Chapter 1123 - 1125 Family Reunion_1
In the Leng Palace, intermittent sobbing could be heard from time to time. In reality, since Emperor Wuning, Tang Yin, ascended to the throne only a few years ago, the harem was not yet bustling. The concubines sent into the cold palace were very few, and the ones who wailed were mainly from the time of the former emperor.
Fu Yiyi counted as one of the younger people in the Leng Palace. As soon as she woke up, she found herself suffering from unbearable abdominal pain. Wasn’t it said that the medicine was only for a feigned pregnancy, a feigned miscarriage? Why then was her lower abdomen in such excruciating pain?
At that moment, an elderly imperial doctor came in. Because of the extreme cold, his nose had turned red from the freeze, and he was shivering with his hands tucked into his sleeves.
"Fu Yiyi, I have come to treat you," the old imperial doctor said with displeasure. Coming to this kind of cold palace without a brazier in such chilling weather, he too was suffering.
"What did you call me? Who allowed you to address me by my name?" Fu Yiyi exclaimed, agitated.
The old imperial doctor sneered, "What, do you think you are still Fu Beauty? You’ve lost even the lowest rank; if not by name, should I just call you Miss Fu?"
Fu Yiyi quivered with rage, "Where is His Majesty? I want to see His Majesty!"
"His Majesty is not someone you can see whenever you wish?" the old imperial doctor retorted as he took out a bowl of medicine soup and set it on the table, "Be sensible and drink the medicine soup quickly, or you’ll be the one to suffer."
"Then I want to see General Fu. Arrange for General Fu to come to the palace!" In her anxieties, Fu Yiyi grabbed the sleeve of the old imperial doctor and pleaded.
The old imperial doctor, annoyed, shook off her grip and said, "The ladies of the palace can’t just see their families whenever they wish. Who do you think you are? Even General Fu probably doesn’t want to see you; you’ve brought him nothing but disaster."
Fu Yiyi went berserk in an instant, suddenly striking at the old imperial doctor’s face, "Who the hell do you think you are, to lecture me? Get out!"
She, in her agitation, knocked over the medicine soup on the table, and the old imperial doctor quickly dodged away, expressing his disgust, "The medicine soup was delivered to you, if you don’t drink it, so be it."
He picked up the empty bowl and left directly. Seeing the only person leaving, Fu Yiyi became desperate once again and yelled at the old imperial doctor, "You stop right there, tell His Majesty I’ve seen everything, I’ve seen it all, tell him to take me out of here!"
The old imperial doctor ignored her, cursed "Crazy woman," and walked away.
At that time, a shadowy figure appeared in Fu Yiyi’s room. Before she could even scream, her acupoints were pressed by the figure, rendering her voiceless.
Fu Yiyi recognized that the person was one of the Emperor’s Shadow Guards. She wanted to plead with him to relay a message to the Emperor, but she couldn’t utter a single word and could only look at him with a begging gaze.
"It seems you still haven’t learned your lesson." The Shadow Guard forced a pill into Fu Yiyi’s mouth and pressed her acupoints again; she uncontrollably swallowed the pill.
Soon, Fu Yiyi lost consciousness, and the Leng Palace had one more woman who turned mad from neglect.
Only when Fu Yiyi regained her senses one day did she finally understand where she had gone wrong...
Consort Yun was recovering well. Bai Ruozhu soon left the palace and returned home. Little Dengdeng ran towards his mother with his short legs as soon as he saw her, clinging to her legs and crying out loud.
"Mom..." Dengdeng could now call out for his mother, though his tone was somewhat strange.
Bai Ruozhu picked up her son, and her eyes couldn’t help but redden with emotion. Lin Ping’er laughed nearby and said, "You two really can’t bear to be apart, to be in such sorrow after only three or four days. Should I also join in and wipe a few tears?"
In her heart, Bai Ruozhu thought that it wasn’t as simple as not seeing each other for just three or four days. This time she had literally risked her life entering the palace, and Fu Yiyi had nearly skinned her alive along the way.
Of course, Bai Ruozhu wouldn’t share these thoughts with her family.
Jiang Yichun took the child from her hands, "Your mother may speak lightly now, but earlier she was heaving sighs of concern for you."
Lin Ping’er gave him a sidelong glare, "Xiaojiang is even learning to tease others now."
Bai Ruozhu’s eyes brimmed with mirth, seeing Achun get along so well with her parents, she couldn’t be happier.
It wasn’t until the family had their reunion dinner and the two of them took Little Dengdeng back to the room to sleep that Bai Ruozhu related the events that had occurred in the palace to Jiang Yichun.
"What? Such a thing actually happened, and the Emperor suppressed the news." Jiang Yichun’s expression turned somewhat grim.
Bai Ruozhu took his hand and said, "In the end, it involved Princess Diao Bin’s illness. Fu Yiyi was sent directly to Leng Palace; the Emperor probably isn’t in a good mood and doesn’t want words to get out."
Jiang Yichun nodded, lost in thought. Bai Ruozhu waved her jade hand in front of his eyes, and he came back to his senses, saying softly, "Nowadays, there are some rumors outside."
Bai Ruozhu’s eyes widened, "What?"
"It’s about the Emperor not having any offspring in recent years, claiming that the Empress Dowager is behind it all, not allowing other consorts to bear children, and the eldest royal son must come from the Ding Family," Jiang Yichun explained.
"That’s... that’s too accusatory!" Bai Ruozhu grew anxious upon hearing this, who knew what was true and what was false in the palace? With so many women vying for favor, none would want others to birth the eldest royal son, so why blame the Empress Dowager? Just because Consort Le was able to keep her child?
Had it not been for her, Consort Le would probably have been unable to escape her fate. It was clear someone was maliciously harming her, and now such rumors had spread outside the palace, wasn’t this pushing the Empress Dowager and Consort Le into a desperate situation?
And there were also the previous declarations of condemnation by Prince Duan, why were they targeting the Empress Dowager, time and again?
Jiang Yichun’s expression grew solemn, "It seems that Capital City is not too peaceful either."
...
In the following days, Bai Ruozhu often entered the palace to help Consort Le recuperate. Consort Le’s health gradually improved. The palace poison case was investigated broadly; they claimed Consort Yun, envious that Consort Le, of equal status, was with child first, plotted the poisoning. As for the poison, it was obtained from outside the palace. However, Consort Yun claimed she didn’t know about the poison found on Fu Yiyi, saying it was something Fu Yiyi used on herself.
Consort Yun was flogged thirty times and sent to Leng Palace, where she died just a few days later without recovering.
When Bai Ruozhu heard this news, she faintly felt Consort Yun was merely a scapegoat, but with the palace having made its conclusion, what more could she, an outsider, ponder?
Finally, Capital City welcomed its first snowfall. The snow was insubstantial, melting as soon as it touched the ground, unable to accumulate, much to the children’s great disappointment, even the usually composed Xiaosi sighed over not being able to have a snowball fight.
On this day, several horse carriages arrived at the Bai Residence Gate; the Main Gate was knocked open—it was Bai Zehao and company!
"Big brother, sister-in-law, it’s cold outside, quickly come into the Room to warm up!" Bai Ruozhu excitedly said, going over to help Wan Caiyue hold the little girl.
Bai Zehao and Wan Caiyue walked in hand in hand, and as soon as they entered the Main Gate, they knelt down and gave their parents three resounding kowtows.
Bai Yihong and Lin Ping’er both had teary eyes, hurriedly helping the two to their feet, both happy and scolding, "The ground is cold, listen to Ruozhu, let’s talk inside the Room."