“You should have guessed why he wanted to go to the battlefield?” At this point, Imperial Physician Wu paused and asked Han Yan.
“Because of the Empress Dowager?” Han Yan inquired tentatively.
Imperial Physician Wu took a sip of tea and continued.
There was another rumor in the palace that Consort Jing had been killed by the Empress, but that was merely hearsay. On the day Consort Jing gave birth, the Empress was at Mount Wutai praying for blessings for the soon-to-be-born Third Prince. She didn’t learn about the tragedy of Consort Jing and her child until the next day. Moreover, the Empress had always been so kind to the Crown Prince and Fu Yun Xi, so this rumor naturally fell apart.
In his youth, Imperial Physician Wu had been an unruly person. The Late Emperor valued his medical skills and brought him into the palace, but his rebellious nature persisted, and gradually he became the one person in the palace whom no one dared to offend. Except for one person – that person was Fu Yun Xi.
Imperial Physician Wu was lawless, but Fu Yun Xi was even more so. Many times, Wu would see something unsettling in this junior who was much younger than himself. As they became acquainted, they developed an unlikely friendship despite their age difference. When Fu Yun Xi first fell ill, he came to Imperial Physician Wu.
Imperial Physician Wu would never forget that scene. The young man was cold as ice, his naturally jade-like skin had taken on the color of snow. His gaze was frigid as if the person about to freeze to death wasn’t himself. His lips were purple-blue as he stared blankly at Imperial Physician Wu and uttered two words: “Save me.” Then he collapsed.
Imperial Physician Wu dragged him inside. With his vast experience, he discovered that Fu Yun Xi had been poisoned with a rare Cold Poison. When this poison manifested, it would make the entire body cold, causing pain as if ice shards were piercing through bones. As one grew older, the poison would become more aggressive. When the Cold Poison completely invaded the internal organs, the person would lose all sensation and become like an ice statue – terrifyingly, while still alive.
This was a slow-acting poison, meaning Fu Yun Xi had been poisoned very early in life.
“Being so clever, you must know who administered the poison?” At this point, Imperial Physician Wu looked up at Han Yan.
Han Yan stared at him, her voice becoming slow and faint, almost imperceptible unless one listened carefully.
“The Empress Dowager?” she asked.
Imperial Physician Wu nodded.
It was extremely unusual that Fu Yun Xi was poisoned while the Emperor wasn’t, but at that time, Fu Yun Xi discovered more than just this fact. After the Late Emperor’s death, among all the princes, only the Emperor and Fu Yun Xi were the most outstanding. The Empress Dowager treated them like precious treasures, especially ordering the palace physicians to prepare medicinal soups with the most precious Snow Lotus to nourish the two brothers. What the Empress Dowager didn’t know was that the brothers were close, and since Fu Yun Xi was less healthy than the Emperor when young, the Emperor would give his portion to Fu Yun Xi. The problem lay in that medicinal soup.
The soup contained this incurable poison. Since the Emperor didn’t consume the soup, he remained unharmed. Fu Yun Xi, having consumed a double portion of the poison, suffered intensified effects, causing symptoms to appear in his youth. Normally, the poison would only show effects in adulthood.
Fu Yun Xi’s early poisoning was a fortunate accident that led to Imperial Physician Wu’s discovery. Over the years, Wu tried everything to treat Fu Yun Xi’s condition, but could only slightly alleviate his symptoms. Although he no longer drank the medicinal soup or continued to consume the poison, the double dose from his youth remained deeply entrenched in his body.
The hot spring in the palace’s restricted area was specially built by the Emperor for Fu Yun Xi. The Emperor knew about Fu Yun Xi’s Cold Poison but didn’t believe the Empress Dowager was responsible. Even when Fu Yun Xi later obtained samples of the medicinal soup, perhaps due to bribery, no evidence could be found. Without proof, he couldn’t convince the Emperor, and the Cold Poison grew worse day by day. The hot spring water could relieve some of the coldness, slightly warming his body. Whenever the illness struck, Fu Yun Xi would hide there.
Han Yan recalled when she was afflicted with the Spring Poison, she had indeed found Fu Yun Xi in the hot spring pool. That place was truly restricted, without a single eunuch or palace maid in sight. Initially, Han Yan thought it was just a chance encounter with Fu Yun Xi, but now she understood – Fu Yun Xi must have been suffering from an attack and was using the hot spring to relieve the poison’s effects.
In the poisoning incident, beyond the threat to his own life, Fu Yun Xi’s greatest shock likely came from the Empress Dowager – a woman he had respected since childhood, the closest person to him after his mother, was an executioner who wanted both his and his brother’s lives. Even his mother and younger brother’s deaths might have been connected to this woman. This was truly a case of treating one’s enemy as family.
“The Emperor and the Prince are blood brothers,” Han Yan voiced her doubt. “Even if the Emperor believes in the Empress Dowager completely, shouldn’t he have been somewhat alert when the Prince raised suspicions? How could he still trust the Empress Dowager so much?” The Emperor’s attitude toward the Empress Dowager exceeded that of a normal mother and son, which was strange.
Imperial Physician Wu shook his head: “When the Emperor was young, the Empress Dowager saved his life. He had fallen into a lake with no eunuchs or palace maids around. The Empress Dowager jumped in herself to save him. She caught a cold from this incident and would cough incessantly whenever it rained. For all these years, the Emperor has felt guilty about this.”
Han Yan raised an eyebrow but remained silent. In her eyes, the Empress Dowager’s actions meant little. Living in grand mansions had taught her that those who save you might still kill you. She even suspected that the Emperor’s fall into the lake might have been connected to the Empress Dowager. Truly vicious people never show their true nature – they appear kind and gentle, sacrificing themselves for you, thinking only of your interests, gaining all your trust, and then pushing you into an abyss when you least expect it. Just like the Zhou mother and daughter in her previous life. Having died once, Han Yan saw things clearly, but the Emperor was different. Growing up in a royal family where familial affection was naturally diluted, as a youth who lost his mother early and lacked maternal love, the Empress Dowager’s actions could become his emotional anchor. He might have saw her as a second mother.
The Emperor’s disbelief in Fu Yun Xi, or rather his unwillingness to believe, might have been because acknowledging Empress Dowager’s malicious intent would shatter his fantasy – his dream of having a mother. The Emperor chose self-deception, but this self-deception devastated Fu Yun Xi. Watching his enemy and brother perform act after act of filial piety daily, what could Fu Yun Xi do? He could only channel his anger onto the battlefield, growing stronger rapidly, until he became so powerful that she could no longer look down on him, even feared him, and submitted to his pressure.