Chapter 93: Changning, you are afraid...
Gao Cong knew that she was truly cruel and ruthless, so he could only shut up in grievance.
He pouted and said pitifully, "You, you have to untie me first."
Zhao Changning saw that he was tied up like a dumpling and wanted to untie him, but then he thought that the kid was jumping around so vigorously and he might have to tie him up again in a while, which was too troublesome.
"Okay, I'll just say a few words to you."
Gao Cong knew there was no hope of solving the problem, so he turned his head and snorted angrily.
"Zhao Changning, if you have something to say, say it now. If you have something to say, fart now."
Zhao Changning saw the red slap marks on his face and finally endured it. "Let's make a deal. I'll make sure you have a good life and you don't have to go back to the Gao family, but you have to stay by my side."
Gao Cong looked at her with disbelief, as if she were a fool, and blurted out, "You're almost dead, and you still want to support me? Where can I eat and drink? I won't go to the underworld."
Zhao Changning really wanted to slap him in the face, but he said gently, "Don't worry, you and I are husband and wife. If I die, you will be buried with me."
Gao Cong became anxious when he heard this and started jumping on the ground again.
"Zhao Changning, you vicious woman, who are you and your spouse? You just want me dead? Huh? Why don't you just kill me now? It's better than being humiliated later. Kill me, come on, kill me, bang..."
After one slap, the marks on both sides of his face suddenly became symmetrical, and Zhao Changning felt inexplicably more comfortable.
Gao Cong was beaten to tears. "You, you hit me again? No one has ever hit me since I was a child. Why did you hit me? If my grandfather were still alive, he would definitely kill you..."
Seeing that he was still shouting, Zhao Changning raised his hand again. Gao Cong quickly lowered his head, fearing that he would be beaten again.
"Can we talk properly now?"
Gao Cong: “…”
This bad woman, he will kill her one day.
Seeing that he had finally learned his lesson, Zhao Changning said calmly, "Don't worry, I won't die this time. When you get out, comfort Granny Xu and Yun Qiu, and wait for me to return behind closed doors."
Gao Cong looked helpless and resigned to his fate, "Then, what about me?"
Zhao Changning patted his mouth-watering face. "If anyone from the Gao family comes, go find Song Huan. She'll know what to do. As for you, leave your former identity behind. From now on, I guarantee you'll live the same life as when you were in the Gao family, but you must keep our true relationship a secret."
Gao Cong was so frightened when he saw her getting close to him that he swallowed his saliva. "What's the relationship? What kind of relationship could there be between us?"
Zhao Changning smiled sweetly and kindly reminded him, "We are a couple, but not married."
Gao Cong wanted to humiliate her, so he deliberately said, "I know, I know. Unmediated incest, adulterer, I know. Humph, I also know about your affair with Zhou Min. Humph, I haven't done anything yet, but you're cuckolded, so... snap—"
Zhao Changning looked at the red handprints around his mouth with satisfaction and said with a smile, "You should respect your future breadwinners. If you dare to talk nonsense again, I'll cut off your tongue."
Gao Cong was completely hurt by the beating, three slaps in a row. He had never suffered such humiliation and pain since he was a child. In the past, someone would comfort him when he got a break in the skin. Thinking of his grandfather and his own miserable situation, he suddenly broke down and burst into tears.
"Wuwuwuwu, I hate you, you bad woman, vicious woman, wuwuwuwu..."
Seeing his eyes filled with tears, Zhao Changning couldn't help but think of the young master in red clothes with a fluttering red dress and a bright and flamboyant smile on his face that day, and he softened a little.
"Okay, stop crying. I only want you to stay with me temporarily, not forever. After this is over, I'll give you ten thousand taels of silver. No, thirty thousand taels of silver. Okay?"
Gao Cong's crying stopped suddenly. Her tearful face was now filled with tears, like peach blossoms, and full of struggle and hatred.
"I want fifty thousand taels, otherwise I won't agree."
Zhao Changning watched him recover quickly and was shocked to find that he seemed to have been fooled. This kind of child who was raised in a honey pot is the best at crying for candy and is more spoiled than a princess.
She nodded helplessly, "Okay, but we have to agree on how we met and how we can be together so as not to arouse suspicion. You can rest assured that I have no other feelings for you. You just need to stay by my side..."
Gao Cong blinked away tears and said hoarsely, "How can I believe that you can keep your word?"
Zhao Changning smiled at him and said, "At this point, you have no choice but to trust me. Otherwise, you will have no choice but to return to the Gao family. The people in the Gao family will never treat you better than I do."
Gao Cong lowered his eyelashes and thought for a while after hearing this. He actually felt that what she said was not wrong at all. Then he said angrily, "Okay, then I can only believe you, this bad woman."
Zhao Changning thought about their cooperative relationship and his own situation, so he reluctantly tolerated his scolding.
Gao Cong lay on the ground, trembling again. "They said they were a couple, but you still tied me up. Is there really such a couple? Wouldn't others know it was fake at a glance?"
