Chapter 221 Determination to die
After finally treating all the scratches on the emperor's body, Wang Dequan found that the clothes on his back were soaked with cold sweat.
"Your Majesty..."
Tang Shiliang, who followed the imperial doctors to the Imperial Hospital, walked unsteadily: "The Empress... The Empress is dying, and now she is in the Imperial Hospital, shouting that she must see you before she dies."
The emperor paused while tidying Jiang Xinyue's hair. After a long silence, he smiled at Jiang Xinyue: "Go to bed early tonight, don't wait for me."
Regardless of whether the Empress can survive tonight, the Emperor has to prepare many things in advance and discuss with his confidants.
Jiang Xinyue held the emperor's clothes with her tightly wrapped hands and looked up at him pitifully: "Your Majesty, when the fire started today, the beam should have fallen on me, but it was the Empress who saved me. She also gave me the wet handkerchief. No matter what the Empress did to me before... I... forgive her." As
she spoke, tears flowed down her face: "So... so I beg Your Majesty to give the Empress a little dignity, okay?" The
frail beauty blinked her clear eyes, and Emperor Xuanwu He bent down and kissed her nose: "I know, don't worry about these things, I know what to do."
In the Imperial Hospital, the wound on Fenyun's face had been bandaged. She knelt beside the Queen's small bed, crying so hard that the wound was bleeding, and tried desperately to arouse the Queen's desire to live: "Queen, please look, the fifth prince is here! The fifth prince is still so young, he can't be without the Queen! Please open your eyes and look at the fifth prince!"
The fifth prince, who was already one and a half years old, was led by an older nanny and staggered over.
He didn't know why his mother was lying here, but his mother had a wound on her face, and Aunt Fenyun's face was bleeding.
He knew that his mother was injured.
The fifth prince pursed his lips and burst into tears: "Mother... Mother... get up... get up... wue wue wue wue... get up..."
The queen moved her hands and opened her eyes with great effort. She looked at the fifth prince and gave him a weak smile.
Then she looked at Fenyun: "Take good care of the Fifth Prince, Fenyun... Don't go against Concubine Xian. The reason I'm in this situation today is all my fault... I didn't know people well. I trusted someone I shouldn't have trusted, and loved someone I shouldn't have loved. I... accept it."
Fenyun lowered her head in tears, feeling very reluctant in her heart: "Your Majesty, if you survive, I will take care of the Fifth Prince with you."
Tears flowed from the corners of the Queen's eyes: "I can't make it, you take the Fifth Prince to Hexi Palace and wait!"
She could always see the figures of her two sons in the Fifth Prince, and she sincerely hoped that the Fifth Prince could live a healthy and happy life.
“When the Fifth Prince grows up, don’t teach him hatred… don’t let anyone provoke him into thinking that it was Concubine Xian who killed me. I just… just want him to be alive and well, do you understand?”
She knew that Fenyun was loyal to her, and was afraid that she would be unwilling to give in and use the Fifth Prince to avenge herself in the future. She endured the pain and said, “Even if… even if I want revenge, my enemy is Concubine De. It was she who made me lose the chance to be a mother. Fenyun… the only person I hate is her.”
Fenyun cried until she almost fainted, and she nodded repeatedly while holding the Fifth Prince: “Your Majesty, I will take good care of the Fifth Prince, and I will not let anyone harm him.”
This was her master’s last wish in this world, and she would never let her master down.
Not only was the empress beyond help, she also rejected the imperial doctors' plan to prolong her life and drove all the doctors away.
She was expressing her determination to die to the emperor in a decisive way.
The lights in the imperial hospital were dim, and the pharmacy where the empress was was empty.
Under the flickering lights, the empress lay quietly on the bamboo bed, as if she had died.
But when Emperor Xuanwu walked to the bamboo bed, she seemed to have noticed something and opened her eyes.
That horrible face had been wrapped in silk, with only half of the face intact.
The emperor remained silent and did not say a word. The empress smiled softly and said, "I am about to die. We have been husband and wife for more than ten years. Your Majesty, don't you have anything to say to me in the end?"
Emperor Xuanwu raised his hand, tidied her new clothes, and combed her messy hair with his fingers, but he did not say a word from beginning to end.
The queen understood his silence and looked at the emperor with a gentle and reluctant look: "Your Majesty, I have been in the palace for fifteen years and gave birth to the first crown prince and the second prince for you. But they may not want to be members of the royal family and left me early. Now I am going to find them..."
She couldn't continue and choked: "Your Majesty, I only wish you good health, long life, and live happily with your beloved forever." The
dying person's words are kind.
The emperor took a deep breath and held her hand: "Don't talk so much. Why don't you let the imperial physician prolong your life?"
Wouldn't it be better to live longer?
The queen shook her head and said, "I don't want to look at this face in the mirror every day. I am afraid that I will die with resentment towards this palace."
How long can I live longer?
Three days? Five days?
Three months? Five months?
What's the point?
It's better to take advantage of the emperor's guilt and use my death to strive for the greatest benefit for the fifth prince and Concubine Xian.
"I have carefully followed the rules and responsibilities of being an empress all my life, and have never made things difficult for Your Majesty. I have never regretted marrying you and becoming your empress. But I... I only have one thing that I regret..."
The emperor looked at her: "Is it for the fifth prince?"
The queen nodded with tears in her eyes: "I shouldn't have left the mother and kept the son, and snatched the fifth prince away from Lan Cainu. He lost his mother when he was so young. I... I beg Your Majesty... I beg Your Majesty to let the fifth prince live with me. "Can you, Concubine, raise the Fifth Prince?"
She used all her strength to hold the Emperor's hand, the half of her face that was intact was already covered with tears: "In this harem, only Concubine Xian is the one who truly loves me, and only she will really treat the Fifth Prince well, Your Majesty... I can hand over the evidence that the Zhu family in Chang'an intends to rebel, and I only ask Your Majesty to agree to this only request of mine."
The news that the Zhu family intended to rebel was like a thunderclap in the heart of Emperor Xuanwu.
He knew that the Zhu family had always been unruly and did not listen to the court's orders, but they could always find a suitable reason to evade the emperor, so the emperor had never had a direct conflict with them. He never knew
that the Zhu family not only wanted to be the local snake in Chang'an, but also wanted to be the master of the world.
The queen did not have the energy to explain why the Zhu family could conceal the truth and evade the court's airtight surveillance to plot a rebellion.
But she was a daughter of the Zhu family and had solid evidence in her hands, so the emperor could not help but want her.