Chapter 302 Punishing Rong Yue

"Flood?"

Xiao Jingheng was skeptical and said, "Although it is cloudy and rainy in Jiangnan this year, the riverbanks in Suzhou and Hangzhou have just been reinforced. I have also personally inspected the remaining dikes and dams, and they are all solid and intact. Where did you get this flood?"

The way of the donor: "I just deduced it based on the result of the hexagram, and I have no real evidence."

Xiao Jingheng was unhappy, "What does the supervisor say?"

"The divination methods used by me and the Supervisor are different. The Supervisor did not figure this out and even argued with me. I had no choice but to come and report this to the Emperor in person."

Xiao Jingheng paused for a moment, and said lightly, "I know," and sent Tan Yuezhi away, obviously not taking the matter to heart.

After everyone left, Song Zhao asked, "Hasn't the emperor always disbelieved in divination? Why did he summon him into the palace this time?"

Xiao Jingheng sighed, "I went through a lot of dangers during the southern tour, and he hit the nail on the head. This has given me a different view on divination. After all, it is something left by our ancestors, and it has survived for thousands of years, so it must have some truth to it.

I originally summoned him to the palace because I saw his ability, but now it seems that he is just talking nonsense. I don’t know if what he said to me that day was just a fluke and he got it right.”

Song Zhao said, "If he has no real ability and just relies on cheating to get by, the emperor doesn't need to keep him in the palace to serve him."

Xiao Jingheng nodded in agreement, "The court never keeps idle people. Keep him for three months and see what happens. If he is really a useless person, I will send him away."

*

After a few days, the autumn heat has passed and the weather in Kyoto has officially entered autumn.

The days are getting cooler day by day, which is also very comfortable.

During this period, because Xiao Jingheng favored Song Zhao alone, Concubine Ying, Concubine Yun, and Concubine Yao gradually formed a group and rarely interacted with Song Zhao on weekdays.

Song Zhao was too lazy to pay attention to them, so she just let Xiao Fuzi spread the word secretly so that everyone in the palace would know about her and Xiao Jingheng's relationship.

For the rest, Song Zhao didn't have to do anything. She just had to wait for someone to lose patience first and become anxious to death. Then she would just wave her hand and send that person off.

However, although those who wanted the position of concubines distanced themselves from Song Zhao for their own interests, those who were of lower status and knew they had no hope of getting the position of empress were very fawning on Song Zhao.

On this day, Huipin brought Rongyue and Li Changzai to visit Song Zhao.

At that time, Song Zhao was accompanying Cheng Yu in learning to walk in the courtyard.

Children who are almost one year old and have just learned to walk from crawling are the most worrying.

I always worry that if I don't keep an eye on my child, he or she might get hurt. As a mother, I feel really bad.

When Huipin entered, she saw Chengyu surrounded by seven or eight eunuchs and palace maids, running happily, and could skillfully call Song Zhao "mother concubine", so she smiled and said:

"Wow~ The eldest prince is not even one year old yet, but he can already run around. He is really smart~"

She led Li Changzai and the others to bow to Song Zhaofu, and heard Li Changzai also say with a smile:

"Empress Yi doesn't know. We just went to pay our respects to the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager is raising Princess Jinghe. It's been three months since the full-year banquet, and she still walks with a stumble and can't speak clearly. She's not even a bit cuter than the eldest prince."

Huipin said, "I heard from my mother that girls are supposed to speak earlier than boys, but now it seems that's not always the case."

But Rong Yue sneered at this time: "No matter how stupid she is, she is still the eldest princess born of a legitimate wife, extremely noble. How can a child born of a concubine compare to her?"

As soon as these words came out, the smile on Song Zhao's face froze.

In order to curry favor with Song Zhao, Li Changzai quickly retorted to Rong Yue,

"Both legitimate and illegitimate children are the emperor's children. Whoever the emperor likes will naturally be honored. It has been more than two months since I came to the palace. Have you seen the emperor meet the eldest princess once? On the contrary, the emperor misses Concubine Yi every now and then."

Rong Yue said, "The emperor didn't see the eldest princess because he was thinking of the queen, and he would be sad to see the eldest princess. Besides, what would happen if the emperor came to see Concubine Yi? The eldest princess was given a title when she was just born, and the eldest prince has no honor at all until now, right?"

"You..." Li Changzai was even more annoyed than Song Zhao. "We came here to pay our respects to Concubine Yi, and we respect her in our hearts. What are you talking about here? Do you think I don't know what you are planning? You have been in contact with Concubine Ying a lot in private, and I'm afraid you have already surrendered to her? What? Did Concubine Ying ask you to come here today to talk to Concubine Yi about these nonsense?"

Rong Yue was not to be outdone, "Don't try to throw dirty water on me. The emperor hates the harem forming cliques for personal gain. You..."

"alright."

Song Zhao stopped the quarrel between the two with a solemn voice, his sharp eyes fell on Rong Yue's face, and he said in a cold tone:

"Since you know that the emperor is averse to forming cliques for personal gain, you shouldn't be so close to Concubine Ying. The bracelet on your wrist is from the Hu tribe, right? Concubine Ying is also generous enough to give you this good thing!"

Rong Yue hurriedly put her hands behind her back and stammered, "Your Majesty, please understand. I did not..."

"You know best whether you have it or not." Song Zhao sneered, and then ordered Yunshan: "Tong Changzai is rude, you keep an eye on her and make her kneel in the courtyard of Changle Palace for two hours before she can return to her own palace."

Rong Yue begged for mercy, Li Chang looked smug, and Huipin timidly tried to reconcile:

"Sister Song, Sister Tong didn't mean it, so why not..."

"Sister, don't worry about it." Song Zhao took Huipin's hand and said to her affectionately, "She is someone in your palace. I don't want to blame her, but I am the assistant in charge of the six palaces, and I can't allow such people to mess around in the harem."

In this case, Huipin could not give any more advice.

Later, the others left Rong Yue kneeling in the courtyard alone, and went to the palace to chat for a while. When they were leaving, they saw Rong Yue still kneeling in the courtyard. Li Changzai said sarcastically, "You better kneel down. This is in the palace of Concubine Yi, and no one is as kind as Concubine Hui to save you!"

Huipin looked at Rongyue with a worried look on her face, and whispered to Yunshan:

"Sister Tong is weak, please don't make it too hard on her..."

How would they know?

As soon as the two of them left Changle Palace, Song Zhao immediately helped Rong Yue up from the ground.

She clenched Rong Yue's hand, looking reluctant.

"I'm sorry, sister."

Rong Yue smiled and shook her head, "I'm not wronged. It has to be like this, so that the fact that I offended you today can be spread from Li Changzai's mouth and known to everyone in the palace. Everyone knows that you and I are not on good terms, and Ying Fei will believe that I have no way out and must be truly loyal to her."

Song Zhao held Rong Yue's hand and walked into the palace. Thinking that she loved Cheng Yu the most, she asked Yun Shan to bring Cheng Yu over.

But Rong Yue stopped Yun Shan and said, "Don't go. The child is grown up now, and he will get close to whoever treats him well. You and I have always been 'unfriendly', if your child gets close to me, won't people notice something?"

After saying this, he looked at the side hall where Cheng Yu lived with great affection.

Then he held Song Zhao's hand tightly and went into the inner bedroom without looking back.