The Return of the King: A Generation of Prodigies

Shen Tianjiao's heart sank, and she asked, "How bad is it?"

"Your Majesty has been in a coma for the past few days and has rarely woken up." Doctor Wang swallowed nervously. "Also, your Majesty's pulse is very weak right now. If the substance in your body cannot be cleared, I'm afraid you won't have much time left."

"Didn't they say that as long as it is taken care of properly, it can last at least two years?" Shen Tianjiao frowned. This was not good news for her.

If Li Rui died at this time, the biggest victims would be Shen Tianjiao and Li Muyang, mother and son.

At this time, Li Muyang had not yet been canonized as the crown prince. Although he was Li Rui's only son, he was still young and it would be difficult for him to convince the public if he had not been canonized by Li Rui himself.

After all, Li Rui's uncles have many adult sons, and they will not be willing to miss out and give up such a good opportunity.

And more importantly, all the royal relatives and aristocratic families are now very wary of Shen Tianjiao. They are all looking for Shen Tianjiao's faults, trying to pull Shen Tianjiao down from the position of queen and let Shen Tianjiao fall into the dust.

Shen Tianjiao remembered that Li Muyang died young in his previous life and did not live to this day. After Li Rui's death, the ministers chose Prince Cheng's son Li Chen as the emperor.

All these past events flooded into Shen Tianjiao's mind, giving her a headache.

Distraught and distraught, she couldn't help but begin to doubt whether she could really change the course of history and the fate of all of them by her own strength?

"Empress." Doctor Wang saw that Shen Tianjiao was silent for a long time and spoke worriedly.

"Ah." Shen Tianjiao came back to her senses and shook her head to calm herself down.

"I know, I will find a way. You must do everything you can to save the emperor's life first."

Ever since the news came, Shen Tianjiao has never wanted Li Rui to be alive as urgently as she does now.

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will do my best and will not slack off in the slightest."

Doctor Wang's forehead was already covered in sweat. If the emperor couldn't make it this time, judging from the empress's current condition, his entire family's lives would be in jeopardy.

"Well, you go down first."

Shen Tianjiao, who had no idea that Doctor Wang was so immersed in his inner thoughts, waved her hand and asked Doctor Wang to leave.

Shen Tianjiao calmed herself down and walked into the bedroom.

Seeing Shen Tianjiao coming, Huang Chunhua hurriedly led the servants in the bedroom to pay their respects.

"Forget about that." Shen Tianjiao was in no mood to pay attention to these people. "Except for Eunuch Huang, all of you should leave."

In an instant, there was no one else in the bedroom except Shen Tianjiao who was sitting, Li Rui who was lying on the bed, and Huang Chunhua who was standing.

"How long has the emperor been in a coma?" Looking at Li Rui sleeping on the bed with his face still as pale and bloodless, Shen Tianjiao became even more worried.

"In reply to the Empress, the Emperor has been asleep for over an hour. Based on past experience, he will wake up soon."

Huang Chunhua, the chief eunuch who once ran the palace for many years and enjoyed unlimited glory, has now lost all his former charm and aged a lot, becoming just an old man.

Shen Tianjiao nodded and said, "I understand. You can go down first. I will serve the emperor here."

"Yes." Huang Chunhua didn't dare to say anything else and just walked out.

Shen Tianjiao stayed by Li Rui's side for not long before Li Rui woke up.

Li Rui woke up and opened his eyes, and saw Shen Tianjiao sitting next to him. For a moment, he thought he was still asleep and in a dream.

"The emperor is awake?" Although Shen Tianjiao disliked Li Rui in her heart, in order not to anger Li Rui to death, she had to put away her dislike and pretend to be concerned.

"Ah Jiao, why are you here?" Seeing Shen Tianjiao coming, Li Rui was so moved that he wanted to cry.

After all, he and Shen Tianjiao were married when they were young, and their relationship was different from that of others.

When Li Rui thought about this, he completely forgot that a few months ago, he had poisoned Shen Tianjiao and tried to force her to death.

"I came to see the emperor, and I have something to tell him."

Although Li Rui cannot die now, it does not mean that Shen Tianjiao has enough patience to pretend to care about him in front of him.

Shen Tianjiao now only wanted to finish her story quickly and leave immediately. She still had to go back to have dinner with her son. Staying here for too long would affect her mood for dinner later.

