As Chu Yulan (Xiao Wenqiang) walked out of the inner room, she saw Situ Chuanqiong sitting on the ground, clutching his bloodied chest, his eyes wide with fury as he stared ahead. Leng Yuanxiang, who had previously appeared as a frail damsel, was now advancing with a dagger, her eyes bloodshot.
Chu Yulan (Xiao Wenqiang) knew her plan had succeeded and quickly cried out, "Stop!" before rushing forward.
Hearing the commotion, Leng Yuanxiang turned in alarm and saw Empress Chu Yulan. Thinking that killing one was the same as killing two, she turned her dagger towards Chu Yulan.
However, Chu Yulan (Xiao Wenqiang) was no ordinary delicate woman, and Leng Yuanxiang's petty tricks were no match for her. With swift movements, she knocked the dagger away, then struck Leng Yuanxiang with her left palm, sending her flying to the ground.
As soon as Chu Yulan (Xiao Wenqiang) dealt with Leng Yuanxiang, she put on a worried expression and rushed to Situ Chuanqiong's side, helping him up and beginning her act. Her hands trembled as she touched the edge of his bloodied chest, crying out, "Your Majesty, are you alright? Please hold on, I'll summon the imperial physicians immediately!"
Situ Chuanqiong was deeply moved. At the critical moment, it was this woman, the one he had wronged the most, who showed him the most kindness.
Unlike the heartless Leng Yuanxiang, who not only forgot his past kindness but also tried to kill him, this was truly outrageous!
Situ Chuanqiong patted the Empress's hand reassuringly and replied weakly, "I'm fine, Lan'er. Don't cry."
It turned out that Chu Yulan (Xiao Wenqiang), having immersed herself too deeply in her role, had even shed tears. Truly worthy of being a former film empress.
However, as Situ Chuanqiong had subtly instructed Wang You to dismiss everyone earlier, no guards had yet arrived upon hearing the commotion.
Seeing that no one had come for so long, Chu Yulan (Xiao Wenqiang) gently helped the Emperor sit on a chair, then rose and went to open the door to call for help. As she ran, she shouted, "Wang You, Consort Leng has assassinated His Majesty. Quickly summon the imperial physicians..."
Soon, hurried footsteps and Wang You's voice could be heard from a distance. Chu Yulan (Xiao Wenqiang) was the first to return to the hall to attend to Situ Chuanqiong.
To her surprise, as soon as she opened the door, she found Situ Chuanqiong slumped weakly by the table. Leng Yuanxiang, inexplicably, had retrieved the dagger and was stealthily approaching the Emperor.
"Your Majesty, be careful!" Chu Yulan (Xiao Wenqiang) called out.
Situ Chuanqiong turned at the sound but was too slow and lacked the strength to dodge. His chest had lost too much blood, leaving him without any power to resist. "Am I going to die here?"
At this critical juncture, Situ Chuanqiong saw a figure block in front of him. As the sharp blade tore through his clothes and pierced flesh, he finally saw the person who had taken the blow for him – it was still his Empress, Chu Yulan!
Chu Yulan (Xiao Wenqiang) first took the dagger for Situ Chuanqiong, then struck Leng Yuanxiang away. This time, she showed no mercy. Leng Yuanxiang flew backward, knocking over a vase stand, before finally hitting the wall and slowly sliding to the ground.
Before Situ Chuanqiong could process the sudden surge of heartache and emptiness within him, his eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness.
Fortunately, the Imperial Guards and imperial physicians arrived simultaneously.
Upon receiving the news, Situ Zixian also rushed back from outside the palace. Seeing his Emperor brother and Empress sister both unconscious, his eyes turned red.
More than an hour later.
Situ Chuanqiong woke up to find that Leng Yuanxiang was dead. He was still furious, not only ordering her body to be thrown to the wilderness to be fed to wild dogs but also issuing a decree to arrest the entire Leng family.
Upon receiving the news, the Right Prime Minister Leng Guang first disbelieved, then ordered his household staff to fight with the arriving guards. However, their resistance was futile. In the end, some were killed, and others were arrested. From top to bottom, they were all locked up, awaiting the Emperor's final judgment.
Situ Zixian then received orders to deal with the Left Prime Minister Qin Feng's harboring of private soldiers and intention to rebel. Qin Feng's direct descendants were mostly beheaded, and collateral relatives were disassociated from the family, losing their former glory. Only Qin Mingzhu, among the direct descendants, was spared her life, but she was stripped of her title as a noble consort and sent to a nunnery.
With the powerful Left and Right Prime Ministers suddenly dealt with, officials who had close ties to them were all in a state of panic, fearing the Emperor would turn his attention to them.
The reason for Situ Chuanqiong and Situ Zixian's swift and decisive rectification of the court during this period was the Empress Chu Yulan's prolonged unconsciousness.
"It's been almost five days, why hasn't the Empress woken up yet? What are the imperial physicians doing?" Situ Chuanqiong asked weakly, leaning on a couch and coughing.
"Replying to Your Majesty, the Empress's wound was directly to the heart and vital organ, indeed quite dangerous," replied the elder imperial physician, Zhang, trembling. "However, logically, the external wound is gradually recovering. We imperial physicians truly cannot find the specific reason why Her Majesty remains unconscious."
"All useless!" Situ Chuanqiong cursed, then began to cough incessantly. Since being wounded by Leng Yuanxiang, his health had not been the same.
Another, younger imperial physician, Zhou, while taking her pulse, hesitated to speak. Situ Zixian saw this and quickly asked, "Imperial Physician Zhou, do you have any other insights?"
Seeing everyone looking at him, Imperial Physician Zhou made up his mind and said, "The Empress's external wound to the chest is indeed healing. However, I can feel that Her Majesty's qi is very weak, as if she has other internal injuries. But we..."
Because the Empress was a woman, it was inconvenient for the imperial physicians to perform a direct physical examination, so they only treated the obvious external chest wound. Furthermore, the specific tasks of bandaging and applying medicine were carried out by female physicians. Therefore, the Empress's physical condition had not been thoroughly examined until now.
Situ Chuanqiong naturally understood Imperial Physician Zhou's meaning. After thinking for a moment, he finally lowered his pride and said, "It is said that healers do not distinguish between genders. Hurry up and examine the Empress thoroughly!"
Thus, the imperial physicians and female physicians worked together to directly examine her pulse. They eventually discovered that besides the chest wound, the Empress had seven or eight other wounds of varying sizes all over her body. The most severe was a subtle lump on the back of her right temple. It was unknown when she had hit it.
Situ Zixian then remembered and said to his Emperor brother, "It must have been when we were attacking the State of Pengxi. Once, His Majesty the Empress accidentally fell from her horse after being ambushed by an enemy general, and hit her head. But she stood up quickly and continued to fight. I thought it was nothing serious..."
Situ Zixian regretted not having a military physician examine her carefully at the time. Moreover, since he had been secretly following the Empress, other soldiers were unaware of his presence, so he did not insist further.
However, this was all their overthinking. The reason why Chu Yulan (Xiao Wenqiang) remained unconscious was not because of this at all!