It is now obvious that what the Queen asked for is no longer possible, and the Emperor urgently needs a way out.
The way out given by Concubine Li was very timely. Otherwise, the emperor couldn't force the daughter of an official to break off the engagement so that she could marry his son, right? Therefore, no matter what Concubine Li thought, the emperor gave her this face.
"My beloved concubine is right. Since you have asked me personally, how can I not help you?" The emperor said to Empress Pei:
"I know that the Queen likes Princess Kangle, but since Prince Xiang is interested, the Goddess Wu Meng will let it go." He opened his mouth again and was about to grant Shen Qingqiu a marriage.
Gu Yanwei, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up, "Didn't the Marquis say that he wanted to keep the princess for another year or two? In my opinion, there is no need to grant the marriage now. The Marquis loves his daughter dearly, so why not ask for it later?"
What Gu Yong wanted was just the idea of the emperor granting his daughter in marriage to the prince. As for whether to cancel the engagement or not, it didn't matter. After all, he didn't want to marry his daughter off right away.
"Your Highness, let's talk about it later," he bowed to Gu Yanwei.
The emperor just had a smile on his face at the moment, but he was actually very angry in his heart. Naturally, he didn't bother to care about whether to grant the marriage or not. He also didn't bother to care since Gu Yong didn't mention it again.
The banquet continued and nothing went wrong in the second half.
But after the banquet was over, the prince, who was about to leave, suddenly fell down from the table for no reason, and then fainted.
"Quick, call the doctor!"
"Call the doctor!"
Empress Pei had only one son, the Crown Prince. Even though the two had quarreled fiercely before, she still cared about the Crown Prince.
"Call the imperial physician to check on the prince first, and then check all the meals today! How could the prince faint for no reason?" Queen Pei naturally suspected that someone had poisoned the prince.
After this happened, those who came to the palace for the banquet today could not leave.
Fortunately, the palace was large and there was always room for people to live in. But there were only so many masters in the palace, and it was impossible to set up floor heating and braziers in every palace in the winter. The unlucky ladies who were assigned to the palace that had been neglected for a long time could only huddle together and shiver to keep warm at night.
After all, Gu Yong was extremely powerful, so naturally no one in the palace dared to make trouble for him.
Everyone in the marquis's mansion was assigned to a courtyard. At night, palace maids placed charcoal basins in all the rooms, large and small. The warmth was totally different from the cold air everywhere else.
Tuan Ge'er's face turned red from the heat. He broke free from Liu's arms and floundered on the ground.
"I don't know what happened to the prince. He suddenly fainted?" Gu Yanran was a little worried.
She had some feelings for the prince at that time, but it was just a mirage after all. At this time, she was more concerned about the safety of her family. There were so many people left in the palace. If something really happened to the prince, would it be possible...
She bit her lip and said, "I just heard the daughter of the Minister of Rites crying. I heard that they suspect that the people who entered the palace to attend the banquet brought something unclean, and they are interrogating them one by one. What if we are the ones being interrogated?" The eunuchs in the palace have many ways to try cases.
Gu Yanran had also seen this before, so she was naturally a little scared.
"Don't worry, they wouldn't dare to find us even if they want to cause trouble." Shen Qingqiu said.
Seeing her so confident, Gu Yanran felt relieved, "I hope so."
The adults had different thoughts, but Tuan Ge'er was just a child. He was tired from playing, so he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Gu Yong also saw that his family members were so tired that they closed their eyes but did not dare to rest, so he just said, "Go back to your rooms and sleep."
Liu was struggling to open her eyes, hugging Tuan Ge'er, "But if we are interrogated later."
Gu Yong just smiled coldly, "It's the middle of the night, I want to see if that eunuch dares to interrogate my family?" He looked at his wife with a distressed face, "Go to sleep, I'll wait here." Liu was okay, but seeing that Gu Yanran and her son were as sleepy as chickens pecking at rice, and the old lady was also old.
"Okay." She nodded, and then said to the old lady, "Old lady, let's take the children to bed."
The old lady nodded, and Gu Yanran beside her hurriedly helped her up.
Shen Qingqiu was not sleepy, but she and Gu Yanran shared a room, and she was afraid that if she didn't go back to her room to sleep today, Gu Yanran would not be able to sleep well, so she went back to the room with them.
Crows were crying softly in the palace. Shen Qingqiu was lying on the couch with his eyes wide open. Gu Yanran beside him had already fallen asleep due to drowsiness.
Around late at night, she heard a whistle and immediately put on her shoes and walked out of the room. She had been in the palace for a long time and was very familiar with the road conditions here. Soon she reached the corner of the city wall.
Wang Xi was holding the whistle and blowing it continuously with great effort.
Gu Yanwei, who was standing beside him, had already seen Shen Qingqiu.
He patted Wang Xi's shoulder. Wang Xi turned around and saw Shen Qingqiu's face lit up with joy. "The princess is finally out. We are almost dying of bragging."
Shen Qingqiu said: "You guys can think of such a way. If I fall asleep tonight, won't you guys be here blowing all night long?"
