PDLP Chapter 351: Far and Near
Chapter 351: Far and Near
Lan Qingwu had not fully regained consciousness by the evening, and only had a low fever. Ruping and Ruhan had already dealt with the situation well. They first used an ice towel to cool Lan Qingwu down, and then sent someone to summon Nie Wushuang.
This immediately alarmed the Shenwu Emperor in the front hall. He knew what was going on, but he had no idea that Lan Qingwu would become ill. The Shenwu Emperor still opened the red brush in his hand, slammed the imperial desk, and stood up: "How can this be!"
Li Xiang hurriedly dismissed the eunuch who had brought the news and stepped forward to ask, "Your Majesty, Jiang Yuxian has been sent out of the palace. As for Concubine Jiang..."
Last night, after Emperor Shenwu regained consciousness, he immediately placed Concubine Jiang under house arrest. This morning, many of the unaware concubines were still unsure why Concubine Jiang, a noble concubine and the mother of the second prince, was being confined by the emperor! The Xuanyu Guards had already surrounded Baifu Pavilion.
In the back hall of Qingliang Palace, Lan Qingwu woke from a coma. Ruhan was kneeling in front of the bed with a worried look on his face, feeding Lan Qingwu medicine spoonful by spoonful. Ruping whispered softly, "Your Majesty, Imperial Concubine Jiang has been confined by His Majesty. Jiang Yuxian was forcibly escorted out of the palace last night. The head of the Jiang family received His Majesty's order to confine Jiang Yuxian to his home!"
Lan Qingwu's cheeks flushed slightly, caused by a low-grade fever. Her eyes cleared for a moment: "Oh, I see."
Lan Qingwu was not in good spirits and felt drowsy again after drinking the medicine. Ruhan said distressedly: "Master, drink the porridge later and rest!"
Lan Qingwu waved her hand gently, her eyelids so heavy that she could not lift them up. She was too tired to ask what had happened in Baifu Pavilion last night. In the blink of an eye, Lan Qingwu had fallen asleep again.
Emperor Shenwu returned to the bedroom soon. He sat beside the bed and looked at Lan Qingwu's flushed face with worry. When Ruhan was serving Lan Qingwu, she had already seen the blue and purple marks on Lan Qingwu's body. At this time, she almost couldn't control her angry expression, but was pulled out by Ruping's quick eyes and hands.
When they reached the outer hall, Ruhan shook off Ruping's hand: "Why did you pull me? I wasn't here last night, I..."
Ru Ping interrupted Ru Han: "What if you're here? What can you do? What happened last night? It happened suddenly, there must be a reason. Can you stop His Majesty just by being here? It's true that I can only blame His Majesty. When we see His Majesty later, you won't be allowed to say a single word!"
Ru Han's face was stern. "What on earth happened last night? Didn't Your Majesty say he was only going to Baifu Pavilion for dinner? Did Concubine Jiang insist on keeping Your Majesty?"
Ru Ping shook her head. "Noble Concubine Jiang wouldn't do this, and His Majesty wouldn't want to stay in Baifu Pavilion. I have two guesses. First, Noble Concubine Jiang deliberately recommended Jiang Yuxian to her favor, using some trickery. The reason was that Noble Concubine Jiang pleaded for Jiang Yuxian and allowed her to stay for two more days. Second, Noble Concubine Jiang didn't know what Jiang Yuxian was going to do, and she was being used by her. Even His Majesty fell into Jiang Yuxian's trap."
Ruping thought of something and couldn't help but frown.
Ru Han said bluntly, "Jiang Yuxian has only been in the palace for a few days. How could she have plotted against His Majesty and Imperial Concubine Jiang? And she almost succeeded! You said..."
Ru Ping interrupted Ru Han again, "Your Majesty and the Empress must have thought of what you said. There's something even more serious. Your Majesty returned to Qingliang Palace last night, almost midnight, and only after bathing. I... I suspect Your Majesty had been with Jiang Yuxian... So Your Majesty only regained consciousness later and returned to Your Majesty. You must have had some concerns."
Ruhan was stunned for a moment, and only came to her senses after a while: "What should we do? The Queen is stubborn, she...what should the Queen do?"
