Chapter 291 - Summon Su Shaoge

What made Song Yixiao at a loss whether to feel disappointed or to sigh with relief was that Gu Shao didn’t tell them a solution. In fact, he had seen Jin Suke and the others yesterday, while he just listened and talked a little. When Jin Suke asked for his opinion in the end, he just spoke civilities casually and told them to continue to investigate. While speaking, Yuan Xuepei couldn’t help but furrow his brows. “Prime Minster Gu’s action is really confusing, yet I think it’s impossible that he will harm the crown prince. After all, not to mention that it was His Majesty who suggested that Commandery Prince Zhongling acknowledge Prime Minister Gu as a teacher, both Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao have several talented assistants. If the crown prince doesn’t take the throne, it’s uncertain whether Prime Minister Gu can keep his position of prime minister in the future.”

Prince of Zhao had the Su Family and Qiu Shuxia, while Prince of Wei had Grand Princess Daiguo and her husband, Huo Dan and Huang Jingting.

Among them, except for Grand Princess Daiguo who couldn’t be an official in person as she was a woman, all the others might fit the position of prime minister even though they were inferior to Gu Shao in administering a country.

In fact, Gu Shao’s greatest advantage was not his methods of administering a country but his fame.

The Gu Family in Hongzhou had been famous for hundreds of years and he was well-known in the world since he was a teenager, which was the difference between him and any other old powerful official. Before he was a talented official, he was famous.

So, even if he would be implicated by the crown prince’s defeat because he was reinstated as Commandery Prince Zhongling’s teacher, with his family background and fame, he would have a chance of survival, but once he followed Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao, he would be like a traitor before the battle began in front of all people in the country, which would give a fatal blow to his reputation. Then if some people who coveted the position of prime minister added insult to injury, his fame would be ruined in his late years. It would be fine if he weren’t utterly discredited.

Song Yixiao kept silent for a while after hearing that and didn’t tell him what Jian Xubai had guessed before he entered the imperial palace. She just stated, “I don’t understand these things. I just hope that the disturbance will be settled earlier and my husband can return home as soon as possible.”

While speaking, she subconsciously looked in the direction of the imperial palace, where it was in great confusion.

“What did you say?” Empress Su grabbed her handkerchief and stared open-mouthed at the director of the Imperial Academy of Medicine. “His Majesty’s life is not in jeopardy anymore?” When she said the last words, the empress who was always dignified couldn’t help but raise her voice, which was shrill and sad.

Fangyu behind her hurriedly pinched her in secret, and the empress’ face twisted. In the end, she showed a sad smile and asked in a hoarse voice, “This is great news. When can he wake up? What are the dos and don’ts after he wakes up?”

After asking the two questions, Empress Su finally returned normal and added gently, “All people are tired these days. We finally get good news today. Director, please make it clear, so when I send somebody to report to the Empress Dowager about the happy news later, they can answer her questions.”

However, the director of the Imperial Academy of Medicine on the red stone steps didn’t look relieved but knelt down. “Your Majesty, although His Majesty’s life is out of danger, I…I can’t ensure that he…can wake up!”

The director had sweat all over his head after he finished his words.

“You can’t ensure that His Majesty can wake up?” Empress Su’s heart pounded like raging waves. When she suddenly heard that, she was stunned for a while before asking harshly, “What do you mean?”

“I mean…His Majesty may not be able to wake up for now.” The director tried to find proper words and finally explained Emperor Xianjia’s condition clearly after a long while. The emperor was out of danger now, and if there was no accident, he wouldn’t die, but this was what the people in the Imperial Academy of Medicine could do at most. Although they saved his life, they couldn’t make him wake up. It meant that the emperor could only be laid up and served by others in the following days, and it was impossible for him to manage state affairs.

After Empress Su understood it, she involuntarily fell to sit on the stool not far away. After a long time, she questioned, “So do you mean that His Majesty’s condition is stable and after a few days…you may have a solution?”

The director didn’t dare to raise his head. “We will surely try our best.”

His hidden meaning was that they would try their best, yet he was not sure about the result.

“Go now!” Empress Su pressed her chest and tried hard to calm down. She said wearily, “Now I don’t know if I should send the message to the Empress Dowager.”

Fangyu understood her hint and expressed in a hurry, “The Empress Dowager is unhappy all the time these days. If she knows it, she will surely have emotional fluctuations. What if she gets anxious then? It’s better to wait one or two days. Perhaps the situation will change. When we report to the Empress Dowager then, it will confirm the good news. Your Majesty, what do you think?”

She added, “In case that the Empress Dowager gets the news from somewhere else, I think that we’d better not reveal this information.”

Empress Su looked at the director, who was in panic. Hearing that, he naturally didn’t dare to disobey the empress’ order, so he said hurriedly, “I will listen to you, Your Majesty.”

“In this case, you don’t need to leave now. Just stay here and take care of His Majesty.” Empress Su nodded. “After all, you have been treating His Majesty all the time. If somebody can make him wake up, I think that it will be you… Anyway, all the princes and Xubai are staying in the warm chambers. We just need to arrange a spare room for you if you are here.”

After ordering the director to leave, the empress told Fangyu to stay in the bedroom, and she left in a hurry. She walked to the side hall where she secretly discussed with Grand Princess Daiguo at ordinary times and told a trusted servant to ask the grand princess to enter the imperial palace as soon as possible. After a short time, Grand Princess Daiguo arrived and then asked in surprise, “What’s up? Didn’t I say that today we will tell Xubai and…”

“Bad news!” Empress Su interrupted her impolitely and showed a ghastly pale face. “His Majesty’s illness changed this morning. The director of the Imperial Academy of Medicine treated him in person but said at last that His Majesty’s life is out of danger, yet he can hardly wake up probably.”

