The people who take an inch and want a mile
Qi Dou was filled with doubt after entering the palace.
Why did Xingyi leave first?
His deep contemplation might lead an uninformed person to believe that the emperor was troubled by political affairs. Fortunately, Zhao Hongxing had followed Qi Dou since childhood and knew how much Qi Dou cared about Li Xingyi, so he understood immediately.
Zhao Hongxing said, "Your Majesty, the Empress must be tired."
Qi Dou seemed to have a sudden realization after hearing this, and said, "That's right, Xingyi has been helping out at the Imperial Hospital these past two days, and he came to see him off today. He must be exhausted."
Qi Dou then looked at Zhao Hongxing and said, "Hongxing, you finally understand my thoughts and have relieved my worries."
Zhao Hongxing smiled and said, "Your Majesty's concern for the Empress is something I have seen and remembered."
Qi Dou listened with satisfaction and said, "Hmm. Let's go to the Xuanzheng Hall."
At this moment, in Jingya Pavilion, there was a person sitting on each side, facing each other. There were piles of copied papers on the table. Hu Cun would glare at Li Fengtan after each copy, but Li Fengtan didn't want to pay any attention to him.
Li Fengtan, engrossed in copying, said calmly, "Lord Hu, you've been copying for two days now, and you've been glaring at me for two days. I advise you to just focus on copying."
Hu Cun ignored him and continued copying, saying with a hint of smugness, "Lord Li! Today is the day Prince Pingshou, Lord Ji, and the people from the Imperial Hospital are to go to Bashu. In the end, didn't His Majesty still listen to my advice and send Prince Pingshou?"
Li Fengtan ignored him and continued copying. Hu Cunliang didn't hear a reply for a long time, so he looked up and found that Li Fengtan was silently copying and didn't seem to care about him at all.
Seeing this, Hu Cun angrily broke the brush in his hand, and a "snap" sound rang out in the room. Li Fengtan looked up, puzzled, and saw that it was Hu Cun who had done it. He sighed and continued to bury himself in copying.
He felt helpless.
They never stop for a moment and never know how to calm down.
Hu Cun suddenly shouted angrily, "Old man Li, what kind of attitude is this?! Where is your manners and upbringing?!"
Li Fengtan calmly asked, "And what about your own manners and upbringing?"
Upon hearing this, Hu Cun retorted angrily, "I have no manners or upbringing?! You mind your own business first! Besides, is it any of your concern?! You..."
Before they could finish speaking, their guards entered, and the two immediately fell silent.
The guard said to them, "My lords, I can tolerate a few words from you, after all, it's nothing serious. But your behavior just now is something I have to make you repeat."
Hu Cun was alarmed upon hearing this: "What?! Copying again? You dare!"
The guard smiled helplessly, and Li Fengtan calmly looked at him and asked, "How much extra copying?"
Upon hearing this, Hu Cun exclaimed to Li Fengtan in shock, "You're really going to add more copying?!"
The guard smiled obsequiously and said, "Thank you for your understanding, Lord Li. Just make sure it's copied a hundred more times."
Li Fengtan said, "Okay, you can go now."
The guards withdrew as ordered.
Hu Cun said sarcastically, "Old Li, you're really honest."
Li Fengtan ignored him and continued copying, saying, "You're not even obeying His Majesty's orders? Do you want your family to be punished because of you?"
Upon hearing this, Hu Cun quickly switched to another brush and continued copying. Li Fengtan glanced at him and then continued copying.
At Cining Palace, Li Xingyi knelt before Shi Hui and said, "Your subject greets Your Majesty."
Shi Hui glanced at her but didn't let her get up. Instead, she picked up some pastries from the table and started eating. She then said to Shunhua, "Shunhua, these pastries are quite good."
Shunhua said, "If Your Majesty the Empress Dowager likes it, I will have more prepared in the future."
Li Xingyi knelt on the ground with his eyes lowered, remaining motionless.
Shi Hui looked at her and said, "Shunhua, go and close the door, lest someone see and say that I am abusing the Empress."
Shunhua replied, "Yes."
After the door was closed, the room became a bit darker than before.
Li Xingyi knew that Shi Hui was doing it on purpose, and spoke first: "Mother, I am willing to accept the punishment."
Shi Hui asked with a half-smile, "Oh? What wrong has the Empress done?"
Li Xingyi looked at her and said calmly, "Your Majesty, I should not monopolize your favor."
Shi Hui asked sharply, "Anything else?"
Li Xingyi remained calm and said, "Please give your instructions, Mother."
Shi Hui's eyes sharpened as she asked, "Empress, why don't you mention that you encouraged the Emperor to set off fireworks last night?"
Li Xingyi stood upright and said calmly, "Your Majesty, I did not encourage you to set off fireworks, so there's no need to say more."
Shi Hui said, "So you're admitting that you're monopolizing the emperor's favor?"
Li Xingyi calmly replied, "It is Your Majesty's fault for failing to ensure that His Majesty's favor is equally distributed."
Clearly, this did not answer Shi Hui's question. Shi Hui looked at her and said, "The Empress monopolizes the Emperor's favor and encouraged him to set off fireworks last night, which is immoral..."
Li Xingyi interrupted her, saying calmly, "Your Majesty, I did not instigate you."
Shi Hui's gaze sharpened slightly as she looked at her: "The Empress has lost her virtue and should be deposed, but I am merciful. I will punish the Empress by making her copy scriptures one hundred times. She shall not leave the palace while copying them in Fengyi Palace. Once she finishes copying them, that will be the end of it."
