Yi Xin as a concubine

Just as the grandparents and grandchildren were chatting at night, a group of ragged and blood-stained people, supporting each other, escorted two carriages into Shengjing City quietly. No one knew about it except the soldiers guarding the gate.

When the group returned to the Crown Prince's Mansion in the Eastern Palace, the entire palace was in an uproar.

The lights in the Prince's Mansion were on late at night. The imperial doctors, eunuchs and palace maids were coming in and out of the door, all with solemn and anxious looks on their faces.

In the emperor's bedroom, Wuwei Hall, the old emperor, who was rarely without beauties by his side, went back to his bedroom to have a peaceful sleep. However, not long into his sleep, he was awakened by the notice of his own son's critical illness.

After waking up, he was very upset, but when he thought of the purpose of his son's trip, he couldn't help but feel a little fatherly.

The palace maid who was called in to serve him changed her clothes, and soon, she went straight to the East Palace with a large group of eunuchs and palace maids.

"How is His Royal Highness?"

After entering the Prince's Mansion, we arrived at the Prince's bedroom without any obstruction.

Sobbing sounds came one after another. The prince's concubines blocked the door, stretching their necks to look towards the inner room, looking like they really care about the prince, but it is unknown how much sincerity there is in their words.

"His Majesty has arrived!" Qiu He, the emperor's close eunuch, spoke up to remind everyone at the right time.

Immediately afterwards, everyone knelt down, and Emperor Ning didn't even look at them, but walked straight to the door.

In the inner room, several of the biggest and most capable doctors in the Imperial Medical Bureau gathered together to discuss something.

The Crown Princess, two concubines, and several children surrounded the Crown Prince's bed, all with sorrow on their faces, crying uncontrollably.

The palace maid serving in the room was the first to notice the emperor coming in, and she immediately knelt down, kowtowed, and greeted him loudly to remind her master.

As expected, everyone reacted immediately and saluted together.

"Okay, let's not get into all this nonsense now. How is the prince?"

Emperor Ning didn't even look at his daughter-in-law and grandson who were kneeling on the ground. He waved his hand to ask them to stand up, and asked the nervous director with a cold face.

"Return to Your Majesty, Your Highness... Your Highness, he..."

Yuan Zheng was kneeling on the ground, his body trembling, hesitating and not daring to speak.

"Speak." The old emperor became impatient and kicked the man to the ground. Fortunately, the current old emperor is not the former General Ning, whose body, hollowed out by alcohol and sex, has limited strength. Otherwise, the old emperor would have to be buried with the prince.

The old man was trembling as he climbed up and knelt down, saying fearfully, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince...his appearance is completely ruined, and his leg has been injured for too long. I'm afraid he won't be able to stand even after the leg is healed."

"What did you say? You said the prince's legs are broken, then why should I support you, you useless people, a bunch of useless people, why don't you go and treat the prince quickly? If you can't cure him, I will take your heads."

"Yes, yes, Your Majesty, please calm down!" Before the dean could answer, the other doctors were so scared that they kept nodding their heads and crawled to the bedside.

The director saw this scene out of the corner of his eye and felt filled with sadness. He did not stand up, but knelt there in silence, with his head bowed, motionless, waiting for the final judgment of fate.

"Ah, Yuan'er, Lord Yuanzheng, please look at Yuan'er, my Yuan'er!"

A sudden, shrill female voice sounded, terrified and anxious.

"Why are you still standing there? Why don't you go and see what happened to the little princess?"

The emperor still liked this little granddaughter very much. She was pretty and talkative. When he saw his favorite youngster faint, he became genuinely anxious.

The Ning family had only been stationed in the imperial city for a dozen years, and had been stationed at the northern border before the rebellion.

Although the Ning family had big ideas at that time, they also knew to be cautious and keep a low profile.

In order to achieve their great cause, the men of the Ning family chose wives who would be helpful to the family. Before the great cause was accomplished, they naturally had to give more respect to their in-laws, and taking concubines was very rare. At one time, the family had become the most desirable home for unmarried women.

With few wives and concubines, there were also few children. The borderland was cold and harsh, and it was difficult for children to survive. Therefore, when Emperor Ning ascended the throne, he had only one wife and two concubines, and only three sons, namely the current crown prince, the second prince, and the third prince.

The Fourth Prince and the Fifth Prince were born to concubines newly brought in after he ascended the throne. The Fifth Prince was only eleven or twelve years old, but he was already ambitious. On the contrary, the Fourth Prince was born with a disease and seldom appeared in public.

