Chapter 264 The Fourth Prince is Destroyed
Compared to the bustling atmosphere outside, the atmosphere in Fengxi Palace was extremely depressing.
The shock that night made Empress Lu really sick. Even though several days had passed, her face still looked sick. The palace maids in Fengxi Palace tried to walk as lightly as possible, and even Jinzhi and Deshun dared not breathe.
The Fourth Prince's face was covered in wounds, and he roared angrily, "What did you say? Say it again?!"
Doctor Sun said with a bitter face: "Your Highness injured your waist when you fell from your horse. I have tried my best to treat you, but the injury is really beyond repair. I am afraid that Your Highness will have difficulty walking..."
"Bang!"
The Fourth Prince grabbed whatever was at hand and threw it at Doctor Sun. He sat on the bed and stared at him. "You lied to me. How could I be lame? You lied to me!"
Imperial Physician Sun quickly stepped back and looked at the mad Fourth Prince with a face full of fear.
Empress Lu hurriedly ordered Deshun to hold the Fourth Prince down, then turned to look at Imperial Physician Sun. "The Fourth Prince only had a few scrapes from falling off his horse. Imperial Physician He came to treat him two days ago and said he was fine. How could it have suddenly become so serious?"
Imperial Physician Sun hesitated to speak, but upon seeing the Queen's stern expression, he lowered his voice, "Your Highness must have injured his waist when he fell from his horse, otherwise he wouldn't have been unable to even get off the ground these past few days. However, he has never used any medicine on the wound on his waist, and with ordinary external injuries, the wound should have scabbed over after a few days of recuperation, but Your Highness's face..."
He hesitated, looking at the wounds on the Fourth Prince's face, which were oozing pus and blood from his excessive excitement. He quickly lowered his head and said, "Your Highness, there's abscesses on your face. This shouldn't happen with ordinary scrapes. Perhaps Imperial Doctor He used different medicine. Why don't you ask Imperial Doctor He to come and ask him?"
Empress Lu looked at Deshun suddenly, and Deshun's face turned pale. "Doctor He hasn't been on duty these past two days. I asked the He family, and they said that Doctor He's mother is seriously ill, so he went back to visit her family."
"I couldn't find Doctor He, so I asked Doctor Sun to come over."
The Queen and the Fourth Prince had nothing to understand after hearing this.
"He Wengran, he hurt me, he actually dared to hurt me, I will kill him, kill him!!!" The fourth prince's eyes were ferocious and he roared angrily.
Doctor Sun saw more blood seeping from his face and hurriedly said, "Quick, hold His Highness down and don't let him move. Otherwise, it will affect his waist injury. If it gets any worse, I'm afraid he won't be able to walk anymore."
The Queen was shocked when she heard this, and quickly ordered Deshun and Jinzhi to step forward and hold down the Fourth Prince. However, the Fourth Prince was too anxious and angry to listen to anything else. She watched him struggle more and more violently, the wound on his face split open, and the pus and blood almost dyed the white gauze on his face red.
"Knock him out!" Queen Lu said sternly.
Deshun quickly took action and slapped the fourth prince on the back of his neck, and the struggling man finally calmed down.
Helping the Fourth Prince lie down, Empress Lu felt an immense pain in her heart as she looked at his miserable state. She turned her head and said in a deep voice, "Doctor Sun, is the Fourth Prince truly beyond saving? If you can help me heal him, I will grant you anything you desire."
Doctor Sun knelt on the ground with a bitter expression on his face. "Empress, it's not that I can't treat you, it's that I really can't. If you had called me here three or four days ago, when Your Highness fell from the horse, I would have had a 50-60% chance of success. But now..."
Facing the Queen's face, which was barely concealing its anger, Imperial Physician Sun lowered his head and said, "My humble medical skills are not very good. Your Majesty, why don't you ask others in the Imperial Medical Bureau, or find a skilled healer outside? Perhaps your Highness can recover as before."
Queen Lu's face turned even worse when she heard this.
Doctor Sun in the Imperial Medical Bureau is already a person of extremely high medical skills, otherwise he would not have been able to sit in the position of deputy director. If she looks for another doctor, not to mention whether he can be better than Doctor Sun, wouldn't the news that the prince is disabled be known to everyone? As for looking for those doctors outside, even if she wants to find one, it will not be possible to find him in a short time. Is she going to wait until the fourth prince's leg is completely disabled?
Empress Lu clenched her palms tightly and said, "I trust in the medical skills of Imperial Physician Sun. I hope that Imperial Physician Sun will do his best to treat the Fourth Prince."
"But Your Highness..." Doctor Sun moved his lips and said cautiously, "Your Highness's legs may have hidden diseases, and after removing the abscess on your face, there may be scars..."
A prince, lame and disfigured.
No one present was unaware of what this meant.
Empress Lu's face was extremely pale, and in contrast, her eyes were dark and full of creepy. "I'm sorry to bother you, Doctor Sun. It's just that I don't want others to know about the Fourth Prince's injury."
"Your Majesty..."
