"Your Majesty, the Prince of Fenyang's entourage is almost at Tongzhou."
Xiao Shiyan crumpled the document in his hand into a ball of trash, his face contorted: "Issue my order to summon my imperial uncle and imperial aunt to the palace!"
After the passenger ship arrived in Tongzhou, it still took half a day's drive to reach the capital.
So, right at the Tongzhou Wharf, the imperial guards sent by the new emperor directly "invited" Prince Fenyang and his family onto a carriage reserved for the imperial palace, and they quickly headed towards the imperial city.
Xiao Shiyan waited anxiously at Funing Palace.
In order to see Su Xuerong alone, he deliberately arranged for Xiao Yuan to go to the imperial mausoleum to pay respects to Xiao Cheng. He secretly brought a light carriage into the palace through a side gate of the imperial city, without telling anyone else, especially the Xu family.
It wasn't until dusk that Xiao Shiyan finally saw a small green sedan chair being carried into the back gate of Funing Palace.
He strode forward and excitedly lifted the sedan curtain!
When he saw who was inside the sedan chair, his expression changed drastically, veins bulged on his forehead, and he suppressed boundless anger: "How could it be you?"
Xu Wanjing, inside the sedan chair, looked at him with a mocking expression and laughed heartily: "What? Who do you think I am, getting so agitated?"
Xiao Shiyan glared furiously at Feng Bao beside the sedan chair, sneering, "Even you have betrayed me!"
Feng Bao kept his head down the whole time: "Your Majesty has misunderstood. Her Majesty the Empress specially came by sedan chair tonight to give Your Majesty a surprise."
His words reminded Xiao Shiyan, who immediately composed himself and said coldly, "I don't feel any surprise at all!"
Xu Wanjing swayed her hips as she stepped out of the sedan chair and gently tapped Xiao Shiyan's forehead with her fan: "Your Majesty, I have specially prepared a nourishing medicinal meal for you tonight, so please go and eat it!"
After saying that, he led the palace maids toward the inner hall of Funing Palace.
Xiao Shiyan couldn't help but look at Feng Bao, only to see him subtly shake his head and give him a meaningful look.
Xiao Shiyan breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Feng Bao was quick-witted and prevented Xu Wanjing from seeing Su Xuerong.
But the thought of being with Xu Wanjing later made Xiao Shiyan feel nauseous, as if he had swallowed a fly. He could only grit his teeth and walk into the inner hall.
Inside the inner palace, Xu Wanjing leaned against a large pillow on a spacious couch, wearing only a semi-transparent scarlet silk robe, her skin faintly visible in the candlelight.
Xu Wanjing even applied pearl powder to her face and body tonight, making her look several shades lighter than usual. Her makeup was extremely heavy, with bright red lips.
However, she lacked striking and elegant features. The heavy makeup only made her eyes appear small, her nose flat, and her lips wide, with a shrewd, rat-like glint in her eyes.
To Xiao Shiyan, her appearance was utterly repulsive.
At this moment, a palace maid brought over a bowl of freshly brewed medicinal soup.
Xiao Shiyan almost vomited when he smelled the food in the bowl.
Seeing the look of disgust on his face, Xu Wanjing's expression stiffened instantly, and she said coldly, "Someone, help the Emperor force it down his throat!"
This is outrageous! Every time I make him drink his medicine, he acts like he's going to die!
Several strong palace maids stepped forward, grabbed Xiao Shiyan's chin, and forced him to swallow a bowl of medicine.
Xiao Shiyan felt extremely humiliated and kicked the two palace maids to the ground.
Xu Wanjing waved her hand, telling everyone to leave, and looked at the man in front of her with a cold smile.
Before long, Xiao Shiyan felt a burning sensation within his body.
He closed his eyes tightly.
Only by taking this medicine could he sleep with Xu Wanjing; otherwise, even if she were naked in front of him, he wouldn't react.
Xiao Shiyan suppressed his disgust and walked step by step toward the bed.
Xu Wanjing looked at his flushed face and smiled contentedly. Just as she was about to take off her clothes, she suddenly heard an urgent report from outside the palace gate: "Your Majesty, the Lady suddenly started vomiting and having diarrhea this evening. The Left Prime Minister requests your return to the residence."
Xu Wanjing was taken aback: "Mother is sick?"
The man said, "Your Majesty need not worry, the Left Prime Minister has already invited the imperial physician to your residence."
Xu Wanjing didn't dare to delay. She glared fiercely at Xiao Shiyan and pointed at him with her finger: "I'll spare you tonight, but you'll be waiting for me tomorrow night after you've washed up!"
She immediately summoned a palace maid to help her change her clothes, and then hurriedly left the palace in a sedan chair.
Xiao Shiyan stared at Xu Wanjing's departing figure, his teeth grinding together.
Just then, Feng Bao walked up to him and whispered, "The lady has been settled in a secluded courtyard in the Cold Palace, where she will not be discovered by the Empress's people for the time being."
Xiao Shiyan nodded slightly and said in a low voice, "Change your clothes!"
When he changed into a set of casual clothes and quietly led Feng Bao out of the back gate of Funing Palace, after turning a few corners, he arrived at a secluded courtyard behind the Cold Palace, where he saw a figure standing in the courtyard under the moonlight.
To prevent Xu Wanjing's people from spying on them, no lights were allowed in the courtyard, and Feng Bao stood guard at a distance outside the gate.
Under the pale moonlight, Xiao Shiyan saw the figure he had been longing for.
"Ah Rong!" He immediately rushed over and hugged her tightly in his arms.
At this moment, the effects of the drug in his body began to take hold, and he smelled the familiar fragrance of Su Xuerong from the past. He lowered his head and kissed her lips.
The woman in his arms let out a soft moan, which puzzled Xiao Shiyan, and his voice changed slightly.
But at this moment, he felt as if a raging fire was burning inside him, and he couldn't care about anything else. He picked her up and carried her to the side room.
Feng Bao had already sent people to clean the courtyard thoroughly, and the bedding and other items in the side rooms had been changed.
Xiao Shiyan carried the person to the bed in the darkness and pounced on him impatiently...
Hearing the commotion coming from inside the courtyard, Feng Bao's lips curled into a cold smile.
Xu Wanjing rushed back to the Prime Minister's residence, only to find her mother sitting peacefully in the main hall, while Xu Wanhe was talking to a beautiful young woman beside her.
Xu Wanjing was extremely surprised.
Her mother was a complete shrew; there wasn't even a young and beautiful maid in the Prime Minister's mansion. Yet, her father was whispering to a young and beautiful woman right in front of her mother, and she didn't react at all.
Seeing Xu Wanjing's astonished expression, Xu's mother stood up with a smile and pulled her to sit down beside her: "The Empress has arrived, come and meet your Uncle Jin!"
"What?" Xu Wanjing thought her mother had lost her mind.
There was clearly a woman in front of me, so where did this uncle come from?
Xu Wanjing suddenly paused, then leaned closer to Jin Yin and looked at him: "Could it be that you're using a human skin mask?"
Jin Yin's expression stiffened slightly.
Xu Wanhe immediately said, "What are you saying?"
Just as he was about to explain, he heard Jin Yin laugh: "I suppose Her Majesty the Empress has never heard of my name. It doesn't matter if she doesn't know."
Xu Wanjing found the woman in front of her increasingly strange, and glared at her: "How dare you refer to yourself as 'me' in front of me?"
Xu's mother hurriedly stepped forward and patted her on the shoulder: "Stop putting on airs in front of your Uncle Jin. He was the one who saved you when you almost suffocated in my belly!"
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