Pear Garden

In the Pear Garden, palace maids and eunuchs knelt on the ground, and several of them inside the room had bruises on their bodies.

The palace maids and eunuchs kneeling on the ground had their heads bowed as low as possible, fearing that Consort Hui would see them and take her anger out on them.

This Consort Hui is Ma Yuhui, the second young lady of the Earl of Nantong's mansion. Because of her good looks, she was sent to the palace.

They usually act arrogantly and domineeringly, relying on the Nantong Earl's Mansion.

"That vixen, didn't she just give birth to a money-losing brat?"

"Under the guise of a money-losing product, they've made His Majesty visit Futang Palace every day for the past two months."

Even New Year's Eve was spent there.

With a snap, he threw the teacup away again.

"ah--"

A palace maid was hit by a cup thrown by Ma Yuhui in anger, and cried out in pain.

"What are you yelling about, you unlucky thing? Drag her away and beat her to death!"

The young palace maid was dragged out by two eunuchs.

"Your Majesty, I was wrong! Please spare my life!"

"Cover her mouth with your hand."

Hearing the maid being dragged away and her screams of agony as she was being beaten, the kneeling palace servants pressed themselves even lower, fearing they would be next.

"Your Majesty, this servant has a plan!" a bold servant blurted out, revealing his idea.

"Is that so? Then come forward and answer me."

The young eunuch rose and went to Consort Hui's side, whispering a few words in her ear.

"In that case, I'm assigning this task to you. Make sure you do it well and leave no trace."

"Yes, this servant will go immediately."

Watching the young eunuch leave, he finally felt a sense of satisfaction, a sinister smile spreading across his face.

I'd like to see how Your Majesty will keep His Majesty confined to your Futang Palace every day.

Hall of Mental Cultivation

You little rascal, you're sucking your thumb again. Does it smell so good? He held the little girl in one arm, read memorials with the other, and glanced at the little one in his arms every now and then.

There are just too many memorials to read; everyone's brains seem to be made of mush.

Like this

[The magistrate of Qinghe County reports that a notorious womanizer has appeared in Qinghe County, harming many young women from farming families. Qinghe County is short-handed and requests the assistance of ten men from the Dali Temple to help the magistrate capture the womanizer. — Your humble servant, Zhao Feng, Vice Minister of the Dali Temple, grants the magistrate permission to borrow men. I am unaware of Your Majesty's opinion and humbly request Your Majesty's decision.]

"This Zhao Feng truly lives up to his nickname, 'Little Dog Zhao'."

"That old dog Tang is the type to file a report the moment he discovers someone has done something minor, and to relentlessly impeach someone for making a mistake."

"This Zhao dog reports even the smallest things to me. He can clearly handle them himself, but he insists on submitting memorials, causing me trouble."

"In my humble opinion, this Zhao Shaoqing is truly focused on His Majesty's interests, which is why he reports everything to him."

"Waaah—waaah—" the little one in my arms started crying.

"Why are you shouting so loudly? You scared the little princess to tears. Slap her!"

"This servant shouldn't have raised his voice and frightened the little princess. This servant will slap him right now."

"Don't cry, Father has already punished this wicked boy. Don't cry, don't cry."

The little one in his arms paused, looked at his father, blinked, and continued crying.

Qin Jue held the little one in his arms, gently rocking and soothing him, while his eyes glared sharply at Sanhezi.

Sanhezi consciously withdrew from outside the hall.

Okay, don't cry anymore, you bad guy, Father chased you away.

Qin Jue held Xiao Xi'er in his arms and rocked her to soothe her, but it didn't have much effect.

Looking left and right to make sure no one was around, I stood up, walked around the desk, and remembered how the Empress often walked slowly and swayed gently. I started to imitate the Empress's movements.

"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!"

The person in my arms, whose crying had just subsided, started wailing again as soon as they heard the sound.

The tyrant glared angrily at Sanhezi, his eyes seeming to say, "If you don't give me a straight answer, I'll chop off your head."

Sanhezi trembled under the gaze, and, bracing herself against it, stammered as she spoke.

"Your Majesty, the Empress... the Empress... the Empress is probably not going to make it."

Upon hearing this, I looked at the little one in my arms and thought, "Do you sense that something is wrong with your mother, which is why you've been crying? No wonder I can't soothe you no matter what I do."

Holding the little one in his arms, he strode towards Futang Palace with a stern face.

"Explain what happened."

Sanhezi repeated what the palace maid had said.

"This is what happened, Your Majesty. As has been the custom for the past few days, the palace servants brought goat's milk and bird's nest to Futang Palace. Her Majesty the Empress consumed the bird's nest and then tasted a sip of the little princess's goat's milk, after which she began to experience severe abdominal pain."

Upon hearing this, Qin Jue frowned deeply. The little one in his arms cried even harder, and he didn't know why. Feeling heavy-hearted, he quickened his pace.

He knew that the Empress had poison in her body, and the old poison had been suppressed with medication. As long as the medication was continued and there was no further stimulation, the poison would not flare up. He didn't know what had happened this time.

"Greetings, Your Majesty; greetings, Princess."

"Explain what happened."

"Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress has been poisoned. When I tried to detoxify her, I discovered that Her Majesty's body had been very weak since childbirth, and the old poison in her body had been showing signs of flare-up. In addition, the stimulation of the new poison caused the old poison to flare up, and I was at a loss."

Upon hearing this, Qin Jue's heart sank, and he carried the little one into the house.

Upon entering the room, I saw that Consort Li had already arrived.

Xiao Liyan's face was completely pale on the bed. When she saw Qin Jue enter, she even used Xiao Liyun's help to sit up.

She took the little one from her arms and held her close, soothing her.

"Xi'er...cough...don't cry, Xi'er, don't cry...let Mother see...see, Mother...Mother wants to see Xi'er smile."

Hearing her mother's words, Xiao Xi stopped crying. Her eyes were still glistening with tears from her earlier crying, but she blinked her big eyes and gave her mother a sweet smile.

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