Chapter 373 Everyone Has Their Own Thoughts

Shortly after Bai Wutong left.

The concubines who had gathered together all had their own thoughts and hurried back to their own palaces.

The New Year's Eve should have been a time for family celebration with lights and decorations, but due to this sudden incident, the festive atmosphere disappeared in an instant and no one dared to celebrate.

The palace servants took down all the decorations in the palace that symbolized the New Year's joy overnight.

For a moment, the magnificent palace lost its festive attire and looked exceptionally deserted.

On the surface, the harem seems calm, but in fact, everyone's heart is like a turbulent wave, and they are in a panic.

Jin Weige's inner fear was the strongest.

She knew better than anyone that she was the one who had offended Bai Wutong the most in the harem!

If anything happens to the emperor, Bai Wutong will be a thorn in his side and will surely suffer a miserable end.

"What should I do?" She paced back and forth in the bedroom, muttering to herself, "It's impossible. The emperor is in his prime and in good health. How could anything serious happen to him? Besides, the object that fell down was at most a decoration. It shouldn't kill anyone... Maybe in a day or two, the emperor will be safe!"

Jin Weige comforted herself. She usually did not believe in ghosts or gods, but at this moment she clasped her hands together devoutly, closed her eyes, and prayed in a low voice.

"Oh God, please protect the emperor and make him safe and sound, and recover as soon as possible!"

After she finished speaking, she paused again and lowered her voice, "Please bless me to escape this disaster..."

At the same time, people in other palaces were also in panic.

The fear of those concubines who were of low status and had never been favored by the emperor reached its peak.

Concubine Wang was restless in the palace, pacing back and forth, anxiously asking, "If something really happens to the emperor, will we, the concubines who have not been favored by the emperor, be sent out of the palace?"

The maidservant beside her looked a little unhappy after hearing this. After hesitating for a moment, she said cautiously, "Your Majesty, this is not necessarily true... According to the previous rules, after the emperor passed away, some concubines had to guard the imperial mausoleum and live a poor and lonely life. Some... would even be asked to be buried with him!"

The maid's voice became smaller and smaller, as if saying these words would bring bad luck.

In this strictly hierarchical harem, most of the high-ranking and powerful concubines were able to keep their lives and continue living in the palace, unless the emperor personally ordered them to be buried with the emperor.

But the situation was completely different for those concubines of lower positions. They were like duckweed in the wind, with their fate completely out of their control. At any time they might face the tragic end of being sent to guard the imperial mausoleum, or even being forced to be buried with the emperor!

Judging from the current situation in the palace, Bai Wutong, the imperial concubine who gave birth to a prince and an eldest princess, will definitely live a good life.

Once the prince successfully ascends the throne, she will naturally be promoted to empress dowager.

By then, the entire harem will be under her control, and she will have the power of life and death at her fingertips!

If she was dissatisfied with any concubine, she could send her to guard the imperial mausoleum with just a flick of her finger, or even order her to be buried with the emperor. Others could only be angry but not say anything!

Lady Wang still feels frightened when she recalls all the ways she had tried to deal with Bai Wutong.

Fortunately, her methods were not sophisticated enough and did not attract the attention of others, which made her secretly relieved. However, she could not help feeling uneasy, always worrying that she would be discovered one day.

If she had known this would happen, she would have done nothing!

Duan Chunrou was in a different mood.

Everyone knew that she and Bai Wutong had a deep friendship, and because of that, she was less worried.

Even if the misfortune of being buried with the emperor or guarding the imperial tomb really befell her, she was certain that she would not be the unlucky person.

However, when she thought about having to spend the rest of her life alone in this cold harem, and that the brief pleasures she had once enjoyed from being favored by the emperor had now become distant memories, and that she would never be able to have her own children, she felt a pang of bitterness in her heart...

Concubine De and Concubine Hui were also glad that they had made good friends with Bai Wutong.

De Fei coughed twice. She had not recovered from the cold yet, and her voice was a little weak. "The emperor should be fine, right? This happened too suddenly. I still feel like it was a nightmare. It's not real. The emperor holds great power and is wise and brave. He even hired a miracle doctor to take care of his body. It stands to reason that if he takes good care of himself, he can live for a few more decades. Who would have thought that something like this would happen on New Year's Eve..."

When Concubine Hui heard this, she thought of her brother who had passed away young, and her expression was gloomy. "Do you still remember my brother? He was still alive and kicking the day before, and drowned in the pond the next day. Life is unpredictable!"

The two fell silent.

…

After returning to Tishun Hall, Bai Wutong tidied himself up a bit and then hurried to Yongshou Palace.

She claimed that she went to the Buddhist temple to pray for the emperor, but her real purpose was to meet the empress dowager.

"Your Highness, what do you think is going on? I feel like there are a lot of doubts about this."

The Queen Mother looked solemn and nodded slightly, "There must be something fishy about this. I mentioned to you before that the Emperor was preparing for a big event, but I didn't know what it was. Now it seems that this is probably it! Although I didn't raise the Emperor myself, I have lived with him for many years and I know that he is an extremely cautious person. How could he sit in such a dangerous place without any precautions? And he deliberately sent you away today, there must be something wrong!"

Bai Wutong's heart trembled, as the Queen Mother's idea coincided with hers.

She became more and more certain that this was most likely a play directed and acted by Zhang Chengyan himself!

In this way, the scene was quickly cleaned up after the incident, and the disappeared evidence seemed to have an explanation.

Just as I was thinking about it, a servant came in hurriedly to report, "Your Majesty, Eunuch Wang Decai is conducting a massive search in the palace, and the entire palace is in an uproar. The place where the emperor had the accident was surrounded by guards, and all the palace maids and eunuchs involved were summoned. It was a terrifying scene."

Bai Wutong thought for a moment and stood up. "Your Highness, I will go over to take a look at the situation first. If there is any need, I will probably have to take charge of the situation."

The Queen Mother warned with concern, "Remember, don't act rashly. No matter what you have in mind, suppress it first, unless you are absolutely sure, understand?"