I'm the Farmgirl You Can't Mess With

Chapter 1311: Side Story: The Mighty Great Qi (1)

In the end, Qi Xiuyuan did not manage to keep his younger brother. In the second year after Baozhu got married at the age of 18, Little Leopard also got married. The couple did not delay at all. A few days after their daughter-in-law first returned to her parental home after the wedding, they packed their things and went out to travel the world.

He had wanted to count on the children to stop them, but to his surprise, Little Bear and the others were very supportive of their parents. Tiger Head said bluntly, “Royal Uncle, since we’re already married now, we can’t stay by our parents’ side all the time. If they want to go out and play, so be it. Don’t worry, they’re in good health.”

Qi Xiuyuan choked. The two of them were not only in good health. Though in their early forties, the duo still looked like they were about 30. Not only were they energetic, but they were also strong and healthy. In fact, even if Little Bear used all his strength now, he might not be able to defeat his father.

Since their family members were all supportive, Qi Xiuyuan was naturally in no position to speak. He could only watch helplessly as his brother brought his wife on a sightseeing trip while he received things sent back by him every few days.

Perhaps it was because of his younger brother’s influence or because Qi Xiuyuan’s health was really not good, but he suddenly fell seriously ill in the second year after Qi Haoran left. After being resuscitated, he seemed to have thought things through and handed the throne to the Crown Prince. He and the Empress then moved to the imperial palace in the suburbs to recuperate.

Because this was the first peaceful abdication of power by a sage-king in generations—and the retired emperor willingly gave up his authority—later historians were absolutely energized, like they’d had a shot of adrenaline, and dissected every aspect of Qi Xiuyuan, inside and out.

Then, everyone realized that only the wise Prime Minister Fan Zijin (Prince An), King Rong, and Queen Consort Rong were present on the day Emperor Taikang decided to abdicate the throne. No one knew what was discussed among the four of them, but Qi Xiuyuan made the decision to abdicate the throne the very next day.

Many readers suspected that Prince An and King Rong forced the Emperor to abdicate the throne, but this was unanimously rejected by historians. According to historical research, the four of them had an excellent relationship, and Qi Xiuyuan, the Emperor Emeritus, had lived for a further 30 years after abdicating the throne before dying at the age of 86.

During this period of time, not only did he have freedom of movement, but he also controlled a faction. In addition, he was free to participate in politics. Based on these facts, it was obvious that he’d abdicated the throne willingly. Furthermore, the royal guards and Forbidden Troops had not been mobilized back then. No matter how one looked at it, Qi Xiuyuan did not seem to have been forced.

Unfortunately, there were no historians present that night, so there were no proper records of what actually went on. Furthermore, the Great Qi royal family had always refused to release the Emperor’s handwritten notes relating to that matter, so no one knew what happened that night.

And Qi Xiuyuan’s abdication seemed to have set an example. After that, Emperor Yuanfeng, Qi Wenchen, abdicated the throne to his son, Emperor Taixi. After that, a total of seven emperors in the Great Qi Dynasty followed suit, making this the dynasty with the most abdications in history—and all of them did so voluntarily.

In the current era, when the royal family of Great Qi only held a small amount of power, abdication became a custom. Every emperor would concede the throne to their descendants after being in power for 30 years or when they turned 60 years old.

And the royal family had their reasons for refusing to release those notes or records—because even they couldn’t understand how their ancestors managed to hand over the throne with just a few words. What’s more, this practice of voluntary abdication somehow became a tradition that lasted over 20 years.

Back then, in that palace, Qi Xiuyuan was critically ill. After hearing the news, Qi Haoran and Mu Yangling knelt in front of his bed and cried, regretting the fact that he’d left the capital so early.

Fan Zijin comforted him from the side. “This isn’t your fault. Who would have thought that an ordinary cold would make His Majesty seriously ill?”

That’s right, the Emperor only had a cold. In short, it was just a cold.

He just wanted to cool down. On a summer night, after finishing his supper, he brought people out to enjoy the cold and admire the moon. The next day, his nose was a little stuffy, but his health was still robust.

