After a long pause, Zhang Zhiyuan still seemed undecided, saying only, "This matter is of great importance, and I need to think about it some more."
Even now, he still seemed hesitant. Seeing this, Wang didn't know what else to say, so she sighed softly.
After a while, Zhang Zhiyuan seemed to remember something, suddenly put down the spoon in his hand, looked at Wang's face, and said, "By the way, when I took the pulse of Princess Qin, I found that she was actually pregnant!"
"What?! Princess Qin...she's pregnant?!"
Clearly, Wang was also stunned by the news.
But she felt both happy and scared.
For a moment, the room fell silent.
When Wang came to her senses, she suddenly reached out and tightly grasped Zhang Zhiyuan's hand, saying, "Husband, you must protect that child. In doing so, you will have done the greatest favor for the Prince of Qin!" Zhang Zhiyuan thought for a moment. It wasn't that he really wanted to help Xuanyuan Han; he just didn't want him to die. After all, the Prince of Qin was truly more concerned about the people's suffering than Emperor Jing and was deeply loved by the people.
If the people lose him, they will surely suffer even more and be in even greater misery.
So he nodded and said, "Well... even if you hadn't said anything, I would have done it anyway. After all, the child is innocent."
After hearing his words, Wang finally felt somewhat relieved.
She muttered to herself, utterly perplexed, "What does the Emperor intend to do to the Princess Consort? Why did he bring her into the palace? Although the Princess Consort has regained her appearance, even if no one recognizes her as the Princess Consort of Qin, she served in the palace for more than just a day or two before her marriage, so she must know many of the palace's masters. If she wakes up and sees the Emperor imprisoning her, and insists on returning to the Prince's residence, wouldn't that expose her identity?"
Zhang Zhiyuan said meaningfully, "The Emperor is not fond of women. Why is that? His will is unpredictable! His will is unpredictable! What is meant to be will be. Now we can only leave everything to fate."
"I really hope that when she wakes up, Her Highness the Princess will forget that she is a princess. That would be better for her and the child in her womb..."
As she spoke, Madam Wang slowly clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and murmured, "Amitabha, may the Bodhisattva bless the Princess Consort to wake up soon. If she continues to remain unconscious like this, I'm afraid the child in her womb will be in danger."
At this point, the couple fell into deep thought.
The Western Qin Imperial Palace.
The palace closest to Emperor Jing's sleeping quarters is Changning Palace.
As you enter the gates of Changning Palace, you'll find a huge ginkgo tree and a persimmon tree in the courtyard. Every autumn is the most beautiful time to visit Changning Palace.
Anyone passing by will be drawn to the vast expanse of yellow that rises above the palace walls.
The golden fan-shaped leaves reflected the palace gates, the red walls, and the drizzling sky.
In stark contrast to the fiery red ginkgo leaves is the persimmon tree in the corner of the yard.
Deep within the palace gardens, it bears abundant fruit and stands silently.
No matter how dark or how long the night, it will eventually pass.
It felt like a very long dream, yet it felt incredibly real.
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking.
Inside the sleeping quarters of Changning Palace, several white gauze curtains hung there, gently fluttering in the summer breeze that wafted through the window lattices, filling the room with the fresh scents of flowers and grass from the courtyard.
On a large, carved wooden couch, Yi Shangyun, who was fast asleep, suddenly rolled her eyes twice, and finally actually opened them and woke up.
In the vast bedroom, only two maids who had gotten up early were cleaning.
Upon hearing a murmur coming from inside the hall, the two stopped what they were doing and simultaneously turned their gaze toward Yi Shangyun, who was struggling to sit up on the bed.
For a moment, the two women stared blankly at her face, stunned.
Once they confirmed that the person who had been unconscious on the bed had indeed woken up, they exchanged a glance and quickly walked towards the bed, exclaiming with delight.
"The girl has woken up!"
"The girl is finally awake!"
After some struggle, Yi Shangyun was now sitting on the edge of the couch.
But his head still throbbed terribly, feeling like it was about to split open. He gasped and hissed in pain.
He glanced around, then reached up to press his temples while repeatedly asking questions in a low voice about the unfamiliar surroundings.
"Where is this place?"
How did I get here?
She paused, then continued, trying to recall, "Shouldn't I be in my own apartment?"
Inside the hall, in a water vat, were several delicate pink lotus flowers that the maid had just picked when she arrived.
Suddenly, a ray of light refracted into her beautiful eyes through the water's surface, and she realized that it was already broad daylight.
Then he suddenly became anxious. "No, it's already dawn! What time is it?"
She had just remembered something very important: "I have to rush to the hospital; I have an appointment for surgery today."