"Well, tell me what's the matter." Li Rui's voice was so weak that it could almost be described as barely breathing.

No matter what Shen Tianjiao wanted to say to him today, Li Rui was very happy. He was at his most vulnerable moment now. The only person who could make him feel at ease was Shen Tianjiao, his original wife, in the entire Yunli.

Shen Tianjiao looked up at Li Rui and said, "The Empress Dowager died yesterday of a sudden illness. I'd like to ask the Emperor what should be done with her funeral."

"She died suddenly of a serious illness?" Li Rui chuckled and said, "That was a blessing for her."

Li Rui is a cold-hearted person and an extremely selfish egoist. How could he have any feelings for Empress Dowager Liu, the woman who killed his biological mother?

The reason why he didn't kill Queen Mother Liu before was simply because she was still of use to him.

Now he himself is already terminally ill and will not live long, so those things that can be used are of no value to him.

"The Queen will handle this matter."

"Okay." Shen Tianjiao looked at Li Rui lying on the bed, half dead, and hesitated for a moment before speaking: "There is one more matter that I would like to ask the emperor for his decision."

"Is it about Feng Yuanyuan?" Li Rui smiled bitterly and said, "I've been really blind and heartless all these years. I actually ignored you and suspected you for such an unworthy bitch..."

"Ah Jiao, I was really wrong. Not only was I wrong, I was completely wrong and unforgivable."

The belated affection is cheaper than grass. Besides, Shen Tianjiao is not her original self, so she has no feelings at all towards Li Rui's belated affection and apology.

"Your Majesty, let's first discuss how to resolve Concubine Feng's issue. It's no use dragging things out like this. Those aristocratic families are all watching."

"Although Li Hong has been executed, he still has many followers. To avoid further trouble, it's better to make a decision early."

Shen Tianjiao knew very well that her killing of Li Hong and some of his followers in Zhenghe Hall could only temporarily suppress those people with ulterior motives and who were ready to make moves, but it would not last long.

Human selfishness and greed will always make people forget the pain once the wound has healed.

"Give her death, and give her and that evil creature death together." When mentioning Feng Yuanyuan, Li Rui only felt more tired and had no strength left.

"As for the Feng family, those who should be killed should be killed, and those who should be exiled should be exiled."

Feng Dafu is now imprisoned in the Ministry of Punishment, and he is barely alive.

As for the other people in the Feng family, Shen Tianjiao had already promised Wang to let her and her children go, so she naturally could not go back on her word.

The rest were nothing more than servants, so it didn't matter whether they were exiled or not.

"Ah Jiao." Li Rui raised his head and pointed at his small desk, saying, "Take out the things in the secret compartment."

Shen Tianjiao stood up and walked to the small desk and opened the secret compartment. When her hand touched the things inside, her heart beat faster.

She took the thing out and looked at it, and it was indeed the imperial seal as she had guessed.

Shen Tianjiao swallowed, clenched the jade seal in her hand, then loosened it, adjusted her mood, picked up the jade seal and walked in front of Li Rui.

"Ah Jiao, this imperial seal will be handed over to you for safekeeping from now on."

Li Rui knew very well that his body would not be able to recover, and even if it could, he would most likely be a disabled person.

He could no longer hold power and exercise the responsibilities and obligations of the emperor. He now had no choice but to hand over the imperial seal to Shen Tianjiao.

Shen Tianjiao's heart trembled, but she quickly calmed down and said, "Your Majesty, this is inappropriate. I am now acting as regent on your behalf, but I am forced to do so by the circumstances."

"When the emperor recovers, the power of regent will be returned to him."

"This is the Imperial Seal. No one except the Emperor can take it, so..."

"Ah Jiao." Li Rui interrupted Shen Tianjiao, "You and I are one as husband and wife. It's already this time, why should we still distinguish between you and me?"

Shen Tianjiao calmly took the imperial seal to her side and said, "Okay, then I will keep it for the emperor first. When the emperor recovers and can manage state affairs, I will return the imperial seal to him."

"That child, his name is Li Muyang, right? I remember you were the one who chose this name. You said it meant he would be bathed in sunshine throughout his life, free from illness and disaster, and live in peace and tranquility."

