The ministers begged me to ascend the throne

Chapter 546 The Emperor is Poisoned
On the night before New Year's Day, the emperor did not lie in bed, but sat on the couch, reading the secret letter sent by the Dragon Guard.

Sun Kui stood quietly aside, looking at the emperor with worried eyes.

After reading the secret letter, the emperor chuckled with an ambiguous meaning, and then asked Sun Kui to bring the candle.

Sun Kui held a candle and stood in front of the emperor with a hunched back.

The emperor took the secret letter in his hand and burned it over the candle. Just as it was burning, he suddenly started coughing violently.

Upon seeing this, Sun Kui was so surprised that he shouted, "Your Majesty." Then he hurriedly took out a handkerchief and handed it to the emperor.

The emperor took the towel and wiped the blood from his palms and mouth.

Sun Kui shouted with a worried look on his face: "Your Majesty..."

When the emperor saw that Sun Kui was about to cry, he threw the blood-wiped handkerchief at him.

"Don't act like I'm dying."

"Your Majesty, your health..." The emperor was really sick and was not pretending.

"I won't die." The emperor said in a nonchalant tone, "Just some old injuries from adulthood."

Hearing the emperor's nonchalant tone, Sun Kui said anxiously, "Your Majesty, you are vomiting blood."

"What's wrong with vomiting blood? It won't kill me. It's not like I haven't vomited before. I don't know how many times I vomited when I was conquering the world." The emperor looked at Sun Kui with disdain, "Don't make a fuss."

"Your Majesty, can you compare to the past?" Sun Kui was so anxious that he almost cried, "You are really ill, but you hid it from Concubine Liang and His Royal Highness the King of Han."

"Tell them what to do and make them worry." The emperor fell back on the couch, looking fine. In fact, if you look closely, you can see that he has been holding back.

"You can't sleep at night because of the pain, you..." Sun Kui was the emperor's personal eunuch, and he knew the emperor's physical condition best. "You are now poisoned, which makes your health worse. How come you don't care at all?" The emperor vomited blood, not because of the recurrence of an old injury in adulthood, but because of poisoning. This poison would not kill the emperor, but it would make the emperor very uncomfortable.

"It's not a deadly poison, why worry about it?" When he was young, he had experienced many things and many life and death situations. The emperor had long been accustomed to it. As long as he didn't die, it was not a big deal for him.

"They're all poisoned..." Sun Kui was angered by the emperor's attitude of not taking his own body seriously, but he could do nothing but worry.

"It's just a little poison, not a big deal." The emperor glared at Sun Kui, "Okay, I don't care, so stop nagging me. It hurts my ears."

"I should tell Madam Liang and ask her to take care of you."

The emperor's eyes flashed with ferocity, and he said fiercely: "If you dare to tell Xiaoxiao, I will chop off your head."

Sun Kui was frightened by the emperor, and shrank his neck and said, "I dare not."

"Alright, I'm getting a headache from your noise."

Sun Kui didn't dare to speak anymore and kept his mouth tightly shut.

The emperor lying on the couch frowned, clenched his back teeth, and pursed his lips.

Sun Kui, who was standing nearby, saw the emperor gritting his teeth to endure the pain, and felt distressed, anxious and helpless.

"Your Majesty, I'd better ask the imperial physician to give you acupuncture. This will reduce your pain." Only this method can reduce the emperor's pain.

"It's no use. I'll just have to endure it." Over the past few years, the emperor's old injury had recurred from time to time, but the emperor had been enduring it. No one else knew about this except Sun Kui and the imperial physician.

Sun Kui was so anxious that his eyes turned red, but he really had no choice but to watch the emperor suffer.

On the night before the Chinese New Year, the emperor was in pain for most of the night and only fell asleep in the second half of the night. Fortunately, the emperor did not need to attend the ancestor worship ceremony this morning, so he could have a good sleep.

Sun Kui also stayed up all night, guarding the emperor, fearing that he would vomit blood again. Now that the emperor was asleep, he had no intention of leaving. He stood guard at the door, not letting anyone disturb the emperor.

