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Chapter 76

It had already been more than half a month since Noble Lady Ye was murdered. However, there still hadn’t been much progress made in that case. Xihe Palace gradually grew unfrequented, so much so that other palaces borrowed their staff.

The change that occurred from merely half a month plus was this great. Zhuang Laoyan could not help but sigh in sorrow. In a place like the imperial harem, people’s masks changed so rapidly. People used all their efforts to curry favor and step on others.

In some cases, it was unsuitable to take the initiative to attack. However, it was also unsuitable to sit and wait for death. Therefore, it was usually best to take on a different approach. Zhuang Laoyan had never been the type of person who resigned to their fate or rashly attacked. As such, once she made a move, it had to be ruthless enough. Dependable enough.

At night, the temperature was akin to cold water. Reflected on the calm surface of the lotus pond was a crescent moon. A slight breeze, and the crescent moon swayed with the waves, a beauty that could not be put into words. It was at this moment that a bang erupted. The crescent moon on the pond surface shook violently, fracturing into many pieces of silvery light.

“Someone come! Her Highness Xianrong Zhao fell into the water!”

“Hurry! Hurry and save her!”

It was already the period of Zhi. Lying on Noble Lady Qian’s bed drowsily, Feng Jin heard sounds from the outside. He frowned and opened his eyes. “What’s making that ruckus outside?”

“Your Majesty, the steward eunuch of Xihe Palace requests for an audience,” said Gao Dezhong, beyond the curtains. “The steward eunuch’s expression seemed urgent. This slave thinks something serious happened.”

At the sound of the words, Feng Jin sat up. Noble Lady Qian, who had been lying next to him, also sat up. In a flurry, she draped his robe over his shoulders. “Your Majesty, it’s already the period of Zhi. How about we summon the steward eunuch inside and ask him what happened? It’s cold outside.”

“We know what kind of person Xihe Palace’s steward eunuch is. If it’s not something urgent, he won’t make a fuss to want to see Us.” Feng Jin had his servants help him dress as Gao Dezhong arranged for his imperial sedan.

Noble Lady Qian looked at the emperor’s bearing, her expression dimming a hint. At once, she stepped forward and helped Feng Jin dress. However, he waved her off. “These things can be done by the servants. You don’t have to lift a finger.” 

Was it that she didn’t need to lift a finger, or was it that he thought she wasn’t as nimble as the servants?

Watching as the emperor practically finished dressing in the blink of an eye, Noble Lady Qian hesitated for a moment, before following him out the bedroom. Once she exited the room, she saw a chubby eunuch kneeling on the ground. His hair was in disarray. The ends of his robes were peppered with mud. In all likelihood, he had rushed over.

“Your Majesty, Her Highness is in danger. Begging Your Majesty to act for Her Highness—”

“Talk as we go. We can tell it’s something serious.” Feng Jin had merely stopped in his tracks for a moment, before continuing outside.

At first, Fu Bao was startled. Then he quickly got up and followed after him.

“Speak. Just what happened?” Feng Jin sat on his imperial sedan, expressionless. In the dim light of night, it seemed grave.  

“Reporting to Your Majesty, these past few days Her Highness was fond of sitting by the lotus pond before going to bed. Tonight, Tingzhu and Yunxi accompanied Master in sitting there. Her Highness said she felt a bit hungry, so one of the palace maids went to get some light refreshments. Shortly after Tingzhu left, Yunxi heard someone drop and shatter a teacup. She thought it was Miss Tingzhu, so went to take a look. Who would have known that during this period, they would hear a splash. When they ran back to the pond, they discovered that Master had fallen in,” said Fu Bao, tone one of urgency. It had been difficult being coherent and chronological.

“If We remember correctly, Xianrong Zhao knows how to swim. She should have been fine even if she did fall into the water.” Feng Jin frowned. Could it be that Zhuang Laoyan was starting to pretend to injure herself in order to get his favor?

“It’s true that Her Highness can swim. However, someone had struck the back of her head, causing Her Highness to fall into the pond. The imperial physician said that from Her Highness’ injury, the culprit did not land a full hit. Therefore, the injury did not take her life. Presumably, Her Highness found something amiss at that time and was able to dodge a little. However, she was unable to dodge the whole attack. If she did not dodge…” Fu Bao choked with sobs. “When we slaves fished Her Highness out of the water, she had already fainted. A lot of the pond water had dyed red. And Her Highness still has not woken up.”

“Who’s daring enough to do this?!” Feng Jin’s expression proved dark. “And you servants don’t know how to properly take care of your master?!”

Fu Bao’s expression changed a shade. But in the end, he continued to beg for forgiveness. However, the Gao Dezhong standing on the side found something off. Something so serious had occurred in Xihe Palace. So why was Fu Bao, a steward eunuch, not there to take charge? Why did he run here instead?

The crowd rushed to Xihe Palace. However, they only saw one eunuch on duty as gatekeeper. The moment he caught sight of them, he kneeled, face full of joy.

Feng Jin disembarked from his sedan. After entering Xihe Palace, he frowned deeper and deeper. He did not come to Xihe Palace for merely more than half a month. How did this place become so cold and cheerless?  

Once he arrived at the main palace hall, this feeling grew more prominent. Although Xihe Palace wasn’t filled to the brim with servants normally, it should at least not be lacking in servants. Now that their master was injured so heavily, why were there no servants traveling back and forth to serve?

When the little eunuch guarding the inner chamber saw the emperor, his expression grew elated at once and he announced, “HIs Majesty has arrived.”

