Chapter 96 Deterioration
The eighth prince Yinsi just lived in Chengqian Palace, and no one had any objection to it.
At the Mid-Autumn family dinner, countless concubines had tears in their eyes when they saw the two royal princes accompanied by Tong Jia.
Even Concubine Yi, who also had two princes, looked at Tong Jia with envy. After all, she didn't have to suffer the pain of childbirth and got two princes for free, while she had worked very hard to give birth to these children.
Tong Jia sat in her seat, enjoying everyone's gaze.
Concubine Hui was temporarily released from her confinement and came as well. However, compared to the previous few months, Concubine Hui was much thinner and more silent. When other concubines approached her to talk, whether they were well-intentioned or wanted to make fun of her, she acted indifferent.
Only when the eldest prince Yinzhi came to pay her a visit with his first wife did she manage to perk up a bit of spirit.
This Concubine Hui is completely different from her previous self.
Yuying also saw the Eighth Prince next to Tong Jia, who looked a little fatter than when he was next to Concubine Hui, and was currently sitting next to the Fourth Prince Yinzhen.
That’s right, the person Yinsi was closest to when he went to Chengqian Palace was Yinzhen. Although he was still not talkative, as long as Yinzhen appeared, he would obediently go over and hold his hand.
Yuying looked at the scene of the four or eight people living in harmony not far away. As a person who is familiar with history, Yuying's mood was complicated.
"Empress Jin, I offer you a toast."
As Yuying is now a popular concubine, naturally there are people who toast her, and quite a few of them.
All in all, Yuying drank quite a lot of wine that night, and her eyes looked blurry.
Kangxi, who was sitting in the upper seat, took everything in. He lowered his head and ordered Liang Jiugong to remove Yuying's wine and replace it with milk to relieve the greasiness.
Naturally, Kangxi's order was quickly carried out. Several palace maids came forward and quickly removed all the wine on Yuying's table without waiting for her to react.
"Hey——" Yuying stretched out her hand to Erkang, but still failed to stop the palace maids from leaving.
At the end of the banquet, Yuying was already drowsy. Many young princesses and princes could not hold on any longer and began to yawn.
Even the Ninth Prince, who usually had the most energy, stayed in Concubine Yi's arms and refused to come out, looking very sleepy.
After Yuying yawned again, Kangxi finally announced the end of the banquet.
Qingtao helped Yuying walk out.
The moon is exceptionally bright tonight, and it looks like a soft light effect when it falls on the ground.
Yuying was the only concubine living in Yongshou Palace. The rest had been moved away by Kangxi during the renovation, so Yuying had no one to accompany her on the way back to Yongshou Palace. Fortunately, Qingtao was there.
A good night's sleep.
In the dream, Yuying was still sharing mooncakes of various flavors with her parents.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the heat finally subsided and the weather gradually turned cooler.
Perhaps because of her old age, the Empress Dowager fell ill again, and her illness was more serious than any previous time.
Kangxi hasn't entered the harem for some time.
Even during the days when the Empress Dowager was unconscious, Kangxi did not even attend the morning court. He stayed by the Empress Dowager's bedside all day, personally tending to her and feeding her medicine.
All the staff of the Imperial Hospital were called to the Cining Palace.
"If you can't cure the Empress Dowager, there's no need for your heads to remain on your necks."
A group of elderly men were crowded in a side hall, talking among themselves, but no one could speak up with a clear treatment method.
After all, the Empress Dowager was old, and everyone was afraid that an inaccurate use of medicine would cause the Empress Dowager to get hurt, leading to them being beheaded.
The situation came to a standstill for a moment.
On the third day when the Empress Dowager was in a coma, Kangxi also did not sleep for three days in a row and stayed by the Empress Dowager's bedside day and night.
Fortunately, the Empress Dowager was still able to swallow on her own, and the situation had not yet reached its worst point.
On this day, Kangxi was still guarding the bedside of the Empress Dowager. Seeing a group of imperial doctors gathered in the hall, he became angry and shouted, "What are you all doing here? Why don't you go and think of a solution?"
No one in the Imperial Medical Service dared to disobey Kangxi's order at this time. They quickly opened the palace door and retreated. The last one to leave was a young imperial physician. Before leaving, he glanced at Kangxi and then carefully closed the door.
The only people left in the palace were the unconscious Empress Dowager, Emperor Kangxi and Sumalagu.
Su Malagu was heartbroken when she saw her princess lying on the sickbed, but she also felt sorry for the child she had raised. She advised, "Your Majesty, please go and take a rest. You haven't slept for three days and three nights. If you continue like this, I'm afraid your body will collapse before the princess wakes up."
