Chapter 174 Chapter 174 Is it tonight?
No one expected that just as they were about to step out of the Daming Palace, they would run into Wu Shun who came in a hurry to report the news.
Wu Shun was so anxious that sweat broke out on his forehead:
"Mr. Gu, where are you? Please return to the Purple Palace! The Emperor is in the Purple Palace. He's had some sort of illness and is writhing in pain in his internal organs!"
*
The Zichen Palace was in a mess.
As soon as she entered, she was greeted by a foul stench and the ground was covered with gold. Nan Qiongshuang, obsessed with cleanliness, nearly fainted. She forced herself to hold her nose as she entered. She was shocked to see the man, who had been fine just a moment ago, thrashing and screaming on the ground. His face was devoid of any trace of dignity, a mess, and he was howling hoarsely.
Chang Zhong did not dare to return home and used all kinds of excuses to stay. Seeing Emperor Jiaqing like this, he was so frightened that he was covered in cold sweat.
The imperial doctors in the hall were originally surrounding Emperor Jiaqing in a panic, discussing his condition in a chaotic manner. But when they saw the two men come in, they immediately fell silent.
The only sound in the hall was Emperor Jiaqing's wailing, which could hardly be called a human voice.
Everyone looked at Gu Huaijin, and everyone was silent.
Emperor Jiaqing burst into tears, vomited and had diarrhea, and rolled in vomit while crying:
"It hurts, it hurts! Help! It hurts! I'm going to die, I'm going to die—"
"Jurchens—! I'll kill you! Damn Imperial Master! I told you not to stay! You're not allowed to stay! You're so foolish and have harmed the country! You're letting the enemy betray me! Gu, hang him! It hurts like hell—you running dog! You've done me so much! It hurts! It hurts!"
"Summon the man surnamed Gu! Summon him!! I will personally hang him! He will be hanged! Mr. Bastard! Collaborating with the enemy! He invited a wolf into the house! He abused his power and played tricks! He will take my life and serve the prince loyally!"
All the imperial doctors in the hall lowered their heads in fear, not daring to utter a word.
Wang Maoxing stood beside Emperor Jiaqing, not daring to approach or say much, but only lamenting with tears in his eyes:
"Your Majesty, please go to bed. The floor is cold..."
Emperor Jiaqing refused to listen to a word they said. His eyes were red and mad, and he kept spouting obscene words. The whole hall was filled with his curses, pointing to the sky and the earth, echoing faintly.
Gu Huaijin didn't say a word for two quarters of an hour.
This scene was too horrifying and terrifying. Nan Qiong Shuang couldn't bear to watch it any longer. She suppressed her nausea and squatted down to help him.
"Your Majesty, please get up and go to bed first... You are like this..."
Emperor Jiaqing howled like a pig being slaughtered:
"roll!!!"
Nan Qiong Shuang withdrew her hand awkwardly. She was actually somewhat relieved that his natural creations did not touch her.
However, this madman is in such a state, is he going to die here tonight? The order to close the net has not yet been issued. If he doesn't die at her hands, this fifth mission will fail again!
She immediately shed two tears of true emotion:
"Imperial Physician! Imperial Physician! Think of a solution!"
Then he pulled Gu Huaijin's sleeve:
"Sir, you are very powerful. Why are you so dumb now? Save the emperor!"
Suddenly, there was a sound of "Wow".
Nan Qiong Shuang lowered her head tremblingly.
Emperor Jiaqing vomited a mouthful of bright red blood onto her skirt.
With his body temperature, fishy and hot.
Her head buzzed and she almost died on the spot.
"Save the emperor! Please save the emperor! Sir! Imperial physician!" She took steps back repeatedly, almost as hysterical as the madman, "Save the emperor! I... I can't stand the sight of blood..." She fell back limply.
In an instant, a pair of hands supported my back.
