Chapter 92 Chapter 92 Gap
The palace banquet began only after all the ministers wished the emperor a long life according to etiquette.
The atmosphere became more relaxed and Nian Jiadu began to look for people to talk to. However, she was worried that Du Lingjing might be pregnant and it would be inconvenient. She wanted to chat with others but had to consider her at the same time.
Seeing that she didn't know what to do, Du Lingjing simply waved her hand and said, "Go ahead, Princess. I'll just sit here and rest. I won't go anywhere else. If anything goes wrong, I'll come back to you."
Nian Jia felt relieved and went to talk with her sisters who were princesses from the royal family.
Few people came to the pavilion where Du Lingjing rested. Seeing that she did not want to move, the palace servants helped her move a small couch and placed it next to her.
Du Lingjing signaled Qiulin for being so considerate and attentive. Qiulin immediately took out a pair of jade bracelets and gave them to the two palace maids who were moving the couch.
But the two maids waved their hands repeatedly, first thanking Du Lingjing, and then said, "Madam, you don't know that the Marquis has already rewarded us."
The two men explained to her with a smile and then retreated.
Only then did Du Lingjing realize that the palace maid was so meticulous because she had been rewarded by someone.
No wonder he said quietly that she didn't care about the child. Compared to him, she seemed to care less...
Du Lingjing thought of a certain marquis and smiled. Qiu Lin asked another question.
"Madam, tell me, why doesn't this palace maid want two rewards? You can't give her more and then ask for it back."
Du Lingjing was stunned by her question, and then she thought of something.
"I'm afraid it's not because of the 'big reward' from the Marquis, so I feel embarrassed to ask for it again?"
After she finished speaking, Qiu Lin burst out laughing, "What Madam said is very likely!"
Du Lingjing also laughed, and at this moment someone approached.
"Is my aunt really here?" It turned out to be the young prince Hui. Seeing Du Lingjing smiling, he asked curiously, "What are you laughing at, aunt?"
Du Lingjing quickly asked Qiulin to invite him over and told him what happened with the palace maid. After listening, he also smiled.
"No wonder even the red-billed green parrot will be rewarded handsomely!"
The three of them laughed again, but Du Lingjing noticed that Feng Zhen didn't look very well, his face was pale, and he looked a little wilted.
Feng Zhen saw her looking at him, and explained softly that he had caught a cold, "Feng Zhen always has some minor illnesses, so don't worry, aunt."
He looked a little lonely when he said this.
Just now, the Emperor rewarded Prince Yong Fengqi handsomely for his birthday speech. All the ministers congratulated Prince Yong, but Prince Hui came here alone.
Du Lingjing saw that he was already a little tired after just saying a few words. But today was the emperor's birthday banquet, so how could he have a quiet rest?
Du Lingjing looked at the sky and said, "Your Highness, why don't you take a short rest on my couch and recuperate before going back."
Even if I sleep for half a quarter of an hour, I can regain some energy. I have to be busy all day.
When she saw the little prince hesitate after hearing this, her eyelids on her tired face almost drooped.
Du Lingjing nodded to him, and he finally made up his mind, "Thank you, auntie, I'll just sleep for half an hour."
His little head drooped and he fell asleep on the small couch. Du Lingjing asked Qiulin to get a cloak and cover him.
The young prince looked extremely tired, but Du Lingjing couldn't help but think of the imperial concubine who was in a high position, and the marquis who came to Beijing from the northwest. Feng Zhen could see how difficult it was for his mother and uncle, and even though they were so sick, they tried their best to hold on.
Du Lingjing asked Qiulin to go to the front and watch. If everything was alright, she would let the little prince sleep a little longer, but he woke up after half a minute.
He rubbed his eyes again and again with his hands, trying to cheer himself up.
"Thank you for the small couch, aunt. Fengzhen has to go now."
Since he really wanted to leave, Du Lingjing couldn't stop him and stood up to see him off.
*
In the forest on one side.
Prince Yong Fengqi's face was flushed. He raised his hand to send away the irrelevant people and called the new top scholar Jiang Fengchuan to come forward to talk.
