Ninth Prince's Mansion

Yinzhen was talking to his wife: "Fourth sister-in-law is seriously ill. Knowing Fourth Brother's personality, the Yong Prince's Mansion will definitely be under martial law. We won't cause any trouble. You pick out some good tonics and send them over. Send a clever person to tell the people around sister-in-law that if there are any rare medicinal materials that are hard to find, just let them know."

"Alas, Fourth Sister-in-law's illness came on so suddenly. I heard that even the imperial physicians at the Prince's residence didn't dare to leave. I prayed for her a blessing for peace and sent it over with her." Ninth Prince's wife and Yihua had always been on good terms.

"Cough cough." Yin Tang couldn't help but cough a few times.

Ninth Prince's wife quickly brought over ginger soup: "My lord, you've forgotten to drink this again these past few days, haven't you? It's snowing and the wind is cold now, your health is the most important thing. I know this soup isn't very palatable, but you can eat some candied fruit to help you feel better."

Yinzhen frowned and drank it all in one gulp, then pushed away the candied fruit: "This is something for women, not for me."

The chief eunuch beside Ninth Prince was peeking around at the door, clearly wanting to see him. Ninth Prince's wife saw this clearly and took the food box she had brought and went out of the study.

She walked to the door and looked back at the quiet room. Ever since the two of them had gone through thick and thin together, Ninth Master's nature of catching cats and dogs and flirting with women had completely changed.

Ninth Prince's wife once secretly suspected that Ninth Prince was... impotent, but this guess was later proven wrong.

Ninth Prince's wife recalled how fragile Ninth Prince had been, coughing incessantly. She felt a pang of sadness. The bright, spirited young man of the past was now a thing of the past. She wondered when he would be able to emerge from the shadows of the past.

She touched her belly, hoping that this new life could pull Ninth Master back from the abyss.

Yinzhen stared blankly at the departing figure of the Ninth Prince's wife for a moment, then asked, "What is it?"

"News has come from the palace that Miss Huo has been exposed."

"Father is indeed getting old. He should have realized it long ago," Yinzhen remarked. "The medicine is almost gone, isn't it?"

"I estimate I can hold out for another seven to ten days."

"Have the arrangements been made?"

“Your Majesty, rest assured, his family has been settled.” Eunuch Chang Tao hesitated for a moment, then continued, “Are you really going to do this?”

"Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back. I can't turn back now," Yinzhen said calmly, then coughed again.

After a long while, Yinzhen finally calmed down and clenched his fists.

Father Emperor, please don't blame your son for being heartless. You let my brother off lightly despite all the outrageous and presumptuous things he did. Now, your son is in this state of being neither human nor ghost, all thanks to you.

******

Ten days passed in calm but turbulent times. When Liang Jiugong once again pressured her to make tea, Huo Tao'er refused.

"I don't have that medicine anymore either."

Emperor Kangxi had been taking extracts of opium for several months. On the first day of withdrawal, he experienced extremely strong symptoms. He barely made it through the morning court session. After returning to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, he began to smash things wildly and beat anyone he saw. Liang Jiugong was not spared either; a shard of porcelain grazed his forehead, leaving a scar.

The imperial physicians all envied Physician Jiang's good luck. Why didn't their horses go crazy? They would rather have broken legs than serve the emperor, who was like a powder keg.

Some imperial physicians had a wicked idea and gave themselves strong laxatives. As a result, Emperor Kangxi, who was suffering from an illness, was completely irrational and directly imprisoned and exiled the person in question, who was squatting in the latrine, along with his entire family.

The imperial physicians were also helpless. Kangxi's dependence on drugs had reached the point of addiction. Either he would rely on his outstanding willpower and physical condition to get through it, or he would have to drink poison to quench his thirst and continue to use this deadly substance to stay sober.

The opium cream sold secretly on the market is not pure enough and may not even work.

This is an unsolvable ending; you either go crazy now or you go crazy later.

Looking at the emperor, whose eyes were bloodshot and who resembled a wild beast, Liang Jiugong had no choice but to choose to go mad later. During this period, he had collected a lot of this medicine, and after careful consideration by the imperial physicians, he gave some to Kangxi.

Sure enough, after a short while, his expression cleared up.

When the imperial physicians came out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, they felt as if they had returned from another world. It was truly a relief that they had survived today.

They dared not show that they knew nothing; in Kangxi's eyes, Physician Liu's attempt to conceal the truth was a crime of deceiving the emperor. Now they could only take it one step at a time. The clever ones began to think about how to send the child away, knowing they would eventually have to pay with their lives for the emperor.

Huo Tao'er was brought in covered in blood; Emperor Kangxi had just ordered her to be imprisoned in the Shenxing Division.

"How do you contact them? Who is the other party?" Kangxi asked, panting heavily.

“This servant was sent in by Ninth Prince. Although he didn’t say it explicitly, he has a waist token from Ninth Prince’s residence. If it weren’t for my sister, I wouldn’t be doing this for Ninth Prince.” Huo Tao’er seemed to have been beaten into submission, answering every question.

"I've only seen him once; he's a somewhat familiar-looking eunuch. Later, we agreed that on the first day of each month, the medicine for that month would be administered in the crevice at the bottom right corner of the fifth artificial hill in the Imperial Garden."

“I went to get it under the pretense of strolling in the garden, and I never saw him again. But I am certain that he is the eunuch from the Hall of Mental Cultivation, who works with Eunuch Liang.”

Upon hearing this, Liang Jiugong immediately knelt down: "This servant is guilty for misjudging people. Why don't I summon all the eunuchs from the Hall of Mental Cultivation and let Consort Huo identify the person?"

"Never mind, you won't find him anyway." Kangxi waved his hand; the little eunuch was probably already gone.

"I believe you have other channels of communication. Write to your master and say that you have discovered that I am drafting a will and that you have seen the name on it. To keep it a secret, you need to meet him." Kangxi came up with a way to catch them red-handed.

Huo Tao'er hesitated for a moment, but still nodded in agreement: "This servant obeys. Please forgive me, Your Majesty. This servant does not wish to go to the Censorate again!"

"Tao'er, choose between the Censorate or the Red Tent in the military camp," Kangxi said coldly.

Huo Tao'er shuddered and then remained silent.

******

On a dark and windy night, Kangxi prepared an inescapable trap and captured the man who had successfully reunited with Huo Tao'er.

He looked unremarkable, an unremarkable person, and was dressed in eunuch's clothes, but it was obvious at a glance that he was a fake eunuch.

When the man was caught red-handed, he was initially panicked, then became extremely angry and shouted at Huo Tao'er, "You wretch, how dare you betray your master?!"

"Who is your master?" Liang Jiugong asked grimly, bringing the man and Huo Tao'er before Kangxi.

In just a few days, Kangxi lost at least five pounds, his cheeks became sunken, and his eyes bulged out, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.

The man was stunned when he saw Kangxi. He kept kowtowing, as if he had been terrified by the emperor's imperial might.

"Who is in the hall?"

"This servant is Shen Ming, the owner of the cosmetics shop, and a retainer of the Ninth Prince." The man's head was buried between his knees, and only his trembling voice could be heard, not his expression.