Li Rui smiled and said, "Ah Jiao, bring the child here for me to see. I've only seen him once in Yuxiu Palace since he was born."

Shen Tianjiao didn't know why Li Rui wanted to meet Li Muyang at this time, nor did she know what Li Rui was thinking, but none of this mattered. She now had the ability to protect her son and prevent him from being bullied by anyone.

"Okay, I'll bring him here tomorrow."

"Ah Jiao, you can make the decision on anything from now on." Li Rui said this, not to say that he was really generous and willing to leave all the matters to Shen Tianjiao, but this was just a helpless move he had to make at the expedient moment.

"Well, Your Majesty must be tired after talking so much, so I won't disturb your rest."

Everything that needed to be said had been said, everything that needed to be done had been done, and there was even an unexpected surprise. Shen Tianjiao didn't want to stay here any longer.

"Well, let's go back." After just talking for a while, Li Rui was already exhausted.

Shen Tianjiao didn't hesitate, she stood up and said goodbye.

After leaving the bedroom and coming to the outer courtyard, Shen Tianjiao looked up and saw Huang Chunhua coming to greet her.

"Empress." Huang Chunhua, the once majestic and arrogant chief eunuch, was now as nervous as a mouse seeing a cat when he saw Shen Tianjiao.

"Serve the Emperor diligently and report any abnormalities to Yuxiu Palace immediately."

"Yes, I understand." Huang Chunhua lowered his head, wishing he could bury his head in the ground.

Shen Tianjiao didn't say anything more. She strode straight out of Taihe Hall.

On the way out of Taihe Hall and back to Yuxiu Palace, Shen Tianjiao walked very fast with big strides, which made the people following her a little overwhelmed.

Chunchao didn't know what was going on. She trotted behind Shen Tianjiao. She wanted to stop Shen Tianjiao and ask her what happened several times, but she didn't dare.

When they returned to Yuxiu Palace, Chunchao and the people who followed him were so tired that they were out of breath and couldn't even speak.

After returning to Yuxiu Palace, Shen Tianjiao entered her bedroom. After entering the bedroom, Shen Tianjiao fell into a chair and rested for a long time before she took out the imperial seal from her sleeve.

She stared at the imperial seal for a long time before she got up and put it in the secret compartment under her bed.

This is the guarantee of her son's future, and it must be hidden well.

Shen Tianjiao stayed in her bedroom for a long time before coming out.

"Master." Seeing Shen Tianjiao coming out, Chunchao hurried over, his eyes full of questions and worries.

"I'm fine." Shen Tianjiao naturally knew what Chunchao was thinking. After comforting Chunchao, she said, "Get ready. After you finish dealing with Concubine Feng's matter, I will leave the palace and return to the hot spring villa immediately."

"Yes, I understand." Chunchao nodded and went down to prepare.

"Mother, you're back?" Li Muyang had been waiting outside early. When he saw Shen Tianjiao hurried into the bedroom, he didn't dare to disturb her and just waited quietly outside.

Seeing Shen Tianjiao coming out of the bedroom, he ran over.

"Yeah." Shen Tianjiao hugged Li Muyang in her arms, her mood becoming excited and complicated.

"Mother, what's wrong with you?" Li Muyang, who felt that something was different about Shen Tianjiao, looked up at Shen Tianjiao and asked.

"Nothing, mother just wants to hug you." Shen Tianjiao looked at Li Muyang and asked with a smile: "Have you visited your sister?"

"Yeah." Li Muyang nodded, looked at Shen Tianjiao and said, "Mother, my sister is so beautiful, so delicate and petite, I don't even dare to hug her hard."

"Mother, is my sister really going to live with us from now on?"

Li Muyang is actually very lonely. The people around him who are of the same age as him are all his servants. The status and position in the palace are strictly hierarchical. Those people cannot and dare not be Li Muyang's playmates.

Li Muyang, who had no playmates inside or outside the palace, now suddenly had a younger sister by his side. He knew that his younger sister was different from those who served him.

His sister can play with him and live with him without being separated from him. How can he not be happy?

"Yes, my sister will live with us from now on. As her brother, you have to take good care of her and protect her, okay?"

Shen Tianjiao was not able to adapt to the sudden appearance of a daughter, but Li Muyang adapted very well.