Zhao Changning saw him jumping around like a big carp, thought about it, felt that what he said made sense, and untied his rope.
"You'd better be polite to me. The Gao family doesn't have any ceremonial guards now. Even if I were in prison, it would be easy for me to kill them."
Gao Cong was about to rush forward when his foot suddenly stopped, furious. "Humph, they say girls are made of water, but you must be made of molten iron, you bad woman."
Zhao Changning shrugged nonchalantly, "Tenderness is fine, but so is indestructibility."
Gao Cong was about to retort when Chunyun came over and he quickly shut up.
Zhao Changning felt relieved when he saw that although he was noisy and looked stupid on the surface, he was actually quite smart.
Chunyun looked outside and said hurriedly, "No more talking, we have to leave quickly, people from the Dali Temple and the Censorate are coming."
Zhao Changning grabbed Gao Cong, who was eager to run out, and said with a sullen look, "Do you remember what I said?"
Gao Cong impatiently shook off her hand and said, "I know, I know, I'm so annoyed."
When Chunyun heard him speak so unreasonably, she turned her head and her eyes widened immediately.
There were several slap marks on his fair face, even on his mouth. Thinking of his rude and impolite appearance, she immediately understood the slap Zhao Changning had given her, and she wanted to slap him back.
It seems that Zhao Changning is always ruthless to men. She feels that it's a good thing that this man has a good appearance, otherwise she would have slapped him more than just a face.
I don't know when the snow started falling again, as if making up for the summer drought. It was another snow that was finger-thick, and the sky and the earth were all white, with almost no other colors.
The emperor was in Kunning Palace at this time, accompanying the eldest princess in practicing calligraphy, and the father and daughter had a warm relationship.
The queen personally brought over tea and snacks, fiddled with the charcoal fire, and gave a secret look.
The eldest princess understood, "Father, when can my aunt come out? I miss her."
The emperor patted his daughter's head and said calmly, "It will come out, Yao'er, don't worry. Auntie just encountered some minor problems now, and we need to solve them properly."
The Queen spoke at the right time, "Yao'er, don't always ask your father about government affairs. It's not for girls."
"Your Majesty, have some tea." She looked up at the emperor. "I suddenly thought of a solution yesterday, so I went to ask Changning and then went to the inner prison."
The emperor was not surprised and asked calmly, "What method?"
The Queen smiled and said, "Changning and I have always had a good relationship, and the Emperor knows it. I was thinking, why not just let Changning and I become real sisters and enter the harem? Wouldn't this problem be solved then?"
The emperor paused slightly, but his expression remained unchanged as he said calmly, "Oh?"
The queen stared intently, but the couple seldom saw each other that often, so she really couldn't tell what the emperor was thinking. She only felt that even his eyebrows didn't move, and the words he wrote didn't seem crooked.
However, she felt relieved. This also proved that the emperor and Zhao Changning had no personal feelings at all. Thinking about how the two of them only cared about political affairs, which was exactly the same, she couldn't help but laugh at herself in her heart.
"Changning immediately knelt down, and I learned that she had a lover outside the palace."
The emperor looked up suddenly, extremely surprised, "What?"
Seeing the emperor so surprised, the queen obviously didn't know either. After all, there was a gap between men and women, and it was difficult for Changning to speak to her, let alone the emperor.
She laughed and said, "I heard she said he was a very handsome boy. I wonder where she found him."
The emperor's grip on the pen gradually tightened until the eldest princess said, "Father, the ink is dripping."
He finally came back to his senses and calmly said to the Queen, "Love between men and women is normal. She seems to be living a carefree life."
The queen took the eldest princess hand in hand to see the emperor off, feeling relieved.
Chunyun followed behind and couldn't help but sigh, "Your Majesty, I really didn't realize that Changning really likes handsome men."
The Queen was a little unconvinced, but couldn't help but be curious, "Is it really that beautiful?"
"He's handsome, even more handsome than a woman. Even Jade Beauty looks inferior to him. It's just that he's a little..." Chunyun changed the subject, "Your Majesty, what should we do now? We've already gone to the Censorate and the Dali Temple."
The Queen frowned slightly and snorted coldly, "These men are really something. It's just one person's death, but they act like their father has died. Why don't they react at all when a woman dies?"
Especially since Changning killed Princess Huachang's grandson. When she was a daughter-in-law, she hated the people in Princess Huachang's mansion the most. Even the servants looked down on others.
He deserves to be killed for being so arrogant and domineering.
She narrowed her eyes and said, "Write a letter to Zhou Miao. Aren't those girls going to save Changning? What use can girls be? It's just a small matter of making a fuss. And they have to be married women, ladies of high rank. They will be visiting the palace soon, right? We should have a good talk with them, and you can ask the invited girls to get ready as well."
As for the damn actor, she felt that it should be abolished. If such a thing were to enter the palace one day, would she, as the queen, be expected to put on a smile?