"This time, my birthday speech received a generous reward from my father. I know that it was all thanks to Jiang Tanhua."
Coincidentally, this congratulatory message was written by Jiang Fengchuan for Prince Yong. Now that the emperor was very pleased, Prince Yong asked about it directly.
"If you want anything, you can tell me directly. As long as I can do it, I will give you the title."
He promised Jiang Fengchuan the opportunity to ask for anything he wanted.
Jiang Fengchuan paused, and first said that the congratulatory speech was originally instructed by His Royal Highness Prince Yong, and he just wrote it according to His Royal Highness's intention.
He was humble for a moment, and seeing that the young prince was smiling gently, he spoke.
"I am a little embarrassed to ask for what I want."
The young man raised his eyebrows, "There are only the king and Tanhua here, no one else."
He said, "You can talk as much as you want."
Jiang Fengchuan lowered his eyes and smiled. He bowed respectfully in front of King Yong, and then spoke slowly.
"If there is an opportunity in the future, I will..." He paused and then said four words.
"Madam Lu."
The moment the words fell, the young prince's eyes widened and he looked at the Tanhua scholar in front of him in surprise.
What he wanted was actually Marquis Lu’s wife.
... ...
Feng Qi was still a little dazed until he returned to the crowd.
The emperor invited Jiang Tanhua to chat. It was a hot day, so Feng Qi left the people who always followed him and walked a few steps alone in the cool woods.
As soon as I reached the edge of the woods, I saw two people coming out from the other side.
The woman with a beautiful face and gentle and reserved manner was coincidentally the Madam Lu whom he had just heard.
Feng Qi paused for a moment and looked at Madam Lu a few more times. He saw her turn around and talk to someone. That person also came out. It was his fourth brother Feng Zhen.
Marquis Lu is Feng Zhen's uncle, so it is not surprising that Marquis Lu's wife talks to Feng Zhen.
But it has been less than a year since Marquis Lu's wife was ordered to marry the Marquis, but it seems that Feng Zhen is already very familiar with her and they laugh as they talk.
When my fourth brother smiled, he looked very much like the imperial concubine, with the corners of his lips curved, his eyebrows and eyes curved, revealing endless kindness and gentleness.
But Feng Qi quickly withdrew his gaze and walked towards the bridge over the small river not far ahead.
However, at the other end of the bridge, a group of palace servants carrying snacks came in a line. They seemed to be in urgent need of snacks, so they took a small path and walked quickly across the bridge.
However, in such a hurry, the little eunuch accidentally stepped on the wrong foot and fell down with a bang.
This fall not only dropped the snacks in his hand into the small river nearby, but also broke the wooden railings on the small bridge.
He was staggering, and the eunuch who was urging him on was about to tear him apart and eat him.
"I asked you to deliver a snack, but not only did you drop it, you also crashed the bridge?! Today is Wanshou Festival, if you don't want to live, just tell me, you idiot looking for death!"
After he finished speaking in hatred, he slapped the young eunuch twice with both hands, causing blood to appear at the corners of his mouth.
"Stop." Feng Qi stepped forward.
When the eunuchs saw that it was him, they immediately bowed and saluted.
He saw the eunuch's mistake before and after, "The bridge board seemed to be a little unstable, so he fell. Today is the emperor's birthday, don't make trouble, so let's leave it at that."
He spoke a few words, and the young eunuch, who had been beaten till the corner of his lip was bleeding, knelt on the ground and kowtowed to him, thanking him with tears in his eyes.
The chief eunuch could not say anything else, so he could only nod and bow before him, "Your Highness is kind. But this bridge is indeed not suitable for people to cross. I will call the garden guards and ask them to be careful."
The handling was quite appropriate. Feng Qi nodded and turned to leave.
... ...
Du Lingjing accompanied Fengzhen all the way to the river. She stopped only after Fengzhen told her aunt that there was no need to see her off.
"Your Highness is ill and is attending the banquet today, so you should be careful. If you feel unwell or dizzy, you should tell the Imperial Concubine as soon as possible."
