Chapter 1298 - 1298 The Old Grudge in the Royal Family
Chapter 1298 The Old Grudge in the Royal Family
Noble Consort Lan waited anxiously at the resting Palace of the Emperor. She knelt in front of the Emperor’s bed. Looking at the Emperor’s pale face, she was at a loss, and her fingers, which were pressing on the bed, trembled slightly.
There was a sound at the door, followed by a voice of greetings, and Chu Liuchen strode in. When Noble Consort Lan saw him come in, her complexion became a little better. She immediately stood up and said, “You… Come on, take a look. His Majesty… His Majesty suddenly fainted after eating the soup I stewed.”
There was a bowl with a lid on the table. The soup that Noble Consort Lan just mentioned should be contained in it.
In the resting Palace, the tranquilized sandalwood was burning. Chu Liuchen just came out of the abbot’s Zen room of Huaguang Temple, where there was also burning sandalwood. However, they seemed to be a little different.
“Have you called the imperial physician to come?” Chu Liuchen looked around and asked.
“Not… Not yet…” Noble Consort Lan said with her eyes turning red, “His Majesty fainted right after eating the soup. I… I’m afraid that something will happen…”
“You are afraid that something will happen, but why don’t you call the imperial physician here?” Chu Liuchen questioned sternly. He then nodded to Xiao Xuanzi to tell the guards outside to call the imperial physician.
The imperial physician was right at the side hall, so he came quickly. When he came in and saw that the Emperor had fainted on the bed without any breath, the imperial physician was so scared that his legs trembled.
“Be quick. Go see how Uncle the Emperor is?” Chu Liuchen had just felt the Emperor’s breath. Seeing that the imperial physician had no nerve to go forward, he ordered coldly.
The imperial physician did not dare to hesitate and hurried forward. When he reached out to feel the Emperor’s pulse, he breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought that the Emperor had died just now.
“Your Highness, His Majesty seems to have eaten some incompatible food.” The imperial physician looked up at Chu Liuchen, who had a cold face.
“What do you mean by incompatible food? How is Uncle the Emperor’s condition now?” Chu Liuchen asked calmly. Noble Consort Lan did not dare to cry anymore on the side, and she looked at the imperial physician with her eyes widened.
“Your Highness, don’t worry. I’ll give His Majesty a prescription now. His Majesty will feel better right after taking it. Fortunately, His Majesty didn’t eat much. Otherwise…” The imperial physician shook his head with lingering fear.
Chu Liuchen urged the imperial physician to write the prescription quickly and gave it to Derong, who entered in a big hurry. Then he asked Derong to decoct the medicine in the side hall, where there were herbal medicinal materials.
“Why did you bring the soup to His Majesty today?” Chu Liuchen looked at Noble Consort Lan with gloomy eyes.
“I… I’ve been cooking soups for His Majesty every day recently.” Noble Consort Lan finally calmed down by this time. She thought for a while and replied.
“Bring it every day? And always at this time?” Chu Liuchen raised his eyebrows.
“Yes, I bring the soups here every day. I cooked the soup myself in my Palace, so no one can drug it in the process.” Noble Consort Lan thought about it again and said with certainty.
“Where did you get the ingredients?” Chu Liuchen was silent for a moment and continued to ask.
“The ingredients were sent from the imperial kitchen. I assigned someone to pick the good ones, and after that, the imperial kitchen will send for a young eunuch to bring them to me,” Noble Consort Lan said with a frown.
Chu Liuchen fell silent for a second before telling Xiao Xuanzi, who was following him behind. “Go and check the eunuch who was assigned to deliver the ingredients from the imperial kitchen.”
Xiao Xuanzi received the order and left to ask someone outside to investigate that young eunuch.
“Did… anyone deliberately put something in the soup I cooked?” Noble Consort Lan said in a trembling voice, “I… I’ve been already very careful.”
“Well, I wonder in which respect that you’ve been very careful. In other words, how can you prove to me that you are very careful? This is the case now, and it used to be the same,” Chu Liuchen sneered, “In terms of food, you have been careless for decades.”
“No… It’s not like that…” Noble Consort Lan’s lips trembled a few times, and her face immediately turned extremely pale. She looked up at Chu Liuchen with her beautiful eyes full of tears. “Chen’er, I know you hate me, but I really accidentally fell into their trap and had the food with poison to the fetus back then…”
“Enough. Stop it!” Chu Liuchen interrupted Noble Consort Lan in a cold voice. He reached out to rub his forehead and said, “Now let’s talk about Uncle the Emperor. Your carelessness hurt someone else!”
“I… I didn’t. Chen’er, I was really careless that…” Noble Consort Lan was so anxious that she was about to cry.
“Don’t… Don’t blame her. It was my fault. I was so incompetent… that I couldn’t protect you two…” A weak voice was heard from the bed. Chu Liuchen and Noble Consort Lan turned around and saw that the Emperor had recovered consciousness. The Emperor reached out as if he tried his best to get up.
Noble Consort Lan hurried forward to help the Emperor up and put a large pillow behind him.
“Chen’er, don’t blame your mother. It’s… It was my fault that I couldn’t protect you two… Your mother was supposed to marry me, but I didn’t expect that my elder brother took away your mother by force… After your mother entered the Palace, he didn’t cherish your mother. Later … when your mother was pregnant with you, she was poisoned. It was also … my fault! It resulted in that you almost lost your life when you were born. I just claimed that you were congenitally deficient and raised you…”
Listening to the Emperor’s intermittent words, Chu Liuchen lowered his head and fixed his eyes on the floor in silence for a long time. He heard the whole story clearly between the Emperor and Noble Consort Lan back then.
