Chapter 51: Tonic "My words are the measure."
The palace maids outside Chengluan Palace couldn't help but wait anxiously for a while, huddled together, and looked around with increasing curiosity. What did the people in front of the emperor give to their master?
Qingzan was not in a hurry to know which door in the palace the key corresponded to.
After all, the house can't be escaped.
The emperor once joked that he would hide her in a golden house. Perhaps he had prepared a room full of gold, silver, and jewelry for her, or perhaps he had enclosed a beautiful building or pavilion as a treasure land belonging to the two of them alone.
He always has a lot of good moods.
She gave the things to Doukou to keep.
On the contrary, the sight of so many palace maids waiting to welcome her made Qingzan sense something different.
It feels heavy and warm. She can no longer walk alone. There are always people who are worried about her, and naturally there are more people who need her consideration and care.
As soon as the eunuch in front of the emperor left, Suoying rushed out of the crowd and ran towards Qingzan.
Qingzan turned around and saw the slender figure getting closer and closer in the long corridor.
The first thing Suoying did when she arrived was to check her from head to toe, as if she was worried that she had suffered some pain in the hunting palace.
Even the news of Qingzan's promotion to Ronghua had already reached the palace before her people.
"I'm fine." Qingzan smiled and took the other person's hand as they walked back. "How about you guys? Did you eat Hu Bing on Mid-Autumn Festival and watch the moon?"
It was another enthusiastic young eunuch at the door who responded:
"Eat, eat! We might even eat better than our master does in the hunting palace!"
Pingting smiled and said, "You're confused, aren't you? Master Ronghua has plenty of wild game in the hunting palace."
"That's right, Rong Hua, do you still care about the dough you kneaded that you can't even see the shape of?"
Everyone was laughing warmly and affectionately, so even though the lotus pond in Chengluan Palace was indeed withering due to the season, with only a few yellow leaves left that had not been cleared away, waving in the autumn sun and west wind, the scenery did not seem bleak.
Zhaoshui Palace was well maintained, and the servants had not been lazy during the days when the master was away. Before Qingzan left, he specifically told them to take a break during this period, but it seemed that no one listened.
But just as he stepped onto the shiny polished bricks in the hall, and before he could even enjoy a sip of the welcoming hot tea, someone suddenly came to report that the Queen Mother wanted Master Ronghua to go to Ziquan Hall.
Qing Zan then remembered to ask the Queen: "I heard that the Queen was not feeling well and came back early to recuperate. I was really worried. Do you know how the Queen is doing these days?"
The Queen was very concerned about her reputation and would not spread the news that she had frightened the man to the point of making him sick and mentally exhausted.
But it is hard to say whether the Empress Dowager will accuse her.
In this palace, the Queen Mother, who has always had a mediocre relationship with the Queen, is the one most likely to support her.
Qingzan had the eunuch who had delivered the message sent away carefully, saying that she would be back shortly. "Please tell the eunuch that I am tired from the journey and cannot face the Empress Dowager without bathing and changing clothes."
Pingting invited Qingzan to the inner room and said, "Master, there is something strange happening in Fengzao Palace."
The reason why we have to discuss it behind closed doors is, firstly, it concerns the Queen Mother and people cannot comment on it casually; secondly, this bizarre thing is indeed very strange and in this palace, weird and supernatural things cannot be spoken casually.
"The Empress returned to the palace alone, a fact that many people were suspicious of. But what was even stranger was that after her return, she seemed to have lost her soul for several days, crying at night. The imperial physicians were helpless. This alarmed the Empress Dowager, who had the Empress imprisoned in Ziquan Palace for two days. No one knew what happened, but after she came out, her condition gradually improved. Later, I heard that it was..."
When Pingting came to the most crucial point, she fell silent, as if she didn't dare to continue.
"Did you do it on purpose? Tell me quickly." Qingzan urged.
Pingting then covered her lips and spoke cautiously, "It's said that the Empress Dowager hired a sorcerer to exorcise the evil spirit that had attached itself to the Empress, and the Empress has since returned to normal. Someone saw the sorcerer enter and leave the Purple Spring Palace with their own eyes, and the time he spent there also matched up with the Empress's time there."
