Chapter 34: The Delicate Palace Maid VS the Cold-blooded Emperor 34
There is still one month left until the Queen’s coronation ceremony.
Although the ceremony had not yet taken place, the concubines and palace maids in the harem had already started addressing Su Zhiruan as "Her Majesty the Queen".
Originally, she thought that since they were in the imperial palace after all, this was against etiquette and a bit of an overstepping of boundaries. If someone heard it, who knows what they might say. So she wanted to correct them, but the empress dowager heard it.
The Queen Mother teased Su Zhiruan cheerfully, calling her Queen, and tried to reassure her with kind words, so Su Zhiruan stopped paying too much attention to this issue.
During these days, many changes have occurred in the palace. Some concubines know that they may never get Shen Qi's favor again, but they have come into contact with Su Zhiruan and feel that she is kind and benevolent. Most of the concubines like her very much and do not have much jealousy.
Many concubines asked to study in the Imperial Household Department, which was responsible for managing palace affairs.
It just so happened that Shen Qi felt that they had nothing to do every day, so he simply set the rank of female officials for the concubines who wanted to learn and let them become female officials.
Once a female official in the palace is appointed, even if she wants to find another way to make a living after leaving the palace, she will be considered a capable person by many people, and the female official who can manage the household and keep accounts will be considered first for marriage.
Su Zhiruan is about to be crowned queen, and needs to share Shen Qi's worries and help with the affairs of the six palaces. Originally, the Queen Mother and Shen Qi were worried that she would be confused and at a loss, but they did not expect that this was Su Zhiruan's strength. She quickly took over the affairs, managed the harem in order, and everyone praised her.
Shen Qi was overjoyed and hugged Su Zhiruan and said that he had found a treasure.
The Queen Mother was completely relieved upon seeing this, and happily delegated power to Su Zhiruan. Every day she watched her four children enjoying themselves, and she had more opportunities to see Shen Qi and Su Zhiruan. She was so happy all day long that she felt like a child herself.
It's August 15th again.
Mid-Autumn family banquet, the former court and the harem gathered together.
What was different from the previous year was that this time Su Zhiruan had exquisite makeup on and sat on the right side of Shen Qi, accepting the three cheers of "Long live the emperor!" from the court officials.
"Ruan Ruan, where did Xing Zhi go?" Shen Qi secretly hooked Su Zhi Ruan's finger. No one except Xiao Fuzi knew. The majestic and noble emperor hooked the finger of the future queen like a child, and whispered under the pretext of drinking, "Except for these three guys who stayed with the queen mother, I didn't see where Xing Zhi went today!"
"The Queen Mother said that Xingzhi saw the lights and decorations during the day, and the Queen Mother made his favorite food. He was tired from playing, so he asked the nanny to send him back to sleep." Su Zhiruan smiled helplessly. Little Xingzhi used to be calm, just like his father, but after all, he was only a child less than two years old, and he must still love to play by nature. But today in the palace was different. He was tired from playing, and before falling asleep he muttered, "Mother, accompany me to sleep, mother, accompany me to sleep!"
Su Zhiruan felt soft-hearted at that moment, but there was a banquet going on, so she had to coax little Xingzhi, and only got up and put on gorgeous clothes to attend the banquet after seeing that he fell asleep.
At this time, the ministers below came to toast Shen Qi again and gave him some compliments, "I, your humble servant, pay my respects to the Emperor, the Empress, and the three princes. I wish the Emperor and Empress a deep love and everlasting union, and the three princes good health and safety."
"My dear minister, what you said really touches my heart!" Shen Qi was happy today and drank a few more glasses.
After drinking the wine, the minister was still thinking about the three princes and the emperor and his two sons whom he had just seen.
You really don’t know until you see it. These three little princes look exactly like the emperor. The triplets look exactly the same. If you put them together, you probably wouldn’t be able to recognize them at all.
The queen of their dynasty was truly an extraordinary woman, as she was able to give birth to three little princes at once.
The court officials had an even deeper respect for Su Zhiruan.
After three rounds of drinking.
Su Zhiruan was still thinking about the little prince Shen Xingzhi. Although she was polite, gentle and elegant during the banquet, the anxiety in her heart became more serious.
It's like feeling like something is about to happen.
She suppressed her uneasiness and whispered to Shen Qi, "Your Majesty, I want to go to the side hall to see Xingzhi. I don't know why, but I always feel uneasy."
"It's getting late, Ruan Ruan, be careful on the road," Shen Qi was worried, but he couldn't leave the table at this time, so he asked Xiao Fuzi to go with him, "Xiao Fuzi, follow the queen."
The Queen Mother also heard their words, so she reached out to the nanny holding the three princes, and then said to Shen Qi, "I will go back with Ruan Ruan, the three little guys should go to bed today."
The Queen Mother held Su Zhiruan's hand, then patted it affectionately, and the group left.
* Kunning Palace.
The former imperial concubine, now Imperial Concubine Mei, turned around with a sneer.
Behind her was a group of palace maids and eunuchs who were drugged.
At this time, Concubine Mei was wearing a goose yellow dress of a palace maid and holding a food box in her hand.
She continued to walk inside. The first layer of drugged pastries had already been distributed to the palace maids and eunuchs outside. She opened the lid of the second layer of food boxes and walked towards the side hall.
There were two maids guarding the door of the side hall. Concubine Mei touched the scar on her face, made a flattering expression, and walked over.
"What are you doing?" The two maids saw her holding a food box, looked at each other and asked, "The Crown Prince is sleeping. If you disturb him, you will have several heads chopped off."
"I am here on the orders of... the Empress." Mei Guiren gritted her teeth when she said the words Empress, then lowered her head and presented the food box. "The Empress was worried that the maids were tired from taking care of the Crown Prince, so she asked me to bring snacks to you two."
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Su Zhiruan usually gave a lot of snacks to his servants as rewards, and since they were guarding the prince today, the two maids were indeed hungry, so they didn't suspect anything and started eating after taking the snacks.
Concubine Mei stood quietly, her shadow stretched very long in the warm candlelight in the side hall.
"Bang--"
"Ah! You are not——"
The two men fell down one after another, still holding the unfinished snacks in their hands, their eyes were wide open, but they had already been mesmerized.
Concubine Mei snorted coldly and pulled out a dagger that was shining with cold light from the bottom of the food box.
This time, all obstacles were gone and she could kill the child with one knife.
Concubine Mei walked closer step by step, holding the dagger high in her hand.
On the couch in the middle of the bedroom, the even and steady breathing of little Shen Xingzhi could be heard. He was still young, and his tiny body was full of the scent of milk.
At this time, he didn't know that danger had already arrived.
Concubine Mei stood in front of little Shen Xingzhi's bed, with the tip of the dagger pointed at the little prince's throat. With just one cut, she would succeed. When she thought of that scene, Su Zhiruan would cry until she fainted, and Shen Qi would lose his prince. Then she would do the same thing and kill her other three children.
Then——Su Zhiruan’s expression must be very good! Thinking of this, the fire in her heart seemed to be ignited suddenly. If she could see their decadent appearance, she would not mind dying! !
“Hahahahahahaha!! Su Zhiruan! Your son!! Let him die in my hands today! A child born by a lowly slave! Is he worthy of being the crown prince?! Only I—only I! I am the queen!” Concubine Mei held the knife with both hands, raised it high, and was about to bring it down heavily to kill the child! However, at this moment—
(End of this chapter)