“Isn’t he like a vegetable?” Grand Princess Daiguo blurted out subconsciously and then her expression changed. “Has this news spread?”

Empress Su replied, “Of course not, but you know that Gu Shao and Minister Qiu had an agreement of three days, and it’s the second day today. Jin Suke and the others are already in the Palace of Xuanming and they can’t pry into other information. Some servants doing heavy manual labor saw that I summoned the director to treat His Majesty today, so we can’t hide it for long. How can I stop them if they demand to see the director and ask him some questions then? If I stop them, can’t they notice that there is something wrong?”

The two didn’t mention buying over the director of the Imperial Academy of Medicine.

After all, none of the normal people would choose to leave a bad name for ten thousand years if they could hand down a good reputation to a hundred generations.

The director was Emperor Xianjia’s trusted subordinate all the time. When the emperor had been critically ill earlier, not only the director, but all people in the Imperial Academy of Medicine and their families were watched closely by each side, in case that some of them were bought over by the other party and collaborated from within with forces from outside to harm them at the crucial moment.

The empress and Grand Princess Daiguo didn’t have evidence against the director to control him. If they just threatened him, while he asked for help after seeing Jin Suke and the others, could the two ladies kill all of them in the imperial palace to make them shut up forever?

At worst, even if they did so and succeeded, the people outside the imperial palace waiting for the news from Jin Suke and the others would probably get suspicious once they didn’t go out in the afternoon.

Then the fight for the title of heir to the throne wouldn’t be a game at the imperial court anymore but rose to threatening the emperor to abdicate by force.

Not to mention if they would succeed in threatening the emperor to abdicate by force, in the early years, the Su Family had this plan, yet they failed because Emperor Xianjia didn’t pass away. The Su Family had been second to none in the army then. With such a precedent, anybody who wanted to take the throne in this way had to consider carefully. Even if the crown prince could be knocked out, Empress Su and Grand Princess Daiguo didn’t choose the same heir to the throne.

Wouldn’t Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao have a fight then?

When they fought, perhaps any information that should or shouldn’t be revealed would spread. Emperor Xianjia had five sons and a grandson. If Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao were accused of killing their father and elder brother, and some people with evil intentions made an appeal for denouncing them, nobody knew who would gain profit in the end.

As a result, Grand Princess Daiguo furrowed her brows for a moment but suddenly got relieved. “Why would you insist on stopping them since you can’t?”

The empress muttered to herself, “Do you mean…”

“When His Majesty started to be critically ill, the people in the Eastern Palace said that the crown prince was poisoned, so he was unable to come to serve His Majesty.” Grand Princess Daiguo sneered. “Now His Majesty is out of danger yet can’t wake up. I don’t know how long the crown prince can delay. We don’t need a long period but only ten days or half a month. If there is no news that he gets better, since His Majesty can’t manage state affairs, how can we let the heir to the throne at his last gasp occupy the Eastern Palace?”

“Although the director apologized and asked for punishment, we don’t know medical skills with herbs.” The empress pondered for a moment and was still worried. “What if His Majesty suddenly wakes up? After all, his identity is honorable and he is always blessed.”

No wonder Empress Su worried about this. The plan of her and Duke of Ji was likely to succeed that year, yet it failed at last because the emperor didn’t die of the disease but got better.

So when the empress faced the same situation that everything was ready and they just waited the emperor to die, she felt restless by instinct.

“Your Majesty, you are stupid.” Grand Princess Daiguo shook her head and reminded the empress, “Didn’t the person from the Jinxiu Hall surrender to you? She is gritting her teeth and planning to take revenge. She sent Aunt Yun to help Xubai. Doesn’t she have another talent who is as capable as Aunt Yun?”

Empress Su’s eyes lit up. After a while, she narrowed her eyes slightly. “In this case, we don’t need to harm Xubai for now, in case that Prince of Zhao is suspicious of us and it causes complications. In addition, since we have a chance to deal with the crown prince directly, it’s unnecessary to alert the enemy at the critical moment.”

Next, the two ladies discussed some details, and then they did their jobs respectively without delay, yet nobody knew if this thing reminded Empress Su of the same situation seven years ago. She made orders and meanwhile felt restless. At last, she couldn’t control herself, so she summoned Fangyu. “Find a way to send a message out of the imperial palace and tell Shaoge to come in disguise and see me.”

The empress had stayed in the Palace of Xuanming and served the emperor day and night for a few days. She gained a good reputation for loving her husband deeply and expanded her power in the imperial palace even though she monopolized it.

So Su Shaoge dressed up like a eunuch reached the side hall of the Palace of Xuanming smoothly this evening.

After he took off the hood, he didn’t say anything useless but came straight to the point. “Aunt, did you summon me all of a sudden because the situation in the Palace of Xuanming changed?”

“Shaoge!” Empress Su knew that her nephew was shrewd. Although he was young, most of the time, his knowledge and insight were even better than the empress’ who had been a motherly model of the nation for more than twenty years. She didn’t think that she was ashamed to ask for his instructions. She waved her hand, gesturing for him to sit down and meanwhile anxiously told him what happened these two days. “Daiguo suggested changing the plan because of His Majesty’s condition, and I think that it makes sense…”

“Are Jin Suke and He Wenqiong in the Palace of Xuanming now?” Su Shaoge heard that but asked abruptly. “They didn’t find anything yesterday. Did they behave abnormally or make any special requests today?”

Empress Su was confused and asked, “No. What’s the matter?”