Chapter Thirteen Almost Died

  Rumble

  A thunderbolt shattered the silence of the imperial palace, but it did not disturb the people in the imperial study with furrowed brows.

  Several adults furrowed their brows, looked at each other in dismay, occasionally shook their heads and sighed, above them was the furious Feng Changqing.

  Qin Xiao stood by, watching the officials sighing and shaking their heads in disdain. Today, an urgent report came from the border country that the barbarians had risen up and were slaughtering and looting the people of the border country, leaving them unable to survive. The border was in a state of emergency, but not one person could make a decision.

  All the ministers almost simultaneously named Ziyuan to take command of the expedition, but Feng Changqing had promised Ziyuan that within a year he would let Ziyuan rest at home and had taken away his military authority under this pretext. For several days now, Ziyuan has not even appeared in court, claiming that he is slightly indisposed and resting at home.

  It's obvious he has to ask others for help.

  But Feng Changqing was worst at asking for help.

  "Your Majesty." When the Grand Preceptor Xiao Yi stepped forward, he said, "After discussion among us ministers, the only one who can undertake this task is Prince Zi Yue."

  "Yes, Your Majesty, Prince Ziyuan is the Anbang King of our dynasty, with a hundred victories in a hundred battles. Even now, the barbarians tremble at the mention of Prince Ziyuan's name. If we send out the Anbang King, he will surely be able to keep our dynasty safe." The Minister of War, Bai Qingyun, also began to speak in agreement with Xiao Yi.

  "We your subjects humbly request that Your Majesty allow King Anbang to take command and go on a punitive expedition against the barbarian tribes." Everyone joined in advising this.

  Feng Changqing smiled coldly and waited for their next move.

  "I, your humble servant, have taken into consideration that King Anbang has been slightly unwell lately, and previously Your Majesty had promised to let him rest his troops. However, at this moment the country is in need of capable people.

  Xiao Yi said up to here, then started kneeling down, with the people behind him also following suit, continuing: "Therefore, I, your humble servant, dare to request that Your Majesty confer upon King Anbang the title of 'Protector of the Nation War God', return his military power to him and increase his salary. In order to ensure our dynasty's peace."

  "We humbly request that Your Majesty confer the title of 'Protector of the Nation and God of War' upon An Bang Wang, return his military power to him, and increase his salary. In order to ensure the peace and stability of our dynasty."

  Qin Xiao glared at these people, a bunch of arrogant and bullying things.

  "Haha? Hahaha."

  Everyone looked at Feng Changqing in confusion, how could he laugh at this time? Why was that?

  "War God of Protecting the Country? What a great name, able to protect the country's peace and also make people tremble with fear. You truly are meticulous in your choice of words." Feng Changqing walked to the front of the desk, stood with his hands behind his back, and continued saying "If he is indeed a god, then should I submit to Anbang King? Should my dynasty's subjects surrender to him?"

  Everyone else looked at each other in dismay and didn't dare say another word.

  Feng Changqing put away his smile, picked up one of the memorials, and said "This is a joint petition from all officials, not bad. He threw it heavily on the ground and continued to say "This country is mine, how can a small barbarian tribe shake it? If no one can come out to share my worries, what's the use of raising you all? Why don't you all go home and rest?"

  "Your Majesty, please calm down." Seeing Feng Changqing get angry, everyone knelt down and said "Your Majesty, please calm down."

  "Fury subsiding?" Feng Changqing looked down at the group of officials with a condescending gaze, his face cold as he sneered, "You all retreat here one by one, how can I subside my anger?"

  "Your Majesty, we humble subjects are only concerned about the safety of the country, please think thrice before acting." Xiao Yi's goal was to let Zi Yu regain military power, so no matter what, he had to force Feng Changqing to take notice.

  Feng Changqing slightly furrowed his brow and said, "I am tired, the matter of sending troops will be discussed again at tomorrow's court assembly."

  The barbarian rebellion, Feng Changqing didn't take it seriously, but after finishing this sentence, those ministers didn't show any intention of retreating. Feng Changqing suddenly became angry and raised his voice: "If you want to kneel, kneel outside for me! Is my imperial study a place for you to act arbitrarily?!"

