Chapter 48: Mourning She must be blaming me...
Shen Jingshu covered half of her face with her wide sleeves, her shoulders trembling slightly.
When she looked up again, her eyes were already red. She suddenly grabbed the sleeve of the imperial physician, her voice choked with sobs: "Please explain clearly... Sister Shufei has always been in good health, how could she suddenly..." As she spoke, her fingertips pinched the imperial physician's wrist inconspicuously, "Is it an emergency? Or..." Her voice was very soft, but her tone was very deep.
The imperial physician pressed his forehead against the floor tiles. "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! We are incompetent! Your Majesty is suffering from a reversal of blood and qi, with evil qi attacking her heart!" He kowtowed three times, beads of sweat trickling down his temples. "This disease is extremely rare, with only a few records in medical texts. When it strikes, it's like a violent storm. We have used acupuncture needles and herbal decoctions, but... but in the end..." He quickly glanced at Xiao Chengjing's expression, then crouched low and spoke hoarsely, "Your Majesty nurtured the descendants of the dragon with her phoenix body. Although she has passed away, she was a meritorious official for the country! Your Majesty, we beg you to accept our condolences and take care of your health!" The last few words were punctuated by the sound of teeth.
Xiao Chengjing's originally sharp eyes seemed to be hollowed out and dead silent.
He sneered at first, then growled, "Shut up!"
"I told you to shut up!" He took a step forward suddenly, almost stepping on the doctor's fingers. "What blood reversal, what meritorious official... I don't want to hear a word of this nonsense! She was fine yesterday..." He suddenly leaned over, grabbed the doctor's collar, and almost lifted him up from the ground. "And now you come to tell me... what Daxing means? Huh?!" His red eyes stared at the other person, and the bloodshot was clearly visible in his eyes.
"Where are your needles! Where are your medicines? Are they just for show?!" His voice suddenly rose, shaking the lanterns and candles in the palace. "Save me!" At this point, his Adam's apple rolled violently, as if he was trying to suppress something.
The hand that grasped the imperial physician's collar trembled slightly: "If you can't save her..." He pushed the imperial physician back violently, "Wait to be buried with her!"
He stared at the door that separated life and death, and made as if to break in.
Shen Jingshu lifted her skirt and knelt at his feet.
"Your Majesty, you can't do that!" Her voice was tense, and her arms were firmly blocking the door.
Seeing that Xiao Chengjing didn't stop, she simply reached out and grabbed a corner of the dragon robe.
She knew that this action was extremely disrespectful, but she refused to let go.
"Even you want to stop me?" Xiao Chengjing exerted force on his wrist to push the man away.
"Your Majesty!" Shen Jingshu took advantage of the situation and stepped forward, tears streaming down her chin. "Sister Shufei made me swear before she died..." She spoke with a strong determination, "She said she must never let Your Majesty see her in such a miserable state!" She felt the dragon robe tremble slightly under her palm and immediately continued, "Even if I offend the majesty today, I will fulfill my sister's kindness!"
Xiao Chengjing stared at the palace door that separated life and death, and murmured, "She must be blaming me..." His tone suddenly changed from rage to an almost humble plea, "She blames me for locking her up with the child, so she punished me like this... I have to go to accompany her..." He closed his eyes, his voice getting lower and lower, "I was wrong... Yaoyao... I shouldn't have forced you..." His knuckles were pinched white in his sleeves, "Please don't..." The last word turned into a whisper and dissipated in the night wind.
His body, which was rushing forward, suddenly stopped in its tracks. He turned around very slowly, his hollow eyes fixed on Shen Jingshu, and spoke with difficulty: "She..." He took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling deeply, "What else did she say?"
Shen Jingshu lowered her head, avoiding the pressing gaze. Her lips trembled as she spoke, "Your Majesty... dare not hide anything." Her voice trembled slightly, as if she was weighing the weight of each word. "Sister Shufei also said... if she had a difficult birth..." Her fingertips trembled slightly in her sleeves, and she finally said with a condensed breath, "Your Majesty, according to ancestral customs, bury her with the rites of a commoner. She said... she didn't want her posthumous honor to exceed the norm and make the prince's future difficult."
