Wei Shuyi had never seen what the emperor looked like in private. At least, she had never imagined him walking alone with an umbrella, without a large group of attendants following him.
Along the way, she was not exposed to the cold rain again.
Every time I looked up quietly, I found that the umbrella was leaning towards me, and a warm feeling suddenly welled up in my heart.
"Your Majesty, you're finally back! This..." Eunuch Yang hurried out to greet her, his shrill voice terminating as he looked at her thoughtfully, "Oh, how are the servants serving you? Your Majesty has just recovered from a serious illness and cannot be exposed to the rain!"
She secretly looked at his shoulder, where the bright yellow stain was wet. Thinking that he had not yet recovered, she couldn't help feeling guilty.
The emperor led her into the main hall, where two young attendants were waiting.
One of them suddenly became alert and stepped forward: "Your Majesty, why did you bring this woman here? She..."
"Go, go! Let His Majesty change his clothes first!"
Eunuch Yang was busy running around, helping the emperor change his wet dragon robe behind the screen.
Wei Shuyi stood there awkwardly. Besides the spreading chill, he also felt embarrassed by being stared at by his servants.
Fortunately, he quickly got out of the screen and continued to block her tightly: "Don't look at anything indecent."
"Yes!" The other party couldn't help but remind him, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Master once said that women are not allowed here..."
With just a sidelong glance, the servant stopped talking.
There is a difference between the ruler and his subjects. One should stop interfering in matters that are not their business.
"Let's go over there and warm ourselves by the fire."
Wei Shuyi bowed his head in thanks: "Thank you, Your Majesty."
Her embroidered shoes left muddy marks on the jade steps. As she passed by, she heard the attendants mutter in dissatisfaction: "Your Majesty hates uncleanness the most. How unruly!"
They were the only two left in the main hall. The emperor lifted his robe, took his seat, and began to review memorials. She huddled in a small corner, leaning against the incense burner for warmth. The silence was unusual.
"Just now he said... women are not allowed to enter here. If Your Majesty is troubled, this servant..."
"No problem." She ran out of topics again.
Without the high platform and the pearl curtain, and no longer in that cramped dark room, she could finally see the emperor's face clearly.
Lying leisurely and admiring the floating clouds, the profile as bright as the moon attracted her attention.
When their eyes met again, Wei Shuyi realized she had lost her composure: "Your Majesty, why are you helping this servant?"
"Since we parted at the birthday banquet, you've lost quite a bit of weight. I'm not a plant, I also cherish women."
He still remembers himself?! "Da."
The raindrops on the hair gathered into a drop and hit the jade steps.
The emperor looked in the direction of the voice and said with concern, "The fire in the incense burner is a little slow, do you want to go to the warm room to change clothes?"
His eyes were clear and gentle, without any desire.
Wei Shuyi suddenly remembered the past few years. Because of her outstanding appearance, she always attracted greedy and dirty gazes.
But he is different!
"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I have another one in my room. You can change into it when you go back."
He sat down again, bent down to read the memorial, wrote his comments in red, and said no more.
After waiting for a long time for the rain to stop, Wei Shuyi was as if she had been pardoned: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for allowing me to take shelter here. It's getting late now, and I should go back."
"Chu Mu, take her back to Shoukang Palace. Find a reliable maid to take her back and don't cause any trouble."
"yes!"
He took everything into consideration for her, even taking into account the potential negative influence of people's words, and in this way he sent her back to her residence safely.
When she pushed the door open and walked in, Yin Zhu was leaning against the bedside coughing: "Ahem... I heard that you went to the Pharmacy to look for someone for me?"
"Yes, it's a pity that I..."
"It's okay. We're insignificant, so it's understandable that we can't invite the people there." Yin Zhu waved, motioning her to come closer. "It's raining hard outside, and you're getting wet. If you catch a cold like me, it would be my fault!"
"I'll go to the Pharmacy later and try again. Your illness will definitely get better."
Wei Shuyi comforted her with a few words and then went into the inner room to change clothes.
There was a faint scent of ambergris flowing in her nose, and she thought of Zhang Yueguangfeng's face, and her heart beat fast.
That night, she ventured to the vicinity of the Shangshi Bureau. Though she couldn't see her old friend in person for the time being, she was familiar with the surrounding terrain and easily made her way to the "small vegetable garden" to retrieve a few herbs she had planted.
When the guards changed shifts, he ran back to Shoukang Palace in the dark.
"Aunt Zijin, that's her!"
As soon as I entered the door, I heard Qing Luo's accusations.
There is no doubt that the other party found out that she was not in the room and went to inform on her.
"What time is it now?" The head aunt walked up to her and asked in a bad tone, "What are you doing sneaking around like that?"
"I have left Shoukang Palace without permission. I am willing to accept the punishment!"
Wei Shuyi answered irrelevantly and pretended to be panicked, which prompted Qingluo to continue talking nonsense: "Auntie, why are things always missing lately? I've treasured these earrings for a long time. Could it be that she stole them and sold them to some shady person in the middle of the night?"
Selling items privately in the palace is a big taboo!
Aunt Zijin saw her protecting her sleeves and said, "What are you hiding? Hand it over!"
She looked up in panic, as if hesitating.
"That's too suspicious!" Qing Luo stepped forward and shouted condescendingly, "You thief, why don't you hand over the stolen goods?! Didn't you hear what your aunt said?"
Wei Shuyi placed all the herbs hidden in her sleeves on the ground and knelt down to apologize: "I was foolish! During the day, I saw a few herbs near the Pharmacy that could cure Sister Yinzhu's pain, so I picked them here at night, thinking..."
"Do you understand medicine?"
"I studied at Wangfu Middle School for a while."
Aunt Zijin instructed her men to search him. After confirming that he had no hidden belongings, her expression softened considerably. "It's kind of you to help your companions, but you can't go beyond the palace rules!"
"Yes, I will accept the punishment now!"
"Deduct half of your monthly salary. For the next few days, you will do the cleaning work outside. For the time being, don't serve the Queen Mother closely."
This is already showing mercy.
Wei Shuyi kowtowed again: "Thank you, auntie!"
Qingluo felt it was unfair: "Aunt, do you want to search her room? This person does things very strangely, maybe the stolen goods are..."
Zi Jin gave him a look as a warning.
The most taboo thing in the palace is to harm one's companions to pave the way for oneself, but Qing Luo had miscalculated.
At this moment, Yin Zhu, who had been recuperating on the couch, suddenly came out, covered her handkerchief with her hands, coughed, and said:
"Qingluo, you really have a terrible forgetfulness... ahem... that earring fell into the crack. I just found it for you... ahem... when I was making the bed. It wasn't Liuying who stole it!"
On the surface, the misunderstanding was resolved.
In fact, the head aunt's suspicion of Qingluo deepened a bit: "In this case, you should also go and help Liuying and sweep the floor for a while!"
Wei Shuyi picked up the herbs, looked past Qing Luo's exasperated face, and looked at the weak figure not far away.
Yin Zhu smiled and mouthed two words to her: Thank you.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
