The nights in the palace were always extremely quiet,
but Zhaochun Palace was bustling tonight in an untimely manner.
When Xiao Jingheng got the news and hurried to Zhaochun Palace, as soon as he reached the palace gates, he could vaguely hear Consort Hui's painful moans coming from the inner chamber.
Amidst the brightly lit lights, the busy palace servants inside and outside were sending in basin after basin of hot water, and soon they carried out basins of water soaked with bloodied handkerchiefs.
Under such circumstances, it seemed as if even the autumnal air was permeated with a lingering bloody smell that dissipated for a long time.
The moment Xiao Jingheng stepped into the inner chamber, he immediately saw Consort Hui lying on the couch, struggling painfully.
She was deathly pale, her features twisted in agony, looking extremely fierce.
Consort Hui's fair and slender fingers were clutching tightly at the corner of the quilt, and amidst gritting her teeth and shedding tears, she also caught sight of Xiao Jingheng standing still at the door.
She then struggled even more fiercely, desperately reaching out to Xiao Jingheng and crying grievously,
"Your Majesty... our child..."
Our child?
These short five words falling into Xiao Jingheng's ears turned into sledgehammers forged from zirconium, pounding at Xiao Jingheng's heart one after another.
He recalled that intimate night with Consort Hui not long ago. He had stayed in Zhaochun Palace only because Chengjing was ill.
Even he himself did not understand why, when his heart was full of worries about his son,
he was still aroused by Consort Hui's slight teasing and gave in to worldly desires.
Not only did he make love to her, he insatiably made love to her three times in one passionate night...
And Consort Hui was also blessed to conceive that very night.
The records of the emperor's visits to the imperial harem emerged in Xiao Jingheng's mind again.
He sized up Consort Hui with lowered eyes. Another shadow of doubt grew in his heart.
Regarding Chengjing's death, the murderer who silenced him was Prince Qi.
And the auspicious unicorn performance for the emperor's birthday celebration was also carefully planned by Consort Hui.
He dared not imagine what kind of vicious woman would be capable of putting her own flesh and blood into boiling oil.
Among the thousands of ways to die, only this method could dehydrate a person into a dried corpse. Even if one wanted to take blood samples from the remains to verify kinship and identity, it would be hopeless.
If Chengjing's death back then was a cover up by Consort Hui and Prince Qi for their adulterous affair,
then what about now?
Whose child was the one in her belly?
Unconsciously, Xiao Jingheng was already standing in front of Consort Hui's couch.
He looked down at this woman who had accompanied him for decades, watching her clutch his dragon robe and shed tears of pain like rain,
yet he felt not the slightest bit of heartache, only indignation.
That night the imperial physician on duty at the Imperial Medical Academy was Zhang the Imperial Physician. He was summoned to treat Consort Hui.
Seeing that Consort Hui was extremely emotionally agitated after seeing Xiao Jingheng, and the bleeding below was increasingly difficult to stop,
he advised, "Consort Hui, seeing His Majesty has made you emotionally excited. It would be inappropriate for His Majesty to stay here any longer. Your Majesty, please wait in the main hall. This humble official will do his utmost to save Consort Hui and the dragon heir with all his medical skills..."
Before Zhang the Imperial Physician could even finish speaking, Xiao Jingheng had already decisively left, without even a word to comfort Consort Hui.
He sat alone in the main hall, listening to the moans from the inner chamber gradually weakening, as if Consort Hui's condition had stabilized.
During this time, Zhang the Imperial Physician came out once to personally instruct the medicine boy to prepare medicine.
Xiao Jingheng asked him, "How is it?"
Zhang the Imperial Physician wiped his sweat and replied tremblingly,
"Consort Hui originally had metrorrhagia. Imperial Physician Guo had a hard time stabilizing her condition. But perhaps because Consort Hui was deeply worried about the death of Third Prince, and today she also attended the Third Prince's funeral and grieved greatly, this led to her metrorrhagia developing into massive hemorrhage. This condition is quite tricky. I can only try my best to see if the dragon fetus can be saved..."
Xiao Jingheng's eyes were vacant, as if he was silently pondering something.
Not long after, he murmured in a low voice,
"If it's really tricky, then..."
He choked on the words that followed and did not utter them.
Zhang the Imperial Physician asked puzzledly, "What did Your Majesty say?"
"Nothing." Xiao Jingheng stroked the ring worn on his thumb, his brows and eyes clouded like dark clouds pressing down on a city. "You just do your best to treat her."
In the end, Zhang the Imperial Physician still managed to save the imperial heir in Consort Hui's belly from the gate of hell that day.
However, Xiao Jingheng did not show much delight at this.
He only perfunctorily comforted Consort Hui and told her to recuperate properly,
without even a simple physical touch, before leaving.
When this news reached Chang Le Palace the next morning, it was already early dawn.
At that time, Zhao Hua had just gotten up, washed up and was making up. Xiao Fuzi came to report the matter to her.
Zhao Hua just lightly and casually replied while carefully outlining her brows with a brow pencil,
"It's as expected."
Xiao Fuzi asked puzzledly, "Yesterday, Prince An conveyed everything Your Ladyship intended for him to say to His Majesty. His Majesty should have started doubting the affair between Consort Hui and Prince Qi, and also had Tian Ji's people closely monitor Prince Qi's residence. I really don't understand why His Majesty can still remain so tolerant when such a scandal has broken out."
"Don't you already know the answer?"