Li Xuanbai stepped over the threshold, still clad in his silk pajamas, looking somewhat fragile and tired. His imposing ponytail was tied back. He glanced casually around the hall.
"What's up?"
The doctors huddled together and looked at each other timidly for a while. Finally, they pushed forward the one with the longest, most wrinkled beard and bowed, saying:
"Reporting to the Regent, at the beginning of the first hour of the lunar calendar, the Emperor suddenly felt unwell, with a sharp pain in his abdomen. We have held a late-night consultation, but the Emperor's condition is so serious that we are undecided and cannot make a definitive decision."
Li Xuanbai: "Isn't Zishi still fine?"
The imperial physician just trembled his long beard and did not answer.
Li Xuanbai glanced at Gu Huaijin and ordered: "Hurry up and save him. If you have any tricks, use them."
Gu Huaijin: "Lift His Majesty onto the bed and open his jaws."
"Tooth joint?"
No one understood, but no one dared to disobey. Everyone worked together to lift the Emperor Jiaqing, who was gritting his teeth and kicking his legs, onto the dragon bed, and pressed him down on the bed with all their might.
Gu Huaijin opened the medicine box and calmly inserted the silver needle.
After vomiting out that mouthful of blood, Emperor Jiaqing's body gradually became limp and his legs gradually slowed down. In just the time it took him to move from the ground to the bed, he had completely collapsed like a cuttlefish and was almost about to fall off the bed.
His face gradually turned darker, his lips gradually turned black, he was breathing out but not in, and he only had one breath left.
Nan Qiong Shuang watched from the side with a sigh of fear.
Emperor Jiaqing was usually insane, but he was in good health and had never been seriously ill. But now he was in such a state of emergency, perhaps he had been poisoned by something, and it looked as if he was on the verge of death.
If Emperor Jiaqing really died suddenly tonight, what would happen to Luojing and Qi and Song?
She turned her head and looked out the window.
Outside the carved window lattice, the dark night is like a curtain, and a full moon hangs high in the sky, bright and quiet, and out of the world.
It's too quiet.
In the midst of total silence, fate stubbornly marches forward, unstoppable.
Under the dim candlelight, her fingertips felt slightly cold. She clenched her fists and looked anxiously at the person on the dragon bed, whose black lips were slightly moving.
Don't die.
If you die, it will not only be my job that will be unfinished.
Ever since Gu Huaijin's suicide, Luojing has been shaken. Although the three parties haven't yet publicly torn their faces apart, countless exchanges have taken place under the table: the Prince Regent, Prince Ding, and now Emperor Jiaqing.
During these days, both Chang and Li must have made their own preparations, but perhaps not everything was ready yet, so no one has provoked trouble yet.
However, Luojing was like a dry and brittle mountain forest in early spring.
A little spark can start a mountain in flames.
If Emperor Jiaqing died.
It must be that spark.
Emperor Jiaqing was unconscious, his eyelids were black, his face was pale and yellow, and sweat was dripping down his face, leaving a circle of wet marks around him.
Nan Qiongshuang suddenly remembered the fortune telling that Gu Huaijin had done for him.
His time is coming.
She suddenly felt uneasy and anxious, and could hardly sit down. She stood up suddenly and paced around for several times with her head down.
Tonight? Tonight? Could it be tonight?
The crowd gathered in front of the dragon bed, making it impossible to get in. Because Emperor Jiaqing was seriously ill, only two candles were lit in the hall to avoid dazzling his eyes. Only the circle around his bed was lit, while the rest of the hall was in darkness.
She stepped into the dark shadows.
The darkness gave her peace of mind.
But in the darkness like a deep pool, there was a silent outline hidden in the corner.
Chang Zhong.
"It's exactly as I thought." Gu Huaijin concluded amidst the crowd, "The blue color between the teeth indicates a meridian-transmitting Gu."
