Rebirth: Marry a General instead of a Prince

After the interlude, the banquet continued.

Although Bai Zhiyuan was sitting in the women's seat, she also noticed Emperor Renxiao's fatigue.

Soon, a man dressed as a Taoist priest came in. He had white hair and beard and a look of immortality. He whispered a few words in Emperor Renxiao's ear, and the emperor immediately laughed heartily. Then, the Taoist priest took out an exquisite porcelain bottle from his sleeve and poured out a few pills.

When Emperor Renxiao saw this, he swallowed the pills without any doubt. It seemed that this Taoist priest was very trusted by Emperor Renxiao.

Bai Zhiyuan took a sip of tea and thought to himself, "It's finally here."

In her previous life, she was already the Princess of Yan and had met this Taoist priest.

This Taoist priest, named Yuan Chi, was a hermit master that Qi Zeyi had gone to great lengths to find. It was said that he could know the past and the future. He became famous in the capital for a while, and often helped wealthy families to pray for blessings and exorcise evil spirits. His work was extremely effective. He also understood medicine and was good at refining herbs. It was said that those who took his medicine would be able to prolong their lifespan and stay young forever.

But Bai Zhiyuan knew that he was not a hermit at all, but just a swindler. But Yuan Chi was indeed smart, and he had been cheating for so many years without being discovered, and instead became famous in Shangjing.

In his previous life, Qi Ze wanted to recruit this man to serve him. When he sent people to investigate Yuan Chi, he discovered a big secret of his. Yuan Chi had a little boy with him. He took him with him wherever he went for many years and claimed that he was his apprentice. In fact, this little boy was the one who had an affair with the young lady of a wealthy family when Yuan Chi was cheating. Soon the young lady became pregnant, but she refused to reveal who the father of the child was until the young lady died of dystocia. His family wanted to abandon the child, so the Taoist priest who pretended to be compassionate offered to take him in as his apprentice. The family was naturally happy to see this happen, but they didn't know that the child was actually the Taoist priest's son.

When Qi Zeyi knew about this in his previous life, he used this matter to threaten Yuan Chi and took advantage of Yuan Chi's weakness to use him for his own purposes.

But Yuan Chi was secretly the man of Qi Zeyi, the Prince of Yan, but on the surface he was brought into the palace by the Prince of Chen. Qi Zeyi threatened him with his scandal and asked him to pretend to surrender to the Prince of Chen. Because the Prince of Yan heard that the Prince of Chen wanted to take him in and send him to the palace and to the emperor one day.

When Qi Zeyi heard this, he immediately asked Yuan Chi to pretend to surrender to the King of Chen. Yuan Chi had indeed been a swindler for many years and was a talented person. Soon, under the arrangement of the King of Chen, he entered the palace, gained the trust of the emperor, and even became the imperial teacher. The emperor became increasingly dependent on him and had to take the elixir he made every night to fall asleep. It can be said that he could not live without Yuan Chi for a day.

Of course, this is what Qi Ze would like to see happen, and it is also his usual method. Wasn't Sun Xuran the same when he was in Youzhou?

The poor Prince Chen was still complacent, thinking that he had successfully placed this confidant in front of the Emperor and that he was now deeply loved and respected by the Emperor. However, he did not know that he had been making wedding dresses for others all along.

Bai Zhiyuan silently watched everything in front of her. This life was still the same routine. She took in the expressions of Prince Chen and Prince Yan sitting opposite her.

As expected, Prince Yan would soon take action to get rid of Prince Chen. Ever since the incident with Jiang Muyun, Prince Yan had lost the emperor's favor, who first put him under house arrest and then distanced him from him. Based on her understanding of Qi Zeyi, he would definitely want to use this incident to regain the emperor's favor and annihilate Prince Chen in one fell swoop. Why not?

However, Bai Zhiyuan did not intend to take action. It was just a dog-eat-dog fight. She just needed to be a quiet spectator. After all, the Prince of Chen was not a talent for being an emperor, and he had done all kinds of bad things in private for so many years. How could such a person become the king of a country?

Bai Zhiyuan reminded Su Qingxue earlier simply because he didn't want her to get involved in this mess.

Bai Zhiyuan curled his lips slightly, fearing that there would be a good show soon.

After eating and drinking, it was getting late, so Emperor Renxiao ended the celebration banquet.

Everyone stood up, bowed and left.

Emperor Renxiao also stood up slowly. He had drunk a few glasses of wine today, and with the help of the eunuchs, he also went to the bedroom.

Just as Emperor Renxiao had taken a few steps and had not yet left the hall, he stumbled and fell to the ground in full view of everyone. Amid the panicked cries of the concubines and the frantic support of the eunuchs, Emperor Renxiao managed to stand up.

After the fall, he woke up.

Bai Zhiyuan stood in the crowd and thought to himself, "The show is about to begin."

Prince Yan hurried forward, supported Emperor Renxiao and said, "Father, what's going on? Father has always been a good drinker, how come you can't stand steadily after just a few drinks?"

