Chapter 1105 - Chapter 1105 Scheming, Who Will Come Back First?
Chapter 1105 Scheming, Who Will Come Back First?
“Then you can go back!” Yujie waved her hand and turned into the tent, but the eunuch didn’t leave immediately. After rolling his eyes a few times, he carefully approached the sheer curtain hanging down to the ground.
The curtain of thin and light material was not thick, but it was not very transparent. Thus, he could vaguely see the figures inside when he got close to it.
“My Lady, Great Elder Princess wanted to know if you had dinner!” The eunuch heard a servant girl report. It sounded like the servant girl who had come out to meet him.
“My grandma has always been so worried about me!” The feeble voice of the woman should be Princess Chen’s.
“My Lady, let us serve your meal!” Another woman’s voice came from inside. It was another servant girl with Princess Chen.
“I’ll have some soup. I don’t feel like eating.” Princess Chen’s voice sounded very weak.
“My Lady, you’re not in good health, so you ought to eat more. Please eat some rice before drinking the soup, okay?” The servant girl advised.
“Well… okay!” Although Princess Chen felt reluctant to do so, she listened to her suggestion.
The sounds of bowls and plates colliding came out of the tent. The eunuch nodded with satisfaction, turned around, and left to report to his master.
After the eunuch left cautiously without any noise, Yujie asked in an undertone, “My Lady, the eunuch has gone. Do you want me to follow him and see who is plotting against you?”
“No!” Shao Wanru said, her intelligent eyes as cold as a deep pool, “It’s useless for you to go there. We’re in the Palace. Besides, this eunuch is not an important person. Even if you follow him, you’ll only see another servant from the Palace later. If you go on watching that servant, you will leave some traces.”
“My Lady, are we going to let them plot against you?” Yujie said indignantly. Not only did they scheme against her master, but they even sent a eunuch to check on her for fear that her master had not eaten the poisonous rice yet. Princess Chen had repeatedly asked her not to act rashly for the time being. Otherwise, she would have slapped the eunuch several times in a fit of anger.
“We don’t have to do anything now. An accident is around the corner!” Shao Wanru said coldly.
When the eunuch came over, she struck upon an idea. She remembered their target in the last life was Chu Liuchen.
Yes, Chu Liuchen was the most fragile and could hardly stand some strong herbs. The medicine for stimulating blood circulation in the rice was overpowering. As long as he was injured, it was easy for him to bleed heavily. Though he had no wound, he was in poor health, so Chu Liuchen could not stand the drug either.
She didn’t know how Chu Liuchen had escaped in the last life. Perhaps, he had been as healthy as he was now, so the drug exerted no effect on him. Nevertheless, one thing was sure: they were all plotting against Chu Liuchen in her last life. It was because Chu Liuchen was the most suitable target. The medicine that was not harmful to others might be lethal for him.
These people were indeed detestable!
“Help me lie down. I want to have a rest!” Shao Wanru said.
Yujie and Qu Le exchanged a glance. Though puzzled, they still a.s.sisted her to lie down as they were told and covered her with the cloak again.
“Some people should be coming later. Just tell them that something happened to me. I’ve been lying still on the bed, and you can’t wake me up!” Shao Wanru’s long eyes fluttered, and her eyes were deep and steely.
“My Lady, if an imperial physician is sent here, he will find out we’re lying,” Qu Le said.
“Don’t worry. I’ve been rather ill lately, so I may slip into a trance when sleeping,” Shao Wanru said.
When in a trance, the person can neither sleep soundly nor stay awake. This symptom usually happens to the weak ones. In this state, the person can’t be woken up by whatever method. In addition, the wounded person who lacks Qi and blood and is in weak health is very likely to die. At present, Shao Wanru was in poor condition, so the two servant girls looked pretty worried.
They feared that something terrible might happen to their master in her sleep.
Her watery eyes squinted at the food on the table that had not been tidied up yet and ordered, “When the Empress Dowager comes back, Yujie, go to see Her Majesty and tell her that you can’t wake me up no matter how hard you’ve tried!”
Since these people wanted to use her life as a stepping stone, she would make a bigger deal out of it…
“My Lady, I understand. When Rui’an Great Elder Princess comes back later, should we tell her the truth first?” Yujie nodded and asked.
“You don’t have to tell my grandma the truth. She is straightforward and is not good at hiding her true feelings, so telling her might ruin our plan. It’s better to keep her in the dark!” Shao Wanru shook her head and said. With her grandma’s forthright character, others could tell the difference even if she thought she had done a good job hiding the secrets. The best way was that she knew nothing about it, so all her reactions would be authentic.
In this way, their story would appear more convincing.
“But if Rui’an Great Elder Princess comes back and wants to see you, what should we do?” Qu Le had other doubts. She was afraid that Rui’an Great Elder Princess would come to check on Princess Chen. If her master looked fine at that time, they couldn’t tell the Empress Dowager, who came later, that their master was not feeling well.
Their panic expressions wouldn’t look real.
If they dared to report their master’s condition to the Empress Dowager, why didn’t they say it to Rui’an Great Elder Princess, Princess Chen’s biological grandmother?
“If my grandma came earlier than Her Majesty, you would make a panicky scene right away. But if they were back together, you should go straight to the tent in the middle to see the Empress Dowager.” Shao Wanru thought it over and came up with a solution.
