adbindia Chapter 207
Chapter 207
The main room was vacated for the Third Prince, so Concubine Hui made do with the side room for the night.
Waking from her sleep late at night, perhaps having caught a chill from going into the water to save someone earlier that day, her throat felt slightly itchy. She got out of bed to find some water to drink.
To her surprise, the teacups on the table were entirely empty. She pushed open the door to call for someone, and a maid soon brought a pot of water.
Seeing the person who arrived, Concubine Hui frowned. "Aren't you supposed to be looking after the Third Highness? Why have you come out?"
She recognized this maid.
The maid answered truthfully, "Her Ladyship Consort Lu came to visit the Third Highness. She wanted to stay with him for a while, and seeing her deep longing for her son, this servant stepped out."
Consort Lu longing for her son?
Recalling the woman's crazed demeanor that afternoon, biting out accusations at random like a mad dog, Concubine Hui's heart skipped a beat, feeling that something was inexplicably wrong.
She poured a cup of water and finished it, but ultimately couldn't set her mind at ease. She casually draped an outer garment over her shoulders and went out.
The side room was not far from the main room. Exiting her door and passing through two corridors, she arrived just around the corner.
The door to the main room was slightly ajar, letting out the candlelight from within.
Concubine Hui lifted her skirt and was just about to step forward when a sneaky figure suddenly appeared in her peripheral vision.
Dressed in a maid's uniform, the petite figure hunched over, tiptoeing toward the window lattice of the main room.
Concubine Hui watched helplessly as the person lifted the window lattice just a crack, pulled a thin bamboo tube from their sleeve, and prepared to unplug it to release whatever was inside, but then abruptly froze.
The person's eyes widened as if they had seen something shocking.
Before they could release the contents of the bamboo tube, they hastily put it away and scurried off into the darkness of the night.
Driven by curiosity, Concubine Hui moved closer. Looking through the crack in the door, she saw the scene inside and her eyes nearly split open in fury. She let out a thunderous shout:
"What are you doing?!"
A thin handkerchief covered the small face; the fast-asleep Third Prince was completely unaware of the approaching grip of death.
Consort Lu had raised her hand to cover his nose and mouth, her fingers tightening bit by bit.
Feeling the burning temperature and the faint struggles through the handkerchief, she felt both heartache and cold composure.
"Hui'er, don't blame your mother..."
She had kindly raised him for many years. Even if she hadn't given birth to him, she had nurtured him. She had done so much for him, and now it was time for him to repay her.
"If you must blame someone, blame yourself for being a disappointment. Blame yourself for being an ungrateful wretch, and blame that mother and son..."
As she muttered, hatred erupted in her eyes. The force of her hand tightened, and the smile on her lips deepened.
It wasn't until the furious shout rang out from the doorway that Consort Lu's body trembled. Then, a tremendous force yanked her away and threw her to the ground.
Concubine Hui never expected that acting on a whim would lead her to witness such a scene—Consort Lu was actually trying to smother her son to death!
In that moment, an infinite strength erupted from her body. She rushed forward to pull Consort Lu away, then hurried to the bed, pulled the handkerchief off the Third Prince's face, and checked his breathing.
The Third Prince, whose face had turned crimson from suffocation, finally caught his breath, and his complexion gradually returned to normal.
Seeing this, Concubine Hui breathed a sigh of relief and immediately shouted outside, "Somebody! Come quickly!"
"Someone is trying to murder the Third Highness!"
Her voice pierced the long night, waking countless people. Before one storm had settled, another arose.
...
Upon learning of the matter, Yun Wan and Emperor Jingxuan rushed over immediately from Penglai Pavilion.
"Poisonous wretch!"
Emperor Jingxuan looked stern. He stared at Consort Lu, who had been restrained by the palace servants, with eyes full of icy disgust.
Even a vicious tiger would not eat its own cubs, yet this woman had gone so mad that she would attack the very child she raised.
Slumped on the ground, Consort Lu's eyes were dull, like a walking corpse.
