Chapter 25 Fortunately, she escaped
The emperor was in poor health and had not summoned his concubines to sleep with him for a long time. Her sudden appearance surprised Concubine Shu.
She hurriedly got off the bed and greeted him with a joyful expression: "Why is the emperor here? Has his health improved?" Then she ordered the maid: "Quick, serve the emperor a bowl of ginseng soup."
Her voice has always been charming. Even though she is over forty years old, her voice is still as crisp and charming as when she was twenty-eight, so she has always been favored.
The emperor waved his hand and said, "My beloved concubine, please don't worry. I will leave after just a few minutes."
Concubine Shu deliberately got angry: "It's already this late, and the Emperor has arrived and yet he wants to leave. I wonder how the palace maids will laugh at me tomorrow."
"I'm afraid that I'll make you sick, so please don't be unreasonable." After the emperor said this, he covered his mouth and coughed twice.
Concubine Shu hurriedly had tea served, and while massaging the emperor's back, she served him tea: "I miss your majesty, isn't it? Everyone in the harem is a snob. I can't live well without your majesty."
The emperor glanced at her and said, "With your spoiled personality, who in the palace dares to bully you?"
"The Queen," Concubine Shu said directly, "She has been showing off in front of me these days."
The emperor said jokingly, "Weren't you two getting along well before?"
"The Emperor also said that was the original situation." Concubine Shu pursed her lips in annoyance. "In the past few years, as I've watched Bo'er become more and more successful, the Empress has been mocking me a lot."
Bo'er is the second prince Zhao Bo, also the son of Concubine Shu.
Just because he was born two days later than the Queen's son Zhao Che, he missed the position of crown prince. Fortunately, in the past few years he followed the army to fight and went to the south to rescue the starving people, accumulating many merits. In addition, with the constant favor of Concubine Shu in the palace, his reputation in the court was almost as high as that of Prince Zhao Che.
Therefore, the conflict between Changle Hall and Kunning Palace became increasingly intense.
The emperor sighed: "You, even at this age, are still so impatient."
Concubine Shu was dissatisfied: "How come I am so old? Does the emperor think I am old?"
"I am old too." The emperor breathed a sigh of relief, looked at the eunuch standing at the door, and asked casually, "I remember your name is Yunzi, right?"
Yunzi didn't expect the emperor to ask her a question. She felt her back tighten with fear and quickly knelt down: "Your Majesty, yes."
The emperor looked around and said, "My beloved concubine, there seem to be eunuchs named Li Zi and Chang Zi in this palace."
Concubine Shu was irritated: "Your Majesty, you came to my palace, but instead of being devoted to me, why do you keep mentioning the names of these eunuchs?"
The emperor smiled and then ordered the palace servants: "All of you go out."
The palace maids filed out of the hall.
The emperor put away his smile and looked at Concubine Shu solemnly: "I have something I want to ask my beloved concubine."
Concubine Shu was somewhat dissatisfied: "If the emperor has something to say, just ask directly. Why put on such a scary look?"
The emperor spoke solemnly, "In the fourth year of Yonglong's reign, a eunuch named Shunzi disappeared from your palace, right?"
Concubine Shu's chest tightened, and she was stunned: "Why did the emperor suddenly ask this?"
"Just tell me, yes or no?"
Concubine Shu forced herself to remain calm: "It's been so many years. I don't know how many eunuchs have come and gone in this palace. I really... don't have any impression of them."
The emperor stared at her meaningfully, his eyes clearly filled with anger and disappointment. Then he stood up from the armchair, turned around and walked out.
Concubine Shu knew she was wrong and grabbed the emperor's sleeve: "Your Majesty, don't go..."
The emperor sighed helplessly, "I have asked you so much, and you still don't want to tell me the truth. I have nothing more to say to you."
Concubine Shu stammered, "I just don't know...why the emperor wants to ask about a eunuch."
"It seems that my beloved concubine wants me to reveal it."
The emperor turned to look at her, his tone piercing with cruelty, "Shunzi disappeared at the same time as Duofu, right?"
After a pause, he continued, "I also remember that you and the Queen said in unison that Duofu fled the palace because he made a mistake. So, the Queen must know the inside story. I will go to Kunning Palace to ask her. I will believe whatever she says, and you, my beloved concubine, will no longer have the opportunity to defend yourself."
Concubine Shu was shocked when she heard this.
The Queen had conspired with her in that incident back then, and now she was against the Queen. If the Emperor went to Kunning Palace, the insidious and cunning Queen would definitely put all the blame on her. How could she let her succeed?
Concubine Shu knelt down with a plop: "I was wrong, I hope the emperor will forgive me."
The emperor glanced at her coldly and sat back on his throne: "Since my beloved concubine is willing to tell the truth, then I am all ears."
Concubine Shu slowed down and choked up as she spoke, "In the fourth year of the Yonglong reign, a eunuch named Shunzi did indeed disappear from my palace. I later learned that Shunzi had been very close to Duofu, so I speculated that he might have left the palace with Duofu."
"Why didn't you make this clear back then?"
Concubine Shu lowered her head and remained silent.
The emperor sneered: "Could it be that my beloved concubine has some difficulties?"
"I have my own difficulties, but I dare not speak them out."
Concubine Shu cried bitterly, and continued crying, "Back then, I learned from the Queen... that the Emperor favored a maid named Duofu from the Tea and Wine Department. The Queen also said... that the maid was pregnant..."
The emperor jumped up in shock.
Because he got up too quickly, he started coughing violently. Even after he finished, he was still upset: "What did you say, lucky her...she's pregnant?"
Concubine Shu was so frightened that she trembled and immediately knelt down and kowtowed: "Your Majesty, please spare my life, Your Majesty, please spare my life."
