Chapter 37 Who is harming her? "I've thought of many possibilities, but none of them are..."
The next morning, Xiao Heng got up early to attend court. Before leaving, he grabbed Gu Xi and kissed her repeatedly, to which she responded with soft moans.
Then I couldn't fall asleep anymore.
Gu Xi lay in bed, wondering who could be trying to harm her.
The Empress Dowager? Unlikely. She has been pushing for her to be with Xiao Heng all along; there's no reason for her to do so.
Imperial Concubine? Consort Li? Gu Xi went through everyone in her mind, but still couldn't be sure.
Or perhaps it's not a harem, but rather...
Gu Xi thought for a long time but couldn't come up with an answer, so she simply gave up.
She sat in front of the bronze mirror and suddenly saw her own face. She became a little nervous, wondering how she would explain things to Cailian and Huayue.
"Your Majesty! Time to eat!" Huayue called from outside the door.
"What's wrong? Miss hasn't gotten up yet?" Zhu Yin asked.
"I don't know..."
The door suddenly opened.
Hua Yue suddenly opened her eyes wide, staring intently at Gu Xi, blinked twice and asked, "Who are you? How can you be so beautiful... even more beautiful than the Imperial Concubine."
“Miss, you…” Zhu Yin stepped past Hua Yue, pushed Gu Xi into the room, and closed the door.
Zhu Yin said nervously, "Miss, have you forgotten... your face?" She pointed to her cheek as a reminder, thinking that she had forgotten to disguise herself.
Gu Xi shook her head and opened the door again. Hua Yue was still standing at the door, looking curious.
"Hua Yue, it's me."
Hua Yue recognized the voice: "You...you...you are...you are the Empress?!" Hua Yue was so excited that she couldn't speak coherently.
Gu Xi nodded.
Hua Yue rubbed her eyes hard, looking incredulous.
Zhu Yin sighed, thinking to herself, "This little girl has never seen the world."
Indeed, who wouldn't be mesmerized by her beauty, especially Hua Yue, who is the kind of person who can't move her legs whenever she sees a beautiful woman?
Ignoring Hua Yue's gaze, Gu Xi asked, "How are your injuries?"
"Miss, she's much better now. It was just scary to look at. I applied some medicine last night and it doesn't hurt much today."
"That's good." It seems he hadn't lied to her yesterday, and he had achieved his goal.
Gu Xi's eyes dimmed as she recalled last night.
"His Majesty has arrived!"
Gu Xi looked up and saw Xiao Heng walking towards her, followed by Zhao Fuquan, who was looking at her with a shocked expression.
Gu Xi felt a little embarrassed by their stares and walked towards the main room of the sleeping quarters with her head down.
After taking her seat, Gu Xi said to Cai Lian and Hua Yue, "I'm sorry for keeping this from you for so long."
Hua Yue shook her head frantically, then stared blankly at Gu Xi. Cai Lian hadn't come to her senses yet, but she also looked dazed.
Gu Xi coughed lightly twice, ignoring their gazes, and began to eat her breakfast.
Hua Yue suddenly exclaimed, "Even when Your Majesty is eating, you look so beautiful."
"Cough cough cough..." Gu Xi choked a little because of Hua Yue.
"She looks good even when she coughs."
Gu Xi coughed so hard she almost choked.
Xiao Heng glanced at Hua Yue, who was so frightened that she immediately fell silent. Gu Xi, fearing that Xiao Heng would punish her, told her in a hoarse voice to hurry up and go out to help pour a pot of water.
Seeing her protective look, Xiao Heng's face suddenly darkened: "I promised you I wouldn't hurt them, don't you believe me?"
Gu Xi lowered her eyes, casting a shadow over them, and replied with pursed lips, "I believe you."
Xiao Heng stared at her for a long time without saying a word.
After breakfast, Xiao Heng left Weiyang Palace.
Gu Xi was confined and couldn't go anywhere, but Mu Yunqi still needed to be saved. Xiao Heng promised her that he would find him a doctor and spare his life before the truth came out.
To investigate, one must gather information. Cailian has been busy with something lately, so she can only ask Zhuyin and Huayue to do the work.
Besides investigating Mu Yunqi's side, we also need to investigate her side to find out who took her personal belongings and that book.
She had a vague idea about Mu Yunqi's situation, but she had no clue about her own.
At this moment, Zhu Yin had just returned from the Imperial Kitchen after looking for Mu Yunke, inquiring about Mu Yunqi's whereabouts that night.
"Miss......"
"What's wrong, Zhuyin?" Gu Xi couldn't help but ask when she saw Zhuyin stammering for a while.
"Miss, Yun Ke and I just ran into Lord Bai on the road."
"Playing?"
Zhu Yin nodded, then said, "He saw that we looked rushed and realized we were in trouble, so he offered to help us... but I refused!"
"Well, it's good that you refused."
Although Bai Xingzhi had the help, and with his methods he could definitely find out the truth faster, it was not appropriate for him to know about this matter, and she did not want to involve him.
"But......"
"But what?" Gu Xi's heart sank.
"But he later went to see Yun Ke, and after being pressed by him for a few questions, Yun Ke finally told him. However, she only mentioned the important parts, saying that Physician Mu had been framed, without mentioning Miss."
Gu Xi was somewhat dazed, not expecting that she had still dragged him into this.
Bai Xingzhi was so clever that even without being told, he could guess what was going on.
Although she hadn't done it and wasn't afraid of what others might say, she was still a woman, and she would still feel embarrassed if people found out about it.
Yun Ke can't be blamed for this. He's a man who's been ruthless and cunning in the officialdom for many years. Yun Ke couldn't handle him at all. It's already quite remarkable that he didn't reveal everything.
