Forbidden Autumn, Summer, Winter and Spring Rebirth

Chapter 179 175. Something unusual happened
The ceremony of conferring the title of consort was simple, just a formality, also because the Empress Dowager had not yet completed the mourning period and Consort Dunsu had just passed away.

Since the death of Concubine Dunsu, the Ninth Prince has been in the care of Concubine Ji. However, the Ninth Prince knelt outside the Palace of Tranquil Longevity for half a day, and said that he would treat Concubine Ji as his own mother in the future. He only asked the Emperor not to change the Jade Book and record him under Concubine Ji's name.

Concubine Ji also asked the emperor for help on this matter, and the emperor was moved by the ninth prince's filial piety, so naturally he agreed.

Doctor Wen mentioned intentionally or unintentionally that whenever Noble Lady Lan slept with the Emperor, the Emperor's health would always be worse and he would be in a coma for two or three days before he would get better.

Now that the emperor is in increasingly poor health, most of the government affairs are handled by Hongzhou and several old ministers.

Even some very important memorials that required the emperor's personal approval were mostly presented to the emperor for review and then written by Hongzhou.

It's the end of the year again. Nowadays, the New Year is becoming more and more boring and far less lively than the previous years.

There are many young faces among the concubines in the palace, and they are competing with each other for beauty at the New Year's Eve banquet. It is not difficult to see that they are also competing secretly. Xia Dongchun looked around for a long time and finally understood. It is no wonder that she felt the New Year was boring. It turned out that this New Year's Eve palace banquet was no longer their home ground.

Every New Year, she only grew one year older, but the palace banquet on New Year's Eve was what the low-ranking concubines looked forward to. In the past, they had few opportunities to see the emperor, so they naturally could not miss the opportunity to show up at the palace banquet.

Each of them is as delicate as a flower bud. How can they be willing to bloom and wither silently in this deep palace?

Spring days are especially short, as if the sun becomes scorching before the bright sunshine lasts a few days.

Xia Dongchun knew that the emperor had been fond of making trouble in recent years, and there were always some concubines and maids who were willing to take the lead. At first, they were still very creative, but later, Concubine Jing and Shen Meiyu got tired of watching the fun, so they picked out a few law-abiding ones and gave them a hand. They just dressed them up cutely and sent them to the Yangxin Palace. From then on, it all depended on their abilities.

Gradually, the girls came to their senses and behaved themselves, which saved a lot of trouble.

In the days around the beginning of autumn, it suddenly became quite cool, and there was even wind on a few nights.

The autumn wind passed by the corner and the palace gate, bringing with it a sharp whistle that was particularly creepy in the dead of night.

The emperor had been suffering from nightmares for some time, and he would summon the imperial physician three or four times out of ten late at night.

Concubine Ji had seen this several times while he was in the emperor's bedchamber. No one else dared to tell such a secret, and Concubine Ji was naturally an exception. She was just like before, and there was nothing she was afraid of.

When Concubine Ji talked about the few times she had seen, the emperor was sweating profusely in his sleep and muttering something, sometimes calling him Wanwan, sometimes Huanhuan, and sometimes Shilan, and occasionally she could hear words like Yixiu, Honghui, and mother.

As she said these words, Shen Meizhuang sneered, unable to hide her disdain on her face, but she did not show her harshness as usual.

After a long while, Shen Meizhuang seemed to have thought of something, and suddenly with a sad face, she said slowly, "If Huan'er could come to my dream, I would be willing even if it was a nightmare. But in the past few years, she has never come to see me in my dream once. She is really cruel. Now those who have harmed her have received the retribution they deserve one by one. There is only one left, only one left, and I think... it will be soon."

Everyone present naturally knew which one was missing, but no one dared to respond.

Regarding the previous dynasty, Concubine Jing and Shen Meizhuang had their own plans. Although it was the general trend, they still had to be prepared for the worst.

Xia Dongchun had never participated in these things. She knew clearly that there was an invisible boundary between her and the two of them, separating the former court from the harem, separating close friends from allies. It was neither close nor distant, neither far nor near. It was a boundary and a line of defense. This was naturally very good.

The weather turned cold again, but a big happy event happened in the palace.

There were three promised ladies, one maid, and one noble lady, and the five of them became pregnant one after another.

The emperor was overjoyed and made an exception to promote the five people. The palace was no longer dull and everyone was in high spirits.

Xia Dongchun and the others felt that there was something unspeakably weird about this matter. Doctor Wen also checked the pulses of several people and found that the fetuses were all slightly unstable, but nothing serious.

Doctor Wen was also asked to personally check the pulse of several people, but he did not find anything wrong.

"The biggest problem is having no problem." Xia Dongchun said in a deep voice.

"Not to mention that the emperor's health is not as good as it was in his prime, even in the past, it was unheard of for five concubines to be pregnant at the same time. Even the director of the court once asserted that the emperor's health was seriously weak and it would be difficult for him to have children. How could it be possible now..."

"I have ordered people to closely monitor the movements of those five people, and even their daily diet and daily life must be carefully checked. The emperor has also instructed us to take good care of them." Concubine Jing spoke thoughtfully.

"We know there must be something wrong, but we can't find the problem now. We don't even know who they are targeting this time. I underestimated them. There are such capable people in the palace." Shen Meizhuang said with a slight anger.

"Can we check if there was anything abnormal about those five people in the three months before they were found to be pregnant?" Xia Dongchun suggested.

"I have already sent people to investigate, but we have no clues at the moment. It will probably be much more difficult to investigate." Shen Meizhuang said.

"Let's take it one step at a time. Maybe it's not aimed at us." Xia Dongchun said helplessly.

Xia Dongchun knew that saying this sounded a bit like taking chances, so Concubine Jing and Shen Meizhuang would naturally not take it lightly.

More than a month passed in this tense manner, and several concubines' pregnancies had passed the most vulnerable first three months. It was common for the fetuses to be unstable in the past few days, but now that the first three months have passed, all five of them have shown signs of threatened miscarriage.

There was no other way but to stay in bed to protect the fetus. I took pregnancy-protecting medicine and supplements as meals every day, but there was no improvement.

The Emperor was also very anxious about this matter. He had suffered a lot in recent years and finally had a great thing happen. It not only proved that his health was not as bad as the imperial physician said, but also made him get rid of the depression in his heart. His spirit was much better than before.

But now the dragon fetus has problems one after another, and the emperor is extremely anxious, even unable to sleep or eat. The nightmare syndrome that had originally improved has relapsed and is becoming more serious.

The Imperial Noble Consort and the Imperial Noble Consort Jing also worked hard on this matter. After all, they were in charge of the six palaces, and the dragon fetus was a serious matter, so they naturally did not want to make any mistakes.

Shen Meizhuang was indifferent. When Concubine Jing started to urge her, she said a few words to comfort him. "Even the imperial physician is helpless. Are we better than him? If not, we can ask the Imperial Observatory to take a look and then request a ritual. That would be considered doing our best and leaving the rest to fate."

Concubine Jing smiled bitterly. If it really came to this, there would be no other way.