Feng Zhen nodded in agreement, said goodbye to her and prepared to cross the river to find the young eunuch who was waiting for him ahead.
Du Lingjing watched him walk towards the bridge, but before he set foot on the bridge, a young eunuch suddenly called out to him.
"Your Highness, the bridge is broken and cannot be used!"
Who would have thought that Feng Zhen didn't hear the young eunuch's reminder and still stepped onto the bridge.
The young eunuch was surprised and called him again and again, but he didn't hear him.
Du Lingjing couldn't help but think of the day at the Marquis' Mansion. She called Feng Zhen from behind, but the little prince didn't even hear her.
Du Lingjing's heart skipped a beat and he hurried forward, and the shouting eunuch also hurried over to stop him.
But both she and the young eunuch were a step slower.
When Feng Zhen reached the middle of the bridge, the wooden board under his feet suddenly lifted up. He lost his balance and his body suddenly tilted to one side.
There was a wooden handrail on the side, but as soon as he leaned on it, the railing showed a crack.
Feng Zhen no longer held on to the railing and fell straight into the creek under the bridge.
Just then, someone rushed onto the bridge from the other side of the wooden bridge.
He stretched out his hand and pulled Feng Zhen, grabbing Feng Zhen's sleeve.
Unexpectedly, the silky clothes could not stop Feng Zhen from falling into the water.
The sleeve slipped from the man's hand and he fell into the river with a thump.
Feng Zhen suddenly fell into the water, which immediately attracted the eunuchs guarding the garden to jump into the river to rescue him.
The river was not deep enough to really drown His Royal Highness Prince Hui, but the people who gathered around after hearing the noise shifted their gazes from Prince Hui Fengzhen to the faces of the people on the bridge who had not been able to hold on.
They all looked at Prince Yong Fengqi.
Prince Yong was standing on the bridge, but Prince Hui slipped and fell into the water.
Everyone looked at the two princes with complicated eyes.
Feng Qi also frowned tightly, but did not speak for a while.
Just then, the imperial concubine came rushing over after hearing the news.
Fengzhen was not seriously injured, he just choked on the river water and was picked up by the eunuch.
But Du Lingjing noticed that the young man on the bridge's expression changed the moment he saw the imperial concubine coming.
He finally spoke, and he couldn't help but say something, his eyes fell on the imperial concubine's face.
"It's not me..."
His voice was low, but it carried a subtle hint of urgency and helplessness.
The imperial concubine was stunned for a moment.
But at this time, all the people who usually surrounded Prince Yong rushed over, and the leader was the noisy person that Shao had pushed to Prince Yong's side a few days ago.
When this person saw this situation, he reacted very quickly. He took two steps forward and grabbed Prince Yong Fengqi on the bridge.
He saw the imperial concubine and others just across the bridge, and everyone was looking over here.
He turned around and spoke to King Yong, and spoke to everyone.
"Your Highness, have you drunk alcohol and actually ran to the bridge to save people? Your Highness saved people with good intentions, but not everyone may think so. What if someone says that you pushed the person into the water? What should I do?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Feng Qi’s eyes froze.
He was still looking into the imperial concubine's eyes, but Shao's people were anxious to pull him off the bridge.
"You better leave now. If you stay, you will be slandered!"
Shaw's men pulled him off the bridge.
Du Lingjing, however, saw the whole thing clearly from beginning to end.
She couldn't help but glance at the imperial concubine and nodded.
The imperial concubine's eyes trembled slightly, she turned her head and suddenly spoke.
"etc."
Before he finished speaking, Shao and the others around Prince Yong all looked tense.
Prince Yong Fengqi also turned around.
The young man's expression was so complex that even Du Lingjing couldn't read it at a glance. His eyes were only on the imperial concubine.
The imperial concubine spoke again.
"Feng Qi, thank you very much."
Her voice was naturally gentle, just and kind. The moment she spoke, Du Lingjing saw the young man on the other side of the stream and her eyes flickered.
But he was quickly surrounded and pulled away by the people around him.
Feng Zhen choked on the water and said that it was not his brother who pushed him into the water. He was in front of his mother.
"My second brother actually helped me."
