Imperial Husband Chapter 27

Chapter 27

"Your Highness... Your Highness..." Ping'an, unable to enter the ancestral hall, could only glare angrily at the mansion guards blocking him and said, "Don't you know His Highness's health is poor? How can you treat His Highness like this? If something really happens to His Highness, can you bear the responsibility?"

At this moment, Ping'an was like an ant on a hot pan, wanting to rescue Li Jin from the ancestral hall but powerless to do so. Ping'an simply could not understand why, in the short time he went to the pharmacy to fetch medicine, Li Jin had been punished to kneel in the ancestral hall.

One of the mansion guards seemed to be on quite good terms with Ping'an and offered a reminder, "Ping'an, this is the Dowager Lady's order, we have no choice but to obey, please don't make things difficult for us."

"Zhou Yunting, I'll ask you one more time, will you let His Highness out or not?" Ping'an, red-eyed, stared fixedly at the mansion guard named Zhou Yunting.

"I cannot obey."

Zhou Yunting shook his head expressionlessly, inwardly sighing.

This time, Ping'an will probably be mad at me for a long time again.

Ping'an flared up, "You..."

Li Jin suddenly spoke, interrupting Ping'an, "Ping'an, don't make things difficult for Guard Zhou. This is Grandmother's decision. It's only one night, I will be fine."

"But Your Highness, your health cannot withstand such hardship."

"Ping'an, go back for now."

"Your Highness..."

"You won't listen to me anymore?"

"That's not it..."

"If it's not, then go back. I will return tomorrow morning."

"Yes..."

Ping'an heard that Li Jin's mind was made up and reluctantly agreed.

Zhou Yunting stepped forward and patted Ping'an's shoulder, comforting him, "Ping'an, don't worry too much. After all, the Dowager Lady is His Highness's grandmother, she won't go too far against His Highness."

Slap.

Ping'an swatted away Zhou Yunting's hand and glared at him, "I don't need your fake concern."

What does he mean, 'won't go too far'? She simply wants to kill His Highness.

Ping'an couldn't help but mutter to himself.

If Wei Rong truly regarded Li Jin as her own grandson, why would she repeatedly cause trouble? Ping'an hadn't forgotten how, even when Gu Rulan was still alive, Wei Rong always spoke ill of Gu Rulan behind her back, even bluntly calling Li Jin a pampered good-for-nothing.

"Ping'an..."

"Get away. From today on, we are no longer friends."

"..."

Inside the ancestral hall.

Li Jin was kneeling on the ground, his eyes fixed motionlessly on the Buddha statue ahead.

Wei Rong had intended to teach Li Jin a severe lesson. Before Li Jin arrived, the servants had already taken away all the kneeling cushions from the floor, forcing Li Jin to kneel directly on the cold, hard ground.

Li Jin didn't have much objection to this and truly knelt there without a word for the entire night.

The next day, as soon as the time was up, Ping'an rushed into the ancestral hall to take Li Jin out. "Your Highness, you... Your Highness? Your Highness? Someone, come quickly! His Highness has fainted! Come quickly..."

Looking from Ping'an's perspective, Li Jin was already lying on the ground, his face deathly pale.

"Ping'an, you watch His Highness, I'll go get the physician." Zhou Yunting, seeing that Ping'an was distraught, immediately took calm charge and instructed Ping'an on what to do.

Right, right, we need to find a physician.

Hearing this, Ping'an seemed to find a pillar of support and said, "Then hurry up."

"Okay."

Zhou Yunting nodded and quickly ran out.

For a time.

As Li Jin's condition grew more critical, the entire Prince of Dingbei's mansion was thrown into turmoil. The commotion even reached and disturbed Gu Rushuang. Wei Shiwan, who always knew how to act appropriately, was immediately informed of the situation by her spies. She promptly went to Li Jin's quarters, feigning deep concern as she inquired about his health.

Meanwhile, Wei Rong, the instigator, was pacing back and forth anxiously, tightly clutching a teacup, too afraid to go see Li Jin. "Damn it, is he really that useless? He couldn't even last one night."

