Chapter 115 All Night

When Zhuzhi finished speaking and looked up, she saw Wen Zhaoyi staring at her intently with a stunned look, as if she had said something terrible.

"Your Majesty...?" Zhuzhi called out to her cautiously.

Wen Zhaoyi snapped out of her daze, abruptly lowered her head, and awkwardly reached for the teacup on the table, only to knock it over.

"Your Highness!" Zhuzhi quickly protected her from burning her hand.

Consort Wen stood up, rubbing her head wearily: "After you've cleaned this place up, you can go now. I'll go read a book for a while."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

A person walked into the inner hall, and Consort Wen sat down on the soft couch. She wrote down the strokes she had just drawn, and as Zhu Zhi had said, she added another stroke... The added stroke indeed made it look like the character "王" (king).

When Zeng was dragged away, he looked as if he hadn't finished writing the character.

Could this character be the character for "king"?

What did Zeng want to say?

"King" refers to His Majesty—no, it shouldn't be His Majesty.

The fact that Zeng's tongue was cut off must have been His Majesty's order. What did she know that she used to blackmail His Majesty? Was His Majesty worried that she would leak some information, which is why he cut off her tongue?

king?

king……

Is it referring to a royal family in the capital, or to a particular prince?

Wen Zhaoyi let out a deep breath, feeling that this matter was not so simple.

She remembered that after Zeng was banished to the Cold Palace, all of her personal maids were beaten to death. Only a few other unrelated palace servants from Zhaoyun Palace survived. Even so, they were all assigned to the laundry department.

The night was deep, but the Yilan Palace was still lit by candlelight.

There was no need for Chu Mingheng to personally attend to interrogations, and he was worried about Lan Wu not waking up yet.

The night wind was chilly, but the room was warm and cozy.

Chu Mingheng had just heard Lan Wu say she was thirsty, so he fed her some warm water. When he saw her drift off to sleep again, he was both angry and helpless.

He leaned against Lan Wu, gently touched her forehead, and said slowly, "Just wait, I won't be taking you out to play anymore."

Once this is mentioned, I become quite talkative again.

"Flying a kite has made your cloak fly away, so you shouldn't be allowed to do that."

"Oh, and that cat, it might be sick, yet you're happily holding it."

"I haven't even seen you hug me."

"You heartless little brat."

Even in her sleep, Lan Wu heard the whispered words in her ear, but she assumed they weren't nice. In her deep sleep, she clearly felt her lips being kissed.

She guessed that it was Chu Mingheng who kissed her, and was about to fall asleep again when she suddenly remembered something.

Lan Wu thought she had tilted her head forcefully, but in reality, it was just a slight movement of her head.

The slight noise made Chu Mingheng tense up, his gaze fixed on Lan Wu's face, thinking she was about to wake up.

Lan Wu did wake up a little, but before she even opened her eyes, her mouth moved first: "Don't... kiss me..."

Chu Mingheng's pupils contracted slightly, and he looked at her with a deep gaze. He couldn't bear to hear these words of rejection, and the next moment he gently covered Lan Wu's lips and bit them lightly.

"Don't say anything, I haven't even held a grudge against you yet, and you're already saying these things."

"We'll talk about other things when you're sober."

Lan Wu had no way to express her suffering. She was still quite conscious and knew what Chu Mingheng was doing, but she just couldn't open her eyes.

Struggling to give up, I simply spoke again, expressing my good intentions: "I'm afraid of getting infected..."

Upon hearing this, Chu Mingheng's expression visibly improved, and he kissed Lan Wu again: "I'm not afraid."

Lan Wu has remained silent again.

Lan Wu finally opened her eyes on the morning of the second day.

She was sweating, and even after someone wiped her down, she still felt uncomfortable. When she regained consciousness, she felt like her bones were limp and all her joints ached.

Through the curtain, I could vaguely see someone sitting on the chair over there, but I didn't see Chu Mingheng.

Since His Majesty went to the morning court session, Lianxi and several others have taken turns guarding the Empress's bedside, afraid of missing any movement from her. They had witnessed the grand spectacle yesterday and dared not be negligent in the slightest.

Seeing movement on the bed, Lianxi thought it was just the wind, but she immediately went over and gently pulled back half of the curtain, only to find that Lanwu was already awake.

"Your Highness, please slow down and don't rush." ​​Lianxi helped her sit up and handed her a glass of warm water that was placed to the side.

Lan Wu drank several mouthfuls to quench her thirst before slowly turning her head to look at the empty inner hall.

"His Majesty stayed by the Empress's side all night last night. When he went to court at dawn, he specifically instructed us to keep watch over the Empress and not let anything go wrong."

Did Chu Mingheng stay by her side all night?

Lan Wu still felt a slight fever, but after hearing what she said, she remembered what had happened last night.

She reached up and touched her forehead, her eyes widened, and she breathed slowly—yes, that old palace maid.

Where are they?

Lan Wu put her hand down and saw Lian Xi calling someone outside to tell them that she had woken up.

A short while later, Mu Jin entered the hall.

Lan Wu hurriedly asked her, "Last night at Princess Yizhen's villa—"

Before she could finish speaking, she couldn't help but sniffle and cough lightly.

Mu Jin quickly comforted her and said, "Your Majesty, the servant girl named Zhu Qing has been taken to the Ministry of Justice by His Majesty's decree, and her identity is currently being verified."

"Last night, Her Majesty suddenly fainted. After examining Her Majesty's pulse, the imperial physician at the princess's villa said that Her Majesty had just caught a common cold. His Majesty gave Her Majesty medicine and then sent people back to the palace overnight."

"Everything was fine at first, but not long after she returned, the Empress began to talk in her sleep and had nightmares. She also had a persistent high fever. His Majesty was furious and ordered all the imperial physicians from the Imperial Hospital to come and treat her. Fortunately, the Empress was blessed with good fortune and soon regained consciousness. His Majesty was still worried about the Empress, so he stayed by her side all night and did not leave until dawn."

After listening to her explanation, Lan Wu roughly understood that she must have caught a chill yesterday, and the sight of the palace maid who killed her in her previous life had aggravated her illness.

"His Majesty... he stayed up all night with me, didn't he sleep?" Lan Wu clutched the blanket tightly and asked her softly.

Mu Jin shook her head: "His Majesty is probably worried about the Empress. Only His Majesty and the Empress are in the hall. We servants are all waiting outside the hall."

"Did he look tired when he went out this morning?"

Lan Wu thought of Chu Mingheng in her hazy memories from last night. She wondered who he was talking to, and how fierce he sounded.

It seems he even kissed her.

Mu Jin hesitated for a moment before replying, "This servant dares not presume to see Your Majesty's face, but I imagine you must be... somewhat tired."

Lan Wu hummed in response, then asked, "Did the imperial physician say when my illness will be cured? My forehead still feels a little hot."

"The imperial physician said that once Your Majesty wakes up, she will be fine. After taking a few more doses of medicine, she will recover in a few days if things go smoothly, but it may take about ten days to half a month if things go slowly. He told Your Majesty not to be impatient."