When Qingyi arrived at Fengyi Palace, she saw a dirty-faced, ragged man sitting with his legs crossed on a chair, looking around with an air of arrogance, as if this place belonged to him.
Seeing this, Qingyi felt somewhat uncomfortable. The man leaned back in his chair upon seeing Qingyi and said arrogantly, "You've taken so long to see me, you really have no manners! Is this how you treat your guests, Your Majesty the Empress!"
Qingyi and the people around her frowned. Qingyi calmly said, "This servant was sent by Her Majesty the Empress to entertain you. Her Majesty the Empress is busy and asked you to wait."
The man flew into a rage upon hearing this and immediately stood up, shouting, "What?! Wait?! I went through so much trouble to get into the palace! Go and summon the Empress right now!"
Qingyi said angrily, "How dare you! How dare you shout in the palace! And what right do you have to order me around! Either wait here, or leave the palace!"
Although the man was angry, he realized he couldn't afford to offend anyone and get kicked out, so he sat down quietly.
In Cining Palace, Qianwu spoke up: "Your Majesty the Empress Dowager..."
Seeing this, Shi Hui angrily said, "I am speaking to the Empress. The Empress has not yet spoken. What right do you, a mere maid, have to speak? Shunhua, slap her."
Shunhua bowed and said, "Yes."
Li Xingyi said, "Wait a minute."
Shi Hui asked, "Hmm?"
Li Xingyi kowtowed to her and said, "Please forgive Qianwu, Your Majesty. I am willing to accept the punishment."
Qianwu was so moved she didn't know what to say: "Your Majesty..."
Li Xingyi said in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, "Quiet."
Shi Hui said sarcastically, "The Empress is truly considerate. In that case, let's do as the Empress says."
Then Li Xingyi kowtowed on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, I thank you. I take my leave."
Qianwu helped Li Xingyi up. Li Xingyi's legs were a little numb from kneeling for so long, and he couldn't stand steadily. Fortunately, Qianwu supported him, and they walked out of Cining Palace little by little.
Shunhua asked, "Your Majesty, why didn't you hit the Empress just now? Weren't you prepared?"
Shi Hui said, "It's just for Min'er's sake. The Emperor will definitely know about what happened just now. It's reasonable for me to punish the Empress by making her copy the text. But if I beat her, it would be hard to say. After all, she is still the Empress, someone the Emperor protects."
Upon hearing this, Shunhua said with relief, "Your Majesty, it's fortunate that you didn't hit him just now, otherwise His Majesty's anger would have implicated Princess Huimin."
Shi Hui said, "Yes, if it weren't for Min'er, I wouldn't have been so kind to the Li family. The Emperor and the late Emperor are quite similar; they both protect the Li family. No wonder the late Emperor liked him."
Shi Hui had been suppressing the Li family both openly and secretly. At first, Qi Lie tolerated it, but later he angrily rebuked Shi Hui. At that time, Shi Hui didn't care about anything and only wanted to take revenge on the Li family. Once, she almost caused Li Yanzhang's death.
Qi Lie punished her by confining her to her quarters, and brought Qi Min before her, saying, "If you don't want Min'er to suffer, then behave yourself."
Looking at little Qi Min, Shi Hui remembered that she had another daughter. She beckoned to little Qi Min, "Min'er, come here, come to your mother."
Little Qi Min looked at her somewhat deranged mother and fearfully clung to Qi Lie. Seeing this, Qi Lie picked up Little Qi Min and left, saying before leaving, "If you want to see Min'er, behave yourself. I will untie your feet later, otherwise you will spend the rest of your life in there."
Shi Hui clung to the window and called out to Xiao Qimin, "Min'er, Min'er..."
Although Xiao Qimin was scared, she knew that it was her mother, so she leaned on Qi Lie's shoulder and looked at Shi Hui through the window.
Upon hearing Shi Hui mention the late emperor, Shunhua quickly said, "Your Majesty, there's no need to think about those things. The late emperor has already passed away."
Shi Hui sighed, "Yes, he has already passed away."
After saying that, she suddenly became agitated and said, "But the successor he chose is just like him, protecting the Li family! Does the Qi family really like the Li family that much?!"
Shunhua immediately took a fan and fanned her, saying, "Calm down, calm down. Think of Princess Huimin, think of Consort Duan."
Shi Hui's expression softened slightly, and she said, "Alright, has that person made the arrangements?"
Shunhua said, "They're already at Fengyi Palace."
Shi Hui smiled and said, "He's been waiting for so long, he's probably even angrier now. I don't know what he'll do."
Shunhua suddenly remembered something and said, "Your Majesty, there was a palace maid left behind at Fengyi Palace just now."
Shi Hui said, "It's alright, as long as things succeed. After they succeed, I'd like to hear the details."
Shunhua replied, "Yes."
Shi Hui added, "Having only Yan'er in the harem is probably not enough. Let's have the clan send some more."
Shunhua thought for a moment and said, "But... the women of marriageable age in the clan are either engaged or married, so there are really no ones who can enter the palace."
Shi Hui glanced at her and said, "Who said there aren't any? Didn't the Empress recommend women from the common people to enter the palace this year? Go and see if there are any women who can be of use to me, and recruit a few."
Shunhua replied respectfully, "This servant understands, and this servant will certainly handle this matter well."
Shi Hui said with satisfaction, "Yes, I trust you to handle things. By the way, remember not to let anyone know."
Shunhua bowed his head and said, "Yes."
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