Chapter 430 – Before the Storm
Today, Mo Rongzhan still did not go to the morning court. The ministers gathered to look at one another, each of them guessing the emperor’s condition in their hearts. Even so, none uttered a word. Prime Minister Xu and Liu Zongyuan were also present, yet their state of mind was very calm. Yesterday, they had met with Empress Dowager t and knew that the emperor was in good health. As for the reason he did not attend the morning court… Well, naturally the emperor had his own considerations.
However, there were some twinkling eyes that gazed at the empty dragon throne high above in silence, a touch of calculative light flas.h.i.+ng at the bottom.
“Prime Minister Xu, in the end, what is the emperor’s illness? It has been several days. Why hasn’t there been any news?” a minister asked anxiously.
“Yes, Prime Minister Xu, Lord Liu, didn’t you see Empress Dowager yesterday? What did Her Highness say?” someone asked.
Prime Minister Xu sighed and replied, “We haven’t seen the emperor either. Just like everyone here, we don’t know much.”
“What exactly does Empress Dowager want to do?! Why is she deliberately concealing the emperor’s illness?” the minister, who had just been staring at the empty dragon chair, asked angrily.
Liu Zongyuan raised his eyebrow and looked at the man. “Zhou Zhicheng, what do you mean by that?”
“I did not mean anything, merely wondering why Empress Dowager did not let the two lords see the emperor. Even if the emperor was ill, couldn’t she let the minister see him? The empress dowager is deliberately concealing the reason the emperor is not attending the morning court… What is her purpose? I believe she is the only one who knows best,” Zhou Zhicheng said in a cold and upright manner.
Prime Minister Xu frowned and stared at him. “Lord Zhou, you seem to know the most about the situation.”
Zhou Zhicheng snorted. “If we can’t see the emperor tomorrow, we’ll kneel outside the palace. Please explain it to Empress Dowager.”
A few people followed him while the others looked at each other before turning to look at Prime Minister Xu and Liu Zongyuan.
Soon, someone delivered the news to Mo Rongzhan who was still recovering from his injuries at the Palace of Heavenly Purity. The person narrated the happening in the court verbatim. The emperor still claimed that he remained unconscious, with only a small number of people knowing that his injury had recovered extremely well.
After listening to his trusted palace servant’s report, Mo Rongzhan waved him away and ordered him to withdraw.
“Is this what you want?” Huangfu Chen, standing behind Mo Rongzhan, asked as he removed the st.i.tches from his wound. Normally, it would take several days before the sutures could be removed, but the wound had unexpectedly healed really well, to the point that he could have the sutures removed ahead of time.
“What does zhen want? Zhen is just giving them a chance to act.” Mo Rongzhan snorted coldly. “If zhen doesn’t give them a chance, zhen is afraid that they won’t achieve anything in their lifetime. Then, wouldn’t they be suffocated at that time?”
Huangfu Chen said nothing, simply pulling out the suture without a change in expression.
Mo Rongzhan snorted stiffly as he let out an annoyed cry. “Are you taking revenge against zhen?”
“You don’t owe me anything, why should I take revenge on you?” Huangfu Chen said with a smile. “Don’t take it out on me if you’re in a bad mood.”
“How’s Lu Lingzhi?” Mo Rongzhan was indeed in a bad mood. Yesterday, in order to make Yaoyao jealous, he had let Xu Huiru into the Palace of Heavenly Purity and only let her return to her palace today. However, that little girl simply went out of the palace without saying a word. She didn’t care that he favored another woman. In her heart, the most important thing had always been the people of the Ye family.
Huangfu Chen said, “We’re still missing one fire lotus, are there any more in the palace?”
“There should be more. I’ll send someone to look for it,” Mo Rongzhan said. No matter what he had done to Lu Shuanger, it had nothing to do with the Lu family. Therefore, he wouldn’t refuse to help Lu Lingzhi.
“Do you remember how Yaoyao stopped your bleeding at that time?” Huangfu Chen asked in a low voice. He had been a physician for so long, yet he had never seen such a serious injury heal in a matter of days. His treatment method was no different from what he would do for similar injuries before. However, the only difference was… Mo Rongzhan’s injury had stopped bleeding soon, which was completely to Lu Yaoyao’s credit.
At the mention of Lu Yaoyao, Mo Rongzhan felt depressed for a while as he recalled her weeping over his injury in the hunting grounds. Still, he did not show his gloom and spoke in a low voice, “I do not know what medicine she used on my back at that time, but it was cool and did not feel as painful.”
“Medicine?” Huangfu Chen was stunned. He remembered that when he treated Mo Rongzhan’s wound, there was no trace of medicine on his back.
“What’s the problem?” Mo Rongzhan asked, an eyebrow raised.
Huangfu Chen put snow lotus cream on his healed wounds, wrapped them with white cloth again before saying, “You should thank Yaoyao. If she hadn’t handled it well, it wouldn’t have been this easy for me to save your life.”
Mo Rongzhan’s face froze. Even if he wants to thank Lu Yaoyao, she doesn’t necessarily want his grat.i.tude.
“Now that your injury has healed, I don’t need to be in the palace every day. You send someone to find and deliver the fire lotus to me, and I’ll detoxify Lu Lingzhi,” Huangfu Chen said.
“En.” Something should happen in the palace within the next few days, Huangfu Chen is not safe here, so it was best that he left.
Huangfu Chen packed up his belongings and left. However, when he arrived at the door, he looked back at Mo Rongzhan whose countenance was still suffused with gloominess and said, “I’ll remind you of one thing. Yaoyao has reached the age of marriage.”
Mo Rongzhan’s face became uglier. “Fude!” He summoned Eunuch Fu who was standing guard outside.