Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 57: Fury

Of course Wei Yingluo hadn’t actually gone to the trouble of personally gathering aloe juice.

The “aloe juice” had actually been obtained from Ye Tianshi.

Since it had proven effective, she went back to ask for another portion—and, while she was there, to inquire about the matter she truly cared about.

“Physician Ye, following your instructions and regularly taking the Fifth Prince out to sunbathe, not only has his jaundice completely faded, but he’s now plump, fair, and utterly adorable!” she said. “Is there anything else we should pay attention to going forward?”

“Nothing more. Just make sure he eats well and sleeps well, and he’ll grow up healthy and steady.” Ye Tianshi smiled. “By the way—you only seem concerned about the Fifth Prince. Aren’t you worried about His Majesty’s condition at all?”

“Who cares about him?” Wei Yingluo plastered a smile on her face. “Of course we care. Physician Ye, when will His Majesty finally recover fully?”

“His Majesty’s scabies could have healed in a month, but now it has been dragged on for so long…” Ye Tianshi hesitated, as if unsure whether to continue. “After reviewing the medical records the imperial physicians prepared for His Majesty, I have some differing opinions.”

“Oh?” Wei Yingluo’s heart stirred. “Physician Ye, what do you mean?”

“His Majesty’s scabies may not have been transmitted by infection from another person, but rather…” Ye Tianshi beckoned her closer, then leaned down slightly and whispered a few words into her ear.

The more Wei Yingluo listened, the more shocked she became. “This…”

“Well?” Ye Tianshi straightened up again. “Yingluo, if you are unwilling, I naturally won’t force the matter. This is inherently risky—one misstep, and heads will roll…”

Wei Yingluo guessed he hadn’t come to her alone. He must have approached others first, and they had all flatly refused. So after searching high and low, he had settled on her—a mere low-ranking palace maid.

“…But if it succeeds, it will be a great accomplishment,” Ye Tianshi said with a smile. “The primary credit would naturally go to you, young lady. I would at most take a small share of the reward.”

Yet all the risk would fall on Wei Yingluo alone. If it succeeded, fine—but if it failed, she would be the only one to bear the punishment.

Still, when she thought of Hongli’s sarcastic and venomous face, and of the Empress growing thinner day by day from praying for him every night, Wei Yingluo smiled.

“There is no good thing in this world that comes without any risk… I’ll do it.”

Time passed like a white colt flashing past a gap—several days went by in the blink of an eye.

Inside Yangxin Hall, chaos reigned. Hongli tore at his clothing, his fingernails raking across his flesh, leaving behind long, shocking scratch marks.

“Your Majesty, you mustn’t scratch! You really cannot touch them anymore!” Li Yu was sweating anxiously at the side. “The scabs that have already formed will all tear open again!”

“Where is Wei Yingluo?” Hongli endured for a moment, but the torment was unbearable. His nails dug back into his skin. “Hurry and call her—bring the aloe juice she applied last time!”

His pain was felt not only in his body, but also in the Empress’s heart. She stood helplessly nearby, reaching out several times to hold his arm and stop him from tormenting himself further, only to be hurriedly pulled back by the palace servants around her.

One emperor was already ill—they absolutely could not afford to let the Empress fall ill too.

Hearing Hongli’s words now, the Empress seized on them like a lifeline and quickly called out:

“Yingluo! Did you hear? Is there any aloe juice left? If there is, bring it quickly!”

“Your Ladyship.” Wei Yingluo responded obediently, stepping to her side. “Aloe treats the symptoms but not the root cause. Court Physician Zhang said His Majesty must rest quietly and recover—impatience will only make things worse…”

Crash! Bang! A loud clatter rang out—Hongli, in a fit of rage, had overturned the nearby antique shelf. Rare treasures and curios tumbled to the floor; several porcelain pieces shattered into countless fragments. One shard flew outward amid the crowd’s startled cries and sliced across the back of the Empress’s hand.

“Your Ladyship!” Wei Yingluo rushed forward at once, seizing her hand to look. On the back of that pampered, well-protected hand now lay a long, glaring wound. Fresh blood slowly welled from it, dripping drop by drop onto the floor.

