Song Xizhi vividly imitated Consort Li's earlier demeanor, kneeling on the ground with utter misery, and forcefully squeezing out two more tears:
"My daughter has suffered a terrible injustice and has no way to express her grievances. To make matters worse, she is being misunderstood by her own father and sister. My daughter's heart is aching terribly..."
"Father, please, no matter what happens in the future, don't doubt your daughter so easily, okay? Your daughter has always wanted to be a good daughter..."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Guangqi suddenly came to his senses. He abruptly turned around and looked at Song Juncai, who was huddled in the corner, trembling with fear.
"Not only was she innocent, she also healed my son, and she deserves credit! Yet you, without distinguishing right from wrong, directly framed her! Song Juncai, this is your fault!"
The emperor glanced at Song Xizhi's clumsy acting, then looked at the silent Song Ruoan and Zhao Qianlan: "You two, blood is thicker than water, yet you gave false testimony from the very beginning. Did you stepmother and stepsister do this on purpose?"
“If someone is of bad character or makes a mistake, they will be confined to their quarters for a period of time, and each of them will be required to copy one hundred volumes of scriptures and kneel with Madam Zhao for five hours a day as punishment.”
"Learn more from Song Xizhi!"
Emperor Guangqi seemed to be feeling a bit tired. He said those words and walked straight outside, but before he could leave, he remembered something.
So he pointed his index finger at Song Juncai and said, "You're not a good father."
Emperor Guangqi's reprimand was already quite severe; Song Juncai's face turned deathly pale, and he felt his mouth go dry.
It was clearly winter, but I was sweating all over.
When Song Xizhi heard about the punishment Emperor Guangqi had given to the group, he was filled with gratitude.
But when he heard the emperor's last sentence, he thought of the rumors about the crown prince and couldn't help but twitch his lips, thinking to himself: Actually, the emperor wasn't such a good father either.
He abandoned his own son on the mountain and didn't care about him at all, not even seeing him for more than ten years.
The eldest brother shouldn't even mention the second brother.
Song Xizhi was lost in thought when he felt a burning gaze sweep over his face.
She snapped back to her senses and saw the emperor looking at her with narrowed eyes, then said in a deep voice, "You, follow me."
Song Xizhi clenched his fists somewhat guiltily and jogged to the emperor's side.
As soon as the two stepped out of the house, a cold wind blew against their faces, and Siqin had just put a cloak on Song Xizhi.
Song Xizhi then heard Emperor Guangqi's meaningful voice coming from beside him: "Were you standing still just now, secretly cursing me? Saying that I am hiding my identity?"
Song Xizhi shuddered and shook her head innocently, "No, no, I am grateful to Your Majesty for saving me from this predicament."
The emperor laughed: "Then you must have been cursing even more horrible things in your heart just now."
Song Xizhi felt a chill run down his spine. He looked up abruptly, but dared not meet his eyes.
But then she suddenly felt that the face in front of her seemed somewhat familiar.
Emperor Guangqi saw that Song Xizhi was somewhat lost in thought again, but he did not pursue what she was thinking. He simply said, "If you want to express your gratitude to me, then make more incense and send it to me."
Song Xi was taken aback, then heard him continue, "The incense that Prince Xiu sent is quite good. I've been relying on this incense to fall asleep lately."
"Didn't you make this?"
Song Xizhi felt Emperor Guangqi's warm gaze and unusually affectionate attitude towards her, which she found somewhat strange, but she didn't have time to think about why.
She nodded hastily: "Alright, if you can't sleep tonight, I will make some sleep-inducing incense and send it to you tomorrow."
The emperor shook his head: "No need for special research, the ordinary ones will do."
Song Xizhi nodded and accepted the order.
Once she returned to her room, she had all of Wu Mama's belongings—her medicine box, paper and pen, and the medicinal herbs she had brought up the mountain—moved over.
Granny Wu was somewhat surprised: "Didn't you promise His Majesty that you would develop incense to help him sleep? Why did you have this old servant bring the medicine box and herbs?"
Song Xizhi waved his hand: "Just send him the finished incense, there's no need to make it so elaborate."
Today's events not only resulted in Consort Liang's defeat and the punishment of Zhao Qianlan, Song Juncai, and others, but also made Song Xizhi realize something very important.
There must be an affair between Zhao Qianlan and Zhao Qingshu.
Eyes don't lie. In the few times Zhao Qingshu and Zhao Qianlan exchanged glances, there were undercurrents, but when he looked at Madam Zhao, his eyes were full of feigned tenderness.
The owner of that room full of props that day must have been Zhao Qingshu.
Zhao Qingshu not only had an affair with his cousin, but he also took advantage of Madam Zhao's love for him, making Madam Zhao willingly take on all of this.
As Song Xizhi pondered, she recalled the hints that Consort Zhen had given her a few days earlier.
It seems that Zhao Qingshu had a peculiar fetish for matters between men and women, and that Madam Zhao was born into a military family with her parents fighting on the frontier year-round, leaving her without any guidance, so she had status but no brains.
After her parents died, Zhao Qingshu became her only support. Because of her lack of love, she unconditionally trusted everything Zhao Qingshu said.
It's highly likely that the women rumored to have died at Madam Zhao's hands were not killed by Madam Zhao, but rather tortured to death by Zhao Qingshu in bed.
Then Zhao Qingshu tricked Madam Zhao into cleaning up his mess.
Song Xizhi thought this made a lot of sense, but she had no evidence.
However, since Consort Zhen helped her today by informing her of the situation, she should give Consort Zhen a return gift.
As Song Xizhi thought about it, the image of Song Juncai crying and pleading in front of him, saying that he and his mother were shameless, appeared before his eyes again.
She smiled mockingly and chuckled softly.
She had endured this for a long time, and now she was going to show Song Juncai what true shamelessness really meant.
Just then, Granny Wu came to Song Xizhi's side again and handed her several letters: "Miss, the young master has sent another letter. This old servant was thinking that you haven't sent a letter back for several days."
Song Xizhi stopped what she was doing, took the letter from the nanny, and placed it on the side of the square table: "Okay, I'll read it when I have time."
When Granny Wu saw the several unopened letters beside Song Xizhi, she opened her mouth as if to say something, but when she saw Song Xizhi's focused expression, she silently retreated.
The inner bedroom returned to quiet.
After an unknown amount of time, a noise suddenly came from the bed, which had been tightly closed in the room.
When Song Xizhi heard the sound, he suddenly raised his head and saw a tall man in front of him.
Song Xizhi was startled by him.
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