The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 786 - 786 365 Crush the Imperial Concubine (First Update)

Chapter 786: 365 Crush the Imperial Concubine (First Update) Chapter 786: 365 Crush the Imperial Concubine (First Update) The Emperor closed his mouth helplessly. He glanced at Empress Dowager Zhuang impatiently. What was this villainous woman up to now? Wouldn’t she even let his mother empress feed him medicine? Did she begrudge seeing his mother doing well?

Empress Dowager Zhuang walked over with a haughty expression, saying to the Quiet Empress seated on the Dragon couch, “Give the medicine to me, let me feed him.”

Upon hearing these words, everyone in the hall was taken aback.

Although such words were highly disrespectful, had the Empress Dowager gone mad? How could she want to feed the Emperor medicine?

It would be merciful of her not to poison him with a bowl of medicine!

No, recently, the relationship between the Empress Dowager and the Emperor seemed to have warmed up. They could often be seen sharing mother and child moments of love, and it was heard that they no longer quarreled in Court, almost causing the ministers of both factions to dig up a two-story mansion from the floor of Jinluan Hall with their toenails out of boredom!

But the sudden reconciliation between the two after such a long-lasting feud had taken the palace maids by surprise. They always thought that they were still at odds.

“There’s no need for that, Empress Dowager, let me do it.” The Quiet Empress, sitting on the Dragon couch, spoke gently.

Indeed, he didn’t want to drink medicine fed by this wicked woman!

Empress Dowager Zhuang looked down at her, “Aren’t you worried about catching a cold with your clothes all drenched? Aren’t you in poor health?”

Only then did the Emperor remember that he had spilled the medicine and hurt the quiet Mother Empress. He seemed to have been scared silly by the nightmare, and had forgotten such an important incident after briefly thinking about it once.

He looked at the Quiet Empress’s reddened hand and damp clothes and apologized, “Mother Empress, please go back and change your clothes quickly. Eunuch Wei!”

“This slave is here.” Eunuch Wei walked forward with his whisk, bowed and said, “Your Majesty.”

The Emperor said, “You accompany Mother Empress back to the Nunnery, and make sure to send someone to ask the Imperial Doctor to examine Mother Empress.”

Eunuch Wei replied, “Yes!” He turned to the Quiet Empress, “Empress, please.”

At this point, the Quiet Empress had no choice but to go.

Cai Mama looked at her mistress, clenched her fist, a touch of urgency flashed in her eyes.

The Quiet Empress stood up unhurriedly and handed the bowl of medicine to Empress Dowager Zhuang.

Empress Dowager Zhuang did not move, it was Eunuch Qin who took it.

If bullying was Xuanping Hou’s specialty, then Zhuang Jinse was a professional at crushing others as well. Something that was passed to her by an empress did not deserve to be taken by her own hands!

The fingers of the Quiet Empress clenched, turning slightly white.

The Emperor was furious. This wicked woman had obviously come to embarrass his Quiet Mother!

“Ah—”

The Quiet Empress’s hand slipped and the bowl of medicine slipped from Eunuch Qin’s fingers and overturned onto the footrest of the Dragon couch.

The footrest was wooden and the bowl did not break, but it was completely overturned. The medicine splashed all over the floor and even a few drops splattered onto the gorgeous and exquisite robe of Empress Dowager Zhuang.

“Empress Dowager!” Eunuch Qin suffered the most. He was the closest and his shoes were soaked. Nevertheless, he disregarded himself and bent down to wipe Empress Dowager Zhuang’s phoenix robe.

“No need, get up,” Empress Dowager Zhuang stated calmly.

“Mother Empress, are you alright?” The Emperor asked worriedly.

Eunuch Qin smirked. The Quiet Empress was far more wet than the Empress Dowager! He didn’t care about the Empress Dowager but showed concern for the Quiet Empress instead! Didn’t he see that she was the one who had spilled the bowl of medicated soup?

The Quiet Empress said with guilt, “I’m fine, I’m just so useless, I can’t even hold a bowl of medicine.”

How could the Emperor bear to see her upset, “Mother Empress is not yet recovered from her illness…”

Empress Dowager Zhuang coldly interrupted the emperor’s words, “You know you’re useless, why are you still standing here? Why don’t you leave immediately!”

The Quiet Empress was taken aback.

The Emperor and Cai Mama and others were also shocked.

Empress Dowager Zhuang and the Quiet Empress had long been estranged, but it was the first time that Empress Dowager Zhuang had spoken so harshly to the Quiet Empress in front of everyone.

Even last time they met in the Imperial Garden, Empress Dowager Zhuang had merely ignored the Quiet Empress.

The Emperor’s expression darkened.

The Quiet Empress lowered her eyes and said softly, “You are right to reprimand me, Empress Dowager. I will leave now.”

The expression of the Quiet Empress was very calm, she neither complained nor showed weakness, but everyone could feel her grievance.

The Emperor’s expression darkened further.

The Quiet Empress left the sleeping hall under the escort of Eunuch Wei.

Eunuch Qin personally brought a new bowl of medicine over.

Empress Dowager Zhuang reluctantly took the bowl, looking disgusted.

The Emperor was quite irritated by her. You feel disgusted? He felt even more disgusted!