  "If Your Majesty does not approve of Anbang Wang, we will kneel here forever." After finishing speaking, Xiao Yi stood up and led everyone to go outside and kneel down.

  "Bang"

  Until everyone left, Feng Changqing heavily punched the table, leaving a deep mark.

  "This group of old foxes."

  "Your Majesty, what...what should we do next?" Qin Xiao looked at Feng Changqing's hand with concern, where fresh blood was already flowing out. "Your Majesty..."

  "Let them kneel, I want to see what these slaves can do." As he spoke, he overturned the tea on the table, and the cold tea splashed onto his hand, reminding him of the hot tea at Quanquan Pavilion. "I want to go out for a walk, leave this group of old things to you to watch, find a few imperial physicians to talk to them in front of them, although it's spring now, but the cold air enters the body, don't cripple the lower half of their bodies. I don't have so much idle money to support a group of useless people."

  "Yes." This is Feng Changqing.

  Outside the house, several spring thunders sounded again. Before long, the sound of rain hitting the ground was heard. Judging from the sound, this rain is coming fiercely and will probably last until midnight.

  Feng Changqing was right, although it's already spring, but here is the highest place in Fenghuang City, if it rains and winds, it's still icy and bone-piercing, so those officials knelt for less than an hour before they couldn't bear it, shivering and leaving.

  However, not everyone is so lucky.

  "My sister said that as sisters in the harem, we should support each other and not let the emperor have any worries. " Xiao Ran said slowly and calmly, although the people below had already been drenched by the rain, as long as she didn't get wet, it was fine."

  Others also watched Qilin with schadenfreude, but Qilin stood proudly from head to toe, kneeling on one knee, her kneecap had already transmitted a piercing pain several times, her feet were numb, and she hadn't eaten anything, so she was getting dizzy.

  "But I heard that my sister is a maid of Yu Mu Gongzi in Zui Hua Lou, and Yu Mu Gongzi makes a good cup of tea. My sister must have learned a lot from him. Please don't hesitate to teach me, or else I'll be blamed by the Emperor for not serving well." After finishing her sentence, she slightly raised the corner of her mouth. She had already made Qi Lin kneel for three hours, and now it was raining heavily outside, no wonder she was in a bad mood.

  Qilin gritted her teeth and said, "Sister is teasing me, what tea can I brew? It's all because the emperor doesn't despise me..."

  "So you're too lazy to teach me?" Xiao Ran had been looking for an opportunity to speak with Qi Lin, and now he finally found it.

  "I dare not." How hateful, her head was burning with fever and even her thoughts couldn't keep up. Qilin secretly pinched herself, but found that she couldn't exert any strength in her hand, and when she lifted her eyes, she suddenly felt dizzy and fell to the ground.

  "Little master." Green bamboo protected her heart, reached out to support her and said "Western palace princess please calm down, my little master has been kneeling for three hours, his body is probably already at the limit, please princess have mercy, let my little master go inside to change clothes and rest well."

  "How dare you! It's not your turn to interrupt me." Xiao Ran suddenly threw away his teacup and gave a signal to the eunuch beside him, "Give him a slap in the face for me."

  "Spare me."

  Almost at the same time, everyone was shocked and looked towards the palace gate. They saw Feng Changqing standing at the entrance, wearing a red dragon robe, and his gaze alone was enough to make the seated imperial concubine pause in surprise.

  A few of the lesser consorts, feeling a bit dizzy, directly collapsed onto the tatami mat.

  Feng Changqing arrived, and Xiao Ran was also greatly shocked. Wasn't it said that today's discussion in the imperial study would be about a major matter? How could he recover so quickly? Before he had time to think, Feng Changqing had already arrived before him, and Xiao Ran led the crowd in paying their respects.

  "I didn't know Your Majesty had arrived, I'm afraid I've failed to greet you from afar." Xiao Ran hadn't even stepped out of the house, yet he still got splashed by rainwater.

  Feng Changqing walked directly to Qilin's front, helped her up and looked at her pale face, slightly furrowed his brow. At this time, Qilin was like an ice cube, her whole body was icy cold, and she was trembling with fear.

