Chapter 1299: Resting (1)

As soon as Qi Xiuyuan woke up, he forced himself to appear in the Imperial Court despite his illness. The courtiers, who were originally making movements in secret, suppressed their thoughts when they saw the thin but energetic Emperor.

Qi Xiuyuan looked at the courtiers who lowered their heads respectfully and said in a low voice, “I haven’t fully recovered from my illness. For now, the Crown Prince, the Prime Minister, the Left Prime Minister, and the Minister of Revenue will assist me together. The Crown Prince will report any inconclusive matters to me.”

Qi Xiuyuan took a deep breath and continued, “Everything in the Imperial City and the palace will be under Prince An’s command. Just like an imperial decree, everyone has to abide by it respectfully and not violate it.”

The ministers lowered their heads even more. Fan Zijin did not allow the princes to enter or leave the palace, and the news transmitted from inside and outside was very tightly controlled. The entire palace was under his control, which naturally made the ministers dissatisfied. Furthermore, he was not from the imperial clan and was not the commander of the Forbidden Troops. Logically speaking, he should not interfere in the matters of the palace.

However, as the Empress and King Rong both trusted him, the ministers could only instigate the imperial clan to cause trouble and impeach him for acting arbitrarily. Who knew that the Emperor would support him the moment he appeared?

What really terrified the ministers was that the Emperor actually agreed with King Rong’s arrangements. Everyone looked at Yan Du subtly.

So not only did the Right Minister offend King Rong, but he also lost the Emperor’s trust?

Not caring about what everyone thought, Qi Xiuyuan held the Crown Prince’s hand and left the court.

The courtiers watched as the Crown Prince supported the Emperor and walked further and further away. From then on, they became even more respectful to the Crown Prince and temporarily put away their excess thoughts.

Since the Emperor’s poison had been neutralized, there was no need to be so anxious even if they wanted to fight. The Emperor was in his prime, and the Crown Prince was growing up. In the future, the conflict between the two sides would only become greater and greater. Only then would it be time to act.

At this moment, the Emperor, who had been judged by the courtiers to be young and strong, spat out a mouthful of blood. Little Treasure anxiously summoned the imperial physicians.

Qi Xiuyuan patted his hand comfortingly and said, “The damage from the neutralization this time is too great. It’s fine.”

After being ill for a long time, and considering this was the second time he had been poisoned, he was extremely familiar with this situation.

Chief Physician Hua retracted his hand and bowed. “Your Majesty is right. Your health has been severely damaged this time. In addition, you’re burdened by exhaustion and anger, so…”

Chief Physician Hua said carefully, “Your Majesty ought to calm down and wait for the poison to be completely removed, then focus on recuperating.”

Qi Xiuyuan hummed softly and looked at Little Treasure. “Go and invite the State Preceptor over. Royal Father has some questions for him.”

Little Treasure thought that he was going to ask about Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt, so he quickly walked out.

After Qi Xiuyuan and the others left, they glanced at Eunuch Wan. Eunuch Wan hurriedly bowed and left with his men, leaving only Chief Physician Hua in the hall.

Chief Physician Hua lowered his head and stood at the side, his heart in his mouth.

Qi Xiuyuan adjusted his posture and asked, “How’s the poison in King Rong’s body?”

“King Rong exchanged half of the poisonous blood with Your Majesty, but his internal energy is deep and his health is in excellent condition. Besides, he started taking antidotes as soon as the poisonous blood fused, so he should be fine.”

Qi Xiuyuan stared at him for a while and asked, “Then why didn’t King Rong return to the capital to see me?”

Cold sweat broke out on Chief Physician Hua’s forehead. “I heard that Her Highness is in danger. King Rong might be worried about Her Highness.”

Qi Xiuyuan snorted coldly, and Chief Physician Hua immediately stopped talking. The hall fell silent, and only the sound of their breathing could be heard.

More and more cold sweat broke out on Chief Physician Hua’s forehead. In the end, he could not withstand the psychological pressure and said in a mosquito-like voice, “But King Rong is exhausting himself from running around before the poison is completely cleared. I heard that he used his internal energy again, causing the poison to expand faster. It’s possible that it has penetrated deep into his blood and bone marrow…”

Qi Xiuyuan’s eyes darkened. Chief Physician Hua stole a glance at him and said with cold sweat, “However, the State Preceptor has already prescribed a new prescription based on the medical report. King Rong should be fine.”