The ministers below were in an uproar. Emperor Renxiao was not old, but his health had been deteriorating in recent days.

Someone in the crowd shouted, "Could it be that the Imperial Master gave His Majesty something that made His Majesty's health worse?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's eyes were fixed on Yuan Chi, who was standing aside with his hands clasped together.

Yuan Chi looked calm on the surface, but in fact he was already sweating profusely. However, everything today was arranged by someone, and as long as he followed that person's wishes, he would be able to escape unscathed.

Thinking of this, Yuan Chi stepped forward and said, "Amitabha, I have been doing my best to take care of your Majesty's health. What I gave you just now was just a pill that I carefully prepared to prolong your life."

Some of the ministers below were unconvinced. One said, "Your Majesty has always been careful with his diet, but he swallowed it without verifying it just now. What if the Imperial Master has ill intentions?"

Emperor Renxiao was shocked to realize that he did feel much better after taking the pills given by Yuanchi these days, but was he trusting a Taoist priest too much? If the Taoist priest wanted to harm him, wouldn't it be easy?

Emperor Renxiao couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. He was an emperor, and he was always suspicious. Now that he had doubts, his eyes darkened and he shouted, "Where is Cheng Yuanheng?"

Doctor Cheng came over in response, and Emperor Renxiao said, "Go check if there is any problem with the Imperial Master's medicine?"

Emperor Renxiao did not trust Yuan Chi from the beginning. It was just that Yuan Chi had been swindling people for many years and had rich experience in fraud, so even the emperor began to trust him over time.

At the beginning, Yuan Chi's medicine had to go through the Imperial Medical Bureau before it could reach Emperor Renxiao, but as time went on, Emperor Renxiao discovered that Yuan Chi's medicine had miraculous effects, so he allowed him to serve him closely.

Cheng Yuanheng stepped forward, picked up a pill with his fingers, put it to the tip of his nose to smell it, then crushed it and put it on the tip of his tongue to taste it.

Soon, his face changed drastically, and he said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, this medicine looks like a tonic for strengthening the body, but if consumed for a long time, it will cause the blood and qi to flow backwards, hollowing out the body, and slowly making it impossible to get up again."

The whole audience was shocked when these words came out. Even Emperor Renxiao was stunned for a moment.

Soon, Emperor Renxiao reacted and suppressed his anger and said, "Are you serious?"

Cheng Yuanheng said, "Your Majesty, I have been practicing medicine in the palace for generations. How dare I deceive the emperor? If Your Majesty still has doubts, why not call Shen Yuanshi and all the doctors in the Imperial Hospital to check it out."

Emperor Renxiao looked at Yuan Chi with sinister eyes. Yuan Chi's back was already soaked with cold sweat. He wanted to look up at Prince Yan, but he didn't dare.

On the other side, Prince Chen was even more panicked. After all, it was he who brought Yuan Chi to the palace and to the Emperor.

Many doctors from the Imperial Medical Bureau came forward to examine the pills, and their conclusions were exactly the same as Cheng Yuanheng's.

Emperor Renxiao was furious, and pointed at Yuan Chi with a trembling finger, saying, "Drag this traitorous bastard away and execute him immediately. He even dared to murder me, so he deserves no death."

Prince Yan said at the right time: "Father, calm down. This little Taoist priest would not dare to attack you even if he had ten times the courage. I am afraid there is another conspiracy behind this matter."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Renxiao turned his gaze to Prince Chen, pointed at him and said, "Rebellious son, it was you who brought this evil monk to me, saying that he was highly respected and had great medical skills. Did you want to use him to harm me?"

Prince Chen's childhood was not smooth sailing, but he had always been favored by the emperor. In addition, he had his mother, Concubine Shu, and his maternal grandfather, the Zhao family, behind him, so he had never been questioned so harshly by the emperor since he was a child.

He was a little panicked for a moment, and knelt down hurriedly, saying: "Father, you are wise, I don't know anything. I sent that Taoist priest, but didn't you trust him at the beginning? There must be someone who wants to use him to harm me. Father, why would I want to harm you?"

It would have been better if he hadn't said this. Once he said this, Emperor Renxiao became even more angry. He picked up the wine glass at hand and threw it straight at Prince Chen. Prince Chen didn't dare to dodge and took the glass head-on. The wine glass hit his head and blood gushed out immediately.

Concubine Shu had never seen such a scene before, and was also frightened. She quickly knelt down and begged, "Your Majesty, Xu'er is your biological son. You know what kind of person he is best. He has always been timid. How dare he attack Your Majesty?"

Prince Chen's maternal grandfather, Taifu Zhao Shouxin, and his uncle, Supervisory Censor Zhao Huaichuan, also came out to plead for Prince Chen, and kept saying, "Prince Chen is innocent."

Bai Zhiyuan shook his head imperceptibly. It was likely that Prince Chen would not be able to escape this time. Right now, Emperor Renxiao was furious, and people kept pleading for him. It was hard not for Emperor Renxiao to think that his son was willing to take action against him because of the fight for the throne.