Chapter 271 Concubine Xi doesn't love you at all
The next day, August 11, was the anniversary of the late emperor's death.
Inside the Qinzheng Hall, white smoke rose from the bronze animal-head incense burner.
Duan Rou frowned slightly, her expression sad: "In a blink of an eye, both my mother and father have been gone for so many years."
Xiao Heng smiled wistfully, "When my father left, he was most worried about you. He always said he was afraid you weren't doing well."
"Now, they should be relieved..."
Duan Rou straightened her expression and slowly stood up: "Let's go, let's go burn incense for our father, the emperor, and our mother."
Xiao Heng had just stood up when Bu Zi'an suddenly came in. "Your Majesty, the guards from Yaohua Palace just came to tell me to give you the cakes and letter made by Concubine Zhao."
After saying that, he presented the plate.
Duanrou's eyes narrowed, "Hawthorn cake?"
Xiao Heng looked at the crimson pastries on the plate, and in a trance, the old times came to his mind like silk soaked in water.
That year, when he first came to Queen Wen Yi's lap, he was given a plate of hawthorn cake.
It was also because Zhaopin made him laugh with hawthorn cake that he felt that this sister was very cute.
In the days that followed, every time Wen Yi took medicine, her mother would feed her a hawthorn cake with her own hands.
Xiao Heng opened the letter written by Concubine Zhao herself. There was a drop of water stain on the white paper, like a teardrop in ink.
Duan Rou asked, "Did Concubine Zhao ask the emperor to release her from house arrest?"
Xiao Heng shook his head slightly, "She said that today is the anniversary of the death of the emperor's father, and she was unable to go to pay respects on the anniversary of the death of the queen mother last time, so she begged to go and burn a stick of incense for the emperor and the queen mother today."
Duan Rou pondered and said, "Then let her go. When the Queen Mother was alive, she loved her very much."
Xiao Heng nodded lightly and instructed Bu Zi'an to grant Zhaopin's request.
Duan Rou followed Xiao Heng, saying as they walked, "Royal brother, now that Imperial Concubine Xi has given birth to a princess, are you still planning to keep Concubine Zhao confined to Yaohua Palace?"
Xiao Heng thought for a moment, "Forget it, I think she has sincerely repented, so let her go."
Duanrou glanced at his expression and suddenly felt that when he mentioned Zhaopin, it seemed as if he was talking about an unimportant person.
However, in just a few months, Zhaopin had lost all status in his mind.
After Duan Rou and Xiao Heng came out after burning incense for the late emperor and Empress Wen Yi, they saw Concubine Zhao standing alone in front of the red door, her frosty palace sash fluttering in the wind.
When their eyes met, Zhaopin's eyes suddenly turned red, and the watery color quietly spread to the tip of her eyelashes.
She stared at Xiao Heng closely, and walked slowly and heavily to Xiao Heng, step by step, and bowed slightly: "Your Highness... I pay my respects to the Emperor."
Xiao Heng took a look at her and found that she had become thinner. The tassels on her temples fell diagonally, making her cheeks look even paler.
"No need to be polite."
Zhaopin slowly stood up, gazing at Xiao Heng with burning eyes, "Your Majesty, do you know how long it has been since you and I last saw each other?"
Without waiting for Xiao Heng's reply, she continued, "A full one hundred and seventy-eight days and nights, a full six months."
Upon hearing this, Duan Rou hurried down the stairs and walked aside.
Zhaopin's eyes welled up with tears as she looked at Xiao Heng infatuatedly: "In the eight years since I entered the palace, this is the first time that the emperor has been so cruel. It is also the first time that he has confined me to the palace. I haven't seen him for a whole six months."
She tilted her head back slightly, trying to force the tears back into her eyes. "I remember when I first entered the palace, the Emperor came to Yaohua Palace every day. You specially renovated the Plum Garden for me and gave me the title I most desired. You also allowed me not to go to the Empress to pay my respects. You said... I am the person you care about the most in this palace."
"But why...why did it change suddenly?"
Zhaopin's voice suddenly choked with sobs, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably. "Why are you suddenly so cruel? You haven't said a single word of concern to me for the entire six months."
"Is it...is it that all that love and time we had are nothing but a passing cloud to you?"
Xiao Heng looked her straight in the eye and said gently, "Princess Zhao, if it weren't for our past friendship, I wouldn't have lifted your confinement today."
"Please stop dwelling on the past and the feelings we shared. I hope that we can still retain some of the purest memories."
Having said that, Xiao Heng raised his foot and was about to leave.
Upon seeing this, Zhaopin quickly threw herself into his arms, hugged him tightly, and refused to let him leave.
"Brother Heng... could you please not be so cold to me?"
Zhao Bin buried her face in his chest. The embrace that used to be so warm now did not feel a trace of warmth.
It’s changed…it’s changed…everything has changed.
"Why...why did it become like this? Is it just because of Liu Yuetang's appearance?"
Xiao Heng frowned and gently pushed her away. "It seems that you still haven't repented in the slightest during these days of house arrest. The fact that we have come this far has nothing to do with anyone else."
"It's because over the years, you've gradually worn away the friendship between us. In the end, you've even become the kind of woman I hate the most."
As for what kind of woman it was, Xiao Heng did not say.
But Zhaopin understood.
She smiled sadly, "The woman you hate the most?"
"Your Majesty, is it that you don't understand me well enough, or is it that I have too high expectations of you?"
"Until now, do you still think that the incident on Liuyun Terrace was planned by me personally?"
"Isn't it?" Xiao Heng said coldly.
"No!" Zhaopin shook her head and took a step back.
"At that time, I just wanted to show you the affair between Imperial Concubine Qingxi and Fu Zhixing. That seductive scent was clearly not mine!"
"It was Concubine Xi. Concubine Xi staged this all herself in order to get rid of me! Don't you understand?"
Xiao Heng's eyelids twitched, and he blurted out, "Impossible! Concubine Xi is definitely not that kind of person!"
"Am I that kind of person?"
Seeing that Xiao Heng trusted Liu Yuetang so much, Zhaopin felt a sharp pain in her heart and a salty and fishy taste in her throat.
"Xiao Heng! Look into my eyes!"
Zhaopin stared at him intently: "I can swear on my life that the aphrodisiac was all done by Concubine Xi."
"She's not as innocent as you think. She's ambitious and scheming!"
"To her, you are nothing more than a ladder to a higher position. From the beginning to the end, she has never loved you. All she loves is herself and her status!"
Zhaopin practically roared, "I love you deeply! I understand too well the look in someone's eyes. Xi Guifei's love is only superficial, never reaching the bottom of her eyes! She's just pretending, all fake!"
"Shut up!" Xiao Heng's face changed, and he glared at Concubine Zhao: "I don't want to argue with you anymore. If you continue to talk nonsense like this, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Facing his extremely cold eyes, Zhaopin felt so painful in her heart that she couldn't breathe and tears streamed down her face.
"I hope you are ruthless. I hope you are ruthless to everyone."
"Xiao Heng, I don't want to see you being deceived by others, and I don't want to see you fall in love with a woman who doesn't love you."
When Xiao Heng heard this, his temples jumped, and he immediately left with a wave of his sleeves, saying, "Come here, send Concubine Zhao back to the palace."
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