nucmednet Chapter 944 The Empress fakes her death to escape! May you live a long and prosperous life. Take car
Chapter 944 The Empress fakes her death to escape! May you live a long and prosperous life. Take car
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, a series of urgent knocks that almost shattered the door awakened the entire Anguo Marquis's residence.
"Marquis Anguo! Marquis Anguo! An urgent summons from the palace!"
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty is dying!"
The visitor was a palace guard, and his voice was filled with unprecedented panic.
Bai Lu didn't have time to think much, and didn't even bother to change out of her nightgown. She just put on an outer robe, grabbed her medicine box, and followed the imperial guards as they mounted their horses and galloped towards the palace.
The streets of Kyoto were shrouded in a thin mist in the early morning, and the hooves of horses clattered on the bluestone slabs.
royal palace.
The palace servants were all kneeling in the Empress's palace, each one silent and trembling with fear.
The imperial physicians knelt outside the palace, their faces ashen.
On the dragon bed, the empress, who was usually graceful and noble, now had her eyes closed, her face ashen, her lips purple, and her breath barely audible.
The emperor, dressed in a bright yellow casual robe, his hair disheveled, sat listlessly on the edge of the bed, tightly holding the empress's cold hand.
His eyes were bloodshot, and he was still in a daze, unable to believe it.
The emperor, who was usually so dignified and supreme, looked so helpless and vulnerable at this moment.
The three princes, the Crown Prince, the Prince of Pingkang, and the Prince of Qunan, knelt before the bed, each weeping bitterly, choking back sobs.
"Mother...Mother, please wake up..."
"Imperial physicians! What are you all good for! If you can't save the Empress Dowager, I will have you all buried with her!"
The emperor's roar was hoarse and desperate.
"Lady White Snake has arrived!"
I don't know who shouted.
The emperor turned around abruptly, as if grasping at the last straw, and staggered to Bai Lu, grabbing her arm.
"Bai Lu! You must save the Empress! You must save her!"
"I beg you... I beg you!"
He was speaking incoherently, his voice pleading.
"Yesterday...yesterday at the Bai family residence, she said she wasn't feeling well, but I...I didn't take it seriously..."
"I thought she was just tired..."
"It's my fault..."
Bai Lu was deeply shocked. Forcing herself to calm down, she said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, please release me first so that I may take the Empress's pulse."
The emperor suddenly realized what was happening and quickly released her hand, making way for her.
Bai Lu walked quickly to the bedside and placed her fingers on the crease of the Empress's wrist.
The sensation from her fingertips sent her heart plummeting into an icy abyss...
The pulse... is gone.
A pulse that is scattered like tangled threads, barely perceptible, indicates the decline of the vital energy of the five internal organs and is on the verge of dissipation, signifying a death pulse.
When I checked his breathing again, it had stopped.
The illusion that he was still breathing was created only because his body was still warm.
My heart has stopped.
Bai Lu's fingers trembled slightly as she quickly checked the Empress's pupils, which had begun to dilate.
She slowly withdrew her hand.
All eyes in the hall were on her.
Bai Lu stood up and shook her head with difficulty.
"Her Majesty the Empress has passed away..."
"No...impossible..."
The emperor muttered to himself and staggered back two steps.
"You're a miracle doctor...you can even bring the dead back to life...how could you not save her?"
"Look again!"
"Take a closer look!"
He rushed back to the bedside like a madman, shaking the empress's lifeless body violently: "Wake up! Don't joke with me!"
"Open your eyes and look at me! I know I was wrong! I shouldn't have ignored you!"
"Wake up and scold me, hit me, whatever, just wake up!"
The emperor truly couldn't accept it, as the empress had been on the verge of death three times before, but had survived each time.
After surviving numerous near-death experiences, the Empress was finally cured and is now in much better health than before. Why is she suddenly dying?!
However, no matter how much he called out, the person on the bed gave him no further response.
"Wow--"
The emperor could no longer hold on. Holding the empress's gradually cooling body, he burst into tears like a child.
He no longer possessed any imperial majesty; he was merely an ordinary man who had lost the love of his life.
“Mother——!”
The crown prince's vision went black, and he almost fainted.
King Pingkang and King Qunan held him up tightly.
The three brothers knelt on the ground, their cries shaking the heavens, overwhelmed with grief.
They were raised by the Empress herself from childhood, and their mother and sons had a deep bond. At this moment, they felt like the sky had fallen!
Bai Lu stood quietly to the side, her heart filled with mixed feelings.
