So the person she saved that day wasn't the Prince of Qi, but the Emperor!?
It was Emperor Guangqi himself.
Song Xizhi stared wide-eyed in the direction of the emperor, trying to process this earth-shattering news. The current situation truly stunned her.
Song Juncai, who was kneeling on the ground at this moment, was also startled by the emperor's sudden words.
He cautiously raised his head, craning his neck to observe Emperor Guangqi's expression, and tried hard to guess the meaning behind the emperor's words.
Finally, Song Juncai swallowed hard, thinking he had guessed the meaning behind the emperor's words, and replied, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. It is my dereliction of duty as a father that has allowed my daughter to be so unruly and commit such a terrible disaster!"
"She was caught red-handed by the ladies-in-waiting during a late-night rendezvous with her lover. There were not only witnesses but also physical evidence..."
As Song Juncai spoke, tears streamed down his face, making him look like a worried old father: "It's all because I failed to discipline him properly. I beg Your Majesty to punish me leniently."
After he finished speaking with tears streaming down his face, the emperor did not reply, and an eerie silence fell over the room.
Consort Liang carefully observed Emperor Guangqi's expression and, seeing that his expression was dark and unclear, added, "This is why Lord Zhao invited His Majesty here late at night."
"Madam He's affair is already well-documented and irrefutable, but she tries to deny it by claiming that she was treating Princess Qi. However, Princess Qi never came to Heyan Mountain, which proves that Madam He is indeed promiscuous and went to meet her lover at night."
"That adulterer just now uttered some foul language. Lord He is still lying unconscious in bed, yet Madam He is so promiscuous. This adulterer and his wife should be tied up and drowned together to set an example!"
Consort Liang's voice was heavy and sorrowful, conveying a sense of concern for the country and its people, deep grief, and concern for He Jingyan.
Emperor Guangqi listened in silence, then suddenly took a deep breath and calmly said to Consort Liang, "You say Doctor Song is an adulterer? Then I am the adulterer?"
The emperor's sudden words silenced the entire room for a moment. Everyone stared wide-eyed, thinking they had misheard.
Only Eunuch Shen uttered an exclamation of "Oh dear!" and began gesturing wildly in his anxiety: "Your Majesty! No! No! What are you saying?"
"That night, Doctor Song treated me. If there's anything to it, it's that I'm the adulterer! It has absolutely nothing to do with you!"
Everyone was stunned by Eunuch Shen's words, completely dumbfounded and in a daze.
Your Majesty and Eunuch Shen, what did you mean by what you just said?
Why do they seem to understand nothing at all?
In the crowd, Consort Zhen's eyes subtly shifted before turning to Song Xizhi's direction, where she saw her calm face.
Consort Liang pondered Emperor Guangqi's words, her mind racing, and finally asked, still quite confused, "Your Majesty, what do you mean by that?"
Emperor Guangqi glanced at her, slowly rose from the soft couch, his majestic gaze sweeping over everyone present, and then spoke:
“The person Song Xizhi treated that night was Eunuch Shen. I was also present at the time, so Song Xizhi is not making excuses. The witness she wants to ask is not Prince Qi, but me!”
The emperor's voice was booming, but his words sent chills down everyone's spines, and their spirits plummeted to rock bottom in an instant.
But Emperor Guangqi continued, "I couldn't sleep at night, so I took Eunuch Shen out for a walk, but little Shen accidentally fell off a cliff and got injured."
“It just so happens that this place is close to Doctor Song’s courtyard, so I found Song Xizhi and asked her to treat Eunuch Shen. I did not want my identity to be exposed, so I lied and said I was the Prince of Qi.”
"For the next few days, Song Xizhi treated Eunuch Shen every night."
The scene fell silent instantly; everyone was terrified, heads bowed, holding their breath.
After the emperor finished speaking, he suddenly paused, his gaze fixed on Consort Liang: "If doctors are accused of adultery when they go out to treat patients, then no doctor in the world will need to treat patients anymore; all doctors should be drowned in ponds!"
Emperor Guangqi's words caused everyone present to change their expressions drastically, and Consort Liang hurriedly knelt down in front of the emperor.
Song Xizhi actually secretly got to know His Majesty! He even saved Eunuch Shen, who was by His Majesty's side!
With His Majesty as her witness now, everything that had just happened has become a ridiculous joke.
Everything is ruined! Song Xizhi is safe and sound, and he's going to have the last laugh!
Consort Liang clenched her fists, breathing heavily. She felt an unprecedented sense of crisis, and cold sweat broke out on her back. She could only say, word by word, "Your Majesty, please calm down!"
Everyone joined Consort Liang in shouting, "Your Majesty, please calm down!"
Emperor Guangqi sneered, "Calm down? How can I calm down?"
"If I hadn't come today, a perfectly good person would have been wrongly accused!"
His gaze swept over the eunuch, Madam Zhao, and the scattered undergarments, then he said coldly, "Since the matter is false, what about the witnesses? And what about the adulterer?"
"You've stirred up so much trouble for such a grand ceremony! You're really something!"
The emperor's thunderous wrath caused everyone present to kneel on the ground, heads bowed low, forming a dark, oppressive mass.
As Song Xizhi felt those around her kneeling down, she was about to follow suit when the emperor called her up: "Song Xizhi! You speak!"
"Tell me what exactly happened today? You clearly didn't do it, so who is deliberately framing you?"
Song Xizhi innocently raised his head, blinked his eyes, and then recounted in detail what had happened that day.
Consort Liang's instigation, Zhao Qianlan's embellishment, Song Ruoan's clumsy acting, the eunuch's lewd words, and Madam Zhao's sudden arrival...
Song Xizhi vividly portrayed Song Juncai's disappointed expression.
No one can escape.
The eunuch's foul language echoed in his ears again, and even the emperor's lips twitched involuntarily when he heard it all.
Madam Zhao knelt on the ground in a daze, the Emperor's booming voice still echoing in her ears. Her mind was blank, and her eyes were filled with confusion and bewilderment.
She looked up in Zhao Qingshu's direction, but all she saw was his thin, frail back.
What happened?
What exactly happened?
Since there was no adulterer and Song Xizhi went out every night to treat His Majesty, why did her husband lie to her and say that Song Xizhi was a promiscuous woman?
Her husband even made her say that in front of everyone, because Song Xizhi must have done it before...
Even His Majesty is willing to believe Song Xizhi, saying she is a doctor and a good person... Would His Majesty lie?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
