Chapter 1585 - 1432: Fake Commandery Princess 42
The Chief Eunuch went to get the medicine, while Shuangshuang continued to check the Emperor’s pulse, pondering whether her prescription needed modification.
The Chief Eunuch soon returned with a troubled expression, anxiously saying to Shuangshuang, "Princess Renxin, the Blood Ginseng and rhinoceros horn in your prescription are both out of stock at the Imperial Pharmacy.
We have already sent someone out to procure them, but the Emperor’s illness doesn’t wait for anyone. Is there any way to substitute these two medicines?"
Shuangshuang furrowed her brows, but before she could speak, the Empress angrily spoke first.
"What do you mean by out of stock? Although these ingredients are precious, they aren’t particularly rare. How could the most well-stocked Imperial Pharmacy not have them? Why wasn’t the stock immediately replenished?"
The Chief Eunuch expressed his distress: "To answer the Empress, the Empress Dowager, during her last grand birthday celebration, specifically ordered a batch of tonic pills to reward various noblewomen, and their main ingredients were Blood Ginseng and rhino horn.
Because the Empress Dowager demanded a large quantity, these medicines were consumed heavily.
Now it’s not just the Imperial Pharmacy; even the areas surrounding the Capital City have no Blood Ginseng or rhino horn available, and the servants sent beyond the Capital are unsure if they can even purchase them."
"The Empress Dowager! It’s the Empress Dowager!" The Empress murmured with a pale face, slumping onto her chair.
Shuangshuang felt a throbbing headache as she overheard this Royal scandal. It was now clear: the person who poisoned the Emperor was unmistakably the Empress Dowager!
The foe had even long prepared, exhausting all the necessary antidotal ingredients to ensure the Emperor’s demise.
Though the current Empress Dowager is the Emperor’s biological mother, she resembles a mother like Empress Dowager Dou, unreasonably favoring her younger son.
Back then, she had hoped for the former Emperor to appoint her younger son as Crown Prince. Unfortunately for her, the former Emperor preferred the Eldest Son, reinforced by the Emperor’s own merits, surpassing his brother in all aspects. The position of Crown Prince never went to the Empress Dowager’s cherished younger son.
The Empress Dowager thus harbored resentment, her family’s influence strong. Early in the current Emperor’s reign, she tried to convince him to declare her brother the Imperial Brother.
Yet with the Emperor blessed with Princes, and the court not solely under the Empress Dowager’s control, her efforts failed. Still, she doted on her youngest son, blatantly showing favoritism.
Thanks to the Empress Dowager’s favoritism and her constant posturing, coupled with the dynasty’s emphasis on filial duty, the Emperor found himself repeatedly defeated before her, leading to a segment of court officials genuinely wishing for the Emperor’s brother to succeed him.
Bluntly, they were opportunistically hoping to achieve merit by supporting the Emperor’s brother ascension. Unfortunately for them, the current Emperor wasn’t meek; even while on the brink of death, he thwarted the Empress Dowager’s ambitions.
Shuangshuang remembered how, in her previous life, the day after the Emperor’s demise, it was announced that the Empress Dowager died suddenly due to overwhelming grief.
Her favored younger son, devastated during a visit to see his mother, succumbed to illness within two days, following her in death.
Presumably, the poisoning was exposed, and the Emperor’s contingency plan took action, leading to the Eldest Prince born of the now late Lady ascending the throne, with the Empress becoming the Empress Dowager, and her son becoming titled king.
Ultimately, both the Empress and her son met favorable fates; at least, leading up to Shuangshuang’s rebirth, they both lived well.
The Empress Dowager, though not the new Emperor’s biological mother, was smart and compliant, refraining from political meddling, living comfortably, with the new Emperor treating her with respect due to appearances, ensuring her son a peaceful life.
It was evident these were the Emperor’s final arrangements, securing everything while on his deathbed and successfully removing the disruptive Empress Dowager and her brother, leaving a future for the Empress and his legitimate son, ensuring the throne didn’t stray.
This demonstrated the Emperor’s calmness and shrewdness; even in death, he remained clear-headed, though hastily choosing the son to succeed, the new Emperor wasn’t quite a match for his father.
The new Emperor entirely relied on his father’s legacy for governing the realm, enjoying prosperity but neither a tyrant nor an enlightened ruler, at most deemed a mediocre sovereign.
Shuangshuang couldn’t fathom how, in her previous life, the Emperor realized he was poisoned without her intervention.\p>
This life, she wanted nothing more than to maintain her role as a doctor, not embroiling herself in these chaotic affairs - too exhausting; she only desired pure medical practice.
Thus, Shuangshuang decided to feign ignorance, focusing solely on resurrecting the Emperor, leaving the rest for him to deal with once recovered.
The Empress, at this moment, was rather panicked; she’d suspected the Empress Dowager before, but the reality was that the Empress Dowager was the Emperor’s biological mother, her status granted entirely by him.
Moreover, the Emperor, though not fond of this biological son, doting more on the younger one, was her own flesh, born after ten months.
The Empress herself would willingly die for her son, so she couldn’t believe there existed a mother who’d willingly kill her own!.
But now, upon learning that Blood Ginseng and rhino horn were depleted by the Empress Dowager beforehand, the Empress despondently confirmed that indeed it was the Empress Dowager’s wish for her eldest biological son’s demise, paving way for her beloved younger son.
After her anger, the Empress naturally began trembling slightly, fear gradually surfacing within - regardless of the opponent, the Empress would never be this afraid.
But solely when the rival is the Empress Dowager, this woman of elevated status, her champion fallen, making her the supreme power in the court, the Empress involuntarily feared.
At this point, the Empress noticed the still calmly dedicated Shuangshuang checking the Emperor’s pulse, contagiously steadying her, grabbing onto her as a lifeline hastily asking: "Princess Renxin, without Blood Ginseng and rhino horn, can you find a way to cure the Emperor?"
Shuangshuang withdrew from checking the Emperor’s pulse, sighing gently, assuredly responding to the Empress, "Replying to the Empress, this subject has two methods to treat the Emperor’s illness.
The first method involves soothing medication to gradually cleanse Your Majesty’s body of toxins. As Your Majesty’s poisoning has persisted and afflicted the body significantly, the detoxification process cannot be hasty; otherwise, Your Majesty’s body will be overwhelmed.
The second method employs silver needles coupled with medication to slowly expel toxins from Your Majesty’s body, albeit, this too must be conducted at a moderated pace.
Between these two methods, the first is gentle, causing minimal discomfort for Your Majesty during treatment, whereas the second, lacking Blood Ginseng and rhino horn, results in a painful detoxification process, leaving Your Majesty uncomfortable."