Not to mention that Qi Xiuyuan didn’t take this problem to heart, even the loyal Eunuch Wan didn’t pay much attention to it. He only asked the imperial physician to prescribe some medicine for the Emperor.

Unexpectedly, the cold grew increasingly severe. First, his nose was stuffed, then he started having a runny nose, and then his throat felt like it was on fire. By the time Qi Xiuyuan took it seriously, he was already coughing.

However, at this moment, everyone was still dismissive of how serious it could get given it was merely a cold. After all, everyone had colds and coughs a few times a year. There were countless excellent doctors in the palace, and the medicinal herbs were top-notch. Could it be that they could not treat a simple case of cold and cough?

Alas, the medicine had no effect on the Emperor at all. The imperial physicians of the Imperial Institute of Medicine were the first to start taking it seriously. Chief Physician Hua personally mixed the herbs for the prescription and brewed medicine every day, on top of personally seeing to it that the Emperor drank it. However, the Emperor’s illness was getting worse and worse, going from coughing to feeling dizzy. There were a few times when his ears rang and he almost fainted at court.

By now, two months had passed since the stuffy nose began!

Feeling that something was wrong, Fan Zijin first sent someone to bring Qi Haoran back quickly, then searched the palace and found countless spies. However, on the surface, they had nothing to do with this cold. Be it from the imperial physician’s diagnosis reports or the results of his investigation, this was just an ordinary cold.

Even Chief Physician Hua didn’t dare to believe that he and the imperial physicians couldn’t cure a cold.

Qi Xiuyuan was already lying on the bed, unable to get up.

Qi Haoran and Mu Yangling happened to be guests at Uncle Zhu’s house in Fuzhou at that time. When they heard the news, they rushed back immediately.

The moment they came back, Qi Haoran saw his big brother lying on the bed with a sallow face. He was scared out of his wits.

He immediately couldn’t help but flare up and raise suspicions. Could it be that Great Yuan and Later Xia were up to no good again?

Back then, it was West Xia and Great Yuan who seeked out Qin Fang’s descendants in West Xia to poison Qi Xiuyuan because they were unwilling to be bullied and schemed against by Great Qi.

Only the upper echelons of Great Jin and Great Zhou knew about the poisoning of Qi Xiuyuan back then. In addition, there were a few surrendered generals of Great Jin in the Great Yuan Dynasty who also knew about this. However, the poison smeared on the arrow back then was provided by the Great Zhou Emperor.

Now, the royal family of Great Zhou no longer existed, but Qin Fang’s descendants still remained. As the trusted aide of the Emperor of Great Zhou, it was impossible for Qin Fang not to know about this.

Unexpectedly, not only did they know that at this moment, they also had a backup plan. As the poison could be activated a second time, with the three parties doing their part, the pots of orchids and poisonous spices were sent to the palace.

Qi Haoran suspected that this was also the doing of a spy from another country. However, Fan Zijin said, “No, I’ve checked inside and out. If there really was a culprit, it’s impossible for there to be no clues at all.”

Qi Haoran looked at Little Treasure, who was kneeling by the bed, and asked, “Have your brothers been behaving themselves recently?”

Taken by surprise, Little Treasure didn’t even bother to wipe his tears. He hurriedly said, “Fourth Uncle, it can’t be them.”

After a pause, he said, “Although Third Brother and Fifth Brother have other intentions, they won’t dare to do anything to Royal Father. They’re father and son after all!”

Little Treasure was confident of this much.

Hearing this, Qi Haoran said indignantly, “Could it really be because of a cold?”

Truly believing it was because of a cold, Fan Zijin and Little Treasure lowered their heads sadly.

Qi Haoran sat on his feet helplessly and looked at his big brother, not knowing what to do.

Chief Physician Hua brought in the medicine and said sadly, “This is a new prescription. No matter what, we have to make His Majesty take it.”

Qi Haoran personally fed Qi Xiuyuan and got someone to prepare three bowls of medicine. Even though Qi Xiuyuan did not swallow much, he still drank nearly two-thirds of the medicine.

Chief Physician Hua heaved a sigh of relief and wiped his sweat. Only King Rong would dare to force the medicine down the Emperor’s throat like this.

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