She raised her hand and gently closed the Empress's eyes, then pulled the brocade quilt over her face, which was once gentle and smiling but was now lifeless.
"I have saved countless lives, defied fate, and brought the dead back to life... But this time, I am too late."
"The Empress has classic symptoms of cardiac paralysis. Last night at the banquet, she felt tightness in her chest, which was a precursor to the attack..."
The emperor's cries echoed in the empty palace, each sound and each word filled with endless self-reproach and pain.
"It's my fault...it's my fault..."
"I shouldn't have...I shouldn't have..."
He remembered many things.
They married young, and he recalled the joy of her giving birth to the crown prince, and the hardships she endured managing the harem for him...
Scene after scene, like sharp knives, slowly tore at his heart.
He possesses the four seas and is rich in the world.
But at this moment, he lost forever his wife who had cared for him and stood by him to watch the sunset and stars.
On this day, the majestic palace was shrouded in an overwhelming sorrow.
The red lanterns outside the palace walls hadn't even been taken down yet, but inside the palace walls, everything was already dressed in white!
The sky over the Great Wu Dynasty has collapsed halfway.
at this time.
"The Queen Mother has arrived—"
A voice came from outside: "The Empress Dowager has arrived."
The Empress Dowager forcibly suppressed her grief; she knew that she could not collapse at this moment.
The emperor has fallen; this family and this country need someone to hold them up.
She walked to her three grandsons, wiped away their tears with a handkerchief, and said in a deep voice, "Get up! You are princes, the pillars of the nation!"
"If your mother were alive, she wouldn't want to see you like this!"
"Bai Lu... come, help me help the Empress change her clothes, so she can leave with dignity!"
The crown prince's shoulders trembled violently. He slowly stood up and kowtowed heavily to the Empress Dowager: "Yes, Grandmother."
He wiped away his tears.
He was the eldest son; his father had fallen, and he had to rise again.
Under the Empress Dowager's direction, the palace servants suppressed their grief and began preparing for the Empress's funeral.
Bai Lu also went to help.
The death knell soon tolled.
News of the national mourning quickly spread throughout the capital and even the entire Great Wu Dynasty.
The Bai family, who had just finished celebrating their wedding, quickly removed all the red silk ribbons and double happiness characters and replaced them with white banners and mourning clothes.
Bai Qingze and Murong Jinshu stood at the gate of the mansion, listening to the heavy, long chimes coming from afar, and looked at each other in bewilderment.
"How could this be... Her Majesty the Empress was perfectly fine at the banquet yesterday..."
Murong Jinshu touched her belly and felt a sudden pang of heart palpitation.
Bai Qingze frowned. He recalled Bai Lu's solemn expression when she returned last night, and a guess began to form in his mind.
Meanwhile, the imperial court was in complete chaos.
The Empress passed away, and the Emperor, overwhelmed with grief, fell ill and was unable to attend court for two consecutive days.
A country cannot be without a ruler for a day. With the assistance of several regents, the crown prince began to handle state affairs from the throne.
Dressed in plain clothes, he forced himself to handle the complicated state affairs, and lost a lot of weight in just a few days.
The Empress's coffin was placed in the palace, and civil and military officials entered the palace to mourn according to their rank.
When it was Bailu's turn, she walked into the pure white palace and looked at the emperor's gaunt figure, who seemed to have aged ten years in an instant, and at the crown prince's composed yet sorrowful face. She was filled with mixed emotions.
She knelt down and respectfully kowtowed three times.
The emperor seemed to notice her, and slowly turned his head, his empty gaze falling on her.
His lips moved, and he said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Bai Lu...did I...do something wrong?"
This seemingly random statement sent a chill down Bai Lu's spine.
She knew that the emperor was asking about more than just the matter of neglecting the empress's illness.
He probably asked even more questions.
Bai Lu could not answer.
She simply bowed deeply and whispered, "Your Majesty...please accept my condolences."
Outside the window, a fine, cold rain began to fall from the leaden sky.
Three days later, the Empress's funeral was held.
On this day, the entire city of Kyoto was immersed in a solemn atmosphere of mourning.
The sky was so overcast it looked like it was about to collapse. The city walls were imposing, and a few drops of rain mixed with the cold wind soaked the white banners and lanterns on both sides of the street, as well as the clothes of the people seeing them off.
According to the national mourning system, from Chengtianmen Gate of the Imperial City to the Imperial Mausoleum in the suburbs, the ten-mile-long street was paved with yellow earth, and carriages and horses were prohibited.