But Kangxi didn't call him Kangxi anymore. Instead, he asked Su Malagu to go and have a rest. After all, Su Malagu was the same age as the Empress Dowager, and Kangxi was worried that her body couldn't hold on.
Seeing that she could not persuade the woman, Su Malagu went out.
Not long after, Crown Prince Yinreng pushed open the palace door and walked in.
"Khan Ama." Yinreng called softly, "Is Ukuma Ma feeling better today?"
Yinreng also came to the Cining Palace every day to visit the Empress Dowager. However, Kangxi allowed himself to leave the court, but he would not allow Yinreng to neglect his studies. Therefore, Yinreng could only come to the Cining Palace after the Taifu finished his lessons every day.
Yinreng also had a deep affection for the Empress Dowager. After all, Kangxi had been very strict with him since he was a child, and only in the Cining Palace, with the Empress Dowager, could he catch his breath for a while.
In the Cining Palace, Ukuma Ma often asked people to prepare a plate of grapes, and she would touch his little head and look at him kindly.
The memories came to an abrupt end.
Yinreng took over Kangxi's position. He wet a handkerchief and wiped the palms of the Empress Dowager.
"Khan Ama, go and have some rest. Su Malagu said you haven't slept for three days. Your son will be here to watch over you."
Seeing that she could not persuade Kangxi, Su Malagu called Yinreng, who could persuade Kangxi.
Of course, Yinreng did not disappoint Sumalagu.
After hearing Yinreng's words, Kangxi turned around, looked at Yinreng's eyes full of concern, and walked out the door, looking back every few steps.
Outside the door, Liang Jiugong breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Kangxi coming out.
It’s still His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who has to take action.
Liang Jiugong led Kangxi to the tidy side hall for a nap. Kangxi lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling. After three days of no sleep, Kangxi's mind was numb and he couldn't think of anything.
After a while, Kangxi fell into a deep sleep.
In a blink of an eye, Kangxi had been absent from court for more than half a month. During this period, the Imperial Hospital tried countless methods but failed to make the Empress Dowager recover. Even the time she was awake every day was getting less and less. Everyone knew that the Empress Dowager was really dying this time.
Kangxi did not go to court, but he had to approve memorials. So he simply lived in the Cining Palace and moved his memorials from the Qianqing Palace.
Whenever he had time, Kangxi would stay by the Empress Dowager's bedside in silence.
Suddenly, the Empress Dowager's eyelids trembled slightly.
The next second, she forced herself to open her eyes, tilted her head slightly, and touched her upper and lower lips, as if she wanted to say something.
Kangxi held the Empress Dowager's hand, leaned down, and put his ear close to her mouth, "Grandmother, your grandson is here. What do you want to say?"
The Empress Dowager moved her hand which was held in Kangxi's hand, signaling Kangxi not to be nervous.
Holding the Empress Dowager's bony hand, Kangxi forced a smile, with endless sorrow flashing through his heart, but he still followed the Empress Dowager's wishes and sat down on the edge of the bed again.
Seeing this, the Empress Dowager tried hard to force a relieved smile.
On this day, Kangxi served the Empress Dowager with herbal medicine and even watched her drink half a bowl of porridge. Kangxi thought this was a sign of improvement, but who knew that after this day, the Empress Dowager fell into a coma again.
"After taking the medicine for so long, why hasn't the Empress Dowager gotten better?"
There were a lot of imperial doctors kneeling in the courtyard of the Cining Palace, and each of them was sweating on their forehead due to Kangxi's questions, but they all stammered and could not give a clear answer.
Kangxi was angry, but had no place to vent, so he could only sulk.
But in the end, he did not get angry. He asked the group of imperial doctors to go back and look through ancient medical books and ask them to come up with a solution.
Kangxi returned to the side hall alone and locked himself in the room.
After a long time, he opened the door.
"Liang Jiugong, go summon Prince Yu Fuquan and Prince Gong Changning to come to Cining Palace to see me immediately!"
"Well, I obey your order."
Seeing that Kangxi had finally cheered up, Liang Jiugong felt relieved.
Fuquan and Changning arrived quickly.
Kangxi instructed the two to guard the Cining Palace when he was away, and to inform him of any situation of the Empress Dowager in a timely manner.
Then, he took Liang Jiugong back to the Qianqing Palace.
No one knew what Kangxi was thinking at the moment, and Liang Jiugong was also confused.
When Kangxi returned to the Qianqing Palace, he immediately asked people to bring water for him to bathe and change clothes. He also instructed Liang Jiugong to go to the homes of various court officials to notify them to come to court.
In the court.
The civil and military officials who had not seen each other for many days greeted each other and were all wondering why the emperor had called them here at this time. Could it be that the Empress Dowager's condition had improved?