Seeing that Qi Xiuyuan’s expression did not improve, Chief Physician Hua could not help but kneel down and say, “Your Majesty, even if King Rong’s condition worsens, it’s not even half as bad as yours. Your health is the most important thing now.”

Stunned, Qi Xiuyuan asked, “How long can I live?”

Chief Physician Hua did not dare to answer.

“Speak. I promise you will not be punished for telling the truth.” Qi Xiuyuan smiled. “I’m already very lucky to be able to wake up this time. What else would I ask for?”

But how many people in this world could face life and death calmly?

Chief Physician Hua closed his eyes and replied, “Your Majesty, it’s anywhere from three to eight years, depending on how well you take care of yourself.”

As the poison was too domineering and suddenly acted up, Qi Xiuyuan’s body could not withstand it at all. In addition, so much poison had stayed in his body for four days. Later, they used an aggressive treatment to suppress the poison in his body, so his internal organs were greatly damaged.

Humans relied on their internal organs to survive. In any case, with his and his colleagues in the Imperial Institute of Medicine’s abilities, they could not heal the damage done to the Emperor’s health. That was, unless they could find a famous doctor who was good at conditioning a patient’s internal organs.

Qi Xiuyuan muttered, “After damaging Haoran’s health, I’ll only manage to live for another three to five years. In that case, I might as well die now so that at least one of us can be preserved.”

“Your Majesty!” Chief Physician Hua kowtowed. “Great Qi can’t do without you!”

Qi Xiuyuan waved his hand and said, “There’s no need to tell the Crown Prince and the Empress about this. Select two imperial physicians from the Imperial Hospital who are good at poison neutralization and nourishing the body and send them to King Rong. Tell him not to rush back and focus on recuperating first.”

Chief Physician Hua walked out with red eyes. As he had been an imperial physician in the previous dynasty, he was used to the schemes and strife between the royal family of Great Zhou. This was the first time he had seen genuine kinship in the royal family, so he was very sad.

Chief Physician Hua stood in front of the hall and thought for a moment. He felt that the Emperor had only mentioned “three to five years” and not “seven to eight years” just now. Clearly, he did not want to recuperate well. Furthermore, he had already ordered that the Crown Prince and the Empress were not to be informed. Chief Physician Hua could only tell King Rong about this.

Anyway, the Emperor didn’t say that he couldn’t tell King Rong, right?

If King Rong persuaded him, the Emperor would most likely listen. With this thought in mind, Chief Physician Hua immediately chose an imperial physician and packed a pile of medicinal herbs to send to King Rong.

Yuan Hui strolled slowly to the Emperor’s room. Seeing that he was flipping through the memorials, he shook his head slightly and said, “By tiring yourself out like this, I’m afraid Your Majesty’s lifespan will be affected.”

Qi Xiuyuan threw down the memorial and looked up at him. “Since you know divination, let me ask you, how many years can I live? How many years can King Rong live?”

Smiling, Yuan Hui replied, “Your Majesty, although I can peek into the divine secrets, I’m not an immortal. I can’t deduce by divination the answer to either of the two questions which you mentioned.”

He sat cross-legged opposite Qi Xiuyuan and said benevolently, “Everything in the world is not fixed by the Heavenly Dao, so the Heavenly Dao is also changing.”

“Human choices and actions can change the Heavenly Dao, and all I can do is deduce the general development according to the evolution of the celestial phenomena. And these will be displayed on a person’s face and palm.”

“For example, when I first saw King Rong back then, I knew that he was destined to be wealthy and possessed a dragon-like aura. But because that dragon-like aura was too shallow, I originally thought that he was a hidden dragon in the abyss. But when I looked at his palm, I understood that this fate belonged to his older brother and not him.” Yuan Hui said with a smile, “Back then, I spent a lot of effort to predict the future based on celestial phenomena, I deduced that you could pacify the world and replace Great Zhou when you were over 40 years old. After seeing Queen Consort Rong, I knew that the Heavenly Dao was changing and the celestial phenomenon was no longer trustworthy. It wouldn’t take too long before you replaced Great Zhou.”

“And Queen Consort Rong is the variable between you and King Rong.” Yuan Hui said, “King Rong was destined to have two wives, four concubines, four sons, and a daughter in his life. But look, he only has one wife now. However, he does have four sons and a daughter.”