"ah?"
"It's nothing." Song Qi withdrew his hand, pretending nothing had happened.
Meng Yilan looked at Song Qi.
Song Qi noticed that Meng Yilan was staring at him, so he casually picked up a piece of pastry and held it to her lips: "You've lost weight, eat more."
"Really?" Meng Yilan rubbed her stomach; she thought she had gained weight.
It's not good here; you can't even weigh yourself, you can only estimate by sight.
"Hmm," Song Qi said without changing his expression.
Meng Yilan ate the pastry from Song Qi's hand, and felt that she could have another piece.
The two of them soaked for about half an hour before going up.
After changing his clothes and returning to his palace, he saw Zhao Zhi sitting on a soft couch.
He looked at the two people who came in together.
Zhao Zhi wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but something felt off.
He subconsciously raised his hand and rubbed his head: "You went to the hot springs?"
"Mm." Song Qi nodded.
"Two people?"
"Hmm, is that not allowed?" Song Qi looked at Zhao Zhi.
Zhao Zhi: ...
"There's nothing wrong with it." It just feels a bit eerie.
"Is there something you need?" Song Qi sat down in another spot, and Meng Yilan leaned against her.
Zhao Zhi: It feels even stranger now.
"The palace maids have already made new arrangements for you, and you can move back anytime." Zhao Zhi hadn't actually come here to say this, but... seeing the two people leaning against each other, he didn't know why he blurted it out.
Meng Yilan glanced at Zhao Zhi with an unfriendly look in her eyes.
Zhao Zhi sensed it and glanced at Meng Yilan, but the other had already lowered her head, looking gentle once again.
Zhao Zhi: ? ? ?
"Okay, I understand." Song Qi nodded, feeling Meng Yilan tugging at her clothes from behind.
Song Qi turned around and patted her hand.
"Your Majesty, you didn't just come here to tell me about this, did you?"
Zhao Zhi took a deep breath: "And also, all those people from yesterday are dead."
Song Qi frowned: "How did he die?"
“Someone broke in last night and killed everyone.” Zhao Zhi clenched his fist. “Those people were more troublesome than we thought.”
What kind of person could move freely in the palace without being discovered by others?
He looked at Song Qi, then glanced at her subconsciously: "Move back as soon as possible."
"Mm." Song Qi nodded.
Meng Yilan glanced at Zhao Zhi again.
Song Qi knew that Zhao Zhi probably had other things he wanted to tell him, and that mentioning those people in front of Meng Yilan was probably a way of testing him.
Thinking about it, being an emperor is really meaningless. He has so few people he can trust, and given the frequency of assassins appearing now, I wonder if he can sleep peacefully when he's in bed.
"I'm leaving now."
Meng Yilan quickly stood up, appearing very happy and positive about Zhao Zhi's departure.
Zhao Zhi glanced at Meng Yilan again.
After Zhao Zhi left, Meng Yilan took the seat Zhao Zhi had been sitting in and looked at Song Qi.
"Aren't you staying here tonight?"
“Hmm.” Song Qi nodded. “Now that everything over there is ready, I have no reason to stay here. Besides, it’s not safe for you and me to get too close.”
Meng Yilan really wanted to say that it was nothing.
“Aren’t we together every day? What does it matter if we’re together at night or not?” Song Qi reached out and ruffled Meng Yilan’s hair.
Meng Yilan nodded, but even so, she couldn't be happy.
Song Qi had been there all afternoon and actually wanted to leave a long time ago, but every time she tried to leave, Meng Yilan would look at her with a pitiful expression, making it impossible for her to leave.
However, she still forced herself to walk before going to bed.
Her palace was deserted. Although there were many more people, the number was still the same, but they were all unfamiliar faces.
Song Qi couldn't help but sigh.
No matter how many times she experienced separation, she still couldn't get used to it.
The next day, Song Qi woke up early as usual. This time, he didn't go out for a stroll, but instead practiced swordsmanship in the courtyard for two hours.
"Go and tell Consort Cheng that she can come and soak in the hot springs today."
"Yes." The palace maid nimbly left the room.
Song Qi took a bath and changed his clothes.
The palace maid returned just then: "Consort Cheng is ill. She said she might not be able to come to the hot springs."
Song Qi frowned, looking at the palace maid. Yata was perfectly fine yesterday; her body shouldn't be this weak. How could she suddenly fall ill? "Is it serious?"
"I don't know, this servant didn't see Consort Cheng." The palace maid shook her head.
"I understand." Song Qi prepared to quickly finish her breakfast and then go to check on Yata.
After she finished her breakfast, Yuehong, who was by Meng Yilan's side, arrived.
They also brought a box of pastries.
"Your Highness, the Empress asks if you may have lunch at her place."