After checking on the Third Prince in the inner room and confirming his life was not in danger, Yun Wan came out, strode quickly forward, and slapped Consort Lu across the face.
"Slap!"
A crisp slapping sound rang out. Consort Lu's head was knocked to the side, and a five-finger mark instantly appeared on her face.
She froze for a moment, then glared fiercely at Yun Wan. "You hit me? What right do you have to hit me?"
The palace servants pressed down hard on her shoulders, forcing Consort Lu to stay still so she couldn't hurt anyone.
"Chenghui is your child! How could you bring yourself to do it!"
This was the first time Yun Wan had ever hit someone. Fury had made her use all her strength when striking, and now, leaning her back against Emperor Jingxuan, she was trembling with rage.
"Child?" Consort Lu lifted her head, a mocking sneer appearing on her disheveled face.
"He didn't crawl out of my belly, so how is he my child? I raised him for years, but just because I am not his biological mother, a rift grew between us, and he became increasingly cold and distant toward me."
"What use do I have for such an ungrateful wretch?"
Her gaze shifted, glaring viciously at Yun Wan. "And all of this is entirely your fault!"
"Ever since you and your son entered the palace, I have lost my power and status step by step. Even Chenghui has grown close to you two!"
"I should be the one asking what kind of bewitching potion you and your son fed him! Even His Majesty is completely captivated by you! What is so good about you?"
Emperor Jingxuan supported Yun Wan with one hand and spoke coldly, "Zhen's Empress is naturally perfect in every way. Is it your place to criticize?"
Yun Wan scoffed at her accusations. Perpetrators never knew remorse; they only knew how to find faults in their victims.
"Is Chenghui truly distant from you because you aren't his biological mother? Ask yourself, have you ever genuinely treated him as your own child?"
Children are the most sensitive to the emotions of adults. They know better than anyone whether an adult treats them well, and whether their feelings are sincere.
She stared expressionlessly at Consort Lu and said mercilessly, "You merely treated him as a tool in your fight for power and profit. You knew he was naturally innocent, lacking competitiveness, and averse to conflict, yet you insisted on making him fight against the Crown Prince just to satisfy your vanity and to cause trouble for Lady Li."
"Ask yourself, did you ever have a shred of sincerity toward him?"
A moment later, her tone turned resolute. "You didn't."
Otherwise, she wouldn't have laid hands on the child who had called her Mother Consort for years, all just to frame her and satisfy her own selfish desires.
Having the darkest depths of her heart blatantly exposed by the person she hated the most, Consort Lu's face turned ugly, her lips pressed tightly shut.
At this moment, Jiang Fusheng brought people in.
"Your Majesty, according to the description given by Her Ladyship Concubine Hui, we caught this sneaky maid."
The guards behind him pushed the person they were holding forward, revealing their face to everyone.
Concubine Hui exclaimed in shock, "Xiao Zhuzi?"
"It's you."
Yun Wan actually didn't seem surprised. "What were you trying to do, dressing up as a maid and loitering outside the Third Prince's room?"
Xiao Zhuzi lowered his head and remained silent.
Xiao Dezi kicked him, then took a thumb-sized bamboo tube from his sleeve and explained to his masters, "This was found on him. There's a bug inside."
After examining it, the imperial physician's expression changed. "This is a mottled bug. Its mouthparts are venomous, and it likes to suck human blood. A bite from it is not fatal to a healthy adult, but to..."
Emperor Jingxuan asked in a deep voice, "To what?"
The imperial physician replied, "To a child who is already weak, a single bite will inevitably cause a high fever. The illness is fierce, and death is almost certain within an hour or two."
Furthermore, if not investigated carefully, most people wouldn't think twice, simply attributing it to a severe cold and high fever.
It was self-evident who the mottled bug on Xiao Zhuzi was meant for.
"Who sent you?"
Seeing that the matter was exposed and there was no room to maneuver, Xiao Zhuzi's face turned ashen as he confessed truthfully:
"...It was His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."