Chapter 72 The truth comes out: "Stirring up spring water with fingers."...
As lunchtime approached, Ji Changyue stood at the main entrance of Ganquan Palace, gazing at the distant scenery. After standing there for a while, she turned back.
Inside the room, she stood to the side and gently opened the vermilion dressing case beside the dressing table.
The dressing case was completely empty.
Not only the King of Qin's seal, but also the Empress Dowager's seal was missing.
She gave up completely and slowly closed her eyes.
After a long while, she opened her eyes again, and her cold, piercing gaze was reflected in the bronze mirror.
Banban was dining with Ying Zheng when Congyun rushed in from outside, her face flushed, "Your Majesty...Your Majesty!"
"What urgent matter is it?" Ying Zheng raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Cong Yun has always been a steady person and never chatters.
"After Marquis Changxin came out of Ganquan Palace, for some reason he did not leave from Zhaoxin Palace, but instead went to Taxue Pavilion. The two young masters, Xuanxi and Xuanjiao, were sitting outside eating bamboo, and the palace servants were cleaning their courtyard."
Upon hearing that Lao Ai had inexplicably taken a detour from Taxue Pavilion, Ying Zheng's face suddenly darkened.
Banban was terrified, "Could it be that he hurt them??"
“No, no…” Cong Yun’s tone paused strangely, and an indescribable expression appeared on his face. “Marquis Changxin probably didn’t expect the young masters to have grown up so much, and he exclaimed in surprise. Unexpectedly, the sound frightened Xuan Jiao, who was eating.”
Banban: "Huh?"
"Then...then, then Xuanxi pounced on him and bit Marquis Changxin."
Ying Zheng: "..."
Banban: "..."
Well, how should I put it?
"Where is he? Has he been summoned as a physician?" Ying Zheng asked.
Banban was astonished. Pandas have an amazing bite force; they can even eat wood and fences, let alone human bodies.
"Marquis Changxin has left the palace. We servants were about to summon a physician for him, but he left with blood on his hands." Congyun's expression was strange. "From what I can see, his calf and ankle seem to have been bitten off. He can't exert any strength. During his struggle with Xuanxi, he was also hit in other places. I don't know the extent of his injuries. If it weren't for the fact that the palace servants at Taxue Pavilion were familiar with the two young masters and could be easily calmed down, Marquis Changxin's injuries would have been much more serious."
Upon hearing this, the couple fell silent again.
They exchanged a glance, then Banban touched her temples and lowered her head.
Cong Yun was puzzled. Wasn't this a big deal? Why did the two masters have such expressions?
Was that fleeting glimpse of someone trying to suppress a laugh?
After thinking for a moment, Banban broke the unbearable silence, "He certainly wouldn't dare stay and let the imperial physician treat his injuries."
Do you even need to think about it? Because he's a fake eunuch!
I just don't know where else the panda beat him up.
Before long, Jingxin came from Ganquan Palace to deliver a message about Ji Changyue, and Ying Zheng nodded to indicate that he understood.
Qin Ju came in and whispered a message in his ear.
Upon hearing this, Ying Zheng chuckled on the spot. Banban wanted to hear it too, so he beckoned and repeated Qin Ju's words to his wife.
The panda's paw struck not just anywhere, but precisely an inch below the lower abdomen of Marquis Changxin. By the time he arrived at the palace, it was too late for treatment; he—
"puff--"
Banban covered her mouth and held back for a long time, but she couldn't help it anymore. "Hahahahahaha!" she laughed until tears streamed down her face.
"Now he's a real eunuch!!!" How can this not be karma?
Ying Zheng's expression was subtle as he leaned against the soft couch. "In the past two years, in order to win over the Empress Dowager, he has taken in many singers and maids, but he has kept a close watch on them. Many women have been ruined by him using contraceptive potions. Just two months ago, a maid became pregnant, and he actually sent a lowly servant to forcibly abort her. Now that I think about it, that child was the last child of his life, but he killed it with his own hands."
I really don't know what he thinks.
"Is an abortion done by drinking those kinds of abortifacients?" Like safflower or musk.
"These are all precious medicinal herbs, how could they be given away to servants so casually?" Ying Zheng found it amusing that even when his cousin was thinking of something bad, she could only think of the gentlest method: "Abortion, that's it, by hitting a woman's abdomen with a fist or a wooden stick."
If an unfavored concubine in an ordinary household is pregnant, she will be treated this way, let alone a lowly maid.
