Crown Princess Lu didn’t even think about it before nodding: “Send it.” She personally brought Xiangling and Pei Yin to the Crown Prince’s sleeping quarters. The Crown Prince had a terrible temper. In the past when he was still normal, he at least knew to put on a tolerant appearance, but now that he’d suffered a stroke and was lying in bed, he went out of his way to torment himself and others. He never took his medicine properly—with a tilt of his head, the liquid would spill all over the floor. Every time he saw Crown Princess Lu, his eyes would spark with fury. Crown Princess Lu actually visited very rarely—no one hoped for the Crown Prince to live more than she did. At the very least, he should hang on until Zhou Weizhao married and had children, until his position was secure, before dying.
Recently, every time she went, she would wait outside until the servants inside had finished feeding the Crown Prince his soup, then stay a while longer before returning to her chambers. She knew very well that the more wholeheartedly she performed these duties now, the more Emperor Jianzhang and Empress Lu would feel sympathy for Zhou Weizhao.
Only this time the wait was exceptionally long. She had finished an entire pot of tea, yet there was still no sound from inside. Normally by this time, there should already be noise from within—even if it was just the sound of people kneeling on the floor begging the Crown Prince to take his medicine, but even that hadn’t sounded.
She frowned and instructed Xiangling: “Go see what’s happening.”
Xiangling acknowledged and slipped past the screen into the inner hall. After quite a while she came out, shaking her head at Crown Princess Lu: “I don’t know what mood he’s in, but His Highness the Crown Prince is clenching his teeth and refusing to eat. The young eunuch who tastes the food tasted it right in front of him, but he still won’t drink the ginseng soup that was sent, and along with that, he won’t take his medicine either. His teeth are clenched so hard they’re bleeding…”
Crown Princess Lu lowered her eyes without any extra expression, and had someone go invite Master Hu and Imperial Physician Yan—Imperial Physician Yan had said that the Crown Prince must avoid getting agitated above all else. If he carried on this severely and something happened to him, it would be no joke.
Inside, the Crown Prince was in a towering rage, every vein bulging out, his face turning purple-red, looking exactly as if someone had wrapped a rope around his neck and strangled him. Before long he couldn’t even catch his breath. Inside, people knelt on the floor in a dark mass. Sanbao came crawling and rolling out to fetch the imperial physicians from next door, only to discover that Master Hu and Imperial Physician Yan had already arrived together. Immediately seeing his saviors, he pulled them both inside: “His Highness doesn’t know what’s wrong, he can’t take even a mouthful of medicine. Could it be that he’s uncomfortable somewhere?”
The Crown Prince couldn’t speak, so he couldn’t say whether he was uncomfortable anywhere. Usually he made scenes too, but never to this severe degree. Sanbao was truly frightened.
Master Hu and Imperial Physician Yan rushed in to take a look. The Crown Prince’s eyes had already rolled back, his feet stretched straight—he was about to faint. They hurriedly stepped forward with gold needles to pierce acupuncture points, making him calm down first, then pried open his mouth. Looking inside, indeed his mouth was full of blood. They couldn’t help but turn back to ask: “Are the attendants not serving him wholeheartedly?”
How could anyone dare not serve wholeheartedly? Empress Lu sent people to inquire from time to time, the Crown Princess watched over him daily, and Emperor Jianzhang also came to check every few days. Sanbao hurriedly shook his head: “I don’t know what happened. He was fine earlier, it was just when feeding him the ginseng soup that his teeth clenched tight…”
When Imperial Physician Yan went out to tell Crown Princess Lu, Nanny Wu mistakenly thought the Crown Prince was deliberately making things difficult for Crown Princess Lu. After returning to Mingcui Palace, she couldn’t help but spit in disgust. When Zhou Weizhao returned, she couldn’t help but complain to him: “How has he treated the Crown Princess, and how has the Crown Princess treated him? How can he be so heartless?”
She had served Crown Princess Lu for a long time, and over these many years it was also thanks to her always being by Crown Princess Lu’s side. Zhou Weizhao respected her greatly and didn’t get angry when she complained like this. After she finished speaking, he walked inside: “Nanny, rest assured, I’ll advise Mother.”
Nanny Wu called out to stop him again. Seeing him turn back to look, she hesitated for a moment, but in the end told him about Madam Du’s visit, then said: “I know the Crown Princess won’t hide this from you, but I just wanted to tell you privately. The Crown Princess has been greatly wronged. If she softens her heart and considers the old affection, you absolutely must not let her make such a mistake. Besides her own self, where is there anyone else who takes this so-called cousin relationship seriously? They’re all like this, one after another…”
Zhou Weizhao was silent for a moment before narrowing his eyes and entering the hall to first pay his respects to Crown Princess Lu.
Crown Princess Lu saw he was still wearing the clothes he’d returned in and quickly told him to go back to his room to change first. The autumn tiger’s lingering heat hadn’t yet receded—running around all day would work up a sweat. How could he be comfortable without changing clothes?
Zhou Weizhao refused, first telling her where he’d gone today: “This afternoon Commander Lai sent word. That young fire-tender who tastes food for the Crown Prince confessed that aside from a soup made with an old ginseng root sent by Dongping which he hadn’t tasted, he had tasted everything else.”
Crown Princess Lu was somewhat surprised: “It was him?” Then she immediately shook her head: “What benefit would this bring him?”
After Consort Fan left, the Crown Prince was Zhou Weiqi’s only support. Unless he’d lost his mind, he should be praying to gods and Buddhas hoping the Crown Prince would live well.
“With Lai Chenglong’s methods, that young fire-tender wouldn’t have the guts to lie and falsely accuse Dongping.” Zhou Weizhao’s face still showed no expression: “That ginseng root was sent by Marquis Jinxiang.”
Crown Princess Lu understood then, pulling her mouth into what could be considered a smile: “I thought Marquis Jinxiang was truly such a forbearing saint.”
Whether he could truly forbear or not remained to be seen, but at least it was true that he had pledged allegiance to Prince Gong.
Zhou Weizhao hadn’t yet had time to speak of this when he heard Crown Princess Lu let out a cold laugh: “I have a letter here. Present it to your imperial grandfather for me, and while you’re at it, ask him to help me decide—should I help, or should I not help?”
When she learned that Prince Gong had set up a trap wanting to use Zhou Weizhao’s life to frame the Crown Prince, she knew that after all these years, this person had finally died completely in her heart.
But she had originally thought that no matter how shameless Prince Gong was, he still had the stubbornness and self-respect of his youth. Who knew he would even discard his face? He could even take out their former affection to use as a bargaining chip for profit.
Zhou Weizhao accepted it. A bit later he went to see Emperor Jianzhang to discuss the Crown Prince’s condition today. After finishing his report, he casually and lightly handed the letter directly to Emperor Jianzhang: “This is a letter that Prince Gong-uncle had Madam Du deliver to my mother. My mother didn’t open it.”
The festering sore had already been torn open. The cloth that had previously been used to carefully cover and conceal it was now stripped away without any avoidance. Emperor Jianzhang already knew of the entanglement here. Opening it, he only glanced once before his brow furrowed.
This son had truly become desperate in his illness, seeking help everywhere. It had only been a few days since he’d been left to cool off, and already he was so impatient to seek connections in all directions? Elder Du was really too idle as well—was his relationship with Prince Gong as teacher and disciple truly so deep? As if afraid Prince Gong couldn’t see how much effort he was putting in for him.
He sat behind the table for a moment, then raised his eyes to look at his grandson: “This matter—We will give your mother an explanation.”