There was a ripple in the imperial concubine's calm expression.
She was stunned for a few breaths, then quickly ordered someone to change King Hui's clothes.
Marquis Lu also rushed over upon hearing the news. He was relieved to see that his wife was fine, and then he asked what had happened.
"... ...What did Prince Yong do?!"
Du Lingjing quickly repeated to him what she had seen and heard.
"... ...I see that Prince Yong really wants to save people."
Lu Shenru was surprised.
... ...
The palace banquet finally ended, and fortunately there were no other problems.
Du Lingjing returned to the mansion and changed her clothes, and then she saw the Marquis coming towards her.
Thinking about what happened today, she couldn't help but ask.
"What exactly happened to the rift between Prince Yong and the Imperial Concubine?"
Imperial Concubine Lu Huairu had raised the child who lost his mother at a young age for so many years. There must be a mother-child relationship between them. How could a rift suddenly arise?
Lu Shenru rubbed his temples upon hearing this.
He said that everything was fine originally, "but the prince was infected with an epidemic. The epidemic that year was not serious, and the prince should have been able to be saved. Unexpectedly, his condition worsened and he died overnight."
The death of the prince shocked all the civil and military officials in the court.
The civil officials and military generals who had originally been at odds with each other secretly worked against the prince. Everyone believed that the emperor was in poor health and would not stay in power for long, but the prince died before the emperor.
Everyone was confused, and when they came to their senses, they immediately started arguing about the selection of the new crown prince, and disagreements began to arise among the civil officials and military officers.
"At the beginning, when Prince Yong was still in front of the Empress, we also thought about it. After all, Prince Yong was raised by the Empress. If the Queen had not died and the Empress could not take the throne, the Yongding Army could support Prince Yong to succeed the throne. As long as he was willing to recognize the Empress as his mother and was not completely controlled by those surrendered civil officials, the struggle between the civil and military officials could continue. There was no need to decide the winner."
When Lu Shenru said this, he sighed deeply.
"But at the critical moment, something happened."
He said that Prince Hui Fengzhen had been in poor health since birth, perhaps because the emperor had been seriously ill before he ascended the throne, and the disease was passed on to him.
That year he suddenly had a high fever that wouldn't go away for days, so the imperial physician prescribed some medicine. But one day when the imperial concubine was feeding him the medicine, she suddenly discovered that the taste of the medicine was different.
Lu Shenru said that the queen took good care of the child and always tested and fed the medicine herself. "That day, she suddenly felt that the taste of the medicine was not right, so she went to find the imperial physician to ask if the prescription had been adjusted, but the imperial physician said no. The queen asked the imperial physician to test the medicine himself, and after testing it, the imperial physician said that the medicine had other medicinal juice added to it."
When these words were spoken, Lu Huairu was shocked and ordered the palace to investigate who had tampered with the young prince's medicine.
But the result was, "Except for the palace maids who had been decocting medicine for Feng Zhen, only one person had been here before, and that was Feng Qi."
The tea bowl in Du Lingjing's hand trembled slightly.
She heard the Marquis say, "The Queen doesn't believe he did it, and she even suspected Queen Wang, who had just lost her son, but she never suspected him."
But this was no small matter. The emperor had just lost his crown prince and was extremely sad. He would not allow any other princes to be harmed, so he ordered a thorough investigation. "Who would have thought that during the investigation, witchcraft tools were found in the residence of Prince Yong."
Witchcraft is a taboo in the palace. No wonder Du Lingjing had never heard of this matter before.
However, what was discovered was not other medicinal juices mixed into the decoction, but witchcraft tools.
Lu Shenru said, "But this witchcraft is directed at Feng Zhen. However, at this point, the queen still doesn't believe it was done by Feng Qi, and Feng Qi doesn't admit it either."
But the people from the Shao family jumped out.
Originally, Concubine Shao died early, and the Shao family did not expect their nephew to become emperor. But now that the crown prince has passed away, the situation is completely different.
"The Shao family said that the origin of this witchcraft is unknown, but it is the witchcraft of the Tatars outside the Great Wall. They said how could Feng Qi know about Tatar witchcraft, and the only people who know about Tatar witchcraft are the Lu family who have lived in the northwest for a long time."
