Ning Dao Covered with Snow

Chapter 415 Asking for help
Jiang Meiren knelt straight and motionless, her face flushed from the scorching sun, and her hair damp with sweat.

Consort Xie had already returned home, but she left a eunuch to keep an eye on Consort Jiang.

People passed by from time to time. When they learned that Consort Jiang had offended Consort Xie, they didn't dare to look at her for long and quickly walked away with their heads down.

Time passed incredibly slowly; every moment was agonizing.

After two hours had passed, Jiang Meiren could no longer hold on and swayed as she collapsed to the ground. Her cheeks were flushed, but her lips were pale, and her body was trembling slightly, making her look like she had heatstroke.

The eunuch reminded her, "Consort Jiang, you still have one hundred copies of the Heart Sutra to make. Please come with me to the Buddhist hall."

Jiang Meiren took a deep breath and struggled to get up from the ground.

She put the jujube paste pastries that had fallen to the ground back into the food box and followed the eunuch to the Buddhist hall.

In the quiet Buddhist hall, Jiang Meiren knelt before the desk, her hand holding the pen trembling, and her vision blurred.

She shook her head forcefully to calm herself, and then began to write.

Yan Ciwan looked at her back; her clothes were almost soaked with sweat, but there wasn't even a change of clothes available, and the eunuchs guarding the door showed no intention of getting her any clothes.

As darkness gradually fell outside, the eunuch guarding the door yawned, looking utterly bored.

Jiang Meiren was exhausted and hungry, and cold sweat was breaking out all over her body. She was almost collapsing, but she was still far from meeting the requirement of copying a hundred times. She could only grit her teeth and continue copying.

As the night deepened, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door, followed by Li Baizhou's shouts.

"Mother! Mother, are you inside?"

Jiang Meiren suddenly raised her head. She immediately dropped the brush and tried to get up to go outside to take a look. But as soon as she stood up, everything went black, and she fell straight forward.

The noise coming from inside the Buddhist hall startled the people outside.

The eunuchs who were guarding outside rushed in to check, and Li Baizhou followed closely behind.

"Mother!" Li Baizhou was shocked and rushed over to help Jiang Meiren up, but because his right hand injury had not fully healed, he could not use his strength.

In the end, it took him and the eunuch working together to help Consort Jiang into the chair.

With her eyes half-open, Jiang Meiren called out weakly, "A-Zhou."

"I'm here, Mother. I'm sorry I'm late." Li Baizhou's voice trembled with anxiety.

"This is not a place for you. You should leave now."

"I won't leave, Mother. You're ill. I'm taking you back to get treatment. If Consort Xie wants to blame me, let her punish me!"

After Li Baizhou finished speaking, he was about to leave with Jiang Meiren on his back when the eunuch quickly stopped them.

"Your Highness, the Imperial Concubine has ordered Consort Jiang to copy the Heart Sutra one hundred times. Before Consort Jiang finishes copying it, this servant cannot allow her to leave the Buddhist hall."

Li Baizhou didn't care about any of that. He shoved the eunuch aside and insisted on taking Consort Jiang away. The eunuch stumbled and bumped into a table, wincing in pain. He endured the pain and chased after them, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Guards! Someone stop them!"

Dozens of Imperial Guards rushed over immediately upon hearing the commotion.

The eunuch pointed at Consort Jiang and said, "The Imperial Concubine asked her to copy the Heart Sutra one hundred times to pray for the Crown Prince's well-being. She wanted to leave before she finished copying it. This is not only disrespectful to the Imperial Concubine, but also to His Highness the Crown Prince!"

Although Li Baizhou was the fifth prince, he was not favored by the emperor. His birth mother, Consort Jiang, was a slave who was lucky enough to be favored by the emperor while he was drunk, which allowed her to become a concubine. However, the emperor had hardly ever summoned her to his bedchamber over the years, and she and Li Baizhou were like invisible people in the palace.

Compared to them, Consort Xie's power and status were at their zenith. After Empress Liang's death, the position of Empress remained vacant, and everyone speculated that Consort Xie was likely to ascend to the position. If one offended her, one could forget about staying in the palace in the future.

The Imperial Guards all had a sense of right and wrong, and knew who to help at this time.

They stepped forward and forcibly separated Li Baizhou and Jiang Meiren, and Jiang Meiren was sent back to the Buddhist hall.

The door to the Buddhist hall was tightly shut. Li Baizhou rushed forward and pounded on the door, shouting, "Open the door! Let me in! My mother is sick, she needs to see a doctor!"

The eunuch guarding the door advised, "Fifth Prince, save your energy. Without the Imperial Concubine's permission, no one can let Consort Jiang leave the Buddhist hall. If you are capable, you can go and invite the imperial physician to the Buddhist hall to treat Consort Jiang."

Upon hearing this, Li Baizhou seemed to be awakened. He immediately stopped banging on the door, turned around, and ran wildly towards the Imperial Hospital.

One of the Imperial Guards asked, "If he can really bring the imperial physician over, will you really have him treat Consort Jiang?"

The eunuch smiled enigmatically: "Don't worry, he definitely won't be able to get him to come."

Upon hearing this, Yan Ciwan had a bad feeling.

She knew that Lady Jiang had died of illness, but she didn't know the exact year or month. Looking at the tightly closed doors of the Buddhist hall, and recalling Lady Jiang's frail and listless appearance just moments before, could it be...?

The scenery gradually disappeared; the Buddhist temple vanished, replaced by a magnificent palace.

Yan Ciwan saw Li Baizhou kneeling at the bottom of the steps in front of the palace gate. He kowtowed and shouted, "Father, my mother is ill. Please have mercy and let the imperial physician go to see her."

He banged his head against the wall with great force, again and again, until his forehead was broken and a trickle of blood slid down his forehead to his nose.

A palace eunuch came out of the palace and hurried down the steps, lifting the hem of his robe.

"Fifth Prince, what are you doing? Get up!"

Li Baizhou's voice had become hoarse from shouting. He pleaded, "Please, please inform him that I want to go in and see my father. I have something very important that I need his help with."

The eunuch said helplessly, "Crown Prince Renxian has contracted chickenpox, and His Majesty is very worried. He will not see anyone at the moment. You should go back quickly and stop shouting here. If you anger His Majesty, neither you nor Consort Jiang will be able to bear the consequences."

"My mother is ill and on the verge of death. I went to the Imperial Hospital to find the imperial physicians, but they were all sent to treat my elder brother, the Crown Prince. Only if His Majesty speaks can those physicians go to save my mother. Please, let me go in and see my father." Li Baizhou was so anxious that tears streamed down his face, his eyes filled with pleading.

The eunuch sighed, "It's not that I don't want to help you, but it's impossible to disobey the Emperor's orders. His Majesty has already ordered all the imperial physicians to do their utmost to treat His Highness the Crown Prince. It's simply impossible for him to send the physicians to save someone else."

"Of all the imperial physicians, I only need one. It won't affect my treatment of my elder brother, the Crown Prince."

Looking at the young prince who was helpless and almost desperate, the eunuch said softly, "Don't you understand? In the eyes of the Emperor, His Highness the Crown Prince's life is more important than anything else. Unless His Highness recovers, none of the imperial physicians will be allowed to leave this palace."