The Slender Waist-Chapter 660 - 475: The Omen of Blood Blockage

"Quick! Prepare the carriage."

Feng Yun hurriedly set down her basket of flowers. Without time to freshen up or change her clothes, she boarded the carriage and rushed to the imperial city.

The season brought freezing cold, and in the wake of the snow, the weather turned overcast and gloomy. A thin mist lay over the vast palace, with white, blanketing snow still clinging to the roofs. The red walls and green tiles seemed even more bleak and desolate.

Before she even arrived, she could faintly hear sobbing sounds from inside.

Feng Yun’s brow furrowed slightly as she approached and saw someone standing there.

"Princess, this way please..."

It was a little eunuch standing in the cold winds as if waiting for her.

It wasn’t until she drew closer that Feng Yun realized it was Dong Bai.

Feng Yun didn’t stop walking as she asked, "How did His Majesty fall?"

Dong Bai had circles of red around his eyes, as though he had been crying.

He choked up the moment he opened his mouth, "I was not on duty. I wasn’t by His Majesty’s side when it happened. They say he slipped while playing in the snow, tumbling down the steps of Yongshou Palace."

"Why would His Majesty visit Yongshou Palace all of a sudden?" Feng Yun asked.

Except for the Empress Dowager, only a few of the Emperor of Xifeng’s consorts and some retired Empress Dowagers usually resided in the back palace, but none lived in Yongshou Palace.

Yongshou Palace was a vacant sleeping hall, usually deserted.

Dong Bai pursed his lips as if struggling to hold back something.

However, the moment he spoke again, tears still fell, and his voice carried a sobbing tone.

"In the fifth year of Xifeng, the Emperor of Xifeng went on a western tour, accompanied by Empress Zhenjing. That year...she stayed in Yongshou Palace."

Feng Yun felt a tightness in her throat and couldn’t speak.

Empress Zhenjing was Yuan Shangyi’s birth mother.

The child, longing for the mother he had never met, trudged through the snow to a deserted palace, stood forlornly alone on the tall steps, gazing out at a world blanketed in snow, hoping to catch a glimpse of his mother...

A wave of desolation surged in Feng Yun’s heart.

Heart-wrenching agony, so intense she nearly lost control of her emotions...

In a past life, had Queque been trapped in Zhaode Palace, without clothes, without food, staring up at the sky every day, yearning for his mother’s arrival...

"Princess?"

Dong Bai’s voice brought her back to reality.

Feng Yun sniffed, "Let’s go."

The sleeping hall was enveloped by an inexplicable sadness, creating a heavy and oppressive atmosphere.

A group of senior officials stood silently in the outer hall.

Pei Jue stood at the forefront, his expression stern and his brows slightly furrowed.

As Feng Yun approached him, she asked, "Highness, how is His Majesty now?"

Pei Jue said, "The imperial physicians are still in consultation."

He added, "You should go see."

Yuan Shangyi was very fond of Feng Yun.

Feng Yun guessed that this was why he wanted her to come.

"Alright." The mood in the outer hall was too heavy; she had no desire to say much to Pei Jue. She nodded and followed Dong Bai inside.

Both Puyang father and son were there, along with several Imperial Physicians from the medical bureau, who gathered around the wooden case in the inner hall, quietly discussing something.

In front of the Young Emperor’s dragon bed stood several palace maids and eunuchs, all extremely anxious and as still as cicadas in winter.

Feng Yun was somewhat surprised.

She hadn’t seen the Empress Dowager...

At a time like this, shouldn’t she be the one by Yuan Shangyi’s side?

She lowered her voice and asked Dong Bai, "Where is the Empress Dowager?"

Dong Bai seemed to hesitate, looking around cautiously before whispering:

"The Empress Dowager, upon seeing His Majesty’s accident, was immediately terrified and fainted, her consciousness blurred. The Imperial Physician said that the Empress Dowager seemed to have... symptoms of a stroke."