Under normal circ.u.mstances, Rui’an Great Elder Princess would accompany the Empress Dowager to come here. They were sisters-in-law in a good relations.h.i.+p. In addition, she had said that she would go back, so Rui’an Great Elder Princess should not have come to see her early.
But this did not mean that it was impossible. Therefore, Shao Wanru came up with two ideas.
The Empress Dowager would eventually know her bad condition, informed by either the people of the Prince Chen’s Mansion or Rui’an Great Elder Princess.
Shao Wanru didn’t want to get Rui’an Great Elder Princess involved, so she could only hope that her grandma would come later.
Of course, those who planned behind the scenes were unwilling to involve Rui’an Great Elder Princess either. People from the Prince Chen’s Mansion would appear more agitated than Rui’an Great Elder Princess when reporting this emergency to the Empress Dowager. It would be much easier for them to attract the attention of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor.
After giving Yujie and Qu Le a few more detailed instructions, Shao Wanru closed her eyes to rest. She seemed to have fallen asleep in a daze, or maybe not…
Rui’an Great Elder Princess wanted to come over early because she was worried about Shao Wanru. She had sent someone to see if her granddaughter had a good meal. Also, she told her to eat more. However, she still felt worried when hearing the Empress’s words.
The banquet was very lively. Each gift for the Empress Dowager was of fine quality, but Rui’an Great Elder Princess wasn’t in the mood to appreciate them, for she was very concerned about her granddaughter’s health.
When all the gifts had been shown, and everyone had almost finished eating, she took out a handkerchief to wipe her mouth and wanted to get up.
“Where are you going?” Ruiping Great Elder Princess, who was sitting nearby, saw that she was leaving and asked in a low voice. All the people at this table were princesses, and they were close to the table of the Empress Dowager.
“I’m worried about Princess Chen, so I want to go and see her!” Rui’an Great Elder Princess whispered the truth.
Ruiping Great Elder Princess glanced at the Emperor sitting in the middle with enthusiasm and softly persuaded her not to go away, “No one has left at this time. If you withdraw like this, you will displease His Majesty!”
“But Princess Chen is in poor health!” Rui’an Great Elder Princess argued.
She certainly knew that it was not improper for her to leave early at this time, but she was not at ease. She felt inexplicably uneasy and thought she must go there and check up on Shao Wanru.
“If you go now, Princess Chen may have gone back. Didn’t she say that she would go back?” Ruiping Great Elder Princess suggested, “Everyone is happy today, and the Empress Dowager and the Emperor are in high spirits. If you go out at this time, you may stir up trouble.”
When Ruiping Great Elder Princess mentioned that Shao Wanru might have returned home, Rui’an Great Elder Princess hesitated a little. It was okay if her granddaughter was there. But if Shao Wanru weren’t there, she would go there in vain. Maybe someone would use this as an excuse to slander her.
When Rui’an Great Elder Princess was alone in the past, she had always been free. Anyway, she had no one to care about. Others might not approve of her deeds, but so what? She didn’t care. But now she was no longer alone and must protect her granddaughter and grandson well, so she shouldn’t do things merely according to her own will.
After thinking for a while, she took Ruiping Great Elder Princess’s advice and sat down.
The banquet lasted for another two hours. The Empress Dowager didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she took a group of people close to her to the inner hall to chat.
The Empress Dowager was supposed to have a rest at this time, but she was in a good mood today and looked energetic. A group of princesses and imperial consorts of the royal family accompanied her. As they were talking joyfully together, she didn’t feel exhausted.
After a short rest, someone came to report that the flower platform was ready and invited the Empress Dowager to go over.
Therefore, the Empress Dowager moved to the flower platform with the Empress, imperial consorts, and princesses.
The crowd surrounded the Empress Dowager and the Empress and went over together. When they walked up to the previous big tent, they suddenly heard a commotion before them. The Empress Dowager frowned slightly but didn’t care much about it. There were so many people in the Palace today, so sometimes it would be a little noisy.
But then the noise grew louder, and there seemed to be people crying.
“Someone? Go and see what’s going on.” The Empress Dowager ordered.
A palace maid answered and left. After a while, she rushed in with a fl.u.s.tered look and said, “Your Majesty, Princess Chen is in danger. She had a meal… Then she never wakes up…”
“What?” Rui’an Great Elder Princess wanted to stand up, but her legs were so weak that she staggered and almost fell. Fortunately, Nanny Gao was quick-witted and hurriedly reached out to help her up. Finally, Rui’an Great Elder Princess could stand firm.
“Who… Who had an accident?” Rui’an Great Elder Princess reached out her trembling hands to hold Nanny Gao, her face ghastly pale.
“It’s… Princess Chen!” the palace maid answered timidly.
“Zhuozhuo…” Rui’an Great Elder Princess almost fainted. After trying hard to calm down, she suddenly pushed Nanny Gao’s hand away and hurried away. When she reached the tent entrance, a hairpin on her head hooked the sheer curtain and tore off a piece of the curtain. Rui’an Great Elder princess struggled and ran out, regardless of the fact that her hairpin had cut through the curtain.
Nanny Gao chased after her in a hurry.
“Let’s go to see her together!” The Empress Dowager was anxious and angry, pus.h.i.+ng herself up from the table.