Chapter 325: Where the Face Gone
July 16, the ninth year of Jingyuan.
Xiao Heng personally went out of the palace to look for Liu Yuetang for a full half month, but there was no trace of her. Even Lan Yue couldn't find her either. He returned to the palace exhausted.
Afterwards, he issued an order, asking the Queen not to mention Liu Yuetang in front of Xiyue.
Just pretend that this person does not exist in the world.
The queen immediately knelt before Xiao Heng and begged for mercy.
"Your Majesty, Imperial Concubine Jing wanted to submit an imperial decree to take Yue'er away, but she didn't do so because I was reluctant to let her go and because she was concerned about your grief. She just wanted Yue'er to remember her in the future and to be able to visit Lanyue Country every year to accompany her. Are you going to deprive her of this wish?"
Xiao Heng flew into a rage and slammed his palm on the table, causing the cups and plates to clang. "Since she left so carefree, she should have considered the consequences."
"From now on! She is no longer Jinghe's Imperial Consort, nor is she the princess' biological mother. Do not mention this woman again!"
"Your Majesty..." The Queen was about to say something when she was stopped by Xiao Heng.
"Queen, please don't say too much."
Facing Xiao Heng's cold gaze, the queen closed her lips helplessly.
After the queen left, Xiao Heng collected Liu Yuetang's portrait and everything related to her.
It was as if she had never set foot in this deep palace, and all traces were wiped out.
But all of this was just Xiao Heng deceiving himself.
Even though her traces were completely erased from the harem, they grew deeper and deeper in his heart.
So deep that he could no longer see other women in his eyes.
There is only room for a vague figure, which becomes clearer and clearer in countless lonely nights.
In the eighth month of the Jingyuan period, all officials petitioned for a selection of concubines to fill the harem and expand the number of offspring.
Xiao Heng grabbed the impeachment memorials one after another and threw them at the feet of the officials. They all prostrated themselves on the ground, silent as a mouse, and never dared to mention the word "selection" again.
As for the Empress Dowager, she was content to worship Buddha in the Buddhist temple in Shoukang Palace and no longer interfered with the affairs of the harem.
In his spare time, he would invite his grandchildren over.
The children were playing around her, chasing and fighting. Listening to the childish voices and laughter filling the room, the empress dowager actually felt that this was the happiest and most fulfilling thing in old age.
The one she loves the most is Xiyue, the only granddaughter she has watched grow up since birth.
Xiyue is very smart. At the age of one year and three months, she can already vaguely call "Father", "Mom", and "Grandma".
That soft voice with a milky aroma makes people's hearts soften when they hear it.
Plus, she was also cute, with a pair of eyes that were as watery as dew, small red lips, and curved eyes when she smiled, making her lovable even without having to act coquettishly.
In the palace, from the Empress Dowager to the concubines, everyone who saw her wanted to tease her, hug her or pinch her soft little face.
Before she knew it, she had become the beloved darling of everyone in the palace.
As Xiyue grew older, she looked more and more like Liu Yuetang.
Whenever he looked at his daughter, Xiao Heng couldn't help but think of Liu Yuetang.
Thinking about it, I don’t know where she is now.
Is it heading towards that vast grassland?
Or do you want to travel across mountains and rivers to see the beautiful scenery of the world?
After thinking about it, a trace of hatred rose in Xiao Heng's heart again.
I hate Liu Yuetang's cruelty, and I also hate myself for not being able to forget her.
The portrait he had hidden was taken out by him personally after only three months.
He sat by the window, unfolding the scroll bit by bit in the moonlight. When he saw the face of the person in the painting, his heart suddenly ached and his eyes became wet.
"Liu Yuetang, Liu Yuetang, you left so cleanly and neatly."
He had prepared a way out for everyone, including the palace maids and eunuchs around her, and Rong Yue, who was on good terms with her.
She only doesn't care about herself at all.
