Hua Chun frowned, sat down at the bedside, and reached out to take Wan Shi’s hand.

Her hand was ice cold. Without thinking, she checked Wan Shi’s breath.

“The Prime Minister needn’t worry too much,” the physician nearby said quietly. “Madam is only unconscious—her life shouldn’t be in danger.”

“Why did she lose consciousness?” Hua Chun looked up at him. “What’s the cause?”

The physician bowed. “Madam had a pre-existing illness. This may be a flare-up.”

“What illness?”

“This…” The physician flipped through the notebook in his hands, hesitating. “A heart ailment.”

Heart disease? Hua Chun studied the physician closely. “If she’s been unconscious for hours from a heart ailment, is her life really not in danger?”

“This old physician has already given Madam acupuncture and secured her life,” the physician said hurriedly. “As long as she wakes before tonight, all will be well.”

Hua Chun pressed her lips together—was he taking advantage of her lack of knowledge about acupuncture? If someone had been in shock this long, and it was heart disease, could acupuncture really save them?

“Pin Tan.” She spoke up. “Send someone to take my waist tally into the palace and request His Majesty’s mercy—ask for an imperial physician.”

“Yes.” Pin Tan complied.

Requesting an imperial physician in front of the Hua estate’s own physician was clearly a slap in his face. The old physician’s expression turned unpleasant, and he left with his medicine box in hand.

Master Hua sighed. “Huaer, Father knows you’re worried about your mother, but troubling His Majesty over a matter this small is probably inappropriate.”

Hua Chun opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Consort Wu jumped in first. “Master, no need to worry. Our eldest son is currently held in quite high favor by His Majesty—requesting an imperial physician is a small matter.”

“Isn’t that right? Master, just wait and see.” Consort Ren added. “Our eldest son knows his own limits.”

With them saying everything before she could, Hua Chun didn’t bother speaking further, just lowered her head to look at Wan Shi.

Shaking his head, Hua Zhengrong looked at Hua Chun and said in a low voice, “His Majesty’s favor is not something to be squandered carelessly. As a subject, one should not grow arrogant from favor.”

“Father, rest assured.” Hua Chun said flatly. “Before, this son was promised a favor by His Majesty, one wish he’d grant me—using it now isn’t a waste.”

Hearing this, Consort Ren couldn’t stay composed and frowned. “His Majesty’s granted wish? Something so important—isn’t it too hasty for the eldest son to use it this way?”

“Exactly. Madam’s illness isn’t life-threatening—getting the best physician in the capital to come look wouldn’t be difficult. Why must it be an imperial physician?” Consort Wu muttered quietly. “Might as well use it to ask for something else.”

“Liuying is still stuck in the cold palace. Even if the eldest son doesn’t consider what Liuying once did to help the Hua family, does he really not care about sibling affection anymore?” Ren Shi said. “With such a good opportunity, why not have His Majesty bring Liuying out of the cold palace?”

Hua Chun looked up at her but said nothing.

Consort Wu, dissatisfied, frowned. “The Second Miss was demoted to the cold palace by His Majesty himself. Even if you forced His Majesty to bring her out again, what favor would that earn her? Better to have His Majesty raise Xunyue’s rank—that way everyone benefits.”

“How is that everyone benefiting? Clearly only your side benefits, doesn’t it?” Ren Shi clutched her handkerchief, biting her lip. “People shouldn’t only care about adding flowers to brocade—they should also learn to send charcoal in snow.”

The two went back and forth, on the verge of arguing, when Hua Chun finally spoke up. “Do both of you concubines want His Majesty’s favor?”

Ren Shi and Wu Shi quieted down, looked at her, and nodded together.

“That’s easy enough.” Hua Chun smiled. “Give birth to a son, have him earn merit at court, and once His Majesty is pleased, he’ll grant favor again.”

Both their faces darkened at once. Wu Shi said in a low voice, “How many years would that take? If the eldest son doesn’t want to give it up, fine, but there’s no need to say something like that. Are you mocking us for being unable to bear a son?”

“Very well.” Hua Chun nodded. “I’ll say it plainly—this is a favor I earned, and I’m using it for my mother. No one has the right to say another word about it. If you want something, go earn it through your own actions, not through talk. I’m under no obligation to hand it over to you.”

The words were blunt and heavy, and Ren Qingying grew displeased at once. “The eldest son reads the sages’ books and does work for the good of the nation and its people—why be so petty?”

“I can be generous,” Hua Chun said with a smile. “But if you want me to be generous toward you, you must first be generous yourselves—otherwise why should anyone dote on you? How about this: hand over all your gold, silver, jewelry, and dowries to disaster relief, and I’ll give this wish up to someone else. How’s that?”

Ren Shi said nothing. Wu Shi also shut her mouth.

“Madam is still resting—it’s not good to be this loud here.” Qing Niao spoke up gently from the side. “Master, why not accompany the concubines and Master out?”

Hua Chun nodded and stood up along with them.

Master Hua said, “Enough, everyone go back to your own rooms. As long as Hua’er and his wife can take good care of Liufang, the rest of you don’t need to add to the trouble.”

Though these words came a bit late, they were still better than nothing—at least the concubines all had the sense to leave.

Having seen off this crowd, Hua Chun finally sat down at the bedside full of worry, looking at Wan Shi.