It's totally incomprehensible.
The emperor returned to the Qinzheng Hall with a tense expression. Under the alternating stimulation of cold and hot, he seemed to have made up his mind and suddenly called someone over. Qin Fu was the one who had been following him since before he ascended the throne and was very skilled in martial arts.
"Qin Fu, go check who that extremely handsome boy is."
He looked at the slightly messy imperial desk, slowly exhaled, and leaned back in his chair, revealing his slender neck. His Adam's apple rolled up and down, indicating that the owner was in a state of unrest.
Suddenly, Yun Hui's slightly anxious voice came, "Your Majesty, the Dali Temple Minister is here and said that my aunt has fainted. Should we ask the imperial physician to come and see her?"
The emperor stood up with a bang, looking at the Supreme Court Justice with a cold gaze, and said unhappily, "Zhao Changning's guilt has not yet been determined. She is still my Imperial Secretary. How dare you use private punishment? Who gave you permission?"
The Grand Court Minister immediately said, "Your Majesty, the female clerk has an old illness. She turned pale mid-interrogation and soon after fainted. I have some knowledge of medicine, and after taking her pulse, I can tell you she has a stomach problem, which has been going on for a long time, and this time it suddenly triggered her old illness. Therefore, I dare not delay and come to ask Your Majesty whether to summon an imperial physician for the female clerk, and what the subsequent interrogation should be. Princess Huachang has been causing trouble in my residence, so I seek Your Majesty's guidance."
The emperor looked slightly surprised. He had never known that Zhao Changning had any health problems.
"Send the imperial physician to see him immediately."
The emperor paced back and forth, looking at the thick snow outside the palace and thinking of the cold environment in the inner prison, and finally made up his mind.
"No, take her out of prison and take good care of her. No matter what, she should recover first. This will also help you investigate the case later. As for Princess Huachang, you don't have to worry about her."
The Dali Temple Minister was slightly surprised, but still bent down and left.
The emperor immediately drafted an edict to demote Princess Huachang's restored princess title. Since her family was so fond of causing trouble, she should continue to be a princess.
Yun Hui had just served the tea when she saw the emperor's already stern face frown even more tightly, and his hands were shaking with fear.
"Why are you shaking?" the emperor asked impatiently, "You've been following Changning for so many years, how come you're still so useless?"
Yun Hui knelt down and kowtowed, wanting to cry but unable to, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. Your Majesty, please forgive me."
"Get out." The emperor frowned and waved his hands. In fact, he knew why this happened. He was frightened by his father.
Qin Fu came back before nightfall.
"...He was indeed a remarkable man, with a face so beautiful it was hard to tell whether he was a man or a woman. I thought I had seen him before, so I asked around and found out the neighbors said he had appeared out of nowhere. Later I found out his name: Gao Cong."
The emperor's eyes darkened, "Gao Cong? Why does he sound familiar?"
Qin Fu clasped his fists and said, "He is Prime Minister Gao's most beloved grandson. He was once praised by the late emperor for his extraordinary agility."
The emperor suddenly realized and pondered carefully. He was already intelligent, and he had known Zhao Changning day and night, so he knew her well. After thinking through the whole story, he couldn't help but smile and shake his head. Was Zhao Changning so wary of everyone? She didn't care about her reputation at all. Before, it was Zhou Min, and now it was Gao Cong.
Qin Fu looked at the emperor in deep thought and said hesitantly, "Your Majesty, do you need more details?"
The emperor smiled and shook his head, "No need to follow me anymore."
He felt as comfortable as if he had drunk nectar, and also found it extremely funny. She was even more determined than him in some things, and she would never give up until she achieved her goal. It was really rare.
Thinking of this, he slowly leaned back in his chair, tapping his hands rhythmically on the armrests. The charcoal fire in the hall crackled, and the place was quiet and peaceful.
When Zhao Changning woke up, he found himself in a different place. There was a light on outside the green tent and the room was warm as spring. It was obviously not the inner prison.
She had no idea how she got there. She was so scared that she was sweating all over. She didn't care about her stomachache and just threw off the quilt and got up.
"Aunt, are you awake?" The maid ran over happily to help her. "I'll report this to the Emperor right away."
The emperor arrived not too late. Seeing that she was awake, he ordered the maid to give her medicine and brought her some stomach-nourishing porridge. After watching her drink it, he said, "Come on, follow me to the Armory."
Zhao Changning was completely bewildered and inexplicably frightened. He asked blankly, "Your Majesty, what are you doing at the Armory Bureau right now?"
The emperor looked back, the dim candlelight illuminated his eyes, and his handsome face was half bright and half dark.
He suddenly chuckled, "Changning, you are afraid."
-----------------------
Author's words: Gao Cong: [Angry] Zhao Changning is just a red egg, she even hit me, but she gave me too much, so I couldn't refuse, red egg, red egg [burst into tears] Wuuuuuu...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