Pingting didn't really believe these things at first, but because the matter was covered up, the truth that finally came out made even those who didn't believe it waver.
Only Qingzan knew that this was absolutely impossible.
There was no other reason, it was just that if there really was an evil spirit, she should be the one who disturbed the queen's peace.
From Pingting, Qingzan also learned that the wife of the Marquis of Yongning had entered the palace once, and it was unclear whether it was for her imprisoned father or for her frightened precious daughter. Then, it was discovered that the Queen had suddenly become friends with Concubine Yang recently and was very concerned about her pregnancy.
There was no time to ask for details, so Qingzan changed into a dress of dark blue and moon white and headed for Ziquan Palace.
Nanny Lian had already been waiting outside the hall.
Qing Zan quickened her pace and walked forward: "Why should I trouble Madam to wait for me in person?"
Nanny Lian bowed and put her hands in her pockets again, "Ronghua, please go in quickly. Making me wait any longer is just a small matter. Making the Empress Dowager wait is a matter of great importance."
Qingzan could certainly hear the warning and reminder in these words.
Today, however, the weather was slightly cooler, and the pepper paste within the Purple Spring Hall was showing its benefits, warm as spring, impervious to the chill. The Empress Dowager dozed with her eyes closed on a chaise longue carved with cloud patterns. A phoenix censer before her burned with a generous supply of ice flakes, emitting clouds of fragrant, auspicious smoke. This place seemed less like a palace of peppers and orchids than a dreamland of mist and clouds.
The Queen Mother's face was faintly visible in the cigarette smoke: "Are you here?"
"Yes." Qingzan walked around behind her, knelt down at the head of the chaise longue, and began to massage the acupoints on the empress dowager's forehead, just like when she was in Hanliang Palace.
The Queen Mother chuckled: "You are quite obedient."
Perhaps this method had indeed awakened some memories of their time together in Hanliang Palace. The Queen Mother's voice had softened considerably, but her words were earth-shattering: "I know everything about the Duan family."
Know everything? But how much does this word "all" actually encompass?
——The Queen couldn't get pregnant, and they wanted to use her belly as a substitute. As well as their murderous deeds, her life experience, and everything she did to the Queen... Did you know everything?
Qingzan lost control of the force of her hands, and the Queen Mother cried out, "Ouch!" "You child, you are so clumsy that you hurt me. That's enough. I don't need you to serve me anymore."
The Queen Mother had someone look at the table. Qing Zan, believing that the more she spoke, the more mistakes she would make, remained silent, waiting to hear what the Queen Mother had to say.
Seeing her gentle and well-behaved appearance, the Queen Mother sighed and said, "It wasn't the Queen who told me, it was the Emperor."
The emperor is too absurd.
She had no choice but to investigate and found out the old grudge between the woman in front of her and the Yongning Marquis Mansion.
If she had known there was such a deep blood feud, she would never have agreed to let her become the emperor's concubine.
If we allow such people to grow stronger, the two sides will have to fight to the death, and there will be no peace in the harem.
The Queen Mother had someone help her sit up. While stretching her muscles, she asked Qing Zan, "Do you know why the Queen seemed possessed after returning to the palace?"
Qingzan couldn't help but glance at the empress dowager's expression when she asked the question.
Of course she knew. Wasn't it because she frightened the Queen so much? She was just one step away from death in the enclosure. That delicate young lady must have been suffering from nightmares for night after night, leaving her in a trance, right?
Doesn’t the Queen Mother know yet that she used Songtsen to intimidate the Queen?
Qing Zan suppressed the confusion in her heart and whispered, "I don't know."
The Queen Mother stared at her for a moment, and seeing her like this, her expression improved a little: "I'm sorry you don't know."
The Queen Mother called out to the palace attendant not far away: "Come here, bring it up."
Obviously, since the Queen Mother had given instructions long ago and the palace maids were already prepared, there was no need to make things too clear.
However, when Qing Zan saw the bowl of black medicine, she was completely confused and at a loss as to what to do. She couldn't help but wonder, "What is this...?"
The Queen Mother simply had the medicine bowl brought directly to her.
During this process, every bit of her panic was scrutinized to the extreme.