Ru Ping's face was also heavy. "Let's wait until the Empress recovers before we discuss anything else! In short, we put the Empress first in everything we do!"
Ruhan also nodded with a serious face.
As the night deepened, Ruhan walked into the bedroom with light lotus steps and whispered, "Your Majesty, the Second Prince must have heard that Imperial Concubine Jiang was under house arrest, and is now outside Qingliang Palace, seeking an audience with Your Majesty and the Empress."
Emperor Shenwu was completely focused on guarding Lan Qingwu at this moment. Lan Qingwu was still running a low fever, so he had no desire to see the Second Prince. He casually said, "Let him go back! Why is he still in the palace so late? What a lie!"
Ruhan obeyed the order and left. However, the Second Prince, in a rare act of disobedience to his father's orders, stubbornly knelt at the entrance to the main hall and refused to leave. Ruhan tried to persuade him, but the Second Prince remained unmoved. Finally, Ruhan said in a somewhat aggressive tone, "Second Prince, there's really no need to be so reckless. Imperial Concubine Jiang has you. Even if you've angered His Majesty in some way, it won't matter in the end. It'll just cause the Empress to get sick! You should go back. Kneeling like this will only make His Majesty angrier."
The Second Prince froze for a moment: "In this case, I should apologize to my father and mother!"
At this moment, a voice suddenly came from behind him: "Second brother, even if you don't care about our father and mother, you must consider our second sister-in-law. Do you know that our second sister-in-law is anxiously waiting for you to return in the outer palace?"
The second prince turned his head and saw the sixth prince walking quickly towards him.
The Sixth Prince stepped forward and said, "Second Brother, I only heard that Mother is critically ill. I even tried to comfort Little Seven so he wouldn't disturb Mother's rest. We are completely confused as to what exactly happened last night. You insist on kneeling and begging at the palace gate. What will Father think? How can Mother rest assured and recuperate? How about waiting until tomorrow? You and I will go to the front hall together to ask for an audience with Father. I will definitely let you see Father!"
Although the Second Prince's expression was still grim, he still took the Sixth Prince's words to heart. He slowly stood up, sighed slightly, and said with his hand, "Then I'll leave everything to my Sixth Prince."
The Sixth Prince hurriedly bowed in return, "Brothers, there's no need to be polite! But after you go back, Second Prince, please ask about the young lady from the Jiang family who has returned to the Jiang family. She was sent home last night and might know something."
The second prince was stunned for a moment, nodded in thought, looked at the sixth prince, and then turned and walked towards the outer palace.
The Sixth Prince only paid his respects to Lan Qingwu before being driven out by Emperor Shenwu. Later, Lan Qingwu finally opened his eyes. Emperor Shenwu naturally felt relieved and took care of Lan Qingwu personally without asking anyone to feed him medicine or apply ointment.
Lan Qingwu had been ill for several days. He felt better in the morning, but his temperature would rise in the afternoon.
That day, the Divine Martial Emperor stroked Lan Qingwu's forehead, his brows slightly furrowed. "Why is it still a little hot? Let Nie Wushuang try another prescription."
Lan Qingwu said listlessly: "No need to bother, I just feel a little tired."
Emperor Shenwu felt somewhat guilty: "It's my fault. That day..."
Lan Qingwu suddenly interrupted the Emperor Shenwu and asked, "How did your majesty deal with Jiang Yuxian?"
Emperor Shenwu said, "I have sent her back to the Jiang family and summoned the head of the Jiang family. I will personally arrange a marriage for her!"
Lan Qingwu calmly let go of Emperor Shenwu's fingers. Emperor Shenwu turned his head to look at her, and he had an inexplicable feeling in his heart, that was Lan Qingwu's attitude towards him in the past few days, which was quite distant and ambiguous.
Lan Qingwu said softly, "Personally arrange the marriage? If so... Your Majesty can take her into the palace, but..."
"and many more!"
The usually wise and powerful Emperor Shenwu's eyes showed a rare confusion: "Why let her enter the palace?"
However, the confusion flashed by, and the Emperor Shenwu's phoenix eyes regained clarity in an instant. In a flash, the Emperor Shenwu suddenly understood what Lan Qingwu meant, and also understood Lan Qingwu's misunderstanding of that night.