Chapter 3601: The Most Favoured Woman in the Inner Palace (20)
Chapter 3601: The Most Favoured Woman in the Inner Palace (20)
If the babies kept crying like this, they might eventually rub Ao Tianze the wrong way. In a fit of irritation, he might just decide to kill them.
Having children that weren’t his own wailing on his home turf must have been incredibly stifling for him.
Every time the children made a fuss, Ning Shu was the only one who could soothe them.
Consort Xuan felt both relieved and pained. She was pained that her own children were closer to someone else, yet she simply lacked the energy to care for the two of them.
Whenever she thought of the pampered Fu Min and compared it to her own treatment, she felt indignant and miserable.
Consort Xuan rubbed her forehead. While brushing her hair that morning, it had started falling out in clumps. It terrified her. She had called for a court physician and was now strictly taking her medicine to recover.
To be considered a true beauty, a woman had to have a head of thick, lovely hair. If her hair thinned, she wouldn’t be able to style it into elegant buns, and she wouldn’t even be able to pin in her gold and jade ornaments. It was a disheartening prospect.
Consort Xuan didn’t hesitate for a second when drinking her medicine. If she became bald, she would lose all chance of ever regaining her status.
Ning Shu was currently feeding the two children a bit of fruit juice. Now that they were four months old, they could slowly begin eating complementary foods.
The two infants grinned at Ning Shu. Their eyes were clear, innocent, and pure.
“Your Highness, Your Highness!” Xi’er hurried into the hall. Her footsteps were frantic.
“What is it?” Ning Shu handed the bowl to a maid and asked, “What happened to make you in such a rush?”
“Your Highness, Lady Min… Lady Min has miscarried,” Xi’er said while catching her breath.
Ning Shu raised an eyebrow. “What are the circumstances?”
“I heard the fetal heartbeat stopped. The child had already lost its life force. The physician prescribed medicine to break up the stasis and expel the remains, but Lady Min refuses to drink it no matter what.” Xi’er was still panting. “Your Highness, the emperor is currently in a towering rage. He says there must be a thorough investigation.”
Ning Shu frowned. If the fetal heartbeat had stopped, the child had ceased developing and died. It was a missed miscarriage.
Ning Shu had suspected that there was a high chance Fu Min’s child wouldn’t be born. Even if it were, it likely would have been a sickly child.
This was because Ao Tianze’s kidney qi had already been leaking away. He was only holding himself together by force through those elixirs.
He consumed those pills aggressively, and they were full of heavy metals. Even if he managed to conceive, the child was bound to have issues.
A smile never left Consort Xuan’s face. She turned to speak to Ning Shu, but seeing Ning Shu staring at her, she immediately stifled her grin.
“Your Highness, now that Lady Min has met with disaster, will we be implicated?” she asked awkwardly.
“If you look that elated and the emperor sees you, you’ll be in serious trouble,” Ning Shu said crossly.
“Oh!”
Ao Tianze was likely in a state of absolute fury right now. If she went over there, she would almost certainly be used as a punching bag.
Ao Tianze’s heart was likely aching so much that he might just kill every woman in the inner palace. No, she definitely wouldn’t go.
Ning Shu picked up one of the children and shook a rattle to amuse them. Consort Xuan watched Ning Shu cautiously and asked, “Your Highness, should we not go see Lady Min?”
“If you want to go, then go,” Ning Shu said with total indifference.
Consort Xuan quickly shook her head. “Your Highness must be joking.”
Although Consort Xuan wanted to see Fu Min’s miserable state, she knew Ao Tianze was enraged. Anyone who went now would suffer, unless they were hiding behind the empress.
If there were any incoming fire, the empress would be the one to tank it.
The other concubines in the inner palace were all watching Ning Shu’s Jiaofang Palace. They were clearly waiting for Ning Shu to make a move so they would have an excuse to go see Fu Min.
No one dared to face Ao Tianze’s wrath alone.
Fu Min refused to take the medicine. She clutched her stomach in agonizing pain, even though what was inside was already dead tissue.
Ao Tianze tried to persuade her to drink the medicine. If she didn’t take it to expel the remains, it would eventually cause permanent damage to her body.
But Fu Min just wept, insisting her child was fine and refusing to drink.
She had been so, so careful. Why had she still failed to protect her child?
Fu Min was currently spiraling into an abyss of grief.
Her behavior made Ao Tianze feel as though he were going to explode with frustration, yet he couldn’t direct his anger at her. He ended up flipping a table in his rage.
While suppressing his temper, he tried once more to coax her. “Min’er, we will have other children in the future. Listen to me and drink the medicine. Seeing you like this… it hurts me. It truly hurts.”
Fu Min looked at the man, the supreme ruler of the land. He looked full of regret and pain, and his eyes were even shimmering. A man did not shed tears easily, yet this proud man looked as if he were about to cry.
Fu Min’s stomach hurt terribly, and warm blood began to flow from between her legs.
Her face was deathly pale as she finally drank the medicine. Then, she lay on the bed in shattering pain as a mass of blood and flesh was expelled from her body.
Ao Tianze looked at the contents of the basin. He could even see the faint outline of a child. It was dead, just like that.
A wave of murderous hostility erupted in Ao Tianze’s heart. He felt like destroying the world. Looking at the unconscious Fu Min on the bed, he clenched his fists, whipped his sleeves around, and headed straight for Ning Shu’s Jiaofang Palace.
He needed to vent. If he didn’t vent, he would go mad. These women in the inner palace… these sinister, poisonous women.
Ao Tianze wanted to skin them all alive.
“His Majesty the Emperor has arrived!” The eunuch’s shrill voice echoed outside the hall. Ning Shu quickly had the wet nurses carry the children away and straightened her clothes.
Ao Tianze entered the hall almost immediately. Consort Xuan, who was sitting near the door, scrambled to pay her respects as soon as he stepped inside.
Ao Tianze was radiating a colossal aura of fury. His eyes were bloodshot as he scanned Consort Xuan. He didn’t tell her to rise. Consort Xuan remained in a half-curtsey, with cold sweat breaking out on her forehead under his chilling gaze. Her body began to sway.
“You insolent thing! My child is gone, yet you dare to wear such brilliant, colorful clothes!” Ao Tianze roared. He raised his hand and gave Consort Xuan a heavy, resounding slap to the face.
Consort Xuan was caught off guard and was knocked flat onto the ground. Half of her face swelled instantly. Ignoring the injury, she scrambled to her knees and began kowtowing repeatedly. “Your Majesty, forgive me! This servant has sinned! I have sinned!”
Her voice was thick with tears and terror. Ao Tianze simply kicked her. Consort Xuan let out a muffled groan.
Ao Tianze bellowed, “Get out!”
“Yes… yes.” Consort Xuan crawled to her feet and fled the hall. Her movements were frantic and stumbling as she hurried away in a state of pure panic.
Seeing this, Ning Shu retracted the foot she had just stepped forward. Ao Tianze’s seamless transition into violence made her heart turn cold.
“This servant greets Your Majesty. How is Sister Min doing?” Ning Shu asked, while inconspicuously taking two steps back.
“You’re asking about Lady Min? The child is gone.” Ao Tianze took two steps toward Ning Shu. His voice was dark and somber. “Is the empress happy?”