The Queen Mother spoke even more slowly, "After the Queen returned, she summoned the imperial physician, who prescribed her a tonic to soothe her mind and heart. However, after taking the medicine, she became even more confused. It's truly strange."
Qingzan was stunned.
Tonic...? The Queen's frightened state is due to someone secretly manipulating her, and it's not just because she was frightened?
Thinking about it this way, the imperial physician Zhu who served the queen was from a branch of the Zhu family and was related to the queen. Under normal circumstances, it was impossible for him to betray the queen.
But Zhu Mingcheng is now at a critical juncture. The severity of the sentence and the emperor's future attitude towards the Zhu family are all related to the entire Zhu family. If it is the emperor... If it is the emperor, he may be able to control the Zhu family and serve a bowl of poison that will have the opposite effect.
Besides, the Zhu family might already have some resentment towards the queen.
Could it be that Your Majesty has been able to do this for her?
Was he planning to leave behind only a sickly, unconscious queen, a walking corpse, to avenge her? Or was it to compensate him for not touching the Duan family?
Qing Zan was confused at this moment, not without surprise, but also moved...
But it's not enough, far from enough. The Duan family is still alive, how can they comfort the spirit of their deceased mother in heaven?
The Queen Mother seemed to know what she was thinking. "Just as you think. The Queen, to the court and the Emperor, is like that gorgeous Zhaifu on the clothesline. It just needs to exist. Anyway, it is locked away in the deep palace, and no one can see it."
The Queen Mother laughed sadly, "I have said all I wanted to say. Drink it, or the medicine will lose its effect if it gets cold. Do you really want me to personally invite you to drink it?"
Qingzan couldn't stretch out her hands, which were clenched under her sleeves, no matter what.
Her throat tightened. "What kind of medicine is this? Please tell me, Queen Mother."
“It’s a tonic, naturally.”
The medicine prescribed by the imperial physician to the queen was also called a "tonic medicine".
Qing Zan's heart sank again and again: "I don't know what I did wrong."
The Queen Mother looked particularly hateful and unkind today.
The graceful lady slowly pursed her lips, rich red without any rouge, and said with a half-smile, "Everything has its limits. The emperor dotes on you excessively, and that's your fault. However, I didn't say I was punishing you; this is a reward."
Qing Zan trembled her thin fingers and picked up the bowl of black medicinal juice: "If it is a reward, then I have no merit to reward."
The Queen Mother could see that she was deliberately delaying, so she didn't urge her. "Serving the Master diligently, how can it not be considered a merit?"
There was suddenly some noise outside, which was quite abrupt in the usually solemn Empress Dowager's Palace.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you cannot go in yet!"
"Please let this servant go in and pass the message first."
"Get out of here." The emperor's cold and sharp voice was like an arrow streaking through the air, piercing through the carved and golden walls.
Then, someone could be heard being kicked to the ground. The person seemed to be holding back and not uttering a single wail.
The Empress Dowager finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Nanny Lian, hurriedly following the Emperor. Fortunately, the Emperor hadn't been so ruthless as to kick Nanny Lian. If she had been hit in the heart, her old bones would have been broken.
Lian Ma Ma bowed and smiled apologetically at the Queen Mother, saying, "This old servant cannot stop Your Majesty."
Xiao Fang's eyes swept across the untouched medicine in Qingzan's hand and fell on the Queen Mother: "What do you mean, Mother?"
The Queen Mother was criticized by her own son, but she did not seem to be heartbroken. She just sighed: "I am not like you, who does things without considering the limits."
Xiao Fang took another step forward, his boots and brows revealing an unyielding pressure: "I am the Son of Heaven, and my words are the measure."
The Empress Dowager was stunned for a moment, her gaze still drifting away with a sense of melancholy. "The last time I came to save someone, I didn't see you this impatient. I'm not as capable as the Emperor, and I would never feed someone such a dangerous drug. You're just too concerned, the Emperor—when he gets serious, he's even more arrogant than your father."
While the mother and son were arguing with each other, Qingzan raised his head and drank the medicine clean.
The Queen Mother smiled and said, "That's right."
"The Emperor loves you, so you must soon give birth to children for the royal family, so as to live up to the Emperor's grace and not be afraid of what others say."
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