Feng Yun hesitated for a moment.

"Does this mean that when the accident occurred, the Empress Dowager was also in Yongshou Palace?"

Dong Bai bowed his head, "Yes."

After a pause, he added another sentence.

"After the Highness arrived, he had all the palace attendants who were serving in Yongshou Palace at the time of the incident thrown into prison for the Imperial Cavalry Division to conduct a strict investigation..."

Feng Yun nodded silently, reflecting on the situation when Puyang Jiu approached her.

"Sister-in-law."

Before Feng Yun could ask, Puyang Jiu looked somber as he began.

"His Majesty’s bleeding from the head has stopped, and the external injuries are not serious. Currently, my father and several Imperial Physicians are most worried about... blood flooding within the skull, which is difficult to disperse..."

Although Feng Yun was not a doctor, she understood the principle that external injuries are easier to treat, but internal injuries are hard to heal.

She asked, "Do the imperial physicians have a method of treatment?"

Puyang Jiu looked back at the few Imperial Physicians whispering among themselves, his eyes darkened, and he shook his head towards her.

"All possible methods have been attempted. With blood rushing to where it shouldn’t and presenting unusual symptoms, His Majesty shows signs of blood stasis; I fear that... he may never wake up again."

Feng Yun caught her breath sharply.

It felt as if she had been struck by a heavy hammer in her heart.

She slowly turned toward the imperial yellow dragon bed and looked at the thin and small Yuan Shangyi wrapped in brocaded blankets, her mind vaguely recalling how he looked when he first came to Huaxi. Such a small child, trying to act mature, under the strict care of the Female Historian, and despite his love for lively scenes, he refrained from any behavior beyond what his frail health permitted.

"Ayuan?"

Feng Yun’s face was as pale as a sheet of paper...

Her body stiffened as she sat beside the bed, staring at Yuan Shangyi for a moment before slowly taking his little hand into hers.

Hidden underneath the blanket, the little hand was also icy cold...

Feng Yun remembered the banquet that day when Yuan Shangyi ran to her and embraced her.

He was like a small bird crashing into her embrace.

He said, "Madam, I miss you so much. I wish I could be with you every day."

He said, "Madam, I want to go back to Huaxi. Will you take me back to Huaxi?"

He longed for closeness with her, a sentiment of adoration but also a child’s yearning for maternal love...

Unfortunately, with so many concerns of her own, she was unable to fully satisfy him.

Even to balance the Empress Dowager’s emotions, she had stated, "I am not your mother, your mother is the Empress Dowager," decisively walking away.

She didn’t know how disappointed Yuan Shangyi must have felt at that moment.

But upon seeing her in the Golden Throne Hall, Ayuan still smiled at her.

Despite such a distance, my eyes could see only her.

When she was accused of plotting treason, with irrefutable evidence, the child believed in her without hesitation, defending her in front of the entire assembly of civil and military officials...

Feng Yun felt a lump in her throat as she gazed at the child on the dragon bed, feeling utterly helpless.

She bent over and gently stroked Yuan Shangyi’s hair, softly calling out to him.

"Ayuan, won’t you wake up quick?"

"Once you wake up, I will take you back to Huaxi, didn’t you say you wanted to return to Huaxi? I will take you back..."

"Be strong, Ayuan, you’re a good child, the strongest, you surely wouldn’t want your mother to be sad over you, would you?"

As she spoke, her thoughts drifted to Queque.

Departing alone and in pain, how frightened he must have been, how desperate to hide in his mother’s embrace...

"Ayuan." Feng Yun clenched her eyes shut, still unable to stop the tears from spilling over.

She lowered her head and secretly wiped her tears.

Puyang Jiu stood quietly behind her, watching her, and looking at the Emperor, he sighed deeply.

Feng Yun waited in the inner chamber for about half an hour until the Imperial Physician said he needed to perform acupuncture on His Majesty and asked her to leave, so she came out of the inner chamber.

