After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 817 The Unhuman Emperor
Haitang quickly calculated the time.

When Hai Jiao wrote this letter, it was almost mid-March, more than a hundred days had passed since the New Year's Palace Banquet. If Hu Cairen was nearly eight months pregnant at the time, then looking back, she was already four or five months pregnant at the New Year's Palace Banquet. If the fetus in her belly developed faster, and she met a skilled imperial physician, she might be able to determine the gender.

Concubine Sun was still a noble concubine at the time. She secretly hid a pregnant concubine in her own bedroom. At the New Year's banquet, she disregarded the emperor's face and her father, Lord Sun's plan, and suddenly launched an attack, offending Concubine Xu and the Eighth Prince to death. Could it be that she felt that she was about to have a royal heir who was about to be born, so she had the capital to overturn the table?
The Sun family's future is now bleak because there is no royal heir with Sun family blood to guarantee their future wealth and power.

The prince born to Concubine Sun died, and after the two daughters of the Sun family married Prince Ji, the former died in childbirth, and the latter had a bad relationship with her husband and has not received any good news so far. Prince Ji has become more and more alienated from the Sun family. Without a heir to support, the Sun family is doomed to fall in the future. If they don't want to end up like that, they must choose one to support among the heirs.

Both princes had grudges against them, and after weighing the pros and cons, the only choice was the Eighth Prince, whose hatred for his family was not that deep. But the Eighth Prince had grown up, and had been bullied by Concubine Sun along with his biological mother, Concubine Xu Xian, since he was a child. He had been blocked by Lord Sun several times when he was expected to be crowned as the crown prince. How could he not have any complaints in his heart? If he really took the throne, he might not be more reliable than the Prince of Ji. At least the Prince of Ji had a wife who was a daughter of the Sun family. As long as she could give birth to a son, it would no longer matter whether the Prince of Ji lived or died. The Sun family supported this little grandson and could continue to hold power in the court. After the Eighth Prince took the throne, if he was unwilling to accept the daughter of the Sun family as his queen and concubine, the Sun family would sooner or later end up in ruin.

Now, Concubine Sun holds an heir who is about to be born. If it is a prince, then the Sun family will have a chance to turn things around. Even if this prince is not a member of the Sun family, as long as he is raised by the concubine of the Sun family and is close to the Sun family, and later marries a daughter of the Sun family as his principal wife and gives birth to a heir to inherit the throne, then the benefits he can bring to the Sun family will be no different from the Sun family's grandson inheriting the throne.

Besides, the emperor is in poor health now, and he will definitely not be able to hold on until the little prince grows up. When he dies, the little prince will succeed to the throne, and Concubine Sun will be promoted to the Queen Mother to raise the new emperor. The father and son of Sun Ge Lao will be able to act as regents. Who will they be afraid of then? As long as they eliminate all those who can threaten the new emperor's position during their time in power, so that no one is qualified to inherit the throne, then even if Sun Ge Lao dies, they don't have to worry about someone taking away their power.

If the little prince's biological mother, Hu Cairen, died after giving birth, and her family never became successful, then the Sun family would have no worries.

Concubine Sun's wishful thinking was very loud, but I wonder if she had discussed it with her father, Grand Lord Sun, beforehand? But in any case, Grand Lord Sun still chose to support her. Unfortunately, the emperor did not continue to favor Concubine Sun as before. She was confined after the New Year's Palace Banquet, and three months later, she failed in her poisoning plan and was demoted and punished, which exposed Concubine Hu and ruined her plan. This time, the emperor knew her calculations, and I'm afraid it would not be so easy to forgive her.

As Haitang expected, Haijiao then mentioned in the letter the emperor's reaction after he learned about this.

The emperor was really furious, even more furious than when he learned that Concubine Sun had ordered someone to poison Concubine Xu, and fainted on the spot. Empress Dowager Zhou summoned the imperial doctors to treat the emperor for a long time before he woke up, but his condition became worse.