Imperial Physician Sun wanted to say that this matter couldn't be concealed for long, but Empress Lu's eyes were filled with gloom. She was afraid that if she said any more, her life would be in danger. She swallowed the words that came to her lips and lowered her head: "Your Highness understands. I will never mention this to anyone. However, Your Highness's injury is not known to me alone. If others learn about it from other sources..."
"Don't worry, as long as you don't say anything, I won't blame you even if the news leaks out."
Doctor Sun felt relieved after hearing this.
The Fourth Prince had only some serious abrasions on his face, but after a few days of "medication", the wound worsened, and the flesh and pus almost corroded half of his face. Doctor Sun carefully cleaned the abscess for him, and when the rotten flesh was peeled off to reveal fresh flesh and blood, half of his face was covered in blood.
Seeing that the Fourth Prince was still crying out in pain subconsciously when he fainted, Queen Lu's eyes were red and bloodshot.
After cleaning the Fourth Prince's face and reapplying the medicine, Imperial Physician Sun examined the Fourth Prince's waist and legs. By the time he withdrew the silver needles, more than half an hour had passed. Imperial Physician Sun was exhausted and sweating profusely, but he still gave the prescription for future medication to the Queen.
"This is the prescription that the Fourth Prince will be taking next. Your Majesty will have someone go to the Imperial Medical Bureau to get the medicine later. You can bring it back and boil it yourself. As for this prescription, I will also make a copy and leave it in the pulse record department of the Imperial Medical Bureau. If Your Majesty finds a better doctor, you can go there to review it at any time."
Empress Lu understood that Imperial Physician Sun was actively asking her to check the prescription at any time and to make the medicine herself to prevent any villain from taking action. Her expression softened a little, "Thank you for troubling Imperial Physician Sun."
After ordering someone to send Imperial Physician Sun out, Empress Lu ordered Jinzhi and Deshun to wash the Fourth Prince's body. After changing him into clean clothes, Empress Lu stood up and walked out of the back hall.
"Bring Cheng Ping up."
Deshun responded quickly and turned to go out. Not long after, he came back with a man following him, holding the bloody Cheng Ping in his hand.
His fingers were clamped with sticks and his back was beaten with a board, and the blood on the ground was red.
After being thrown to the ground, Cheng Ping kowtowed repeatedly: "Your Majesty, this servant... this servant has not betrayed Your Highness. This servant has been by Your Highness's side since childhood. My life and death, honor and disgrace all depend on Your Highness alone. This servant would never dare to do anything that betrays me."
"You didn't take good care of the Fourth Prince and didn't stop him from getting into danger in time. It's your fault that the master got hurt!" Queen Lu said coldly.
Cheng Ping's face was pale, and he felt his heart tremble when he saw the queen's frosty eyes.
"I did stop you, Your Highness. I really did. That day at the polo match, I and the Fourth Prince's wife both advised Your Highness not to play. It was the Second Prince who kept irritating Your Highness and mocking you by using the incident at Hengting Pavilion. That's why Your Highness, in his rage, insisted on playing."
"I wanted to accompany and protect you, but the Second Prince mocked His Highness for being unable to leave behind a eunuch like me. He also said that it was not my turn to play in the nobleman's game."
The Queen lowered her eyes and asked, "What's the matter with Hengting Pavilion?"
Cheng Ping whispered, "It was that day before Your Highness went to the Lu family, and he made an appointment with Governor Xiao to meet at Hengting Pavilion. Unexpectedly, he ran into the Second Prince and a few playboys in the capital discussing Your Highness and the Lu family. They said that Your Highness was no longer as reliant on the Lu family as before, and that Your Highness was now a lost cause, relying only on the Empress to maintain his dignity. How could he still have the nerve to dream of the throne?"
"His Highness was furious and clashed with the Second Prince, even resorting to violence. It was only later that Governor Xiao arrived and stopped them."
Cheng Ping was badly wounded, and he spoke too quickly, panting a little. "His Majesty asked you to investigate the Lu family. You were reluctant at first, but after coming out of Hengting Pavilion, you suddenly decided to go to the palace to look for the Empress. As a result, there were too many people going around the market, so when I changed the route to enter the palace, I ran into the Second Prince, the Feng family, and Aunt Bai from the mansion..."
He told Queen Lu what happened that day and the identity of Aunt Bai.
Empress Lu asked in a deep voice, "Are you saying that Aunt Bai is from the Lu family?"
Cheng Ping whispered, "I dare not lie. That day, Your Highness and I saw the Second Prince and Feng Qiuli together. Afterwards, Concubine Bai sneaked in to see them. I followed Your Highness's instructions and captured Concubine Bai. I used some tricks to get her to tell me that Concubine Bai was not the daughter of a minor official at all. She was a chess piece chosen from a branch of the Lu family and raised since childhood. Even the food and utensils Your Highness ate in her room were drugged."
"Why didn't you tell me about this?!" Queen Lu asked sternly.
Cheng Ping's face changed and he didn't dare to speak for a moment.
"You still dare to hesitate, Deshun!"
