There was a small garden in Cining Palace, where Song Ying was kneeling, his head and body covered in a thick layer of snow. No one brushed it off for him, and no one held an umbrella for him.

His eyes were closed, and his eyelashes were covered in frost.

Nan Yu was startled to see someone and ran over. Wei Yuanhua and the palace servants quickly followed. The young emperor reached out and brushed the snow off Song Ying's shoulder. Song Ying looked up, not particularly surprised, but her voice was unusually hoarse:

"His Majesty."

Nan Yu felt sorry for him. "Get up and come back with me."

Just then, a powerful voice rang out from behind: "Let's see who dares!"

The Empress Dowager passed by with the help of her personal maid.

Seeing Nan Yu bend down and half-embrace Song Ying's shoulder, trying to help him up, the Empress Dowager's expression grew even colder. She angrily rebuked, "This bewitching woman has bewitched Your Majesty and disrupted the order of our court! Guards! Seize her!"

There was a separate group of guards in the Empress Dowager's palace who had been on standby for the past few days. With a command, they quickly subdued Song Ying and avoided Nan Yu.

Song Ying had been frozen for several days and had not eaten or drunk anything.

His arms were pinned down, and his already pale lips were completely devoid of color. He was also dizzy and weak. Nan Yu went over to help him, and the guards dared not refuse.

Song Ying staggered, suddenly felt a sweet taste in her throat, and spat out bright red liquid onto the snow, staining the area red. Nan Yu was startled, almost bursting into tears, and cried out:

"Imperial Physician! Go and fetch the Imperial Physician for me!"

She cupped the man's face in her hands, her fingertips trembling as she wiped the blood from his lips. Her fingertips were stained with blood, but she showed no disgust; she was just worried and on the verge of tears.

Empress Dowager: "Emperor!"

Nan Yu roared, "So what if I like him! I won't go to the harem! If Song Ying gets into trouble, none of you will escape!" His eyes were filled with a scarlet light.

The guards were so frightened that they knelt down, and the other palace maids and eunuchs quickly followed suit.

The Empress Dowager's face turned green, and she fainted from lack of breath.

Nan Yu tensed for a moment and instinctively reached out, but the Empress Dowager was quickly surrounded. Song Ying clutched her chest, her face pale, and said, "Your Majesty, please don't anger the Empress Dowager. I will kneel for a few days and not cough..."

Blood gushed out again, staining Nan Yu's hands and frightening the young emperor to tears. Song Ying choked on blood, turned her head away, coughed several times, and then gasped for breath, insisting:

"I am not concerned, but the safety of the Empress Dowager is of utmost importance."

"Your Majesty..."

He fainted before he could even finish shouting.

The imperial physician also arrived, and Nan Yu held Song Ying and cried in the snow.

The servants felt that their death was imminent, so they knelt on the ground, not daring to raise their heads or make a sound.

Song Ying was taken back to the Palace of Eternal Life.

The Empress Dowager is extremely agitated and needs to rest.

Nan Yu stayed by the bedside, holding Song Ying's hand, sometimes touching her forehead to check her temperature, sometimes touching her cheek, and occasionally checking her breathing.

Dozens of imperial physicians consulted on the case.

They couldn't find the cause of Song Ying's vomiting blood.

But his body was indeed frostbitten, which could only be attributed to kneeling in the snow for too long.

When the concubine heard about what happened at Cining Palace, she envied Song Ying for receiving the Emperor's favor, but also resented the honor he received.

When jealousy cloudes one's judgment, people often do things that come at a price.

Nan Yu also slept with Song Ying at night, holding her tightly.

I feel sorry for him, kneeling in the snow for two days while he was in a daze.

As night deepened, the candles went out and the curtains were drawn.

The space was plunged into darkness, so dark that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. The person who should have been unconscious slightly curled his lips, but quickly suppressed it.

