As Eunuch Huang’s words fell, the hall fell silent for a moment, then exploded into a frenzy.
When the emperor first ascended to the throne, smallpox had been reported in the capital. That time, half of the capital was infected and many people died.
The emperor stood up and walked out with great strides, and Eunuch Huang hurriedly followed him.
Zhu Zhihong and the six ministers glanced at each other, several of them also quickly followed, the rest of the officials stayed in the hall, people were in fear.
The emperor walked extremely fast and Eunuch Huang jogged to keep up.
Seeing that he was going in the direction where the fourth prince was, he anxiously discouraged, “Your Majesty, you can’t go.”
The emperor pushed him away and walked even faster.
Eunuch Huang stumbled as he was pushed, but after standing firm, he trotted after him again and knelt in front of the Emperor, “Your Majesty, old slave, I beg you, you can’t go.”
“Get lost!”
The Emperor kicked him to.
Eunuch Huang quickly climbed up and blocked in front of the Emperor again, “Your Majesty, smallpox will kill people, you can’t go!”
“Get lost!”
Eunuch Huang said nothing to get out of the way.
Zhu Zhihong and also the six ministers also fell to their knees in front of the emperor, with one voice, “Please cherish the dragon’s body, Your Majesty.”
The emperor’s eyes were red, “That is my only son, I can’t stand by and see him in trouble, you all get out of the way!”
“Your Majesty, you are the foundation of the great Qing nation, nothing must happen to you.”
“Yes, Your Majesty, the Fourth Prince has already contracted it, the main thing now is to find out the source of the smallpox and cut off the source. Once it spreads to the other palaces, the consequences are unthinkable.”
“Your Majesty, please calm down.”
“Your Majesty ……”
“Your Majesty ……”
“Shut up all of you, I don’t want to hear it, get out of the way, all of you, get out of the way!”
His Majesty hissed, kicking Eunuch Huang away once again.
Eunuch Huang quickly rose to his feet and blocked him dead in front of him.
Sun Qi led a pair of forbidden guards over at a fast pace, his mind still blank to this day when he heard the news that the Fourth Prince had smallpox.
“Sun Qi, get them all out of the way.”
Sun Qi also knelt down, “Your Majesty, the Fourth Prince must not want you to go over there, please still be calm.”
The Emperor closed his eyes.
“Order all the eunuch doctors to rush to Feng’er’s palace, make sure to preserve Feng’er’s life, if they can’t, I’ll chop off their heads.”
“Sun Qi, you lead people to surround the Fourth Prince’s residence, no one is allowed to enter or leave, those who disobey the order, kill!”
“Huang De, you bring men to check, if you find anyone with fever, immediately bring them to the Cold Palace for isolation.”
……
In the Fourth Prince’s palace, the two eunuch doctors were writing prescriptions with trepidation.
They were the only ones on duty today, and when a palace attendant ran to say that the Fourth Prince had a fever, they came carrying their medicine chest. The first time they saw the Fourth Prince, they felt bad. After careful diagnosis, they confirmed that it was smallpox and felt that the sky was falling.
Immediately, they had the palace doors shut and sent someone else to report.
The palace people were also on tenterhooks.
“I, I’ve heard my father say that smallpox is, is contagious. Will I, will we be buried alive?”
A young eunuch of 13 or 14 years old asked in a shaky voice.
He had just entered the palace not long ago and had not yet earned much silver for his family.
The rest of the palace also trembled in their hearts, they had never had smallpox, but they had all heard of it, it was very contagious, they might have been infected, the fourth prince had a doctor to cure them, they could only be buried alive.
“Don’t, don’t be ridiculous.”
One of the older palace staff had chattering teeth, “I, if we are buried alive, who, who will serve the fourth prince.”
Hearing him say this, the palace people were slightly relieved.
Suddenly one of the palace staff remembered something and his face changed dramatically, “Fourth Brother Xi had a fever two days ago, could he, could he ……’
The palace staff, whose hearts had just settled down, also changed their faces.
Fourth Xi was the one serving beside the fourth prince, and had been saying that he was not feeling well since the palace banquet. These days, he has not been serving in front of his highness, and he did not follow him to the Thousand Hills Temple. Two days ago, he had a fever, and the medicine he took did not work, so they did not care, after all, palace staff like them could not eat any good medicine, and it took many days to recover from a wind chill and fever.
The palace staff who had just spoken turned around and ran inside.
If Si Xi really had smallpox, then it was him who had passed it on to His Highness.
“Brother Si Xi has had a fever, a fever for several days, did he also, also have smallpox?”
Imperial Doctor Liu stood up, “Where is he?”
“In his own house.”
Imperial Doctor Liu took precautions and followed the palace staff over.
Because he was the fourth prince’s right-hand eunuch, Si Xi lived in a house by himself, next door to the house where the palace people lived, which was small, clean and tidy.
At the moment, Si Xi was lying on the bed, his face was red, he had fallen into a coma, and his face was covered in pimples.
Without having to go up to him, Imperial Doctor Liu knew it was smallpox, and was busy retreating, “Tell the others that no one is allowed to go near this room.”
……
Outside the palace gate, Sun Qi led the imperial guard to surround the Fourth Prince’s palace.
A palanquin came over and was stopped by Sun Qi before it could get close, “His Majesty has ordered that no one is to approach here.”
The palanquin stopped, the steward aunt lifted the palanquin curtain and Consort Xiao Xian got down from the palanquin, “Commander Sun, I want to go in to be with my son, open the door.”
“Your Majesty ……”
Sun Qi took two steps back and bowed slightly, “Please don’t make it difficult for my subordinates yet.”
Consort Xiao Xian took a step forward and spoke in a strong tone, “Open the door.”
Sun Qi took another step back and Consort Xiao Xian moved forward again.
There was no way to retreat, so Sun Qi stiffened his head, “Your Majesty, I am acting under orders, please understand.”
“What if this palace does not listen?”
“If Your Majesty insists on going in, my subordinates and others will have to kill themselves.”
“You ……”
Sun Qi bent his waist some more, “I also ask for Your Majesty’s understanding.”
Consort Xiao Xian turned around and got into the palanquin.
Watching the palanquin go away, Sun Qi let out a sigh of relief, this matter happened too suddenly, he hadn’t had time to spread the news to the fourth prince, who was already sealed inside, he couldn’t let Consort Xiao Xian go in again.
But ……
The first thing you need to do is to look at the direction the sedan chair is going, and Sun Qi has a bad feeling.
The palanquin did not go back to the Kunli Palace, but to the Hall of the Nurtured Heart, where the Emperor was.
When the palanquin stopped, Consort Xiao Xian came down, and did not enter the hall, but knelt down in front of it, “I beg Your Majesty to let me go to accompany Feng’er.”
There was a prickling sound in the Hall of Nurtured Heart, the sound of a chair being driven, and then footsteps sounded, followed by the palace door being opened and the Emperor striding out from inside and walking up to Consort Xiao Xian, trying to help her up.
Consort Xiao Xianfei knelt and did not move, “Please also ask for Your Majesty’s permission.”
“Consort Xian, you get up first.”
“If Your Majesty does not grant permission, I will not get up.”
If a concubine had dared to threaten him like this in the past, the Emperor would have definitely brushed him off, but now was different, Concubine Xian was there to accompany Feng’er, and the Emperor softened his tone, “You also know that smallpox is very contagious, in case ……”