Gu Yanwei said: "You won't."
If for no other reason than because of the prince’s situation.
Shen Qingqiu frowned slightly, "But is there any news from the Crown Prince?"
"I called you here because I was afraid that you would be worried. Don't worry, the prince's sudden fainting this time has nothing to do with the guests at the banquet. Once the palace gates open early tomorrow morning, everyone can leave." Gu Yanwei said.
"Then the prince..."
"As the saying goes, even a hero cannot resist the temptation of beauty." Gu Yanwei laughed bitterly, "I also didn't expect that as a prince, he would be so deeply in love. The servants in his palace said that since the death of the Crown Princess, he couldn't sleep all day and night, plus he drank too much and didn't pay attention to his diet, so his body has been failing for a long time. The imperial physician also took his pulse, and he ate what he was fed, but he vomited it all out. Now he is still in a daze with his eyes open."
"Can't sleep?" Shen Qingqiu frowned.
If ordinary people heard this, they would probably sigh and ask, what kind of disease is this?
But in her time, many scientists had done experiments and found that if a normal person did not close his eyes for seven days, he would definitely die.
"If I had known this would happen, why would I have helped them then?" Shen Qingqiu lowered his head.
She thought she was bringing together a pair of lovers, but in the end both of them ended up in despair.
"It's not your fault." Gu Yanwei stepped forward.
Shen Qingqiu gritted her teeth, her eyes were already a little red. After a moment, she sniffed and gently leaned her head on Gu Yanwei's shoulder, "Ask me to lean on you for a while." Gu Yanwei didn't say anything, just let her lean on him quietly.
If possible, he just hoped that time would stop at this moment.
——
Just as Gu Yanwei said, the palace gates were opened the next day and all the ladies and noble girls were released.
Important officials and ladies of the imperial court were detained for no reason; even the queen must give an explanation.
But the queen never showed up from beginning to end. The two highest-ranking concubines in the palace, Concubine Rou and Concubine Li, comforted Ge Wei as a lady of honor on behalf of the queen, and then sent everyone back home.
In the past, Empress Pei was very good at networking and would never do such a thing that would leave people with something to talk about. Now this can only prove that the prince is seriously ill.
A few days after returning to the Marquis' Mansion, Shen Qingqiu discovered something strange and she remembered the prince she met that day.
He looked pale and haggard, as if he hadn't slept for a few days, but she felt it was strange. If he was upset because of Wang Qingluo's death, it could be said that he was deeply in love with her, but even sadness needs time to settle... He lost weight too quickly, if he was an ordinary person, it would be normal.
But Crown Prince Gu Tang is a martial artist and is much stronger than ordinary people.
Moreover, alcoholism has the effect of paralyzing the nerves. Even if he was too sad and suffered from insomnia, it is impossible for him to be unable to sleep for a moment after drinking. This is a contradiction in itself.
Thinking of this, Shen Qingqiu simply changed into night clothes and went to the East Palace to find out what was going on.
During the day, all the princes in the Imperial Hospital were consulting with the prince. At night, after taking the medicine, the princes left one after another, and Empress Pei stayed in the East Palace to accompany the prince.
The prince's eyes were still open, but his expression was empty.
"My son, can you please close your eyes and get some sleep?" Queen Pei pleaded in a low voice.
But the current prince couldn't give her any response.
How could a mother not feel distressed when seeing her son like this? Thinking of what the imperial physician said about the prince continuing like this, ignoring medicine and food, she said, "Tang'er, it's my fault. You can blame me if you want. If you die like this, what will I do for the rest of my life?!"
In the face of birth, aging, sickness and death, everyone is just an ordinary person.
Queen Pei shed big tears on the prince's eyes. His eyes moved slightly, and then returned to being dull after a moment.
"Your Majesty, please go back to the palace and have some rest. If you overwork yourself, how will you take care of His Highness tomorrow?" The palace servants around her advised while helping the wailing Empress Pei out of the East Palace.
Shen Qingqiu watched outside the palace for a long time, and only entered the palace after making sure that Empress Pei and the others had gone far away.
"You!" The little eunuch who served Gu Tang was about to shout.
Shen Qingqiu pulled back the veil, "It's me."
"Princess!" The eunuch covered his mouth and looked around after a moment. "The Queen doesn't allow outsiders to enter the East Palace. Why are you here?"
Shen Qingqiu walked around him, "I'm here to see the prince."
The young eunuch was stunned, and suddenly remembered something, and tried to stop Shen Qingqiu, "Princess... forget it, the prince from the Imperial Hospital will diagnose your pulse tomorrow."
Shen Qingqiu looked at him coldly, curled his lips and said: "Are you going to stop me?"
The young eunuch felt a little uneasy when he saw her look. He served in the palace and knew that the princess was fearless. But at this moment, he could only stiffen his neck and say, "This is the Queen's order. Princess, please don't embarrass me."
Shen Qingqiu smiled, "Of course I won't make things difficult for you."
The young eunuch was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she raised her hand and knocked him out with a knife.
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