Fortunately, the young emperor only looked at him, otherwise who knows what would have happened to him. Since Nan Yu hadn't taken any action, Song Ying had to give him a push. Dissolving the harem was probably impossible, but getting rid of those male favorites was still a possibility.

*

“At this time, Lord Song is enjoying the Emperor’s favor. For you to ask for this medicine is tantamount to courting death,” the Chief Minister said worriedly.

The concubine's expression turned cold: "What are you babbling about? Are you going to give it to me or not?"

"Ziyou, I've already hurt you once, I can't hurt you a second time."

"If you don't give it to me, I'll find another way!"

The head of the academy felt deeply indebted to the concubine. He had said that he would help Ziyou with whatever he wanted to do, and that it was too risky for the concubine to seek help from others. So he could only grit his teeth and say:

"This can't be made too obvious. You'd better find a scapegoat."

"I know what I'm doing."

*

Two days later.

The palace maid brought Song Ying some medicine, which he drank directly the first two times.

This time, he paused slightly in the medicine bowl, noticing the unusual smell. He glanced at it, a faint, ambiguous smile playing on his lips.

When you're sleepy, I'll bring you a pillow.

He held the bowl and drank it all in one gulp.

After drinking the herbal medicine for several days, Song Ying's spirits did not improve; instead, she became increasingly weak. The head of the academy took Song Ying's pulse and found it to be weak and floating, indicating that her body was already on the verge of collapse.

But how could he possibly say that?

They used other reasons to cover up their misconceptions and incidentally misled the other imperial physicians.

Song Ying always drank it with a smile.

Several more days passed, and Nan Yu's cold was cured, but Song Ying was still sickly. The imperial physicians were puzzled. She had taken medicine and rested for so many days, so why was she still not better?

Before the New Year, the guards that Song Ying sent out returned covered in wounds.

Song Yingxin immediately sank.

But he didn't expect that what would weigh him down even more was yet to come.

It is a fact that Persia rebelled and colluded with Yasukuni.

The Persian emperor appointed his fourth son as crown prince.

Empress Song Ying died because of Consort Zhaoxian. The Persian king hated Consort Zhaoxian intensely. After the empress died, the consort was banished to the cold palace, and the Persian king ignored her son.

If it weren't for the circumstances forcing them to leave Persia, Song Yingcai would have been the first heir.

Now, the fourth prince has suddenly been made crown prince.

Song Ying found it hard to accept.

He can choose not to sit in that position, but this person absolutely cannot be the fourth!

Guard: "I've also learned something else, but..."

Song Ying clenched her fist to suppress a cough, her eyes icy cold. "Speak!"

The guard knelt down. "The Fourth Prince has always been a candidate favored by the King." He paused, then added, "From birth."

"The reason why the King ignores Consort Zhaoxian and her son is because... he's protecting them." The guards didn't dare to look up at how ugly their master's face looked.

"The king has always been wary of the queen and the Yinglan family. With the Jing Kingdom's intervention and your arrival in Chaoyu, the king has made the fourth prince the crown prince, and Consort Zhaoxian has recently been made empress. The Yinglan family... is all in the dungeon."

Yinglan is from the same clan as Song Ying's grandfather.

Despite his illustrious military exploits, he ended up as a prisoner.

Song Ying's coughing intensified, and after stopping, she sneered:

"So they planned to use me as a stepping stone from the very beginning?"

Thinking of how she pleaded for the young emperor for Persia, the two months of mental and physical torment she endured, and how she had been used by her own father for over twenty years without noticing a single flaw, Song Ying smiled.

The Persian king deliberately created the illusion that he doted on Song Ying, so that he would attract all the attention.

As long as Yinglan remains in power, Song Ying will forever be 'favored'.

Now……

His laughter grew increasingly manic, and overwhelmed by rage, he vomited blood and fainted.

The imperial physicians rushed over, carrying their medical kits.

Perhaps due to his emotional outburst, the imperial physician found his pulse to be abnormal. After careful examination and discussion, it was determined that Song Shijun had been poisoned.