The princess was ordained by Heaven.

Chapter 166 The Beginning and End of the Feud (2)

I thought the emperor was finally favored by the empresses and concubines, but it didn't last long.

Nowadays, Consort Duan avoids the emperor as much as possible when she sees him.

From this perspective, the emperor is quite pitiful.

emperor:……

These people are out of their minds.

He has the support of the people, supreme power, and now he has Consort Chun who is devoted to him. How pitiful he is.

Those ordinary people who can't get enough to eat are the truly pitiful ones.

So, in order to reduce the number of pitiful people, when will the grain-growing farm of Yuanjia finally yield results?

With the possibility of sudden death looming over him, he always felt a sense of urgency, but some things simply couldn't be rushed.

So, when will his crown prince finally grow up...?

The empire he painstakingly built up is already worrying to think about if it were handed over to the crown prince.

Finally, Consort Duan's voice pulled him back from his wandering thoughts.

"The reason I'm unhappy is because I calculated when I conceived... only to find that I didn't sleep with the emperor at that time."

She didn't receive much favor from the emperor, and it was often a long time before she could see him.

Even the strongest feelings will be worn away by such neglect.

The fifth prince asked with great interest, "You betrayed the emperor?"

She dared to say something so important; surely she didn't believe he wouldn't tell anyone?

Consort Duan kept a straight face: "I didn't."

The Fifth Prince wanted to say something more, but Consort Duan impatiently interrupted him: "Can you please stop interrupting? Do you still want to hear it?"

The Fifth Prince swallowed back the sarcastic remark he was about to make, and gestured for her to continue.

"I was terrified, and even had thoughts of ending my life."

However, if she were to commit suicide in the palace, regardless of the reason, it would certainly implicate her family. If the imperial physicians discovered her physical condition, her family would be doomed.

This was the first time she felt regret about entering the palace.

She began to secretly plan for a miscarriage.

Before things get out of hand and before the day for the ritual of seeking auspicious diagnosis arrives, she wants to get rid of this child.

However, obtaining abortifacient drugs secretly was not easy, as the palace strictly controlled these items.

At that time, the Empress Dowager was in power. She controlled the inner palace extremely tightly. She even suspected that not a fly could escape her eyes if it flew through the inner palace.

She tried several times but failed to obtain medication to induce a miscarriage. With the day for her to have her pulse checked drawing closer, she dared not claim to be ill in order not to arouse suspicion. Instead, she wrapped her waist tightly and loudly emphasized that she was "normal."

Finally, she could no longer endure the torment.

She decided to take the risk.

Even the toughest child will eventually die if she falls and crashes a few times.

She began to create one accident after another, but Consort Jing saved her three times out of five, and she succeeded twice, but the fetus in her womb was not affected in any way.

Consort Jing knew her quite well and noticed something amiss from her unusual behavior, so she subtly tested her a few times.

Consort Duan was already on edge because of her pregnancy, so Consort Jing's probing did not escape her notice.

Finally, after being rescued by Consort Jing once again, Consort Jing couldn't help but question her about the reason.

After several attempts, Consort Duan finally broke down and couldn't help but tell her the truth.

After hearing her explanation, Consort Jing remained silent for a long time, the faces of the imperial physicians flashing through her mind.

However, her mind was not on the emperor, and she had little interest in palace intrigue, so she had no connections in the Imperial Hospital.

She regretfully blamed herself for being too complacent in the past, which led her to realize that she had no ability to deal with sudden dangers when problems arose.

Consort Duan was somewhat confused by her attitude and couldn't help but make a few sarcastic remarks. Only then did Consort Jing finally find an opportunity to clarify the past misunderstandings.

However, the rift between them had been long-standing, and Consort Duan's trust in Consort Jing was no longer what it used to be.

But Consort Duan now has no choice whatsoever.

Why not trust her this once? If she loses the gamble, that's her fate.

The young girl, who was full of rebellious spirit and firmly believed that human will could conquer nature, actually had a day when she compromised and accepted her fate.

Consort Jing did not betray her.

The number of people trying to find a solution increased from one to two, but things did not improve.

They tried many methods, but Consort Duan's belly continued to grow bigger every day.

Many times, when Consort Duan looked at her belly, she couldn't help but feel a sense of fear.

It wasn't a child in her belly; it was a monster, a monster that wanted to devour her.

Seeing her increasingly deteriorating, Consort Jing stayed by her side day and night, fearing that a single misstep would lead her to do something irreversible.

Now, it seems they only have one option left—to seek help from their family.

However, Consort Jing knew that her father was heartless and would definitely not help her, so they had no choice but to ask Consort Duan's family for help.

They kept quiet and endured it. Consort Jing did her best to cover for her, allowing the imperial physician to examine her through a curtain instead of Consort Duan.

Fortunately, the time when Consort Jing became pregnant coincided with the time when Consort Duan served the emperor, so they managed to get away with it by a narrow margin.

Consort Jing was overjoyed, glad that she thought Consort Duan still had feelings for the Emperor, so she cleverly led the Emperor to Consort Duan's palace.

That's how Consort Duan ended up spending time with the emperor.

