The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

"Empress, the Fifth Prince is feverish again." Yun Rong rushed to speak.

The queen stood up quickly and a drop of ink dripped from the tip of the brush in her hand and fell on the table with a "plop".

Then Xie Yuzhen saw an expression of fatigue but no surprise on the queen's face - it seemed that the fifth prince's health was indeed extremely poor. He had seldom appeared in public since he was born. He was clearly the most promising son of the Empress, but he had not even had a third-year-old bath. The money allocated for the prince's birthday banquet was all used by the queen to support the elderly, the weak, the sick and the young, and to pray for him.

"Noble Concubine Zhao..." The Queen looked at Xie Yuzhen in embarrassment.

Xie Yuzhen immediately said, "Your Majesty, I will accompany you to visit the Fifth Prince."

Seeing her frank and determined expression, the queen could not say no and only nodded, and the group rushed towards the Fifth Prince's residence.

On the way, perhaps because she had a premonition of something, the queen's eyes were filled with fatigue and emptiness. Although she did not speak, she kept sighing unconsciously.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. When you were sick last time, Concubine Xu gave you medicine. I later asked someone to find it secretly. Maybe..." Xie Yuzhen's words were full of loopholes.

But the Queen didn't care, and knew she had no ill intentions, but...

The queen shook her head: "Medicine can cure diseases, but it can't cure life."

Hearing these words, Xie Yuzhen's memory suddenly became confused. She seemed to see the queen lying on the bed with her eyes closed, and the person who spoke was the imperial physician Lin, with a deep sense of powerlessness in his eyes.

She suddenly shook her head vigorously, shaking off this ominous scene from her mind: "My Lady, how do you know that you can't save him if you don't try?"

The fifth prince was born to the Empress Dowager and was the legitimate son according to etiquette. If he were alive, he would be the undisputed first heir to the throne. Although Xie Yuzhen had given up the idea of ​​becoming the Empress and was willing to be a concubine who "overshadowed" the Empress, she would never allow others to take away what originally belonged to her daughter.

Even if this "other person" is the son of the queen whom she admires and loves very much, it will not do.

The reason why Xie Yu wanted to save the fifth prince was only because he saw that the queen seemed tired of seeing all the things happening in and outside the palace, and had a suicidal intention in her heart. That was why he wanted the child to continue living so that he could serve as a rope to tie down his mother's will to live.

The Queen was of upright character and had great love for women. She had never doubted Concubine Deng, whom she trusted the most. After Concubine Deng's deeds were revealed, Xie Yu could really see that she had been angry and resentful, but this resentment did not take root in her heart. After her anger subsided, it turned into a heavy sense of self-blame that weighed on her heart.

She was already in poor health and had been poisoned. She also had to raise a child at this age, take care of all the affairs of the ladies in the court, and deal with the emperor who had a problem in his mind... Being a queen was really tiring for her.

Xie Yuzhen could only pray secretly that the queen had not yet become heartbroken to the extreme extent.

Pray that the life of the fifth prince can still bind her will to live through the shackles of maternal love.

Xie Yuzhen also knew that not all mothers in the world would naturally love the children they gave birth to, but the queen undoubtedly would.

After she gets through this disaster and saves her life, she can then slowly deal with the troubles of the Fifth Prince... In fact, the Fifth Prince is not too troublesome. Although he is the son of the Empress, he is too sickly, and the Emperor's mind is actually leaning towards Yuan Jun. The only thing they need to worry about if the Fifth Prince survives is the attitude of those supporters of etiquette and laws of the previous dynasty.

However...if Yuanjun wants to ascend the throne in the future, he will definitely have to fight against that group of guys. What difference does having a fifth prince make?

At worst, I can spare his life for the queen's sake and not ask him to give birth to an heir, but I have to do this quietly...

In a flash, Xie Yuzhen already had a plan in his mind on what to do if the fifth prince survived.

Arrived at the fifth prince’s residence.

The imperial physician who stayed in Kunning Palace was already inside.

Xie Yuzhen followed the queen in and was immediately surprised when he saw the little figure in the cradle.

The fifth prince was born to the queen two years ago. Logically, a two-year-old child should be as tall as an adult's calf, be able to talk and learn to walk, and the smarter ones have already begun to show their cleverness to adults.

But the fifth prince...still looks like a baby.

And it was a skinny, pale baby.

At first glance, it looks like a skinny monkey with its hair removed.

He curled up in the cradle, his chest rising and falling barely visible, his lips and surrounding skin were cracked, but the blood had stopped flowing.

The Queen's expression was very calm, or rather, it was the kind of calm despair that came from someone who had already cried and been hurt: "He wasn't well taken care of in the womb, and I've always had a very weak body. I had spotting several times, and I had to give birth to him after only eight months..."

She slowly closed her eyes and let out a long sigh: "Since he was born, the four wet nurses and I have all taken medicine, mixed the medicine into the milk, and fed him carefully, but he still suffered from various diseases and never grew up."

"When I was at home, my mother and my mother told me about the brothers and sisters who died young. They were all like this. Their pregnancies were unstable, and even if they were born, they might not survive. Even if they survived by chance, they would not grow up."

The queen opened her eyes and looked at Xie Yuzhen: "After he was born, your mother and your majesty asked the imperial doctors to spend all their efforts to keep him alive. He has hardly been awake for a single day, and his brain has long been burned out. Until now, he has never seen anyone except his wet nurse and the imperial doctors. He can't even step out of this small bedroom to see how vast the world is, the birds singing and the flowers blooming, and the scenery of the four seasons..."

The voice choked for a moment, and the queen sighed as if nothing had happened: "He can't speak yet. I once suspected that he was dumb, but in the past, when his health was not so bad, he could be heard crying when he was in pain..."

Dead silence.

This was the only thing Xie Ruizhen heard from the Queen's seemingly calm words.

She stepped forward and held the queen's hands: "That's why we should let the fifth prince try this medicine. What if it works?"

The miraculous medicine system in his mind quickly searched for the right medicine. It used the energy that had just been replenished to repair the system slightly, then actively scanned the fifth prince, and told Xie Yuzhen that this child had a congenital genetic defect and was destined not to live long.

But Xie Yuzhen didn't actually need the Fifth Prince to live too long. What she needed was for the Fifth Prince to survive this time so that she could slowly enlighten the Queen and let her recuperate her body and mind, and save her from the successive blows of the past few days and the fatigue accumulated over the years.

"It won't be better if he lives." The queen slowly shook her head and looked at Xie Yuzhen with a relieved smile. "Even if he survives, he will be a foolish child who will never grow up. It is better to let him go back... quietly and cleanly... before he realizes how bad this world is to him."

Xie Yuzhen felt the hands in his palms tremble for a moment, and then he heard the queen lower her voice again: "You and Concubine Xu may have had an adventure, so listen to me, don't show this adventure to others easily. We are not living comfortably enough. If we have such an adventure but don't have the corresponding force to protect ourselves, it will only become a lifelong shackle, and also a sword that takes our lives!"