The maids around Princess Yong were all part of her dowry, and they were all extremely loyal.
After the prince fainted, they methodically tidied up the room and disposed of the stolen goods. Then they helped the prince, who had fallen to the ground, to bed.
Princess Yong remained seated, resting with her eyes closed. After the maids had finished their business, the matron went out to find the royal physician.
The royal physician was a court doctor dispatched from outside the palace, but he had been living in the back courtyard for a long time and was already a member of Princess Yong's faction. After taking the prince's pulse, he said, "Your Highness has been poisoned! And it has been poisoned for a long time!"
Princess Yong immediately ordered, "Who has the Prince met with recently? Arrest them all and interrogate them severely!"
The advisors in the front courtyard were unaware of Prince Yong's poisoning and were thus all captured. The Lu family members were among them, completely bewildered.
Once they were in prison and learned of Prince Yong's situation, they all cried out that they were innocent.
They were all advisors to the prince, so how could they possibly harm him?
Under the deliberate questioning of the jailers, these advisors gradually turned their anger towards the Lu family. After all, since their arrival, the prince had stopped relying on them and often plotted with them in secret.
Princess Yong acted decisively, making the Lu family "sign and seal" a cup of poisoned wine to send them to heaven. She even mercifully allowed the Lu family to come and collect the body.
Her decisive and ruthless actions shocked everyone, and the imprisoned staff members were terrified that they would be next.
This woman is truly terrifying when she goes crazy for her husband!
"You are all my husband's advisors, and I'm sure you all have your own strengths. However, the prince is currently unconscious, so it's up to you whether you stay or leave. If you stay, you will be at my beck and call from now on!"
Soon, most of these staff members left.
Using the pretext of finding the murderer who poisoned Prince Yong, Princess Yong purged the front and back courtyards, thus completely taking control of the Prince Yong's mansion.
"Your Highness, you still need to have a child," the nanny advised.
Princess Yong took a sip of tea. "I have an appointment to meet the Peng family tomorrow. Please prepare a gift for me."
Seeing that she was avoiding the topic, the old woman couldn't help but sigh.
"Granny, go and ask who is willing to conceive the young prince, and let her go. I just need a child, but whether it's my own or not is not important."
Although Prince Yong did not have many concubines, he did have several maidservants. He could choose one of these maidservants to have a child, and then make her a concubine. That would be enough.
"But they're still not as good as your own children!"
The nanny knew her young mistress's temperament; she couldn't bring herself to leave her mother behind and keep the child.
Zhai Gewen put down his cup. “His Highness has been lying in bed all day, so he must be in good spirits. Let those concubines take turns until they get pregnant.”
The old woman: "......"
Zhai Gewen's voice brooked no refusal, and the old woman stopped trying to dissuade them. Although Prince Yong was a prince, since they had taken action, they must have been fully prepared and would not do anything they could not bear the consequences of, or that would implicate their families in the capital.
The concubines learned that the prince had been paralyzed after being poisoned, and now the mistress had shown mercy by allowing them to take turns serving him in order to conceive a child as soon as possible. Once they were pregnant, they would be promoted to concubines, and if they gave birth to a princess, they would be promoted to secondary consorts. If they gave birth to the future heir apparent, they would be promoted to secondary consorts.
Upon hearing this news, the concubines' eyes lit up, and each of them put in their best effort to prepare a highly nourishing soup for Prince Yong, which he would then drink before they consummated their marriage that night.
Before long, Prince Yong became extremely weak, and his greatest fear every day was the arrival of night, for fear that his concubine would open his bedroom door.
He wanted to angrily curse Zhai Gewen as a poisonous woman, but Zhai Gewen said that her personality had changed drastically after she became paralyzed, and she was afraid that he would bite her, so she would gag him except when he was eating or drinking.
That wicked woman! That wicked woman!
However, the poisonous woman he mentioned had no time to pay attention to him. After Zhai Ge met the head of the Peng family, the two sides agreed to fight the disaster together. People from the Xuzhou Chamber of Commerce also appeared in front of the people one after another with their relief supplies.
The people did not complain about why they had only appeared now; in the face of a major disaster, self-preservation is the natural instinct. Influenced by the Peng family, their appearance now was not too late.
Thanks to their concerted efforts, the snow disaster in Xuzhou was brought under control.
The memorial from Xuzhou reached the capital, and everyone was filled with regret that Prince Yong had been murdered by villains. The advisors who were poisoned by Princess Yong had used aliases when they entered the palace, and even if their families were sent to claim the bodies, the Lu family dared not do so.
If they accept it, wouldn't that be tantamount to admitting that they secretly harmed the prince?
That's a heinous crime of treason! They can't afford to bear that responsibility.
Yuwen Wuji's illness fluctuated, and Li Wei did not hide the matter of the Prince of Yong from him. After learning about it, he vomited blood again and fell into a coma once more.
The imperial physicians in the palace were at a loss. They had tried acupuncture and medicine, but the emperor still did not wake up.
Now, they have no other choice but to wait.
Another snowfall has passed. This year, due to Yuwen Wuji's poor health, the palace banquet was not held. In addition, various families contributed money to the Grand Canal project, so the powerful and wealthy in the capital city were somewhat strapped for cash this year.
Even if they had money, they dared not make large purchases, for fear that the people from the Ministry of Revenue would find out and come running at the smell of meat.
The Xie family had a very good New Year's Eve dinner. The Xie family all moved into the Wangfu (Prince's Mansion), and the whole family was very happy and joyous.
According to custom, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, daughters and sons-in-law should return to the wife's parents' home. However, Song Yaozhu is now heavily pregnant and it is inconvenient for her to move.
Xie Liwei had New Year's gifts prepared and sent to the Song family.
The Song family did not have a good year. Although they had a daughter who was a princess and a concubine who gave birth to a prince, they did not have a son to uphold their family's reputation.
Grand Tutor Song returned to his hometown, and Song Chengzhang became the head of the family. However, he was mediocre and could not support the family at all.
During the New Year's Eve dinner, only he and his two sons were present. The second and third wives were arguing about dividing the family property, while his wife spent her days eating vegetarian food and chanting Buddhist scriptures, oblivious to everything else.
The eldest son was idle all day long, and although the second son stayed in the capital and was a minor official of the seventh rank in the Hanlin Academy, it was unknown when he would be able to climb up the ranks.
The father and his two sons were filled with gloom and didn't know what to do next.
"My lord, the prince said that the princess is now in her advanced pregnancy and should not go out, so he will only send New Year's gifts and will not be returning."
Song Chengzhang paused for a moment, which made him seem silly for getting up so early to wait for his son-in-law.
“Father, how about I prepare some gifts to visit my brother-in-law?” Song Hanzhi suggested.
"My brother-in-law has now saved the emperor and obtained an official position. He is bound to have great fortune in the future."
Song Chengzhang remained silent, thinking to himself, how could he not know? The key issue is that this son-in-law doesn't like their family at all!
If only he had treated Song Yaozhu better back then! Ironically, the daughter he thought would die first is now the one living the best life in their family!
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