This is the cheapest and easiest way to have an abortion; otherwise, why would it be called an abortion?
Banban froze, instinctively clutching her stomach.
Women with low social status were not even entitled to a bowl of herbal medicine when they miscarried.
Modern palace dramas are still portrayed too politely and gently.
She suddenly didn't want to laugh anymore.
The root of all this evil is Lao Ai.
Noticing his wife's unusual expression, Ying Zheng's relaxed demeanor vanished completely. "I shouldn't have said those things. Did I scare you?"
Banban nodded repeatedly, like a chick pecking at rice.
She only felt at ease when she nestled into her cousin's arms.
Ying Zheng changed the subject, gently coaxing his wife while diverting her attention, "The potatoes you planted have borne fruit, not just those in the Zhaoyang Palace courtyard, but also those planted by the farm workers. After expert discussion and research, it was discovered that this crop has extremely high yields and can also help with famine relief."
"They can survive well even in mountainous and cold regions, which can effectively alleviate the problem of famine."
Banban's attention was immediately drawn, and he sat up abruptly. "Let the people over there plant potatoes! They can be used as military rations; they're easy to preserve and can be roasted, steamed, or boiled!"
“It’s not as simple as you make it out to be.” Ying Zheng put his arm around her and said after a moment of thought, “Let’s send a group of people to plant potatoes and clear land to the west and north. Besides, potato roots and leaves are poisonous, so let’s take it one step at a time.”
"Isn't this land our country's? Why can't the monarch make his own decisions?"
She also remembered that the land system during the Western Zhou Dynasty was the well-field system, and land could not be bought or sold at will; as the saying goes, all land under heaven belongs to the king.
Upon hearing this, Ying Zheng shook his head and smiled, "That's exactly what you thought at first."
“From the Western Zhou Dynasty onwards, the various states followed the well-field system. What is the well-field system?”
“I know,” Banban said. “The Zhou emperor divided the land into plots according to blood relations and merits, which looked like a grid on the map. Everyone cultivated the land in the middle, and the grain was given to the Zhou emperor. The rest of the land was cultivated by themselves, and they could keep the grain they obtained.”
The textbook simply lists the land cultivation systems of various dynasties, and the reasons for their collapse and replacement are only explained in one sentence, which she doesn't quite understand yet.
Ying Zheng nodded. "Do you still remember the iron plow and ox-drawn plow you developed? There were other farming tools before that, although they were not as durable as the ones you gave to the people, they greatly accelerated their farming speed."
"If you could plow a month's worth of land in half a month, what would you do with the rest of the time?"
Banban scratched her head. "Since I'm idle anyway, how about clearing the land?" She remembered that clearing land was highly encouraged at that time.
Ying Zheng said, "Reclaiming wasteland is indeed not prohibited. The reclaimed land can be used to grow crops, and taxes must be paid on time every month."
"If taxes are to be levied, it is tantamount to acknowledging that land can be privately owned." Paying a portion of the tax money and keeping the rest is one's own—isn't that private ownership?
"The reason why the world is in chaos today is precisely this: when the states cultivate land together, conflicts arise. Who is willing to give up the land they have cultivated to others? It is not just land, but also manpower and food. Therefore, the states can only fight each other, and whoever wins gets the land."
This is the origin of the great chaos of the Spring and Autumn Period.
"With the world in chaos, all nations are frantically cultivating land and seizing territory. In order not to fall behind the other nations, it is natural to recognize private land ownership domestically and proclaim that whoever cultivates the land owns it. This is to encourage the people to cultivate wasteland." But what if the army is sent to cultivate wasteland and other nations attack?
One by one, the states fell into this cycle, and thus the well-field system collapsed among them.
"Therefore, the monarch can strongly advocate what to plant in the fields, but cannot directly order them to change their crops. A hard-line approach that does not yield any benefits will only arouse public resentment."
Banban understood, but she was thinking about something else: "Then land can be freely bought and sold, the rich will have more and more land, and the common people will have less and less land."
"Won't this cause public outrage? How will people survive without land?"
Ying Zheng pondered for a moment, "I have also thought about this issue. There are no effective reform measures at present, and any changes will be a long time from now. Let's put it aside for now and not rush it."
That's true. Any changes should wait until unification is achieved.
"Governing a country is not an easy task after all," Banban sighed earnestly. "Compared to that, fighting a war is the simplest thing."
Ying Zheng: "It has always been easier to conquer the world than to govern it."
