Chapter 100 Chapter 100 How could there be a Regent who would…
Wang Maoxing quickly bowed and kowtowed, "I have already sent a letter urging Mr. Gu to return. Your Majesty, please be patient."
"Calm down! How can I calm down?" Emperor Jiaqing pounded the bed furiously. "You have a headache, and you can see if you can calm down!"
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..." Nan Qiongshuang repeatedly urged, taking the Crazy Emperor's hand and slowly holding it. "Don't get excited. Isn't it true that the more anxious you are about this disease, the more painful it is? If Your Majesty wants to scold them, wait until your headache is over before scolding them."
The prime minister and the imperial doctors who were kneeling on the ground lowered their heads silently after hearing this.
The Jiaqing Emperor sneered and angrily chiseled the golden nanmu headboard. "My health is all due to that bowl of medicinal wine that Changda drank that day! He must have poisoned the wine that day, deliberately trying to harm me!"
No one in the Purple Palace dared to speak for a moment. Even Nan Qiongshuang could only pull his sleeve.
The current situation is turbulent, and no one dares to make a final conclusion about this matter, maybe it is true, maybe it is not.
But the Emperor Jiaqing's headache, which developed from a slight dull pain to a splitting headache, was indeed caused by General Chang's bowl of poisoned wine.
A year ago, General Chang sent troops into the capital under the pretext of cleansing the royal bloodline, claiming to uphold the orthodoxy, but in reality he was heading towards Luoyang with the intention of usurping power.
But outside the capital, in front of Shanhaiguan, he was stopped by someone.
Later, the situation became critical. The people who stopped Chang Da also wanted to attack the Forbidden City to get a share of the pie. The fight between the two tigers gave the emperor a chance to breathe, and Emperor Jiaqing retained a nominal throne.
However, he was deceived or perhaps forced by Chang Da to drink a bowl of medicinal wine.
Since then, Emperor Jiaqing's mental state became worse and worse. Sometimes he was so happy that he was crazy, sometimes he was so depressed that he was almost heartbroken, sometimes he suddenly talked nonsense, and sometimes he was talking and laughing, but suddenly his face changed and he drew his sword to kill people.
Before Nan Qiongshuang entered the palace, it was rumored that Emperor Jiaqing had gone mad after getting drunk, and said he wanted to make musical instruments with the bones of beautiful women, and he dismembered the body of his favorite concubine Xue in the palace.
"I will kill that Chang Da bastard sooner or later!" Emperor Jiaqing roared in pain, "I will - I will!"
"Your Majesty, Concubine Sheng is still outside," she reminded softly. Concubine Sheng was the adopted sister of the current Concubine Chang, the late emperor's favorite concubine. Concubine Chang was Chang Da's biological sister. Therefore, although Concubine Sheng was not from the Chang family, she was still related to the Chang family. In other words, she was also Chang Da's person, so it was almost unheard of for the two sides to keep in touch with each other.
Mao Linyan was favored because of the Chang family, and she fell out of favor because of the Chang family.
"Yes, Your Majesty, Concubine Sheng is still outside." Wang Maoxing knelt beside the dragon bed and advised, "Tell General Chang to listen, I'm afraid something might happen."
"I don't care! I don't want to care anymore! Tell him to listen! Mr. Gu is coming back! Go and tell Mr. Gu to come back. I have Mr. Gu now!"
Nan Qiongshuang closed her eyes impatiently. This useless madman only knew how to point fingers at others for everything.
She said nothing, turning the jade bracelet on her wrist and taking the opportunity to flip her fingers in her sleeve.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty." She cupped the Emperor Jiaqing's face, raised her pinky finger, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. Her voice was so low it sounded like a demon casting a spell. "Your Majesty, why are you so angry and exhausting yourself? As Your Majesty said, when that gentleman returns, won't we have a solution? Why rush into this? Your Majesty, it's more important for you to get some sleep and get through this."
"Deyin..." Emperor Jiaqing felt dizzy for some reason and squinted his eyes. "If I don't kill Chang Da, Chang Da will kill us. Remember, I'm doing this for..."
She held the handkerchief tightly, and with the nails she had dug out of a little Ecstasy Incense, she waved it back and forth under his nose, "Your Majesty, this is all for... the country."
"That's right. ... Deyin understands my painstaking efforts."
The high-purity incense refined by the Rebirth Gate is extremely toxic. Once inhaled, one will soon fall into deep sleep.
