Chapter 455 The Prince is no longer able to live
Jiang Luli really didn't want to argue with that silly brother, so he grabbed the wine jug beside him, unscrewed the lid and poured the wine into his mouth.
The wine flowed down the corners of his mouth, soaking his collar, and the spicy taste made his throat tight.
The pot of liquor was empty, and even he felt a little dizzy. He wiped his mouth with his hand, put his hands behind his head, lay on his back on the cold rockery, and looked at the night sky above his head.
The moonlight tonight was truly beautiful. The dark blue sky was dotted with stars, each one shining like broken diamonds. A full moon hung in the center, casting a soft light.
The moonlight falling on him reminded him of Gu Jiayue.
The look in her eyes when she spoke was as gentle as the moonlight, carrying a reassuring power.
Seeing that his cousin had ignored him for a long time, the prince's eyes turned red again. He twisted his fingers around the corner of his clothes and stood there sobbing, not daring to even breathe.
He was afraid that he would make his cousin angry again.
Just then, a chaotic sound of footsteps was heard.
The light from the palace lanterns shone on the crowd, making everyone's face look solemn.
This is the scene they saw.
Jiang Luli lay motionless on the rockery, his face an abnormally pale color. The prince squatted beside him, his shoulders twitching as he sobbed, looking pitiful and helpless.
"Jingming!" The emperor originally wanted to call Jiang Luli's name, but swallowed the words back when they came to his lips.
If the person is truly dead, no one will respond even if you call them. All you can do is call your son first, hoping to get the truth out of him.
When the prince saw his father coming with so many ministers, he panicked instantly and began to tremble all over.
There were already many ministers in the court who thought he was incompetent. Now that they saw him crying with red eyes and losing his composure, the memorials impeaching him would surely pile up like snowflakes on his father's desk tomorrow!
"Father, Father..." The prince's voice was filled with tears and he didn't even dare to raise his head.
However, his panicked and trembling appearance, in the eyes of the ministers, only confirmed the speculation that "something happened to Jiang Luli."
The prince must have been extremely sad, which is why he lost his composure like this.
"It seems that the prince... is really not going to make it." A minister whispered, his tone full of regret.
The emperor's heart seemed to be tugged at, and he suppressed his grief and asked, "Your brother...is he okay?"
The prince opened his mouth but could not answer.
He didn't know whether his cousin was a good person or a bad person. Considering his cousin's drinking capacity, one pot of wine shouldn't be a big problem, right?
This hesitation was seen by everyone as a signal that something was wrong.
"My son!" Prince Jiang Luan suddenly pushed through the crowd and rushed over like crazy, hugging Jiang Luli tightly in his arms, crying until his voice was hoarse, "How could you be poisoned for no reason? Who harmed you?"
Jiang Luli opened his eyes dazedly because of the crying. Just when he was about to say "I'm not poisoned", his arm was pinched hard by his father. He almost groaned in pain.
He realized instantly that his father wanted him to pretend to be poisoned!
Why did he do this? This happened so suddenly, he was completely unprepared, how could he pretend?
Jiang Luli was extremely anxious. What an unreasonable father! Could he communicate with her in advance next time?
If the imperial physician comes and finds that he is fine, neither the father nor the son can escape the crime of deceiving the emperor!
He knew his uncle's character too well. The older he got, the more suspicious he became. He always felt that his uncle would seize the throne.
If my uncle knew that he was not poisoned, he might come up with some "conspiracy theory", which would only cause more trouble.
It seems that this "poison" is inevitable.
Jiang Luli closed his eyes, his mind racing, and suddenly remembered the small bottle he had found on Yu Xianghan.
At that time, his subordinates said that this was a special "fake death drug" made by the Great Chu, which could make people extremely weak, as if they had a terminal illness.
His eyes rolled and a plan came to his mind.
Dad was holding him with his back to everyone, blocking everyone's view.
Jiang Luli quietly took out the small bottle from his arms, pinched the cork with his fingertips, pulled it out gently, poured out a small brown pill, and quickly put it into his mouth and swallowed it.
But in just a moment, his face, which was originally flushed due to drinking, turned pale at a speed visible to the naked eye. His breathing gradually weakened, and even the rise and fall of his chest became extremely shallow. He looked as if he had lost his life.
As soon as he finished doing this, the emperor came up.
The emperor, who had been a little skeptical at first, suddenly panicked when he saw his expression. "Imperial Physician! Quickly call the imperial physician!"
A dozen imperial physicians quickly ran over with their medicine boxes, and lined up one by one to take Jiang Luli's pulse and examine his tongue.
After some rectification, the expression on his face became more and more solemn.
The leading old doctor trembled as he approached the emperor and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, after consultation, we all agree that the toxin in the prince's body is extremely strong and is slowly robbing him of his life force. I'm afraid... he won't live long. Your Majesty, Princess, please accept my condolences."
"My son!" The princess cried so hard that she almost fainted, and was held tightly by the maid beside her; Jiang Luan also cried intermittently, and his hand was secretly pinching Jiang Luli's arm.
I'm afraid he'll suffocate himself.
The emperor's face was filled with grief, but his heart was cold: Who on earth wanted to harm Jiang Luli?
Now half of the people in the court secretly support Jiang Luli's ascension to the throne. If those people knew that Jiang Luli "died of poisoning", would they blame him for it?
"Investigate! Investigate it thoroughly inside and out for me!" The emperor swung his sleeves suddenly, his tone full of anger, and turned to walk towards the hall.