"Vomiting and diarrhea, severe internal pain, and a dark complexion are all symptoms of arsenic poisoning. But if it's arsenic, the onset of the poison has been too long. Symptoms similar to these are nothing more than the blood-transmitting Gu. The blue color between your Majesty's teeth is irrefutable evidence."
Wang Rang, sweating profusely, gathered aside and bowed with his sleeves raised. "But, His Majesty, every day, he tests the food for poison with three pairs of poison-proof chopsticks. The Emperor is so suspicious that he always asks me to test for poison beforehand. This..."
"I already told you it's the Meridian Gu." He said impatiently, "You and His Majesty are actually blood relatives?"
Wang Rangse bowed and said, "I dare not, I dare not."
"It's not necessarily food. Perhaps the arrowhead was smeared with poisonous insect powder, and then it penetrated the emperor's body through the blood."
"The bloodline-transmitting Gu requires blood relatives to infect and remove it. Concubine Xie's sudden death was caused by this Gu. When I re-investigated Concubine Xie's case, I asked the coroner from that time about this type of Gu. He was told that it requires blood from a maternal relative and must be nurtured for 49 days before it can develop."
"Once you're poisoned, your mind is controlled by the one who poisoned you, like a puppet, crying or laughing for no reason." Gu Huaijin lowered his head and looked at the person on the bed. "It seems the Emperor hasn't reached that stage yet."
Mao Linyan raised her tear-stained face and said, "If that's the case, how can we remove the poison? Maternal blood relatives?"
"Compared to how to remove the poison." Gu Huaijin looked at Chang Zhong who was sitting in a corner of the hall, "Chang Zhong."
Everyone in the hall was stunned, then they understood what he meant and looked at Chang Zhong together.
The poison was cast by a maternal blood relative. It was undoubtedly Chang Zhong's work.
Chang Zhong looked at the circle of people under the candlelight. Everyone's face was dim and dark under the candlelight. When they looked at him together, they all had no expression, as if they were flat bronze mirrors - magic mirrors, which made it impossible for him to escape.
His legs were shaking.
Li Xuanbai waved his hand and said, "Seal off the main hall and keep a close eye on this fellow. Never allow him to leave the palace."
If Chang Da knew that the Regent had evidence of his assassination intention, there was a possibility that a coup would happen tonight!
Wang Maoxing: "But what should we do about the Emperor being poisoned by the Gu? Although they are maternal blood relatives, does it matter if they are close or distant relatives?"
Gu Huaijin: "The closer the better. The blood of the blood-transmitting Gu is solved by the blood of maternal relatives. The blood of the concubine is the best. Chang Zhong's blood——"
He tilted his head to glance at Chang Zhong, who was already as clueless as a pig screaming and losing control of its bladder under the butcher's knife. He continued:
"It should be usable, but after all, there are several layers of separation. In my opinion, if the Regent does not want the Chang family army to kick down the Huangji Gate tonight, it would be better to order Prince Ding in the name of the Regent and ask them to hand over the Concubine Dowager."
"Hand over the Concubine?" Li Xuanbai sneered nonchalantly, tucked his sleeves into his pockets. "Chang Da knows it's the Emperor who's been poisoned, that we're the ones he sent, and that the Concubine can cure the Emperor's poison. Why would he let her go? You're dreaming."
"Then, in the Regent's opinion, what should be done?"
There was an unbearable silence in the hall.
Nan Qiong Shuang vaguely felt that something was wrong.
Chang Da sent people to assassinate Li Xuanbai. Why would Chang Da use this kind of poison to deal with Li Xuanbai?
But then Li Xuanbai sneered lazily:
"In my opinion, it's too much trouble."
He walked to the small table under the window, picked up the small dagger used for peeling fruit on the table, and drew it with his fingertips smoothly.
"Use mine."
Everyone in the hall was stunned and shocked, not knowing what to do.
Li Xuanbai smiled nonchalantly amidst the horrified gazes from all directions:
"Why? The Concubine is my biological mother."
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