"It presides over the lifespans of men and women; could it be that this Magu Card can only help women extend their lives, and is useless for men?"
While muttering to herself,
Ding Yun had already clicked to use the Magu Card.
She quickly learned about Magu's abilities, and she had guessed correctly. Magu could indeed only help women extend their lifespans. Her skill was named "Magu Offers Longevity." Each offering could help someone extend their life by half a jiazi,
a full thirty years.
However, she could only extend lifespans, not save lives. This meant she could only help others extend their theoretical lifespan by thirty years. During those thirty years, if they fell ill or were assassinated,
she couldn't do anything about it.
This was because illness and death were not under her jurisdiction.
But this was still very powerful, after all, thirty years of lifespan was not a small amount. And her skill wasn't limited to a single use per person. The only regret was that her own mother had died many years ago, so she couldn't extend her life.
Now she could only extend the lifespans of her daughters, granddaughters, and even daughters-in-law or granddaughters-in-law and other female descendants.
If more people lived past a hundred years old in the future,
she wouldn't seem too conspicuous.
Another thing that made Ding Yun happiest about the Magu Card wasn't its ability to increase women's lifespans, but the fact that through the "Magu Offers Longevity" skill, she could silently enter the body of the recipient and understand the world through their eyes.
In other words, Ding Yun's eavesdropping had not ended. Although it wasn't as convenient as her previous method of observing through animal eyes, she could still continue to gather gossip.
At the same time, her "Magu Offers Longevity" skill didn't necessarily have to add thirty years of lifespan to others every time. Thirty years was the maximum she could add in a single offering.
She could also add one or two years, or even one or two months.
Therefore, there was no need to worry that she would offer longevity everywhere while eavesdropping, causing the entire capital to be filled with centenarians.
Thus, after merging with the Magu Card, the first thing Ding Yun did was to carefully recall which women she could directly contact or see, and who had been privy to the gossip she had previously overheard. She then selectively offered them longevity.
Since they were not her family, but merely tools for her to gather gossip, Ding Yun was quite stingy, giving each person only a month or two of lifespan. It was enough for her to get her gossip.
Then, of course, she continued to happily eavesdrop.
And she didn't dare to delay for a moment.
After all, the three harem concubines who had initially claimed to be pregnant were due to give birth in the next month or two.
She figured this would be the most exciting period,
and she wondered what kind of monsters and ghosts would appear.
How could she not keep a close watch? It was like watching a thrilling part of a TV series and having to hold it in when you desperately needed to pee.
And as Ding Yun expected, the storyline indeed became more exciting and stimulating. After Emperor Huiyang discovered through the imperial physicians that he had been given an abortifacient, he became furious for a period of time. He then increased the protection for the pregnant concubines and intensified the investigation of the imperial palace.
After all, he had been rendered infertile, and it was an irreversible condition. The currently pregnant concubines were his last hope, so how could he not strive to protect them?
As for the thorough investigation and cleanup of the imperial palace, anyone who was rendered infertile would be devastated and want to find the mastermind to exact revenge.
Moreover, thoroughly investigating the imperial palace could further protect the safety of the pregnant concubines. Why wouldn't he do it?
Some princes also received this news.
And became even more desperate.
They all began to continue their schemes and so on.
Afterward, outwardly, some eunuchs and palace maids were dismissed from the imperial palace, and some eunuchs and palace maids died from an epidemic. In reality, Emperor Huiyang used the palace cleanup to eliminate most of the spies from outside clans and had already figured out the plots of several princes. However, it was not yet time to break ties. He had even discovered that it was the people of Prince Liyang who had given him the abortifacient.
And Prince Liyang's plan to swap the crown prince was,
of course, also discovered.
In fact, Prince Liyang's actions were all the more disastrous.
If he hadn't given Emperor Huiyang the abortifacient, Emperor Huiyang wouldn't have become so enraged and frantically investigated the palace to find the mastermind. Once the investigation pointed to Prince Liyang, Emperor Huiyang would naturally have to figure out why he had given him the abortifacient. What benefit would he get from rendering him infertile? Nothing happens without reason. He risked so much to give him an abortifacient; there must be a benefit greater than the risk!
With further investigation and deduction,
his "swapping the crown prince" plan would be exposed.
However, Emperor Huiyang was still able to keep his composure. After investigating these matters, he did not act immediately but prepared to go with the flow and use Prince Liyang's own plan against him. Once he caught Prince Liyang red-handed in the act of swapping the crown prince, he would directly eliminate him.
After all, he couldn't publicly announce that he had executed Prince Liyang for attempting to harm him by giving him an abortifacient!
That would also cause him to lose face.
Therefore, he could only wait until Prince Liyang attempted to swap the crown prince to apprehend him. This matter would still be enough to sentence him to death.
On the other side, Prince Liyang was still blissfully unaware, anticipating his son's ascension to the throne. Even if no one knew, his lineage would have inherited the throne.
Another month later, the concubine in the cold palace was the first to give birth. The other two, one genuinely pregnant and the other falsely so, were afraid that the concubine in the cold palace would give birth to a legitimate eldest son. They both quickly took labor-inducing drugs to give birth, while the other immediately pretended to give birth.
And they notified Prince Liyang to quickly send his son in.
Prince Liyang also immediately began his plan.
To speed things up, he even gave his pregnant concubine a labor-inducing drug that would save the mother but harm the child, in order to give birth to the child sooner and leave him enough time to swap the crown prince.
The entire imperial palace was in turmoil.
Various drugs and incense that were unfavorable to fertility
were being brought out one after another.
In short, it was chaotic. Giving birth was like embarking on the journey to the West; it was simply eighty-one tribulations. In the final moments before birth, there were still several tribulations awaiting them.
In the end, Prince Liyang's attempt to swap the crown prince was caught red-handed by the people Emperor Huiyang had dispatched.
The other two concubines gave birth to daughters.
That's right, both were daughters.
Emperor Huiyang was extremely disappointed. He was too lazy to delve into whether the daughter born in the cold palace was his biological child or not. It was a daughter anyway, so what difference did it make if she was his biological child or not? Moreover, precisely because she was a daughter, it was even more proof that she was his biological child, since he had never had a son.
Following this, he swiftly announced Prince Liyang's actions to the world and executed him. The son he had brought into the palace to swap the crown prince was demoted to commoner.
He was then sent back to his father, who had also been demoted to commoner.
Prince Liyang's eldest son.
Subsequently, Emperor Huiyang's main focus shifted entirely to the remaining two pregnant concubines in the palace. However, at the same time, most of the other princes who had harbored ambitions breathed a sigh of relief and no longer thought about harming the imperial offspring. After all, Emperor Huiyang couldn't even have a son, so why scheme? There was no need to risk it.
She was already the Ninth Princess.
Perhaps in a few months, she would be the Eleventh Princess.
Everyone generally assumed that he couldn't have a son.