  "Xiao Ningzi, hurry up and summon the imperial physician." After saying that, he hugged Qi Lin and ignored the kneeling person, directly entering the inner room.

  In an instant, the Qilin's Xuan Palace was filled with people coming and going, imperial physicians crowded the hall, Feng Changqing sat by the bed, holding Qilin's scorching hand, anxiously looking at her tightly furrowed brow.

  Even when pressed by all officials like this, he had never been so anxious before.

  "Mother, mother."

  Suddenly, a flustered cry came from outside the door. Xiaoning quickly walked in and whispered a few words into Feng Changqing's ear. Feng Changqing coldly waved his hand, ignoring him.

  Xiao Ningzi had no choice but to come out and say "Send her back."

  Having received the order, the palace maid dared to help the fainting Xiao Ran leave.

  The heavy rain continued until midnight, but Qilin's bedroom was still brightly lit all night. Everything that could be done had been done, and now it was just a matter of waiting for Qilin to wake up. However, before Qilin woke up, none of the imperial physicians were allowed to leave, on pain of death.

  Feng Changqing kept holding Qi Lin's hand and staring at her all the time.

  But Qilin slept very restlessly, tightly grasping Feng Changqing's hand and occasionally shouting "don't" as if she had seen something terrifying in her dream.

  "Your Majesty." Green Bamboo walked up with a bowl of clear congee, saying worriedly "You've been watching the young master for several hours now, eat something to warm yourself up. If you continue like this, it will be heart-wrenching for the young master as well."

  Feng Changqing slightly shook his head, he now just wanted Qilin to wake up.

  "Your Majesty, the young master's fever has subsided and I believe he will wake up soon." Green Bamboo tried to persuade Feng Changqing, but seeing that Feng Changqing didn't even glance at her, she could only shake her head and retreat.

  Feng Changqing grasped Qi Lin's hand, he still remembered the time at Zuihuatang when he held an unconscious Qi Lin, but surprisingly Qi Lin had bitten him hard while she was asleep. He placed his hand near Qi Lin's mouth, hoping that the current Qi Lin would bite him too.

  Rumble

  Ah!!! Startled by the thunder, Qilin suddenly lifted her head and only then realized she was in a pavilion. Outside the pavilion, heavy rain poured down, making it impossible to see anything more than ten meters away. The fluorescent lamp above her head buzzed with the touch of moths.

  It's strange, shouldn't she be in the palace? How did she end up here? By the way, where is this place?

  Looking around, Qilin found nothing except for a computer on the table. Looking at the familiar data, Qilin suddenly realized that she was waiting for the bus. Was everything just a dream?

  Thinking of this, Qilin smiled slightly, great, just a dream, packed up everything and prepared to go out and see if there were any buses passing by, but in the next moment she saw Xiaobai in the rain, still so majestic and elegant, quietly watching her in the rain. By Xiaobai's side stood a man in white clothes, but she couldn't see what he looked like, only seeing him slowly turn around, as if about to leave.

  "Don't go."

  Qilin said unconsciously, taking a step forward at the same time. Just then, a dazzling white light shot over from the side.

  "Ah!"

  Feng Changqing suddenly lifted his head, and he was actually asleep.

  In a flurry, she glanced at the bed and saw Qilin with wide eyes, covered in sweat, staring straight up at the ceiling before fainting.

  "A Xue..." Finally letting out a sigh of relief, Feng Changqing shouted towards the outside of the house "Imperial Physician."

  Several imperial physicians came forward, carefully examining Qilin. Finally, one of the imperial physicians knelt on the ground and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the young master's high fever has completely subsided, and he is now out of danger."

  Hearing that Zilin was fine, Feng Changqing finally relaxed his tightly furrowed brow, wiped away Zilin's sweat and revealed a long-awaited smile.

  "Take good care of your young master, I will come again tomorrow." After finishing speaking, he helped Qi Lin tidy up the quilt again and said to the imperial physician, "You stay here and follow his condition at all times. If there is any situation, report to me immediately."

  "Yes."

  Having spoken, Feng Changqing walked out of the door, and the sky was already whitish at the horizon. In another two hours, it would be daylight. He hastily changed into a clean set of clothes and left Qingshui Xuan.

  "The Emperor is going to the Western Palace."