The mansion steward, Lin Zhong, suddenly knocked lightly on Wei Rong's door. "Dowager Lady, an edict has arrived from the palace... His Majesty the Empress wishes to see you."

"What..." 

Clatter.

The teacup in Wei Rong's hand fell to the floor, shattering into several pieces.

The Empress? Why would the Empress suddenly want to summon me? Could it be... could it be about him...

"Dowager Lady?"

Wei Rong made a last, desperate attempt. "Lin Zhong, did the Empress summon anyone else besides me?"

"No." Lin Zhong shook his head. "The eunuch from the palace said His Majesty only invited you to come. The carriage is already prepared and waiting for you to come out."

"..."

"Dowager Lady?"

"I understand. Tell them to wait for me to change my clothes." Knowing she couldn't avoid it, Wei Rong had no choice but to brace herself and get on the carriage, her heart filled with endless regret.

If she had known it would come to this, she should have listened to Wei Shiwan's advice.

____

Wei Shiwan asked with concern, "Imperial Physician Wang, when will His Highness wake up?"

Ping'an watched Imperial Physician Wang, who was diagnosing Li Jin, his heart full of anxiety.

Initially, Zhou Yunting had found the physician in the capital with the best medical skills, but he was utterly useless. He even said something about Li Jin being poisoned and probably not pulling through, which nearly scared Ping'an to death.

Later, when the Empress found out about Li Jin's situation, he immediately sent Imperial Physician Wang, who had treated Li Jin before.

Imperial Physician Wang released Li Jin's wrist from the examination and looked at Wei Shiwan. "His Highness is simply suffering from severe physical depletion. More rest and some warm, nourishing medicine will suffice. However, it would be best to use kneeling as punishment less frequently in the future. His Highness was lucky this time. If he had knelt for any longer, His Highness would have..."

Imperial Physician Wang did not finish his sentence, but the implicit meaning was very clear.

Wei Shiwan nodded solemnly. "Yes, This Consort will be more careful in the future."

Imperial Physician Wang stood up and cupped his hands. "This official will go write a new prescription now. I must trouble the Princess Consort."

"Xiao Tao, take Imperial Physician Wang to write the prescription."

"Yes."

Xiao Tao nodded and led Imperial Physician Wang away.

Not long after Imperial Physician Wang left, Li Jin, who had been unconscious for most of the day, finally woke up, asking in confusion, "I should be in the ancestral hall... how did I return to my courtyard..."

"Your Highness, you're awake?"

Seeing Li Jin awake, Ping'an was overjoyed and moved to tears.

Wei Shiwan also stepped closer, pretending to be worried. "Jin'er, are you feeling better? If you feel unwell, you must tell me."

"Much better, thank you for your concern, Successor Princess Consort."

Li Jin responded indifferently.

"That's good, that's good..." Wei Shiwan deliberately ignored the coldness in Li Jin's eyes and said gently, "Jin'er, you rest well. There are matters in the mansion I must attend to, I will come see you again when I have time."

"Yes."

Li Jin nodded, leaning against the head of the bed as he watched Wei Shiwan leave.

"Your Highness, you should lie down and rest." Seeing that Wei Shiwan had left, Ping'an hurried forward to have Li Jin lie down.

"I am much better already."

"No, Imperial Physician Wang just said you need proper rest."

"Alright, alright, I will rest properly."

Li Jin compromised, slowly closing his eyes to feign sleep.

That Imperial Physician Wang is not simple.

Li Jin thought to himself about what Imperial Physician Wang had said earlier.

Although he spoke convincingly, his words were actually just to fool Ping'an. As for the physician before, he did have some skill, having identified his ailment.

Li Jin had long anticipated that things would turn out this way.

Before going to the palace yesterday, based on his experience from his previous life, Li Jin knew that Wei Rong would make trouble for him. So he might as well go all the way and staged a scheme of inflicting injury on himself, taking poison secretly provided by Zhou Xiaoru to both thwart Wei Rong and reveal that he had been poisoned again. He hadn't expected Imperial Physician Wang to become a variable in this.

Never mind. Knowing that Imperial Physician Wang is someone else's agent is still a gain.

Although the plan was only half successful, Li Jin was not annoyed. Instead, in good spirits, he fell asleep.