Chapter 321 When something goes wrong, there must be a monster
When she went to bed at night, Qianhuan hid the petition of the people under her pillow to be on the safe side.
However, to her surprise, there was no movement at all throughout the night.
Qianhuan was very puzzled. She and the prince had expected that the person behind the scenes would not give up and would definitely send people to steal things. They had made all the preparations and just wanted to catch him in the act. However, the person behind the scenes did not play by the rules at all. Could it be that he had given up the plan to stop her from rescuing people?
Today is already the third day. Qianhuan thought, no matter what conspiracy the people behind the scenes were playing, what she had to do now was to get up immediately, change clothes and wash up, and then go to the palace early to present the petition of the people to the emperor. Otherwise, even if she was late, all the people of the Qian family might be taken to the execution ground and beheaded.
Qianhuan changed into a set of gorgeous clothes suitable for entering the palace, hurriedly ate a few buns, drank some porridge, and then got on her own carriage to prepare to enter the palace for an audience.
Although it was only a few miles from Jingyuan to the imperial palace, the prince's assassins had been following secretly all the way to prevent anyone from causing trouble.
However, the carriage was almost at the palace gate, and no assassin appeared. Qianhuan really couldn't understand why the person behind the scenes wanted to kill the Qian family without any movement? How could the other party let her enter the palace and present the things so easily?
There must be something wrong when something is abnormal. The current situation made Qianhuan feel very uneasy. Her brows frowned unconsciously, and her face was full of hidden worry.
The carriage finally arrived safely at the palace gate. Qianhuan jumped off the carriage and took out the badge that symbolized her identity and handed it to the guards on both sides. "I am Princess Jingrou. I have an urgent matter today and need to enter the palace to meet the emperor."
Neither of the two guards reached out to take the badge. One of them said expressionlessly, "Please go back, County Lady. His Majesty will not see anyone today, and the palace gates will not be opened."
Qianhuan suddenly felt something was wrong, and she asked hastily, "Why is this happening?"
"Your Majesty had a sudden emergency last night and fell into a coma. The imperial physician is trying his best to treat His Majesty. The chief eunuch sent someone to deliver His Majesty's order early in the morning. The palace gates are closed today and no one is allowed to enter the palace to disturb His Majesty."
Qianhuan suddenly understood. No wonder there was no noise last night and on the way to the palace today. It turned out that the person behind the scenes had already made a foolproof plan in advance.
As long as she couldn't enter the palace, she couldn't see the emperor, let alone present the people's petition to the emperor. Even if she could break into the palace, the emperor was unconscious and couldn't handle anything at all. If she broke into the palace, she would be charged with disobeying the imperial edict.
The person behind this is indeed very thoughtful and has planned everything in advance.
In the current situation, the petition of the people in my hand is of no use. Once it is three quarters after noon, all the people in the thousand families will be beheaded.
Thinking of this, Qianhuan no longer hesitated and turned around and climbed onto the carriage, "Ji Feng, go to Prince An's Mansion immediately."
Ji Feng turned around and responded, "Yes, Miss."
When the carriage arrived at Prince An's Mansion, Qianhuan hurried in to find the Prince.
"Zi Yu, something terrible has happened."
In order to avoid suspicion, the prince deliberately did not attend the morning court today. At this moment, he was practicing sword in the yard.
Seeing Qianhuan's anxious look, he put away his sword and stepped forward, asking with concern, "Huan'er, what happened? Shouldn't you be meeting the emperor in the palace now?"
"Your Majesty suddenly fell seriously ill last night and was in a coma. No one is allowed to enter the palace to disturb me. I can't enter the palace at all, and I can't present the petition of the people. I know you should avoid suspicion in this matter, but in this situation, I really don't know what to do?"
The prince never expected that the power of the person behind the scenes had grown so great that he dared to attack the emperor. He didn't believe that it was a coincidence that His Majesty was critically ill at this critical juncture.
The prince's eyes darkened, and he said indifferently, "It doesn't matter. His Majesty does not want us military generals to have too much contact, but I used to fight on the battlefield with General Qian, and now we are officials in the same court. I feel a sense of sympathy for General Qian, so I helped him. It is understandable. Even if His Majesty is dissatisfied, he cannot convict me."
After saying that, he turned and called out, "Red Shadow,"
"My subordinate is here."
"Go find Doctor Bai quickly."
"Yes."
Then the prince comforted Qianhuan, "Huan'er, go to the front hall and wait. I will go back to my room to change clothes. When Doctor Bai arrives, I will take you into the palace."
Qianhuan looked worried. "Breaking into the palace is a serious crime of disobeying the emperor's order. I'm worried that His Majesty will punish you for it."
