Chapter 137 Hong Zhou
"I will never eat sweet and sour pork again."
With red eyes, Hongzhou walked out of the side hall. Hearing from the palace next door that Consort Li was coaxing her third brother to eat more, tears welled up in his eyes.
Hongzhou wiped his face haphazardly with his sleeve and ran out of Changchun Palace. His two short legs moved quickly, and he didn't stop no matter how much the little eunuch behind him called out to him.
He wanted to leave this heartbreaking place; he wanted to find his older brother…
“My lady…” Suhe was Geng Shanyun’s personal maid who had served her since childhood. Others might not dare to speak, but she dared to. Looking at the Fifth Prince’s sad departing figure, she looked at Geng Shanyun with some disapproval, “Isn’t this a bit unfair to the Fifth Prince?”
"It's alright. Hongzhou still cares about me as his mother. He's just temporarily heartbroken. He'll definitely grant my wish." Geng Shanyun waved her hand, seemingly oblivious to the disdainful looks from the other palace maids, and spoke to herself.
“But… Fifth Prince is still young, Your Highness could be more tactful… This servant is worried that you might regret it later…” At this moment, only Suhe was truly worried for her, concerned about the mother-son relationship between the two.
Geng Shanyun was getting impatient and frowned as she stopped Suhe, saying, "Alright, I know what I'm doing. There's no need to say anything more. Take the food away and I'm going to rest. Don't come in and disturb me."
After saying this, Geng Shanyun got up and walked towards the bedroom, ignoring Suhe's worried look and the disdainful looks from the others behind her.
She maintained her agitated expression until she lay in bed, hidden behind layers of bed curtains, at which point tears silently streamed down Geng Shanyun's face.
Regret? She had regretted it long ago, ever since Hongzhou was taken away at birth. She regretted being bewitched by Nian Shilan, and regretted her insatiable greed that led to the separation of mother and child.
She regretted her separation from Hongzhou day and night. The only thing she was grateful for was that Hongzhou was a lovable child. Both the Empress and the First Prince liked him, so he was not in danger because of his birth mother.
No matter how much she regretted the past, it was useless. She was willing to endure the humiliation inflicted by Consort Hua to atone for her sins, but she could not let Hongzhou end up in the same situation.
The worse she treats Hongzhou and the more she uses him, the more the Empress, the First Prince, and others in the palace will feel sorry for Hongzhou, and the better he will live.
This was the only good thing she could think of for Hongzhou as his birth mother. Let Hongzhou resent her; being the Empress's adopted son was better than being the biological son of an unfavored and erring noblewoman…
Meanwhile, Hongzhou rushed out of Changchun Palace and ran sadly along the palace road, a sight witnessed by many and the news spreading far and wide. Finally, Hongzhou rushed into Jingren Palace and found Honghui reading a book in a side hall that Yixiu had specially prepared for her son.
"Big brother..." Ignoring everyone's attempts to stop him, Xiao Hongzhou ran to Honghui, threw himself into his arms, and burst into tears.
"What's wrong?" Honghui was startled at first, but seeing Hongzhou's miserable appearance, he waved the others away and patted Hongzhou's back to comfort him.
No matter how he asked, Hongzhou just wept silently, saying nothing. After he cried himself to sleep, Honghui settled him on a soft couch. Just as he was about to question the servants who had been with Hongzhou, Yixiu summoned him away.
"The Queen's Mother."
"Honghui is here, please sit down." Yixiu looked at her tall and handsome son, who already looked like a little adult, and smiled with concern, inviting him to sit down.
Honghui walked over with a smile and saw that the people kneeling in the hall were the old women, eunuchs and maids who served Hongzhou.
"How is Hongzhou?" Yixiu asked with concern. Human hearts are made of flesh and blood, and with life going smoothly, Yixiu, though not as devoted to Hongzhou as she was to Honghui, still felt a degree of genuine affection for him, having raised him since birth.
Otherwise, Hongzhou wouldn't have been able to just casually barge into Jingren Palace. So when Yixiu heard the commotion from Honghui, saying that Hongzhou had run back crying, she couldn't hide her worry and immediately summoned the people who were with Hongzhou.
"She cried herself to sleep." Honghui smiled helplessly, thinking of Hongzhou's face, which looked like a little kitten from crying.
Yixiu nodded, but her tone became less polite as she looked at the kneeling palace servants below. She sternly questioned, "How are you serving your master? Are you just going to watch him cry like this?"
"Your Majesty, please forgive us! Your Majesty, please forgive us..." The people below hurriedly cried out their grievances. Under the watchful eyes of Yixiu and Honghui, they recounted everything that had happened in Changchun Palace, one after another. The more they spoke, the darker the faces of the two men above became.
"Outrageous!" Yixiu slammed her hand on the table in anger. "What kind of mother is Geng Shi? Is this how she acts as a mother!"
Honghui, who was standing to the side, was also unhappy, but since she was a concubine, he couldn't interfere. He could only leave it to his mother, the Empress, to handle. "Empress, I'll go see Hongzhou."
"Go ahead and comfort him."
"Yes, son knows."
Seeing that Honghui had left, Yixiu put on a stern face and adopted the demeanor of an empress, ordering: "Go, convey my imperial decree: Consort Geng is to be confined to her quarters for three months and to copy the palace rules one hundred times. You servants who have served her are to have your salaries reduced for three months. If you still fail to serve your mistress well, then get back to the Imperial Household Department!"
"Yes." Jianqiu responded, her imposing manner setting off for Changchun Palace to deliver the imperial decree and, incidentally, to seek justice for their unofficial young master in Jingren Palace. The palace servants who had followed Hongzhou hurriedly expressed their gratitude, relieved that they had escaped a calamity.
As the sun set, Hongzhou, who had been sleeping on the soft couch, slowly woke up, his eyes feeling extremely sore. Just as he was feeling uncomfortable, a warm towel was placed over his eyes to soothe them.
"Don't rush to get up, put your eyes on for a while," Honghui gently soothed him by stroking his head. "Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?"
"Big brother?" Hongzhou, who couldn't see anything because his eyes were covered, reached out his little hand and groped for Honghui's sleeve.
"Hmm? What's wrong? Are you still sad?"
Hongzhou shook his head slightly, much calmer than before he went to sleep, though his voice was still a little hoarse. "I'm not sad anymore."
"Really? You can tell your older brother if you're sad, it's okay." Honghui wasn't quite convinced, and felt a pang of heartache as he looked at Hongzhou's small hand carefully tugging at his sleeve.
“Really,” Hongzhou paused, then explained, “My elder brother taught me that to please others, you must first please yourself. Mother… Mother just loves herself more than she loves me… She’s not wrong…”
As Hongzhou spoke, he couldn't help but press the hot cloth over his eyes with his hand, as if that would prevent others from noticing that he was crying again.
Looking at the well-behaved and sensible Hongzhou, Honghui couldn't help but tear up slightly. He hugged Hongzhou's small body in his arms and silently gave him strength.
"Okay... Hongzhou lied... Hongzhou is still a little sad..."
Feeling comforted by his elder brother, Hongzhou couldn't hold back his tears any longer. He buried his face in Honghui's arms through his handkerchief, sobbing as he stubbornly insisted, "Hongzhou isn't crying... Hongzhou's eyes are just hurting... Brother, don't look..."
"Okay, big brother, don't look. Wait until Hongzhou's eyes feel better before you take the handkerchief off, okay?"
"Okay... Hongzhou is amazing... Hongzhou will feel better soon..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
