amaotonovel Chapter 642
Chapter 642
Chapter 642
In April, Huo Jinghuai, the seventh prince of Western Qi, was named crown prince and entered the Eastern Palace.
At the same time, Huo Tingsheng also made Consort Qi, the birth mother of another young prince in the harem, empress, in order to maintain a balance of power.
Huo Tingsheng reluctantly appointed him as crown prince, but by this time, "Huo Jinghuai" already had a high reputation and popularity in the Western Qi court.
The investiture ceremony was extremely grand and solemn, no less so than Huo Sizhen's previous investiture. After Huo Jinghuai moved to the East Palace, the palace was bustling with visitors for quite some time.
Shen Lingjun was also made Crown Princess, Xue Qian became Crown Prince's concubine, and the two fake concubines became Crown Prince's concubines.
Not long after Huo Jinghuai was named Crown Prince, Huo Tingsheng issued an imperial edict declaring that the Empress Dowager was seriously ill and demanding that Shen Lingjun, as the Crown Princess, enter the palace to attend to her and sincerely copy Buddhist scriptures to pray for her well-being.
Empress Dowager Xiqi was not Huo Tingsheng's biological mother. She was in poor health and had been sickly for the past few years.
The Imperial Medical Academy is taking meticulous care of him, administering the most expensive medicinal herbs year after year. He is currently in a relatively stable condition, and it is unlikely to get better or worse within the next three to five years.
This meant that Shen Lingjun was sent to the palace to attend to the sick, and it was clear that she wouldn't be able to come out anytime soon.
Huo Tingsheng's intention was very clear: seeing that the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince had a very close relationship, he found an excuse to call Shen Lingjun into the palace, in order to keep her as a hostage in the palace and make "Huo Jinghuai" more wary.
It's the same old method, but generally speaking, it's quite effective.
Upon receiving the imperial edict, Mo Chonggui immediately summoned his men and gave them instructions.
"Kill the Empress Dowager today."
Shen Lingjun quickly stopped him: "How is that possible? That's the Empress Dowager, the person whose status in the entire palace is second only to Huo Tingsheng. How could she be killed just like that in a day? Even the assassins of 'Naihe' don't have that ability."
Mo Chonggui: "Even if we can't kill her, we have to. As long as she dies, you won't have to go to the palace."
Shen Lingjun shook his head: "That's only temporary. Huo Tingsheng is trying every means to control you. If this reason doesn't work, he'll definitely find another one. There's no need to take such a risk. If the assassination fails, it will only cause more trouble."
Mo Zhonggui frowned and said, "Then I can't let you really enter the palace. It's too dangerous. It's a death trap for you. You might not even come out alive."
Shen Lingjun comforted him, "It's alright. I'm not so easy to kill. Besides, Huo Tingsheng probably won't turn against you anytime soon, so he won't do anything to me. With me in the palace, he'll be more relaxed and at ease, which is more advantageous for you."
Mo Zhonggui still disagreed, but Shen Lingjun ignored him.
"Alright, that's settled. I'll go into the palace first, and I'll figure out how to get out later."
The next day, Shen Lingjun took Hong Qing and Dou Niang into the palace.
Huo Tingsheng arranged for her to stay in the Empress Dowager's Cixi Palace.
Perhaps because the Empress Dowager had been ill for many years, the entire Cixi Palace had a faint medicinal smell, as if everything here had been pickled.
Shen Lingjun went to see the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager looked like an elderly woman who had been ill for many years but was well cared for. Her hair was gray, her face was full of wrinkles, and she was a little senile, but her spirits were still good, and she was quite amiable. She held Shen Lingjun's hand and asked her all sorts of questions.
She couldn't understand why the current crown prince was the former seventh prince, "Huo Jinghuai." She had told her this a few times, but she would forget it as soon as she turned her head. She didn't really care which prince's principal wife Shen Lingjun was. She just kept rambling on to her.
Shen Lingjun took the opportunity to secretly examine the Empress Dowager's pulse and discovered that the illness that had plagued her for so many years could actually be cured.
She couldn't do anything about Alzheimer's, but the Empress Dowager's health could still improve, and living a few more years wouldn't be a problem.
Although she was sent to the palace to attend to the sick, the Empress Dowager didn't actually need Shen Lingjun to serve her.
A female official sent by Huo Jinghuai immediately took Shen Lingjun to a side hall and arranged for her to copy Buddhist scriptures to pray for the Empress Dowager.
The side hall was empty, with nothing but a table and a chair.
The female official had someone bring over a dozen scrolls of scriptures and said to Shen Lingjun expressionlessly, "Your Highness, these are all for you to copy. You have three days to finish copying them, and then we will send you the second batch."
Shen Lingjun knew that Huo Tingsheng was making things difficult for her, but she didn't say anything.
Knowing that she would have to copy Buddhist scriptures before entering the palace, she sent people out to search for all the Buddhist scriptures in Xiqi before she even entered the palace. She bought several copies of each and stored them in her spatial storage.
Now, all she has to do is pick out the corresponding Buddhist scripture, and that's it. She won't copy a single word herself; she hates Buddhist scriptures the most.
The female official left, and Shen Lingjun spent half a day idly in this side hall. When it was time for dinner, no one brought in a drop of water or a grain of rice.
Shen Lingjun went out to ask, and the female official came in. She glanced at the two Buddhist scriptures that Shen Lingjun had already copied, and then picked out two thicker ones for her.
He said coldly, "You still need to finish copying these two volumes today before you can have a meal and rest."
Shen Lingjun raised an eyebrow slightly. After the female official left, he took out the food he had prepared in advance from his spatial storage and ate and drank as he pleased.
She didn't enter the palace intending to suffer any injustice.
It wasn't until late at night, around 7 PM, that the female official came in again. Seeing that Shen Lingjun had perfectly copied all four scriptures without any mistakes, she allowed her to leave the side hall so she could attend to the Empress Dowager who was about to retire for the night.
When Shen Lingjun arrived at the Empress Dowager's room, her medicine had just been delivered—a large, dark bowl.
Shen Lingjun quickly stepped forward: "This concubine will feed the Empress Dowager her medicine."
When she took the medicine bowl, she took out a few pills from her spatial storage and added them into the large bowl of medicinal soup without anyone noticing.