Consort Duan was stunned when she learned all this, and the resentment she had once harbored finally dissipated.

They bought themselves some time to make plans, and finally managed to get the news to Consort Duan's household.

This was a major event concerning the rise and fall of the entire family, so Consort Duan's family quickly replied.

With the combined efforts of a family and two high-ranking concubines, the matter was kept from being exposed.

As the day of delivery approached, they finally bribed a royal physician and, after several attempts, got him to take Consort Duan's pulse.

It was only after taking her pulse that they discovered that Consort Duan was not pregnant at all; she had a tumor in her abdomen.

When Consort Duan and Consort Jing learned of this, they both cried and laughed.

They should have been relieved, but things had come to this point, and they had already committed the crime of deceiving the emperor. Should they confess to the emperor?

They were hesitant to gamble, so they were unsure of what to do.

However, the Empress Dowager noticed something amiss and turned her attention to Consort Duan and Consort Jing.

The Empress Dowager knew that Consort Duan had a tumor in her abdomen.

This was a very rare opportunity, so the Empress Dowager decided to use their secret to attack the Emperor.

She wanted to portray that tumor as a monster, thereby solidifying the emperor's status as a jinx.

Consort Duan and Consort Jing were no match for the Empress Dowager, and faced with her offensive, they could only ask the Emperor for help.

Inside the Fengqin Hall, the emperor gazed into the distance.

At that time, his struggle with the Empress Dowager intensified, and the Empress Dowager spared no effort to suppress him. He had not accumulated enough power behind him, so he was restrained at every turn.

It was only thanks to his ruthless actions and his refusal to give anyone any opportunity to find fault that he was able to barely hold on.

After Consort Duan and Consort Jing came to tell him everything, his first thought was of the families behind them.

He was unwilling to use the women in his harem to contact the forces behind them because he knew his own resources were insufficient to defeat those old foxes.

But Consort Duan and Consort Jing were different; they themselves handed over their weaknesses.

Therefore, he will not blame them; he will only help them.

They united as one and finally managed to snatch a brief respite from the Empress Dowager's clutches.

Their original plan was for Consort Duan to fake a miscarriage and throw away the tumor as if it were a stillborn baby, thus concealing the truth.

But the Empress Dowager would not give them that opportunity.

Since she knew the truth, she first spread the word that Consort Duan was pregnant with a monster.

In the imperial court, the Empress Dowager's power was arrogant and domineering, just waiting to confirm this matter.

With so many people watching, it would be extremely difficult to find a stillborn baby to replace the tumor.

At this point, Consort Jing proposed her idea—to give her child to Consort Duan.

All eyes are now on Consort Duan, so her presence is not very noticeable. She and Consort Duan have already moved in together, so digging a tunnel to deceive everyone is not impossible.

She can pretend to be pregnant and delay for a few more days until the matter is over before officially "giving birth," which will not easily arouse suspicion from others.

Once the child is "born," the filth that has been sullied on the emperor will naturally be cleansed without needing to be washed away.

The more fiercely the Empress Dowager acted during this period, the more it revealed her malice towards the Emperor.

If anyone slanders the emperor again, just pin it on the Empress Dowager.

Given past examples, if the Empress Dowager is said to have done it, everyone will have to believe it to some extent.

Upon hearing this, the Fifth Prince suddenly interrupted Consort Duan: "So you succeeded."

"nature."

"But you still haven't explained why you hate me..."

Consort Duan glanced at him: "That's not what you want to ask, is it? What you want to ask is Consort Jing, whether she cares about you."

The Fifth Prince remained silent for a moment, but in the end, the desire in his heart overcame the impulse to refute her.

He wanted to know, he really wanted to know.

“She didn’t like you to begin with,” Consort Duan said, not forgetting to sarcastically add, “because you were never a child who was expected to be loved.”

The Fifth Prince was unaffected by her sarcasm: "Originally... but what happened next?"

"Later, she realized that no matter who your father was, you were still her child, and she loved you very much. Most of the clothes you wore when you were little were made by her."

"Most of it..."

Consort Duan didn't say that the remaining half was prepared for him personally.

She loved everything about her cousin, so naturally she cared about the children her cousin cared about as well.

Moreover, since her cousin entrusted him to her, she naturally had to take care of him and love him wholeheartedly.

She had already let her cousin down once, and she absolutely couldn't let her down a second time.

Seeing that she was unwilling to answer, the Fifth Prince did not press her for an answer; perhaps he had already guessed the answer.

"Later, as you grew up, I became your most cherished mother, and Consort Jing was your favorite aunt..."

As Consort Duan spoke, her expression turned somewhat sharp: "But you were also a fool when you were young. With just a few words from the Empress Dowager's people, you were able to sow discord and make you hate your cousin."

Although the Fifth Prince is Consort Jing's child, his stubbornness is truly just like hers...

Once he has made up his mind about a fact, no matter how others try to persuade him, he will not change his mind.

Consort Duan first tried to persuade him, telling him what Consort Jing had done for him and how close they were, but the Fifth Prince did not believe her.

I tried to explain it to him in great detail, but in his eyes it was all just an excuse.