The emperor gritted his teeth and said, "I didn't say I wanted your life. Please tell me everything you know."
Concubine Shu's voice trembled as she continued, "So, the Empress instigated me to find an excuse to kill Duofu while the Emperor was on tour. At first, I couldn't bear it and refused, but the Empress threatened me that if Duofu didn't die, she would use her son's status to climb to the position of Concubine when the Emperor returned. By then, I'm afraid even I would be under her feet. I was afraid of losing the Emperor's favor and didn't dare to offend the Empress, so I had no choice but to agree. I didn't expect Shunzi in the palace to overhear this conversation. Afterwards, he probably informed Duofu, and the two of them escaped from the palace while shopping. The Emperor knew everything that happened afterwards."
The emperor staggered and raised his hand to touch his forehead.
After a long while, he finally calmed down and said, "Please stand up first."
Concubine Shu wiped her tears and stood up from the ground, still trying to excuse herself: "If it weren't for the Queen's instigation behind the scenes, I... would never have dared to have such thoughts."
The emperor closed his eyes and took a deep breath: "I know everything."
"Then Your Majesty...will not blame me anymore?"
The emperor said in a hoarse voice: "It's been so many years, I don't blame you anymore."
Concubine Shu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but when she thought of Duofu, she couldn't help but feel jealous, "Is the emperor... still thinking about Duofu?"
The emperor looked at her dimly: "Haven't I always had you all these years?"
Only then did Concubine Shu burst into laughter and threw herself into the emperor's arms.
She knew that the emperor still loved her in the end.
The emperor hugged her gently, but there was a cold light in his eyes.
He asked, "Bo'er has returned to the capital with the disaster relief work. Has he come to the palace to visit you?"
At the mention of her son, Concubine Shu immediately perked up: "He came here yesterday. Ostensibly to visit me, his mother, but in reality, he kept muttering about the Emperor, saying, 'If I rashly go to Weiyang Palace, I'm afraid I'll disturb my father's rest.' Now he's waiting for the Emperor to summon him."
The emperor suddenly changed the subject: "Now that Bo'er has passed the age of twenty, it is time for him to go to his fiefdom."
Concubine Shu's face turned pale in an instant: "Your Majesty, I only have this one son. Can't you let him stay in the capital for a few more years?"
Now Zhao Bo and the prince are evenly matched in strength. If he goes to his fiefdom, all his plans will be in vain.
The emperor was silent for a long time, then he said something shocking: "Unless the prince is weak, Bo'er can stay in the capital."
A light flashed in Concubine Shu's eyes, and she murmured, "The Emperor... The Emperor's meaning..."
Could it be that she wants her son to replace the prince?
The emperor's eyes were deep and unfathomable, and his words were full of hidden meaning: "My beloved concubine and I are of the same mind. We both hope that Bo'er can inherit the foundation, but in the end, all of this depends on Bo'er's own ability."
Shufei's heart was beating wildly.
She already understood what the emperor meant, "The prince is weak" and "depend on Bo'er's own ability". Doesn't this clearly mean that he wants to support Bo'er in fighting the prince? If he wins, Bo'er can take his place.
She knelt down again excitedly: "Bo'er will never let the emperor down."
"No need to be so polite, my dear."
The emperor helped her up and said sternly, "I can only give Bo'er one year."
In other words, Zhao Bo has one year to defeat the prince.
Concubine Shu cried with joy: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your plan for Bo'er."
The emperor smiled reassuringly, but there was a hint of gloom in his eyes.
Both of his sons are ambitious. One wants to sit on the throne as soon as possible, and the other wants to replace the position of crown prince. Let them fight. In this way, he doesn't have to do it himself. In this way, he can also avenge Duofu.
"I will not sleep here today. Tomorrow I will send some rewards. With the rewards, no one in the palace will dare to say anything bad about my beloved concubine."
Concubine Shu was full of gratitude, "Your Majesty is indeed thoughtful."
The emperor patted Concubine Shu's hand, then turned and walked out of Changle Palace.
The night was dark, with only a few scattered palace lanterns lighting the way ahead.
He glanced at the sedan chair at the bottom of the steps, but did not get on it. Instead, he told Zhao Fu, "Accompany me for a walk along the palace road."
Zhao Fu bowed and replied "yes".
The wind was obviously hot, but it made him feel cold.
Not only is my body cold, my heart is even colder.
He murmured, "Back then, Duofu was pregnant, but she fell into the hands of a pimp, and was later sold to the rear quarters as a slave. Do you think she still had a chance to survive?"
Zhao Fu naturally didn't dare to say that there was no way out. "In my opinion, your Highness is blessed by heaven and will definitely be able to survive smoothly."
The emperor sighed helplessly, "Fortunately, she escaped that year, otherwise, she would have died in this deep palace."
Zhao Fu replied, "So Your Majesty should be at ease. Your Majesty is a blessed person. Perhaps she is currently living peacefully somewhere with a prince or princess."
The emperor looked up at the palace beside the corridor and was silent for a long time.
Under the cover of night, the towering palace looks like a monster with its mouth wide open, ready to swallow people at any time.
This magnificent and dazzling palace is his home, but it is also a life-threatening prison.
He said, "I hope Zi Yu can find them soon." Then he walked forward alone.
Zhao Fu looked at his figure and inexplicably felt that the emperor was lonelier than ever at this moment.
At this time, Zi Yu, who was being scolded by the emperor, was having a quarrel with his wife and was sleeping in the study.
Since he didn't come back, Su He felt free. She tossed and turned on the couch without any hindrance and slept until dawn.
The next day, as soon as she opened her eyes, Zhang Xiuhua rushed into the room: "Miss, something happened in the main courtyard."
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