Noble Consort Lan was the former Empress and also Chu Liuchen’s biological mother. Chu Liuchen had long known about this. After inquiring about this matter clearly, he had always been very resistant to Noble Consort Lan, and he even hated himself for being the son of Noble Consort Lan. As the former Empress, she was willing to be degrading, for which Chu Liuchen abandoned himself.
It was a past that he refused to accept. It was also a past that he was unwilling to mention to anyone…
“Uncle the Emperor, since you are fine, I will have to go.” After the Emperor told the story intermittently, Chu Liuchen said goodbye to the Emperor calmly.
“Chen’er…” Noble Consort Lan looked at Chu Liuchen pleadingly with tears all over her face.
“Go ahead.” The Emperor looked calm. Even though he looked at Chu Liuchen with tears in his eyes, he waved his hand and allowed Chu Liuchen to leave.
Chu Liuchen turned around and strode outside, followed by Xiao Xuanzi in a hurry.
Watching the prince and his servant leave in a hurry, Noble Consort Lan cried to fall to the side of the Emperor.
“Easy, don’t cry. Chen’er is a good child. Even if he can’t understand us for a while, he will eventually. When you panicked to send for him just now, he came over immediately, right?” the Emperor whispered to comfort Noble Consort Lan.
“Your Majesty, the medicine is ready,” Derong reported in a low voice outside. In fact, the medicine had been ready for a long time. When the family of three was talking inside, Derong did not interrupt but stepped aside quietly. As per the imperial physician, the Emperor was not in serious condition, and he fainted just because of the incompatible effect of the medicine and the soup.
“Bring it in!” The Emperor nodded.
Derong brought the medicine in and served the Emperor to take it.
“Go and investigate the matter of the soup cooked by Noble Consort Lan,” the Emperor ordered calmly.
“Yes, Your Majesty. I’ll do it right away,” Derong said respectfully, then collected the medicine bowl and left.
“You… Are you all right?” Noble Consort Lan looked at the Emperor in panic.
“I’m fine,” the Emperor sighed and pulled Noble Consort Lan to sit in front of the bed. Looking at her delicate but slightly wrinkled eyes, he said, “Sorry, it’s all my fault.”
“No, Your Majesty. We… We had no choice…” Noble Consort Lan cried again. “But … Chen’er… he did nothing wrong… I have been watching him struggle on the verge of death over the years, and I… I feel so distressed … I would rather die myself… But I can’t die … because I must protect him…”
The Emperor took her handkerchief from Noble Consort Lan’s hand, gently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and comforted her in a soft voice, “Chen’er is fine now. He is in good health. Since he married a princess he liked, he has become not as extreme as before. He will grow better and better in the future, and he will understand us.”
The Emperor put down the handkerchief and held Noble Consort Lan’s hand, and a trace of memories flashed in his eyes.
Indeed, he was the one who was supposed to marry Noble Consort Lan, but not the deceased emperor. However, by accident, Noble Consort Lan entered the Palace and became the former Empress. Afterward, the deceased emperor knew about the love affairs between Noble Consort Lan and his younger brother, and he got angry. Therefore, the position of Empress that belonged to Noble Consort Lan was vacant, and Noble Consort Lan was snubbed.
When the other imperial concubines saw that the former Empress had been snubbed, they all jumped out to bully her.
Although Noble Consort Lan was the Empress in the Palace of the deceased emperor, she actually had a tough time. One day, the Emperor happened to see the former Empress sobbing in a secluded place in her Palace. He had wanted to avoid her, but he really couldn’t bear it, so he came out to comfort her. In the heat of the moment, they made a mistake, resulting in the former Empress getting pregnant.
Later, the former Empress had gotten poisoned during her pregnancy, and she almost miscarried. She had been through many difficulties to give birth to the child, but she almost could not save the child’s life. It was not because the child was congenitally deficient, but because the child got poisoned by others even when it was in the womb. The mother got poisoned and the poison worked on the fetus…
Later, when the deceased emperor was investigating the leftover evils of the previous dynasty, he met Consort Dowager Qing and brought her into the Palace. As soon as Consort Dowager Qing joined the royal family, she began to steal the thunder of the former Empress. For a time, Consort Dowager Qing was in the limelight. If the former Emperor had not died, Consort Dowager Qing would have probably replaced Noble Consort Lan to be the Empress back then…
“Your Majesty, do you think Chen’er will forgive me?” Noble Consort Lan continued to sob and asked the Emperor.
“Yes, he will understand eventually,” the Emperor sighed again and held Noble Consort Lan’s hand tightly. “Our son has grown up. So many years have passed, and it’s time for him to take responsibility for the nation. The country was supposed to belong to him originally.”
“Your Majesty… But he…” Noble Consort Lan looked up in a panic.
“He has grown up. That’s great.” The Emperor shook his head and stopped Noble Consort Lan from speaking. A trace of softness appeared in his eyes. It was completely different from his toughness usually. “I’ve done enough for the throne. Recently, I’ve been thinking that you and Chen’er are the people I am sorry for the most. If I don’t make it up to you and Chen’er, I won’t die in peace when the day comes.”
“Your Majesty…” Noble Consort Lan’s tears welled up again.
“If I can recover this time, I’ll take you to leave the Palace and wander around outside. This was what I owed you back then. Sorry for having you and Chen’er suffer so many years of grievances.” The Emperor looked at Noble Consort Lan affectionately. It was as if he was looking at the smiling girl under the peach tree back then. She didn’t ask for his wealth or honor, nor did she want to be the Empress in the Palace. She merely wished to spend the rest of her life with him.
However, he eventually failed her.
Tears streamed down Noble Consort Lan’s cheeks. She clenched her handkerchief as if she was holding on to an unrealizable dream, in which, there was a rainbow, herself, he, and their child…