tallest building

Chapter 271 Incomplete

Winter days are short, and with things happening in the palace, it gets noisy and chaotic until dark.

The palace was far from peaceful that night. The Imperial Hospital was the busiest, with physicians coming and going from Yingbai Palace like a revolving lantern.

Imperial physicians also frequently come to Ying Tong's side for consultations.

The next morning at court, the Prince of Shoushan presented the account books of the Daishan gambling den, impeaching the Prince of Zhao for forming cliques and engaging in corrupt practices.

Zhu Hui then submitted a memorial to the emperor regarding the incident yesterday in which the Prince of Zhao's heir shot and injured the Prince of Chu's heir, requesting that the emperor severely punish him.

In addition, the King of Chu reported that someone had poisoned Ying Bai's food, causing several of his palace servants to be poisoned and on the verge of death.

If the King of Chu had any reservations before, Ying Bai's injury had driven him to a dead end. He was now completely desperate, willing to fight to the death.

The turmoil in the imperial court was so great that the empress in the inner palace naturally knew about it.

She didn't sleep well last night and couldn't eat breakfast.

"Your Majesty, Princess Zhao has entered the palace," Yu Lu reported as he entered.

The Empress sighed deeply and raised her hand slightly.

Princess Zhao also looked unwell; she had no interest in dressing up, and her face was sallow.

He knelt down before the Empress as soon as he entered: "Your Majesty, what should we do now? I never expected Tong'er to cause such a disaster."

The Empress was naturally furious as well, and said, "He caused trouble? Didn't you cause trouble before him?! What's going on with those palace servants in Yingbai Palace? This happened in the inner palace, and I didn't even know about it, I had to get the news from the court!"

"It was me, I was just confused for a moment, I was really anxious." Princess Zhao knew she couldn't deny it. "I originally wanted to discuss it with Your Majesty, but Your Majesty just wouldn't believe me... You don't know how far the Prince of Chu and the others have gone. If they hadn't pressed us so hard, we wouldn't have..."

"Crying, crying, crying! All you do is cry! You didn't consult me ​​before causing trouble, and now you expect me to clean up the mess!" The Empress looked at Princess Zhao with exasperation. "How far can he go with his tantrums?! As long as I am the Empress, would I ever mistreat Tong'er?!"

"No, Your Highness, even the people from the Three Paths Academy are now helping the King of Chu. They... they've even got a huge hold on us," Princess Zhao hurriedly explained. "And Princess Duanmin is also..."

She didn't consult the Empress for two reasons: firstly, the situation was urgent, and secondly, the Empress was stubborn and determined that no amount of persuasion would change her mind. Therefore, Princess Zhao didn't waste any more words.

"The King of Chu is now determined to fight to the death, and Zhu Hui and his ministers have been looking for a pretext to attack him all these years! Now they're in a bind." The Empress felt a headache coming on. "Mingqian, come here and massage me!"

Wen Mingqian quickly stepped forward and massaged the acupoints on the Empress's head.

"You just said that the people of the Sanjing Academy are helping the King of Chu. Is that true or false?" The Empress was very concerned about this.

"It's true. It was said by someone from the Chu Prince's residence. That Mr. Hua Ying has been living in the Chu Prince's residence all along." Princess Zhao glanced at Wen Mingqian as she said this.

"Then order someone to summon him to the palace," the Empress said.

"Why did Your Highness summon him to the palace?" Princess Zhao asked, puzzled.

"Now that you've fallen out with the King of Chu, shouldn't you let people know that the King of Chu had ill intentions beforehand, which is why he forced you to do wrong things?" The Queen looked at Princess Zhao. "How could you be so stupid?"

However, there was no Mr. Hua Ying in the Chu Prince's residence, only a man named Hua Yong. If one did not look closely, he did indeed resemble Hua Ying by about 50%. The Empress asked Gong Chang'an to confirm, and Gong Chang'an laughed as soon as he saw him: "This is not my senior brother. His beard is all pasted on."

Sure enough, the man's beard was fake; he was actually much younger than Hua Ying.

“I never said I was Mr. Hua Ying. I think someone must have misheard me,” Hua Yong said. “I did come to the Chu Prince’s residence to work as a staff member. I put on a beard to appear more mature.”

"Your Majesty, this man is deliberately deceiving us; he should be punished!" Princess Zhao said, her voice filled with exasperation.

"Let him go! Things have already gotten this bad, are we just going to use him to make a fool of ourselves?!" the Empress said irritably. "That Prince Chu is nothing but a mediocre man; why would the people of the Three Paths Academy assist him?"

Let alone a mere King of Chu, even the Emperor couldn't simply invite someone from the Sanjing Academy whenever he wanted.

Doesn't she know what kind of person the King of Chu is?

"Sister, sister, you must save us!" Princess Zhao grabbed the Empress's leg and pleaded, "Only you can help us now."

"Stop crying, you're getting on my nerves! Go check on Tong'er, he has a fever and needs someone to take care of him." The Empress pushed away Princess Zhao in annoyance. "I've already instructed the Imperial Hospital to tell the palace servants in Ying Tong's palace that they have contracted the plague, not poisoning."

In the inner palace, the Empress naturally had the final say, and no matter how unwilling the King of Chu and his allies were, there was nothing they could do about it.

"The previous dynasty will inevitably drag on for a few more days, and I imagine Father and Brother will be heading to the capital soon," the Empress said. "You've caused such a huge mess that I can't possibly salvage it all by myself. But I must also tell you, it's impossible for you to escape unscathed after things have come to this."

Even if the Dong family were powerful, they couldn't completely erase this matter. The Empress knew that the Zhao Prince's branch of the family would inevitably suffer losses this time.

"Your Highness..." Princess Zhao wanted to say something more.

The Empress interrupted her, saying, "Stop talking and go take care of Tong'er. I also need to go see Bai'er; he's so badly injured."

Princess Duanmin had been taking care of Yingbai Palace, and Princess Chu naturally came to the palace as well, her eyes red and swollen from crying, and her voice hoarse.

When she saw the Empress, she could only pay her respects, but she never said a word asking the Empress to make a decision.

She knew the Empress wouldn't stand up for her, so she didn't want to waste her breath.

"How is Bai'er now? Has she woken up yet?" The Empress naturally had to adopt a kind and gentle attitude at this moment, and she still had to put on a show.

"He woke up groggily this morning, only complaining of pain. I gave him some food and medicine, and then he fell asleep again," Princess Duanmin said. "I heard that Tong'er is also sick. Is he feeling any better?"

The Empress thought to herself, "Why bring up something I shouldn't have said?" But she still said, "He also has a persistent high fever and is just talking nonsense. After all, he's just a child. How could he not be afraid if he accidentally hurt someone?"

Upon hearing the Empress's words, Princess Chu couldn't help but sneer; she knew this would happen.

The Empress stepped forward to check on Ying Bai's injuries; she had already visited him the previous night.

Ying Bai lay there with gauze wrapped around his head, but blood still seeped out.

"Oh, poor child, let him sleep more! If he needs anything, just come to my palace to get it," the Empress said. "Don't worry, I won't abandon him."