"You don't have to worry. Doctor Bai will come with me to the palace. He can't cure my crime."
With the prince's words, Qianhuan felt much more relieved, "Yes."
Doctor Bai was carried by Chi Ying all the way back to Prince An's Mansion. As soon as he stood firm, he asked the prince dissatisfiedly, "Zi Yu, who in your mansion is dying this time? Chi Ying grabbed my collar and almost strangled me to death."
The prince said seriously, "Your Majesty is ill."
"What? It's His Majesty this time?"
"Well, I don't have time to explain to you now. Let's go to the palace first. I will tell you the details on the way."
Then several people hurried to the palace.
Arriving at the palace gate, the prince said to the guards on both sides, "I have urgent business to attend to. Please open the palace gate quickly."
When the guards saw that the visitor was the Crown Prince, they did not dare to offend him, but they had no choice but to disobey the Majesty's order.
One of them could only say respectfully, "Your Highness, His Majesty is critically ill right now. Steward Li sent someone to pass on His Majesty's order that no one is allowed to enter the palace to disturb him today. I can only follow your orders. Please forgive me, Your Highness."
The prince's aura was fully revealed, and he said sternly, "This prince did not come to the palace for fun. This prince specially invited the highly skilled Doctor Bai to come to the palace to treat His Majesty. Why don't you open the palace gate quickly? If you delay His Majesty's treatment, can you afford the consequences?"
When the two guards heard this, they felt caught in a dilemma. This order was given by His Majesty himself, and if they opened the palace gate, they would be disobeying the order.
But the prince brought the miracle doctor into the palace to treat His Majesty. If they don't let him in, and His Majesty gets into trouble, the prince will blame them, which is a capital crime. So who should they listen to?
The prince knew the concerns of the two guards. He kicked one of the guards down, drew his sword and put it on the neck of the other guard.
"Since you two are so confused, why not let me make the decision for you? Open the palace gates quickly. If His Majesty asks you to disobey the Holy Order, you can say that I forced you to do so. This way, you don't have to worry about being punished."
The two guards were overjoyed when they heard this. This way, letting the person in would not be considered as disobeying the imperial order, and their lives would be saved.
The guard who was kicked to the ground immediately got up and opened the palace gate, and several people finally entered the palace smoothly.
There were many people gathered in His Majesty's bedroom at this time. The Queen Mother and the Queen were there. Even the Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince rushed into the palace overnight to serve the Emperor after hearing the news that he was critically ill.
Several imperial doctors gathered around the emperor's bed and took turns taking his pulse and giving him acupuncture, but his majesty still showed no response.
The Queen Mother said angrily, "You have been treating His Majesty for such a long time, but His Majesty is still unconscious. Is there no one in the Imperial Hospital who can figure out what's wrong with His Majesty?"
The head of the Imperial Hospital knelt on the ground and answered with great fear, "Your Majesty's pulse is really strange. I and several other imperial doctors feel that your Majesty's body is suffering from excessive supplementation."
The Queen Mother said to the eunuch chief, Li Dequan, "What kind of nourishing food did Your Majesty eat yesterday?"
Li Dequan quickly asked someone to bring a booklet recording His Majesty's food, clothing, housing and transportation. He opened the booklet and read, "Your Majesty's appetite was not very good last night. He only ate a bowl of shrimp porridge and some light side dishes."
The Queen Mother looked at the group of doctors with a questioning look on her face, "You bunch of useless people, His Majesty eats even lighter than usual, but you say that His Majesty is suffering from overeating? In my opinion, you guys are going to lose your heads, right?"
All the imperial doctors immediately knelt down and begged for mercy, "Queen Dowager, please spare my life."
At this moment, a noisy voice came from outside the palace, "My Lord, His Majesty is unconscious. No one is allowed to disturb him. You cannot go in."
The Queen Mother said to Li Dequan, "Li Dequan, go out and see what's going on outside."
Li Dequan went out in response, and came back in a hurry to report, "Your Majesty, it was the Crown Prince who brought Princess Jingrou into the palace, clamoring to see the Emperor."
The fourth prince was immediately anxious when he heard this. "How can this be? This prince is too unruly. Father clearly issued an order last night not to allow anyone to enter the palace to disturb us. Not only did he break into the palace, he also broke into Father's bedroom. He didn't take Father's words seriously at all. In my opinion, he is taking advantage of Father's serious illness to rebel. Please ask the Queen Mother to let your grandson go out and stop him."
Although the Queen Mother usually dotes on the Prince, the Emperor is seriously ill now, and the Queen Mother feels that it is easy for the Prince to be criticized if he barges in at this time. She nodded, "Well, go ahead."