Chapter 980: The Empress Dowager’s Death

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“In the past year, there has been a lot of backlog in the Imperial Court’s government office. The students from all over the world have requested the

Imperial Court to seriously investigate Ning Boyuan’s case. It’s indeed not good to delay this case anymore.”

The memorials of the court officials were sent into the Longevity Palace.

At this moment, the Empress Dowager was already bedridden. She leaned against a large ginger-colored pillow and listened weakly to the eunuch’s report about the situation in the previous dynasty.

“I heard that many students have already gathered at the Temple of Confucius and jointly protested to the Imperial Court, requesting a strict trial of Ning Yuanbo’s case to seek justice for the thousands of students in the world…’

Hearing this, the Empress Dowager covered her mouth and coughed heart-wrenchingly. The eunuch looked at the handkerchief covering the Empress Dowager’s mouth that was already dyed red with blood. His calves couldn’t help but tremble, and cold sweat kept dripping from his forehead.

“Cough, cough, cough—I’ The Empress Dowager coughed non-stop.

Auntie Shen quickly brought over a bowl of pear paste water and fed it to the Empress Dowager.

Miraculously, the Empress Dowager, who was coughing non-stop, looked much better after drinking a bowl of pear paste water. Her coughing gradually stopped.

The Empress Dowager panted and said, “All of them are sanctimonious and dignified. To put it bluntly, they’re just trying to eliminate dissidents…”

Ning Yuanbo was the Second Prince’s external relative. As long as Ning Yuanbo’s case was not tried and the crime was not conclusive, Concubine Lan would still not lose her power. There was still a group of people in the court who supported the Second Prince.

The trial of Ning Yuanbo seemed reasonable, but in fact, it was targeting the Second Prince and Concubine Lan. They wanted to take the opportunity to wantonly cut off the Second Prince’s henchmen and implicate the Second Prince to completely eliminate him.

“How— How has the Emperor’s health been recently?” The Empress Dowager’s yellow face was abnormally flushed, and her hoa.r.s.e voice seemed to have been rubbed by sand.

The eunuch’s face was pale, and his mouth trembled. “He’s still the same.”

Before he could finish speaking, his legs went limp and he knelt on the ground with a thud. The emperor had already had a stroke. His mouth was crooked and his eyes were slanted. Previously, he couldn’t speak properly but could still say words. Recently, he couldn’t even speak. When he opened his mouth, saliva drooled from the corner of his mouth and he made a sound from his throat.

After enduring for more than half a year, he was about to die.

Others might not know what was going on with the emperor, but how could the Empress Dowager not know?

The court officials were busy competing for power. Without the emperor’s intervention, the matter of establishing a successor could not be resolved. Empress Ning, Concubine Lan, and Imperial Concubine Xu were not to be trifled with. If the three sides fought, they could still restrain one another. However, once the balance was broken, it would cause internal strife.

What broke the balance was the Senior Imperial Censor’s advice.

There were already people who couldn’t help but want to attack Concubine Lan.

Concubine Lan probably never dreamed that she would instruct the Senior Imperial Censor to divert the trouble and put aside the matter of the Fourth Prince’s patrol of the North, only for all of this to be just a trap.

“Meanwhile, look at her…” Before she could finish speaking, large mouthfuls of blood gushed out of the Empress Dowager’s mouth and nose.

“Empress Dowager.” Auntie Shen was shocked and quickly rushed to the bed. Seeing that the Empress Dowager’s eyes were rolled back and her mouth was open, she was breathing heavily. She shouted in a panic, “Someone, quickly invite the imperial physician in…”

The eunuch was shocked. His body suddenly crawled to the ground, but the “her” that the Empress Dowager had mentioned kept echoing in his mind.

He was the Empress Dowager’s trusted aide, so he naturally understood that this “her” referred to Empress Ning.

The matter of the Fourth Prince’s patrol in the North was Empress Ning’s trap.

Empress Ning had first schemed for Second Miss Yu’s “natural phoenix fate”.

Then, she had instigated the royalists and mentioned the Fourth Prince’s patrol of the North.

Everyone thought that Empress Ning had planned for the Fourth Prince to patrol the North to win over the hearts of the people and acc.u.mulate reputation. She had further roped in Yue Fei, the King of the North, and the officials in the North.

At that time, the Fourth Prince’s reputation would be great, and the girl with the phoenix fate” would be naturally betrothed to the Fourth Prince.

With the support of the Yu Clan, Empress Ning naturally adopted the Fourth Prince as her heir.

But who would have thought that this was a trap?

The Second Prince had obtained a lot of virtuous reputation in the royal court. However, if the Fourth Prince traveled to the North, the “virtuous reputation” would probably change hands.

No matter how virtuous the Second Prince was, could he compare to the Fourth Prince’s contribution to checking the hearts of the people on behalf of the emperor?

The Second Prince was the most shocked about the Fourth Prince’s patrol of the North.

In order to stop the Fourth Prince from patrolling the North, Concubine Lan let the Senior Imperial Censor expose the news that the emperor was seriously ill. Thus, Concubine Lan had the initiative.

After suppressing Empress Ning’s use of the “girl with the phoenix fate” to suppress the Fourth Prince, Empress Ning could no longer manipulate the royalists and cause trouble in the court.

Meanwhile, the Third Prince was useless and became easy to deal with.

Concubine Lan was right.

However, she had never expected that Empress Ning would feint.

Ning Yuanbo’s case had never been tried. It was because the Empress Dowager did not want to break the balance of the struggle for the throne. However, Senior Imperial Censor Gu had stood out and broken the balance, so the Empress no longer had any scruples. She was using the royalists and thousands of students in the world to request a strict trial of Ning Yuanbo’s case.

The balance that the Empress Dowager had painstakingly maintained had completely been broken.

When she heard the news of the Empress Dowager’s death, Yu Youyao was having dinner with Yin Huaixi.

Yin Qi reported the news to Yin Huaixi. “The palace is already under full martial law. The Empress has stepped forward and will start to arrange the Empress Dowager’s funeral.”

Yin Huaixi subconsciously glanced at Yu Youyao.

Seeing that her smiling eyes were no longer smiling, he paused for a moment and put his chopsticks back on the plate.

Yin Huaixi asked helplessly, “It’s only a matter of time. Why aren’t you eating?” Yu Youyao had a complicated expression. “It’s just that it’s a little too sudden.”

Yin Huaixi picked up a piece of mushroom and placed it in her bowl. He coaxed gently, “The world is big, and eating is the most important. Try this dried mushroom with bamboo shoots. I specially found a chef who’s good at making

Min cuisine and made the mushroom taste like seafood.’

Yu Youyao forced herself to eat a few mouthfuls and really couldn’t eat anymore. “Actually, the Empress Dowager has never treated me badly for a long time. I only got to where I am today because of her protection. I just feel a little stifled.

Yin Huaixi also put down his chopsticks. “Yes, she’s someone you know. You usually don’t have much interaction. When you suddenly find out that she has pa.s.sed away, you can’t help but feel a little sad. It’s human nature.”

Initially, she felt quite complicated. After hearing Yin Huaixi’s simple and straightforward words, Yu Youyao did not feel so uncomfortable anymore.

“Now that the Empress Dowager has pa.s.sed away, I’m afraid the entire court will be completely in chaos.” Without the Empress Dowager to balance the court, the Great Zhou Dynasty would fall apart. It was already a foregone conclusion..