"What?!"
Song Shiwei was making incense when she heard the palace maids chatting and couldn't help but exclaim.
Seeing the palace maids' puzzled looks, Song Shiwei forced a smile and said, "You just said that Jiang Zhiyu was promoted to Imperial Censor?"
The maid looked at her warily. Seeing that she had a beautiful face and didn't seem like someone who would gossip, she nodded and said, "Yes, the emperor just issued an edict. I heard that Miss Jiang is only twelve years old, but she is so capable. She is truly a darling of heaven."
Song Shiwei's silver teeth were almost broken by her biting. She rubbed the branches and leaves frantically with her hands, and traces of blood dripped from her fingertips.
Why! Why?!
She should be stepped on by him like she was when she was little! How could she possibly win the favor of His Majesty?!
Why can’t I do it!
"Miss Song, Miss Song?"
Song Shiwei came back to his senses and saw the maid's surprised eyes. He chuckled and said, "Sorry, I was distracted just now. What happened?"
Even though her voice was gentle, the maid looked at the blood on the ground and her voice was a little cold: "Aunt Qiuyi is calling you."
Song Shi raised her eyes slightly and saw Qiu Yi standing on the steps, looking at her angrily.
"Qiu Yi...ah!" Song Shiwei hurried over, but before she reached her, Qiu Yi threw a bottle at her.
Song Shiwei was unable to dodge and was hit by the bottle.
"Can you do it or not?!" When he got closer, Song Shiwei saw that Qiu Yi's face was also red and swollen, with clear finger marks. It seemed that he had been scolded by the Queen Mother.
"How long are you going to keep making this incense?! Every time the Queen Mother smells your incense, she gets nightmares. Sometimes I even wonder if you didn't make a new one at all, and just re-bottled it to fool me!"
Song Shiwei lowered his eyebrows and argued aggrievedly: "How could Aunt miss me like this? I have mixed the formula of each incense from scratch and tried all kinds of combinations. They are supposed to calm the mind. I don't know why the Queen Mother always has nightmares."
With so much vanilla, how could I still have nightmares?
Could it be that the Queen Mother deliberately delayed her and prevented her from leaving the palace?
Song Shiwei felt a little suspicious. When she got up at night, she heard the palace maids chatting together. They said that the place where they were living now was the place where the perfumers who had prepared perfume for the empress dowager before were living.
Before her, the Queen Mother had already found three perfumers.
However, all these incense masters eventually disappeared without a trace.
The more Song Shiwei thought about it, the more scared she became. She hadn't seen the Queen Mother in the past few days. Every time she went in, it was Qiu Yi. If the Queen Mother really wanted to trap her...
A glint of cruelty flashed across Song Shiwei's eyes.
She raised her eyes to look at Qiu Yi who was furious: "Aunt Qiu Yi, why don't you let me in to see the Queen Mother?"
"You go in?" Qiu Yi looked at her with disdain: "What good will it do if you go in?"
Song Shiwei said in a gentle voice, "The Queen Mother's nightmare is really strange. I suspect there might be something in her bedroom that conflicts with the ingredients used in making incense. Otherwise, it's impossible that she's still having nightmares even after trying nearly a hundred different ingredients."
"If I can't find the source of the nightmare, even if I mix a thousand spices, it won't help."
Qiu Yi was slightly stunned. What she said was indeed reasonable. It was unreasonable that there were so many kinds of incense and none of them worked. What's more, if she went in, she could help to disperse some of the firepower.
After hesitating for only a moment, Qiu Yi said, "Come with me."
Song Shiwei followed behind her.
Qiu Yi went in first, and after a while, she led Song Shiwei in. As soon as they entered, Song Shiwei's brows furrowed.
It smells so good, it almost stinks.
Under the influence of the continuous burning of incense for days, the entire hall was filled with fragrance, which had long lost its calming effect. Instead, it made people dizzy and nauseous.
The sandalwood windows on both sides were closed.
Through the heavy gauze curtains, Song Shiwei could not see the Queen Mother's expression, but he could still feel her low pressure.
"Your Majesty, if the fragrances are mixed together, they will lose their original effect. Why don't you open the window to ventilate first before continuing?"
After waiting for a long time, the Queen Mother did not speak, so Song Shiwei could only speak timidly.
"allow."
The voice coming from behind the gauze curtain was cold, but it could not hide the fatigue. The palace servants who received the order immediately opened all the windows.
The cold wind blew the gauze curtain, and Song Shiwei could vaguely see the empress dowager pressing her eyebrows, and - the man behind the empress dowager.
Song Shiwei was startled and lowered her head without saying a word.
She had seen this person before.
It was exactly what the Left Palace Attendant Hu said.
But why did he appear in the Queen Mother's bedroom?
The Queen Mother had a splitting headache. She hadn't slept well for a long time, which had weakened her spirit and made her increasingly irritable. "What kind of fragrance did you make?! I can't sleep all night. Did someone instruct you to harm me under the guise of making fragrance?!"
Song Shiwei looked up in surprise. The fear in her eyes didn't seem fake. Her voice and body trembled slightly. "Your Majesty, please understand. Your Majesty, please understand. I have absolutely no intention of murdering you!"
The Queen Mother already had a headache, and hearing her sobbing and begging for mercy, her headache was even more severe. She pointed at Song Shiwei with a trembling finger and said, "Go, slap me in the face. Stop when you can't say anything anymore!"
The palace maid took the order and stepped forward, pinching Song Shiwei's face and hitting him left and right. After a few hits, Song Shiwei's face became red and swollen.
The only sound in the room was the sound of slapping. After an unknown amount of time, blood oozed from the corner of Song Shiwei's mouth and he spat out a mouthful of blood foam mixed with white stuff.
She was beaten dizzy, and the Queen Mother seemed to be sobered up by the cold wind. She whispered, "Stop."
The palace maid withdrew her hand and stood in the corner. Song Shiwei could not kneel steadily. The Queen Mother sighed softly, "Shiwei, it was the Crown Prince who assured me that you were an extremely skilled in incense making. That's why I wanted you to do it. If you can make the incense well and let me sleep well, it will be a great achievement for me."
"When that happens, I will speak to the emperor and ask him to make you his adopted daughter."
Song Shiwei was dizzy at the moment and couldn't hear what she was saying. Qiu Yi, who was beside her, saw that the queen mother looked unhappy and secretly pulled her sleeve, whispering, "Why don't you thank me quickly?"
Song Shiwei quickly knelt on the ground: "Your servant kneels to thank the Queen Mother."
The Queen Mother waved her hand and said, "Don't rush to thank me yet. I want you to mix the incense properly so that I can sleep well. Only then will I ask the Emperor for this favor. If you can't even mix the incense properly, let alone ask the Emperor for it, I will punish you."
Because of what happened just now, Song Shiwei listened to these words with her ears pricked up. Her heart was full of regret at the moment.
She shouldn't have acted rashly without finding out everything clearly!
If the calming incense doesn't work, I'll have to think of other ways.
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