Crisis

Tian Qi did not know what important things her s.h.i.+fu has to discuss with her. In his life, what he deems most important might only be hooking up with different palace maids. These were her thoughts when she went looking for him.

Ding Zhi, with a serious face, told her “I"ve been thinking about this matter for a long time, but I find I can"t understand exactly what went wrong.”

Tian Qi thought his statement strange. “What happened?

“What did you do to anger the Empress Dowager?” Ding Zhi worriedly asked Tian Qi.

Tian Qi thought back to her being set up for Song ZhaoYi"s miscarriage. Although the Emperor absolved her of her sin, but the Empress Dowager will see her in an unfavourable light and not want her around her son.

Such things are unavoidable. She is only a small eunuch, so all her enemies have to do to smear her reputation is to say a few words here and there. The Empress Dowager doesn"t need to care whether the information is credible or not, she can simply order her death as setting an example.

Tian Qi shook her head. “It is too late to bother with what I did wrong. What is important is how the Empress Dowager plans to deal with me.”

Ding Zhi worriedly said “What can I do to help? I will try to keep an eye out for news from the Empress Dowager. I don"t think we can get out of this one. Tian Qi, whatever unfulfilled wishes you have, you tell your s.h.i.+fu and s.h.i.+fu will do it for you. This should allow you to leave in peace, with no unfinished business.” Saying so, he lifted his sleeves and rubbed his eyes.

“No, s.h.i.+fu, don"t cry just yet.” Tian Qi was a little helpless “It doesn"t necessarily mean things don"t have room for improvement.”

“How do you turn things around at this point? She is the Empress Dowager! Killing you is easier than killing ants.”

What Ding Zhi said made sense. However sweet Tian Qi"s mouth could be, it amounted to nothing in front of the Empress Dowager.

Tian Qi held her chin and thought for a while before saying “I work directly under the Emperor. It is impossible for the Empress Dowager to simply hang me for no good reason. If she wants to be rid of me, the first thing she"ll need to do is to take me off the front lines. Otherwise the Emperor might complain she doesn"t give him any face. The Empress Dowager is a smart and cautious woman, she will never do something so tasteless. So what she will do will be to tell the Emperor that she thinks highly of me and wants to transfer me to Ci Ning Palace. Filial piety will not allow the Emperor to refuse.”

“What I am saying is that I must stay in the Gan Qing Palace. I will have to find a way to drag things along until I understand what rumours have been fed to the Empress Dowager. Once I achieve that, I can then plan the course of actions. Even if, in the end, I will still die, at least I get to live one day extra.”

“You are making light of such serious matters. How will you drag things on?”

“I have my own way.”

“w.a.n.g Meng, give me some medicine that can make someone ill.” Going back to s.h.i.+ San Suo and seeing w.a.n.g Meng, Tian Qi asked him.

“What kind of illness?”

“Just something I can eat and then get an infectious disease.”

“En“, w.a.n.g Meng nodded. “Do you want the plague or the small pox? You want them to die from the illness or be better off dead?”

Tian Qi felt a cold chill running down her back. “…… Is there anything else?”

“There are plenty other options. But you tell me first: who do you want to target?”

“It"s for myself.”

w.a.n.g Meng was shocked. He looked at her from top to bottom and asked “You! What is going on?”

Tian Qi knocked him on the head “Don"t think of any nonsense. I only want it to look frightening without any actual danger to my health. I still want to live after being aflicted for a while.”

w.a.n.g Meng thought about it for a moment. “What about chickenpox?”

“What?”

“It"s fake, but it will look like you have chickenpox. It"s not a serious illness, you cannot die from it.”

Tian Qi found that w.a.n.g Meng looks as weak as a dry eggplant, but, when it comes to medicine, his eyes sparkle and he talks excitedly. He looks completely immersed in the subject. Because of this, Tian Qi fully trusts his medical skills. She patted his shoulder “This is perfect. This younger brother"s life is in your hands. “

“When do you need the medicine?”

“The sooner the better…”

w.a.n.g Meng and Tian Qi did not return to s.h.i.+ San Suo, but went ahead to An Le Tang.

An Le Tang was a place dedicated to the medical treatment of the internal (palace) officials. Since w.a.n.g Meng has decided to practice medicine, it is not enough for him to simply read books. He also has to get practical experience dealing with patients. Hence, he always comes to An Le Tang to help the physicians there with their duties. The conditions in this place are not very good, hence the physicians are more than happy to get a free helping hand. Seeing him come in with Tian Qi, no one asked him any questions.

w.a.n.g Meng gave Tian Qi a fake prescription for chickenpox. All the prescriptions released from An Le Tang are being kept in their files, so Tian Qi asked to write two prescriptions – one for her and one for himself – so that their little trick cannot be discovered.

The next day, Ji Heng didn"t catch a glimpse of Tian Qi all day. He couldn"t help but ask Sheng AnHuai of her whereabouts.