An irrepressible surge of fury rose in Wei Yingluo’s chest. She turned her head and said coldly:

“Your Majesty, lashing out at others in this manner is not the conduct of a wise ruler.”

In the midst of such towering rage, no one dared provoke Hongli—least of all with such direct criticism.

Not even the people around him could believe their ears, let alone Hongli himself. After a long silence, he stared at Wei Yingluo in disbelief:

“…What did you just say? Say it again!”

Anyone else would never have dared repeat it—would have denied ever saying such words in the first place.

“Your Majesty, lashing out at others in this manner is not the conduct of a wise ruler.” Not only did Wei Yingluo repeat it, she added even harsher words: “The entire palace is filled with consorts and concubines. When they heard Your Majesty was ill, their mouths overflowed with concern, yet their feet spun like wind-and-fire wheels—one running faster than the next! Only Her Majesty the Empress has remained by your side day and night, never loosening her robes to rest. Yet Your Majesty, without distinguishing right from wrong, inflicts your pain upon her. Hah—what a fine emperor, what a fine husband.”

When had Hongli; the Emperor ever been spoken to in such a manner? He immediately became so furious that his vision darkened, pointing at her, unable to utter a word.

“Yingluo, how dare you contradict His Majesty like this!” The Empress cried out in alarm. “Get back at once!”

Out of concern for Wei Yingluo, she was offering her an escape, yet unexpectedly Wei Yingluo not only refused the lifeline but shouted even louder:

“This servant hasn’t said anything wrong! Ever since Noble Consort Hui was reinstated, His Majesty’s rewards have poured into Chuxiu Palace like flowing water. And Changchun Palace? We haven’t seen so much as a single thing! Why is that!”

“Yingluo, shut your mouth!” The Empress was so anxious that her hands began to tremble.

The Hongli Emperor finally regained his voice. In a rage unlike anything anyone had ever witnessed, he roared:

“Speak! I want to hear what she has to say!”

Many of the palace servants were so frightened that they dropped to their knees, inwardly cursing their bad luck at being on duty today. Even the innocent bystanders trembled in fear of being scorched by the Emperor’s blazing wrath—yet the instigator herself acted as though she were a dead pig unafraid of scalding water. Raising her voice, she continued:

“Everyone is saying that the reason His Majesty suddenly lifted Noble Consort’s confinement was to give face to Lord Gao Bin, the Governor-General of Zhili!”

“Yingluo!”

The Empress rushed forward and raised her hand to cover her mouth.

But Wei Yingluo pulled the hand away from her lips. In the eyes of everyone present, she seemed utterly unafraid of death as she went on:

“His Majesty goes to such lengths to placate Noble Consort just because one minister is competent! The ruler of an entire nation, stooping to fawn over a woman with such petty attentiveness—what difference is there between that and the girls in the pleasure houses fawning over men? This vast Forbidden City has turned into a Qin Tower or Chu Pavilion, and Your Majesty has become the most popular courtesan of them all! After soothing Chuxiu Palace, who will be next in line!”

The most popular courtesan.

   The most popular courtesan!

   The most popular courtesan…

   With a sharp metallic clang, Hongli; the Emperor yanked the ceremonial sword that hung as decoration on the wall from its sheath. The blade gleamed with cold light as it thrust straight toward Wei Yingluo.

Wei Yingluo had anticipated this. Before the long sword reached her, she had already rolled under the table. The table took the blow in her place, nearly cleaved in two by a single stroke.

“Your Majesty, calm your anger! Calm your anger!” the Empress hurriedly cried.

Wei Yingluo rolled and crawled until she was beneath the Empress’s skirts. Laughing loudly, she called out from afar to Hongli; the Emperor:

“Your Majesty is so furious—it only proves this servant spoke the truth! On a grand scale, you claim it’s for the country and the people; on a small scale, you’re just playing both sides to keep everyone happy. You’ve sold yourself out, and that’s fine—but don’t take your temper out on others! A perfectly good Son of Heaven has truly become a nation-toppling beauty!”

