Chapter 392 Penalty Copy

Huo Lin closed his eyes, rested his head on Jiang Huan's shoulder, took a few deep breaths, and tried to calm his surging blood and qi.

After a while, he got up, straightened her disheveled clothes, and carefully tucked in the edges of the thin blanket.

He got up and walked to the window, opened it, and let the cool breeze dispel the sweltering heat in the room.

Once his breathing and heartbeat had calmed down, Huo Lin turned around and walked back to the bedside.

He sat down and pulled her, blanket and all, back into his arms, his chin gently brushing against the top of her head, his tone both fierce and doting.

"After the children are born safely, I will definitely get them back with interest."

Jiang Huan nestled in his arms, listening to his heartbeat, which was a little faster than usual, and couldn't help but secretly smile.

"Okay, I'll be waiting."

The atmosphere inside the palace was warm and inviting, but in another corner of the palace, the scene was quite different.

Inside the laundry room, the air was thick with moisture and dampness.

Wen Yilin, dressed in coarse cloth, was burying her head in a large basin of clothes and scrubbing them vigorously. Her once well-maintained hands had become white and wrinkled from being soaked, and thin calluses had even formed on her fingertips.

She bit her lip, her face full of resentment, mechanically repeating the tedious movements, while cursing Jiang Huan a thousand times in her heart.

Why should that slut get to enjoy all the favor, while she has to do this lowly work here?

She's just relying on her pregnancy to get pregnant, she's not reconciled, she has to get out!

Wen Yilin has been washing clothes here for a whole month, and she is so tired every day that her back aches and she can't see the end of it.

She tried asking someone to send a message home, but it was all in vain.

She had considered faking illness, but the head maid was very perceptive and wouldn't fall for it.

Just as she was filled with despair, she suddenly caught a glimpse of Xiao Zhao out of the corner of her eye, leading two palace maids and bringing a batch of clothes that needed to be washed.

Wen Yilin's eyes lit up suddenly—the opportunity had arrived!

Taking advantage of the moment when the head maid turned away, she quickly moved to the water basin and took out a fine jade safety buckle from the only purse that hadn't been searched.

Wen Yilin's heart pounded wildly, her palms sweated, and she seized the opportunity when Xiao Zhao finished handing over the clothes and walked alone towards the corner of the corridor, and rushed over suddenly.

"Miss Xiao Zhao, good girl, please have mercy on me."

Wen Yilin lowered her voice and said urgently, "Please put in a good word for me with the Imperial Noble Consort. I really can't stand it anymore. The work in the laundry department is inhuman. Take this, it's a small token of my appreciation. I will reward you handsomely after it's done!"

Xiao Zhao was startled. When she saw that it was Wen Yilin, she felt something being stuffed into her hand and quickly pushed it back as if she had been burned.

"This is unacceptable, I dare not, please take it back immediately."

"Good girl, please help me, only you can save me."

Wen Yilin gripped Xiao Zhao's hand tightly, preventing her from returning the items, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"In my current predicament, only Your Majesty's kindness can save me. You only need to say one thing for me: that I know I was wrong and will never dare to do it again. Please, Your Majesty, have mercy..."

Xiao Zhao was a kind-hearted girl. Seeing Wen Yilin crying pitifully, and unable to refuse, she panicked for a moment.

Thinking that Consort Wen did indeed look pitiful, and fearing that others would see the scene of the struggle, she finally grabbed the safety buckle in a daze, as if she had a hot potato in her hand, and ran back to Weiyang Palace in a panic.

Consort Wen is desperate. If others see this scuffle today, or if Consort Wen turns around and bites back later, she will have no way to explain herself.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt she had done something terribly wrong and had let down the Empress's trust. Finally, she couldn't hold back anymore and ran to Jiang Huan to apologize.

Inside Weiyang Palace, Jiang Huan and Huo Lin were enjoying a tender moment when Xiao Zhao suddenly knelt down, holding the peace knot in her hands, crying her heart out, and incoherently recounted what had happened.

"...This servant knows she was wrong, this servant will never dare to do it again, please punish me, Your Majesty!"

Jiang Huan looked at the safety buckle, then at Xiao Zhao who was terrified, and understood perfectly.

Wen Yilin is at her wit's end and is resorting to desperate measures.

They actually tried to follow Xiao Zhao's path, but unfortunately, they chose the wrong person and used the wrong method.

Huo Lin's face darkened the moment Xiao Zhao entered, and after listening to her tearful account, the atmosphere around him became so oppressive it could freeze a person to death.

He glanced at the safety buckle, his gaze as cold as ice.

[Wen Yilin? It's her again?]

[After washing clothes for a month, are you still not clearing your head of the water? You actually dare to play these low-class tricks.]

"You think you can bribe her with this worthless stone? Do you think my Weiyang Palace is a marketplace? You think you can haggle over a copper coin?"

Does this woman think I'm too good-natured, or does she think she's such a good actress that she can fool everyone?

[I think she found the water in the laundry room too cold and wanted to find a place to calm her head.]

Huo Lin snorted coldly and instructed Wang Degui, "Although you were unintentional, you are poor at judging people and easily manipulated, which is a major taboo in the palace. Go and learn the palace rules from Granny Cui for three days to remember this lesson well."

Xiao Zhao knew she had done something wrong, and kowtowed repeatedly: "This servant will definitely learn the rules from Granny Cui and will never do it again!"

[Granny Cui was an old hand in the palace, known for her strictness and iron fist. Making Xiao Zhao suffer for a few days was a lesson she would learn so that she wouldn't be easily fooled again.]

Jiang Huan listened to his arrangements without saying anything.

In the palace, being too naive can easily lead to being taken advantage of. Letting Granny Cui temper Xiao Zhao's temperament might not be a bad thing.

After dealing with Xiao Zhao's matter, Huo Lin's gaze fell once again on the jade safety buckle, his eyes cold.

"It seems she's finished with her job at the laundry department."

Jiang Huan raised an eyebrow and asked curiously, "Oh? So what are your plans for her?"

Huo Lin pondered for a moment, then instructed Wang Degui: "Transmit my decree that Consort Wen's heart is not upright. From this day forward, she shall copy the Heart Sutra ten times a day and reflect on her faults. Without my decree, she shall not leave the palace. Only when her heart is at peace can we discuss other matters."

[To dare to set her sights on Weiyang Palace, copying scriptures is too lenient a thing.]

[This is a good opportunity to give her scheming mind a good cleansing, to scrub it clean with Buddhist scriptures.]

Wang Degui immediately bowed and said, "This servant understands. I will go and convey the decree immediately."

When the imperial decree reached the laundry department, Wen Yilin had just finished washing a large basin of clothes, and was so tired that her back ached and her calluses on her hands had thickened.

Just as she was figuring out how to turn things around, she heard the eunuch's shrill voice announcing the imperial decree.

When she heard that she no longer needed to do laundry, she was overjoyed, and her face instantly lit up with hope.

But then, copying the Heart Sutra ten times a day instantly froze the joy on her face.

"No... Father-in-law, is there some mistake? How could the Emperor..." Wen Yilin wanted to argue.

The eunuch delivering the decree said expressionlessly, "Your Majesty, the Emperor's decree is very clear. As for why, the Emperor said that Your Majesty is overthinking things and needs to calm down."