The man who was tortured to the point of neurosis by illness collapsed with dark circles under his eyes, like a long-awaited rain.
Nan Qiongshuang pushed aside the bed curtain and stood up.
Half of the reason why Emperor Jiaqing loved her was that when he was next to her, his headaches were relieved and he slept more soundly.
He used this as proof that they were a perfect match.
Nan Qiong Shuang lowered her eyes and smiled, then respectfully addressed the ministers kneeling on the ground, "Everyone, please stand up. Lord Wang, please stay and talk to me."
The imperial doctors were helpless with Emperor Jiaqing's illness and went away to discuss treatment. Wang Maoxing was kept behind by Nan Qiongshuang.
"The Emperor has always trusted you, sir. Whenever he had a seizure, he would summon you to the palace. He was always uneasy when you were not around. This time, he was so angry. What did he say to you?"
"The emperor means that this time, it's mainly for you."
She raised her eyebrows.
"For me?"
Wang Maoxing bowed his head and said nothing.
She understood what he meant. Mao Linyan had recently fallen out of favor, but she still refused to restrain herself, relying on Chang Da's influence.
Emperor Jiaqing was already weak. If he did not severely punish Mao Linyan, he would be tacitly approving Chang Da's trampling on the emperor's majesty.
If he had been a weaker person, it would have been fine. However, Emperor Jiaqing was not normal to begin with, so how could he tolerate this?
She turned and glanced out the window. Outside the carved window lattice, the woman in the plain white dress was still kneeling stubbornly in the rain. I wonder if she knew that this was not something that could be changed by self-torture.
However, if Mao Linyan is punished in this way, I am afraid Chang Da will take the opportunity to cause trouble.
She asked, "Who is that Mr. Gu? Is he really that reliable and trustworthy?"
"Mr. Gu possesses the talent to save the world, a rare strategist in the Qi and Song dynasties. The fact that our dynasty has been able to gain the support of Mr. Gu is a stroke of luck, a gift from heaven."
Wang Maoxing has always been measured in his words, and his words are so confident. It seems that not only the Mad Emperor relies on him, but even Wang Maoxing, the prime minister, also relies on him particularly.
"However, this Mr. Gu, despite his great talent, has refused to step out of retirement to serve as an official, preferring instead to remain a semi-worldly counselor. Despite my immense efforts in soliciting him, he has only been willing to accept the honorary title of Imperial Master."
"No real job, just an honorary title?" She was a little surprised. "So, you two think so highly of him?" Even to the point of wanting him to come back and handle everything?
"Mr. Gu can indeed be a loyal minister to our dynasty."
She laughed when she heard that, and then continued, "But he doesn't want to do it?"
"Exactly."
What a big rack.
She had never seen him in person, but she had heard many rumors about him. She wanted to meet such a powerful and strange person.
"Just now, when I came to the Purple Palace, I noticed that all the colorful lanterns and vases outside had been taken down. It's said that Mr. Gu is about to return to the capital. The Emperor is urging him to come back. When will he return?"
"Mr. Gu was originally scheduled to return in a month. However, the Emperor just sent a letter urging him to return. He will appear before the Emperor in about ten days at the earliest. It all depends on Mr. Gu's response."
Ten days later.
Nan Qiong Shuang nodded, "Thank you for your help today, Your Majesty. The Emperor has gone to bed, Your Majesty, please go back."
When the Jiaqing Emperor went mad, he didn't recognize his relatives. Although Wang Maoxing had cultivated a calm demeanor through his experience in officialdom, he broke out in a cold sweat. After hearing her words, he retreated as if he had been pardoned.
Nan Qiongshuang turned around and glanced at the man on the dragon bed. Beneath the bright yellow brocade quilt, the Mad Emperor lay asleep, his forehead damp with sweat, his cheekbones protruding from beneath his skin.
Not everyone can look good in pain.
She gathered her sleeves and stood up. Not a breath of wind could enter the hall, and it was very stuffy. She planned to return to the palace.
The palace lantern in the corner of the bedroom flickered for a moment. On the wall next to the door hung a long scroll painting of rivers and mountains, a work by the renowned artist Xu Xizhou of the previous dynasty. The flickering of the lantern caused the shadows on the screen to shift.
Suddenly, something flashed on the painting.
She narrowed her eyes.
Looking again, the bright spot disappeared.
She didn't understand what was going on, so she walked closer and looked at it carefully for a while.