"The Emperor has arrived——"
The originally noisy hall suddenly became quiet, and everyone knelt down towards the dragon throne on the high platform.
"My dear ministers, please stand up." Kangxi raised his hand. "I have urgently summoned you all here because I have made up my mind to open the Temple of Heaven and offer sacrifices to the heavens, hoping that the Empress Dowager can recover."
As soon as Kangxi finished speaking, there was an uproar in the court. Some praised Kangxi's filial piety, saying it would move heaven and earth, while others objected that it was too much of a fuss. For a moment, the court was as noisy as a busy market.
But Kangxi did not discuss this with them, as he had made up his mind. He gripped the handle of the dragon throne tightly, his fingers turning white.
Only he himself knew how much he was suffering. Kangxi had read a lot of books since he was young, and naturally he had read a lot of medical books. He had already seen that the Empress Dowager had reached the point where no medicine could cure her.
When people feel helpless, they begin to place their hopes on those illusory things, and that is what Kangxi is doing at this moment.
However, there was still a glimmer of hope in his heart.
A system that never appeared again.
Since it has the ability to allow him to hear his inner voice, does it also have the ability to bring the dead back to life?
Kangxi remembered that the system had said that it came from the Four Directions Beyond Heaven. Although he did not know where the Four Directions Beyond Heaven was, it was definitely in the sky.
Thanks to Kangxi's insistence, preparations for the sacrifice were quickly arranged.
Kangxi was so busy that he was dizzy. An hour before the sacrifice, he tossed and turned in the Qianqing Palace and could not sleep.
He wanted to go to Yongshou Palace to listen to Yuying's thoughts, but was afraid to hear them.
"Liang Jiugong, please go to Yongshou Palace."
In the end, Kangxi chose to meet Yuying.
Yuying was still asleep, so Kangxi ordered all the palace servants to leave and walked into the hall alone.
Kangxi came to Yuying's bed and looked at her sleeping face quietly.
He wanted to wake Yuying up so that she could talk to him, but he couldn't bear to disturb her sleep.
Without waiting for Kangxi to hesitate, Yuying turned over, as if she had noticed the burning gaze, and met Kangxi's eyes.
Yuying suddenly shrank back.
He didn't feel relieved until he saw it was Kangxi.
"Your Majesty! Why are you here? Why are you here at this time?" Yuying crawled to the bed again and looked at Kangxi, whom she seemed not to have seen for a long time.
Kangxi had lost a lot of weight, his eye sockets were full of red blood, and even his cheeks were slightly sunken.
I'm afraid Kangxi had a hard time during this period.
Yuying sighed faintly, and a hint of melancholy in her eyes inadvertently revealed.
Kangxi did not answer, but reached out and hugged Yuying tightly in his arms.
The temperature from Yuying's body was transmitted to Kangxi. Kangxi rubbed Yuying's neck, greedily enjoying this bit of warmth.
Yuying hesitated for a moment, but still reached out and hugged Kangxi back.
After a while, Kangxi withdrew from Yuying's arms and spoke in a hoarse voice: "Aying, there is still half an hour before I go to the Temple of Heaven to pray for the Empress Dowager."
"Aying, tell me, will this work?"
Yuying accepted the emperor's momentary fragility and heard his question, but could not give an answer.
As a modern person, Yuying naturally doesn't believe in these ghost and god stories.
Moreover, today, Yuying finally remembered that day when her thoughts were interrupted by Kangxi in the Nine Classics and Three Affairs Hall.
In history, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang died of illness in this year.
No matter what Kangxi did, he could not hinder the development of history.
But Yuying couldn't speak out these cruel facts.
"Your Majesty, no matter if it's useful or not, just do it if you want to." Yuying spoke carefully.
"There's still half an hour left. How about I stay with the emperor to sleep for a while?"
Yuying looked at Kangxi's red and swollen eyes and suggested.
Seeing that Kangxi didn't say anything, Yuying took Kangxi's hand and kindly gave him half of her bed.
Fortunately, Kangxi lay down obediently, and Yuying covered him with a blanket, "Your Majesty, go to sleep. I'll wake you up later."
Yuying reached out and rubbed Kangxi's eyebrows, trying to smooth out the wrinkles on his forehead.
Kangxi fell asleep.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty... Please wake up..."
Until Yuying woke him up.
Kangxi sat up, looked at the sky, then turned around and got out of bed.
"Aying, I have to go now."
"Your Majesty, please go." Yuying smiled slightly.
Kangxi did not hesitate any longer. He called Liang Jiugong who was waiting at the door and hurried out.
Although Kangxi did not hear Yuying's thoughts, he had already glimpsed her answer from the fact that she did not answer his question directly, that she was not optimistic about him either.
However, Kangxi never regretted his decision.
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