As Yan Lingyi’s hand descended, she let out a soft “oh” and lifted her gaze to look at Ji Hengge on the bed.
Ji Hengge was still fast asleep.
The debilitating illness had drained him, leaving his entire frame looking frail and gaunt. Green veins were faintly visible across his chest, and a single glance made it clear that his days were numbered.
His skin remained icy cold, yet as Yan Lingyi’s hand moved further down, she distinctly felt a firm, unyielding texture.
What was going on? This time it was unexpectedly smooth.
Yan Lingyi reflected back on it. She seemed not to have used any aphrodisiac at all.
She had only administered a sufficient dose of sleeping powder to prevent him from waking up halfway like last time.
The thought flashed through her mind and vanished. Minor issues did not matter; the crucial part was what came next.
She needed to act swiftly and decisively. Getting pregnant was the absolute priority.
Yan Lingyi raised her wrist, once again moving to strip away his garments, while simultaneously starting to peel off her own.
She was so engrossed in undressing that she failed to notice Ji Hengge’s Adam’s apple bobbing on the bed, a fine sheen of sweat breaking out across his temples.
Ji Hengge could not open his eyes, so he had to rely entirely on his hearing.
He heard her kick off her shoes and socks, take off her gold hairpins, and heard the silk rustle as it fell to the floor. He heard her strip away the last of her garments and leap onto the bed with a soft rustle.
Her footsteps were extremely light. When she sprang up, there was hardly any disturbance on the mattress. Ji Hengge, lying flat on the couch, felt a soft and slippery stretch of skin graze against his waist, and it was her taut, muscular thigh.
She possessed considerable physical strength. Although her martial arts were not quite at the absolute pinnacle, falling a notch short of Wu Qi’s skill, she still ranked among the upper-middle tiers, and was undoubtedly the premier choice among noblewomen.
This strength had been concealed beneath lavish skirts ever since she married into the imperial family, but today, with the skirts cast aside, that strength rushed back eagerly, only for Yan Lingyi to direct every ounce of it straight onto Ji Hengge.
The bedchamber suddenly fell completely quiet.
The birdsong outside the window vanished, the wind seemed to halt, and between heaven and earth, there appeared to be only the two of them left, as a wondrous, intoxicating atmosphere gradually churned within the canopy bed.
The fragrance emanating from her body slowly drifted outward, filling the entire space behind the curtains. Ji Hengge felt as though he had fallen into a dream swathed in deep verdant hues. The water ripples were soft, the moonlight gentle, and his soul eased within this embrace, sinking downward step by step.
He wanted to sink to the deepest depths and drown within this body of water.
Lying on the couch, Ji Hengge suddenly felt a strong urge to open his eyes and see what Yan Lingyi looked like.
What did Yan Lingyi look like?
At this moment, Yan Lingyi was fully prepared, stripped down and ready for action.
Here I go! The valiant Empress sounded the battle horn, preparing to fight for the empire of Great Jin.
She first positioned Ji Hengge’s body properly, then slowly mounted him. Although Ji Hengge remained unconscious, his physical responses were quite satisfactory; as their thighs rubbed against each other, Yan Lingyi inched downward.
Taking a deep breath, just as she prepared to act like a female bandit for the sake of the Great Jin empire, she heard the hurried footsteps of an older wet nurse outside the door.
“Where is Prince Qi? The Empress Dowager issues an urgent summons!”
Yan Lingyi froze, her soul practically frightened right out of her body.
What kind of nightmare scenario was this: the mother-in-law catching the daughter-in-law committing adultery with the brother-in-law!
The wet nurse outside must have received some strict directive, as she barged directly into the room with a whole group of followers. Yan Lingyi had cleared away the guards around the entrance earlier, leaving no one to block them. Seeing that the wet nurse was about to burst right in, Yan Lingyi could only scramble off the bed in a panic, scoop up her various garments from the floor, and dart behind the screen like a nimble ape.
The moment Yan Lingyi scrambled off the mattress, got dressed, and fled out the back window in a chaotic scramble, the wet nurse from the Hall of Longevity burst through the front door.
When the wet nurse of the Hall of Longevity broke in, her complexion was a sheet of ashen gray.
Just moments prior, the Hall of Longevity had received word that Prince Qi had specifically come to the imperial study to meet the Emperor in private, dismissing all attendants, and no one knew what they had discussed. Afterward, while Prince Qi rested in the side chamber, Emperor Wenkang had actually slumped over the table and fallen fast asleep!