Seeing the eunuchs beside Empress Lu approaching him, Cheng Ping was immediately agitated and hurriedly said, "Your Highness forbade me to tell the Empress. The medicines that Aunt Bai gave Your Highness can make a man's blood and essence flourish, allowing him to have sex with women every day, but if used excessively, it will seriously damage the body."
Aunt Bai is gentle, eloquent, and quite talented. In addition, her body is soft and boneless. When she sings seductively and wantonly in bed, she is bold in a way that is completely different from her daytime self.
The Fourth Prince found it novel and exciting, and stayed in her room for a long time. Every time he saw her, he couldn't help but make love with her.
The effects of those drugs were very strong. When used, they could make the Fourth Prince vigorous and energetic. However, once he stopped taking them, the effects would backfire. Not only was his sexual ability not as good as before, he even had some signs of impotence. He even lost interest in the beautiful women in the mansion.
The Fourth Prince panicked and asked the court physician to see him. The physician only said that he was injured by the strong drug and had become dependent on it. If he could not continue to take the drug in the future, he might not even be able to touch a woman. The Fourth Prince was so angry that he almost beat the court physician to death. How could he let him tell the Queen about such a thing?
Empress Lu had already suffered a severe blow today, and now when she heard that the Fourth Prince was "dying", she almost fainted.
"Empress!" Jinzhi hurriedly supported her.
Queen Lu suppressed the dizziness in her head and asked, "Did the Lu family give you that medicine?"
Cheng Ping said, "I dare not speak nonsense. Aunt Bai told me herself that the medicine was given to her by the Second Master of the Lu Family. When she was sent to the mansion, she also told him to do whatever it takes to preserve His Highness's bloodline."
"Afterwards, His Highness was afraid of wrongly accusing the Lu family, so he secretly investigated. After Aunt Bai entered the mansion, she would meet with a man named Feng San every five days to take the medicine from him. I led my men to follow that man and found out that Feng San's uncle worked for the Lu family. Although Feng San didn't join the Lu family, he did run errands for them."
Cheng Ping knew how cruel Queen Lu was and how much she cared about her son, the Fourth Prince. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.
"Your Majesty, it's not that I didn't protect Your Highness, it's just that the Lu family and the Second Prince are so vicious."
"The Lu family has clearly had other plans for a long time, wanting to abandon His Highness and His Majesty. They know that even if they have a child with Lu family and royal blood, it will take many years for that child to grow up. Right now, they need someone to protect the Lu family, so they chose the Second Prince, who has no one to rely on."
The other princes all have their maternal families, and they have more or less power behind them. Even if they get the help of the Lu family and gain the throne in the future, the Lu family will not get much in return. The only exception is the second prince, whose mother was a lowly maid in the palace, and he has no one to rely on.
As long as the second prince can ascend the throne, the Lu family will be able to obtain the greatest benefits as they did when they assisted His Majesty, and control the court power to maintain the Lu family's status.
Empress Lu was swaying, staggering and almost losing her balance, but she managed to steady herself. "You said that on that day at Hengting Pavilion, the Fourth Prince and Xiao Yan met there?"
"yes."
"Then what about entering the palace later? Was it Xiao Yan who proposed it?"
Cheng Ping was stunned for a moment, then shook his head. "No, Governor Xiao had once tried to sow discord between the Empress and the Fourth Prince. To gain his trust, His Highness pretended to believe him and even deliberately acted angry at the Empress."
"After Your Highness and I left, we were originally going back to the Prince's Palace. However, Your Highness wanted to discuss the Lu family's affairs with the Empress, so we suddenly decided to go to the palace. When we arrived at the market, we also decided to change our route at the last minute."
"Your Majesty, Lord Xiao has done nothing wrong. It was the Second Prince and the Lu family who wanted to harm Your Highness. They worked together to set up this scheme. I deserve no regrets for dying, but Your Highness has been framed by these villains. I beg Your Majesty to avenge Your Highness!"
Cheng Ping's head was banging loudly, and blood soon appeared on his forehead.
When Queen Lu heard Cheng Ping's words, she felt a buzzing in her ears. Seeing that she remained silent, Jinzhi quickly signaled Deshun to cover Cheng Ping's mouth and pull him away.
After the hall quieted down, Jin Zhi whispered, "Your Majesty, do you suspect that Xiao Yan plotted against Your Highness that day at Hengting Pavilion?"
Empress Lu whispered, "That eunuch never does anything useless."
While he was trying to please her, he was trying to sow discord between her and the Fourth Prince. Even when the Fourth Prince suddenly went to investigate the Lu family, it was probably because of his suggestion to the Emperor. Even though those things had nothing to do with him later, he definitely had no good intentions.
"The Lu family..."
"Bang!"
The Queen slammed the table with a ferocious expression: "Lu family, Lu Chongyuan!!"
She had not intended to be so ruthless, and had not intended to destroy the Lu family, but Lu Chongyuan should never have done that. He should not have touched her prince, and should not have destroyed all her hopes.
Lame, disfigured, and childless, her prince was completely ruined.
"Jinzhi, have someone tell Xiao Yan that I want to see him."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com