The Flirtatious Prince and His Savage Concubine

Chapter 186 The Emperor Arrives in the South

"Blood, what blood?"

As soon as Liu Lu finished exclaiming, Emperor Nan Zheng arrived with the imperial physician. As soon as he entered the palace, he saw Nan Wangyu's hand covered in blood. He thought to himself, this scene is familiar to me. Could it be that my grandson has been in trouble? He did not care about the concubines in the palace bowing to him, and urged the imperial physician: "Quick! Check on the Crown Princess, and save my grandson."

"The emperor's grandson?" Nan Wangyu and Lu Lingxi looked at each other. They had never... Did the emperor misunderstand something?

Seeing the two people standing there motionless, Emperor Nan Zheng said to Nan Wangyu impatiently: "You blockhead, what are you still standing there for? Hurry up and pick up the Crown Princess!"

Nan Wangyu quickly picked up Lu Lingxi and put him on a chair. Chunhong and Liulu also stood up and stood behind Lu Lingxi. The imperial physician came forward to feel his pulse, repeatedly feeling the pulse of both hands, and carefully checked the injuries on Lu Lingxi's face, forehead, and knees.

The Southern Emperor walked around where Lu Lingxi had been kneeling before and sat down next to Queen Gu. Looking at the mess on the ground, he glared at Queen Gu with dissatisfaction.

When Queen Gu saw the Emperor Nan Zheng coming, she stood up and saluted without caring about the tea stains on her body. She waited until the Emperor Nan Zheng sat down before she took her seat again.

The imperial physician quickly confirmed Lu Lingxi's condition, then stood up and reported to the Emperor Nan Zheng, saying, "Your Majesty, the Crown Princess is not pregnant. The swelling on her face will subside in three or four days, and the forehead will heal in ten days if he uses hemostatics in time. It's just that the wound on the knee is more serious. Now the flesh and blood are mixed with the cloth and it's hard to see clearly. I don't know if the tendons and bones are injured. We need to cut the cloth and clean the wound to confirm it."

"You're not pregnant?" The question from the Southern Emperor was slightly disappointing. Then he thought that they had only been married for a short time and there was still a long time to come. There was no need to rush. It was more important to solve the problem at hand. He ordered, "Heal the injury on the Crown Princess' knee first."

Although the imperial physician was skillful and handled the situation quickly, Lu Lingxi still had to gasp in pain from time to time.

Seeing Lu Lingxi's miserable appearance, the Emperor of Nanzheng could not help but get angry. His daughter had just entered the palace and was already in such a miserable state. If her father, the Marquis of Zhenguo, knew about this, he would be heartbroken! Turning around and seeing that Queen Gu was still sitting there calmly, he became even more furious and scolded, "Queen, why did the Crown Princess become so miserable when you were just greeting her?"

Queen Gu seemed calm, but she was actually panicking. At first, because of what Emperor Nan Zheng said, she was afraid that she had accidentally caused Lu Lingxi to have a miscarriage in front of everyone. When she found out that she was not pregnant, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. However, the injury on her knee was a bit serious, and she was afraid that today would not end well. Now she could only put the blame on Lu Lingxi, or she could get away with it.

So the villain complained first: "The Crown Princess disrespects her elders, is jealous of the concubine, and even bewitched the Crown Prince. I was just fulfilling my duty as a mother-in-law and gave her some kind advice, but she became dissatisfied and started fighting with me. That's why I..."

"So you beat her like this? There is a saying among the people that 'don't hit someone in the face', which shows how important face is to a person, let alone the royal family? You hurt the Crown Princess like this, how can she face people in the future?"

Nan Wangyu looked at the redness and swelling on Lu Lingxi's face with heartache, and said in disagreement: "Father, I think we can't just listen to the Queen Mother's one-sided words. Lingxi has always been respectful and filial, and she has a deep father-daughter relationship with her father-in-law. This is known to everyone in the capital. Since she married into the Prince's Mansion, she has been virtuous and humble, and has never done anything inappropriate. Why did she become so unbearable when she came to the Queen Mother?"

At this time, the imperial physician had already treated Lu Lingxi's wound and stepped aside.

Emperor Nan Zheng adjusted his mood and spoke to Lu Lingxi in a much gentler tone: "Crown Princess, please tell me."

Lu Lingxi seemed to have been reminded of something sad. She didn't cry even when she was in so much pain just now. But now, when Nan Zhenghuang asked her gently, she burst into tears before she answered. As tears flowed, she quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe them away.

