Fierce Consort (Part 2)

Chapter 168

Winter turned to Spring and the year started anew.

This New Year's, the crown prince's faction was especially sullen. The crown prince was confined for a month and only released towards the end of the year. This matter still wasn't over yet. As long as the Jin Prince's leg remained unhealed, the crown prince needed to lower his head and behave.

The Qi Prince was summoned back to the capital and caused another ruckus. He had always been hot-headed. Hearing that the Jin Prince's leg was broken due to the crown prince, he harassed the recently released crown prince, demanding an explanation.

But what explanation was there to give? The crown prince was also sullen. Someone slightly more reasonable wouldn't have made things awkward by causing a ruckus. But if the Qi Prince was reasonable, he wouldn't have done so to begin with.

The Qi Prince was ultimately restrained. His actions caused another round of waves in the matter which had finally calmed down previously. This only gradually faded when the New Year arrived. However, the haze still remained.

Time slowly passed and several months went by in the blink of an eye. The crown prince's faction remained sullen but since they were lacking in confidence it wasn't convenient to speak up. They could only wait for the Jin Prince's leg to heal before dealing with what needed to be dealt with.

The idea was good but reality was cruel. What happened next inflicted heavy damage on the crown prince's faction once again.

The Jin Prince's leg healed but the injury left behind some issues. The Jin Prince actually became lame?!
It wasn't very serious, just a little limp. It wasn't apparent when standing but once he walked it was obvious.

This was like a bolt from the blue. Not only did Senior Concubine Xu and the Jin Prince feel the heavens were collapsing, even the crown prince's faction was dazed by this bolt and unable to react.

Lame?

If this were before, the crown prince's faction would love to see the Jin Prince in tragic circumstances. Now, however? Don't joke around. The crown prince and Empress Xiao were definitely the ones who most wanted the Jin Prince to be perfectly fine.

They were feeling wrongly accused to begin with and had a bucket of feces dunked on them. Now, that bucket couldn't be removed!

Senior Concubine Xu was inconsolable, crying like her mom had died. Emperor Xi had an ugly expression for several days, and would flip out at minor things. The court and the rear palace seemed to be overcast. The palace maids, eunuchs and offiicals all shrunk their necks and behaved.

The Jin Prince had suffered a blow and shut himself away in the Jin Prince Estate. Senior Concubine Xu was heartbroken but she knew there was no use in just being sad. The entire imperial medical center's imperial physicians had been sent to treat the Jin Prince.

The results were extremely not ideal.

They had said that a broken bone depended on luck to heal. With luck, there wouldn't be any issues remaining. Without luck, it wasn't rare for the leg to become lame or crippled. Now that he was lame, how were they supposed to cure him? Could they break his leg once again, and then reattach it?

Without mentioning how unorthodox tht would be, no imperial physician had such abilities.

Furthermore, when news of his lameness was announced, the imperial physicians who examined him that day were all executed by Emperor Xi. No one dared get involved with this matter anymore. It wasn't like they were tired of living.

The crown prince was now screwed. Emperor Xi vented his anger on him frequently and any explanation was useless.

This matter made the circumstances in the capital interesting. No one dared to suggest having the Jin Prince return to his vassal state during this sensitive time. The crown prince's faction could only continue to behave.