no one has come after so long.

He was the one who did it, so why should a woman bear all the pain for him? What exactly happened at this tea party? How did a perfectly healthy person fall like that?

The midwife dared not easily use scissors. With both empresses giving birth at the same time, and such a serious incident occurring, they could not expect to survive. However, the arrival of the Empress gave them hope again. If they could save the imperial heir, there might still be a chance of survival.

Midwives also have their own little schemes. They know that the imperial heir is more important than the adults. If they can protect the imperial heir, the Empress Dowager and the Grand Empress Dowager will have no reason to kill them. But if the imperial heir dies, they will all be buried with him.

Jiang Fenghua was in great agony, and said coldly, "Save the adult."

Upon hearing this, the midwife was stunned. "Your Majesty."

“As long as the child is delivered, the adult can live, right?” Jiang Fenghua said. “If Consort Jing can be saved, I will forgive you all.”

"Anyone who dares to harm the imperial heir, I will exterminate their entire family." Empress Dowager Cheng, having overheard Jiang Fenghua's conversation with the midwife, disregarded everything else. "Jiang Fenghua, if you dare to plot against the imperial heir, I will not spare you."

She then said to the midwife, "Save the children! If you have any way to rescue both imperial heirs, I will reward you handsomely."

"Jiang Fenghua, you have given birth to the most children in the palace. Are you afraid that the other concubines will give birth to imperial heirs and pose a threat to your children? Heaven cherishes life, how can your heart be so vicious as to want to kill the imperial heirs?"

Jiang Fenghua's eyes flashed with a cold light, "If I were to take a pair of scissors and cut off the Empress Dowager's tongue, would she no longer have such a tongue? The Emperor said that the Empress Dowager is brainless, and it seems she really is!"

"What did you say?" Empress Dowager Cheng said angrily, "No matter how much the Emperor dotes on you, I am still the Empress Dowager. How dare you be so insolent..."

Jiang Fenghua didn't stand on ceremony and pushed her out the door. "Your Majesty, your mouth is only fit to eat shit, not to speak human language. Get out."

Empress Dowager Cheng was so angry that her head throbbed. "You..."

Zhang Jingjing said to the maid, "Save the child first. Let the midwife save the child. I know my own body..."

The midwife had no other choice but to stuff a wad of cloth into Zhang Jingjing's mouth. "Your Majesty, please bear with it. This humble woman will do her best to save Your Majesty and the imperial heir."

The midwife took a pair of scissors and made a few cuts in her lower body, directly delivering the baby. The baby's body had already turned purple. After cutting the umbilical cord, the midwife held the baby in front of Zhang Jingjing, saying, "Your Highness, it's a little princess."

The midwife patted the baby's bottom, and the baby whimpered and cried a couple of times.

Jiang Fenghua's gaze wasn't on the child, but on Zhang Jingjing's blood that was pooling on the ground. Her eyes instantly turned red. The weather was so cold that the blood seemed to freeze as soon as it flowed out, which frightened her so much that her body trembled, and her teeth and lips couldn't help but quiver.

Zhang Jingjing's eyes weren't fixed on the child, but rather on Jiang Fenghua. A faint smile suddenly appeared on her lips, and she whispered, "Your Majesty..."

Tears streamed down Jiang Fenghua's face as she murmured, "Zhang Jingjing."

She wasn't sure if they were friends, but looking at Zhang Jingjing's closed eyes, her heart ached as if it were being torn apart.

Why is this happening? If she had come with them to the Empress Dowager's tea banquet today, would they all be alive?

Granny Wang said she was very kind to the concubines in the harem, never mistreating them, and never getting jealous over their rivalry for the emperor's favor. Xie Shang made them all hide in their palaces and not allow them to come out, just to prevent her from getting jealous and angry. How could it all be because of her?

Pan Nianru's child was never born; the baby suffocated to death.

Jiang Fenghua was shivering with cold. Why was this happening? What had happened?

At this moment, several imperial physicians arrived carrying medicine chests. Jiang Fenghua heard the physicians bowing and greeting the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager.

She strode out, her eyes blazing with fury, demanding, "Why are you only arriving now? How long does it take to get from the Imperial Hospital to Shou Kang Palace?"