"Please thank Your Majesty for me. I'm going to take a look at Yata and then go see her again this afternoon."
"Alright." Yuehong bowed to Song Qi and then turned to leave.
Song Qi glanced at Yue Hong's retreating figure, opened the food box, looked at the pastries inside, and then closed the lid again.
She thought her side was quiet enough, but she didn't expect Yata's side to be even quieter.
Walking in felt like entering a cold palace.
Since Yata arrived here, Zhao Zhi seems to have never come to her side.
The palace maid standing at the door was somewhat surprised to see Song Qi and hurriedly gave a curtsy.
"Where is your master?"
"Still resting."
"I will go in and take a look."
"Your Highness, it would be better to postpone it, lest you recover from your illness." The palace maid looked at Song Qi.
"It's alright." Song Qi walked right past the palace maid and entered the room.
Yata was leaning against the bed, not resting, but already awake. When she saw Song Qi come in, she smiled at her and said, "It's just that we're not going to the hot springs, why bother you to come all this way?"
She was about to get out of bed to pay her respects when Song Qi pressed her back down.
"Why did you suddenly get sick?"
"I felt a little unwell after I came back yesterday morning, probably because I caught a cold."
Has the imperial physician come to see him?
Yata shook her head: "It's nothing, it's just a minor cold, it'll be fine in a few days."
Looking at Yata's pale face, Song Qi glanced at the palace maid beside him and said, "Go and fetch the imperial physician."
"No, I don't want to take medicine, it's too bitter," Yata said, frowning.
Song Qi ignored her, but glanced at the palace maid again.
The imperial physician arrived quickly and diagnosed it as a cold; he said that some medicine would cure it in a few days.
Yata looked at the prescription with a helpless expression: "I've already said I don't want to take medicine."
"Behave yourself and don't cause trouble." Song Qi looked at Yata. "You should rest well. I'll come to see you when I have time in the next few days."
"No, thank you." Yata shook her head. "Just looking at you makes me angry. You'd better not come near me and make me feel bad."
Song Qi tucked Yata into the blanket, ignored her, and turned to leave the room.
Yata sighed as she lay in bed.
“Princess, why don’t you tell General Shao? I think she will help us.”
“Given her personality, she would definitely help us.” Yata took a deep breath. “But her situation isn’t much better than ours right now. Helping us would make things even more difficult for her.”
"But, Princess..."
"Besides, didn't you see how good her relationship with the Queen is? Do you think she would choose to believe us instead of the Queen?" Yata smirked.
The palace maids also quieted down.
“That’s fine. I was fully prepared when I came here.” Yata turned over, her back to the maid. “You can leave now. I want to sleep.”
The palace maid sighed.
After leaving Yata, Song Qi went to find Zhao Zhi.
She keenly noticed that there were twice as many guards around her.
There were also more people in the study.
"Have you been assassinated recently?"
“No.” Zhao Zhi looked up at Song Qi. “But who knows if they’ll turn their attention to me because they can’t beat you.”
Song Qi twitched the corners of his mouth, sat down in the chair, and glanced at Zhao Zhi.
Zhao Zhi glanced at the people in the room and said, "You can all go down now."
"What's up?"
Song Qi leaned back in his chair, looked at Zhao Zhi, and tapped the table: "I want to ask you what your plans are for those two princes now."
"What kind of plan do you think we can make given our current situation?"
“If you hadn’t let me into the palace, your situation would be much better now,” Song Qi said, looking at Zhao Zhi.
"But this has already happened, and there's no way to put you back."
Song Qi smirked: "Their recent actions have been quite significant. I suggest you start making preparations and arrange for my people to be stationed in or near the palace."
"I have already started preparing."
"I've been curious for a long time, but I still want to ask a question: How many people around you can you completely trust right now?"
Zhao Zhi glanced at Song Qi and remained silent for a long time.
"Is it that hard to answer?" Song Qi shook his head. "If this succeeds, some of the big families can also be thoroughly cleansed."
“I know, and there’s also the matter about Meng Yilan that you asked me to investigate last time…”
"Have you found anything?" Song Qi asked Zhao Zhi.
Zhao Zhi didn't say anything, but took something out of the drawer and tossed it to Song Qi.
Song Qi took the book, opened it, and glanced at it. There was a diagram of relationships between the characters drawn on it, which looked very complicated with many characters. She quickly sorted out the relationships between the characters after a couple of glances.
"Consort Sun?"
“Hmm.” Zhao Zhi leaned back in his chair and said, “The Empress’s mother lived in the Sun family in Jiangnan when she was young. Consort Sun also lived in Jiangnan for a period of time. She liked Madam Meng very much. If the Empress had not married me, she would probably have married Prince Rui.”
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