He needs to stay calm and stabilize the situation as soon as possible.
The emperor had left, and the ministers who stayed here could not help. They could only sigh at Jiang Luli's "corpse" and leave the imperial garden in twos and threes. Only a dozen imperial doctors and the still confused prince were left.
The prince stood there, his mind blank.
My cousin was talking to him just now, how come he is dying in the blink of an eye?
Could it be that all my previous guesses were true?
Did the cousin already know that he was poisoned and only said "it's okay" to comfort him?
"My dear and respectable cousin! You can't die!" The prince couldn't bear it any longer. He rushed to the rockery, hugged Jiang Luli's legs and continued crying. His tears and snot rubbed Jiang Luli's trouser leg.
This scene made the imperial doctors' eyes tear up.
What a touching story of brotherhood! It makes anyone who hears it sad and listens to it cry.
"Your Highness," the leading old doctor stepped forward and whispered, "It's windy here, and the prince is weak. Should we move him inside first?"
The prince thought it made sense.
"All of you get out of the way! I'll hold my cousin! My brother, I'll protect him!" He didn't want anyone else to touch his cousin. This was the last thing he could do for his cousin.
He bent down and struggled to pick up Jiang Luli. However, Jiang Luli was half a head taller than him and heavier. He stumbled after taking just two steps and almost dropped Jiang Luli to the ground.
Jiang Luan was terrified, fearing that the foolish prince would actually torture his son who was pretending to be dead into actual death, so he hurried forward. "Child, let your uncle hold you. You are weak, don't let your cousin fall."
"Second Uncle!" The prince shook his head with red eyes, his tone extremely firm, "Let me see my cousin off for the last time!"
"You kid!" Jiang Luan was so angry that he almost cursed. "The imperial physician only said that your cousin was in critical condition, not that he was dead! He was still breathing, so how could it be his 'last journey'?"
This unfortunate kid has a more vicious tongue than his son. No wonder the ministers don’t like him!
The prince was quite confident. "Isn't it only a matter of time? I want me to be the last person to see my cousin before he dies."
Jiang Luan: “…”
Okay, you are the prince and you are right!
Jiang Luan could only sigh in his heart. Who made his son do this suddenly without informing him in advance?
When he rushed over just now, he almost thought his son was really gone and was scared to death.
He only has this one son in his life. If he really dies, he and the princess will never be able to have a second child at their age.
Fortunately, he had just checked carefully and found that his son was just drunk and pretending to be dead, so he quickly pinched him awake and gave him a wink.
It's unrealistic to try to get away with it by getting drunk. My brother is just old, not stupid.
Fortunately, this kid is not completely stupid and knows how to swallow the fake death drug to cooperate.
After much difficulty, Jiang Luli was finally put on the soft bed in Taidong Palace. The imperial doctors followed and continued to diagnose and treat him around the bed.
"The toxin in the Prince's body is very strange. Although not immediately fatal, it is slowly eroding his vitality." The old doctor stroked his beard and said in a heavy tone, "I will go down and prescribe some nourishing medicine to keep the Prince alive first, and then slowly find a way to detoxify him. In the meantime... please try to make whatever the Prince wants to eat."
This translates to: He won't die for the time being, but he's not far from death. Let him eat something good before he dies, so that he can be at peace.
Ever since he entered the East Palace, the prince has been crying non-stop. Sometimes he touches Jiang Luli's hand, and sometimes he calls him "cousin", which gives Jiang Luli a headache.
Jiang Luli couldn't bear it any longer and slowly opened his eyes.
"Cousin! Are you awake?" The prince stopped crying instantly and came to the bedside, his eyes full of surprise. "Are you feeling unwell? What would you like to eat? I'll ask the imperial kitchen to make it for you!"
Jiang Luli shook his head, his voice weak. "I want to go back to the palace, to my own home."
"No!" The prince refused immediately, his tone extremely insistent. "You are in the East Palace. It will be more convenient for the imperial physician to come and treat you. I can also take care of you at any time!"
Jiang Luli just felt overwhelmed.
This poor kid really deserves to be punished!
He suppressed his temper and spoke slowly. "Your Highness, this is my last wish. I want to die in my own home."
"Your Highness, please grant my son's wish!" Jiang Luan also spoke, his tone pleading. "He has worked tirelessly for the Great Camp in the past few years, fighting on the battlefield, and he is already exhausted. Now that things have come to this, it's time for him to return to a place he is familiar with and spend a few days in comfort."
Jiang Luan looked at his "weak" son lying on the bed, his heart filled with emotion.
People often say that if a child is too smart, he or she no longer belongs to his or her parents from the moment he or she is born.
His Jiang Luli is like this.
At the age of three, he showed a great talent for reading and had a photographic memory. He started learning martial arts at the age of five and was able to defeat veterans in the army at the age of ten.
But since he was born into a royal family, this talent became a curse.
If Jiang Luli was the emperor's son, this excellence would naturally be a good thing; but he was only the son of the emperor's younger brother, and being too dazzling would only bring about fatal disaster.
So he had no choice but to send Jiang Luli away when he was a child, letting him suffer among the common people, so that he would understand: some things do not belong to you, so you must never covet them.
Fortunately, the child was not raised astray by him and had no interest in the throne.
But now I think he may have overcorrected.
The son was too indifferent to fame and fortune. He didn't even want the honor and wealth given by the emperor. He only wanted to go back to the small place of Taohua Village to teach.
Who is in that Taohua Village?
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