The old lady was so angry that she fell ill. Nanny Cui was still kneeling in Fengqiyuan, almost half dead.
Yuan Zhao acted as if nothing had happened. Fengqiyuan still told the outside world that the lady was still recuperating and summoned the court physician.
"Madam suffered a loss during childbirth and is experiencing heart palpitations and fright. It's freezing outside, which is why she's feeling unwell."
The court physician treated her as usual and prescribed some soothing and nourishing medicine.
"Madam, remember to drink this medicine every night before going to bed so that you can recover."
Yuan Zhao nodded, and then asked Gan Tang to send the court doctor out.
After a while, Gan Tang came back and said to her, "Your Highness, the court physician went to Songyan Hall after leaving Fengqiyuan."
Yuan Zhao rubbed his brows and looked at the herbs left by the court doctor: "Is the half bowl of medicine I didn't finish the other day still there?"
"I kept it. I didn't throw it away as your highness ordered."
Yuan Zhao thought for a moment, then said, "I remember my brother sent me a letter a few years ago, saying that Director Zhang of the Imperial Hospital was also from Yangzhou and had retired and returned home. Take my token, the bowl of medicine, and these herbs and show them to Director Zhang."
Speaking of his brother, Yuan Zhao felt mixed emotions.
The current crown prince Yuan Cheng is her biological brother from the same mother. He has taken good care of her since she was a child. After their mother passed away, the two siblings depended on each other for survival.
At that time, the emperor suddenly arranged a marriage between Yuan Zhao and Wei Shaoqing. The eldest prince Yuan Cheng, who was not yet the crown prince, contradicted the emperor and made him unhappy.
At that time, rumors spread throughout the palace that Yuan Cheng was on good terms with Huo Yan, the son of Marquis of Changping.
The Huo family is a family of military generals with great influence in the army. The eldest prince wants his younger sister to marry into the Huo family, so he wins over the Huo family.
It was too common for royal families to intrigue and fight for power, and even Yuan Zhao was skeptical about this statement.
But her father insisted on granting the marriage, and at the beginning of her marriage to Wei Shaoqing, her brother often tried to make trouble for Wei Shaoqing in the court.
During that period, Wei Shaoqing often acted aggrieved when he returned home and said nothing else, so Yuan Zhao went out to find out.
Because of this, she had a big fight with her brother.
This was also the important reason why Yuan Zhao was willing to support Wei Shaoqing when he asked to be exiled to Yangzhou.
Even though she was born into a royal family, had been pampered since childhood, and was loved by her father and brothers, she did not want him to be targeted in the capital city where there were royal relatives everywhere, so she wanted to come to Yangzhou with him and live a quiet life with her family.
At that time, both the brother and sister were strong-willed. After a big quarrel, they fell into a cold war. When Yuan Zhao left the capital, he never met Yuan Cheng again.
But in the past ten years, even though Yuan Zhao had never returned to the capital, every year at the end of the year, boatloads of rewards were sent from the capital to Yangzhou.
Although it was in the name of his father, Yuan Zhao could tell that it was most likely purchased by his elder brother.
Occasionally, he would bring some letters, but they were just a few words:
The vassal states paid tribute with the finest cloth, spices and various small items, saying that they were the ones that no one wanted and sent them over.
After he was enthroned as the crown prince, he distributed rewards to renovate the princess's mansion in the capital, and also ordered people to renovate the Wei Mansion in Yangzhou.
She was not in good health after giving birth, so the head of the Imperial Medical Bureau retired and returned home.
…
With all these things going on, how could Yuan Zhao not know how his brother treated him.
If he really regarded himself as a pawn in the fight to seize the throne, he would not have missed her so much even after she got married, had children and came to Yangzhou.
However, over the years, she has been in poor health, and several of her children have met with accidents one after another. She has been exhausted and her connection with the capital has become increasingly distant.
Now that even her own partner has betrayed her, she realizes that she cannot trust anyone else in the mansion, and the people she can use are actually those planned for her by her brother over the years.
Thinking of this, Yuan Zhao called Biyun in again: "Take a few capable people with you to count my private treasury, as well as the rewards sent from the capital over the years, including the tribute from the fiefdom. Count them one by one."
The old lady was old after all, and she was frightened by what happened yesterday.
The capable nanny beside her was detained in Fengqiyuan again, and there was no one to take care of the household affairs. Even if Wei Shaoqing did not give her the power to manage the household, she had a way to find out the situation in the mansion.
There is a dense net woven around me, and I have to clear it away bit by bit.
Yuan Zhao gently patted Yuan Zhizhi in his arms. Seeing that the heavy snow outside had not stopped, he said with some worry: "I wonder where Qi Yu is now?"
Yuan Qiyu is her third child. She accidentally got lost during the Lantern Festival two years ago and has never been found since.
He is about five years old now. Although arrest warrants have been issued everywhere, there is still no news.
[Qi Yu? Sanda Guo?] Yuan Zhizhi bit her pacifier, her big, sparkling eyes wide open.
Hearing his daughter's voice again, Yuan Zhao immediately pricked up his ears for fear of missing anything.
[San Guoguo was sold to the countryside of Yangzhou by his father's mistress! He's sleeping in a pigpen and eating pig food!]
Yuan Zhao's hand trembled and he almost spilled the scalding tea on the table.
Wasn't her prayer jade lost? Was it actually sold by that bitch?
[San Guoguo is so pitiful. He was born around the same time as Wei Jiaojiao, but he was handsome, smart and well-behaved. His mistress and Wei Jiaojiao were unhappy about this, jealous that his father stayed at home for too long, so they sold San Guoguo to the countryside...]
[Not only did I torture Third Brother, I also made Mother miserable! Then I'll take advantage of this opportunity to drug Mother and kill three birds with one stone!]
Just because Wei Jiaojiao felt that San Guoguo had taken away her father's affection, she treated him harshly... Woohoo, I wonder what kind of suffering Zhizhi's San Guoguo must be going through right now...
Yuan Zhao's heart felt like it was being cut by a knife, and his lips were trembling.
Ever since Qi Yu went missing, she had been in a daze for a while, and she asked Wei Shaoqing to send people out to look for her like a madman.
Wei Shaoqing coaxed her verbally, but secretly the court doctor poisoned her. The culprit of all this turned out to be his concubine and illegitimate daughter?
Now their family is happy, but her Qi Yu is still suffering somewhere.
"Someone come!"
Yuan Zhao wanted to go out and find someone to get her Qi Yu back immediately.
But Yuan Zhizhi's next words brought her back to her senses:
[The Black Cliff Village where San Guoguo is staying is very closed. The people who abused San Guoguo are Bai Ruyue's relatives. We can't let the news leak out~]
"Your Highness, do you have any instructions?" Gan Tang and Biyun went out to do something, and another maid came in from outside and asked.
Hearing Zhizhi's words, Yuan Zhao's hand stopped in mid-air.
If she sent people out to look for him now, firstly, she had no one to use, and secondly, it would definitely alert Wei Shaoqing and Bai Ruyue.
If there is no foolproof plan, once the enemy is alerted, Qi Yu’s life may be in danger.
She couldn't take the risk.
"It's okay, make me another pot of tea."
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