When Du Lingjing heard the Marquis say this, she snorted and laughed.
"They actually said that it was the Queen who drugged her own son, and then framed the Prince of Yong, the adopted son. The Queen got rid of Prince Yong, and Prince Cheng was of a lowly birth and was always disliked by the Emperor, so the new prince must be the Queen's own son."
There was some silence in the room.
"The emperor just lost his crown prince, and this incident dragged his two important sons into it. The emperor was furious and ordered a thorough investigation. But he could not find out where the witchcraft tools came from or who put the drug into Feng Zhen's medicine. But Shao was anxious and insisted on making Prince Yong a separate person and not putting him next to the imperial concubine."
He said that his sister would never believe that it was the child she had raised who did this. She was reluctant to let him go without knowing the reason.
"But the Shaw family only accused her of harboring evil intentions and having vicious intentions!"
When Du Lingjing heard the Marquis say this, her face changed.
"Don't they think about it? Without the queen, would his nephew, Prince Yong Fengqi, be alive today? No matter how selfish my Yongding Marquisate is, we would never resort to such despicable means to frame him!"
Du Lingjing wanted to pour him a cup of tea to drink so that he would not be angry.
But the man took the tea bowl from her hand and drank up the remaining tea in her cup in one gulp.
After he said this, the people of the Shao family and those civil officials all rushed to the side of Prince Yong. "Your Majesty, you can't see him again even if you want to. You also know what happened later, which is the current situation."
Du Lingjing pondered silently for a few breaths.
"Do you think it was indeed Prince Yong who did it?"
The man said he didn't know. "But even if it wasn't what he said, those surrendered officials couldn't stand the Lu family's dominance, so they would try to win him over sooner or later. As for him, the queen treats him as her own son, but his maternal family's surname is Shao, not Lu, so he has no relatives in the royal family, not to mention that there is no blood relationship."
He said that the queen was deeply hurt by this, "She is still upset now. Even if she doesn't talk about it, she will always think about it. After all, that was her first child that she raised with all her heart."
"But the one who was most hurt in that incident was not the queen."
Du Lingjing looked up and heard him say, "It was Feng Zhen. He had been having a high fever for days. After this incident, his mother and brother separated, and his condition got worse. When he recovered, his hearing was damaged."
Du Lingjing felt so depressed that she couldn't breathe.
Marquis Lu said that apart from Hu Tinglan, no one else knew about this matter. "Zhen'er's hearing was damaged. The queen and I tried everything, but we couldn't cure him. On the contrary, he is gradually losing his hearing. It's just that this matter must not be known to outsiders."
If King Hui were to become deaf and everyone knew about it, everything he had spent many years planning would instantly turn to ashes.
There may not be much time left for him.
Du Lingjing silently held his hand, and he also held her hand tightly in return.
Both of them were silent, only the gentle breeze blowing on the window frame made a creaking sound.
But Chongping came suddenly.
"My Lord, Madam, the Queen sent an urgent message saying that His Royal Highness Prince Hui has a high fever and has lost his hearing. He can't hear what people say!"
The moment the words came out, Du Lingjing took a breath and saw the man frowning and closing his eyes deeply.
The next moment, he suddenly stood up.
"Go find the ear doctor from all over the place and send him to the palace!"
Chongping said yes, but it was difficult and it would be bad if the emperor found out.
Du Lingjing suddenly thought of someone.
"Why don't you ask the imperial physician to come over?!"
"The imperial physician is not an option. Those imperial physicians who specialize in women and children often pledge their loyalty to the emperor. It is impossible to hide this from the emperor."
But Du Lingjing said, "It's not them, I'm talking about Doctor Wang!"
Doctor Lao Wang could only treat external injuries for nobles in the Imperial Hospital, and the Emperor seldom used him.
Du Lingjing said, "The royal doctor has also studied obstetrics and gynecology. Why not let him go to the palace to see the prince in the name of treating his injury after he fell into the water?!"
When she said this, Lu Houying's eyes lit up.
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