Xiao Heng came over that night.
From that day on, he would come every night and stay at Weiyang Palace.
Xiao Heng stared at Gu Xi's face for a long time before asking, "Don't you want to know when I found out?"
Gu Xi looked up: "Does Your Majesty want to say something? If Your Majesty wants to say something, then I want to know." She said earnestly.
Xiao Heng pursed his lips, instantly losing the desire to speak.
He'd been trying to coax her every day for the past few days, but her attitude towards him remained lukewarm. Just like now, she wore a faint smile, but there was no trace of joy in it. She no longer acted coquettishly towards him, nor did she get angry with him anymore. She would answer whatever he said seriously, but that was all.
She seemed indifferent to everything.
She readily agreed when he asked for a kiss. Although he didn't do that to her again, he knew that she wouldn't refuse if he wanted to.
She was trying her best to play the role of a proper concubine, serving him well every day.
But the more she acted this way, the more flustered he became.
"Gu Xi, what are you doing?" Xiao Heng finally couldn't hold back any longer and growled.
Gu Xi stopped what she was doing. She had been embroidering a handkerchief recently. It was Cailian's birthday in a few days, and she wanted to embroider a design for her.
She looked at Xiao Heng with a puzzled expression and asked, "Your Majesty, is there something I have done wrong that displeases you?"
Seeing that Xiao Heng did not answer, she continued, "If there is, please tell me, Your Majesty, and I will definitely revise it to Your Majesty's satisfaction."
Xiao Heng said fiercely, "No! You did a great job!"
After Xiao Heng finished speaking, he turned and left. Gu Xi watched him leave blankly, then picked up the handkerchief beside her and continued with her work.
Before long, Xiao Heng returned. He snatched the handkerchief and needlework from her hand and threw them aside. He bent down, picked her up, and placed her on the bed, forcing her to hug him. He held Gu Xi tightly in his arms, as if trying to meld her into his very bones, to feel her presence.
Gu Xi let him hold her and fell asleep, inhaling his scent.
That night, Gu Xi had that dream again. In the dream, she was still in the Gu family home, surrounded by family and friends celebrating her birthday. But in the blink of an eye, blood stained the entire Gu family home, and she watched them fall one by one before her eyes. In the bloody light, Xiao Heng stood beside the corpses of his father and brothers, sword in hand, his plain robe stained crimson with blood.
She screamed and woke up from her dream. Xiao Heng was also startled awake and reached out to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead. Reality and dream overlapped, and Gu Xi instinctively pushed him away, curled up, and looked at him in terror.
Xiao Heng's face instantly darkened.
That look in his eyes again; she was afraid of him.
It turned out that her daily nightmares were because of herself.
After that night, Xiao Heng never set foot in Weiyang Palace again.
*
Gu Xi sent Zhu Yin and Hua Yue away early this morning.
Inside the sleeping quarters of Weiyang Palace.
"Cailian, is that you?" Gu Xi asked.
"Your Majesty, this servant doesn't know what you're talking about?" Cailian said, trembling.
Gu Xi closed her eyes in despair; her reaction had already given her the answer.
"I thought about many possibilities, but I never thought it would be you."
If she hadn't been sleeping poorly lately, and if Zhu Yin hadn't inadvertently mentioned that she and Hua Yue had fallen into a deep sleep after drinking the white fungus soup made by Cai Lian that night, she wouldn't have suspected it was her.
Everything seemed to follow a pattern. She hadn't seen her all day on the day of the incident, and she had been frequently absent from the palace since then.
She trusted her too much; she thought that someone she treated sincerely would treat her sincerely in return.
She didn't expect to be betrayed in return; she underestimated human nature.
"Why?" Gu Xi's voice was very soft, as if it were drifting from afar.
"Your Majesty, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Cailian knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly. In just a moment, blood seeped from her smooth forehead.
"Am I treating you badly?"
"No, Your Highness, no..." Cailian shuffled to Gu Xi's side, wrapped her arms around her legs, and cried, "Your Highness has been so good to Cailian, it's all my fault..."
"Then can you tell me why? Is someone forcing you?"
Cailian sobbed, "That man was kind to my mother, and I didn't want to help him. My mother threatened to kill herself, and I really had no choice, Your Majesty... I only stole something; I didn't know they would do such a thing..."
Gu Xi remained silent for a moment.
Who is that person?
"This servant does not know. This servant has never seen his face. I only know that he is from a wealthy family in the capital. The little eunuch who delivered the message also had his face covered."
Gu Xi couldn't help but shed tears. She wanted to say, "Go away, you are no longer my Cailian."
But she dared not. She knew that if she let her out of that door, Xiao Heng would soon realize that the next time she would only see her corpse.
She could disregard her dignity to win Xiao Heng's love, but he couldn't bear to watch Cai Lian die.
Gu Xi asked in a hoarse voice, "If it happened again, would you still do the same thing?"
Cailian shook her head frantically: "No, no, even if my mother were standing in front of me, I would never betray Your Majesty again."
"No one else can know about this, especially not the Emperor, understand?"
“This servant knows, this servant knows… Thank you, Your Majesty… I’m sorry, Your Majesty, I’m so sorry…” Cailian kowtowed while crying.
"Go down and treat the wound on your head. Don't let anyone see it. If the Emperor comes, you should leave." Xiao Heng was very perceptive and could see through the clues immediately.
Cailian withdrew.
Gu Xi mustered her strength to sit on the edge of the bed, then lay down on it alone, her eyes vacant.
She suddenly felt that all of this was too absurd. The palace seemed to be full of honey and harmony, but in fact it was all hypocrisy and mutual suspicion. And those who seemed close on the surface were actually stabbing you in the back.
What in this palace is real anymore?
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