Shen Jingshu's words, buried according to the common people's rituals, fell.
The imperial physician's plea for mercy, the palace maids' sobbing, and even the baby's crying, all disappeared in an instant.
All Xiao Chengjing could hear was the roar of blood rushing, one louder than the other.
The three words "commoner etiquette" were like a loud slap in his face.
Completely denying everything he gave.
He seemed to hear her say: "It is best for you and me to never see each other again in this life or the next."
He was puzzled.
She hated him so much?
After a long moment, he nodded slightly and uttered a word: "Okay." This was probably the only and last thing he could do for her that suited her wishes.
He locked himself in the bedroom where she had lived for three whole days.
During these three days, scenes from the past kept appearing before his eyes like a kaleidoscope.
Thinking of the time they met again in Jin State, she lowered her eyes, her voice as cold as broken jade as she uttered the four words "ownerless quality".
Thinking back to when the carriage was attacked, she tried her best but couldn't tear his robe, she was so clumsy and so stubborn.
Thinking of the time when she was being taught to ride a horse and the horse trotting, she couldn't help but smile, the sunlight falling on the tips of her hair, so bright that it was blinding.
He remembered that when she was drunk, she boldly poked his cheek and said with a smile that he was handsome. That was the first time she took the initiative to touch him.
There are countless nights...
It was not until this moment that Xiao Chengjing realized that the thrill he felt when they first met in Ci'en Temple had faded from his mind at some point, and what occupied his thoughts now was her true appearance: lively, cunning, a bit worldly, and slightly annoying.
He closed his eyes, trying in vain to suppress the surging sourness.
In the darkness, I felt a warm and moist touch on my fingertips.
It was the big orange cat licking him.
He didn't want to open his eyes anymore.
He is afraid.
I was afraid that if I opened my eyes, I would only see the dead silence of the empty palace and no longer hear the coquettish complaint: "Your Majesty, why are you here again?"
Only the touch of the cat licking his fingertips was distinctly felt. He became increasingly afraid to open his eyes. He feared that the moment he opened them, all he would see was the dead silence of the entire palace, and that vivid, lively voice, "Your Majesty, why are you here again?" would completely dissipate, leaving no trace.
He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, trying not to let a single drop of moisture escape. In the darkness, he felt a warm, wet touch against his fingertips—it must be Ah Ju licking him. He didn't dare open his eyes anymore. He was afraid. He was afraid that if he lifted his eyes, he would only see the dead silence of the empty palace, and would no longer hear the coquettish, complaining voice: "Your Majesty, why are you here again?"
He got her, their child, a coffin without a proper name, and a grave where he could never publicly worship.
His power, his strategy, and his unwillingness were now so pale and weightless.
After she left, the State of Li sent a new hostage.
It turned out to be a little girl of five or six years old.
She was about the same age when I first met her at Ci'en Temple.
A nameless anger suddenly rose up.
He could even hear the crackling of his knuckles.
The air in the hall suddenly became stagnant, and the palace servants standing on both sides held their breath, not daring to move.
Xiao Chengjing's expression was terrifyingly gloomy. "Is the Li Kingdom completely deserted?" His eyes were filled with a chilling coldness that made the envoy tremble all over. Without waiting for the envoy to explain, he sternly ordered, "Come here, send this woman back immediately!"
Cui Jinzhong hurried forward and carried the frightened girl away.
As we walked further in, faint whimpers were carried in by the wind, like the meowing of a kitten.
It made him even more upset.
He suddenly stood up and walked down from the throne step by step, his sleeves bringing up a gust of cold wind.
Approaching the sweat-soaked envoy, pain and sarcasm intertwined in his eyes. "The King of Li State actually wants to replace her with a young girl with hanging hair? Do you think that if the old one goes, the new one will come?" He stared at the envoy intently, each word seeming to be squeezed out between his teeth. "Why, now that she's gone, are you afraid of demanding tribute?"