Zhao Yao has entered the palace to prepare for the ancestor worship.

Before offering sacrifice to his ancestors, he planned to meet the emperor.

"Your Highness, the Emperor is still asleep. Please don't go in and disturb him."

Zhao Yao noticed that Sun Kui looked unhappy, and asked with concern: "Eunuch Sun, what's wrong with you? You look so unhappy. Are you feeling unwell?"

Sun Kui didn't expect Zhao Yao to notice his bad complexion, and he was touched. He smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I'm fine."

"Are you really okay? You don't look like you're okay."

"I was on guard last night and didn't sleep all night, so I don't look well."

"You've worked hard." Zhao Yao raised his hand and patted Sun Kui's shoulder, saying gently, "It's rare for father to be lazy today, so let him sleep in. I'm going to worship the ancestors."

Hearing Zhao Yao's words, Sun Kui's eyes were slightly moist. He didn't dare to let Zhao Yao see his abnormality, so he lowered his head and said, "Your Highness is right, Your Highness, take care."

Zhao Yao said nothing more, turned around and left, heading towards Chonghua Palace.

When he arrived at Chonghua Palace, the King of Chu and the King of Wei had already arrived.

The King of Chu and the King of Wei told him not to be nervous, and then gave him some encouraging words.

After a while, the ancestor worship ceremony officially began.

Although Zhao Yao was offering sacrifices to the ancestors on behalf of the emperor, he still wore the clothes of a prince. Zhao Yao did not make any mistakes in the rules and etiquette of offering sacrifices to the ancestors.

Although the princes and all the civil and military officials in the court were dissatisfied with Zhao Yao offering sacrifices to the ancestors on behalf of the emperor, they could not find any fault with him.

Before the ancestor worship, it was still snowing. When Zhao Yao finished the ancestor worship, the sky cleared up and the sun shone through the thick dark clouds and poured down on the earth.

After offering sacrifices to the ancestors, Zhao Yao heaved a long sigh of relief in his heart. One of the two heavy burdens on his shoulders was removed, making him feel a lot more relaxed instantly.

He had been learning the rules and etiquette of sacrificial offerings these days, and he had memorized them by heart, but when it came time to actually offer sacrifices to the ancestors, he was still nervous, fearing that he would make a mistake and anger his ancestors. Fortunately, he did not make any mistakes, and everything went smoothly.

After that, there was nothing for him to do and he could eat and drink.

Even though Zhao Yao offered sacrifices to the ancestors on behalf of the emperor, no minister tried to curry favor with him, and no minister changed his mind and came to support him. Of course, this was a good thing for him. It was indeed unsatisfactory that the King of Han offered sacrifices to the ancestors on behalf of the emperor, but it was better than other princes doing it.

Because it was the King of Han who was offering sacrifices to his ancestors, the ministers did not have to argue with each other. This year, everyone could celebrate the New Year with peace of mind.

The emperor was ill and could not show up, so the task of entertaining the ministers was handed over to the King of Dai and the King of Chu.

Zhao Yao had lunch in the palace and left early. He had to get up before dawn today and go back to sleep. Besides, there was a banquet in the evening. If he didn't sleep well, he would not have the energy to handle the dinner.

The emperor slept until noon and the first thing he did when he woke up was to ask Zhao Yao how the ancestral worship ceremony went. The emperor was relieved to know that Zhao Yao had successfully completed the ancestral worship ceremony.

"Your Majesty, the Empress and Concubine Rong said that if you wake up, they will come and have lunch with you."

"I don't want to see them. I'll have lunch by myself."

"Your Majesty, today is New Year's Day. Are you feeling lonely having lunch alone?" Sun Kui suggested, "How about asking Concubine Liang to come and keep you company?"

The emperor waved his hand and said, "If we let Xiaoxiao come here at this time, the queen and the others will be even more jealous of her. Let Xiaoxiao spend the New Year in peace." After a good sleep, the emperor felt much better and his complexion looked better. "I also want to spend the New Year in peace. Let's serve the meal."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After the emperor finished his lunch, the King of Dai and the King of Chu and others came to pay him a visit.

