A maid came over to help Ning Shu up. Ning Shu leaned against the pillows and looked at the little milkbun. She did her best to soften her tone as she said, “Your Imperial Mother is fine, don’t worry.”
“Imperial Mother, This subject son was really scared. This subject son was really scared that Imperial Mother would leave this subject son behind. This subject son won’t misbehave ever again and will study earnestly so that Imperial Father is happy!” The little milkbun held on tightly to Ning Shu’s hand.
Ning Shu said, “Imperial Mother is fine, Imperial Mother would never leave you.”
She pulled out every ounce of patience that was in her to coax this child. Currently, she was really dizzy and her heart was pounding heavily. This body’s health was way too poor. She felt tired just from saying a few words.
“Head back and wash your face, alright?” Ning Shu had the palace maid take the kid away. The little milkbun looked reluctant and kept glancing back in concern, but he still obediently left with his wet nurse.
Once the kid left, Ning Shu wiped at the cold sweat on her forehead. However, this small movement caused her entire body to break out in sweat again.
“Your Imperial Highness, it’s time for you to take medicine.” The maid carried a bowl of medicine over. Ning Shu accepted it and took a sniff. It was medicine with nourishing properties. There was no poison, but it was also useless on this body.
The original host’s problem was that she stressed too much about things.
“Take it away. This empress will be resting now,” said Ning Shu mildly.
The maid hesitated. She glanced cautiously at Ning Shu, then lowered her head and said, “The imperial physician said that Your Imperial Highness must take the medicine on time.”
“This empress knows what she’s doing. Withdraw.” Ning Shu’s tone was annoyed, so the maid immediately took the bowl and left.
Ning Shu then lay down in preparation to receive the storyline.
The original host was the empress of Yan. Her name was Xiao Xiao and her grandfather was the grand marshal of the state. As the princes were fighting over the throne, the original host was a consort that all the princes fought to snatch. However, Xiao Xiao ultimately chose the current emperor who used to be the fourth prince, Huo Qing.
The fourth prince was a very capable man. Having obtained the grand marshal’s support, he successfully ascended to the throne and the original host also became empress.
Huo Qing was very reserved and tended to be cold and detached. He didn’t care much about women and had no interest in the women of the inner palace. The original host only gave birth to a child after being married to him for five years. That child was the milkbun from just now, Huo Chengwang.
Xiao Xiao worked hard to keep the inner palace in order so that Huo Qing wouldn’t have to worry about his consorts and concubines. The fifteenth of every month, Huo Qing would come visit her in her palace for a while and occasionally they would tumble. The original host had wanted more children after giving birth to Huo Chengwang, but she never got pregnant again and after a few years, finally gave up and placed all her hopes on Huo Chengwang. Huo Chengwang was currently just a child, but the original host had forced him to start studying.
Huo Qing also treated Huo Chengwang as his successor. Xiao Xiao was a woman, a woman who had managed to become the empress. She naturally came to realize that Huo Qing didn’t love her and had only married her to gain her grandfather’s support.
However, Huo Qing was tall and handsome, and he was even an emperor, so Xiao Xiao inevitably fell for him and worked hard to be a good wife. She thought that they would live together this way until they got old, then they would be buried in the same tomb, but fate took an unexpected turn.
This started when Huo Qing brought back a golden fox from the hunting grounds. This golden fox was very intelligent and human-like, so Huo Qing doted on this fox a lot.
He would bring the fox along no matter what he was doing. When he ate, the fox would eat drumsticks on the table with him. They slept together and they even bathed together. Huo Qing was practically glued to this golden fox except when he had to go to court.
Gradually, he stopped going to the inner palace. Even when it was the fifteenth, he wouldn’t visit the empress’s palace. He went several months without staying a night with any of the consorts and concubines.
It was seriously unnatural. Huo Qing, a man, suddenly lost all his basic needs and was practically leaving the palace full of women to whither. Even though they had a man, they were living like widows. After all those women came crying to her, the original host decided to go ask Huo Qing what was going on.