Having never suffered such humiliation in his entire life, Hongli; the Emperor suddenly felt dizzy with rage. The people before him and the sword in his hand began to double and blur in his vision. He swayed slightly, feeling the fury surge like fire from his chest straight up into his throat:

“Guards! Guards! Drag this lowly maid away—immediately—”

Before he could finish, that surge of rage erupted from his throat.

With a violent “wah,” a mouthful of blood-streaked phlegm splattered onto the floor—red mixed with black, black tinged with red, faintly giving off a nauseating, fishy stench.

“Haha, good, good!”

The doors burst open at that moment. Ye Tianshi strode in briskly, circled the pool of bloody phlegm several times, then looked up with a radiant expression:

“His Majesty’s illness—this time it can be completely cured!”

Wei Yingluo promptly knelt on the ground, putting away her earlier infuriating demeanor and adopting a meek, respectful tone:

“Yingluo spoke wildly and outrageously, all for the sake of treating His Majesty’s illness. I beg His Majesty and the Empress to forgive my offense.”

The Empress’s gaze darted back and forth between her and Ye Tianshi:

“This… what exactly is going on here?”

“Empress, allow this humble commoner to explain.”

Ye Tianshi cupped his hands in salute. “Earlier, when this commoner reviewed His Majesty’s medical records, I discovered that the illness had lingered so long because of excessive mental strain and accumulated stagnant blood-phlegm. Therefore, this commoner asked Yingluo to assist by deliberately provoking His Majesty’s anger, in order to release this long-suppressed clot of blood-phlegm. Only then could His Majesty’s mind and body find relief, allowing full recovery.”

The Empress ignored everything else and focused on one thing alone:

“So you’re saying… His Majesty’s illness will soon be cured?”

“Of course!” Ye Tianshi declared with complete confidence. “In as little as seven days, or at most half a month, His Majesty will be full recovered!”

The imperial physicians always aimed for safety—never seeking great merit, only avoiding mistakes—so their prescriptions were invariably mild and lukewarm. When asked how long until recovery, they would only give vague answers like “soon, soon.”

It wasn’t that no one had thought of this method; it was that no one dared to prescribe it. Only a renowned physician like Ye Tianshi would have the audacity to issue such a fierce, tiger-and-wolf remedy. One could only say that in pursuit of great achievement, he did not fear losing his head.

“That’s good, that’s good.”

The Empress pressed her palms together as though praying to the Buddha.

Hongli’s appearance at this moment was far from good. His throat made a rasping, clicking sound, and for a long while he couldn’t utter a single word. He could only extend one trembling finger, pointing straight at Wei Yingluo in front of him.

Wei Yingluo quickly said, “Empress, His Majesty has just coughed up bloody phlegm and is very weak. We should help him lie down at once!”

Only then did the Empress come back to her senses. She nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes! What are you all waiting for? Hurry and assist His Majesty to lie down!”

Li Yu and the others rushed forward in a flurry to support him, but Hongli struggled and refused to lie down. His bloodshot eyes remained fixed on Wei Yingluo, as if he wanted to devour her alive. Yet when he opened his mouth, no words came out.

No one in the world understood him better than the Empress. Without him needing to speak, she already knew what was on his mind. Somewhat helplessly amused, she said, “Your Majesty, please don’t be angry. Yingluo only spoke so provocatively because she was thinking of curing your illness. She had no intention of offending you!”

“Ka… ka…” There was still only the sound of his throat rasping. Hongli remained unrelenting, continuing to point at Wei Yingluo with his finger.

The Empress had no choice but to shoot Wei Yingluo a meaningful glance.

“Ah!” Wei Yingluo immediately rolled her eyes upward. “This servant… this servant suddenly feels dizzy…”

“Oh dear, what’s wrong with you? Could it be that you’ve caught His Majesty’s illness?” The Empress cried out in feigned alarm. “Quick, quick—carry her away to rest! Physician Ye, please examine Yingluo!”

A group of people hurriedly lifted Wei Yingluo and carried her away. Behind them, Hongli’s gaze remained rigidly fixed in her direction.

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