Chapter 80 The Emperor and Empress have a deep affection for each other.
Many people know that the princess has a grudge against Xie, but few know why.
Cong Ying could only guess that this feud was related to the late queen, but she didn't expect that the reclusive Prince Jin was well aware of this palace secret.
"When the current emperor was a prince, he wasn't particularly outstanding. He had no powerful relatives and wasn't favored by the late emperor. Initially, even he himself had no desire to participate in the succession bid, until Xie chose him. In fact, Xie Huanzhi, the then Prime Minister, was attracted to him for these very reasons: his lack of power and influence, and his gentle disposition. If the bid for the succession was successful, Xie could become the uncrowned ruler of the Great Zhou."
"At that time, the current emperor had a princess consort, born in poverty, with whom he had a close relationship. Although the current emperor was weak-willed and all major matters were decided by Prime Minister Xie, he never backed down on one thing: he would never divorce her and insisted on making the princess empress."
"Nanyuan's lingering love, the old sword's deep affection." Cong Ying listened, sighing softly. "So, Prime Minister Xie's sister entered the palace as a concubine?"
Prince Jin nodded. "Noble Concubine Xie was originally reluctant to do this, but she couldn't persuade Prime Minister Xie. Our Prime Minister Xie always likes to use his marriages to control others. In his eyes, his two sisters and four children are all small bargaining chips for greater gains."
Cong Ying couldn't help but think of Princess Wen Shuang and chuckled, "Your Highness is quite knowledgeable about the Xie family's affairs."
"So I don't want to see you marry into the Xie family—" Seeing Congying lower her eyes and not wanting to listen, the King of Jin sighed, "Okay, okay, let's not talk about you for now."
He continued, "The Emperor and Prime Minister Xie had reached some kind of tacit understanding that the future Crown Prince would be born from Concubine Xie's womb. Unfortunately, the Empress was pregnant before Concubine Xie, and her pregnancy was already apparent when the incident occurred. Prime Minister Xie even flew into a rage in front of the Emperor. The Emperor panicked, probably fearing that the Prime Minister would harm the Empress, or even ally with the noble families to force the Emperor to abdicate. He invited the Imperial Medical Bureau to collectively examine the Empress's pulse."
In the first year of Fengqi, Prime Minister Xie and Emperor Fengqi sat together in Kunning Palace.
The Empress sat on one side of the hall, one hand extended from behind the curtain. The imperial physicians took turns feeling her pulse, then went on to tell Prime Minister Xie and the Emperor on the other side, "The Empress's baby is healthy. Judging from the symptoms, it's likely to be a princess."
Almost all the imperial physicians said so.
A certain hope ignited in Emperor Feng Qi's heart. He looked at the silent Prime Minister Xie and said in a flattering tone, "I heard that the Prime Minister's second son is already one year old. Perhaps my daughter will be handed over to the Prime Minister's care in the future."
Prime Minister Xie smiled and said, "It is my son's great fortune to marry the princess. I only wish the Empress good health."
Emperor Fengqi was very happy: "I know that you can think this way. I am grateful to you in my heart."
Hearing this, Ying had a bad feeling in her heart: "But later..."
Later, the Queen Mother died of complications during childbirth, but it was unknown whether it was God's will or man-made disaster.
"It's a man-made disaster," Prince Jin said calmly. "Prime Minister Xie doesn't believe pulse diagnosis can determine the sex of a fetus. He's even more convinced that Emperor Fengqi and the Imperial Hospital are deceiving him. If the Empress gives birth to a prince, the political situation will immediately become uncontrollable. All those who oppose the Xie family and those who want to replace them will use the prince as their core and unite to form a force to oppose the Xie family."
"So Prime Minister Xie sent someone to poison the Queen, and he thought that no one would notice."
That winter was particularly cold, and the snow on the palace road fell layer by layer as it was swept away.
With a month to go before her due date, the queen woke from a nap to find her white dress stained pomegranate red. Panicked, she ordered the imperial physician to be summoned. He repeatedly palpated her abdomen, searching for signs of fetal life. The physician sighed and shook his head, explaining that the mother's blood was flooding the uterus and the fetus would soon die.
