I RELY ON BREASTFEEDING TO STABILISE THE DISEASE (67)
67. THE ART OF WITCHCRAFT
Emperor Wenhan, who had always been healthy, suddenly fell ill, his body was tired, had poor appetite, and was always in a trance. Several doctors of the imperial hospital took a few rounds to take his pulse but they did not get a pulse and could not come up with a diagnosis. Therefore, they only prescribed some qi nourishing medicine first.
However, afterwards, Emperor Wenhan actually became more and more sleepy. He often fell asleep every day, even seven or eight hours. When he was awake, he was dazed, and even the morning court had to be exempted.
The emperor was seriously ill, and all the matters of the court relied on several important ministers in the cabinet. Seeing that the emperor's illness had no cure and the doctors at the imperial hospital was not able to diagnose it, the emperor shouldered the reputation of being a wine sack and rice bag.
[酒囊飯袋, Jiǔnángfàndài. Wine sack and rice bag (idiom). useless person, only fit for guzzling and boozing.]
The empress, who was not well, had to seek medical help in a hurry, and invited Master Huizhe from the royal temple. Master Huizhe said that the emperor was struck by evil spirits. In addition to opening altars and chanting scriptures, it would be best to hold a happy event first to flush out the evil and then slowly diagnose and condition the body. Currently, the palace did not have much happy event to do, so the empress advanced the birthday of Emperor Wen Han by a month.
All these things were left to the master of the harem. In order to get rid of the evil spirits, the empress had to do it in a big way, and did not dare to be sloppy. She built a pavilion a few days before, hanging lights and decorations.
There was a big banquet in the palace, in addition to the civil and military officials, high ranking noble women and women of fortune, were included in the palace banquet.
On the night of the birthday banquet, there was a curfew throughout the city, except for the bright lights in the palace and the music and the songs. The emperor feasted with a hundred officials in the front hall, while the empress was in the middle palace with the noble women and the women of the harem.
In the banquet hall of the middle palace, the empress sat in the middle, next to her sat the imperial concubine Shao and the lower ranking concubines in descending order, and then wives and the honorable women of the aristocratic family.
When the dance and music were in full swing, suddenly a servant hurriedly walked to the empress' side and knelt down, whispered something. The empress' face changed drastically after hearing the servant's words.
"Bold!" The empress shouted angrily. The musicians who were playing and dancing were frightened and confused. The empress waved her hand to indicate the people to go down.
The women in the banquet hall were also confused and did not dare to say anything. Then they saw the empress glaring at Concubine Shao: "Concubine Shao, you are so bold!"
Concubine Shao was taken aback, and then quickly stepped forward and knelt: "This concubine doesn't know what she did wrong to anger the Empress Mother, and I hope the empress will say it clearly."
The empress hummed and coughed twice. After a while, the empress gasped again and said, "Have someone bring the pickled nauseating things found from Concubine Shao's palace!"
Concubine Shao's expression changed slightly. At this moment , an eunuch and two palace maids came forward. The terrified eunuch held a half-foot-long wooden doll in his hands, walked to the empress' side and knelt down, and presented with both hands: "Reporting to the empress, this small servant was ordered to search the bedrooms of the concubines, this dark stuff was found from the imperial concubine Shao's palace. On it is written the birth date and eight characters of the emperor. This little one did not dare to neglect it, and quickly came to the empress to take a look."
Concubine Shao looked at the puppet and felt nervous, and she couldn't help but bluff and shout: "Dog minion, you are so brave, how dare you plant evidence to frame me!" Then she kneeled and kowtowed to the empress again and again, "Empress, you must trust this concubine. Even if this concubine has the courage, I dare not use these witchcraft techniques to plot on the emperor. Besides, nowadays, this concubine is favored by the emperor, and there is really no reason for this concubine to frame the emperor."
The empress said: "You said it wasn't you. If you didn't do it, then it's someone else hurting you? You said it yourself, you are favored by the emperor. Who has the courage to frame you?" Then she added, "There's no point in engaging in verbal arguments here. The most important thing is to go to his Majesty and let him make the decisions. It so happens that the civil and military officials are also present, so let's see if someone in the harem dares to frame you, the imperial concubine. Someone come! Take the imperial concubine Shao to the front hall in front of the emperor."
The two servants stepped forward and helped Concubine Shao up. But in fact, they were clamping her down. Concubine Shao was furious: "You are rebelling!"
The Empress sneered: "It is not certain who has rebelled! The emperor is suffering from illness, and the doctors have not been able to find out the cause of the disease. Today we finally found the root cause. As for why you plotted on the Emperor, when we go to the emperor, it will naturally come to light."
No matter how deep-minded and good at responding Concubine Shao was, she was panicked at this time.
The empress took Concubine Shao to the front hall. In the banquet hall, there were only women left looking at each other, not knowing what to do. The eunuch by the Empress' side, eunuch Zhang, holding a dust whisk in front of him, unhurriedly said: "Don't worry, there is something going on in the palace today. When the matter is over, we will naturally send everyone back to their homes."
Due to his poor health, the emperor was actually already sitting on the dragon chair, leaning against the big pillow, feeling dizzy, especially when he was accompanied by the music from the strings of the instruments.
Although the hundreds of military officials below knew that the emperor had not healed from the serious illness, they were infected by this night of singing and dancing, and everyone was immersed in the intoxicating atmosphere, and was completely unaware of the major events that were about to happen in the palace.
Gu Xian drank a glass of fine wine without distraction.
It wasn't until the empress and a group of people broke in and the singing and dancing suddenly stopped that the ministers were shocked and put down their wine glasses. And then they recovered a little, but because they didn't know what happened, no one dared to make a sound.
Seeing this scene, Gu Qianyu abruptly stood up and shouted: "Mother Empress."
Concubine Shao was escorted to her knees by two servants, and the empress also knelt before the emperor. The emperor was a little clear from the drowsiness. Seeing the scene in front of him, he couldn't react for a long time, and he barely made a voice and said: "Empress, what's the matter?"
"Your Majesty, Master Huizhe said that the emperor was seriously ill and was not recovering because Your Majesty was caught by evil spirits. Today, taking advantage while the concubines were in banquet in the central palace, this one ordered the servants to search the harem, and found a wooden doll in imperial concubine Shao's palace, with the eight characters of the emperor's birthday written on it. The emperor's illness is most probably what this doll caused."
Concubine Shao hurriedly cried: "Your Majesty, this concubine has been wronged! This concubine's heart to the emperor can be learned from the sun and the moon. Please decide for this concubine! The empress is taking advantage of today. I'm afraid there is another plan."
Emperor Wenhan looked at the puppet in the Empress' hand in a daze. His mind was still clear not clear and chaotic. It was only after a while that he spoke again: "Empress, Concubine Shao has always been loyal to me and shouldn't harm me because of emotions and reasons. I'm afraid there is a misunderstanding?"
"Loyalty?" The empress sneered, and ordered the servants behind her, "Bring people up!"
Comments
Post a Comment