“To answer Your Majesty, Tian Qi had a fever so he went to the physicians. He was diagnosed with chickenpox and sent to the isolation room in An Le Tang.”

Ji Heng was suprised by the sudden news. How could he be fine one day, but suffer from chickenpox the next? “Look for a good physician to take care of him.”

After giving Sheng AnHuai his orders, Ji Heng decided to visit his mother, the Empress Dowager, in the Ci Ning Palace. RuYi has also gotten out of bed, just ate his breakfast, and was now sitting in the Empress Dowager"s arms, singing at the top of his lungs. The lyrics are made up, so no one else can understand what he"s singing about.

It is very rare to see his son talking, never mind singing, so Ji Heng was very happy and played with him.

After a while, the Empress Dowager put the little prince down and handed him to the palace maids. She started talking to the Emperor. “You seem to have a very hard working eunuch. AiJia met him a few times and had a good impression of him. In good spirits, helpful; the little prince seems to be particularly fond of him.”

Ji Heng asked her “Are you talking about Tian Qi?”

“Yes, yes, that should be his name. AiJia thinks it is rare for a child to meet a good tempered servant. It is better if we transfer him to Ci Ning Palace, so they can play all the time. What do you think?”

Ji Heng finds this turn of events very unusual. His mother never asked him for any of his people. Even if the child likes the servant, he can simply come to Gan Qing Palace and play. Their father and son relations.h.i.+p is very good, why would he have to transfer his people to Ci Ning Palace?

However, since his mother asked him, Ji Heng cannot refuse, so he simply said “Mother liking the servant, it is the servant"s blessing. Unfortunately, Tian Qi has been diagnosed with chickenpox and has been sent to the isolation room in An Le Tang. If he gets better and doesn"t get dismissed, I will send him over.”

“Chickenpox?” The Empress Dowager was unaware of this. “It"s a pity for such a good servant to be afflicted with such a disease. If you are unhappy, you can"t simply let him be.”The implication being that he should either kill him or send him away.

Ji Heng furrowed his eyebrows slightly, then relaxed them again. “What mother said makes sense, but chickenpox is not a serious disease. As long as he receives proper care, seeing that the disease was caught in time, he should easily recover. I think that I will let him live in An Le Tang for some time and then dismiss him if it becomes necessary.”

The Empress Dowager nodded “You are right. AiJia worries too much.”

Ji Heng added impatiently “Son knows mother has son in her heart.”

Ji Heng found things are getting weird. First, Tian Qi gets diagnosed with chickenpox and put into isolation. Right after that, his mother, the Empress Dowager, asks to transfer him to her palace. It"s impossible for this to be a pure coincidence. He immediately summoned Sheng AnHuai. “What is happening in Ci Ning Palace?”

Sheng AnHuai has already investigated the details. Being the supervisor of the eunuchs on the front line, he has already found out about it. Originally, he planned to stand on the side and let the events unfold. However, since the Empress Dowager requested to have Tian Qi transferred to her palace without letting the Emperor know the truth, he is now caught in the middle of these two powerful masters. Thinking about it again and again, he decided to come out clean. The Emperor is his master and it is where his loyalties should lie.

“To answer Your Majesty, this servant heard that yesterday, the Imperial Superintendent of the Stables had sent an eunuch to Ci Ning Palace to meet with the Empress Dowager. This eunuch"s s.h.i.+fu appears to have been one of the eunuchs under the late Shu fei. He told the Empress Dowager that Tian Qi is known by all the other palace"s servants as the ‘Harbinger of Doom".”

Ji Heng frowned “Nonsense.”

Sheng AnHuai was sceptical and tried to remind the Emperor “All his three previous masters have all died within one month of Tian Qi serving them.”

Ji Heng asked “If that is so, he has been serving zhen for more than a month. How come zhen is not dead?”

Sheng AnHuai was so scared he knelt with a thump. “Your Majesty is the Emperor of Great Qi, please do not say such things lightly.”

“Do you know the saying ‘Do not ask the ghosts to ask ghosts and G.o.ds"?” (PPS: I"m really not familiar with the saying so just kept the translated phrase as it is)

“This servant does not know.”

Ji Heng “………..”

Ji Heng felt that n.o.body could understand him and that made him lonely. The servants are stupid and he can"t be friends with the women in the harem. Sheng AnHuai is very hard working, but that is all it is. Tian Qi is clever , but he always manages to make him mad and wish to put him to death.

Thinking of Tian Qi, Ji Heng couldn"t help but laugh. This little pervert is really bold, wanting to interfere with his mother"s plan. It is also fortunate that he can hear the wind in advance and come up with such a trick. Otherwise, it would not have been possible for him to serve the emperor at the present. But now Ji Heng has to give face to his mother and transfer Tian Qi to Ci Ning Palace. Once that is done it will probably be his end.

Thinking of this, Ji Heng looked at Sheng AnHuai kneeling on the ground and said “Get up. Go to An Le Tang.”