When the guard eunuch went inside to serve tea, he could not wake him up. It did not look like a regular faint, and the terrified eunuch hurriedly called for help.
Upon hearing the two words “Prince Qi,” the Empress Dowager panicked instantly. She commanded the imperial physicians to rush and examine the Emperor, while ordering Prince Qi to be placed under arrest, and the Dowager’s visceral reaction stemmed entirely from her own guilty conscience.
She was the one who had poisoned Prince Qi, so she lived in mortal terror that Prince Qi might have poisoned her son in return. Grown so frantic she felt dizzy and on the verge of fainting, she dispatched the wet nurse to capture Prince Qi on the spot.
Had the Dowager not been too gravely ill to leave the Hall of Longevity, she might well have come personally with a sword in hand.
If this poison had indeed been administered by Prince Qi, the Dowager would demand his dog’s life right then and there!
The moment the wet nurse stepped into the hall, she saw Prince Qi lying motionless on the bed, his eyes tightly closed, looking precisely as though he had passed out cold.
“Your Highness?” The head wet nurse furrowed her brow, staring closely at Prince Qi. At that instant, Wu Qi rushed in from outside, dashed to the Prince’s side, and cried out, “Your Highness! This is terrible! Your Highness has passed out!”
The wet nurse was struck with a mixture of shock and suspicion.
What was going on? Not only Emperor Wenkang, but even Prince Qi had fallen victim!
It did not look at all like Prince Qi had poisoned Emperor Wenkang; rather, it looked as though someone had poisoned them both.
Pondering for a moment, the wet nurse hurriedly summoned the imperial physicians to examine them together, while dispatching a messenger to report the situation to the Empress Dowager.
In contrast to the wet nurse’s panic and unease, Wu Qi remained remarkably calm on the inside.
Utilizing the momentum of throwing himself over the Prince, he murmured quietly beside the mattress, “Reporting to Your Highness, everything went smoothly.”
This was the grand trap the Prince had prepared for Yan Lingyi all along.
Yan Lingyi had coveted his body, so he struck right back at her fatal weakness, engineering a scenario to lure the Empress Dowager over. Previously, the Dowager had never paid much attention to her son; if she took a closer look right now, would she notice the discrepancies?
Ji Hengge was not the type to let a dog bite him and pretend nothing happened; he would certainly return the favor in kind, letting Yan Lingyi know that his flesh was not so easily consumed.
Yet, when Yan Lingyi truly fled the bed in panic, Ji Hengge felt an inexplicable emptiness in his chest.
The gauze curtains had been torn open, and those ambiguous, enchanting dreams shattered and drifted away with them. The full, saturated mist lingering in his chest dissipated as well, leaving behind only his dry, aching bones.
Still, he could not move; he could only lie there.
Wu Qi continued in a low voice beside him, “Your Highness’s heart rate is beating so fast. Did she pull some trick on you?”
Lying flat on the mattress with his eyes closed, Ji Hengge let out a slow, steady breath.
She had indeed pulled a trick on him.
“What trick did she pull?” Wu Qi pressed in a low whisper.
Ji Hengge could not answer, but he was certain she must have done something.
Otherwise, why would he feel even the slightest hint of regret?
Meanwhile, Yan Lingyi had climbed out from the side chamber, hastily straightened her attire, and hurried back to the imperial study.
Hearing that someone from the Hall of Longevity had been sent, Yan Lingyi already knew something was amiss, definitely an accident.
Ning Yue alone would struggle to handle the situation, so she needed to get back quickly.
When she had sneaked over to climb into Ji Hengge’s bed earlier, she had claimed to be returning to the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. Now she rushed back under the pretext of having “just heard the news and returned.”
The moment she stepped into the imperial study, she saw several imperial physicians surrounding Ning Yue, who was slumped over the low desk, preparing to take her pulse.
The Emperor had remained unconscious for so long without waking; it was evident someone had poisoned him maliciously. With the Empress Dowager ordering a thorough investigation, the physicians did not dare delay.
Yan Lingyi shouted a commanding “Stop!” Then, under the watchful eyes of everyone present, she declared, “I shall take the Emperor’s pulse. You all go investigate the items the Emperor used.”