“Master needn’t worry.” Qing Niao said. “Madam will live a long life.”

“Mm.” Hua Chun nodded absentmindedly.

“This servant means it truly, not as a mere blessing,” Qing Niao said quietly. “She’ll get better.”

“Yes, I know.” Hua Chun still didn’t quite take her words seriously, carefully tucking the blanket around Wan Shi before starting to study the prescription the physician had written.

“Jinghua’s mother is ill?”

He Chang’an sat in the Purple Dawn Hall, helping look over memorials, and asked in astonishment.

The emperor nodded. “Yesterday he rushed into the palace in a panic asking me to send an imperial physician, and requested three days’ leave in a row, so you’ll have to work a bit harder these next few days.”

Sighing, He Chang’an said, “Helping out is only right. Once everything here is dealt with, this official will go pay a visit to the Hua estate.”

Looking up at him, Yuwen Jie said flatly, “Mm, once you’ve finished everything, go ahead.”

He Chang’an thanked him and focused on the memorials.

Somehow, the more he read, the more memorials there seemed to be. By the time night fell, there were still three feet of documents piled on the desk.

“Your Majesty.” He Chang’an couldn’t stay composed. “How many days’ worth of memorials have you been letting pile up?”

“Not that many,” Yuwen Jie said. “Just this last bit—once you finish it, you can leave the palace.”

Marquis Gongyu’s heart was breaking inside. So much, and this was still just “a bit”? By the time he finished, the palace gates would surely already be locked for the night!

He finally understood why Jinghua could never seem to leave the palace. The emperor had won his throne on horseback and was habitually reliant on others for paperwork—someone had to spell everything out and draw it up for him.

In a flash, he felt he’d wronged the emperor. Keeping her overnight in the Purple Dawn Hall really had been out of sheer necessity.

“You keep at it. I’m going to visit Consort Shu for a while,” Yuwen Jie said, standing up.

He Chang’an looked at him, face pale. “Your servant bends over his desk while Your Majesty goes off to enjoy the company of concubines?”

“Each to his own duties.”

Casually tossing off those four words, the emperor walked off without looking back.

He Chang’an ground his teeth and resigned himself to continuing the work.

“My lady.” Shiyu leaned close to Hua Liuying’s ear and said quietly, “His Majesty really did go to Consort Shu’s quarters.”

Narrowing her eyes, Hua Liuying said, “So they really are in cahoots. The moment Hua Jinghua doesn’t come to the palace, His Majesty goes off to find Xunyue. Consort Huo really wasn’t lying to me.”

“What should we do about this?” Shiyu said helplessly. “Consort Wu is acting so high and mighty at the estate these days, she even dared to pick items before Consort Ren.”

“As if I’d really let her run wild like that!” Hua Liuying pressed her lips together. “But there’s no rushing this—bringing down Hua Jinghua first is the key. Without him, how long could someone like Hua Xunyue really hold favor?”

That made sense, Shiyu nodded.

“Achoo—”

Hua Chun sneezed and turned to look behind her, puzzled.

Who was thinking about her?

“The medicine’s here.” Qing Niao came in. “Master, help Madam sit up first, this servant will feed it to her.”

“Right.” Hua Chun did as told, and the two worked together to feed Wan Shi her medicine and wipe her down, then sat and waited.

In the middle of the night, Wan Shi finally opened her eyes, though her gaze was somewhat dazed. It took a while before she could make out the person beside her, and she called out hoarsely, “Hua’er.”

Hua Chun hurried over, grasping her hand. “Your son is here.”

Catching her breath, Wan Shi said, “I had a nightmare—I dreamed you were…”

She trailed off partway through, glanced at Qing Niao, and closed her eyes.

Qing Niao stood, tactfully withdrawing and closing the door behind her.

“What is it?” Hua Chun frowned. “What did you dream happened to me?”

“I dreamed your identity was exposed, and you were beheaded in the street.” Two lines of tears fell from her closed eyes. “Can we not be Prime Minister anymore, Wan Liufang said. Can we go be ordinary commoners instead?”

Just hearing that, it was obviously impossible—the Prime Minister’s position, closest to the center of power, couldn’t just be resigned from without proper cause. It wasn’t like being the head of some neighborhood committee!

Hua Chun shook her head repeatedly. “Mother, don’t worry. Things might not be as bad as we think.”

After all, His Majesty knew the truth and hadn’t blamed her—perhaps there would be another way out eventually.

“I saw your wet nurse on the street.” Wan Shi’s voice began to tremble, fear surfacing in her eyes. “Right there on the main street in the capital. By the time I wanted to go find her, she’d vanished again. She promised me back then that she’d never return to Yanjing, but I saw her.”

Wet nurse?

Hearing this kind of plot development, Hua Chun’s mind supplied only two words: oh no!

Every secret about a hidden identity always eventually gets stirred up by the wet nurse—judging by Wan Shi’s tone, Hua Jinghua clearly wasn’t going to escape that trope either.

“Is that why you fell ill, Mother?”

“I just couldn’t find her no matter how I looked, and grew so anxious that I passed out before I knew it,” Wan Shi said. “As long as she’s in the capital, I won’t be able to sleep peacefully.”

This was rather troublesome. Hua Chun pressed her lips together. “Mother, can you sketch what she looks like? Your son will send people to help find her.”