Chapter 133
"Xuan'er, what Lord Shen and the Imperial Astrologer said is correct," the Empress Dowager advised.
Upon hearing this, Song Xuan closed his dark eyes. The blood-soaked bed pierced his heart with excruciating pain, and his thin lips turned pale as he involuntarily took a half-step back.
He murmured, "My soul is restless, my soul is restless."
He couldn't imagine how much pain Qing Nian must have been in, while he had abandoned her and gone to the coronation ceremony alone. How desperate and how much suffering she must have endured...
Song Xuan was unsteady on his feet, and his face was extremely pale. He just stood there.
Seeing that Song Xuan did not express his opinion, Shen Zheng boldly walked to the bedside and carefully bent down to lift the person off the bed.
Xiazi quickly instructed the palace servants to replace the blood-stained brocade quilt with a bright red mandarin duck brocade quilt.
Shen Zheng held the corpse in his arms. He looked at Song Xuan beside him and felt a chill run down his spine. The corpse was a death row inmate in prison. Although it was wearing a human skin mask, its body was already extremely thin and frail, with only a skeleton remaining.
If His Majesty truly held the baby in his arms, he would surely notice something amiss.
Song Xuan looked at the person in Chen Zheng's arms. The metallic taste in his throat, which had subsided, seemed to rise again. He swallowed the metallic taste.
He hadn't even noticed how thin and frail Qing Nian had become...
Shen Qingnian deliberately distanced herself from Song Xuan before giving birth, and the two didn't have much contact during this time, which is why Song Xuan thought that way.
The palace servants quickly changed the brocade quilt, and Shen Zheng breathed a sigh of relief after putting Shen Qingnian back on the bed. Zhu Lan and the palace maids carried the screen forward and changed the body on the bed into clean clothes.
After all this was done, Song Xuan said, "Everyone, get out. I want to be alone with Qing Nian."
He wanted to spend time with Qingnian.
Shen Zheng's heart trembled. He wanted to speak up to dissuade her, but the Empress Dowager stopped him with a single glance and led everyone away.
The bedchamber fell silent, with only Song Xuan remaining.
He sat by the bed, the jasmine incense still burning in the bedroom, enveloping and binding his heart...
It's all his fault. If he had stayed with her last night, if he hadn't chosen to ascend the throne today, would there have been any way to turn things around?
Or perhaps, he was destined to lose his loved ones in this lifetime.
This should have been the most triumphant day of Song Xuan's life, but it became a nightmare that he couldn't shake off for a long time afterward.
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Outside the palace, a carriage swayed and rattled along a remote road in the capital.
Shen Qingnian lay on the soft couch, with Aunt Liu and Xiaoju sitting beside her. Aunt Liu was holding a small baby in her arms.
The three of them changed into ordinary people's coarse linen clothes. They were still in Beijing and wanted to keep a low profile as much as possible.
"The little girl is so beautiful! Her skin is so delicate right after birth, it's truly rare," Xiaoju said excitedly.
She did not leave the palace on her own, but chose to stay by the side of her mistress and lady. Having spent so much time with her mistress, she had long regarded her as a close friend.
Aunt Liu smiled happily: "This little girl is indeed beautiful, even more so than when Qing Nian was born."
Lying on the soft couch, Shen Qingnian smiled. This smile was not a deliberately controlled, gentle one, but rather a light and genuine one from the heart.
Although her face was somewhat pale, her eyes were bright. From now on, she no longer needed to pretend and could be her true self again.
The occasional cries of vendors outside the carriage stirred a sense of excitement within her. She and her mother would no longer be at the mercy of others; their future looked bright and promising...
Shen Qingnian was still very weak after giving birth, so Shen Zheng assigned her two guards, who were actually there to escort them to Lincheng.
In Lincheng, Shen Zheng had already prepared a manor and bought servants, waiting for Shen Qingnian and the others to jump from the prison of the capital into the prison of Lincheng.
Shen Zheng would not keep his promise and set them free.
Shen Qingnian exchanged a glance with Xiaoju, who nodded slightly and walked towards the carriage door. She said to the two guards driving the horse, "Please find a remote inn for my young lady to rest for a few days before continuing our journey."
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