Emperor Fengqi couldn't help crying. He held the queen's hand and his tears fell into her blood.
The queen trembled as she handed him a pair of scissors, her breath surging from her throat: "I can't hold on any longer. You have to... protect Ah Li..."
Xiao Li was the name the emperor and empress secretly gave to the child.
There are fragrant herbs in Yuan River and orchids in Li River. I miss you, sir, but dare not say it.
Emperor Feng Qi was so grief-stricken that he could barely hold the scissors. He watched helplessly as the empress's attendant cut open her abdomen and pulled a blood-soaked fetus from her frail body. The empress's gaze gradually faded, the last bit of light in her eyes still fixed on the fetus until she let out a cry as thin as a mosquito's. The corners of her mouth curved, and her eyelids slowly fell.
That night, heavy snow covered thousands of miles.
A tear fell.
The cool fingertips caressed Cong Ying's cheek. She came back to her senses from her daze and slightly turned her head to avoid the caress of Prince Jin: "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Your Highness..."
"I'm not telling you this to upset you," the King of Jin said. "I'm telling you this to keep you out of this matter. Look, even I'm not interfering now."
Cong Ying thought that Prince Jin had nothing to do with this matter, and wondered why he knew the inside story so clearly.
Prince Jin said calmly, "Xiao Li told me this himself."
In her previous life, before she died.
Cong Ying looked towards the enclosure and heard Prince Jin admonish her once again, "A Ying, don't get involved in this. You can't take sides, and you're powerless to resolve it."
Cong Ying sighed: "I understand."
She said goodbye, stood up, and, leading Xie Miaozhu's horse, walked slowly along the hunting grounds in a trance. The wind blew from the direction of the enclosure, mixed with the faint smell of blood. She couldn't tell whether the injured person was human or animal.
From the firefly, I thought of the dream full of prophecy, and then of the old story told by King Jin.
Now that she has stopped Xie Miaozhu from leaving the enclosure, who will take the princess's revenge for her?
In the dream, what is the final outcome of this incident?
"Mrs. Jiang Si."
Someone called her, and Cong Ying suddenly came to her senses. She turned around and saw Princess Wen Shuang. She was wearing riding clothes, but she didn't follow the main group down, which surprised Cong Ying.
Princess Wenshuang stepped forward and smiled slightly, saying, "You must be very proud of yourself, right? Even though you tipped off Prince Jin, the Third Young Master is still completely devoted to you."
Cong Ying said, "So this was the princess's idea."
Princess Wenshuang raised her eyebrows: "No, this was Prime Minister Xie's idea."
Cong Ying's heart suddenly tightened.
She remembered what King Jin had said: Our Prime Minister Xie has always liked to control others through in-laws.
But doesn’t Xie already have an engagement with Prince Ying’s Palace? Is Prime Minister Xie ready to give up Prince Huai?
Sensing something was amiss, she turned to leave, but Princess Wenshuang quickly approached and struck her hard on the back of the neck, sending a sudden throbbing pain all over her body. Before she knew it, she felt herself being helped onto Xie Miaozhu's horse, a hemp rope threaded through her waist, and her hands secured beneath the horse's belly.
She smelled a pungent odor. It was Princess Wen Shuang who pulled out the cork of the bottle of Dianma Powder and poured it onto the horse through the gap in the saddle.
I heard Princess Wenshuang say, "My brother will be the crown prince in the future, and I will be a princess. Naturally, we want to marry the best husband and enjoy the ultimate wealth and luxury. Why would you, an orphan girl, dream of these things?"
Cong Ying understood that Princess Wen Shuang wanted to send her to the paddock and use Dianma Powder to disguise her death as an accident. Anyway, this was Xie Miaozhu's horse, and they couldn't trace it to her.
Cong Ying concentrated his mind and took advantage of the time when Princess Wen Shuang was taking the Dianma Powder to concentrate all his strength on his wrist and rub it hard. Finally, he slowly freed one hand, and then the other.
Princess Wenshuang cut off a section of the enclosure fence and was about to give the horse a good lash with the whip when Cong Ying spoke with difficulty, "I have something very important to say..."
