Work overtime

Chapter 699

Most concubines could never see their relatives again after entering the palace. Going home to visit their relatives was a privilege only for favored concubines.

Now the emperor not only accompanied Meng Zhao personally to visit her parents, but also allowed her to stay alone to have dinner with her family at the end.

It can be said that the emperor's grace is enormous and he has greatly favored the Meng family.

There must be something wrong when things are out of the ordinary. Prime Minister Meng always felt that there was something wrong. But his daughter and the emperor were so in love with each other that he wondered if he was overthinking it.

Having Liang Xiaobao stay to look after him makes sense, as it fits in with the emperor's suspicious and wary nature.

Meng Xiang always felt uneasy.

After the emperor left, the Meng family relaxed a lot, and the family had lunch happily. Even Prime Minister Meng changed his usual serious and solemn demeanor and became gentle and relaxed. But he was still worried.

Something went wrong halfway through using it.

Meng Zhao suddenly felt a stomachache. It wasn’t the kind of pain you get from a stomach upset, but a tearing and tumbling pain in your stomach.

Meng Xiang had a feeling that it was as expected.

The emperor had arranged for the imperial physician to take care of Prime Minister Meng in the palace, and he immediately examined Meng Zhao. During the examination, Meng Zhao saw blood.

Now everyone in the Meng family was in a panic.

Mrs. Meng burst into tears instantly. The reserved and steady wife of the prime minister pulled the sleeve of the imperial physician and begged him to keep her daughter and child safe.

If kneeling and begging was useful, I'm afraid the wife of the prime minister would also kneel down willingly.

The news that concubines had lost their lives one after another due to miscarriages had long been spread outside the palace, leaving Madam Meng with a serious psychological trauma. Now when she heard about miscarriage, she would think of death.

The imperial physician quickly made a preliminary diagnosis. Meng Zhao was given a small amount of contraceptive and abortion-inducing drugs. With timely treatment, there was hope that he would be saved.

It just so happened that Yao had just gotten pregnant, and there were a bunch of ready-made medicines to preserve the pregnancy. The imperial physician checked and said there should be no problem. She only needed to boil the medicine and take it, and she didn't have to run to the pharmacy to get the medicine. It was a blessing in disguise.

Meng Xiang frowned and remained silent. He was thinking about two more important things than Meng Zhao's miscarriage:
One was the murder of the heir to the throne, which was a capital crime punishable by death or even the extermination of nine generations of the clan. Especially since Liang Xiaobao was in the mansion with his men, there was no way he could do anything.

Therefore, Prime Minister Meng issued a death order to investigate who was the one who poisoned the place. All exits were sealed and no one was allowed to leave until the investigation was complete.

The other thing is, in order to save the child, he cruelly took the opportunity to make Meng Zhao have a miscarriage and use it as a medicine to cure the cold poison.

When the food on the table was served, Liang Xiaobao had already tested it with a silver needle and found nothing abnormal. He also checked the bowls, chopsticks, rice and water used by Meng Zhao and found nothing abnormal.

Meng Zhao was lying in bed, terrified. She had lived a safe and happy life since childhood, and had great luck. She couldn't believe that she would suffer a miscarriage.

She held her mother's hand tightly, tears in her eyes, and cried out "Mom" in a sad voice.

Mrs. Meng lovingly held her daughter's hand and comforted her, "Don't be afraid, mother is here."

Meng Zhao recalled in a daze that she had drunk two glasses of water in Chanjuan's room.

She clutched her mother's hand tightly and exclaimed, "Chanjuan, it's Chanjuan! I drank water in her room."

The crying Chanjuan suddenly raised her head and said, "It's not me, how could I have poisoned the young lady?"

Meng Zhao was heartbroken and angrily asked, "Why did you harm me so viciously? Is it because I drove you out of the palace?"

Madam Meng pointed at Chanjuan, trembling all over, "Tie up this bitch!"

Chanjuan did not struggle, and allowed herself to be roughly tied up, but she shook her head desperately and shouted, "It's not me, it's really not me. I won't harm the young lady."

Meng Xiang had a gloomy face and said nothing, his eyes slashing across Chan Juan's face like a knife.

The people sent to check soon found out that there was something wrong with the tea set in Chanjuan's room. The water in the teapot was drugged, and there was still drug residue on the cup that Meng Zhao had drunk from.