Banban never imagined that his promotion of iron plows and ox-drawn plowing was meant to reduce the burden on the people... but this also caused a series of problems.
What kind of impact will her Six Diseases Clinic have?
"What impact could it have?" Ying Zheng gently squeezed her hand and said earnestly, "If I had to point out a flaw, I wouldn't see one. The only problem is that potential bureaucratic corruption has been effectively curbed." Those female officials were directly responsible to the Queen.
The Six Diseases Clinic, to some extent, stabilized social order, protected the workforce, and also suppressed unscrupulous merchants and suppressed medical prices.
It was a good thing from every perspective, which is why Ying Zheng decided to support it.
His cousin was not only his wife, but also his partner.
Banban also learned of the message sent back by Ji Changyue.
During dinner that night, she was still casually saying, "My cousin is worried about not having a legitimate reason to dismiss those ministers who refuse to side with you. Keeping them around is just a troublesome thing. Let's see how many of them can be turned against you by Lao Ai. It would be easier to uproot them."
From any perspective, it was a good thing that Lao Ai was forced to rebel.
She knew her cousin had a plan from the beginning, so she wasn't worried about him.
After the meal, Ying Zheng accompanied Banban for a stroll in the courtyard. Now five months pregnant, she felt that her belly seemed to grow bigger every day.
As night fell, after washing up and returning to her inner room, she peeked into the bathroom and saw Ying Zheng taking a bath.
When Ying Zheng came out, his slightly damp long hair fell loose, softening the sharpness in his eyes and brows. Especially in the dim candlelight, his face was illuminated by the flickering flames, revealing a touch of gentleness.
As soon as he arrived, his cousin snuggled into his arms, her soft hands groping him and stirring up trouble haphazardly.
"I can tell you've been holding back a lot," he teased, pinching her round cheek.
"Don't just talk about me," she said, urging him to hurry up.
"Don't move." He stopped her movements; if she didn't make a sound, she would definitely pull him down on top of her.
He picked her up and held her face to face with him. He remembered the doctor's instructions and didn't dare to be too unrestrained. However, even before he had kissed or touched her much, he was already being overly affectionate.
After months of intimacy, both of them were somewhat unable to control themselves, but fortunately he remained rational and was able to control himself.
My cousin, however, felt wronged; it was like trying to stop an itch through a boot—not satisfying at all.
Qianqian came twice, and he had no choice but to leave her.
She thought he wasn't coming, and hugged him in a daze.
The next moment, he pressed a hot kiss to her face and lifted her thin clothes.
Stirring the spring water with my fingers.
He had complete control over all her changes in expression; her intermittent sobs, her broken breaths, and her unconscious search for the light touch of his lips as she hovered in mid-air.
After finishing, I took her to wash again.
Banban was already drowsy, but her cousin kept asking her how she was feeling, and she was tired of answering "I'm fine".
She was indeed feeling really pent up, and she felt much better when she got up the next day. She felt much more refreshed. However, she remembered seeing her cousin doing handicrafts helplessly in the bathroom last night, as if she were half asleep.
She looked rather pitiful. I took care of it for her, and she fell asleep.
When he returned at noon, he brought a physician with him. He was only relieved after the physician checked his pulse and confirmed that he was alright.
"Go to Ganquan Palace to check the Empress Dowager's pulse to ensure her well-being," Ying Zheng casually remarked.
"Yes, sir." The physician obediently left.
As the physician left, he thought to himself how close the King and Queen were, that even in this situation they showed no intention of taking a concubine. He had heard that in the past few months the King had spent his free time practicing martial arts with the old General Wang Jian.
In Ganquan Palace, Ji Changyue sat upright, examining the items in the box, taking them out one by one and discarding them, while the imperial physician entered the hall to examine her pulse.
She was indeed tired after tidying up for so long, so she gave all of these items to her servants, saying, "There are many valuable items among them; you can take them and sell them for money."
The physician, with his eyes focused on the nose and his mind at ease, waited for the Empress Dowager to sit down before draping a silk handkerchief over her to take her pulse.
Ji Changyue stared at him for a while, then suddenly said, "You must be the physician who used to take care of the Queen, right?"
"Indeed, your humble servant Xu Qingfeng has some expertise in gynecology and specializes in taking care of the Queen's unborn child."
Ji Changyue chuckled lightly, "It seems you are someone the King trusts very much, but I still have to remind you, you know what you should and shouldn't say."
The Empress Dowager glanced meaningfully at her own wrist.