On both sides of the street, civil and military officials, princes and nobles, all dressed in white mourning clothes, stood solemnly in the cold wind and rain according to their official rank to see off the Empress Dowager.
Bai Lu stood side by side with her three older brothers.
They were also dressed in pure white, and rainwater slid down their hair and cheeks, chilling them to the bone.
Although Murong Jinshu was pregnant, she still had to come to send off the spirit.
The entire Anguo Marquis's residence was already draped in white mourning clothes.
"Awakening——"
With a long, mournful cry from the eunuch, the heavy coffin was slowly lifted onto the shoulders of eighty-eight pallbearers.
The emperor, dressed in the most mourning clothes, personally held the coffin, his face gaunt and his eyes empty, as if all his energy had been drained away overnight.
For the past few days, he had not eaten or drunk anything, and was only kept alive by ginseng soup. If it weren't for the eunuchs supporting him tightly, he probably would have collapsed long ago.
The crown prince, also dressed in mourning, carried his mother's memorial tablet and walked before the coffin.
His face was pale, his lips were tightly pressed together, and he endured the immense grief, trying his best to straighten his spine and maintain the demeanor befitting a crown prince.
King Pingkang and King Qunan followed on either side, already weeping uncontrollably.
The massive funeral procession, like a long, white river of sorrow, flowed slowly through the streets of Kyoto.
Wherever he went, the people spontaneously knelt down, and a chorus of sobs filled the air.
Bai Lu stood among the officials, silently observing everything.
Her gaze swept across the crowd and landed at the very front of the procession, on the once spirited emperor who was now hunched over.
With the Empress's departure, some things also died forever from this man's life...
The procession moved extremely slowly, and the atmosphere was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.
Just then, a cry that was more shrill and exaggerated than the others suddenly came from the ranks of officials not far away.
"Your Majesty—!"
"My sister—!"
"Why did you just leave like that?!"
"This old minister is incompetent! This old minister has failed to take good care of you!"
"How can I, your brother, live to see my son, who has outlived me?!"
Bai Lu frowned almost imperceptibly, exchanged a glance with Bai Qingfan and Bai Qingze beside her, and a cold glint flashed in the eyes of all three of them at the same time.
They didn't need to turn around to know who the voice came from—
Bai Yansong, the emperor's brother-in-law.
Bai Yansong knelt at the very front of the officials, dressed in a brand-new white mourning robe, weeping loudly and with tears streaming down his face.
He wailed as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
His "genuine expression of emotion" drew sympathetic glances from many officials around him.
It is only natural for the emperor's brother-in-law to be so grief-stricken at the loss of his own sister.
The coffin slowly passed in front of them, and Bai Lu bowed deeply, kneeling down with all the officials.
The cold rain lashed against her back, seeping into her mourning clothes and bringing a chill.
She took one last look at the receding coffin and silently said in her heart:
"Aunt, go in peace."
"From now on, all the troubles of this world will be irrelevant to you..."
Within Kyoto, a somber atmosphere prevailed, and the people grieved together.
On a remote official road thirty miles outside the capital, an ordinary blue cloth carriage was slowly making its way south through the wind and rain.
The wheels crunched and groaned as they rolled over the muddy dirt road.
The interior of the carriage was simply yet comfortably furnished.
A soft couch was covered with a thick brocade cushion.
A woman dressed in a simple cloth dress and wearing a veiled hat sat by the window, gently lifting a corner of the curtain and gazing into the distance towards the northern capital.
She was none other than the Empress of the Great Wu Dynasty, who should have been lying in the cold underground palace of the imperial mausoleum.
"Your Majesty, it's windy, be careful not to catch a cold."
A gentle and clear male voice rang out.
Young Master Xi sat on a small table to the side, slowly brewing a pot of hot tea with his well-defined hands.
The aroma of tea filled the carriage.
The Empress slowly lowered the curtains, the light veil of her veil concealing her tearful eyes.
She turned her head to look at Young Master Xi, her voice carrying a hint of bewilderment and emotion at being reborn: "This Empress... no, I..."
"I am no longer the Empress."
Young Master Xi handed her a steaming cup of tea, smiling gently, a smile as warm as a spring breeze.
"Then, Madam Bai, please have some tea."
"Once you leave this capital region, the future will be long and arduous. Take care of yourself."
"Madam Bai..."
The Empress murmured the title, a tear welling up in her eyes.