Feng Jin entered the inner chamber. One glance, and he saw that there were only Tingzhu and Yunxi serving by the side. The person examining Zhuang Laoyan’s pulse was the old Imperial Physician Mao. Immediately, Feng Jin’s expression darkened even more. He yelled, “Where are the other servants? Have they all died?! Xianrong Zhao was so heavily injured but only one imperial physician is here. Where are the other on-duty imperial physicians?!”

“This slave went to the Imperial Academy of Medicine. But the head physician said that the other on-duty physicians were taking the pulses of other masters. Later on, this slave encountered Imperial Physician Mao, who had just arrived at the palace. Although this wasn’t what he specializes in, he saw how anxious this slave was and followed me to examine Master’s pulse,” said Yunxi, kneeling on the ground with her eyes red.

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“Then where are the other servants?” Feng Jin sat down on a chair. He touched the teapot on the low table. It was already lukewarm. At once, he was so angry that he threw the teapot to the ground, smashing it to smithereens.  

 “Reporting to Your Majesty, the steward eunuchs of other palaces said that because Master wasn’t serving Your Majesty and there was nothing happening in Xihe Palace, they would borrow some people from us,” said Yunxi. Because she was angry and sad, her voice showed some of her anger. “For this reason, there are only a few servants serving in this palace right now.”

“We did not know that the other palaces were lacking servants.” Then Feng Jin turned to Gao Dezhong. “Gao Dezhong, take a trip to the Imperial Academy of Medicine. We want to know how busy those imperial physicians are!”

Never had the head physician imagined that the emperor’s head eunuch would come to the Imperial Academy of Medicine because of Xianrong Zhao. In a flash, he knew things were far from good. Originally, Noble Lady Ye was the empress dowager’s niece. As such, they were afraid of being close to Xianrong Zhao. But who would have expected that Xianrong Zhao, who had her name tag removed and was implicated in Noble Lady Ye’s death, would still be so valued by the emperor?

When he thought about the emperor’s fury, the head physician’s legs went weak. He immediately sent the best bone specialists and gyenecologists on duty to Xihe Palace.

Coldly, Feng Jin looked at the imperial physicians kneeling before him. Then he smashed a teacup full of scalding tea onto the ground next to them. “Why are you still kneeling here? Go and examine Xianrong Zhao’s pulse.”

The imperial physicians rushed forward to do so. However, once they saw her pale face and her still-bleeding wound, fear immediately entered their hearts. The person who harmed Xianrong Zhao had clearly wanted her dead. But thankfully, the culprit did not land a full-powered strike, and Xianrong Zhao was able to escape with her life just barely.

Less than fifteen minutes later, the imperial physicians kneeled before Feng Jin, faces pale. “Reporting to Your Majesty, Xianrong Zhao’s injury is very severe. Her Highness’ injury was probably caused by heavy blunt trauma. If the strike hadn’t been a bit off to the side, it could have killed her.”

“We don’t want to hear your nonsense. Do what you need to do to heal her.” Feng Jin received the tea Gao Dezhong presented him. Forced himself to take a sip. Then he frowned. “What kind of tea is this?”

Gao Dezhong shifted his gaze to Tingzhu, the person who had brewed the tea.

“Responding to Your Majesty, recently the Department of the Palace said there wasn’t enough of the new teas. Thus, they allocated some older teas to us.” Tingzhu kneeled on the ground. “This is the best tea in our palace. Begging Your Majesty for forgiveness.”

“Good! Very good!” Feng Jing slammed the teacup onto the table. “Men, summon the empress here!”

Within Jingyang Palace, once the empress learned that someone severely injured Xianrong Zhao and caused her to fall into the lotus pond, she felt that things were extremely far from good. Right after a palace maid helped her dress, the messenger eunuch from the emperor arrived.

Sitting on her sedan, the empress thought of many things. However, no matter how much she thought, she could not wrap her head around the fact that someone actually dared to try killing Xianrong Zhao. Now, it was unnecessary to investigate whether she had anything to do with Noble Lady Ye’s death. For there was someone trying to harm Xianrong Zhao.

The empress turned her head to the messenger eunuch by her side. “How is Xianrong Zhao’s condition right now?” 

“Reporting to Your Majesty, just now, the imperial physician who examined her pulse said the injury looks very severe. If it wasn’t for the fact that the strike didn’t land fully, Xianrong Zhao would have died.”

The empress’s complexion changed. If that happened, then the emperor would probably still be in a rage.  

The messenger eunuch wanted to curry favor with the empress. Thus, he said, “Once His Majesty arrived at Xihe Palace, saw that there were few servants around, and noticed that there was only Imperial Physician Mao checking her pulse, he fell into a rage at once. Then he had Gao gongong personally go to the Imperial Academy of Medicine to summon some imperial physicians. Just a while ago, this slave saw Xianrong Zhao’s heavy injury. There was even blood on the pillows and quilts. One would fear this injury is very serious.”

The empress nodded. In the imperial harem, it was natural for people to curry favor with those above them and step on those below them. However, these women had thought that since Zhuang Laoyan’s name tag was removed, this meant she once again lost all her favor. How could they have known that the emperor still valued her?

Tomorrow, those people who borrowed the servants of Xihe Palace and docked from Xianrong Zhao’s allotments would have to wait for the emperor’s fury.

“Heyu, have people investigate which palaces had servants who passed by Xihe Palace tonight. No matter which palace, they must be clearly recorded.” The empress composed herself. “Xianrong Zhao was injured so heavily today. We cannot allow the attempted murderer to escape.” 

“Yes, Your Majesty,” replied Heyu immediately. But she was worried inside. Would the emperor take his anger out on her master because of this?