The King of Dai and his companions saw that the emperor looked unhappy and expressed their concern. The emperor gave them a few instructions and let them leave.

After Prince Dai and his companions left, Prime Minister He and Grand Tutor Liu appeared in the Emperor's bedroom.

The emperor saw that He Xiang and the others were staring at him, so he smiled and said, "I'm fine."

He Xiang frowned and said, "Your Majesty, your old injury has relapsed?"

The emperor denied: "No."

"Your Majesty, you can't fool us." He Xiang said very confidently, "Your old injury has relapsed."

Master Liu said, "You can't fake your expression."

The emperor looked at He Xiang and the others, and said helplessly, "It's really not good to have two people following you all the time. If you are a little bit unusual, they will notice it."

He Xiang and Liu Taishi knew the emperor's old injuries very well. Although the emperor had been hiding the fact that his old injuries had recurred in the past few years, he could not hide it from He Xiang and others.

"It's just an old problem. It will be gone after a few days of pain."

He Xiang and Liu Taishi also had old injuries, which would relapse from time to time. They knew how painful it would be when old injuries relapsed. Their old injuries were not as serious as the emperor's, and the pain when the emperor's old injuries relapsed was more intense than theirs.

"Your Majesty, please take this opportunity to rest and recuperate." He Xiang said, "We will take care of the affairs of the court."

Grand Tutor Liu said, "We will also take good care of the King of Han's affairs, so you don't have to worry about it."

The emperor was not polite: "Thank you for your hard work."

Prime Minister He and Grand Tutor Liu did not stay long. They reported some things and left.

After He Xiang and his companions left, the emperor took another nap and did not wake up until the evening. When he woke up, he started coughing again.

Seeing the emperor vomiting blood again, Sun Kui hurriedly took a towel to wipe the blood.

"Your Majesty..." In the past few days, the emperor has been coughing up blood every day. If this continues, even the best body can't bear it, not to mention that the emperor's dragon body is in trouble. "You must not cough up blood anymore, I will call the imperial physician now."

"Why call the imperial physician on New Year's Day?" The emperor said calmly, "It's just vomiting some blood, it's no big deal."

Sun Kui brought a cup of tea for the emperor to rinse his mouth.

Neither the emperor nor Sun Kui noticed Zhao Yao standing outside the door.

Zhao Yao woke up and went to the palace to visit the emperor. He didn't expect to hear this conversation at the door. He didn't go in, but turned around and left.

"Sun Doudou."

Sun Doudou felt nervous when she saw Zhao Yao's bad face. She hurried forward and said respectfully, "Your servant is here."

"I wasn't here just now, understand?"

Sun Doudou was frightened by Zhao Yao's serious expression. He nodded and said, "Your Highness, you have never been here."

"Don't tell your master."

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I won't tell Master."

Zhao Yao nodded at him and left quickly.

Tongxi, who was guarding the gate, saw Zhao Yao coming out so quickly and asked hurriedly, "Your Highness, why did you come out so soon? How is the emperor?"

Zhao Yao did not answer Tongxi's question, but asked: "Where is Xiao Jin?"

"Xiao Jin?" Tong Xi was startled for a moment, then thought for a moment and said, "It seems that it is not in the mansion. I haven't seen it these few days."

"Go back to the mansion." As soon as he returned to the Prince of Han's mansion, Zhao Yao asked the sparrow in the mansion to find Xiao Jin.

Half an hour later, Xiao Jin flew back from outside.

"Xiao Jin, go to the palace and call Ling Yun over. Tell him I have something to ask him."

[I'll go now.] Xiao Jin flapped his wings and flew towards the palace. Not long after, he appeared in front of Zhao Yao with Ling Yun.

"Ling Yun, I want to ask you something. Is there something wrong with my father?"

Ling Yun nodded his little head and said: [The master has been poisoned. ]