The envoy fell to the ground, trembling, and dared not answer.
Little did he know that Li Guo's speculation was both right and wrong.
Now that she was dead, Xiao Chengjing certainly had no intention of being polite to Li Guo.
But how could he be interested in such a mere annual tribute?
Soon, an imperial decree was issued: princesses of marriageable age were to marry far away to the country of Li.
On the surface, he was trying to make friends with Shi En, but secretly, he was planning to take advantage of the opportunity to control the government of Li State.
Since the King of Li State is so ungrateful, it's time for someone else to take the throne.
At the banquet held when a princess from the royal family married into the Li Kingdom, the banquet was lavishly spread and the wine glasses were clinking.
Xiao Chengjing sat in the main seat, but his heart was cold and lonely.
Normally, in such occasions, she would sit beside him, gently pull his sleeve, and whisper in his ear about how the imperial meal tasted.
Now, that place is empty, with only a faint cold fragrance left, reminding him that things have changed.
He raised his glass to drink, but his eyes glanced at the palace servant standing in the corner and suddenly stopped.
The eyebrows and features were somewhat similar to hers.
His heart felt like it was hit by something, and he raised his finger as if possessed by a ghost: "You, come over and pour the wine."
The palace maid stepped forward timidly, picked up the jade pot with her slender hands and filled it for him.
The wine rippled slightly, reflecting his gloomy expression.
He didn't say a word during the entire banquet. Only when she added more wine did his eyes involuntarily slide down and stick to her similar face.
After the banquet, Eunuch Cui quietly approached and asked in a low voice, "Your Majesty, should the palace maid who just poured the wine be transferred to serve in front of the emperor?"
A sharp light flashed in Xiao Chengjing's eyes: "Bring her here, I want to question her personally." They are so similar, it must be someone's careful arrangement.
Not long after, two eunuchs returned with the palace maids.
The palace maid walked ten steps to the throne and knelt deeply, her slender body tense.
Being summoned by His Majesty alone, is it a curse or a blessing?
Many thoughts flashed through her mind.
Xiao Chengjing's gaze fell on her with a seriousness that was almost scrutinizing, as if he wanted to see through this skin and capture the flesh and blood of another person.
The candlelight cast tiny shadows on her eyelashes.
For a moment, an illusion of light and shadow actually made the two people overlap.
Xiao Chengjing was silent for a long time, then slowly said, "If I keep you in my presence, would you be willing?"
The palace maid's hands, which were tightly clenched around the corner of her clothes, loosened slightly, and the white marks on her knuckles slowly faded away.
Her breathing stagnated for a moment, then became rapid: "Your servant...I will leave it to Your Majesty to decide." Her voice was full of obedience.
Hearing this, the corners of Xiao Chengjing's lips twitched slightly, as if mocking, but also like a sigh.
He doesn't want to keep those who are willing to stay, and he can't keep those who are unwilling to stay.
"Back off." He waved his hand, his tone weary.
These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over my head.
The palace maid's body visibly stiffened.
Tears flowed uncontrollably and rolled down my cheeks.
She choked with sobs as she thanked him: "Your servant...thanks for your grace, Your Majesty." After that, she used her hands and feet to support herself from the ground and staggered out of the hall.
Xiao Chengjing looked at her back, the mockery in his eyes deepening.
His Yaoyao would never say something like "It's up to Your Majesty to decide."
If she were to encounter such a situation, she would definitely frown, look at him with three parts of annoyance and seven parts of stubbornness, and ask: "Is bullying the enemy the only trick Your Majesty has left?"
Oh, not like her at all.
There will never be another her in this world.
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Author's words: Tomorrow is the finale, the ending is be, and the extra chapter is he [scatter flowers]
The extra chapter might be postponed for two days. I just finished writing the ending and can’t get over the emotional impact. The extra chapter is not sweet enough and is not beautiful [smirk]
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