The Valued Lady is Truly Dominant

Empress Dowager Wang returned to Cining Palace, dismissed the attendants, and held onto Lian Qiao’s hand, sitting down heavily, her eyes red, but taking deep breaths.

”Lady, please don’t scare your servant.” Lian Qiao’s face was full of worry.

Empress Dowager Wang waved her hand and said with trembling lips, ”Pour a cup of tea for me.”

Lian Qiao promptly complied, went to the table, checked the temperature of the tea, and poured a cup to bring over.

The Empress Dowager took it and drank two sips before putting the cup heavily on the small table, looking lost and despondent.

The Emperor contracted an epidemic, suddenly developing a high fever and falling into a coma.

This was the shocking and horrifying news relayed to her ears by Song Zhiyuan.

The palace was tightly guarded, like an iron-clad fortress, anything brought to the Emperor’s side, whether eating, drinking, sleeping, or relieving oneself, went through layer after layer of inspection. How could such filth enter the palace and reach the Emperor?

When Empress Dowager Wang thought of the words ”high fever and coma,” her heart tightened, aching and muffled, her face turning pale.

”Lady, what’s wrong?” Lian Qiao’s face changed dramatically, hurriedly soothing her back.

Empress Dowager Wang took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and said, ”Fetch a pellet of An Gong for me.”

Lian Qiao was startled, dared not ask, quickly fetched the medicine, replaced it with warm water, and served Empress Dowager Wang to take it, advising, ”Lady, you must take care of your health, do not get too agitated, lest it harms your own body. Shall I summon the Imperial Physician to check your pulse?”

”No need.” Empress Dowager Wang shook her head, softly saying, ”Things aren’t good with the Emperor, the Imperial Physicians are all over there, it wouldn’t be wise to raise a commotion here.”

Lian Qiao appeared shocked.

The Emperor isn’t well?

”I must stay calm, the situation is unclear now. If I cause a stir here, those main consorts in the Harem might become scheming, even if the Emperor hasn’t worsened, the palace might fall into chaos.” Empress Dowager Wang bit her molars, leaned on the small table, and showed authority: ”Summon Hai Sheng here.”

Lian Qiao kneeled, clapped her hands, and soon, Eunuch Hai bowed and entered to receive orders.

At the same time, in Kunning Palace.

Empress Gongsun was also sitting somewhat dazedly on the phoenix throne, lightly biting her lip, her fingers clenched into a fist.

”Lady, your hand.” Palace Maid Bi Luo exclaimed in shock.

The Empress looked down and realized her nails had pierced her palm, oozing bright red blood.

Bi Luo quickly called someone to tend to it, and urgently wanted to summon the Imperial Physician.

”Just a small scrape, no need to alarm everyone.” The Empress waved her hand, having the Palace Maid handle the superficial wound, then summoned a few trusted aides for discussion.

The security at Yangxin Hall is so tight, who knows what happened to the Emperor. As the Empress, she cannot afford to fall behind in information; otherwise, should anything happen, her son and she would be in danger.

The Empress furrowed her brow and sighed; Ye’er, compared to his older brothers, is still young. If the Emperor were truly in trouble, how would the ministers abandon the grown Princes to raise a young child to the throne?

In general, the reign of the Empress was indeed too short.

”Lady, the guards of the Imperial Army have increased, forbidding palace attendants from running rampant in the palaces to spread news. Additionally, I learned that over at Yangxin Hall, vinegar wine was diluted with water and sprinkled everywhere.”

The Empress abruptly stood up, her phoenix eyes staring at the trusted Eunuch Liu, her face slightly pale, suppressing her voice to ask, ”Are the rumors true?”

Eunuch Liu nodded, his face also somewhat grave.

The Empress pursed her lips and said, ”Suppress the news, don’t let other palaces catch wind of it. Any palace attendants running amok, bind them and hand them over to the Imperial Army for disposal, under the pretext of defying orders.”