With five sons in a row, the Ning family seemed to be prosperous no matter how you looked at it. However, fate was a mysterious thing. Perhaps the Ning family had committed too many sins of killing. Even though there were more and more women in the palace, only a few of them could get pregnant. Even if children were born, they would either be sickly or die young.

Among the princes, the first three got married, and all of them had many wives and concubines, but they still did not have many children.

The prince has only two sons and one daughter so far. Unfortunately, the concubine has remained in favor for many years, on the one hand because of the Xin family's wealth, and on the other hand because she gave birth to the prince's eldest son and the only two daughters of the royal family, Princess An - Ning Yuan.

The other daughter of the Ning royal family is the daughter of the Third Prince's wife, and the Third Prince has only this one daughter so far, so he is somewhat lacking in confidence in his fight for the throne.

The second prince had more offspring than his two elder brothers. He had three sons, but none of them was a legitimate son. The second prince's wife was a shrew with a strong background. She was unwilling to entrust the illegitimate sons to her name. Moreover, the concubines and illegitimate sons were manipulated by her to be timid and submissive, and were not presentable enough.

This is also the fundamental reason why the crown prince can still sit firmly on the throne despite years of open and covert fighting among the princes. Who makes the royal family pay more attention to the inheritance of offspring?

We have strayed off topic, let’s get back to the book.

With the emperor's rebuke, Yuan Zheng no longer pretended to be dead. He stood up tremblingly and walked towards Princess Ru'an who had fainted in Xin Huang'er's arms.

"The little princess is too sad. Why don't you go to the side hall and have a rest?"

The hospital official carefully felt the little princess's pulse and then gave some advice.

The Crown Princess also reacted at this time and was about to say a few disgusting words, but Emperor Ning did not give her the chance.

"Concubine Xi, take Ru'an to rest. She can't help. It's not proper to cry like this."

"Yes, father." Xin Huang'er wiped the tears from her face, helped her daughter up and walked towards the side hall with some shakiness. Before leaving, she did not forget to signal the old hospital official to follow her.

The old man hesitated for a moment, then followed with the medicine box. Ning Ye wanted to stop him but was pulled back by the Crown Princess.

Facing her son's puzzled look, the Crown Princess simply raised her eyes and looked in the direction of Emperor Ning. Ning Ye had always been good at guessing what the Emperor was thinking, so she followed her mother's line of sight.

Just one glance and Ning Ye's heart sank.

Emperor Ning looked at the Crown Prince with dark eyes, as if he was looking at a piece of merchandise, assessing whether the merchandise was still worth buying.

It's not that he didn't know that Yuan Zheng had left, he just had already confirmed Yuan Zheng's diagnosis. He got angry at the group of imperial doctors, but he was just venting his emotions. How could it have anything to do with his father's injury?

The departure of the Dean actually gave him a way out and he could openly avoid punishing the imperial physician. After all, he knew that this matter had nothing to do with the imperial physician.

Everyone in the Imperial Hospital was naturally grateful to him for saving their lives, and his previous temper tantrum also made everyone see how much he valued his son, the Prince.

Oh, what a hypocritical yet realistic family love!

Ning Ye leaned blankly in the Crown Princess's arms. Suddenly, he felt like a lone wolf who had lost all his fighting spirit. He was trapped in the same place, depressed and angry, and could not see a way out.

And Ning Pei, after his mother and sister left, quietly retreated to the shadow at the end of the bed, looking at everyone in the room with indifference and sarcasm.

"Royal, huh!"

The news that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had been assassinated and returned to the capital, his life in danger, with a disfigured face and a broken leg, spread to all the palaces and courtyards at the speed of wings.

"Empress, are you going to see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?" The voice of an old and somewhat weak matron could be heard through the empty palace.

"It's all retribution. It's just a matter of time. I won't go."

Then there was another round of wooden fish knocking sounds, and the whole hall returned to silence.

After a long time, the sound of the wooden fish gradually died down, and a faint sigh broke the silence in the room.

The queen, with a hunched back, walked slowly out of the Buddhist temple, supported by an even older maid.

The two of them supported each other and walked along the corridor towards the bedroom. When they arrived at the palace gate, the queen straightened up and looked in the direction of the East Palace.

"Yinghua! What's the point of fighting for all this wealth? If you're thirsty, you still need to drink water; if you're hungry, you still need to eat; if you're sick, you still need to take medicine.

You see, this huge palace is not as warm and lively as the wind and rain in the northern border."

The queen spoke very slowly, as if she had used up all her strength.

"Madam?" The old lady choked.

"Go back, it's late."