The Emperor of the Southern Expedition watched Lu Lingxi's series of actions, and felt so distressed that he couldn't help thinking: Oh, how pitiful, look at this aggrieved little girl. If my little Ba marries into her husband's family and is wasted like this, I will definitely kill all nine clans of her husband's family! I will raise little Ba well by my side and never let her marry again in her life. Thinking of this, he distractedly glanced at Princess Leping in Concubine Guo's arms. He felt that she was so soft and cute. After dealing with these things later, he must hug her tightly.

Then he became gentler towards Lu Lingxi and changed his address to him: "Lingxi, don't be afraid! If you have any grievances, tell your father and he will take care of it for you."

Lu Lingxi hesitated for a long time and couldn't think of any action to highlight her pitifulness. She knew it was time to argue. She spoke with a tearful tone: "Thank you, father. I am not wronged. My mother thinks that I need to be taught. I will learn from you. But I also need to know where I am wrong. It will be easier to correct it after learning from you, right? But today, before I even stepped into the palace of Yanchun Palace, I heard my mother scolding me: 'Kneel down!' I mistakenly thought that my mother was scolding others, so I didn't dare to speak. I just stepped forward quietly, saluted, and sat in my seat, not daring to interrupt my mother's lecture.

Then the Queen Mother said that I was disrespectful, didn’t listen to her instructions, and didn’t want to kneel down to listen to her lecture. She even asked Aunt Li to come forward and force her daughter-in-law to kneel down to listen to her lecture. The daughter-in-law wanted to know the reason and to explain herself if there was any misunderstanding. The Queen Mother didn’t want to listen, so the daughter-in-law had no choice but to kneel down first to let the Queen Mother calm down. Then the Queen Mother spilled the tea again, and the daughter-in-law came forward to wipe it for the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother actually blamed the daughter-in-law for spilling the tea and slapped her in the face.

Queen Gu was furious and shouted, "Nonsense!"

Anyone with a discerning eye knew that the Crown Prince and the Emperor of Nanzheng were here to support Lu Lingxi, so Liu Lu became even bolder and retorted to Queen Gu, "How could you be talking nonsense? We just arrived at the door and heard you say, 'Kneel down!' Of course, you don't know the reason. There are so many ladies in the palace watching us. The ladies can testify whether our Crown Princess is talking nonsense or not."

Seeing that a little maidservant beside Lu Lingxi dared to talk back to her, Queen Gu could no longer suppress her anger and said, "Slut, how can you have the right to speak here?"

The originally calm face of the Southern Emperor suddenly darkened. His brows were furrowed, his eyes revealed a sense of majesty and anger, and his voice became low and stern: "Queen, watch your words and actions! As the queen of a country, you should choose your words carefully. Even if the little girl is ignorant, you should not say such dirty words."

No matter how dissatisfied Queen Gu was, she fell silent in an instant.

The Southern Emperor did not care about Liu Lu's interruption, but asked Lu Lingxi: "Then what about the injuries on your forehead and knees?"

Lu Lingxi hesitated for a while before saying, "It was all... my daughter-in-law who did it accidentally."

Emperor Nan Zheng continued to ask: "How could you be injured so badly by accident?"

Lu Lingxi glanced at Queen Gu timidly before saying, "The wound on your forehead was caused by your mother slapping you. You lost your balance and hit your head on the corner of the table. The wound on your knee was caused by your mother breaking a teacup..." She did not continue with the rest of the words. She believed that they would understand if she just stopped at the point.

The imperial physician also responded at this time, "We did remove a lot of broken porcelain pieces from the Crown Princess's knees just now."

The Southern Emperor took the opportunity to ask the imperial physician, "Is the Crown Princess' knee in any serious condition?"

The imperial physician replied truthfully: "The wound is very deep, but fortunately it did not damage the meridians or bones. However, you still need to rest for a month or two before you can walk."

Emperor Nanzheng nodded and said, "Prescribe more nourishing medicine for the Crown Princess. Go down and consider the prescription and prescribe the medicine."

After the imperial physician left, the Southern Emperor comforted Lu Lingxi: "Don't worry, Lingxi, your father will definitely make the decision for you and won't let you suffer in vain."

Queen Gu watched the Nanzheng Emperor change his expression several times, speaking harshly to her but softly to Lu Lingxi, and she was dissatisfied in her heart: "Your Majesty is too partial, you haven't even asked the Crown Princess what she did wrong, but you want to make the decision for her. Could it be that I have been the Queen for twenty years, and in your Majesty's mind, I am someone who can't distinguish right from wrong and beats and scolds others at will?"

Emperor Nan Zheng snorted coldly: "Tell me, what unforgivable sin did Lingxi commit? Why do you want to punish her like this?"