Prime Minister Meng said coldly, "He is plotting to murder the heir to the throne. Drag him out and beat him to death."

The servant dragged Chanjuan out.

"My Lord, I am innocent. I am innocent. I really am innocent. I have watched the young lady grow up. How could I harm her..."

After a while, several young eunuchs brought by Liang Xiaobao hurried back, "Not only was the teapot drugged, but there was also drug in the water tank. Please ask the imperial physician to check whether it is the same drug."

Everyone was relieved at first, but now they were all nervous. This meant that someone else was trying to murder Meng Zhao.

Chanjuan screamed outside. But Meng Xiang did not call for a stop, and no one pleaded for her. Gradually, there was no sound outside the house, and soon someone came in to report that she had been beaten to death.

The imperial physician’s examination results came out.

The water tank and the teapot both contained the same herbal juice which had a preventive effect. It tasted slightly bitter, a bit like tea.

Prime Minister Meng's eyes fell on the concubines.

"Whoever did this, please come forward. Once the truth is revealed, it won't be as simple as beating him to death."

When he spoke, a woman trembled noticeably. This woman was Feng, the most favored concubine of the emperor before he sent the woman here, and Meng Ran's biological mother.

Meng Xiang knew it was her.

"Since they won't tell us anything, go search their homes. If you find them, beat them both to death."

When Feng heard that if he refused to acknowledge her, she would beat her son to death as well, and she fell to her knees on the ground.

He lowered his head and said sadly, "It's me. I just wanted to take revenge on that bitch Chanjuan, but I didn't expect to hurt the young lady unintentionally. It's my fault. Please forgive Meng Ran, sir. I'm going to die now."

After saying that, he ran towards the wall.

"Mom!" Meng Ran cried out and rushed over to hold his mother.

Meng Xiang said with disgust, "Hold her. Drag her servants out and beat them to death. Don't dirty the wall."

Meng Ran knelt down before Meng Xiang and said, "Dad, please forgive Mom. She was just confused for a moment."

Meng Xiang said nothing coldly and kicked Meng Ran away. Until someone outside came to report, "Prime Minister, Feng is dead."

"Throw it in a mass grave."

Meng Xiang raised his eyes, his gaze was cold, "Just watch, this is the end of jealousy."

Meng Ran hugged Meng Xiang's legs again and begged bitterly, "Dad, please have mercy and don't treat Mom like this. She has served you for more than ten years..."

"Come here, drag him away and kick him out of the house. From today on, you and I are no longer related as father and son."

Meng Ran now serves as a seventh-rank supervisory official in the Censorate, but he has a criminal record for the Tianxiang Tower geisha murder case.

Although this is cruel and heartless, it can ensure that if the emperor wants to get angry with Meng Ran because of this matter and dig up old accounts, the entire Meng family will not be implicated.

I can only sacrifice the car to save my life.

Meng Ran couldn't believe what he heard.

He let go of his father's legs, took a few steps back, looked up at his tall and burly father, and asked angrily, "Dad, are you really so heartless?"

"Yes! I don't have a concubine like your mother, nor do I have a bastard son like you!"

Meng Xiang's heart was bleeding when he said this.

Meng Ran stood up in despair, stepped back, and said word by word, "Yes, I am useless, I embarrassed you. Okay, from today on, I am not a member of the Meng family..."

He turned around, strode out the door, picked up his mother's bloody body and left.

Meng Xiang looked at his son's back and sighed.

Such a result was really absurd. He originally thought that it was a plot by the emperor or the Baili people, but he didn't expect that it was jealousy in his own backyard that harmed Meng Zhao.

No one could have expected that Meng Zhao would return home to visit her relatives today, and no one would have thought that she would go to Chanjuan's room for a private chat.

All of this is really a coincidence, but there is no possibility of human design.

Prime Minister Meng only hoped that the five lives he killed with his sword could be exchanged for the safety of the hundreds of people in the Meng family.

Fortunately, the medicinal content in the water was not high, and with timely bed rest, and with the help of acupuncture from the imperial physician, Meng Zhao successfully stabilized the fetus.

Mrs. Meng cried with joy and went to burn incense in front of the ancestral tablets and the Bodhisattva statues.

Liang Xiaobao has already sent people into the palace to report the situation, and the imperial edict will come down soon.

Meng Xiang was in a dilemma: to protect him or not? to save him or not?