As he thought about it, Xiao Heng gently stroked the eyebrows and eyes of the woman in the painting with his fingertips, and his vision became increasingly blurred.
She finally broke her promise and walked out of the palace with a clean face.
In the years to come, no matter how high the palace walls were, they could not stop her from running towards freedom.
I was left alone in this empty palace, watching over the silence that filled the hall and counting the mornings and evenings of the years.
In the summer of the tenth year of Jingyuan, he once again went to the palace to escape the summer heat.
The gardenias in the Liuyin Palace courtyard are in full bloom, and their rich fragrance fills the entire courtyard.
Xiao Heng walked slowly through it.
In a trance, he seemed to see her squatting beside the flowers, cultivating the soil and planting seedlings with him.
She said that she wanted to plant all the flowers he gave her in the soil so that she could watch them bloom and wither every year.
But now, the flowers are in bloom, but the lover is long gone.
Xiao Heng picked a blooming gardenia, recalling the time when he pinned the flower on Liu Yuetang's temples, and gently raised his hand, holding it in the air.
"Father~"
As the babyish voice sounded, a pink and tender figure came into view.
Xiao Heng looked up and saw two-year-old Xiyue jogging towards him with her skirt lifted up. Her cheeks were sunburned red, like a ripe cherry.
The small pearl hairpin on the bun swayed gently with the movement, making a jingling sound.
When she ran close to Xiao Heng, she tilted her body and threw herself into his arms. Her small hands tightly grasped his robe, and she looked up at the gardenia in his hand and said, "Flower! It smells so good!"
Xiao Heng quickly suppressed the melancholy in his eyes, his eyebrows and eyes full of love and tenderness for his daughter, "Does Yue'er like gardenias too?"
Xiyue nodded heavily, "I like it!"
As she spoke, she raised her chubby little hand, spread her five fingers and made a big circle, and said in a soft voice, "I like it very much... very much."
Her cute look made Xiao Heng laugh, and he raised his fingertips to gently scratch her small nose.
"Your mother... also likes gardenias."
Xiyue's eyes rolled, "Mother... Mother?"
"Yes, it's your mother."
As Yue'er grew older, every time she rushed into the study and saw Liu Yuetang's portrait, she would ask who it was.
Xiao Heng couldn't bear it after all, so he told Yue'er the truth.
Tell her that she still has a mother, but she is not in the palace now.
Tell her that it was because of her mother that she was given life and that she risked her life to give birth to her.
Yue'er didn't quite understand, but after the Queen's explanation, she finally understood that she was different from her other brothers and sisters.
She has two mothers.
One is in the palace, called Queen Mother.
One is outside the palace and is called mother.
One raised her, the other gave birth to her.
"Mother...Mother..." Yue'er pulled Xiao Heng's arm and walked out.
Xiao Heng held her little hand and said, "Yuer, do you want to see your mother?"
Yue Er nodded heavily: "Yes!"
Xiao Heng knelt down and squatted in front of Yue'er, saying softly, "Yue'er, isn't it good to have Father and Mother accompany you? Why do you have to go see Mother?"
Yue'er blinked her big watery eyes and said seriously, "Yue'er wants to, Yue'er wants to."
A two-year-one-month-old child naturally doesn't understand what family affection is. He is just curious about what his mother looks like and whether she is as beautiful as in the painting.
Looking at his daughter's expectant eyes, Xiao Heng felt mixed emotions.
Over the years, Lan Yue has requested more than once to take Yue'er to Lan Yue Kingdom.
But Xiao Heng felt resentful about Liu Yuetang's departure, and he was afraid that Yue'er would refuse to come back after seeing Liu Yuetang.
That's why he always disagreed with Yue'er meeting Liu Yuetang, and did not allow Lanyue's people to take Yue'er to Lanyue Kingdom.
He was afraid that the last bit of her connection to the palace would be gone.
In this way, there was nothing between him and her.
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