As she pushed open the door, she saw several power ministers standing to the side, speaking in hushed tones by the south-facing window.

"The Prince of Zhuangxian is the late Emperor’s own brother, by closeness and age, it should be him..."

"No way it turns to that branch of the Prince of Runan in Yecheng..."

"It all depends on the wishes of the Prince of Yonghuai..."

The conversation intruded upon her ears as Feng Yun looked over.

When those men turned their heads and saw Feng Yun, they signaled awkwardly and then casually turned the conversation to other topics as if nothing had happened.

By this time, Yuan Shangyi’s condition must have been known to these heavyweights in the court.

If the Emperor does not regain consciousness, then deciding who will succeed to the throne is their primary concern.

Discussing such matters privately in the antechamber of the Young Emperor was indeed bleak and inappropriate, but it was also human nature.

Feng Yun did not see Pei Jue, and when she stepped out of the temple gate, she saw Zuo Zhong standing outside.

She asked, "Where is his grace?"

Zuo Zhong replied, "In Changxin Hall, visiting the Empress Dowager."

-

Inside Changxin Hall.

Thick curtains hung in front of the wooden bed of the Empress Dowager.

She lay on the bed.

Pei Jue stood outside the curtains.

"Imperial Physician, you go check on His Majesty first."

Puyang Li looked up at Pei Jue’s face, sighed silently, and nodded before departing.

Pei Jue said, "Everyone leave."

About a dozen palace attendants were waiting in the inner chamber, each holding their breath and focusing intently.

Hearing Pei Jue’s voice, some were at a loss.

The Empress Dowager and a subject alone in a room were not very appropriate.

Besides, the Empress Dowager... had not spoken to give orders.

"You all... leave..." the Empress Dowager’s voice was frail, slurred as if she had difficulty articulating her words.

The palace attendants responded and filed out one by one.

The Empress Dowager, clutching her blanket nervously, seemed to gather all her strength just to push out a few unclear words.

"The letter... it’s true..."

The hall fell into silence.

Pei Jue did not answer her.

The Empress Dowager struggled, as if she wanted to sit up.

But her body’s strength could not support her doing so, and she lay back down in silence, breathing low, each word spoken with extreme difficulty, faint as a whisper.

"The Prince of Yonghuai... that letter... it’s true..."

"The Princess has betrayed..."

"I... have made no mistake..."

She had never intended to target Pei Jue.

To produce the evidence was simply to make Pei Jue see Feng Yun’s true nature.

And to keep Yuan Shangyi from recognizing a thief as his mother, from being deceived by her false affection...

She exerted all her strength to make Pei Jue understand her words...

Yet she did not know that Pei Jue had already seen that letter long ago.

In his previous life. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He had seen that letter then.

He could almost recite the contents of the letter...

And it was this letter that had prompted him to make that irreversible decision—to send Feng Yun back to Andu.

"Your Highness," Pei Jue spoke in an indifferent tone, "what my wife does is my concern alone, and will brook no interference from others."

The breath that the Empress Dowager held in her throat suddenly dispersed.

The hall was warm with the heat of the floor heating, yet she suddenly felt ice-cold, desolate.

Only now did she realize the regrettable truth, leaving her regretful and helpless.

It wasn’t that the Prince of Yonghuai did not know the truth about the letter.

He knew the truth and still chose to defend the woman of the Feng Family.

"Why... why is it so..."

The Empress Dowager’s voice was weak, as if clinging to her last breath, her words trailed off intermittently.

As if remembering something, she clutched the blanket and suddenly stretched her neck taut, showing a look of panic.

"It was you... it was you... who did it... His Majesty..."

Alongside a bout of rapid breathing, the rest of the words got stuck in her throat; only a faint and muffled sound escaped from her trembling, widely agape mouth.

"Your Grace."

Someone reported from outside the door.

"The Princess has arrived."

Pei Jue said, "Let her in."