Xu Qingfeng lowered his eyes and said respectfully, "Of course... Her Majesty the Empress Dowager has worked hard and her health is somewhat depleted. May I prescribe some medicine for you to take?"
The Empress Dowager did not want others to know that she had been pregnant in the past two years, so Xu Qingfeng naturally kept quiet.
Upon hearing this, Ji Changyue relaxed slightly and sighed, "The medicine isn't very tasty, it's quite bitter. It will get better on its own if left untreated."
She gave birth to twins, which did take a toll on her health, but it wasn't a serious problem.
“How can this be? The Empress Dowager is the Empress Dowager of the country and the King’s birth mother. Your health is of utmost importance.” Xu Qingfeng hurriedly advised, “Your subject will try to prescribe some medicine that is not so bitter.”
Ji Changyue was a good-natured person, so he nodded casually and let him go.
Xu Qingfeng sat down to write the prescription. Ji Changyue glanced at it a few times and suddenly asked, "Is all my health depleted afterward?"
Xu Qingfeng was puzzled. "Of course."
"If a woman is pregnant and cannot terminate the pregnancy due to physical weakness, will the fetus have a more profound impact on the mother's body?"
Without a second thought, Xu Qingfeng replied, "The Empress Dowager is in good health and not frail, so this kind of situation is unlikely to occur."
Ji Changyue was stunned. After hesitating for a long time, she stopped beating around the bush and asked, "My body, there's no situation where I can't abort that pregnancy?"
Xu Qingfeng was Ying Zheng's man, so she had nothing to hide; resolving her own doubts was more important.
Ji Changyue was stunned, and Xu Qingfeng was even more stunned. He was extremely puzzled. "Empress Dowager, your body is very healthy. How could you be unable to have a miscarriage? Even if you had a miscarriage now, at most you would suffer some damage, which can be replenished with some medicine." Could it be that it would damage your body more than giving birth?
Upon hearing this, Ji Changyue was struck dumb, and her expression changed drastically.
After Xu Qingfeng left, she sat listlessly at the table, her breathing labored and unsteady, her sharp fingertips digging into her palms, her whole body trembling.
The physician who examined her pulse at the time said that she was weak and that miscarriage would endanger her life. Ji Changyue cherished her life and was afraid of dying, so she had no choice but to go to Yong to give birth.
Was it all just a lie?
Haha, as expected, he was deceiving her from the very beginning, aiming to climb the social ladder through her, coax her into having a child to change her fate, and now he even wants to use her to kill her son.
Ji Changyue was furious. Her breathing became heavy and uneven. With a "pfft," she spat out blood and fainted.
When Ying Zheng and Banban arrived, they found the Empress Dowager insane.
"I'm going to kill him! I'm going to kill him! I'll make him suffer a terrible death!"
"Mother!" Ying Zheng immediately stepped forward to support Ji Changyue. "What happened to you?"
"I hate him, kill him, kill him... kill him!" Ji Changyue seemed to see a lifeline, clutching her son's clothes tightly, her expression pale and broken. "I was so foolish to have given birth to two children for him, disgusting!"
As she spoke, she gagged, "Ugh—", but nothing came out except blood.
When Ying Zheng saw the blood, his pupils dilated, and he quickly took a handkerchief to wipe the corner of her mouth.
"I only regret that I didn't kill those two bastards myself." Ji Changyue laughed loudly. "They have that vile woman's blood flowing in their veins, how could they deserve to live!"
She hated both the children as well.
Banban suddenly covered her mouth, her mind racing with a thousand "Holy crap" thoughts. What had she just heard?
A child? My aunt actually has a child with Lao Ai?
No wonder she went to Yongdi to recuperate... No wonder my brother was in a bad mood recently.
"Soon, I will bring Lao Ai to Mother, and you can kill him however you wish."
As for the two children, since he so enjoys killing his own children, how could Ying Zheng not let him have his way?
After calming Ji Changyue down, the couple left Ganquan Palace together. More shocked than amused, Banban changed the subject, saying, "Let's go to Taxue Pavilion to see Xuanxi. It bit Lao Ai. I wonder if it has been calmed down yet."
"I didn't tell you about this, because it was my mother's private matter."
The two voices were almost simultaneously produced.
Banban blinked and comforted him, "It's okay."
Seeing that she didn't care at all, Ying Zheng added, "Besides, you can't hide anything on your face. If you find out, you'll probably give yourself away."
Banban: "...?"
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