Princess Wen Shuang walked around to her with her arms folded and said proudly, "Okay, let me tell you one last word."
Cong Ying suddenly reached out and grabbed Princess Wen Shuang's wrist, and with her other hand, she took off a hairpin and stabbed it hard into the horse's neck. The horse started to run wildly in pain. Cong Ying used all her strength to hold on to her and refused to let her get rid of her. Princess Wen Shuang was afraid of being dragged by the horse, so she had to climb onto the horse. The two of them tore back and forth on the horse's back, causing the horse to be even more frightened and run even harder.
"You bitch! You lunatic! Let me go!"
Cong Ying stabbed the horse's body again, but he didn't show his panic on his face. He said to Princess Wen Shuang, "If I stab you again, the horse's hair will spread even faster, and you will fall off the horse and die."
So Princess Wenshuang changed her mind and planned to push Congying off the horse first, but she tied the rope around her legs too tightly and couldn't find a way to untie it in her panic.
The two of them pushed each other back and forth on horseback.
The horse under him was frightened and panicked, repeatedly running through the bushes and fleeing deeper into the dense forest. Zi Ying had many small wounds on her body caused by the branches and leaves. Her strength was almost exhausted. While holding down Princess Wen Shuang to prevent her from escaping, she looked around, hoping to meet a hunting team that could help her.
But Xunling Mountain is too big.
Elsewhere, after taking the medicinal soup, the King of Jin suddenly felt his left eye twitching violently. Unable to let go, he ordered someone to check on Congying to see if she had returned to her tent to rest. A trusted confidant quickly returned, saying no one was in the tent. However, they found a pearl flower near the damaged fence of the enclosure. The King of Jin recognized it as the one Congying had worn today.
King Jin coughed violently with rage, clenched his palms, and ordered, "Call out a team of elite soldiers and prepare the horses!"
The dear Xin Dahan glanced at his injured foot and wanted to say something, but seeing his murderous expression, he dared not say anything and obediently went to prepare the horse.
…
Cong Ying never expected that the first person he would meet would be the envoy from Western Tartar.
The Western Tatars' horsemanship was their specialty. Cong Ying felt something was wrong when he saw blood on their swords but no prey on their horses, and the whereabouts of the accompanying guards were unknown.
Princess Wenshuang shouted at them, "Save me! My father will reward you handsomely!"
The Western Tartar warrior Agula drew his bow and shot an arrow at the horse Congying was riding. The horse buckled forward, and Congying and Princess Wenshuang stumbled forward at the same time. She hid in Princess Wenshuang's arms for protection, and heard Princess Wenshuang scream as she broke a bone.
Although Congying was hurt from the fall, it was not serious. She untied the rope, got up and wanted to run, but several Western Tartars surrounded her and smiled at her with ill intentions.
Princess Wen Shuang gritted her teeth and said, "Kill her! Kill her quickly! She already knows our plan!"
Agula sneered and drew his knife towards Congying.
At this moment, they suddenly heard a loud neighing of horses behind them. Everyone turned their heads and saw a pair of red horses galloping towards them with fluttering fire. At the same time, several arrows were fired, forcing several Western Tartars to retreat.
The visitor turned out to be Princess Chun'an.
She was alone, the hunting party was nowhere to be found, and the horse under her was obviously in a frenzied state, but she was still controlling the direction.
In a flash, the princess rushed to the front like lightning, stretched out a hand to Congying, and pulled her onto the horse after a slight pause. The chestnut horse snorted and raised its hooves high. Taking advantage of the moment when everyone was frightened, it broke through the encirclement and galloped away to the north.
Princess Wenshuang slowly stood up, clutching her ribs. She asked coldly, "Aren't you the greatest warrior in Western Tartar? Why is your lord still alive?"
Agula's dignity was challenged, and he defended himself unexpectedly, "I've already taken care of her hunting team. If you hadn't suddenly barged in, I would have killed this woman by now!"
Princess Wenshuang said, "Her horse has been poisoned by the drug and will only run towards water. Let's go and chase them together. We must not let these two leave the paddock alive!"
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