The emperor issued an order to demote Concubine Zhang Gong to a concubine, confined her to her house and forced her to copy scriptures, and even summoned her father and brother to the palace to scold them. Regardless of whether Concubine Sun was secretly plotting this matter, Concubine Zhang Gong received the emperor's order but failed to do it, which was a dereliction of duty, not to mention that she might have known what happened but helped to conceal it, which was even more unforgivable. She was only demoted to a concubine for the sake of the dignity of the two princesses. But the emperor also said that even if a new emperor came to the throne in the future, Concubine Zhang would never be given any additional titles or rewards. Her father's title was demoted by one level, and her brother was demoted by three levels to remain employed. Even when the princess personally went to the palace to plead for mercy, she failed to change the emperor's mind, and was scolded, and even her badge to enter the palace was taken back. Concubine Zhang Gong had such a result, so it goes without saying for others.

Concubine Hu was pregnant with the heir to the throne, but no one knew about this child before. The emperor had little memory of her, and there was no affection for her. Concubine Hu did not report her pregnancy. Whether she was forced by Concubine Sun, unable to resist, or fooled into doing something stupid, the emperor felt that she did not trust the king and deserved to be punished, so he ordered her to be demoted to a concubine. He did not demote her to the bottom because she was pregnant with the heir to the throne. However, she could no longer stay in her original residence, but had to move to Yongshou Palace.

Yongshou Palace was actually the palace of Concubine Xu, but she had always lived in the Qianqing Palace to accompany the emperor. Yongshou Palace belonged to her in name only, and the palace maids were arranged by Empress Dowager Zhou, and the palace was closed all year round. It was not until the first month of this year that Concubine Xu "fell ill" and returned to Yongshou Palace to recuperate in order not to affect the emperor's daily life. Now the back hall of this palace is still empty, and a side hall is vacated to accommodate Concubine Hu, which is not a problem.

However, Concubine Hu had been listening to Concubine Sun's lies before, and seemed to think that Concubine Xu would be worried that she would give birth to a prince and compete with the Eighth Prince for the throne, so she had always been wary of Concubine Xu. Now that she moved in under Concubine Xu's nose, she didn't know what she would think. It was still unknown whether she could give birth safely. She was afraid that she would scare herself and fail to keep the dragon fetus, but let Concubine Xu take the blame, making people suspect that the latter deliberately wanted to eliminate the competitor for her son.

When Haitang read this part of the letter, she couldn't help but curse the emperor for being such a coward.

Did he hope that Concubine Xu would get better as soon as possible, or did he hope that during her period of detoxification and recuperation, she would have to work hard to worry about a little concubine who did not trust her?
Haijiao obviously felt that the emperor's behavior was a bit unethical. He had never heard of such a little prince in the palace in his previous life. He didn't know whether there was no concubine who was pregnant at all, or a concubine who was pregnant but failed to give birth smoothly. Given the emperor's physical condition in the past two years, it was surprising that he could still favor palace maids and make them pregnant. He obviously couldn't hold on even if he met with ministers for a longer period of time, and he had been recuperating for several years and had been away from alcohol and women. How could he get drunk and have sex with a palace maid? Haijiao also doubted whether the child carried by Concubine Hu was the real heir to the throne. However, he couldn't do anything about this matter outside the palace.

He had some doubts. This child might just be a plot by Concubine Sun who was cornered and desperate. It might not be the emperor's own child. If the emperor also had doubts about this, and he didn't lack sons, he might not let Concubine Hu give birth to a prince in order to stabilize the situation. Then, it might be Concubine Xu who would be blamed.

Concubine Xu is now poisoned. She has to recuperate, worry about her son's succession, and worry about Concubine Hu's daily life. She even has to be mentally prepared to take the blame for the well-being of Concubine Hu's unborn child in the future. Can she really calm down and take care of her health?

(End of this chapter)