He kept talking to himself, then stood up, picked up his shoes, and rushed towards the door.
The two maids, hearing the new words she was using, also tried to mutter to themselves.
"apartment?"
"What time is it?"
"Hospital?"
"Operation?"
"What are all these?"
"Is this girl... out of her mind?"
"What to do... what to do?"
"Go and inform the Emperor immediately."
"Let's go find Physician Zhang to take a look at her first."
Having come up with an idea, the two maids immediately divided the work: "Well, you go and inform Physician Zhang first, and tell him that the young lady has woken up and is talking nonsense. Tell him to come and examine her as soon as possible, and then go and inform the Emperor."
As she spoke, the maid who had been listening rushed out on her own.
"Where are you going, young lady?" The remaining maid hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed one of her arms, and pulled Yunqiang back.
Yi Shangyun looked around, struggling as she was bound tightly by the maid, while trying to explain earnestly.
"Who exactly are you people? I don't know what you're filming here?"
"But now please let go of me, let go quickly."
"I have something really important to do right now."
"The medicinal herbs from Jiangxi will arrive in a few days. Once the product is launched, I must personally oversee its quality control. This customer absolutely cannot have any problems."
As she spoke, Yi Shangyun felt waves of pain again, her head throbbing terribly. She shook her head from time to time and then reached down to press it.
"What are you saying, young lady?"
"What Jiangxi?"
"What company?"
"What kind of customer?"
"This servant has never been to school and is of limited knowledge. I truly cannot understand a word you are saying."
The maid held onto her arm tightly, struggling to delay, saying, "But...but wherever you want to go, you must inform the Emperor first! I am only responsible for taking care of your food and daily life, so please don't make things difficult for me."
Yi Shangyun then noticed what the maid had said, and looked at the maid's face in astonishment, saying, "Wait...you said...the Emperor...what Emperor..."
"Does the young lady really know nothing?"
Seeing the surprised look on Yun's face, the maid slowly explained, "This is the palace of the Western Qin Kingdom in the Lingkong Continent. The current emperor is Emperor Jing, whose name is Xuanyuan Ye... This is Changning Palace. The emperor ordered people to bring you back from outside the palace. The emperor lives in the palace next to yours."
Upon hearing this, Yi Shangyun's beautiful phoenix eyes widened even more, finding it all utterly unbelievable.
"No...aren't you guys filming some kind of melodramatic short drama?"
The maid asked timidly, "May I ask, young lady, what is meant by 'melodrama'? And what is meant by 'short drama'?"
Yi Shangyun seemed to suddenly realize the seriousness of the situation: "You mean... I... I've traveled through time..."
Her mind raced: "Lingkong Continent... Western Qin Kingdom...where in history are these things?"
The maid couldn't understand what she was saying at all.
Yi Shangyun didn't care about anything else at that moment; all she wanted was to escape.
So he pointed a finger sternly at the maid's nose and threatened her: "Little girl, I'm telling you, you'd better let me go right now, or I can sue you. Unlawfully detaining someone is a crime, a very serious offense, one you can't afford to commit!"
Just as the two were staring at each other, unable to do anything but look at each other, a sudden commotion came from the courtyard outside the door.
In the courtyard, a maid was sternly reprimanding the guards on duty at the gate, saying, "Get out of the way! How dare you block Her Majesty the Empress's way!"
The guards at the palace gate remained expressionless. One of them explained, "This is the Emperor's decree. No one is allowed to enter Changning Palace to cause any disturbance."
This made the Empress, who had rushed to Changning Palace overnight to find out what was going on, even more curious. What kind of woman had Emperor Jing brought back from outside the palace? She was so mysterious.
This is the first time in all these years that Emperor Jing has brought a woman back to the palace.
For a moment, the maid seemed to have no other choice, so she pouted and looked angrily at the Empress behind her.
The Empress thought for a moment and then asked herself, "Are you sure His Majesty means that even I cannot go in to visit the people inside?"
The two guards respectfully clasped their hands in a salute to the Empress, then advised, "Your Majesty, please return!"
Seeing that the two mere gatekeepers were so unyielding, making the mother of the nation so embarrassed.
The maid could no longer contain herself, so she stepped forward and angrily reprimanded them, "You insolent fools, how dare you show such contempt for the Empress's majesty! In this vast palace, apart from the Emperor's palace, is there any place the Empress cannot go? Who gave you the audacity to do this?"
The Empress saw that her maid and the guards were arguing more and more fiercely and was about to speak up to stop them.
Just then, a deep voice came from behind: "Who dares to trespass into Changning Palace?"
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