The bright object just now disappeared. In that area of the painting, there was a man carrying a shoulder pole to draw water, and two or three birds were sitting in the tree.
She still felt a little strange, but had no clue, so she shook her head and left the Zi Chen Hall.
Wang Rang remained guarding the palace door, rolling up the curtains for her. Outside the bedroom, Concubine Sheng knelt in the rain, her face even more disheveled than before, the rain pouring down her forehead, her hair clinging to her hair in strands.
In the garden outside the palace, eunuchs wearing straw raincoats, in groups of two or three, surrounded the trees that were swaying left and right due to the rain, climbed up the trunks, and pulled the branches to shake them.
She asked Wang Rang, "What are you doing?"
Wang Rang said, "Your Majesty, Mr. Gu will be returning to the capital in a few days and will be visiting the palace regularly. This morning, the Emperor ordered the birds in the palace to be shot again."
The eunuchs were in a very miserable state in the rain. She asked, "Why are you shooting birds?"
"Mr. Gu likes quietness."
She raised an eyebrow. "Do you like quiet so much? You can't even hear the birds singing?"
"Your Highness, you may not know this, but Mr. Gu is the only master of the Infinite Heart Method, and his ears are more sensitive than those of ordinary people. The chirping of birds may sound clear and melodious to ordinary ears, but to Mr. Gu, it's just a cacophony. From now on, even the cats and dogs kept by the Empresses in the various palaces will have to be locked up in their rooms and not allowed to be let out."
A gust of wind came, and Nan Qiongshuang pulled her coat together with a smile.
Who is this person? He has so many problems.
He was able to suppress Emperor Jiaqing's temper that would often go crazy and kill people, and even asked the mad emperor to accommodate him.
Wang Rang saw her gathering her coat and said anxiously, "My Lady, it's so windy here. Please go back to the palace."
She nodded and left.
Walking in the corridor of the Imperial Garden, Yuanxiang looked around and saw no one. She whispered, "Your Majesty, the prince wants you to come to Daming Palace to speak."
The corners of her lips curled up for a moment, showing little interest. "What does he want me to do? Even within the harem, there's even a situation where the Prince Regent wants to see the concubines every day." She raised her chin to Qinglian, who was standing by her side, "You should go back to Handan Palace."
Qinglian and Yuanxiang were the maidservants she brought with her from the Gate of Rebirth. Working in the Forbidden City was no small task, and one always needed two capable people by their side.
Qinglian has a similar build and height to her, and her hair and skin color are almost identical. From behind and far away, she looks almost identical to her. She is a substitute she brought here specially.
"If anyone requests an audience, tell them I'm still suffering from the poison and am exhausted from attending to the Emperor in the rain. I can't see you."
Qinglian saluted: "Yes."
Turn around and jump into the rain.
Yuanxiang held an umbrella for her to prevent the rain from being blown in by the wind and getting on her. "Your Majesty, please go this way. There are few people on this road."
The Imperial Garden's corridors were winding and quiet. The eunuchs who were shooting birds were all busy at the gate of the Purple Palace. As for the Imperial Garden itself, it was still quiet.
As she walked along, she looked up and saw the Daming Palace shrouded in rain, with dark clouds dimming the bright yellow roofs.
The guards at the main gate were temporarily transferred away by someone in the palace on the pretext of letting her in.
Lian Yuanxiang was not allowed to accompany him and had to wait far away under the green trees outside the palace.
Nan Qiongshuang stepped over the high threshold of the Daming Palace, and the beaded curtain snapped shut behind her. She touched her long hair and sleeves, and found that her whole body was still dry, which made her feel a little happier.
Inside the Daming Palace, gilded floor lamps, each one ablaze, reached the same height as the walls, illuminating from floor to ceiling. The weather was gloomy, so the hall lights were lit early. Because of the stifling heat, the windows were left open, and a breeze blew through the hall, casting a playful ethereal glow of light and shadow.
By the window, the person in the hall was leaning on a mahogany carved Arhat bed, hugging his left knee, looking lazy and reviewing memorials.
His fingers tapped on the edge of the wooden table.
She walked over and naturally sat down across from him, sighing, "It's raining, and you insist on seeing me. What for?"
The person opposite raised his head, revealing a pair of fox eyes and an earring in his left ear that looked like a blood droplet.
When he saw her, his handsome eyes curved up, and a pair of seductive little hooks appeared at the corners of his eyes.
Even after becoming the regent, Li Xuanbai was still careless:
"I just want to see you, isn't that okay?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com