Being trained in martial arts, Yan Lingyi also possessed a rudimentary grasp of medical arts.
The physicians bowed their heads upon seeing the Empress. Yan Lingyi rushed straight to Ning Yue’s side, pulled the unconscious girl into her arms, scanned her up and down, and seeing that Ning Yue was unharmed, said with unshed tears, “I will tend to the Emperor personally.”
Seeing Yan Lingyi show such deep concern for Emperor Wenkang, the onlookers could not help sighing that the Empress truly loved the Emperor beyond measure.
Ever since Emperor Wenkang’s collapse, Yan Lingyi had personally attended to him.
Fortunately, the imperial physicians quickly verified that the cup used by the Emperor had been dosed with a massive quantity of sleeping powder, designed solely to induce deep slumber rather than fatal poisoning, which allowed everyone to breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Even the medicinal decoctions brewed by the physicians were personally tasted by Yan Lingyi before being fed to Emperor Wenkang.
In the meantime, eunuchs were dispatched to thoroughly investigate the poisoning and uncover who had targeted both Prince Qi and the Emperor, but no matter how hard they searched, no culprit could be found.
Seeing that the investigation had stalled, the Empress Dowager declared, “Leave this matter to me. I shall provide the Empress Dowager with a satisfactory reply shortly.”
Only then was the incident temporarily glossed over.
That night, Yan Lingyi personally kept vigil over the unconscious Emperor Wenkang. The palace maids whispered among themselves that the relationship between the imperial couple was growing increasingly devoted.
As for Prince Qi, who had regained consciousness after fainting, no one rushed to curry favor with him.
The Empress Dowager offered no comfort, and the lower-ranking servants saw that Prince Qi was gravely ill, losing power and fast approaching death’s door, so they refused to waste empty flattery on him. Thus, Prince Qi remained quietly confined to his side chamber.
This time, Wu Qi stood guard outside, and the room was exceptionally silent.
Yet Prince Qi would still open his eyes from time to time, listening intently to the sounds outside the window.
Whenever a bird landed on the eaves, he would listen closely to see if it was Yan Lingyi.
But it never was.
Throughout the night, Yan Lingyi behaved with absolute propriety, remaining glued to Ning Yue’s side out of fear that someone might approach her.
Yan Lingyi understood the full sequence of events and felt no fear, but the Empress Dowager in the Hall of Longevity was terrified nearly to her wit’s end, falling gravely ill in her quarters and relying entirely on ginseng tea brewed by the physicians to cling to life.
The Empress Dowager was very old; she was truly nearing the end.
Lying on her couch, gazing with turbid eyes at the canopy above, her mind raced frantically through countless thoughts, growing only more terrified with every reflection.
Who is trying to harm my son?
Her mind spun in circles before finally settling on a single name: Prince Qi.
It had to be Prince Qi! It was definitely Prince Qi!
Since Prince Qi had consumed so much of her medicine without dying, he must have realized she was poisoning him. This time, he was undoubtedly the one who administered the poison.
Prince Qi would not die, but she was about to!
She had to eliminate Prince Qi as quickly as possible to pave the way for her son. Since poison could not kill him, she would try another method.
“Transmit my imperial decree,” the Empress Dowager commanded. “Select a consort for the Princess.”
She did all of this to pave the way for her son, even if it meant sacrificing her own daughter.
Yet the Empress Dowager remained utterly oblivious to the fact that the son she yearned for was not even in the imperial city.
Her precious child was thousands of miles away, trapped inside the root cellar of a village in the Sanling Mountains.
“Let me out!” Inside the root cellar, Ji Mingshan roared against the wooden door.
He had no way of knowing how much time had passed, until finally, Li Niang lifted the cellar hatch and shouted down, “Ji Mingshan, do you know you were wrong?”
Ji Mingshan shook with furious rage.
Seeing that he refused to admit his mistake, Li Niang slammed the wooden hatch shut with a sharp thud.
If he refused to repent, she would keep him locked up until he surrendered, and then he could honestly work for her Lu family clan in the village and abandon any delusional daydreams of leaving her!
Ji Mingshan’s furious curses were once again muffled and sealed inside the dark cellar.
After their quarrel, Li Niang had turned on her heel and left with a cold expression.
As soon as she departed, Silver Armor and Purple Blade arrived together at the mouth of the cellar, listening intently to the sounds echoing from within.