But he remembered they were playing a farce of peace at the moment and couldn’t publicly break with her. He said to the palace maids in the hall, “You may all leave.”

“Yes.” The palace maids withdrew one by one, only Eunuch Qin remained by Empress Dowager Zhuang’s side.

He knew what was going on, and the Emperor didn’t mind him being there.

Alright, there’s no one else now. The Emperor was ready to settle the score with the Empress Dowager for the Quiet Empress when all of a sudden he felt his hand getting heavy. To his surprise, Empress Dowager Zhuang had pushed the bowl of medicine into his own hand.

Empress Dowager Zhuang said indifferently, “Drink it yourself!”

Then she walked away without looking back.

Emperor: “…”

Upon returning to the Renshou Palace, the little Monk had no lessons today but had gone to visit Qin Chuyu, so the Renshou Palace was unusually quiet, except for the plants and flowers that had been tampered with by the little monk.

Empress Dowager Zhuang was heartbroken.

Gu Jiao came out holding a watering can she had made herself: “Great Aunt.”

“Hm,” grunted Empress Dowager Zhuang, extending her hand, “My preserved fruits!”

Gu Jiao put down the watering can, opened her purse, took out a box of preserved fruits, and counted out five pieces for her great aunt.

Empress Dowager Zhuang grimaced, “You were told to add one more.”

Who would willingly run off to battle with Empress Dowager Jing for the medicine-feeding duty?

“Alright.” Gu Jiao rummaged in the box and found the smallest preserved fruit to give to Empress Dowager Zhuang.

Hmm.

This action seemed familiar.

It seemed she had seen it somewhere before.

Gu Jiao couldn’t recall it at the moment.

Empress Dowager Zhuang’s eyelids twitched in exasperation!

Jiaojiao, you’ve changed! You are stingy! You even gave me such a small piece of preserved fruit!

In agony, Empress Dowager Zhuang took the preserved fruit and went back to her study huffily!

She closed the door, found the jar of preserved fruit, luckily, she still had her secret stash.

“Miss Gu.” Qin Gonggong asked about the matter of the Huaqing Palace outside the hall, “Why did you ask the Dowager Empress to compete with Empress Dowager Jing for the task of feeding the Emperor’s medicine? The relationship between the Empress Dowager and the Emperor has been progressing well lately, no need to use this to gain trust.”

Gu Jiao got into the palace early in the morning, she hadn’t had a chance to go into detail about the drug before hearing the news from the insider at the Huaqing Palace – the emperor had fainted, and Empress Dowager Jing went to Huaqing Palace overnight.

This was the perfect time to act, Gu Jiao guessed that Empress Dowager Jing would not miss this opportunity, so she hastily told her great aunt to also go to the Huaqing Palace.

“It’s not really necessary to compete for the task of feeding the medicine.” To Gu Jiao, it didn’t really matter whether her great aunt fed the emperor or not, what was important was to prevent Empress Dowager Jing from administrating the drug to the emperor.

Gu Jiao asked, “Did she spill the bowl of medicine in her hand?”

Qin Gonggong was astounded, “Yes! How did Miss Gu know? Did a spy come and report just now?”

“No,” Gu Jiao shook her head.

Qin Gonggong was even more dumbfounded.

Since Qin Gonggong is a trustworthy person, there was nothing that Gu Jiao couldn’t tell him, so she relayed everything about the drugs she discovered on Wei Gonggong yesterday.

Qin Gonggong was stunned, and it took him a long time to recover. “You mean… the tense relationship between the emperor and the Dowager Empress is all due to Empress Dowager Jing’s medicine? The emperor following Empress Jing’s advice was also because she drugged him? This… this is terrifying.”

It was surprising.

There was such a terrifying drug in the world. No, rather, Empress Jing could do such a horrific thing to the emperor.

He was the son she raised with her own hands, apart from not being born from her womb, he was no different from her own flesh and blood.

On top of that, the emperor indeed viewed her as his own mother.

He didn’t have to do that…

This was where Gu Jiao was confused as well.

Why did Empress Jing need to administer two types of drugs to the emperor at the same time? It makes a little sense to give the emperor the black drug to develop a dislike for the empress dowager and create a rift between them.

But it’s not entirely understandable.

With the Empress Dowager ruling the court and tension rising, regardless of any perspective, it touched the bottom line of the emperor, so even without the drug, the emperor wouldn’t tolerate the Empress Dowager.

As for the white drug, it was even less necessary.

The emperor was a sentimental person, he would even treat Wei Gonggong well, let alone the mother who raised him?

The emperor would surely be good to Empress Jing and be close to her.

Gu Jiao murmured to herself, “Did something happen between them?”

Qin Gonggong contemplated, “Them? Are you referring to the emperor and the Empress Dowager?”

Gu Jiao said, “And Empress Jing. I feel the situation is not as simple as it seems. With the Empress Dowager ruling the court, the relationship between the emperor and the Empress Dowager can’t avoid tension. Using drugs to incite disputes is superfluous, unless…”

“Unless what?” Qin Gonggong asked anxiously.

Gu Jiao said seriously, “Unless something happened that made Empress Jing feel that the relationship between the emperor and the Empress Dowager is immovable, even if the Empress Dowager rules the court, the emperor would never break away from the Empress Dowager.”

What kind of relationship in the world could be so solid?

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